Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I think this is my hon. Friend’s first business question, and she is a fantastic new MP for South Derbyshire who is yet again raising an issue of concern for her constituents. She will know that the Government are committed to delivering a package of reform to transition to a circular economy, which will dramatically reduce our reliance on waste incineration. We will back new waste incineration projects only where they meet strict new conditions, which we recently set out. This issue gets raised many times in business questions, and I can see that the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee is still in his place. My hon. Friend should get together with other colleagues and try to secure a broader debate on the matter.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House allow time for a debate on the importance of volunteering, to celebrate community spirit? Coldstream community council recently hosted a senior citizens’ Christmas party in the town’s community centre. Over 100 local residents enjoyed a belated Christmas meal and entertainment, but it would not have happened had it not been for the hard work of the volunteers. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Fiona Shepherd, the community council and the team from Presenting Coldstream for making that event happen, and for everything they do to support the Coldstream community?

[Lucy Powell]

I absolutely will join the hon. Gentleman in congratulating those people and organisations from his constituency—Coldstream community council, Fiona Shepherd and others. The Christmas lunch sounds like a wonderful way of bringing people together. The hon. Gentleman attends these sessions regularly, and I am waiting for an invitation to his constituency to see the great things that he often describes. He has highlighted another one today.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in the efforts to rebrand Blue Monday as Brew Monday. I am sure that is something we can all participate in and support. She is absolutely right to highlight the issues of suicide and mental health support. I know that they are a real personal priority of the Health Secretary, and I am sure that he will keep the House updated on any progress.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Center Parcs is planning an exciting new development in my constituency in the Scottish Borders. It will be the first Center Parcs in Scotland, and it will bring £350 million of investment and create 1,200 extra jobs for the area. However, due to under-investment by the SNP Government in Edinburgh, there are concerns about the capacity of the road network, particularly the A7 through Selkirk, to deal with the extra visitors and tourists. Would the Leader of the House allow time for a debate to consider how rural communities can attract greater investment when there are concerns about the adequacy of the transport system and road network?

[Lucy Powell]

Again, I thought I was being invited to Center Parcs. I am very partial to a water slide, should colleagues ever want to invite me to a Center Parcs. The hon. Member raises the serious point that when much-needed investment and great new facilities or services come into a constituency, we need to ensure that we have the infrastructure and roads to support them. The SNP Government in Scotland have just got a record settlement in the Budget, so they have no excuse not to support the road he talks about.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue, and for writing to me and to the Modernisation Committee about it. I absolutely understand her motivation —to ensure that the House of Commons and, indeed, the wider Parliament is a safe place for people to work, and that our constituents and others can feel safe in their interactions with us. That is why over recent years, we have developed more robust systems around those issues, and we are looking further at them. However, I say gently to my hon. Friend that we need to strike a balance that ensures we can also represent our constituents freely and openly.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

This week, Scottish Labour announced that it will abstain to allow the SNP Government’s Budget to pass through the Scottish Parliament. This is now typical of Scottish Labour, sitting on the fence and not standing up to the SNP in Scotland. Does the Leader of the House agree that there should be a statement on the UK Government’s priorities for Scotland, considering that her party promised change but is now endorsing the same old SNP tactics?

[Lucy Powell]

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation. Scottish Labour and the Labour party have done more than most to stand up to the failures of the Scottish Government, of which there are many. That is why we have returned a record number of Labour MPs in Scotland who won seats directly from the Scottish National party. The Scottish National party and the Government there now have a huge amount of extra money thanks to this Government’s Budget. They have the powers to get that money to the frontline, and we want to see the lives of people in Scotland improved, but we believe that that will be done better when people vote for Scottish Labour in the future.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating the University of Northampton. It sounds like it has a strong track record. He will know that we have inherited a really difficult situation when it comes to higher education funding in this country, but the Secretary of State for Education is focused on that matter and I know that she will keep the House updated on her plans.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House allow time for a debate so that we can pay tribute to our young sporting heroes? I am sure that all Members have many examples, but 22-year-old cyclist Oscar Onley from Kelso was recently awarded the title of male rider of the year by Scottish Cycling after becoming the first Scottish-developed rider to start the Tour de France for 31 years. Will she take this opportunity to congratulate Oscar on behalf of us all?

