Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Commons Chamber

The Prime Minister was asked—

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 20 March.

[The Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak)]

I know the whole House will join me in congratulating Vaughan Gething on his election as Welsh Labour leader and expected election as First Minister of Wales, and also in offering Mark Drakeford our best wishes on his retirement. The Government I lead will always work tirelessly to benefit the lives of people across the United Kingdom, and I look forward to working constructively with the new First Minister to deliver for the people of Wales.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Giles Watling]

The people of Clacton have had a tough time with the cost of living, and I am doing everything I can to support them. With that in mind, does my right hon. Friend agree that cutting inflation is the very best way to do that, and that today’s statistics are very welcome? Can he reassure my constituents that he will continue working hard to get inflation as low as possible, in order to protect their savings, help with their bills and give them the financial security they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

Today’s figures show that our plan is working. Inflation has fallen to 3.4% from its peak of over 11%, down by almost 70%—the steepest fall since the 1980s, and now at the lowest level since September 2021—and people’s pay packets are going further, with real wages growing for eight months in a row and taxes being cut by £900 for the average worker. That is why we need to stick to the plan to deliver a brighter future for our country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Commons Chamber

The Prime Minister was asked—

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 28 February.

[The Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak)]

I know the thoughts of the whole House will be with the friends and families of Lord Cormack and Ronnie Campbell. They were dedicated parliamentarians.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I will have further such meetings later today.

[Giles Watling]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. I am certain that everyone in this Chamber will agree, whatever their political standpoint, that we should be able to think, speak and vote without fear or favour, but today I need to ask about the painful subject of dental care in Clacton, which is in crisis. Our integrated care system has found the money, and a private firm has found the students, to massively increase dental appointments in my patch, but paper-pushers in NHS England keep citing spurious reasons to prevent this groundbreaking initiative from being deployed. Does my right hon. Friend agree that is scandalous, should be dealt with and those people blocking it held to account?

[The Prime Minister]

Our dentistry recovery plan will make dental services faster, simpler and fairer for patients, including in Clacton, and will fund around 2.5 million more appointments. The matter that my hon. Friend raises, as he will know, is a local matter, so the integrated care board will determine whether it wishes to support the pilot proposal in Clacton, but I know that the Minister for Public Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Dame Andrea Leadsom) has written to my hon. Friend about the proposal, and I hope that her letter addresses his concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

I will start on a point of agreement with the hon. Gentleman. First, I welcome his kind words. He is entirely right to point out that this whole episode began at least with the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Arguably, it began even before that, in terms of Russian aggression. I am sure that he was in the House yesterday and will have heard the Prime Minister, and indeed my hon. Friend the Paymaster General, addressing exactly this point, but I am happy to reiterate that the Home Secretary accepted that she made errors of judgment in her conduct. She recognised that, accepted her mistake, apologised and resigned. I think that that was an appropriate course of action.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to strengthen the Union.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to strengthen the Union.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Brendan Clarke-Smith)]

This Government are committed to delivering for citizens across the UK, whether it is protecting households against rising energy prices or stimulating growth through the creation of freeports. When we act as one United Kingdom, we are safer, stronger and more prosperous, and we remain committed to working collaboratively with the devolved Governments on the collective challenges ahead.

[Giles Watling]

I thank my hon. Friend for his answer, and it is good to see my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the team on the Front Bench. I have been fortunate enough to work in all four corners of this great Union—and Cornwall; my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) is no longer in his place. We have fought shoulder to shoulder for freedom and democracy all over the world, not least at Waterloo and the landing beaches of Normandy. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be foolish to let this great and successful Union fall apart on a whim, with the aid of the likes of Mel Gibson? Should there not be a legislated timeframe—say, 25 years—before another referendum can be held?

