Debate on the Address
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
Today’s King’s Speech has laid before us an ambitious and exciting vision that will benefit our country and my Preston constituents for decades to come. In particular, I welcome the announcement that the Government will be introducing a new publicly owned company, Great British Energy. As a first step, it will take back control of our energy supply, producing cheaper power for our country, and ensure that profits go back into our communities. As a Co-operative party MP, I want to see more community energy companies based on the Co-operative model.
Not only will Great British Energy generate clean energy, but it will cut energy bills and deliver good jobs. This news comes when our constituents are desperately in need of support. For too long, they have been exposed to the energy insecurity created under the previous Government, which has seen a cost of living crisis and bills skyrocketing to eye-watering prices.
Every family and business in Britain are still paying the price of 14 years of Conservative failure with sky-high energy bills. The Conservatives have squandered our advantage in clean energy and left the country dangerously exposed to international energy markets manipulated by dictators such as Vladimir Putin.
Under Labour’s plans, oil and gas giants that have made record profits from energy insecurity in this country will now be held accountable. A windfall tax on their excess profits will benefit the entire nation, lifting the burden off the public. Working alongside the private sector, we have the opportunity to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030. That investment in renewable energy is an investment in our future. We need to harness the advantage of our long coastline along with our engineering capabilities to become energy independent again. We need to invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy to ensure that we have the long-term energy storage that our country needs. We need to accelerate investment in energy infrastructure. That can be achieved by the Government’s green prosperity plan, which involves investing in cutting-edge green technology to create 650,000 jobs in the industries of the future by 2030.
The previous Government were slipping more and more towards climate denial, but it is critical—now more than ever—that the UK commits to our future by doing all that we can to achieve net zero, setting a good example to the rest of the world. I have been extremely fortunate to experience first hand the progress that has been made on that over the years. As someone who worked as a professional electrical engineer before entering full-time politics, I have always been very conscious of energy consumption issues and their impact on the environment. I also served as a Member of the European Parliament, where I sat on the Environment and Consumer Protection Committee, where we helped to develop the European emissions trading scheme. I am strongly in favour of clean energy and our mission to move towards a clean energy transition as a matter of urgency.
Under the previous Government, I sat on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee from its inception, where I worked with colleagues to hold the then Government to account and focus on the issues so acutely felt by the public, particularly their soaring energy costs. During the Blair years, as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the former Member for Derby South during her three years as the Environment Secretary in the Cabinet, I became extremely aware of the crucial importance of reducing emissions as quickly as possible. Indeed, when the former Member for Derby South became Foreign Secretary, she achieved the huge goal of placing climate change on to the UN Security Council’s agenda for the first time. Since then, the seriousness and urgency of the global challenge of climate change has only accelerated. It is not just a green issue now; it is a security issue.
I am proud and energised by the fact that this Government are committed to tackling climate change and doing so in a way that brings the public with us and encourages international collaboration. By creating jobs and opportunities that stimulate the economy and slash energy bills, we are ensuring that, together, we can become a clean energy superpower, become energy independent, reach our net zero goals and secure our future for generations to come.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(8 months, 1 week ago)
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The Prime Minister
Unlike both the Liberal Democrats and the Labour party, who believe in top-down targets that decimate the green belt, we believe in local people having a say over their local communities. That is why we are committed to protecting and enhancing the green belt. The national planning policy includes strong protections to safeguard this important land. I note that my hon. Friend’s local plan is currently under review by the council, which has indicated that it will be updating it, and I hope my hon. Friend and her constituents engage with that process to help shape Guildford for future generations.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Prime Minister
As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have explained to the Opposition repeatedly that the findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative are gravely concerning. It is clear that the status quo is unsustainable, and we need urgent action now to avoid a famine. The UK is doing all it can to get more aid in and prevent a worsening crisis. Two thousand tonnes of UK-funded food aid, including flour and hot meals, is being distributed by the World Food Programme in Gaza today, as we speak, and it is enough to feed more than 275,000 people. We will continue to do everything we can to alleviate the suffering that people are experiencing.
Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
It is with great sadness that I rise to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and send my condolences to the royal family on behalf of the people of Preston. The Queen has been with most of us for all our lives, through many times of difficulty and crisis, including wars. Her reign began as the Korean war was just coming to an end, and ended six months into a war closer to home in Ukraine, which is having a huge economic and security effect on all our lives. She reigned through Suez, the Falklands, the Gulf war, Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya, to name just a few, and through pandemics such as covid and foot and mouth. She saw mass unemployment in the 1980s and our present cost of living crisis, the like of which this country has not seen in 40 years.
Throughout all those extremely difficult times, the nation could always look to the Queen for a sign that, whatever happened, life for most of us would continue and we would come out of the crisis at hand. She offered reassurance. She provided a sense of security, and a feeling that, because of the length of her reign and the fact that she was around at the time of the second world war, life would go on in this country and most people would get through whatever difficulties we faced. Continuity was her hallmark.
We all have our own memories of our meetings with the Queen, but my fondest memories of her are of when Preston was selected to receive city status in 2002, the year of her golden jubilee. She came to Preston, and I had the pleasure of accompanying her, and chatting with her and Prince Philip, as she walked around the newly anointed city. She was charming, polite, witty, kind, and interested in taking the time to speak to people in the crowds of thousands who turned out to greet her. She will be an impossible act to follow, but I am confident that King Charles III will step up and make his own unique mark on our public life in this country. The right hon. Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) commented on his views on climate change and I remember the work he was doing on conservation in eastern Europe. I am sure that he will make his mark and have his own influence on whichever Prime Minister serves in the future.
Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth, and God save the King.
Easter Recess: Government Update
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(2 years, 7 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman asks an elaborate question; let me give a simple answer: I have apologised and continue to apologise, and what I want to do is get on with the job.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
When is the Prime Minister going to stop dissembling, distracting and deflecting and start telling the truth to this House?
The Prime Minister
At all times, I have spoken in good faith to this House.
Human Rights Legislation
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Dominic Raab
I thank my right hon. Friend. He has been a long-standing champion of this issue, and has had a long-standing interest in it. I think the separation of powers between the legislative, the Executive and the judicial branches is really important. We want a robust judiciary, which is why we are proposing to strengthen the primacy of the Supreme Court—it is called a Supreme Court for a reason, and there is not a doctrine of precedent in Strasbourg. We also need to make sure that if there are expansions of human rights, the shifting of the goalposts that frustrates many of our constituents, they are subject to the democratic scrutiny of this House.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State said in his statement that the Government will make it crystal clear that the UK courts are under no duty to follow Strasbourg’s case law, so will it be a matter of pick and mix from the articles contained in the convention? If that is the case, using the Secretary of State’s logic, what is the point of being signatories to the ECHR when he has made it clear that the Government will choose only those articles they feel are appropriate?
Dominic Raab
With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, he has not followed the point that I was making. We will stay within the European convention. There are some articles, such as article 8(2), which admit a qualification to protect security. We will avail ourselves of that. The issue is about the interpretation of the application. There is no doctrine of precedent in Strasbourg, which is one of the areas of confusion that has arisen because we do have a doctrine of precedent in the UK courts. We will make it clear that it is for UK courts to apply in relation to UK case law and UK circumstances and, above all, to follow the will of the elected lawmakers. When there is a declaration of incompatibility and the courts will be free to still use that tool, that should come back to this House to decide what to do.
EU Exit: End of Transition Period
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(4 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
With the end of the transition period fast approaching and our borders with the EU woefully ill-prepared for the trading arrangements a no-deal Brexit will bring, may I ask the Minister how the £700 million he has announced will, over the three months he has available, enable us to recruit and retrain the hundreds of new customs officers required to carry out border checks? With so little time left to fully test, install and commission the smart infrastructure technology required to implement those checks, is this not just another example of what the whole of Brexit has been about—wishful thinking and self-deception, rather than accepting the reality on the ground?
Michael Gove
The first part of the hon. Gentleman’s question was, I think, very apposite. The £705 million is being made available of course to ports. It will also help pay for inland infrastructure, but I should stress that much of that infrastructure will be required only when we ourselves are imposing checks, which will not come until next July. Any individual Member of this House who will be seeing infrastructure built in their constituency will be contacted, if they have not already been, by my colleagues Lord Agnew and the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch and Upminster (Julia Lopez).
