Business of the House

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Stuart Anderson

Thursday 6th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The purpose of business questions is to ensure that Members have the opportunity to raise the issues they wish to raise for debate. The hon. Gentleman tells me he has had the chance to question the Prime Minister and the Paymaster General on exactly this question. The fact he does not like the answers does not mean that the answers have not been given and that satisfactory parliamentary time has not been spent on the issue.

[Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

I am working hard with key partners in Wolverhampton to secure all the funding for the Wolverhampton city learning quarter. We still need some of that funding to come through, but we are delighted with what we have received so far. Will the Leader of the House provide Government time for a debate to ensure that all Wolverhampton children have the right start in life by setting up the city learning quarter?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I commend my hon. Friend for the brilliant work he is doing on behalf of his constituents in Wolverhampton. As I understand it, the city learning quarter is a most impressive project that supports the council’s objective to boost adult learning in the area with new facilities. The Government appreciate the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances, so this project supports our wider aims to boost adult learning and reskilling, which we are doing through the adult education budget, the skills bootcamps and free level 3 courses for jobs, which are funding by the new national skills fund. We are spending taxpayers’ money on education across the country to give every child the best start in life, and we are targeting support at the most disadvantaged so that no one is left behind.

My hon. Friend asks when the money will come, and he is right to ask that question. I will make sure he gets an answer from the Department for Education on when the cheque will clear.

Business of the House

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Stuart Anderson

Thursday 8th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I thank both the hon. Gentleman for bringing this matter to the attention of the House and Open Doors for the incredible work it does as an organisation. They are both important voices for the rights of persecuted Christians. The UK and Her Majesty’s Government are concerned about violence against all communities, whatever their religion or belief, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The violence is symptomatic of a broader picture of instability in eastern DRC. Her Majesty’s Government continue to urge the DRC Government and the United Nations to work together to protect civilians from continuing violence and to address the root causes of conflict. We are committed to ensuring that the UN peacekeeping mission remains focused on delivering its mandate to protect civilians and that vulnerable communities remain central to the United Nations work in the DRC. The hon. Gentleman is probably more adept at using the House’s procedures than any other Member, so I hardly need remind him that Foreign Office questions are on 20 July, but I will in the meantime pass on his concerns to the Foreign Office.

[Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

In September, I will be running the Montane dragon’s back race and attempting to run 230 miles, over twice the ascent of Everest. I am very happy for my right hon. Friend to join me on the world’s toughest mountain race from Conwy castle to Cardiff castle along the spine of Wales. On a serious note, I am doing it for two amazing organisations: for the Wolves Foundation, which does so much work across Wolverhampton, particularly for the most vulnerable; and also for Elysium Memorial, which is raising awareness of veterans suicide—I have personally lost friends I served with. Will my right hon. Friend commit more time in this House to discuss such an important topic?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend is considerably more energetic than I am. I think I would find it hard to do 2.3 miles, let alone 230 miles, and I might need the resuscitation that our hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Sir David Amess) raised earlier.

To come to my hon. Friend’s very serious point, I wish him well in his fundraising efforts for both foundations. On the issue of veterans suicide, this is a matter of the greatest responsibility for Government and parliamentarians. We ask people to put their lives on the line for the safety, security and peace of our nation, and we have a duty to them for the rest of their lives for what they have given or have been prepared to sacrifice on behalf of the nation. I am grateful to him for the work he is doing, and I can assure him that it is an issue the Government take with the utmost seriousness.

House Business during the Pandemic

Debate between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Stuart Anderson

Monday 8th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

If we are batting back and forth Disraelian quotations, he also said:

“A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity”,

but I would hate to apply that to the hon. Gentleman. [Interruption.] My hon. Friends think I should, but I will not, because he is a distinguished parliamentarian-historian and Chairman of the Standards Committee. In answer to his point about queuing, we have to use the methods necessary to proceed with Government business, which is the point I am making today. It can only be done by meeting physically.

[Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

We are talking about swiftness and queuing. The people of Wolverhampton have been queuing for their essentials for the last three months. Are we not wasting time in this debate, and should we not be getting on with something more important?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I have a great deal of sympathy with that view, but the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland called for this debate and was successful in his application, therefore clearly Parliament has a desire to talk about itself. That was not my choice, but I am here to participate and to do so fully, in a real and physical Parliament.