[Lucy Powell]

Absolutely. I join the hon. Member in congratulating Oscar on his fantastic achievement. Oscar was really breaking some ground there—cycling in the Tour de France as a Scottish-developed cyclist.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I wish my hon. Friend a happy birthday as well. I am sure he was already aware that he shared his birthday with His Majesty the King, but his is of course a much more important occasion—for this House today, anyway. I thank him for again raising that important matter for his constituents. He has already become an important Member of this place and is continuing to raise issues that affect Macclesfield, and particularly Poynton pool. He will know that community engagement is really important in these matters. I encourage him to raise that further in an Adjournment debate.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

I have long campaigned for the Borders railway to be extended from Tweedbank to Hawick, Newcastleton and on to Carlisle. The last Conservative Government, with the SNP Administration in Edinburgh, committed through the Borderlands growth deal to fund the feasibility study to look at that extension. Shockingly, the new Labour Transport Secretary has put this under review. Can the Government make a statement to clarify whether they support this important cross-border transport link?

[Lucy Powell]

This Government are committed to upgrading our woeful rail infrastructure, which has suffered 14 years of neglect and under-investment from the hon. Gentleman’s party. I am afraid that many of the plans, like the one he described, were works of fiction. They were agreed to in theory, but there was no budget line at all given to them in the books. That is why we are fixing the foundations and ensuring that every single commitment we make—

[John Lamont]

The money was there.

[Lucy Powell]

The money absolutely was not there in this case. We are ensuring that we can take forward all these rail plans with confidence.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the right hon. Member for raising that wonderful suggestion. As she spoke, I heard many Members of this House also voice their approval of that. She will know how to secure such a debate, but it would certainly have my support. The Royal British Legion and Poppy Scotland are just two of the organisations that help us commemorate and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Earlier this week, the hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Ms Qaisar) attacked the Prime Minister over his race. In a nasty social media post, the SNP Member suggested that the Prime Minister was the wrong type of Asian. Does the Leader of the House agree that the Member should apologise, and will she consider holding a debate—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. I presume the hon. Gentleman has told the hon. Member that he would be mentioning her.

[John Lamont]

I have, yes.

Does the Leader of the House agree that the Member should apologise, and will she consider holding a debate on divisive rhetoric in politics in the light of recent hate-fuelled statements made by SNP politicians?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. The overwhelming sentiment across the whole of the UK, whatever people’s political differences, is that we should be incredibly proud that this country has its first British Asian Prime Minister. The hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Ms Qaisar) did, I think, delete her tweet, and she may wish to proactively apologise for it. The fact that she has deleted it shows that she recognises that it was the wrong thing to do. Again, I would just say to our Opposition colleagues that they might like to think about some of their tone and some of the things that their party leaderships say that gives permission for people to do such things.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

To save my civil servants some work and some paper, I shall put on record in Hansard that I will ensure that the relevant Secretary of State hears what the hon. Gentleman has raised.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Nicola Sturgeon confirmed this week that she is pushing for a hard border between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The SNP’s new economic policies would cost businesses a fortune and recklessly risk people’s jobs. Does the Leader of the House agree that we should have a debate on the issue so that the SNP can finally tell the people of Scotland the truth about the enormous economic damage that Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for a hard border would do to Scotland?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes, I am afraid that is the latest wheeze from the SNP to risk jobs and burn taxpayers’ money. Let us not forget that this is the party that, during the pandemic, hired a testing firm at a cost of £10 million that promptly furloughed all its staff. In fairness to them, they did try to guarantee some jobs: they paid a company to the tune of £5 million per job and then failed to secure any of those jobs. Audit Scotland said of the Scottish Government that it had no framework for dealing with the private sector. Most spectacularly, the Scottish Government paid the cost of 24 ferries for just two vessels.

