Business of the House

Debate between Lucy Powell and John Lamont

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue, and for writing to me and to the Modernisation Committee about it. I absolutely understand her motivation —to ensure that the House of Commons and, indeed, the wider Parliament is a safe place for people to work, and that our constituents and others can feel safe in their interactions with us. That is why over recent years, we have developed more robust systems around those issues, and we are looking further at them. However, I say gently to my hon. Friend that we need to strike a balance that ensures we can also represent our constituents freely and openly.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

This week, Scottish Labour announced that it will abstain to allow the SNP Government’s Budget to pass through the Scottish Parliament. This is now typical of Scottish Labour, sitting on the fence and not standing up to the SNP in Scotland. Does the Leader of the House agree that there should be a statement on the UK Government’s priorities for Scotland, considering that her party promised change but is now endorsing the same old SNP tactics?

[Lucy Powell]

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation. Scottish Labour and the Labour party have done more than most to stand up to the failures of the Scottish Government, of which there are many. That is why we have returned a record number of Labour MPs in Scotland who won seats directly from the Scottish National party. The Scottish National party and the Government there now have a huge amount of extra money thanks to this Government’s Budget. They have the powers to get that money to the frontline, and we want to see the lives of people in Scotland improved, but we believe that that will be done better when people vote for Scottish Labour in the future.

Business of the House

Debate between Lucy Powell and John Lamont

Thursday 12th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating the University of Northampton. It sounds like it has a strong track record. He will know that we have inherited a really difficult situation when it comes to higher education funding in this country, but the Secretary of State for Education is focused on that matter and I know that she will keep the House updated on her plans.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House allow time for a debate so that we can pay tribute to our young sporting heroes? I am sure that all Members have many examples, but 22-year-old cyclist Oscar Onley from Kelso was recently awarded the title of male rider of the year by Scottish Cycling after becoming the first Scottish-developed rider to start the Tour de France for 31 years. Will she take this opportunity to congratulate Oscar on behalf of us all?

[Lucy Powell]

Absolutely. I join the hon. Member in congratulating Oscar on his fantastic achievement. Oscar was really breaking some ground there—cycling in the Tour de France as a Scottish-developed cyclist.

Business of the House

Debate between Lucy Powell and John Lamont

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I wish my hon. Friend a happy birthday as well. I am sure he was already aware that he shared his birthday with His Majesty the King, but his is of course a much more important occasion—for this House today, anyway. I thank him for again raising that important matter for his constituents. He has already become an important Member of this place and is continuing to raise issues that affect Macclesfield, and particularly Poynton pool. He will know that community engagement is really important in these matters. I encourage him to raise that further in an Adjournment debate.

[John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)]

I have long campaigned for the Borders railway to be extended from Tweedbank to Hawick, Newcastleton and on to Carlisle. The last Conservative Government, with the SNP Administration in Edinburgh, committed through the Borderlands growth deal to fund the feasibility study to look at that extension. Shockingly, the new Labour Transport Secretary has put this under review. Can the Government make a statement to clarify whether they support this important cross-border transport link?

[Lucy Powell]

This Government are committed to upgrading our woeful rail infrastructure, which has suffered 14 years of neglect and under-investment from the hon. Gentleman’s party. I am afraid that many of the plans, like the one he described, were works of fiction. They were agreed to in theory, but there was no budget line at all given to them in the books. That is why we are fixing the foundations and ensuring that every single commitment we make—

[John Lamont]

The money was there.

[Lucy Powell]

The money absolutely was not there in this case. We are ensuring that we can take forward all these rail plans with confidence.