Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He is absolutely right. The Government are completely clear that our commitment to international law is resolute, and we are following the necessary processes in that regard. The Foreign Secretary has made it clear that he is undertaking a comprehensive review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law. He has also made it clear that he will update the House as soon as that process is complete. I hope that that will be soon.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time to consider the civil rights situation in Bangladesh, where violent crackdowns on protests have led to the killing of hundreds and a draconian communications blackout that is causing immense concern to my Bangladeshi communities and the wider community?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. The Government are deeply concerned by the violence in recent days in Bangladesh. The loss of life is unacceptable, and the right to protest must be protected and restored. I will ensure that the Foreign Secretary has heard her question and is able to update her and the House at the first opportunity.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I am sure this is an important matter for the hon. Member’s constituents. I do not have the answer today, but I note that Transport orals will be coming at some point soon. I will therefore get him a response from the Transport Secretary, and if that is not forthcoming, I am sure he will apply for a debate in the usual way.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)]

Congratulations on your re-election, Mr Speaker. Some 47% of children in my Liverpool Riverside constituency are living in poverty—nearly one in two—and I am sure that the Leader of the House agrees that that is unacceptable. While I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of the taskforce, it did not mention the removal of the two-child cap. Will the Leader of the House grant parliamentary time to discuss the removal of the two-child cap and dealing with child poverty?

[Lucy Powell]

I know the issue is close to my hon. Friend’s heart. As an incoming Labour Government, we are absolutely committed to tackling child poverty and all the root causes of child poverty. That is why the Prime Minister announced the Government taskforce looking at these matters yesterday. We were clear in our manifesto that the economic circumstances do not currently allow for us to abolish the cap. Economic stability is the single biggest thing we can do to ensure that children do not fall into poverty, because when the economy crashes it is the poorest in society who pay the heaviest price. I think my hon. Friend has tabled some amendments to the Loyal Address, and I sure she will have ample opportunity to debate them over the coming days of the King’s Speech debate.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

On the substantive issue that the hon. Gentleman raises, he will know that we have done a huge amount to tighten up regulations on dog breeding and the sale of animals. If he has any further ideas, I would encourage him to persist in raising them with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, because it is keen to ensure that we have the best animal welfare in the world; its track record in legislating demonstrates that.

We already have done correspondence training sessions with Departments, correspondence teams, and parliamentary Clerk teams. I have done training on this issue personally, as have my staff, and we will continue to do so. We are making a big push on the training that we offer to Whitehall, and we had all the permanent secretaries in Parliament, talking to the Leader of the House of Lords and me about our expectations. I take this very seriously. If the hon. Gentleman needs any further help getting satisfaction from DEFRA, we stand ready to assist.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

We are in the run-up to the mayoral elections, in which there will be a requirement for a valid form of voter identification. Constituents in my Liverpool, Riverside, constituency who turn up with their 60-plus local travel pass will be turned away from the polling station, unlike people in other parts of the country that have something similar. Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time to discuss these disparities and people being disenfranchised as a result?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady will know that we do not think that will be a consequence of requiring people to prove who they are when going to vote, and there is a great deal of flexibility over what ID can be used. If she thinks that people in her constituency are being treated differently, I will be happy to write to the Minister with responsibility for the constitution to ensure that there is a legitimate reason why the returning officer in her area will not accept that particular form of ID.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for campaigning on this, and what he has said will have been heard by Ministers. There is Transport questions next Thursday, as well as the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill coming back to the Floor of the House next week. I will pass on his concerns to the Minister.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

This week I met the families and loved ones of prisoners held under the imprisonment for public protection sentence, The Government abolished these sentences in 2012, but not retrospectively. As of September 2022, 2,890 people are still serving an IPP. Seventy-four prisoners have committed suicide, including Donna Mooney’s brother Tommy Nicol, who committed suicide in September 2015. He described his sentence as psychological torture. Will the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time to discuss this most important issue?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important point, and I express my sympathies to Donna and her family for what has happened. I am happy to write on the hon. Lady’s behalf to both the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to raise her concern. I encourage her to facilitate a meeting with the relevant Minister.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for being the second Member to raise those issues. I will certainly take that up with the new Foreign Secretary.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

Today, the National Education Union and the Daily Mirror have relaunched their “No child left behind” campaign, which calls for urgent action on child poverty. Will the Leader of the House call on the Secretary of State for Education to roll out free universal school meals to at least all children in primary schools, to prevent children from going hungry?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I will certainly raise what the hon. Lady says with the new Secretary of State. I also encourage her to put those questions directly to him at the next round of questions.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I have announced the business for the next two weeks. The House will rise on 21 July. We await the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon; I am not about to pre-empt what he may or may not say, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that the functions of government continue and will continue to move forward.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

The Public and Commercial Services Union is opposing the closure of Toxteth jobcentre in my constituency, along with other centres nationally, and challenging the proposed 91,000 job cuts across the wider civil service and the attacks on pay terms and conditions across Government Departments. Will the Leader of the House grant an urgent debate in Government time so that we can scrutinise the Government’s plans to negotiate with PCS to avoid jobcentre closures and attacks on pay and conditions?

