Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question and join her in expressing condolences to the family and friends of the two boys; I also read about it and it is an awful tragedy. She rightly asks what we are doing to make our streets safer and stamp out the scourge of knife crime. We are boosting the number of police officers; as she will know, with 15,000, on our way to 20,000. We are also giving them the powers they need to get knives off our streets, including by lifting restrictions on stop and search, and introducing new court orders to target known knife offenders. I agree with her that this is something we need to do more on, and she should know that the Government will be fully committed to tackling it.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

Q11. When will my right hon. Friend’s Government bring forward any emergency legislation that is needed to deport those migrants who came across the channel illegally in small boats and are now being put up in hotels paid for by hard-pressed British taxpayers?

[The Prime Minister]

We are determined to do whatever it takes to break the business model of the people smugglers, who are causing the needless loss of life of people in the channel and putting unsustainable pressure on our asylum system. Our Nationality and Borders Act 2022, opposed by the Labour party, gives us new powers, which we fully intend to use. We will take further measures as required to properly control our borders and reduce the number of illegal crossings.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Wednesday 19th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman has raised a very specific case. Obviously I have not seen the details of that case, but I will ensure that the Home Secretary looks at the details of it.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

Police officers and firefighters are able to retire at 60, but prison officers cannot retire until they are 66 and they are facing the prospect of having to retire at 68. Does my right hon. Friend believe that that is fair?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has raised an important issue. Obviously, this has been looked at and considered in the past, but I will make sure that the Ministry of Justice is aware of his concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think what the right hon. Gentleman will see if he makes a careful analysis of the statement that the Attorney General made, of his answers to questions and of the legal opinion that was set out by the Government—in many ways, it was unprecedented that the Government published such a 34-page document—is that the advice he is holding in his left hand has no difference from the statement given. Indeed, I might take up the personal challenge from the right hon. Gentleman, because I have said on the Floor of the House that there is no unilateral right to pull out of the backstop. I have also said that it is not the intention of either party for the backstop to be used in the first place or, if it is used, to be anything other than temporary.

The right hon. Gentleman finished by saying, once again, that he wishes to look to what Scotland should have from the deal. We are leaving the European Union as the whole United Kingdom, and we will negotiate as the whole United Kingdom. For Scotland, remaining in the internal market of the United Kingdom is the most important economic interest, and it is in the interests of Scotland to come out of the common fisheries policy. That is in our deal and our policy, and not in his.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

Q8. My local authority, Swale Borough Council, is being asked to find land for thousands more homes, and my constituents in Sittingbourne and Sheppey are not happy. Over the past 20 years, large-scale housing developments have transformed our area, and we feel that we have already accepted more than our fair share of new housing. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister urge her Ministers to take steps to reduce the housing targets being imposed on Swale?

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There is a fundamental point that the right hon. Gentleman refrains from mentioning: we can afford to pay for the national health service and for social care only if we have a strong economy creating wealth, and that is precisely what he is going to hear from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in a few minutes’ time.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

Q4. On 23 June, my constituents voted by a margin of 62% to 28% to leave the European Union. Many of those people are unhappy and frustrated by what they see as delaying tactics from some remainers, who do not seem to understand the meaning of the word “democracy”—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This is very discourteous. The hon. Gentleman has a legitimate question and it and every other question should be heard fully and with politeness.

[Gordon Henderson]

Thank you, Mr Speaker—and I will repeat it. Some remainers do not seem to understand the meaning of the word “democracy”, which I would remind them is government by the people, especially the rule of the majority. With that in mind, what reassurance can my right hon. Friend give my constituents and me that article 50 will be triggered by March next year?

[The Prime Minister]

I am clear that we will trigger article 50 by the end of March next year. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to make the key point: it was decided by this Parliament, six to one, that the people should have the opportunity to vote on membership of the European Union. The vote was held, the turnout was high and the public gave their verdict. There must be no second referendum and no attempt to weasel out of this, and this is the Government who will deliver on the vote of the British people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The supplementary was only tenuously related to the terms of the question, but I am in a generous mood.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

10. I welcome the consultation period that will follow the Boundary Commission’s recommendations, but does my hon. Friend agree that it is important to ensure that people are aware of the consultations so that they can make their views known? What does he intend to do to publicise the consultations?

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I have said, if one looks across the years, under the last Labour Government more than 170 Labour peers were created, which is just under half of the total. We have been very clear that our preference is a smaller and more legitimate House of Lords. That has not come about, so we will make appointments to the House of Lords in line with the terms of the coalition agreement.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

T12. I listened with interest to my right hon. Friend’s answer to the deputy leader of the Labour party. I wondered what he would say to my constituent, Glen, who is paraplegic and lives in a specially converted bungalow with two bedrooms, one of which is used by a carer whom he needs occasionally. He has received a letter from Swale borough council advising him that his rent is to rise by £14 a week because he has too many bedrooms.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Of course I accept, as does everyone, that there are cases that must be dealt with sensitively. That is why we have set aside £50 million of discretionary funding, which local authorities are entirely free to use as they see fit to deal with the difficult cases that may arise. I very much hope that action will be taken to address the anxieties of the constituent to whom my hon. Friend referred.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. First, the House must show some courtesy to the Deputy Prime Minister as he responds to questions. Secondly, I want to hear from Mr Gordon Henderson.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

T5. Does my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister understand the resentment felt by many taxpayers in my constituency when they see their taxes being used to help to provide a range of free services in Scotland that are not enjoyed by the English? When will the Government take action to bring that unfair subsidy to an end?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

One of the reasons we are transferring a great deal of new fiscal freedom to the Scottish Administration through the Scotland Bill is to ensure not only that the Scottish Government enjoy greater freedom to raise and spend money but that they are held to account for it. That is exactly what we are seeking to achieve in the Scotland Bill.

Prisoners’ Right to Vote

Gordon Henderson Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Harper]

I will take the first part of the hon. Gentleman’s question in the spirit in which it was intended. On the second part, we are of course considering how to implement the judgment. The sorts of issues that he has raised are ones that we are thinking about. When we have taken those decisions we will, of course, announce them to the House.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

The shadow Secretary of State for Justice urged during his question that any legislation that comes forward should be subject to a free vote. I do not really care whether there is a free vote or not, because I shall vote against any such legislation.

[Mr Harper]

I did not detect a question in there, Mr Speaker, so I shall merely say to my hon. Friend that I do not think anybody on the Government Benches is particularly happy about having to deal with this issue, but we do have to implement the law.