Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill

Debate between Nigel Evans and Fiona Bruce

3rd reading
Friday 17th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Bruce]

I thank my right hon. Friends the Members for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) and for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley), and my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) for their speeches today. In particular, I thank the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) for her support. I know that her personal commitment to this issue, from the very many debates we have shared and the all-party parliamentary groups we have worked on together, is genuine and profound. I thank, too, my right hon. Friend the Minister. May I also ask her to convey my thanks to all the Ministers in the FCDO, who have strongly supported the Bill to ensure its passage through this place?

Finally, I would like to thank all the members of the Public Bill Committee for their wonderful support, and the Clerk, Anne-Marie Griffiths, for her unflappable counsel and patience. Thanks, too, to the Comptroller of His Majesty’s Household, my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris) for her terrific and efficient support, and to my private secretary, to Sue Breeze in the FCDO, and, finally, to the Prime Minister’s deputy special envoy, David Burrowes, for his unfailingly wise and calm counsel.

This short Bill embeds our collective commitment and solidarity with individuals across the world who courageously stand for their faith or belief, and do so suffering discrimination, harassment, persecution or worse.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Another person who I know would have been here, and who it is right to remember, is Sir David Amess. He was a huge supporter of the mover of this Bill.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Alcohol Harm

Debate between Nigel Evans and Fiona Bruce

Thursday 2nd February 2017 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Bruce]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, which reflects his long commitment to tackling the issue. I also thank him for his involvement with our all-party parliamentary group.

The NHS incurs an estimated £3.5 billion a year in alcohol harm costs. Treating liver disease alone now costs £2.1bn a year, for example. However, that is just the financial cost, which I rather suspect is an underestimate. Many other costs are incurred as a result. The all-party parliamentary group on alcohol harm recently produced a report called “The Frontline Battle”, which described the impact on the emergency services—the police, fire services, A&E departments, doctors and so on—of treating or helping people who are inebriated or suffering as a result of excessive alcohol consumption. It found that, on a Saturday night, 70% to 80% of all A&E attendances are alcohol-related.

[Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)]

My hon. Friend paints a graphic picture—some cities and towns are like warzones on a Friday and Saturday night. I am the president of the all-party parliamentary group on beer. Does she agree that the Government could work with the industry? For instance, AB InBev is looking to work on lower alcohol-by-volume beers. At the moment, anything below 2.8% ABV is incentivised, yet that is less than 0.5% of the market. If the incentivised ABV rate is increased to about 3.5%, it would introduce far more choice, could lead to people drinking lower strength beer and could hopefully attract people away from some of the higher ABV beers that cause so much harm, as she has so beautifully demonstrated.

[Fiona Bruce]

My hon. Friend represents Ribble Valley, which I know contains many beautiful public houses, some of which I have enjoyed visiting. I would not want any Member here to think that we in any way wish to denigrate community pubs, which we consider to be community assets. He makes a vital point and has saved me from going into detail on that, which I was going to, having been briefed by AB InBev, which has a base in his constituency.

AB InBev UK and Ireland says that the introduction of a reduced rate of duty on beers produced at an alcoholic strength of 2.8% has not had the intended impact. In fact, it is providing only 0.15% of duty receipts. The impact could be achieved if 3.5% beer was included. I very much support what my hon. Friend says. Apparently, the Treasury has said that there is an EU structures directive that might cause a problem regarding that. It is fortuitous that, following yesterday’s vote, we should not be at all put off introducing a pro-health measure, for risk of upsetting our European partners.

[Mr Evans]

Apparently there is legal advice that this can be done within the current rules. If it is for the health of UK citizens, surely the British Government ought to press on and do it now.

[Fiona Bruce]

I absolutely agree. I am aware of that legal advice. I hope that the Government will do so and that the Minister will take note of that.

In preparing our report, the all-party parliamentary group discovered shocking harm, particularly to people working in our emergency services. I would like to refer to evidence we obtained from an emergency services doctor, Zul Mirza, whom I commend for his work in this area. He talked about how patients coming into his wards inebriated not only can be violent towards staff, but on many occasions damage valuable equipment needed by other patients. Our report also found that over 80% of police officers have been assaulted by people who are drinking. I was deeply concerned to hear one police officer tell us this:

“There is one thing that is specific to female officers and that is sexual assault. I can take my team through a licensed premise, and by the time I take them out the other end, they will have been felt up several times.”

