Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I do. I am proud of the way that the United Kingdom has risen to the challenge of the past three years in a united way, through the capability and funding that we have provided to Ukraine and also by throwing open homes here to those fleeing. I was privileged to welcome some of the families to Downing Street on Monday. It was a human reminder of the impact on them, their children and their families.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

Q10.   The whole House wants the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Trump to be a success, which requires credibility on our defence spending commitments. The Leader of the Opposition gave the Prime Minister the opportunity to rule out unambiguously funding any Chagos deal from the defence budget, but I am not clear that he did that. I want him to be taken seriously in Washington, so I will make it really easy for him: will he rule out funding any Chagos deal from the defence budget—yes or no?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said, when the deal is complete, I will put it before the House with the costings. The money yesterday was allocated to aid our capability and is the single biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the cold war.

Covid-19 Inquiry

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I specifically mentioned local resilience forums in my opening statement for good reason. As I said a moment ago, I think it is really important that we recognise that, in an emergency, the centre, local government and the devolved Governments have to work together in the best interests of the public. I endorse what she said, as I have said a few times today, about the importance of the underlying strength of our health system in such an emergency.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

I want to begin by saying that although the loss of every single life is of course tragic—and I saw that at first hand when volunteering—it is important to note that, despite repeated political attacks at the time suggesting that we had the worst death rate in Europe, now when we look at the figures properly we see that we actually had a lower death rate than Spain and Italy, and that we were broadly in line with Europe. I caution against diminishing the results of a national effort, which was actually broadly in line with other countries, in a desire to make political attacks on the Conservative party.

As exhaustive as the inquiry’s proposals for things to look at is, to my mind I see a big gap which relates to the decision making of MPs. The inquiry does not seem to cover that. Those of us on the Government Benches—equally, it could be said of those on the Opposition Benches—were often faced with very difficult votes that were expected to go down to the wire and were asked to make very difficult decisions. MPs’ access to independent advice and scientific briefings was nowhere near like it should have been. If the right hon. Gentleman agrees that that is not part of the current inquiry, can he at least accept that it is a task for the Cabinet Office to think how we can better equip MPs with the information they need to make decisions on important votes of that nature?

[Pat McFadden]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his service to the public during the pandemic, and anybody who worked or volunteered in the NHS or in other ways for what they did. Of course, MPs and the Government must have access to the best information they can, but I remind him of something else I said in my opening statement. In the end, the accountability for policy and resource allocation decisions lies with the Government of the day. I do not say that in a partisan way. It is important to establish it as an understanding of how we deal with these things in future.

Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

Not for the first time, the right hon. Gentleman has made some wise points, and I am grateful to him for doing so. I accept much of what he has said about the concern surrounding tariffs, but these tariffs have not been set up with financial constraints; they have been set up with the input of a range of experts to reach a judgment on what would be appropriate versus what would be a legal entitlement. The assumptions behind those bandings—severity bandings, for instance—now need to be explained and scrutinised, and that is what is going to happen.

The right hon. Gentleman made a very reasonable point about claims by unscrupulous people; the question here is how we can put safeguards in place while expediting the claims of those who have qualified. He also made a reasonable point about the professional support of lawyers and financial advisers. That, too, is at the top of my mind as I learn from some of the other scandals with which I became familiar in my role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. I will take those to heart in future.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

Let me begin by paying tribute to my constituent Paul Bloor for his campaign. Paul started at Treloar College in 1974, and was infected with hepatitis C from contaminated blood products. I regret that I personally had not grasped the full horrendousness of what has gone on, and I thank Sir Brian for ensuring that we do all now understand. Paul welcomes the compensation, but he asked me to raise with the Minister the issue of accountability. What work is being done to ensure that we can now pursue any avenue towards personal accountability for those who deserve to have their conduct looked at?

[John Glen]

I completely understand why Paul would want that point to be raised. Those matters go beyond my brief when it comes to compensation, but I think the whole House will recognise that this matter is urgent and that Ministers in other Departments will need to address it properly and in full. I hope that the debate after Whitsun will give us an opportunity to open up all these matters as a House, and that the Government can then respond appropriately as quickly as possible.

