Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Monday 10th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

You got there.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the West Midlands Combined Authority that the selfsame Andy Street presides over is the second worst performing CA in the UK, judging by its growth figures. In that circumstance, should the public of Warwickshire not have a say in any potential merger with that combined authority, as is proposed in the Secretary of State’s levelling-up Bill that is going through the House of Lords?

[Michael Gove]

I have great respect for the hon. Gentleman, but why does he think that Warwickshire cannot compete on the world stage as part of the West Midlands Combined Authority? Why does he have such little confidence in the people of Warwickshire? He has referred to the Mayor of the combined authority. Andy Street is the Mayor who has done most to deliver and, indeed, exceed housing targets as Mayor of the west midlands. Who has done the worst? Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Monday 27th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

There will be no return to the Vagrancy Act. We will work with the Home Office to ensure that there are appropriate measures to deal with any form of antisocial behaviour, but criminalising rough-sleeping and begging is not on the agenda.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

I have leaseholders in my constituency of Warwick and Leamington who are unable to sell their properties because the properties have not been painted for 40 years, despite the freeholder’s obligations. Why have the Government actually postponed their leasehold reforms from this Parliament?

[Michael Gove]

They are coming: we are going to introduce those reforms in the next Queen’s Speech.

Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

2nd reading
Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I give way to the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western).

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is being generous. On housing and the constraint of local authorities, in my constituency, we have an over-supply of 4,000, which a previous Housing Minister described as “very ambitious”—in other words, too much development. May I bring him back to the lack of GPs in infrastructure supply through development? Will he make NHS Providers a statutory consultee in any of these developments?

[Michael Gove]

Let me reflect on that in Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Monday 24th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Yes.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will be aware that Warwickshire County Council is keen to have some sort of county unitary deal, but he will also be aware that Warwick District Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council recently voted for a combined council—probably with the intent of a unitary one as well. Should it not be down to not the councillors or the Secretary of State, but the public to decide the future of local government across our country?

[Michael Gove]

I welcome the moves across Warwickshire to consider how services can be delivered even more efficiently as part of the economic success story that is the greater west midlands. In particular, I commend the leadership of Izzi Seccombe, the leader of Warwickshire County Council. The fact that she and her group continue to be re-elected with ever greater levels of support indicates that she is in a strong position to help bring people together across the constituency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Thursday 11th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

What plans the Government have to help ensure the May 2021 local elections are covid-secure.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Michael Gove)]

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will take the questions from my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth Valley (Ian Levy) and the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) together.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: democracy should not be cancelled because of covid-19. The polls that are scheduled for May will go ahead, and it is important that he and others communicate with his constituents. Of course, social media provides one means of doing so. At the moment, door-to-door campaigning and leafleting are not allowed because of covid restrictions, but we will be reviewing how we can make sure that he and others can keep faith with the constituents who elected him so memorably just over a year ago.

[Matt Western [V]]

The public will be expecting covid-safe and fair elections in May. Presently, households are receiving flyers for pizzas and takeaways delivered by individuals, but volunteers are not supposed to be delivering leaflets for political parties, although some are clearly ignoring that. In local elections, the public need representatives who will speak up for them and not for property developers such as the six leading Tory donors that have given £4.5 million, an increase of 400%, since July 2019. Does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster agree that if only paid-for leafleting were allowed, that would be a disastrous disservice to our democracy?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman makes a series of important points. It is quite right that some political activists have been leafleting on the ground in a way that current rules do not allow for, and we deprecate that across the House. His broader point is right as well, of course; we must make sure that our democratic processes are free from any taint of interference. He is also right that the role of property developers needs to be scrutinised when we are looking at how we clean up our politics, and I know that he will be as eager as I am to make sure that Unite the union does so as well.

EU Withdrawal Agreement

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right: there is more work to do. I always enjoy any opportunity to be in Northern Ireland with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. My right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) was an outstanding Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and he makes a series of very important points that I take completely to heart.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Honda has just announced that it has had to pause production because of problems with getting components through ports. Does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster suggest that failing to get those parts is entirely down to Honda, or do the Government share some of the blame?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Thursday 12th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not think we need more political broadcasts. We have had a good day today. We are meant to have short, punchy answers to these questions, not rhetoric.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

  Speaking of political broadcasting, I understand that the Government are going to spend £217 million in this financial year promoting adverts, mostly on covid, such as “We’re all in it together” in our local papers and so on. They are very fluffy ads, featuring bakers and so on. How are the Government going to measure the success of that campaign when we are clearly not all in it together, as demonstrated by the north of England?

