Illegal Immigration

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Ben Bradley

Tuesday 13th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Someone has flashed a camera. It is quite serious to take photographs in the Chamber. If the Member knew they had taken a photograph, I would expect them to leave the Chamber. It is totally unacceptable to disrupt the Prime Minister when he is speaking.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con)]

It was an accident.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope the photograph is deleted. Go out and have a chat with the Serjeant at Arms, because it did not look that way to me.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Ben Bradley

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Member without a tie, Ben Bradley.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con)]

5. If he will bring forward measures in his autumn statement to increase financial support for local councils.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Ben Bradley

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Minister, we need to calm down. [Interruption.] I am not being funny; you are taking advantage of a situation and I do not expect that. [Interruption.] It is no use looking at me in that way. Trying to score points at the end is not the way we need to do it. We need shorter answers to get through the questions as well.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to ensure the (a) fairness and (b) effectiveness of sentencing policy.

Business of the House

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Ben Bradley

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Obviously, there is no overwhelming evidence for that, but let us head to Mansfield with Ben Bradley.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con) [V]]

The Government have put levelling up at the heart of their agenda for this Parliament, but the fundamentals that underpin many of our structures are sometimes contrary to that aim, not least the Equality Act 2010, which embeds identity politics and physical characteristics into everything that we do but ignores the socioeconomic and geographical inequalities that really drive disadvantage. Can my right hon. Friend find the time for us to debate that in the House, and to debate how we might reform things to seek equality of opportunity and fairness rather than to artificially equalise outcomes?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend makes an important and good point. He is a dogged campaigner on this issue, and I commend him for raising ways in which we can improve our approach to equality and disparity. I refer him to the words of the Minister for Women and Equalities, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), who said in December:

“We will not limit our fight for fairness to the nine protected characteristics laid out in the 2010 Equality Act”,

which have arguably led to a narrowing of our discussion about inequality, neglecting factors such as socioeconomic status and geography. I hope my hon. Friend will join me in welcoming the Minister’s announcement that an equality hub is being established. It will truly broaden our understanding of equality in the UK today and it will work closely with the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, so excellently led by the Minister for Equalities, my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Kemi Badenoch).