Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 17th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

One of the best ways to get behind industry in this country is to get behind the trade deals that we are striking with many countries around the world, which the SNP has singularly failed to oppose. I see that last week the SNP promised to build a new Scotland. I do not know if the hon. Lady is aware, but the SNP has been in power for 13 years, so perhaps it should stop its focus on independence and focus on the priorities of the Scottish people.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

My constituency has a problem with Travellers pitching on private land and common land and causing a nuisance, currently on Parkgate Industrial Estate in Knutsford. Either the police do not have sufficient powers to deal with this issue, or they do have sufficient powers but they are not using them. Will the Deputy Prime Minister get the Government to speak with Cheshire police to ensure that they have the powers to deal with this blight on our local community and that they use them?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the misery caused by unauthorised encampments. I have seen this in my own constituency as well. I understand that Home Office officials regularly liaise with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on this, but my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will have heard my right hon. Friend’s representations and I trust she will act on those.

Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question and for the role that he has played in recent months in articulating Unionists’ concerns. I have heard him loud and clear when he says that he wants and needs those issues resolved so that he has a basis to work with others to restore power sharing, and I know that that is genuine. He raises the question of practical issues, and it is vital that those are addressed. But he also raises a vital question about the constitutional and legal framework in which those arrangements exist. I can assure him that I agree: addressing the democratic deficit is an essential part of the negotiations that remain ongoing with the European Union. Just as he has been consistent, so have I, and I can assure him that that is at the very heart of the issues that must be addressed.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Q8. The Prime Minister has made fixing illegal immigration across the channel one of his key top priorities. He has also said that legislation will be required to stop it, and I completely agree. So can he tell us when we can expect to see that legislation come forward—because time is of the essence—and can he explain why sorting out this issue did not feature in the Home Office permanent secretary’s stated top three priorities for his Department?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question. She is right: illegal crossings put people’s lives at risk, divert resources away from those in genuine need, and are unfair on those who migrate here legally. That is why one of our five pledges to the British people is to stop the boats. We are working at pace on the legislation—it is important that it works—and in the meantime, our deals with Albania and France are already yielding benefits. What I can tell her is that we want a system whereby if someone arrives in our country illegally, they will not be able to stay. Instead, they will be detained and removed to a country that they come from or to a safe third alternative. That is a system that the Home Secretary and I are working hard to put in place, and that is what our legislation will deliver.

Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I accept the injustice that was done to the Windrush generation and renew the apologies on behalf of the Government for our share of responsibility. Yes, I do want to make sure that the compensation scheme is accelerated; I spoke to the people responsible for distributing it just the other night. I also said—I hope the House would agree—that I hope that in due time the name Windrush will be associated not just with that injustice, though it was appalling, but with the amazing contribution, sacrifice and effort of the Windrush generation to this country, that Windrush is a positive name for the people of this country, and that, indeed, Windrush is regarded as the Mayflower of our country.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

When High Speed 2 was first proposed, the estimated cost was £37.5 billion. The latest estimate is over £150 billion, and rising fast. Is there a price at which the Prime Minister will accept that High Speed 2 is no longer value for money, or is he determined to build it irrespective of the final cost, whatever that will be? Would it not be better to put this white-elephant project out of its misery and get rid of High Speed 2, and instead deliver high-speed broadband—reliable 1 gigabit capability—at a fraction of the cost to every household? That would be much more useful for everyone in all our communities.

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of gigabit broadband. That is why the coverage has gone up, just since I have been Prime Minister, I think from 9% of our country to 60% this year. We hope to get up to 100% in the course of the next few years. I cannot agree with her, however, about HS2. The House did vote for it. It has the potential to do a massive amount of good in levelling up across the whole UK. Indeed, I think even the Liberal Democrats voted for it—I see the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) there—although you would not think it to judge from some of their recent campaigns, would you, Mr Speaker? But that is the thing about the Liberal Democrats: they can vote for one thing, then say another when it comes to elections.

Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The fact of the matter is that the IMF now forecasts that in the coming year the British economy—[Interruption.] Opposition Members might not want to know what has been said by the IMF, but the shadow Chancellor—who is not here to make his hand gestures—has always said that we should take notice of the IMF. It says that in the coming year the British economy will grow faster than the German or French economy and that next year growth in the British economy will be similar to that of the United States and twice that of the eurozone. That would not be happening had we not brought the excessive deficits and debts of the previous Government under control.

[Esther McVey (Wirral West) (Con)]

In the light of the historic signing of a deal in China for record investment in Wirral Waters, the granting of the turnaround cruise terminal in Liverpool and the support for the automotive industries that has led to 1,000 more jobs at Jaguar and the saving of Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port, would the Foreign Secretary say that this Government have done more in two years to expand private enterprise on Merseyside than Labour did in its entire tenure?

[Mr Hague]

Well, yes, I would say exactly that and I point out that the success my hon. Friend describes is part of a process that in the last two years has seen British exports to Brazil going up 37%, British exports to China going up 61% and British exports to India going up 73%. That is happening because the British Government are out there championing British business, which the Labour party neglected to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 26th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not believe in making tax changes outside a Budget, which is the proper way we do things in this country. There is a strong case for looking at this area, because I want to see a situation where, when oil prices rise, we try to help motorists and share the burden with them. The hon. Gentleman quite rightly reminded me of something I said, so perhaps I can remind him of something he said, as he stood on a manifesto that emphasised the need to “reign back public spending” and stated:

“A key priority of the next Government must be reducing debt”.

I agree with that.

[Esther McVey (Wirral West) (Con)]

I am delighted that the Government’s new enterprise allowance will be announced and will begin in my home area of Merseyside on Monday. Will not initiatives like that that spark enterprise and start businesses in some of the most deprived parts of the country?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right. I hope that Labour Members will encourage people to start up businesses and get enterprise going, as it is a private sector-led recovery that this country needs. We should also give special help to areas such as hers, which I visited recently, to try to ensure that we do everything to help growth in Merseyside and improve the prospects of the Atlantic gateway—a very exciting prospect for her area and for everyone who lives and works on Merseyside.