Business of the House

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I always prefer the motto of Queen Elizabeth I: semper eadem—always the same—which makes a very good motto. Or, if you like, Mr Speaker, honi soit qui mal y pense, which is also a jolly good motto from the Order of the Garter.

My right hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of restoration and renewal. It is crucial that this building has its wiring improved and the basic services made effective. On the fire safety issue, a considerable amount of work has been done; the new fire safety system is being tested currently, and I am getting regular reports on that. It is a mist system with significant excess capacity, which means that there is the prospect of extending it further. I am glad to say that that has made considerable progress since my right hon. Friend was the Leader of the House.

Regardless of all these reports, regardless of what people have suggested, this has to get value for money for the taxpayer. We have suddenly heard talk of costs of £10 billion to £20 billion coming up. We cannot say that to our constituents. We in this House have the responsibility to protect taxpayers’ money. The other place, it must be remembered, does not. We are responsible, responsive and answerable to our constituents. Yes, we need to redo the wiring. Yes, we need to ensure that this place is safe and secure, but we must not turn this House of Commons into Disneyland.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

The transition period continues, and I again make a plea to the Leader of the House to do all he can to ensure the speedy return of my hon. Friend the Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) to his place in this situation.

I also welcome today’s debate on the celebration of International Women’s Day. However, while we battle the covid pandemic, there is a hidden pandemic of domestic abuse during lockdown. The World Health Organisation has reported that one in three women globally—around 736 million—have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their homes during this pandemic period. I ask the Leader of the House to do all he can to ensure that the Government take steps finally to ratify the Istanbul convention, as had been agreed in 2017 under the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Bill presented by Eilidh Whiteford, a colleague at the time. I hope that that can be brought forward with some speed.

Last week, I asked for an Opposition Day debate in the name of the Scottish National party. It has been granted, and I commend the Leader of the House for the pace at which that was brought forward. I have no doubt that he is eagerly anticipating the topics to be debated. However, I am aware that the time for that debate is not protected, so may I ask whether it is possible for it to be protected, or that every step possible is taken to ensure that we have the full time available to us?

Last month, the Prime Minister claimed that directly awarded covid contracts were there on the record “for everyone to see”. We now know that this was widely removed from the actuality. Indeed, the Government broke the law. Does the Leader of the House agree that supporting my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill would help to rebuild public trust, enable our procurement systems to be protected, and enable us to build back better as we come out of the pandemic?

Finally, I echo the comments of the shadow Leader of the House and the Leader of the House about Sarah Everard and send my thoughts to her family at this very, very difficult time.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I understand that the hon. Gentleman’s colleague the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) celebrated his birthday this week, so may I, on behalf of the House, wish the hon. Gentleman many happy returns of the day?

The hon. Member for Midlothian (Owen Thompson) is absolutely right to raise the issue of domestic abuse. I am glad to say that the Domestic Abuse Bill is making good progress in the House of Lords. I hope it will come back to this House in reasonably good time, so we can have a Bill on the statute book that helps people, protects people and secures people. It is, of course, about more than just passing laws and conventions; it is about changing society’s attitude, and an understanding that domestic abuse is wrong, that it is serious and that a domestic assault is just as serious an offence as any other assault outside the domestic context.

I hear the hon. Gentleman’s plea for protection for his Opposition day debate. I would say in response that having managed to get the Opposition day debate—ask and it shall be given; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto ye—but I am not sure I can promise protected time. However, Mr Speaker has no doubt heard the request in regard to urgent questions and I have heard it in regard to statements. It is sometimes a very difficult balancing act when Members feel a statement or urgent question is necessary, but it is, generally speaking, the aim to ensure that Opposition days are reasonably protected.

Finally, on covid contracts, I just fundamentally disagree with the hon. Gentleman. I think we can be really proud of the honesty of our governmental systems in this country, regardless of the party in power. I do not think we should throw around charges of dodgy dealing lightly, because we should have great confidence in the honesty of our public systems. Normally we have a system that takes three to six months to award contracts. We faced an emergency. It would have been ridiculous for red tape to hold up the delivery of contracts. The contracts were given to Labour-supporting people as well as to Conservatives, so it is recognised that people who have interests in party politics can also provide PPE. We went from producing 1% domestically to 70%, and the vaccine roll-out has been a terrific success, dependent on the private sector. I think we should take great comfort from the efficiency of our private sector and the honesty of our governmental systems.