Business of the House

Helen Hayes Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Unfortunately, the Civil Contingencies Act would not have worked in these circumstances, because the problem was known about early enough for it not to qualify as an emergency under the terms of that Act. The legal experts say that if we can introduce emergency legislation, we should do so rather than using the Civil Contingencies Act, because if we have time to introduce emergency legislation, we obviously knew about it long enough in advance for the Act not to apply. That is why that Act could not be used.

On future scrutiny, one reason why it is so important that we keep the operation of this House going—to which, as I have said before, the Government are committed—is to ensure that scrutiny takes place. The Government of this country are the Executive and the legislature; they are not purely the Executive. We need to ensure that the legislature is operating efficiently, even if it has to operate differently, to ensure that we carry out our proper role.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

My constituent, who is trapped in Peru, is being advised by the British consulate to apply for a place on a private flight, at a minimum cost of $3,000. When a member of my casework team challenged that advice and suggested that my constituent may not be able to access $3,000 easily, she was told by the representative at the British consulate, “Do they want it to be free, then?” That is not consistent with the sentiment that the Leader of the House recently expressed when he said that the Foreign Secretary is doing everything within his power to bring our citizens home. Will he ask the Foreign Secretary to come to the House to explain the lack of capacity in British consulates overseas, the appalling attitude that is being taken by some of his staff, and how he is going to ensure that our vulnerable citizens stranded overseas can come home during this pandemic?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I reassure the hon. Lady that the Foreign Secretary is, as I said earlier, taking this issue with the greatest seriousness. It is a little unfair to pick on one example of an offhand comment and assume that that is the general way consulates behave. Consulates are deeply stretched because of the numbers involved and the nature and unexpectedness of this crisis. Dare I say it that all of us have come to realise the seriousness of this crisis over time, so some replies are getting better as time goes on and the necessity becomes clearer. The Foreign Secretary is certainly working very hard on this issue.