Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Monday 14th March 2022

(2 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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Absolutely. We are of course working with the Scottish Government, and the scheme that will go live this week will allow individuals anywhere in the United Kingdom to offer to act as sponsors. We have explained to the Scottish Government that we just want to crack on.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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Britain and Ireland are both surrounded by water, and neither is part of Schengen, yet Ireland has taken three times as many Ukrainian refugees as Britain despite having a population 13 times smaller. Why?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I will never criticise the Irish Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Thursday 27th May 2021

(2 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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Rother Valley is a centre of enterprise in South Yorkshire, and it contains brilliant businessmen such as Mr Don Wightman, who is a manufacturing superhero. He, like his Member of Parliament, recognises that the new trade opportunities that Brexit brings, and indeed the new opportunities for smarter regulation, mean that enterprises in Rother Valley and across Yorkshire have a very bright future.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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Perhaps the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster should have read the warning signs when Dominic Cummings used to sign in at his Department, when he was Secretary of State for Education, under the name Osama bin Laden. That might have been the moment when he could have dealt with the issue. On the right hon. Gentleman’s responsibility on public appointments, what is going on with that of Ofcom chair? We read in the paper today that, apparently, the appointment process has been scrapped and is to be restarted because Paul Dacre failed under the current rules, so those rules are being rewritten so he can apply a second time and be appointed.

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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Public appointments to Ofcom are of course a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. I should say that the hon. Gentleman would be a superb chair of Ofcom, given the range of experience that he brings. That would mean, sadly, having to stand down from his position in the House, but I think we would all welcome that sacrifice for the greater good.

Northern Ireland Protocol: Disruption to Trade

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Wednesday 13th January 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I should say that colleagues in HMRC and other Government Departments have been working hard to meet the new requirements of the protocol, but I will be vigilant, and I know my colleagues will, for any unintentional inflexibility or gold-plating of any of these rules. That is why I am so grateful to him and others for bringing specific examples to my attention, because then we can act as an administrative Dyno-Rod in order to clear these blockages.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab) [V]
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On 30 September, the Northern Ireland Secretary acknowledged to me in the House that there were going to be checks in Northern Ireland, but on 1 January he tweeted:

“There is no ‘Irish Sea Border’.”

Is not this default position of denial, denial, denial by Ministers hampering businesses in dealing with the reality of new checks and failing, failing, failing the people of Northern Ireland?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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No, no, no.

EU Exit: Negotiations and the Joint Committee

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Monday 19th October 2020

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I join my right hon. Friend in praising the efforts of the Transport Minister, who has been incredibly energetic and determined to make sure that colleagues in Kent from all parties are kept informed on the progress of our preparations. The smart freight portal is being shared with hauliers and others as we speak. It is currently in its beta phase and we want to ensure that it is further refined, but the straightforward approach that it should provide should enable us to minimise any disruption that my right hon. Friend or his constituents face. I am absolutely confident it will be in place; if it were not, other measures would need to be taken, but they would not be as helpful as the smart freight system.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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We have heard it all now: it is just, according to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, “an unfortunate sequence of events”, otherwise known as the Lemony Snicket defence—all the fault of evil uncle Olaf and his foreign friends. But on the serious point about this, consider how it will affect, for example, our musicians who go on tour. They are usually not part of large operations. They might take their instrument, fly on a budget flight, try to sell some of their merchandise, cross a few borders in the European Union—that is how they scrape a living. They are making no money now. Will he please consider the consequences of no deal, admit that this is not a frivolous issue but a matter of people’s livelihoods, and seriously engage with it rather than take this frivolous and superficial approach?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but I certainly would not take a frivolous approach towards the livelihoods of anyone, whether they are freelance musicians or anyone else who contributes to the health, prosperity and economy of this country. That is one of the reasons why we are so anxious to secure an agreement with the European Union and why we have been working so hard and in such a dedicated fashion in the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee. I mentioned earlier that as a result of the progress that we have made with Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, the rights of 4 million EU citizens in the UK are now guaranteed, as are the rights of over 1 million citizens of the UK in the EU. More needs to be done to ensure that we can have a free trade agreement, but I absolutely take seriously the rights of citizens—whether they are, as I say, freelancers or others—to continue to be able to work and live freely.

