European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate and it is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones). Like other hon. Members here tonight, I am very concerned about the Government’s proposals, and the serious implications for our country and for the local community in my constituency. The negotiations have produced a deeply flawed draft agreement, and I am very concerned about how our relationship with other European countries could develop. I firmly believe the proposals are against the national interest, and could damage our economy and harm local communities across this country.

Other Members have made clear and telling points about the weakness of the UK’s position should these proposals be agreed. I want to associate myself with the speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), and I commend the speeches made by the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr Gyimah) and my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker). I do not accept the Government’s assertion that we either have to accept the proposed deal or have no deal, and I am pressing for a much closer and more sensible relationship with the EU. The United Kingdom would simply be in a dreadful position if it were to sign up to the Government’s Brexit deal, yet, they are still seeking to foist this deal on our country. That cannot be right, which is why I will vote against the deal, and I urge other Members here tonight to do the same.

I turn now to the substance of today’s debate, as I want to speak about the serious impact of the Government’s proposals on my constituency, particularly with regard to immigration. Families are suffering real stress and hardship because of the Government’s policy. Thousands of local residents are from the EU and many families in our area include both British and EU citizens. Imagine the worry and the stress they have suffered during the past two years and let us consider what they are suffering now. The Government’s failed negotiation and lack of a plan for the future have led to families facing enormous uncertainty. Ministers have refused to accept Labour’s alternative, which would offer clarity and certainty to both EU residents in the UK and British citizens in Europe, who are sometimes forgotten.

Businesses and public services also need clarity and certainty, and they have been badly let down by the Government. My constituents in Reading and Woodley are at risk of being badly affected by a shortage of skilled workers caused by the failure of this Government’s policies. The risk to our NHS, in particular, is clear. GPs, our hospital and other services are already under severe pressure: they face increased demand from a growing and ageing population, insufficient funding and the additional problems of high housing costs, which make it harder for medical staff to afford to live in our area. Our local NHS is particularly vulnerable to a loss of staff from the EU, as a large number of EU citizens work in the local health service. EU staff make up just 5% of the total NHS workforce, but the proportion is much higher in my constituency: as many as 12.8% of employees at the Royal Berkshire Hospital are from the EU—two and a half times the proportion in the NHS as a whole.

The deal also risks inflicting serious damage on our local economy. As many may know, Reading is home to a number of IT and telecoms businesses. These international firms are major employers that create a significant benefit to our local economy and, indeed, to the wider area across the south of England and west London. Many have their Europe, middle east and Africa head offices in the Thames valley, and they are there partly because of the access to the EU and the wider pool of skilled staff. Many of these businesses hire skilled staff from the EU precisely because the two-tier visa system for non-EU staff is too expensive and complicated to navigate. There are real concerns that if they cannot bring teams together quickly because of immigration rules or cannot move staff immediately because of visa requirements, there is a serious risk that businesses could away from the UK.

Reading is also home to a number of tech start-ups. These small and medium-sized enterprises drive innovation and add immense value to the local and national economy. Many such small companies are run or were started by EU nationals, as well as by UK nationals. They may well have come to our area precisely because of that international outlook. They contribute their knowledge, entrepreneurship and hard work, and they are deeply concerned about the uncertainty over Brexit, which exposes their businesses to significant and unnecessary risk. Yet despite all the evidence from my area and throughout the country, the Government have quite simply failed to set out sensible plans for immigration.

The Home Secretary told the Home Affairs Committee that the White Paper on immigration would be published in December. We heard Members asking earlier which December that would be. He now says that it will be published “soon” and that it is “unlikely” that Members will see it before the meaningful vote next week. On top of that, the political declaration includes less than a page on the future immigration policy. It commits the Government to ending free movement but fails to include a plan for what will replace it. The Government have quite simply failed to deliver on their promises on immigration. They have failed on immigration, just as they have failed to deliver a Brexit deal that protects jobs, workplace rights and frictionless trade for UK businesses. This simply is not acceptable. Members from all parties have a right to know what the new immigration system will look like before we cast our votes next week.

I have never accepted that it is a choice between the Prime Minister’s failed deal and no deal. No Government have the right to plunge the country into chaos as a result of their own failure.