That is shocking.

Finance Bill

Debate between Nigel Evans and Fiona Bruce

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

That is not a matter for the Chair, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be able to read Hansard and work it out for himself tomorrow. As a matter of record, as he knows, it is open to any Member to move a new clause, despite the fact that the Member who tabled it has decided not to move it.

[Fiona Bruce]

Is it fair that when incomes are equivalised, one-earner married couples with children—

[Mr Kevan Jones]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am sorry, but like my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie), I heard the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) say “not moved”. I think that I saw one of the Tory Whips at her beforehand, so I do not know whether they tried to persuade her not to have this debate, but I think we need to clarify this point before we move on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Order.

[Fiona Bruce]

If I may, I will move on.

On the subject of young people’s aspirations, it is striking that surveys demonstrate that approximately 90% of young people aspire to marry, yet that is not reflected in the marriage figures. I am not suggesting for a minute that fiscal considerations are the only factor, but the Government should at least ensure that it is not more financially detrimental to marry in this country than in other developed OECD countries, if we are to be true to our determination to become the most family-friendly country in Europe.

As a Government, we should send out a clear and credible signal to young people that we value marriage and encourage their aspirations in that respect, particularly as marriage acts as a stabiliser not just for the individuals within it but for the wider community. The prevalence, for example, of the isolation and exclusion of the elderly is influenced by the wider breakdown of family and community networks, as the Centre for Social Justice stated in its “Fractured Families” report.

On social well-being, the current problems in our local communities resulting from our failure to recognise marriage are pressing. As we have already heard, in December 2006 the CSJ’s report “Breakdown Britain” clearly resonated with the public. One of the key drivers of social challenges is family breakdown.

--- Later in debate ---

[Fiona Bruce]

No. [Hon. Members: “Go on!”] I will not. [Interruption.]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

The hon. Lady should carry on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Order. I ask the hon. Gentleman to resume his seat. Fiona Bruce has made it absolutely clear that she has no intention of giving way at this stage. I am sure that she will make it clear if she changes her mind.

[Fiona Bruce]

I fully accept that the Government’s priority has been to clean up the terrible financial mess left by the previous Administration, which has necessarily involved difficult decisions, and I want to put on record today my support for the Government, who have not been afraid to grasp the nettle and make the difficult decisions that the previous Administration were incapable of making. Britain is on a much sounder footing today than was ever the case under the previous Administration, and I pay tribute to the Government’s hard work in this respect. However, even in the current economic environment, I believe that new clause 5 would, as I have outlined, be an investment well worth making both fiscally and socially. The Government have said that they will recognise marriage in the tax system at the appropriate time. I suggest that that time is now, particularly given that it would still take Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs some considerable time to implement a transferable tax allowance, because of the IT and other implications.

Does the Minister agree that the increased tax burden on one-earner married couples on an average wage—it will soon be more than 50% greater than the OECD average burden on such families—commends the early introduction of the transferable allowance if we are to be, as we aspire to be, the most family-friendly country in Europe? What assessment has he made of the time it will take to make the necessary IT and other changes to give effect to the Government’s commitment to introduce the transferable allowance? If he has not made such an assessment, will he do so? I ask the Government to bring forward this legislation not when they are ready, but sufficiently in advance of that, so that all IT and planning changes can be made first, and when the money is available, transferable allowances can become operational quickly, not one or more years later.

The transferable personal allowance was a key election commitment from many of us in the House and an important reason why people voted for the Conservative party. They are now looking for action. I very much look forward to what the Minister has to say, and I will conclude with a quotation from a speech given by the Chief Rabbi in another place earlier this year:

“If the Jewish experience has anything to say to Britain today it is: recognise marriage, not just cohabitation, as in the best interests of the child. Do so in the tax system. Do so in the educational system. Do so in relationship support. Otherwise, our children will pay the price—financial, educational, medical and psychological—for generations to come. Without stable marriages we will not have strong families, and without strong families we will not have a big society.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 10 February 2011; Vol. 725, c. 366-7.]