Business of the House

Jo Gideon Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Like the hon. Gentleman, I am very keen that we should maintain cordial relations with our friends in the European Union, but without being governed by them. That seems to me an extremely satisfactory way to be proceeding from now on. We do not want to be triumphalist about it, but I think that in a spirit of sympathy to Europe, it would be allowable for some of us at 11 o’clock on Friday to drink some French sparkling wine; I do not think that would be unduly unreasonable.

The Legislative Grand Committee will meet to consider the NHS Funding Bill, because it is a matter that relates exclusively to England and has been so certified, but amendments may be tabled in Committee and on Report, and, as SNP Members know because they used this unusual mechanism recently, even on Third Reading—although they cannot actually change the text on Third Reading, as that has to be done on Report. There are opportunities for amendment, and in the end all Acts of this Parliament require the consent of the whole House by majority.

I will just say one thing about leaving the lights on: I thought the SNP was very environmentally friendly, so I hope it is carefully investigating the carbon cost of this.

[Jo Gideon (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Con)]

I am very concerned about the drop in bus usage in my constituency. A lack of bus shelters too often puts people off using buses. What opportunities might there be to debate what can be done to level up some parts of Stoke-on-Trent with parts of London that have state-of-the-art, solar-powered and vandal-proof bus shelters that provide up-to-the-minute travel information?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

This Government are taking the matter of bus transport extremely seriously and are going to devote some hundreds of millions of pounds to improving bus services across the country. My hon. Friend is right that that includes providing good shelters and up-to-date information, which encourages people to use the buses more often.