Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Harper Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mark Fletcher (Bolsover) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to strengthen the Union.

[Mr Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to strengthen the Union.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

What steps is he taking to strengthen the Union.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jack]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The support provided by the broad shoulders of the United Kingdom Treasury is staggering and simply unprecedented in peacetime. As he said, there are jobs being supported by furlough and an extra £14.5 billion provided to the Scottish Government through Barnett funding, and I would point out that 530,000 claims have been made in Scotland under the self-employment income support scheme, so far totalling around £1.5 billion.

[Mr Harper]

Is it not the case that the success of our vaccine programme, which was a combination of successful UK Government procurement and then an NHS roll-out in the individual nations of the United Kingdom, is a fantastic example of the two Governments in Scotland—the UK Government and the Scottish Government—working together, which is exactly what we should see in the future? That demonstrates the strength of our Union, and we should fight to keep it in place.

[Mr Jack]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. The vaccine programme has been a huge success, and it was UK-wide procurement delivering vaccines on a UK-wide basis.