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Lady is perfectly at liberty to apply for a Westminster Hall or Adjournment debate on that matter. It is worth recognising that there is huge global inflationary pressure and we as a Government must act responsibly with fiscal responsibility to ensure that we do not add to that inflationary pressure. That will require some pay restraint across the country.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I am glad that the hon. Lady recognises that legal routes are the best routes to get to the United Kingdom. We have a great track record to celebrate. We are a very compassionate country: we have taken refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and now Ukraine, and that will continue. The Home Office is working very hard to expedite the process as quickly as possible.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

In 2016, a court judgment established that joint enterprise had been incorrectly applied for more than 30 years, but research by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies with the campaign group JENGbA—Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association—supports the belief that that judgment has had little to no effect on joint enterprise convictions. Young black men are disproportionately targeted. Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time on the miscarriages of justice arising from joint enterprise laws and on the legislative solutions, including a private Member’s Bill, that are needed to correct those historical and current injustices?

[Mark Spencer]

I hope that the hon. Lady will be present for Home Office questions on 20 June to raise those matters directly with the Home Secretary, but let me say now that the Government take the fight against crime very seriously. That is why the Queen’s Speech included an economic crime Bill and a victims Bill, and that is why we have committed ourselves to providing an extra 20,000 police officers, 13,500 of whom have already been recruited. Dealing with crime is at the top of our agenda, and we are delivering on that.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 21st April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

Unfortunately, my right hon. Friend missed Health questions this week and the opportunity to ask the question of the Health Secretary himself, but I am sure that there will be further opportunities to do so. He is right to highlight the plight of those who suffer with diabetes, and also those who may have mild diabetes without realising it. He has contributed today in highlighting that so that more people may think about their health and get checked by a GP if they feel any symptoms.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

Liverpool has a long-established Somaliland community and they were devastated when fire destroyed the Waheen market in Hargeisa. Can the Leader of the House explain how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is supporting Somaliland, and can he call on the Foreign Minister to consider granting diplomatic recognition to bring positive changes to the country?

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. Somaliland is an important part of Africa. I am sure that the FCDO will continue to engage with the Government there. She will have the opportunity to raise this matter at the next Foreign Office questions, but it may be something that is worthy of an Adjournment debate, so that she can take more time to lay out her concerns.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister was in Saudi Arabia this week, days after 81 people were executed by the same regime that has been waging the devasting attacks on Yemen since 2015. The long-established community in Liverpool, Riverside has called on the UK Government to halt arms sales to the Saudis in order to end the humanitarian crisis. Can the Leader of the House make some time for a debate on that humanitarian crisis?

[Mark Spencer]

I know the hon. Lady took the opportunity to engage in the urgent question earlier in the week. I emphasise again that the way to influence regimes around the world is to go and engage with them, to sit opposite them, to hold them to account and to challenge them face to face. The purpose of the Prime Minister’s visit was to engage with our colleagues around the world, to try to influence them and to lead them in a direction that is better for human rights.

Business of the House

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that issue. I think the message to the BBC is that Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. It is crucial that the BBC is not only impartial but seen to be impartial. The BBC must ask itself, if it is going to make an appointment from the Huffington Post, whether it would make an appointment from the Guido Fawkes website, a similar news outlet, except a rather more accurate one, on the right rather than on the left. I think the BBC would be astonished by my suggestion. Would it make an appointment from Conservative Home or from The Daily Telegraph? It seems unlikely, and therefore it is problematic when the BBC looks at left-wing outlets and thinks that that is impartiality.

I also think that it is more serious than that, because the BBC has a number of dedicated, really good quality journalists, who are genuinely important—the Laura Kuenssbergs, the Martha Kearneys and the James Landales of this world. One has no idea of their political opinions at all, and rightly so. That is the model of the BBC. That is the best of the BBC, and people like that are undermined if Caesar’s wife is seen to be suspect.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab) [V]]

The night-time economy is very important for Liverpool, and the Baltic Triangle is hugely important to Liverpool’s cultural offering and nightlife. The agents of change principle was embedded in the national planning policy framework in 2018. It was designed to protect music and cultural spaces from noise complaints and potential closure in the event of new residential properties being developed beside venues. However, it is only advisory and not working in practice, so a well-loved and important music venue in my constituency, 24 Kitchen Street, now faces closure owing to neighbouring property developments. Will the Leader of the House provide a debate in Government time on how to strengthen the protection of pre-existing venues and businesses within the planning system?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I understand the importance of the night-time economy more broadly, and note the hon. Lady’s reference to the Baltic Triangle in her city. My concern may be equal but different. People move into villages and then complain about the church bells and the church clock chiming. I think frankly that is idiotic. If one moves in somewhere, one must put up with what is there already, and one should not be able to stop things that have been going on for hundreds of years, in some cases. Some people move to the countryside and complain about cocks crowing. Why on earth did they move to the countryside? Why did they not stay in a town, or put ear plugs in or something? I am very sympathetic to what the hon. Lady is saying. I cannot promise her a debate in Government time, but I will ensure that her very good point is raised in the right quarter.