Article 50

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Single sentence questions, please, with the abandonment of any preamble that colleagues might have in mind.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

Although the Secretary of State should take seriously amendments proposed to the forthcoming Bill in good faith, I invite him to give short shrift to those who seek to use amendments to derail or delay a vital process.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Oh, never mind. We will bear the hon. Gentleman in mind for subsequent questions.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

11. What progress the Government have made on modernising the courts system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Thursday 19th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

The events of the—

[Mr Speaker]

It is Question 5.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

5. How many flood defence schemes are planned for construction as a result of Government investment up to 2021.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Monday 21st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

If the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) can overcome his natural shyness, we will hear him.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

17. Vulnerable people in supported housing particularly stand to benefit from the roll-out of universal credit, if it is done in the right way. When I went to visit the Salvation Army housing association in Skegness, there was concern about whether support would be in place to ensure that people spend the money over which they now have control in the best way. What support will be available to ensure that we get that right?

Investigatory Powers Bill

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Report: 2nd sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 7th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I would like to call the Solicitor General no later than 5.48 pm, and there are three people whom I wish to accommodate before then—Members can do the arithmetic for themselves. We have just under nine minutes to go. I call Matt Warman.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

I rise to talk briefly about both journalists and internet connection records. I have heard an awful lot of comments about journalism, and I agree with all of them. Indeed, had the Government not moved some of the material from the codes of practice into the Bill, I might have struggled to support it. At every stage, we will struggle to construct anything useful unless we define what a journalist is, and I find it hard to see how that is possible. In this modern age, I am painfully conscious that, in some senses, we are all journalists ourselves. Almost all of us write columns for our local paper. Arguably, we could all be regarded as journalists simply because we commentate via Twitter on what is going on in politics. I struggle to see what more the Government can do—as much as I would like them to do it and as much as I would like to support new clause 27. Unless we come up with a workable definition of journalism, I struggle to see how we will make what I regard as genuinely very necessary and very helpful progress on a hugely important issue.

On the second point on internet connection records, it strikes me that although they have frequently been compared with a telephone record or an itemised phone bill, it is simply not a sensible comparison in the modern world when we make far fewer voice calls. That sense of an ICR telling us simply that a user has gone to Facebook misunderstands the fact that knowing that someone has gone to Facebook if they are a missing person, for example, allows us then to go to Facebook and make that crucial next step to find that person. Although an ICR does not tell us a huge amount of information, it tells us enough. We in this House have a duty to do everything that we possibly can in this regard and to bear it in mind that it is not us but communications providers who hold that information. I very much welcome what the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) said about having concerns about access, rather than about the principle of what I hope we can all agree is a potentially vital tool in this vital battle against both crime and missing persons.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Wednesday 4th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

That was very, very dedicated of the Secretary of State. It was, if I may say so, an elastic—one might almost say a liberal and possibly a democratic—interpretation of the question on the Order Paper.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

9. One of the best ways to reassure our constituents that our money is spent wisely is to release as much data as possible about where it goes. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, so can the Secretary of State reassure me that we will go further and release even more data than we already have to reassure our constituents?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least in this session, I call Matt Warman.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

18. During the election campaign the then roads Minister came to my constituency to consider a new Boston distributor road and the opportunities it might present. It has been on the drawing board for the past 60 years, so will this Minister commit to continue the good work of his predecessor and come to look at that site again to see when we can finally get some shovels in the ground?

Business of the House

Debate between Matt Warman and John Bercow

Thursday 25th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As I mentioned earlier, a statement by the Secretary of State for Transport will follow these exchanges, and thereafter there is to be a very well subscribed debate. Therefore, there is a premium upon brevity. I am looking for single, short supplementary questions, preferably without preamble, and the Leader of the House’s characteristically pithy replies.

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

Yesterday I initiated a well-attended Westminster Hall debate on superfast broadband. Does the Leader of the House agree that that matter is vitally important to all our constituents and should be debated more fully?