Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Father of the House, Sir Edward Leigh.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

T2. I am a simple soul, so I trust the Foreign Secretary completely. Will he assure me that nothing in the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which we are debating only this afternoon, will in any way nullify Brexit by limiting our ability to make our own decisions on regulation and to conduct our own free trade deals? Above all, as a great British patriot, will he assure me that nothing in the Bill will allow any Minister to ever abolish that most glorious of British symbols: the great British pint?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Monday 31st March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

The final question goes to the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

Will the Home Secretary consider raising an obvious lacuna in the law in the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe? Under the refugee convention, we can automatically deport foreign criminals who enter this country illegally, but under the convention on human rights, we cannot. Surely we can address that in partnership with other members of the Council of Europe.

Scunthorpe Steelworks

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

Scunthorpe neighbours my constituency, and many of my constituents who work there will be desperately worried today. This is a vital national interest—a crisis. For the past 150 years, wars have been won by states that can make virgin steel. Will the Government do anything—tariffs, or the Secretary of State going up to Scunthorpe now to negotiate directly with the company—to ensure that we keep our vital national interest going, which means blast furnaces?

Conflict in Gaza

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. This is a very sensitive and important debate. We need to ensure that language is temperate and respectful at all times. Our constituents are watching, as indeed is the world, so we must ensure that we in no way inadvertently misrepresent our colleagues. The right hon. Lady’s point is noted. We will now continue because we have a lot of people to get through. I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

I agree with everything the Foreign Secretary has said, in particular that we have to give hope to the Palestinian people. To be fair to the Israeli Government position, Hamas could solve the problem now by releasing the hostages. Having said that, does the Foreign Secretary agree that is quite wrong for any member of the Israeli Government to say that the Gazan people could rise up against Hamas? If they did that, they would be tortured, at best, and probably killed. The people of Gaza are victims of Hamas as much as anybody, and it is quite wrong for the Israeli Government to inflict collective judgment on the people of Gaza: that will bring death, destruction, more radicalism and we will never get the hostages home.

North Sea Energy

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

When I climb the hill behind my home in the Lincolnshire wolds, I can see, 20 miles away, a wonderful array of wind turbines in the North sea. We love it locally�we love it for our economy�but nothing in that precludes oil and gas exploration. If we in Lincolnshire are doing so much for green energy, why are we allowing the bread basket of England to be covered with solar farms? We have 10,000 acres of them around Gainsborough, and there is another application for 3,900 acres at North Clifton. Will the Minister and her boss please look at such mass applications in the round so that there is not overdevelopment in the break basket of England?

Ukraine

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

This is a great opportunity for me to wish the Father of the House a happy Christmas.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

When Russia cruelly invaded Finland in 1940, she not only took territory with force majeure, but imposed neutrality on that country for 50 years. There was a phrase for it: Finlandisation. I know our influence is not overwhelming, but when it comes to the Trump presidency, will the Minister assure me that the Government will stiffen the sinews of the Trump presidency and ensure that there is absolutely no question of any war aim of Russia’s being achieved, namely taking territory and neutralising Ukraine? We therefore must fast-track NATO membership.

Migration and Border Security

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Monday 2nd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

I agree with the Home Secretary that the failure of the last Government to control immigration was unconscionable, and our new leader has rightly apologised for our failure. Some of us on the Back Benches warned the Government at the time, but there we are—that is the past. Looking to the future, I agree that we all want to return illegal migrants to where they came from, but will the Home Secretary list the countries that human rights lawyers say are so unsafe that people cannot be returned to them? What is the deterrent for people from those countries if we do not have an offshoring policy?

Government’s Childcare Expansion

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

There are countless millions of free childminders available. The love between a grandparent and a grandchild is the purest love: love without responsibility. I declare a personal interest. Will the Minister assure me that he will incentivise grandparents to look after their grandchildren, and that nothing in the tax or benefits system will discriminate against mothers who want to look after their children full time? Will he build on the Conservatives’ scheme of transferrable allowances?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Thursday 30th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

On Scunthorpe, what major economy does not have a blast furnace and the ability to make virgin steel?

[The Minister for Industry and Economic Security (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Almost all the G20 countries have operational blast furnaces, and a number of those are transitioning to electric arc furnaces as well. We know the importance of Scunthorpe, which is a key driver of economic growth. British Steel provides a third of all domestic production supplied to the construction and rail industries. We continue to be in negotiations to make sure that we secure the best deal, and one that is good value for taxpayers, when it comes to Scunthorpe.

British Steel

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Edward Leigh

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

Negotiations are indeed ongoing, which is why I am limited in what information I can put out in the public domain; information is of course incredibly sensitive. British Steel will make commercial decisions, but if it is hoping to secure Government support, we need to make sure that we are getting value for money for taxpayers.

The hon. Member asked why decisions have been taken on the electric arc furnace compared with other technologies. It is because the other technologies just cannot come up to speed fast enough. In particular, the hydrogen-based direct reduced iron equipment just cannot enable furnaces to transition at the speed at which they need to. He is very much aware of that, and this is also a challenge in Europe, not just in the UK.

Fundamentally, there are a number of challenges for the global steel sector. First, there are energy costs, which we have done everything we can to provide support for, with the hundreds of millions of pounds to cover energy costs and now the supercharger. Secondly, we have to ensure that we get more UK steel into the UK economy. That is why the public procurement note was incredibly important for us to do, and we will be able to secure millions of pounds for more UK steel projects. Thirdly, there is a major challenge in that advanced manufacturers, customers and consumers are looking for greener steel, and a lot of companies are trying to reflect on how they can provide a green steel option. Having said that, it is a particular kind of steel; as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft), for me that means a mix of virgin steel in the market as well. Of course, these are commercial decisions, but we need to make sure there is a mix to deliver for the UK market in particular.

The hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) talked about the environmental issues and about hydrogen. We export a lot of scrap steel, and that also has a carbon footprint, so for us to have the capacity to turn that steel into products we can use will be incredibly useful. The positive news is that we are the eighth largest manufacturing country in the world. We are going to need more steel, not less, but there will also be demand for more green steel, not less, and we are trying to ensure that we provide support to the steel sector so that it can meet those market needs.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

Many of my constituents work at Scunthorpe, and we are all obviously deeply concerned about them, but the whole House must be concerned about the Minister’s statements in terms of our national security. There is no other major developed country in the world that is giving up its traditional blast furnaces—the only way we can make virgin steel. Frankly, the Minister did not bother to answer a single one of the brilliant questions from my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft). Will she now make it clear to the House that this Government are committed, as a major economy, to go on making virgin steel? Do it now.

[Ms Ghani]

As I have said repeatedly at the Dispatch Box, I fundamentally believe we need to have virgin steel capacity in the UK, but these are commercial decisions, and negotiations are continuing. These are incredibly commercial decisions, and we are doing our very best to support electric and virgin steel capacity in the UK. We are very much aware of the challenges we have in importing steel and with the global markets when it comes to the price of steel, and that is why we need to make sure we have a mix. These are commercial decisions, which is why negotiations are ongoing. Fundamentally, the announcement by British Steel was a proposal—nothing is done yet. We are still in the middle of negotiations.