Storm Darragh

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

As I mentioned, we have set up a flood resilience taskforce, which looks at constituencies such as the hon. Member’s to make sure that they are not affected. The Government will invest £22.4 billion until March 2026 in improving flood resilience and better protecting communities across the country. DSIT is also looking at UK power networks to see what role they could play. On the emergency alerts that were issued on Friday, we are looking at the lessons learned to see how they could be used effectively if we roll them out in the future.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister for her positivity, and for her helpful answers; it is very clear that she is doing her best to make things better. I put on the record my thanks to all emergency service workers across this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for their sterling efforts.

Storm Darragh saw the cancellation and delay of numerous trains and flights across Northern Ireland and, further afield, across the United Kingdom. Although that cannot be helped, thousands of people were at a financial loss due to the cancellations and delays. What steps will the Minister take to ensure that airlines and rail companies across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland do their bit to ensure that due compensation is paid to constituents, and that they do not lose out due to the weather conditions?

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

That is an issue on which we need to work collaboratively, particularly when it comes to the impact on the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. We need to see what the challenges are, and why these matters are not being addressed, particularly at local level.

Plan for Change: Milestones for Mission-led Government

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

It is striking that when the Conservatives came into power, they began by promising to reduce net migration to under 100,000, and bequeathed us a situation where that figure was 10 times higher. This happened on their watch with their policies, and now we are left to clear up the situation and restore some order to our migration policy. The country will always need migration, but the “Plan for Change” document sets out what my hon. Friend said; we will reduce net migration and deal with illegal migration in the way she set out.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I am very pleased to read that Labour’s drive is for the working man and woman—that has to be welcomed, and I very much welcome the £25 billion for the NHS. It would be churlish of me, or of anyone in the House, not to do so.

However, the Budget put a question mark over the viability of working farms. It stripped pensioners of their winter fuel allowance and put what could possibly be unsustainable pressure on 99% of microbusinesses and small businesses in Northern Ireland. That is not helping the working man or the working woman. Everybody in this House wants the Labour party to succeed, for the sake of the country and for its people—actually, I might want it more than most, if I can say that. I once again ask whether the Government will have the strength to acknowledge and put right the wrong calls that have been made, to lead this great nation successfully to prosperity with no pensioner, small business or family farm left behind.

[Pat McFadden]

I appreciate the spirit in which the hon. Member has asked his question. On farms, as the Chancellor made clear, a couple would have an allowance of £3 million before any inheritance obligation kicked in, and then it would be at half the rate that other people have to pay, so significant protections are built into the policy. On pensioners, it is very important to remember that we have said we will protect the triple lock, which is reflected in the pension increase that has been announced for next year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Georgia Gould]

As I have said, I firmly believe that we need to support SMEs, and I should be more than happy to speak to those in the hon. Member’s constituency and discuss the opportunities that are available. There is so much innovation and talent in this country. We need to ensure that public sector money is supporting our growth mission, and supporting good businesses in communities such as those in his constituency.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister for her answers. I have a very simple question: what steps have been taken to ensure that we have better procurement measures domestically in the United Kingdom and the devolved nations, particularly Northern Ireland, as opposed to relying on international partners to provide or deliver goods?

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[Pat McFadden]

The best thing to do when it comes to a specific place is for me to look into the exact situation and come back to the hon. Member. I assure him, as I have said several times during this session, that cyber-security is extremely important to the Government. It is not just the Government’s job; cyber-security has to be taken seriously by business and the whole of society. That is why we have the National Cyber Security Centre giving advice to bodies of all kinds to ensure that they are defended as well as possible.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I welcome the Government’s commitment to the infected blood compensation scheme, and everybody in the House and across the country is pleased to see it. As of this month, how many individuals have registered for infected blood compensation payments, and can the Minister provide an update for the delivery of compensation in 2025? I would be pleased to get those figures for the United Kingdom, but in particular for Northern Ireland.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I am more than happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with the figures for Northern Ireland, as I have done in the past; he knows that I am always happy to do that. On the timescale for payments, I have already indicated that the first payments for infected people will be out the door by the end of this year. I have undertaken to bring forward regulations relating to the affected people, and to get them through the House—subject, of course, to the House’s approval—by 31 March of next year, so that payments to the affected can start in 2025.

G20 and COP29 Summits

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I was able to discuss AUKUS with the Australian Prime Minister in the G20, as I have done on previous occasions when I have talked with him, including our full commitment and pressing on to the next stages.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

On behalf of the Democratic Unionist party, may I send our sincere sympathies to the family of John Prescott on his passing? He was indeed a mighty man. He will be missed, but the one thing he has left behind is a legacy, and I think we can all recognise that.