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent and, as always, good-humoured point. People across Scotland want both their Governments to be working together and focusing their attention and resources on the issues that matter to them, not talking about yet another independence referendum.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Giles Watling Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

It is a great honour to stand here representing the people of Clacton, who I know from what I have heard and seen and read loved our Queen and are in deep mourning now. She was an incredible woman, and I had the honour of meeting her on a couple of occasions, as well as many members of her family. She had that one now not-so-secret weapon, which was the devastating smile that she would unleash mercilessly and bring people to her. In many ways her personality shone through that smile. She was my Queen, she was your Queen, she was each individual’s Queen. She was the people of Clacton’s Queen, she was the UK’s Queen and she was the Queen of her realms overseas. She was the Queen to so many people around the world, and I read only yesterday that 93% of the world’s population have known no other monarch. She is the Queen—she is gone and we mourn her deeply.

I would like to tell a brief story about my father’s relationship with the Queen. He had the unenviable task of having to introduce her to 25 members of the board of the Royal Theatrical Fund. On a good day, my father, although he was a great actor, had difficulty remembering his own name, so it was with great trepidation that he faced this task. He came up with this wonderful scheme, saying “I shall remember one in five of you, so I only have to remember five names. I will introduce Tom, and Tom will introduce Bert, George, Harry and Fred, and so on.” That worked tremendously, except that on the morning of the meeting everybody brought their husbands and wives with them, so the room was full and crowded, and my mother was there too. However, my father’s scheme still worked. He introduced Tom, who introduced Fred, Harry, Jane and Sheila, and so on, but he forgot to introduce my mother. The Queen said, “And who is this?” and my father could not remember her name, so he said, “At home we call her mother.” [Laughter.] To say that the Queen was amused is a vast understatement. She immediately went to the bar and asked for a drink.

My father had many happy memories of the Queen, as do I. May she rest in peace. God save the King.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

I think that my right hon. Friend will agree that the Prime Minister and the Government made every effort to avoid having lockdowns where that was possible. Unfortunately, occasionally, it was necessary so to do.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

15. What steps his Department is taking with international partners in response to the global cyber-threat posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

16. What steps his Department is taking with international partners in response to the global cyber-threat posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Steve Barclay)]

The Government are dedicating significant resources to understanding and countering Russia’s cyber-threat, working with our allies. That has included joint advisories with our Five Eyes partners on how to mitigate that threat.

[Giles Watling]

With daily cyber-attacks against this place as well as institutions and companies across the country, what are we doing to stem the tide of aggression from Russia?

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are spending £2.6 billion over the next three years to counter that threat. That is additional to the significant funding going into the National Cyber Force, which gives us offensive capability as well. Alongside that, we have a whole of society approach as set out in our national cyber strategy. I know that you, Mr Speaker, will take a great interest in particular in the north-west cyber-corridor, which is about leveraging that investment in the National Cyber Force and making it about skills across the north-west as a whole.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

T6. We have exited the EU and regained control, but I fear we have lost a lot in trade and unity in these isles. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should explore new avenues of trade, and perhaps reinvigorate lost avenues of trade, such as through the Commonwealth?

[Steve Barclay]

I concur with my hon. Friend that the Commonwealth is of huge importance. He is right to highlight that, but it fits within the wider strategy of the integrated review as part of global Britain, including building on defence ties such as with the Australian and US Governments through AUKUS. This brings significant defence opportunities, as well as opportunities for Treasury policy such as freeports and for our wider work through the Department for International Trade on free trade agreements. This is all part of global Britain, of which the Commonwealth is a key stakeholder.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

6. What assessment he has made of the outcome of COP26.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the outcome of COP26.

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

15. What assessment he has made of the outcome of COP26.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. When I was Business Secretary, we set out our 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, in which we made it very clear that we would be supporting nuclear. We have followed that through; I know that my hon. Friend will have particularly welcomed the funding that is going towards new small modular reactor technology.

[Giles Watling]

I recently met the brilliant people at Rolls-Royce who are working on small modular reactors, which will help to fill the gap between fossil fuels and renewable energy. Does my right hon. Friend agree that more investment in nuclear power will help to combat global climate change and, more importantly, help our desperate constituents who are having to choose between eating and heating right now?