Some of the things that happened were completely against the values of the institutions that those individuals were part of. We need to examine this fully and come to terms with it, and make sure that it can never happen again.

Iran-Israel Update

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we want to see, and remain committed to, a two-state solution, and we are working hard to bring that about, but the biggest cause of regional instability is the pernicious influence of Iran, and nobody else.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that even those who want to link the conflict between Israel and Hamas with the conduct of this attack have to recognise that, since its inception decades ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran has sought the destruction not only of our way of life, but of Israel and its people, and we should never hesitate to play our part in preventing that?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Wednesday 14th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

Last week I was pleased to deliver my report on the opportunities provided by deep geothermal energy, and I look forward to my visit next week to the opening of the Eden project’s deep geothermal plant, championed by my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double). Will the Prime Minister join me in meeting Members who want to emulate my hon. Friend by enjoying the benefits of a deep geothermal plant in their own constituencies?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his work on that report: I know that he is rightly passionate about this area. The Government support the development of geothermal projects in the UK, provided that it can be done at an acceptable cost to consumers and in an environmentally friendly manner, and I will ensure that he gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss his report and ideas further.

Civil Service Impartiality

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

The tragedy is that a public servant’s hard work over a long period of time is called into question, given the nature of the process that appears to have taken place. That is incredibly unfortunate, but the Labour party could help to fix that by being a bit transparent, very open and saying, “This is what actually took place; these are the dates; this is who met and this is where they were.”

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

This is nothing to do with Sue Gray—the lady could be our first living saint, for all I care—but it is about the roles that she had in government. I could not think of a more sensitive position than head of propriety and ethics, where Ministers need trust. It is not about my party, either—seven Labour MPs have been sentenced to jail over the past 10 years. If they had been in government, I think she would have been quite busy with them, too. It is about those on both sides of the House being able to trust Ministers. I have to agree with colleagues that the trust is already broken. We cannot now have a discussion with someone in that position and be sure that they will not cross over to the other side. Is it time to look at introducing regulations to ensure that this kind of thing cannot happen in such sensitive roles?

[Jeremy Quin]

My hon. Friend closes this urgent question by noting that it is not necessarily about Sue Gray and her actions. She is a public servant who has, for many decades, worked hard at the heart of government. It shows a miscalculation and a misstep by the Leader of the Opposition. I can only assume that it was inadvertent—I have to hope that. This matter has caused more problems, because in some people’s minds it has called into question the perceived impartiality of the civil service. That was a misstep and a mistake; the Leader of the Opposition should accept that and set out transparently what happened and when, so that we can have absolute clarity on what took place.

Independent Public Advocate

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Wednesday 1st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I certainly agree with the thrust of that. The IPA will be fully independent once it is established, with all the powers of advocacy and with the expertise to give voice and expression to the victims and the bereaved. On the compulsion of data or access to evidence, we need to ensure that we reconcile that with the powers an inquiry might be exercising and that we do not end up with either a legal muddle or an ineffective process.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

I join colleagues in paying tribute to my fellow member of the Justice Committee, the right hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), for her long campaigning on this issue, which the whole House recognises.

I am interested in the issue of legal representation that other Members have raised. How would the IPA interact with that, and what support might be there in accessing legal advice when, as others have said, it may face public bodies with well-funded legal teams that family members will not necessarily have access to?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. In general, inquests should be inquisitorial, fact-checking processes, and the 2019 review into legal aid for inquests, which he may recall, underlined the importance of us keeping it that way. There are, of course, circumstances, such as article 2 inquests or where there is significant public interest in the outcome, where legal representation may be available under exceptional case funding. I mentioned more about the detail of how that will work in my statement.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

It is a privilege for me to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II today on behalf of the people of Crewe and Nantwich and surrounding villages. I did not have the honour of meeting the Queen, but in a testament to her decades of service and the diligent attention she paid to every corner of her realm, Her Majesty visited the area numerous times. In 1972, she opened Leighton Hospital. In 1987, she opened Crewe Heritage Centre and visited Crewe Works. In 1995, she was greeted by 200 south-west Cheshire scouts at Crewe train station, and in 2010, she visited Reaseheath College in Nantwich.