The Prime Minister will be aware that for these summits to be effective, there must be global buy-in. To see world leaders, such as France, among those determining that it was not a good use of time poses a question. If a new format is needed, what discussions has the Prime Minister had with other nations to ensure that meeting environmental obligations is not something to be avoided, but instead is something to get excited about?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s comments on John Prescott and his legacy. I am so pleased to build on that legacy, both on climate, which John felt passionately about, and with the jobs we have been able to announce going to Hull.

Buy-in is a really important issue. It is why we need to show leadership, because we cannot do it on our own—no country can. With the UK showing leadership, we can get the buy-in of other countries in whatever form and in whatever way we can. That is why I worked so hard at COP on this issue, which was raised again at the G20. It is why I am very supportive of the initiatives for private finance to be leveraged in to help other countries meet the obligations they will have to meet.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I would be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that issue further. She brings real expertise from her background in education, and it is essential that we do more to tackle the behaviour that she has identified. I welcome the work of White Ribbon, and I hope other Members will be able to support that work later this month.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

When it comes to young boys and young girls in schools, and when it comes to bullying and, sometimes, things that happen at home, the relationship between the teacher or classroom assistant and the pupil is very important, making it possible to identify problems that may arise at home and then roll over into school. Can the Minister give us some idea of what is being done to improve that relationship, so that children who fall by the wayside can be saved?

Income tax (charge)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt (Godalming and Ash) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to open this day of the Budget debate with you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, for what will be my last contribution as shadow Chancellor. I am aware that may be a relief to Members on the Government Benches, and possibly to those on the Opposition Benches as well.

Yesterday’s Budget was the biggest tax-raising Budget in British history. It was a huge tax on business and takes our tax burden up to German levels for the first time. After the pandemic, the previous Government also put up taxes, but we started to bring them down, because higher tax leads to lower growth. Indeed, the Office for Budget Responsibility said that yesterday’s £40 billion of tax rises would lead to lower pay, lower living standards, higher prices and more expensive mortgages. Without remorse and without hesitation, a triumphalist Government have ripped up the pre-election promises that they made in the biggest ever assault on our economic competitiveness since the 1970s.

Let us look at the promises cast aside so casually. The Chancellor said that she would not change the debt target, because she was “not going to fiddle the figures or make something different to get better results”. Yesterday, she did exactly that. In May she said that Labour policy

“will be fully costed and fully funded. No ifs, no ands, no buts”—

and no additional tax rises. A total of 30 times this year, she promised not to do exactly what she did yesterday. She even said that she wanted to bring the burden of tax down. Ordinary families, small businesses and working people believed her. Yesterday, they were betrayed.

It went further. When we said in the election that taxes would go up by £2,000 per household over four years, the Leader of the Opposition at the time accused the then Prime Minister of a deliberate lie. Three months on, they will go up not by £2,000 over four years, but by £2,000 every year. Paul Johnson called it a

“straightforward breach of a manifesto commitment”.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has today said:

“The continued pretence that these changes will not affect working people risks further undermining trust.”

The OBR said that 76% of the impact of the national insurance rise would pass through to lower wages.

And because the Government planned this all along, we now know why they rushed so fast to concoct the fiction of a black hole—something that was not corroborated by the OBR yesterday. It was cover not just to raise national insurance, but to impose countless other tax rises on working people: capital gains tax up; energy taxes up; stamp duty up; and taxes on family farms up—something we will oppose, for the sake of farmers up and down the country.

Working people whose wages the Chancellor promised to protect will see them go down; businesses whose profits fund new investment will see them raided; markets to which she promised stability are absorbing the biggest tax-and-spend Budget in a generation; and all of us on the outside are left wondering which is worse, the damage to the economy or the damage to trust.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

There is not one person on the Opposition Benches who is not concerned about the inheritance tax changes. If I am honest, I do not think there is one Member on the Government Benches who represents a farming community and is not also worried. The measure has been universally condemned by all the farmers I have spoken to, and I live in a farming community. The National Farmers Union, the Ulster Farmers Union and others are up in arms about this inheritance tax. The sum of £1 million draws everybody into that scheme, and because of that, we must vote against it. I say to those on the Government Benches: guys, you have got it wrong, and this time you will be condemned. When it comes to election time, the people who you have hurt will remember.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Please stop using “you”, Mr Shannon.

Ministerial Code: Policy Announcements

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Can the Paymaster General confirm that the Chancellor receiving £7,500-worth of free clothes and declaring them as office support is a breach of the ministerial code?

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

rose—

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I must say, the Conservatives have learned absolutely nothing. They trashed ministerial standards and standards in this House when in government. [Interruption.]

