Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

2. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of clause 15 of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill on the (a) Northern Ireland and (b) UK economy.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

4. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of clause 15 of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill on the (a) Northern Ireland and (b) UK economy.

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[Chris Heaton-Harris]

There is a point among all that I agree with: it is important that we work together across this House to sort out the cost of living crisis, which affects everybody, especially those in Northern Ireland. However, I humbly suggest to the hon. Gentleman that it is quite rich for the Scottish National party to try to interfere in Northern Irish business.

[Gavin Newlands]

Follow that! During her leadership campaign, the new Prime Minister said she was determined to deliver the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in full—no matter the consequences, apparently. I appreciate that the Secretary of State is brand new, so I will give him a multiple-choice question. On those consequences, will the Government a) risk a trade war with the EU and its 500 million consumers; b) risk inflaming a potentially volatile situation in Northern Ireland; c) risk people’s livelihoods and perhaps even lives in pursuit of a hard Brexit that has failed already; or d) all of the above, in ploughing on anyway?

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I think the hon. Gentleman missed the option of always putting the interests of Northern Ireland first, sorting out the problems of the protocol and getting a negotiated solution—and if not, legislating for one.

Sue Gray Report

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, and I have tried to be clear with the House about that. By the way, the hon. Lady talks about serving previous Prime Ministers; I thank her for her service, but I want to assure her that I have never thrown a stapler at anybody, or an ashtray.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

The Prime Minister’s utterances on partygate at that Dispatch Box have proven to be the fantasy that we all knew they were. Allegra Stratton resigned for merely joking about a party; she has more integrity in her little finger than the Prime Minister could ever hope to possess. This charlatan of a Prime Minister is without shame, without credibility and without any hope of ever winning another election. Will he sacrifice anyone or any institution—including his own party—to try to keep his ever-weakening grip on power?

[The Prime Minister]

I know why the SNP wants to remove me from office: because we are going to get on and win the next election. That is the reality.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Angela Crawley for her second question. No, she does not want it, so let’s try somebody else. I call Gavin Newlands.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on seizing the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

12. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on seizing the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (James Cartlidge)]

I am pleased to report that the Ministry of Justice is working closely with colleagues across Government to look at how we can go further to crack down on illicit money in British property, including considering temporary asset seizures beyond the freezing regime that we already have in place. I am not yet in a position to present the details of this to the House. It is a complex issue involving important policy and legal considerations. What I can say is that unlike the Putin regime, the Government will always preserve the rule of law and act against kleptocratic wealth.

[Gavin Newlands]

When concerns about Russian interference in UK politics were raised by the Intelligence and Security Committee a couple of years ago, the Prime Minister laughed them off, saying that they were driven by “Islington remainers” unable to accept Brexit. What confidence should we have that the Government are taking the threat seriously, particularly given the slow approach to sanctioning oligarchs that saw Putin’s cronies handed two weeks to rush their wealth out of the UK before the rules came into force?

[James Cartlidge]

Everybody can be incredibly confident that the UK has acted swiftly to execute the biggest package of sanctions ever imposed against a G20 nation. Let us be clear that the UK has designated more than 1,000 individuals, entities and subsidiaries under the Russia sanctions regime since the invasion, including President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. More than 3 million Russian companies are barred from raising money on UK capital markets. We will also target more than 500 members of the Duma and Federation Council. That makes up the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions Russia has ever seen.

Living with Covid-19

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As I told the House, we have secured supplies of monoclonal antibodies in record numbers. We will also ensure that those who are immunosuppressed have access to testing to see whether they need the therapeutics.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

The deep irony of this Prime Minister lecturing us on personal responsibility will not be lost on the public watching at home. To misquote Kevin Bridges, personal responsibility won’t pay the bills.

The Prime Minister called for a four nations approach time and time again, bemoaning any deviation in approach from Cardiff, Belfast or Edinburgh. Now he is recklessly and dangerously dropping all restrictions in England and ending community testing without consultation or consideration of devolved needs, and flying in the face of the scientific advice he has been given. That just proves that his four nations approach has simply meant “Follow Westminster’s direction, no matter how rash.”

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, we are not dropping the testing until the beginning of April, as the hon. Gentleman knows. It is thanks only to the massive financial firepower of the UK that we have been able to run the biggest testing operation in Europe plus the fastest vaccination roll-out.

Sue Gray Report

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member is completely misrepresenting what took place.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

Despite the omissions from Sue Gray’s update, it makes crystal clear that the office that the Prime Minister occupies and the Government that he leads behaved in a despicable and disrespectful way when the public faced the gravest of threats. Does he not accept that his personal conduct before becoming Prime Minister and since has been completely unacceptable and that if he had any respect for his own office and for the public—and, indeed, a scintilla of integrity—he would announce his resignation to the 1922 committee tonight?

[The Prime Minister]

No.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are restoring the development budget for women and girls back to its previous levels, and will shortly be allocating funding for such projects. She is right that we need to ensure that we are using all the talents available on parliamentary benches around the world, and I am delighted that we now have a record number of female Conservative MPs in this House.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

2. What steps the Government are taking to support women in the workplace.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

To help, support and protect women in the workplace, we intend to build on existing legislation by extending redundancy protections for women after they return from maternity leave, introducing neonatal leave and pay, and introducing one week of unpaid carer’s leave. We are currently consulting on measures to increase the availability and uptake of flexible working.