As others have said, a visit by the Queen—the handshakes, the conversations, even just distant glimpses—stay in people’s memories. Leighton Hospital’s longest-serving member of staff, Phil Malam, now aged 69, talked about the visit as part of the hospital’s recent 50th anniversary celebrations. The visit took place just a few days after the then 19-year-old began working as a hospital porter. He wrote:

“It was a very special day…I remember we lined the corridor and the Queen spoke to quite a few of us as she walked past. She was really interested in what we did and thanked us—a lovely lady.”

That is absolutely typical of how people describe interactions with the Queen: “She was really interested in what we did and thanked us.” Over 70 years, I cannot even begin to imagine the number of conversations, handshakes, school and hospital openings, state occasions, visits by dignitaries and tours abroad—70 years of unwavering service to this country and her people, always interested, always smiling, always polite. In the age of celebrity, where to be famous is to be of interest to others, the most famous woman in the world was more interested in others. What drove her was a sense of duty and, as others have said, her wish to keep that promise that she made at just 21: to devote her life to our service. It was a promise solemnly made, and solemnly kept.

Why does that stir such strong sentiment in us? I think it is because we know our failings as humans are often rooted in self-interest of one kind or another: our desire to be important or admired, to achieve things, to be celebrated, to think mostly of ourselves and our family and friends. When someone extends the bonds of service to an entire nation, as the Queen did, to people she would never meet or know—when we see someone embodying the best of what it means to be human, the opposite of self-interest—that inspires us. It gives us a glimpse of what we are all capable of. That is why I admired the Queen.

But, as she embodied us, the millions who undertake acts of community and voluntary service embody her as well. The scout leader, the children’s Sunday league football coach, the parkrun or marathon steward, the parish councillor, the Samaritans helpline volunteer, and the litter-pick group member all follow her example. Now I look at that final picture of her taken this week, and in retrospect, I think there was a deeper meaning to that final act of service than I realised at the time. Right at the end of her life, when perhaps for the rest of us our own comfort would come first, Her Majesty was once again absolutely determined to put her promise to us first—one last desire to help her people and her Prime Minister, entering another period of difficulty and uncertainty, to take that first step towards it with her yet again at our side. Now, rest in peace, Your Majesty. God save the King.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I very strongly agree with the hon. Gentleman that there are strategic industries that use a lot of energy. We need to do all we can to help them become more energy-efficient, but we also need to make sure that they are able to remain competitive in the global marketplace. That is certainly something that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is looking at in preparing this package.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

May I congratulate the Prime Minister on her appointment and tell her that I know my constituents want her to succeed at a difficult time? Outside the immediate challenges of energy and inflation, levelling up remains a priority for them. One way to demonstrate her commitment to levelling up would be to choose a town such as Crewe to host Great British Railways. Will she ensure that levelling up is at the heart of that decision?

[The Prime Minister]

Crewe is, of course, a great railway town—my hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am not going to prejudge the decision that will be made, but what I will be doing as Prime Minister is absolutely focusing on levelling up and making sure that we are attracting the investment and growth into parts of this country that have been left behind, so that they have their fair share of opportunity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman very much. I understand the difficulty that some families will find themselves in. We want to look after everybody throughout the pandemic. That is why we have done things like lifting the living wage in the way we have and increasing the funds available for childcare, but also making sure that councils have an extra hardship fund of half a billion pounds to help families of the kind that he describes through this winter.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

Q12. Following confirmation of the Crewe to Manchester leg of High Speed 2, the Alstom factory in Crewe winning an HS2 rolling stock contract and Crewe’s long history at the heart of our railway industry, does the Prime Minister agree that Crewe is a strong contender for the headquarters of Great British Railways? Can he tell me when the process to choose a location for the new HQ will start?

[The Prime Minister]

My brief says I should be very careful of what I say. I have no doubt that Crewe is a strong contender, but further details of the competition will be announced in the coming weeks. Expressions of interest from places such as Crewe will be very welcome.