Oral Answers to Questions
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(5 years, 6 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
We are committed to taking decisions, supported by a hard-headed, technically-informed assessment of the risk. We discuss security issues very closely with our allies. We have put in place a review of the 5G supply chain to ensure that we have a secure and resilient roll-out of 5G, and the decisions of that review will be announced in due course. Our priorities for the future of telecommunications are stronger cyber-security practices, greater resilience in telecoms networks and diversity in the market, and those priorities drive our thinking.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Prime Minister
The reference I made to the impact of poverty on children living in a household where both parents are working is a correct one—that is a fact. What is also the case is that there are more people now receiving the full benefit to which they are entitled as a result of universal credit being introduced. We see disabled people in the household actually having access to more funding as a result of universal credit. Universal credit is ensuring that people not only get encouraged into the workplace, but when they are in the workplace they are able to keep more of the money that they earn. This is in direct contrast to a legacy system from Labour that meant that over a million people—1.4 million people—were left on benefits for nearly a decade.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(5 years, 7 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
We are obviously working to improve education for every child, regardless of what part of the country they live in or their background. As I made clear earlier, we are putting more funding into our schools through to 2020. We have recently announced an extra £250 million over two years for the high needs budget, together with extra money for children with special educational needs. My hon. Friend references the funding formula and the distribution of funds. The new national funding formula is about distributing funds more fairly, and historically underfunded schools will be receiving the biggest increases, of up to 6% per pupil, this year through the schools formula. We will also be allocating additional funding to small, remote schools that play an essential part in rural communities. We have recognised the need to introduce a fairer funding formula, and that is what we are doing.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Prime Minister
The way to ensure that we develop a sustainable solution to poverty is to have a strong economy and a welfare system that helps people into work. That is what universal credit does—200,000 more people in work as a result of introducing universal credit. Work is the best route out of poverty. The evidence is that a child growing up in a home where all the adults work is around five times less likely to be in poverty than a child from a home where nobody works. We are making sure that we encourage people into the workplace. There are more jobs out there; more people in work; a record level of people in employment. Work is the best route out of poverty.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(5 years, 9 months ago)
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Chloe Smith
I am somewhat familiar with the issue because of my proximity to the Broads Authority in my constituency, but I suspect this question may be for a colleague to answer and I will ask them to do so.
Topical Questions
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr David Lidington)
Last week, I announced new measures, as part of the follow-up action to the Government’s racial disparity audit, to improve outcomes for ethnic minority students in higher education; to ensure league tables reflect performance in addressing inequalities; and to encourage higher education providers to make their workforces more diverse.
Sir Mark Hendrick
Some 16% of the adult population of this country has some form of disability, yet when I look around this House, I see very few Members with a disability. When are we going to see an effective Access to Elected Office Fund? We need a Parliament that is representative of the public it serves. When are we going to be like that?
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chloe Smith)
I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman raises this issue. He is right to say that we need to raise that level of participation. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Women and Equalities is working on a fund that will help that to happen. Furthermore, a statutory instrument will be before the House next Monday that will help with this by addressing election expenses.
Leaving the EU
Mark Hendrick Excerpts(5 years, 10 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend has made a very important point about the timing. In agreeing the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration, we have the opportunity to start those negotiations—to get that work going—before the European parliamentary elections take place in the summer. It is indeed right that the European Union cannot negotiate that legally binding text and sign up to it until we are outside the EU, but is willing to start the negotiations so we can ensure that we are in the best place possible to deliver the future relationship in December 2020.
Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
Why is the Prime Minister prepared to hold the House to ransom? She knows that she will lose the vote tomorrow, and she still insists on the exit date of 29 March in spite of calls for article 50 to be extended. Would she really want to see this country crash out of the EU, with all the losses of jobs and business that would go with that?
The Prime Minister
I have made it very clear that if people want to avoid no deal, what they should be doing is supporting this deal. As I am sure the hon. Gentleman will know, businesses such as BAE Systems have said that it is a good deal and should be supported.