[Alok Sharma]

I share my hon. Friend’s view: nuclear has to be part of our clean energy mix. We are investing in SMR technology through Rolls-Royce, as he has acknowledged. It also provides an export opportunity for the UK and the creation of jobs in our industrial heartlands.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to implement their levelling-up agenda.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to implement their levelling-up agenda.

[Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to implement their levelling-up agenda.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to mention Ben Houchen, the Gareth Southgate of local government. It is appropriate that, as the Treasury and the Department for International Trade are recruiting new roles in Darlington and there is more investment in Teesside, we must make sure that we have proper connectivity, including first-class rail travel as well as improved digital connectivity.

[Giles Watling [V]]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his earlier answer. The Government’s levelling up agenda is laudable, and in Clacton some progress has been made. I am doing the best I can to inform residents in the area of what the Government are doing. There is a feeling of being left behind locally, however, so what are the Government doing to communicate more widely what they have been and will be doing for the people of Clacton and other left-behind communities? Will my right hon. Friend come back to the sunshine coast and join me to raise awareness of the Government’s important work?

[Michael Gove]

I absolutely will. There is nothing left behind about Clacton and Frinton and the communities that my hon. Friend so ably represents, and I look forward to visiting them. I understand that there is a fantastic local community theatre that he has played a part in championing, among many other local endeavours. Levelling up is about culture as well as connectivity. I look forward to coming to Clacton and making sure that it is firmly on the map and at the centre of our levelling up plans.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

What plans he has to move civil service jobs to York.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to deliver civil service jobs outside London.

[Sarah Atherton (Wrexham) (Con)]

What steps the Government are taking to deliver civil service jobs outside London.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

Transparency drives everything that the Government do—that and a commitment to levelling up and ensuring that our Union is stronger. That is why we are moving jobs to Glasgow, a beautiful city that, sadly, has not flourished as it might have done under the Scottish Government’s stewardship over the course of the last 14 years. It is also why we are moving jobs to York, the city that the hon. Lady so ably represents alongside my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy). We will be increasing the number of Cabinet Office jobs in York by 50% in the coming months, and it is not just the Cabinet Office; other Government jobs will be coming to York as well, because, as she rightly points out, its transport connectivity, its historical connections and its potential for brownfield renovation all make it a superb site for investment.

[Giles Watling [V]]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his earlier answer. Moving Government Departments to the provinces is a fantastic initiative, but I implore him not to forget the southern coast. We may be near to London, but we have deprivation and we need the benefit of civil service jobs in our area. I ask him to give us in Clacton serious consideration.

[Michael Gove]

Thanks to my hon. Friend, I never give Clacton anything other than serious consideration. Clacton, Frinton and the communities that he so ably represents contain talented people who have a contribution to make, and of course we will do everything possible, not necessarily by relocating civil service departments to that part of Essex, but by ensuring that there are opportunities through apprenticeships and the civil service fast stream, to ensure that talented young people in Essex have an opportunity, like him, to serve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I sympathise very much with the hon. Lady’s constituents and the pupils who have to put up with disruption caused by flooding. I know that the Environment Agency continues to work very actively with the county council to resolve the issues and that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister has written to her about what more can be done.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con) [V]]

  My right hon. Friend will know that pubs have been closing all over Britain for decades now, tearing the hearts out of communities. This terrible pandemic has made things even worse. Part of the problem is undercutting by cheap supermarket booze. Surely, now that we are out of the EU, we can do as we please with beer duty. Differentiation in favour of on-sales could deliver great benefits to pubs in communities such as Clacton, at nil cost to the taxpayer. Will my right hon. Friend commit Ministers to looking at that differentiation proposal?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, which I am sure will be heard with great interest around the country. There is just such a review being carried out after consulting pub owners, brewers and others, and I know that the Chancellor is looking very closely at the findings.