[Gavin Newlands]

Earlier this month, I met Kate Seary and Mhairi Maclennan, the co-founders of Kyniska Advocacy, which they set up to campaign for zero tolerance of abuse of women in sport. The growing and welcome professionalisation of women’s sport means that this is no longer just a sporting issue, but an issue of fairness and dignity at work. Does the Minister agree that sports governing bodies have a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for female athletes, and what action are he and the Government Equalities Office taking to ensure that the governing bodies are meeting these responsibilities?

[Paul Scully]

The Sport Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Nigel Huddleston)—is doing a lot of work to ensure that women in sport, and other people, are not getting abuse in their workplace.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I was up at Glen Parva recently to look at one of the new state-of-the-art prisons. There, and across the prison estate, we are introducing improved cell windows, netting and other physical upgrades, as well as technology, to counter the threat of drones.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

4. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on reforming the UK’s human rights framework.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

6. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on reforming the UK’s human rights framework.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Dominic Raab)]

Under this Prime Minister and before the next election, we will overhaul the Human Rights Act to end its abuse by dangerous criminals and to restore some common sense to our justice system.

[Gavin Newlands]

Does the Secretary of State believe that the UK should remain a signatory to the European convention on human rights, or does he plan to join such liberal luminaries as Belarus outside the convention? Yes or no?

[Dominic Raab]

Yes.

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[The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)]

We share my hon. Friend’s abhorrence at this appalling new phenomenon. To reassure him, the Home Secretary and I are in close touch with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which is co-ordinating local and national investigation assets across the country to try to prevent the crime and help protect young women.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

T2. We heard the pretty shameful remarks to the Opposition earlier about immigration cases. If the Secretary of State wants to help reduce the backlog in court cases, will he consider speaking with the Home Secretary and dropping plans to criminalise asylum seekers for exercising their legal rights under international conventions signed by this country? Those plans are estimated to cost more than £400 million.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Tom Pursglove)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. The Government are firmly committed to the measures set out in the Nationality and Borders Bill that will deter people from making hugely dangerous crossings of the English channel. We need to take action. Public concern on this is profound. We simply cannot have people putting their lives at risk at the hands of dangerous people smugglers. We must put the smugglers out of business.

AUKUS

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What this does is allow the three countries that share very close perspectives on human rights, the rule of law, free trade and international shipping to come together and, above all, to uphold our belief in democracy. We do not wish to be adversarial towards any other global power, but we wish to underscore that we work together to uphold those values, whether in our military co-operation or in technological transfer.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said that Australia’s new nuclear submarine would not be allowed in its waters due to a nuclear-free policy, yet under this great Union, Trident nuclear submarines are forced on Scotland. Indeed, we recently read that senior MOD officials have been looking at where to base its Trident fleet when Scotland becomes independent. Although France and the US were mentioned, will the Prime Minister confirm that they are not looking at the proposal of an “imperial days of empire” solution of creating a British overseas territory in Scotland?

[The Prime Minister]

I think most commonsensical people will welcome the arrival of jobs across the whole of the United Kingdom, particularly in Scotland. By the way, the Type 26 frigate programme, which I have seen being built in Govan, is worth £19.5 billion to this country and, like the nuclear submarine programme, will generate jobs for decades and decades to come. It is a great thing for the whole of the UK.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

Yes. The Government are determined to level up every corner of the United Kingdom, bringing communities across the country closer together. We recognise that infrastructure projects are important to growing our economy, because wherever we create connectivity, we create economic growth.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

Fine words. So by which year will the high-speed rail line be extended to the Scottish border?

[Mr Jack]

Which high-speed rail line does the hon. Member have in mind—High Speed 2 going north or Galashiels coming south? He should wait for the outcome of the connectivity review—which I must say the SNP did not engage in. Not only that; the SNP Government’s Transport Minister, rather irresponsibly, told his civil servant officials that they could not engage with Sir Peter Hendy or give him any data. When we then offered £20 million for feasibility studies, they declined it.

Health and Social Care

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, because in addition to the caps and the floors that we are introducing to protect people from catastrophic costs, we are also introducing a fair cost of care.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that there were really no good arguments for using national insurance to raise these moneys, and having been briefed on the Government’s plans, care leaders are extremely disappointed, furious and depressed at the Government’s meagre plans on social care. But the question is: why is it necessary at all? This will raise about £12 billion a year, but the Prime Minister’s Brexit bonus of £350 million a week would aggregate to £18 billion a year. So where is this money, or did it never exist?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the whole country understands that we have been through a pandemic that obliged the Treasury to spend £407 billion on protecting people, jobs and livelihoods by furlough and other measures across Scotland. That was the right thing to do. I think people also understand that it is the reasonable and responsible thing to do now to put the NHS back on its feet with the funding it needs, and to sort out social care at the same time. That is what we are doing.