Points of Order

Joe Robertson Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I thank the right hon. Member for his point of order. He will know that Ministers themselves are responsible for their words at the Dispatch Box. Those on the Treasury Bench will have heard his concern, and I am sure that they will pass it on to the Minister. He is an experienced Member, and will know that a number of routes are available to him to pursue questions to the Government on this issue. The Clerks in the Table Office can advise him further, if need be.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

On a point of order, yesterday in Westminster Hall, the Maritime Minister, the hon. Member for Selby (Keir Mather), may have inadvertently misled the House. I confirm that I have given the required notices. The Minister stated on three occasions that a Court of Appeal judgment changed the legal status of maritime coastguard rescue officers. That simply is not true. The Court of Appeal confirmed worker status that already existed and has existed for years; it is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, backed by the Government, that is now seeking to change the status of those brave heroes to that of unpaid volunteers. Madam Deputy Speaker, can you advise me on how I can seek to get the record corrected?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for notice of his point of order. Members on the Treasury Bench will have heard his point and will doubtless communicate it to the Minister, who is in his place, who will be able to consider whether there is anything in his remarks that requires correcting or whether, taken as a whole, they gave an accurate account of the situation.