Oral Answers to Questions
Gareth Johnson Excerpts(6 years, 9 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
I say to the right hon. Gentleman that with the Knowsley safety partnership with Merseyside police, crime statistics in his constituency have fallen by 9% since the year ending June 2010. He mentioned some incidents that are of real concern, and I am sure that the police are giving their full attention to them. We are ensuring that overall—[Interruption.] He points at the Home Secretary, but my right hon. Friend is ensuring that overall, in the next year, not only will we protect police budgets but we will see, with precept, £450 million extra available to police forces across the country.
Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend raises an important point. He is absolutely right—I agree with him that this is an important opportunity for the United Kingdom post Brexit, because for the first time in 40 years we will be able to step out into the world and forge our own way by negotiating our own trade agreements and signing trade deals with old friends and new allies alike. We will, of course, be able to do that. As he knows, from next March we will no longer be a member state of the European Union, and in due course we will be able to bring into force new trade arrangements around the rest of the world—a truly global Britain.
Oral Answers to Questions
Gareth Johnson Excerpts(7 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
James Brokenshire
We want to maintain the common travel area, which has served us so well over so many decades. Equally, we want to work with the Irish Government to ensure that the external border is upheld and strengthened. That remains our focus.
Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
6. What steps he is taking to ensure that there is no hard border with the Republic of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Chloe Smith)
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear in her letter to Donald Tusk that we want to avoid a return to a hard border—nobody wishes to return to the border of the old days— and to maintain the common travel area. That desire is shared with the Republic of Ireland and the European Union, and we shall work tirelessly to achieve it.
Gareth Johnson
Northern Ireland is as much part of the United Kingdom as Dartford, but does the Minister agree that, given Northern Ireland’s unique situation, it is essential that there is a frictionless border between it and the Republic, without ever compromising the security of the whole of the United Kingdom?
Chloe Smith
Yes, I do agree. We all want to see people and goods moving as freely as possible across the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in the service of a strong economy for those who need it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Gareth Johnson Excerpts(8 years, 11 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman speaks for the whole House, which I am sure will want in spirit to be with the family and friends of Charlie Kutyauripo, who lost his life in that attack. There is nothing anyone here can say that will give them the comfort they seek. What I will say is that we have toughened the law on knife crime offences and the custodial sentences people are getting for those crimes. The police have done a huge amount to crack down on knife crime, which is why overall it has fallen by something like 17% since 2010, but there is still more to do in educating children and young people about the dangers of carrying a knife. In so many of these cases, the carrier of the knife ends up the victim of the knife attack so, as well as tough penalties and strong policing, we also need better education.
Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
Q11. Does the Prime Minister agree that encouraging people in this country to learn the English language has a unifying effect? It aids integration and helps to create national identity and social cohesion, and should therefore be promoted.
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The most important thing in our country is that we make sure that everybody can take advantage of the opportunities to work, get training and go to university. This is an opportunity country, but there is no opportunity for people if you do not speak the language. That is why we are going to target money at those people—they are very often women—who have been stuck at home, sometimes by the men in the house, and make sure that they can get the English language skills they need.
Let me make one other additional point, because this is so important. When I was sat in a mosque in Leeds this week, one of the young people there said how important it is that imams speak English, because if some young people can speak English but not Urdu or Arabic they need someone to guide them away from ISIL and its poisonous rhetoric. Speaking English is important for all, imams included.
Oral Answers to Questions
Gareth Johnson Excerpts(12 years ago)
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Mrs Villiers
I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady’s constituent. It sounds as though he has an excellent project. Over the coming months, the Government will work hard to ensure that Northern Ireland gets the maximum possible benefits from the G8, which is an opportunity to showcase Fermanagh and the whole of Northern Ireland as a brilliant place to visit as a tourist and a brilliant place in which to invest.
Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
3. What recent assessment she has made of the security situation in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.
David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)
6. What recent assessment she has made of the security situation in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mrs Theresa Villiers)
The Government are committed to doing all we can to keep people in Northern Ireland safe. The threat level in Northern Ireland remains “severe” but the Police Service of Northern Ireland and its partners are working with dedication and determination in their efforts to frustrate the attacks planned by terrorists.
Gareth Johnson
Northern Ireland is as much a part of the United Kingdom as Dartford, so does the Secretary of State share my deep disappointment that the Union flag will not fly continuously over Belfast city hall, and does she agree with the principle that no law should prevent the Union flag from flying anywhere in the United Kingdom?
Mrs Villiers
I fully appreciate the strength of feeling on the flying of flags, but nothing could possibly justify the scenes of disorder witnessed outside city hall in Belfast earlier this week. Yes, there are serious and significant sensitivities about flag flying, but these decisions must be taken on the basis of sound, reasoned discussions and democratic votes, and not as a result of mobs seeking to beat down the door of city hall.