EU Exit: End of Transition Period

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Wednesday 23rd September 2020

(3 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I was not aware that there were any diaries being published this week.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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You should read the Daily Mail.

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I will look out anxiously when I next pass Waterstones in Camberley.

On the substantive point that my right hon. Friend makes, he is absolutely right. There is no better champion of the automotive sector than the West Midlands Combined Authority Mayor, Andy Street. The roundtable that I had with him, as well as the opportunity I have had with him to visit Jaguar Land Rover to talk to Ralf Speth and others, have impressed upon me the importance of doing everything we can to support that sector, on which so many jobs depend. That is why we are so anxious to secure a deal.

--- Later in debate ---
Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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My hon. Friend is right. We want to help and support business. That is why we have provided the funding that we have. One reason for publishing the reasonable worst-case scenario today is to draw attention to the fact that, if we do not all work together, there will be disruption, but if we do work together, there are huge opportunities to be seized.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan
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Seven thousand HGV lorries parked end to end would stretch from this building to Dover—that is the scale of the problem that the Minister has set out. Where will the 29 extra lorry parks be? We need to know that. This is about Government preparedness. His statement seemed to be all about passing the blame on to business for the chaos being caused by his Government.

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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No. The hon. Gentleman, by emphasising that figure, is helping, because what we want is to avert that scenario. As I pointed out, it is not a prediction, but it is a warning. He is right that there is a responsibility on Government, which is why we have invested in the sites in Ebbsfleet and North Weald, Ashford, Warrington and the west midlands. Should we need to deal with specific areas of traffic management in Kent, steps have been taken with the Kent resilience forum to do just that. The reason for publishing the scenario today is to avert that happening. I hope he will work with businesses in his constituency to make sure they let Government know what more they need to be ready.

Public Services

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Tuesday 28th April 2020

(3 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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The number of tests capable of being administered and being administered has increased significantly in recent days, as we move towards our 100,000 target. My hon. Friend is right: careworkers are at the front of the queue. We now have across the United Kingdom 48 testing centres, each of which will have two military units assigned to them, in order to be able to do mobile testing, and care homes are our first priority.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab) [V]
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I want to press the Minister further on what he said to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) about deaths in care homes. He said that “every life is precious”. We know from the CQC that 4,343 people died in care homes between 10 April and 24 April, and that is just up to four days ago. We now know that one in three people are dying from covid in care homes. Why are the Government not doing a better job of valuing every tragic loss and informing policy better by making it a real priority to have up-to-date figures on all deaths from covid-19?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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We do value every life. Every life is precious, and the deaths of those in care homes, in our hospitals and in the community are a source of grief, sadness and loss to us all. The figures that we produce are the figures that the Office for National Statistics validates. It is vital that Government figures are supported by the ONS, so that they are robust and detailed, but we will work with everyone constructively to ensure that we have the appropriate data and our response is tailored in accordance with those facts and with the science.

European Union: Future Relationship

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Michael Gove
Thursday 27th February 2020

(4 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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Absolutely—financial services matter not just in the City of London, but in Edinburgh, Perth, Leeds and across the United Kingdom. It is a dynamic and growing sector and it is important that we make sure we have the right arrangements for them. We hope that the EU will report by June on the prospects for equivalency in financial services. That commitment was made in the political declaration. It did not subsequently appear in the EU’s negotiating mandate, but I am confident that by June the EU will have completed those equivalency assessments.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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In our future relationship, it is important that musicians, performers and so on can move freely and continue to go to Europe, and that European performers can come here on a reciprocal basis. What is the Minister’s understanding of the Government’s position on that?