Replacement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

John Lamont Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Lovely though I am, I think that people want to hear from the Chancellor. They want to hear the detail of the policies that are changing, and hon. Members will want to ask him about how that will affect their constituents. That is what we should be focusing on today.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

I very much welcome the speed at which the new Chancellor has acted. Can the Leader of the House confirm that the Chancellor and all members of the Government will continue to work with colleagues on the Back Benches to ensure that we are able to communicate the great successes of this Conservative Government to all parts of the nation?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I know that the Chancellor wants to work with all Members of this House in the interests of all our constituents. I hope that there will also be opportunities to talk about our record in government and how we have transformed this country for the better since 2010.

Business of the House

John Lamont Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

As the hon. Lady kindly says, I am personally very concerned about that issue—I know that all Members across the House are. It would be an excellent topic for a debate. In addition to the reports that Sir Stephen Bubb has produced on the issue, he has produced a plan of social capital available to enable the transition into more appropriate care services. I hope all hon. Members will agree—I hear my colleague on the Front Bench, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland) agreeing—that this issue must be resolved.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

At the weekend, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, made clear that she detests Conservative voters, who make up one in four people across Scotland. Does the Leader of the House agree that it would be worth while to hold a debate on the use of that kind of divisive and dangerous language in politics?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have always thought that the people of the United Kingdom are kind, positive and tolerant. We stand up to bullies. We have lively political debate and different views, and that makes us stronger as a nation. I can tell my hon. Friend that, happily, in my experience, political movements based on hatred and division always fail as a consequence, because the British people are better than that. However, organisations that promote such hatred and dissent should be scrutinised.

English Votes for English Laws

John Lamont Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

EVEL was a genuine attempt in good faith to answer the long-lasting West Lothian question on the asymmetric nature of devolution. However, EVEL is a cumbersome and ineffective constitutional innovation that has won few friends in its short life. Its abolition would simplify our procedures and remove a source of resentment. It would reaffirm the fundamental constitutional principle that we are one United Kingdom with a sovereign Parliament comprising Members elected on an equal basis, representing every community in the land and able to make laws for the whole kingdom. It would be the Unionist act of a Unionist Government.

EVEL has introduced a layer of complex and time-consuming bureaucracy into the legislative process. It has also, as we have heard, given our nationalist opponents a pretext to degenerate the UK Parliament. Worse still, as the procedure is set out only in Standing Orders, it would provide no meaningful protection in a hypothetical situation in which a UK Government lack a majority of English MPs.



My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is the first Prime Minister to be Minister for the Union. He is abolishing EVEL on Unionist grounds. The principle underlying his decision to become Minister for the Union and underlying that this Government’s whole approach to the Union matters is that this Government are for the whole United Kingdom, accountable to a Parliament representing the whole United Kingdom. This is a qualitative difference that separates the UK Parliament and the UK Government from the devolved legislatures and Administrations. On this basis, the Government have a constitutional and democratic mandate to serve the whole UK, as they do in the exercise of reserved responsibilities and through measures such as the UK Internal Market Act.

[Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP)]

I am following the hon. Member’s argument as closely as I can, and it seems to be that he is arguing that the Government brought in EVEL to strengthen the Union and now are scrapping EVEL also to strengthen the Union. Does he realise that this just makes it look like his Government are clueless, directionless and, when it comes to the constitution, simply making it up as they go along?

[John Lamont]

I do not accept the hon. Member’s analysis. The introduction of EVEL was an attempt to answer the West Lothian question, which many people have struggled with for many years. But listening to the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart), it is very clear that he loves this place so much and wants to participate. I sometimes wonder whether he really does want independence for Scotland, given his great love of taking part in parliamentary activity here at Westminster.

The existence of a parliamentary procedure that separates English or English and Welsh MPs from Scottish and Northern Irish MPs offends this core principle of acting for the whole of the United Kingdom. As we have heard, it allows our nationalist opponents to misrepresent the treatment of Scottish MPs at Westminster as second class. In the very short time available to me, let me say that, however well intentioned, the severe limitations of the EVEL procedure are now very apparent for us all to see, and retaining it would serve no practical use whatsoever. The time has come to put it out of its misery.