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[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

There are a range of ways in which the hon. Gentleman can get answers for his constituents, from written parliamentary questions to securing a debate in Westminster Hall or an Adjournment debate. He does not have long to wait for the Budget, and he will have four days of debate afterwards to raise that point.

[Jim Shannon]

I say this very gently to the Minister, but it must be said: throughout his term, Mr Speaker has been painfully clear that there is a procedure for this House that we must all follow. Does the Minister not agree that this Government, who have come to power on a mandate to do things the right way, must pay respect to that convention? It is not in place simply due to tradition but to ensure that policy changes are heard and debated in this Chamber first, which is the purpose of this House, rather than heard and debated in TV studios throughout the country with a simple nod in the direction of the discourse of democracy.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I have huge respect for this House, to which the hon. Gentleman is a frequent contributor. The Government’s respect for the ministerial code, for Mr Speaker and for Members of this House is absolute.

Black History Month

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

I thank my hon. Friend for that suggestion; she has done a lot of work in that area. I know the Black Cultural Archives really well, having visited it on many occasions over the years. I, too, am concerned, and I will be happy to work with Ministers, alongside my hon. Friend, to look at ensuring that its legacy continues.

It was a special honour to join Mr Speaker last week in Speaker’s House to mark Black History Month—it was truly a hot ticket. It was a pleasure to hear my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) speak on that occasion. She reminded us of the terrible hate that black Britons faced in the 1950s and 1960s, and how working-class communities came together to protect one another when the fascists came to town. Jewish, Irish and Asian communities, as well as the settled white communities, worked alongside the African-Caribbean communities.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the Minister for leading the debate, and I think it is only fair also to commend the hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for initiating it. Does the Minister agree that the celebration of culture and heritage, as well as their accomplishments, is something that benefits everyone in our community? The strength of this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has its foundations on our ability to be British and yet to be so much more.

[Ms Oppong-Asare]

I completely agree. I mentioned how in the past different communities have come together alongside the African-Caribbean community, for example to fight the blackshirts, the National Front, and the British National party. These are the shoulders on which many of us stand. Alongside Bernie Grant and my fellow Ghanaian —and great friend—Lord Paul Boateng, they lit the path for so many of us to walk down.

I do not want the House to think I am only going to mention those of Ghanaian descent, even though we make the best jollof rice—do not let my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) tell you any different. But there is one more Ghanaian person I must mention, as I always do in this month: Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, the co-ordinator of special projects for the Greater London Council, who organised the first recognition of this month in 1987. In the 1970s, he had seen the Americans celebrate black history and believed that Britain should do something similar.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Georgia Gould]

I agree that procurement can be a powerful tool for delivering change in our society. Public sector procurement can help to drive our ambitions around growth, opening up opportunities for communities across the UK. The Government are currently consulting on a new national procurement policy statement that will set out our expectations around mission delivery and social value.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister for her very helpful answers. What steps have been taken to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises in Northern Ireland, and further afield in the United Kingdom, have readily available access to the public procurement system, to ensure that they can secure the best goods for their business and thereby help our economy in Northern Ireland to grow?

[Georgia Gould]

Supporting SMEs through procurement is a huge priority for the Government. It is one of the things that we are consulting on as part of the new national procurement policy statement that I talked about. We are looking across our work in government to ensure that SMEs are part of the procurement process. This is a subject on which we will come back to the House.

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[The Minister without Portfolio (Ellie Reeves)]

We have seen record numbers of our fellow citizens—2.8 million—excluded from the workforce because of long-term sickness. This Government recognise that taking action to improve health outcomes and address economic inactivity is vital for achieving sustainable economic growth. We will produce a White Paper to get Britain working. That will support other steps that we are taking across Government, creating more good jobs in clean energy through our modern industrial strategy, making work pay and improving the quality of work through our new deal for working people. We are also committed to cutting NHS waiting times, improving mental health support so that we can tackle the root causes of inactivity and fix the foundations.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, the right hon. Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds), gave a very helpful reply to a question on infected blood compensation. What discussions has he had with victims and families of the infected blood scandal in Northern Ireland since the final report was published in August this year?

Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Reeves]

Is it any wonder, given the sort of things that went on over the past 14 years? The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to apologise to the Commons for failing to declare more than £50,000 in outside income. There was also that £15,000 trip to a luxury villa on Mustique. No wonder they could not keep their ethics advisers in place when that sort of behaviour was going on at the heart of Government.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

There is a duty on all Members and Ministers to ensure transparency regarding gifts received. Does the Minister agree that more work needs to be done to clarify the rules around the declaration of hospitality and gifts to ensure that the rules are equal and fair for all, regardless of parliamentary status?

[Ellie Reeves]

I thank the hon. Member for his helpful contribution. That is exactly what we seek to do through these changes.