[Michael Gove]

Well, we are.

Civil Service Appointments

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Of course it is the case that there will always be turnover in the civil service. The normal length of tenure for someone in a permanent secretary role is five years, and it is also the case that previous Governments, in order to ensure that they could achieve their agenda, had political appointees. It was the case that the previous Labour Government had, in the persons of Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell, two political appointees who were given the power through Order in Council to give direction to civil servants. My hon. Friend is right that we need to ensure we have the broadest possible talent pool and an exciting agenda of reform.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

We have heard that we lost Kim Darroch, Philip Rutnam, Simon McDonald and now Mark Sedwill. In appointing Sir David Frost as National Security Adviser, is this what the Minister meant in June 2016 when he said that

“people in this country have had enough of experts”?

Does he believe now that we have gone from “Yes, Minister” to “Yes, special adviser”?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reminding me of what happened in 2016, when the people of this country voted to leave the European Union. I am afraid that he has edited what I said at the time, which was that we had had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms that had got things wrong in the past. I was specifically referring to the legions of economic modellers in organisations like the IMF and the CBI who argued that we should join the euro and then were proven wrong because we were successful outside the euro. My own view is that expertise is to be applauded and should be rewarded, particularly in quoting opposing politicians. So I hope that he will look back again at the record and gently correct it.

Preparations for Leaving the EU

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Tuesday 8th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I think it would, and, to be fair, the attitude of EU member states and others towards the proposition that we have put forward would, I hope, be warmer and more flexible if they knew that it had support across the House. The hon. Members for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) and for Stoke-on-Trent North (Ruth Smeeth) issued a cautious welcome to the deal, as did the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock). If that were the view of those on the Opposition Front Bench, it would be better for the whole country.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

May I pick up the point about this being a comprehensive summary? There are two sentences referencing border inspection posts, which will seriously impact our food and fish exports. There will be only nine, as I think the Secretary of State understands. That will lead not to hundreds of certain certificates being issued, but to tens or hundreds of thousands. Does he agree that we do not have the capacity in our local authorities or the vets to service that?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The key thing is that we will be taking a continuity approach towards the flow of goods into this country. We will not be administering checks for the EU when EU businesses export to us. The EU will, of course, impose checks under its acquis, although the French authorities, for example, have ensured that the border inspection posts for shellfish will be in Boulogne-sur-Mer. That means that fish caught in Scotland on Tuesday can be on sale in France on Wednesday without any impairment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Thursday 28th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

10. What recent assessment his Department has made of the economic effect of rural crime on farmers.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Michael Gove)]

There is no formal assessment of the cost of rural crime, but NFU Mutual, the highly respected insurance organisation, has estimated the cost of rural crime at £44.5 million in 2017.

[Matt Western]

Two weeks ago, I was due to meet the National Farmers Union and farmers from my local community. Unfortunately, on the day, one of the farmers could not attend because the previous night 19 ewes had been slaughtered in his fields. I understand that across Warwickshire we lost 27 ewes, slaughtered in the field, with entrails left there. It is a growing problem in our communities, among our farmers, with a significant economic impact on them. Part of the problem is down to lack of law enforcement and police numbers. Will the Secretary of State advise me on what I should say to farmers in my community about how to prevent this in future?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue. He once more brings to our attention a horrific series of crimes. I would hope that he and I will be able to talk to the local police and crime commissioner to ensure that they have the resources and powers required. If anything more is required, I am more than happy to talk to Home Office colleagues to ensure that the incidents he has drawn to the House’s attention are not repeated.

Transport Emissions: Urban Areas

Debate between Michael Gove and Matt Western

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I will investigate what we can do.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that rather than pursuing HS2, a greater priority would be the introduction of regional public transport schemes to electrify our rail lines, and to encourage the introduction of hydrogen and electric buses in our towns and cities?

[Michael Gove]

I do not think it should be a case of either/or.