Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Wednesday 3rd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Q5.   Labour-run Kirklees Council has, as you know, Mr Speaker, reneged on a deal to house the national rugby league museum at the George hotel. It has also declared a climate emergency, but has one of the worst recycling rates in the country. It is building on green fields and now on green belt. It is demolishing Holmfirth indoor market. We are blighted by litter and fly-tipping. Now it is proposing to chop down mature trees in urban areas—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Sit down a moment, Mr McCartney. I presume you are going to ask a question. You have made a great statement; now ask a quick question.

[Jason McCartney]

Does the Prime Minister agree that local people can have their say on Kirklees Council’s appalling record by voting Conservative this week?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Monday 6th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I say to the Home Secretary that it is not appropriate to make such statements at the start of topicals. If there is a statement, she should come to the House. Topicals are meant to be short bits of business, not to be dragged out. If we stay long today, she will understand why. If there is an urgent question tomorrow, she should not be shocked if somebody has to answer it.

[Jason McCartney]

Whereas most countries have police forces, we are proud to have a police service in Britain, with police officers playing an integral role in the communities in which they live and work. That is why I particularly welcome the 16,000-plus police officers who are being recruited. In West Yorkshire, in my patch, that means 589 additional police officers. What extra will the Home Secretary do to ensure that we recruit high-quality police officers while also retaining those experienced officers in our local forces?

[Suella Braverman]

West Yorkshire police have recruited 837 additional police officers to December, against their total allocation of 852. This is an unprecedented recruitment drive and it gives forces the opportunity to recruit the brightest and the best into policing. It is thanks to this Government’s commitment to policing, to police numbers and to funding that we are on track to recruit a historic level of police officers on the frontline, something that the Labour party has failed to support.

Business of the House

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Thursday 27th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the wonderful sport of rugby league?

[Mr Speaker]

Hear, hear.

[Jason McCartney]

It is the rugby league world cup this autumn, and the new Super League season kicks off in a fortnight, with some of the games for the first time on free-to-air television—they will be on Channel 4—which will be great for widening the notoriety of the sport. Such a debate would also give me an opportunity to express my deep disappointment that Labour-run Kirklees has reneged on an agreement to host the National Rugby League Museum in the birthplace of rugby league, the George Hotel in Huddersfield.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I think we should have a special debate every week on the failures of socialist councils, to which Conservative Members would massively subscribed. Labour Members would probably decide to work from home that day, which is something they enjoy. I cannot claim to be an expert on rugby league. The only sport I know anything much about is cricket, which may be rather embarrassing, under current circumstances, to confess to. But I thought I heard—whether the stenographers of Hansard did, I do not know—a modest “Hear, hear” emanate from the Chair during my hon. Friend’s question. Assuming that it did not come from the Clerks, who tend not to comment on our business, I think that an application for an Adjournment debate may be very favourably looked upon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney]

I know the passion of the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary for levelling up, and I welcome the creation of a Treasury campus in the north-east. When the Treasury next relocates, may I encourage my right hon. Friends to look at Huddersfield, Marsden and Slaithwaite in my Colne Valley constituency? They are strategically located on the TransPennine rail route between Leeds and Manchester, and we are set to have millions invested thanks to the integrated rail plan. We have fantastic former mill sites ready for regeneration, and the Chief Secretary and the Chancellor would be welcome to join me on a visit.

[Mr Speaker]

Be careful how you answer, Chief Secretary. There are two more questions to come.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I just remind everybody that we need brief and punchy questions. I call Jason McCartney to set a great example.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

T3. Sixth-form education will play a pivotal role in building back better after covid. Will the Secretary of State join me, please, in supporting an increase in base rate funding for sixth-form students to at least £4,760 in the forthcoming spending review? Will he also please agree to meet members of the all-party parliamentary group on sixth-form education, which I co-chair?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I just say to everybody who is left, if we are short and quick on answers and questions, I will get everyone in? We are due to finish now, but I will give it a try.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con) [V]]

Will the Minister join me in thanking Sylvia, Fahad and all the fantastic local team who have vaccinated more than 47,000 people in Honley, Slaithwaite and other pop-up sites across Kirklees? Can he respond to one of the questions they are regularly being asked, which is about the rationale of the JCVI guidance that there should be an eight-week minimum interval between jabs?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Wendy Chamberlain is not here, so I call Jason McCartney.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I have been contacted by a number of my Colne Valley constituents who have had operations and medical procedures cancelled or postponed at short notice. With coronavirus cases still on the rise, what is the strategy to tackle the backlog in operations and medical procedures?

[The Minister for Health (Edward Argar)]

My hon. Friend rightly raises an issue that I know will be a concern for constituents of all Members of this House. The backlog of treatment—the waiting list—is over 5 million. However, we are making rapid progress with that, and so is the NHS. We are looking at a variety of ways to do that—not just providing the funding needed to do it, but through innovation, accelerator hubs and diagnostic hubs, all designed to get the waiting list down and to get people the treatment they need when they need it. I would be very happy to discuss the specifics of my hon. Friend’s local situation with him outside this place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I associate myself with the comments of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition about our friend Jo Cox. Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield on his OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours? Kevin has done so much to raise awareness of motor neurone disease and support his good friend Rob Burrow. MND is a devastating disease. There is no cure, but scientists believe they are on the cusp of developing effective treatments. Will the Government please commit to investing £50 million over five years to establish a virtual MND research institute and to accelerate research?

[Mr Speaker]

Prime Minister, I totally agree with that, and it should have been a knighthood.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jason McCartney

Thursday 9th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry, but we now have to go to topicals.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.