Business of the House

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have raised these matters with the lead Department. I am expecting other Members of the House to also place this on record. It is important that we get these things right. I think the vehicle of a debate tomorrow has been chosen to enable Members to have some time to be able to talk about the experiences their constituents are going through, make further suggestions to the Government and get certain things on record. Obviously, a Minister will also respond to the debate. Clearly, if announcements are made, as much advance time about proposals that we can give Members in the proper way is very important. I assure all Members that we have made that case to BEIS.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I, too, welcome the right hon. Lady to her place as Leader of the House and pay my own tribute to her predecessor, the right hon. Member for Sherwood (Mark Spencer), both in his role as Leader of the House and as Chief Whip—probably more of my dealings with him were in that role.

I echo the comments of others in making a plea for information to be available as quickly as possible, so that Members have the opportunity to contribute properly to the debate tomorrow. I also ask a simple question: will the Prime Minister be leading on the debate tomorrow? If not, who will?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Subject to events, my understanding is that the Prime Minister will open the debate and the new Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will close it. Again, I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks.