Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Duncan Baker

Thursday 9th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

These charges made by the socialists are completely false. They have no bearing on reality and they completely ignore what was the requirement two years ago. We needed PPE. There was a global shortage. Everyone in the world was buying PPE, and British manufacturing managed to turn round and supply it in unprecedented quantities. If I remember rightly from when I was Leader of the House, domestically produced PPE went from about 1% to well over 70%, possibly even over 80%. This was an enormous effort, and it has to be said that everyone was calling for it at the time, because it was urgent to protect people in care homes, in hospitals and in offices as masks and PPE were demanded and this was delivered. The right hon. Lady would have sat on her hands and done nothing, expecting it to take months and months to procure a single pair of gloves.

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to support people affected by contaminated blood cases.

Business of the House

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Duncan Baker

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

What an extremely good point the hon. Gentleman makes about His Holiness the Pope Emeritus, who made a wonderful and inspirational speech in Westminster Hall 10 years ago and told politicians a few home truths with an authority that only the Holy Father can have. It would be marvellous to commemorate that. It occurs to me that next Tuesday 8 September is the birthday of Our Lady, and perhaps we can have a little commemoration then to celebrate the 10th anniversary and consider what we may put in Westminster Hall to note it, as other speeches are recorded in Westminster Hall with little plaques.

That, I am afraid, is where the cross-party consensus comes to an end, and it is more a religious consensus between all three spokesmen for the respective parties today. Scotland has done so marvellously well—yes, thanks to £6.5 billion of spending provided by the UK taxpayer, which has protected 157,000 self-employed people and 779,500 jobs in the furlough scheme and delivered 6.7 million pieces of personal protective equipment. Without the United Kingdom, I am afraid Nicola Sturgeon and her trusty crew would be all at sea.

Talking of being all at sea, we had Second Reading of the Fisheries Bill earlier this week, and the SNP opposed restoring fishing rights to this country. It does not have the interests of the people of Scotland at heart, and it certainly does not have the interests of the people of the United Kingdom at heart, but the United Kingdom certainly has the interests of Scotland at heart through a good Unionist Government.

The Government and, as Leader of the House, I believe that scrutiny leads to better government, and therefore I am sure the House will work out ways of scrutinising spending. There are a number of ways of doing so, but departmental Select Committees, as a rule, need to follow Departments.

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

This summer, I spent my recess touring the beautiful constituency of North Norfolk, my home, and a question that cropped up on the doorstep time and again was this: will the Government find time to debate the ever increasing problem of first-time buyers not being able to get on to the housing market in these coastal beauty spots and scenic areas where local people are often priced out in their own home?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

That is a fundamental point. Helping young people on to the housing ladder is what Conservatives in government always do. Throughout the 20th century, the most successful Conservative Prime Ministers, such as Baldwin, Macmillan and Margaret Thatcher, oversaw huge rises in home ownership, to the enrichment and benefit of the nation. That is why the Government are embarking on a radical overhaul of our planning system, which will increase the supply of housing throughout the country, particularly in areas of highest demand. This is important: we will not deliver affordable homes for people if we do not build more homes, and that means people welcoming the proposed planning reforms so that we can help people into those homes.

Business of the House

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Duncan Baker

Thursday 4th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The testing strategy has achieved 205,000 tests as of the 30 May in terms of capacity, and that is important. It is the largest diagnostic testing programme in our history, and from scratch it has in a number of weeks got to more than 4 million tests having been undertaken. So that is a significant success, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has driven this personally, and has, to my mind, done absolutely brilliantly in managing to force something through that would not have happened without his individual and personal determination. However, the hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and this is one of the ways in which this House being here is always so useful, because specific constituency examples where things can be improved can be brought to the attention of the House. I will certainly pass on to my right hon. Friend the point that the hon. Gentleman has made.

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

Can the Government find time to debate the appropriate mechanisms for connection of the new wave of offshore wind turbines and farms to the national grid and include consideration of an offshore ring main?

That is particularly important to my constituency of North Norfolk, where many cable corridors are being built across the rural countryside, causing enormous disruption to residents. Surely it is now high time that the Government review the current method of connection to the grid.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am not sure whether “the current connection” was a pun or not, but it was certainly a very good one—

Business of the House

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Duncan Baker

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Gentleman forgot, absent-mindedly, to ask for a debate on the claim of right, but I am the servant of this House, because there is a claim of right debate on Monday 27 January in Westminster Hall. I am even able to deliver on that which has not been asked for, which is the type of superior service that those on the Government Benches like to offer. The best I can do is to quote his esteemed leader in this House, the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford), who said, “Scotland said no”. Scotland did indeed say no—it said no to separation in 2014. It decided in its claim of right to claim the right to be a part of the United Kingdom, and thank heavens for that.

With regard to an Opposition day debate, I am doing my best to ensure that some time will be made available to the SNP prior to the February recess. It is not an absolute promise, but that is what I hope we will be able to do. As regards the European Parliament, I cannot think why anyone would want to go there for eight days.

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

The Conservative party, I have absolutely no doubt, is the party of jobs, employment and opportunities. But it is the high street that provides hundreds of thousands of jobs, and it is under enormous challenge from the internet. I worked in business in North Norfolk. Will the Leader of the House grant time for a debate, so that we can level up the competitiveness of traditional bricks-and-mortar stores against this ongoing challenge? Those hundreds of thousands of jobs that are dependent on the high street’s success up and down the land are incredibly important to all of us.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on being a champion for the high streets of North Norfolk and ensuring that they are well represented in the House. The Government take that issue very seriously. The £3.6 billion towns fund will support towns to build prosperous futures. There will be a £280 million tax cut for small businesses, because our manifesto commits us to cut taxes for small retailers and ensure that business rates are manageable. The Government are doing everything they can, but the Government cannot stop the natural evolution of the economy, so it is a question of ensuring that there are advantages for high streets.