Debate on the Address

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Tuesday 11th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

May I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian (Owen Thompson) on his appointment as SNP Chief Whip? I wish him every success in that role.

Queen’s Speech debates in recent years have coincided with days of great political importance in Scotland. In 2016, the debate coincided with the launch of the First Minister’s programme for government; in 2019 it clashed with the SNP conference; and this year we are in the aftermath of the Holyrood election, with new MSPs being sworn in on Thursday.

I extend my congratulations to my SNP MSP counterparts who were elected last week: Bob Doris for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, and Kaukab Stewart—the first woman of colour elected to Scotland’s Parliament —representing Glasgow Kelvin. We have lots of local issues and challenges to address; I hope that we can work on them together, whether in securing the future of the Maryhill library or in supporting the small businesses that are the backbone of our local economy in bouncing back from the pandemic. I also congratulate Pam Duncan-Glancy, who was my Labour opponent in the last two general elections and is now the first permanent wheelchair user elected to Holyrood. She will be a real champion for equalities and social justice.

The record turnout in the Holyrood election shows that it is primarily to the Scottish Parliament that our constituents look for progress on such vital issues. The step change in turnout has to be a sign of the permanent shift in political gravity that has taken place in Scotland. Much of the programme for government outlined by the Prime Minister today is in areas of devolved competency anyway. Whether or not the English votes for English laws procedures return post-pandemic, many of the Bills announced today will have little impact north of the border. In any event, they could not diverge more starkly from the progressive, reforming agenda promoted not just by the SNP, but by a majority of the parties elected to Holyrood last week. All but one of those parties are committed to developing a minimum income guarantee; all but one support greater public control and ownership of the railways and public transport; all but one oppose the construction of a new royal yacht.

For the first time last week, refugees in Scotland exercised their right to vote—compare that with the proposals in the Queen’s Speech to limit not just the rights of refugees to come here, but the rights of all citizens to participate freely in elections! Commitments specifically in the SNP manifesto show what a fairer, more just Scotland can look like. Free dental care on the NHS—the cause that prompted Nye Bevan’s resignation from Government in the 1940s—is a priority. Laptops and bikes for all the kids who need them is good not just for them, but for the country as a whole, and is very different from the kind of pork barrel politics and propositions laid out by the Tory Government today.

The divergence between Governments goes beyond areas of devolved competence. In recent weeks, I have been contacted by hundreds of constituents concerned about the UK Government’s sweeping cuts to the aid budget, which are undermining any claim that this Government can have to global leadership, even as they prepare to host COP26. They are damaging the international development research co-ordinated at the University of Glasgow and other institutions across the country, and they will literally cost lives that no royal yacht, and certainly no Trident missiles, can save.

Constituents repeatedly express their concern about human rights abuses around the world. In Colombia, as many as 47 protesters and human rights defenders have been killed since 28 April, with widespread reports of abuse and arbitrary detention by the security forces. I hope that the Government will join the global condemnation and calls for action.

We desperately want to see Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other prisoners of conscience reunited with their families. Her freedom is one of the great causes of our time, and one that has been in my mailbox consistently since the 2015 election. That freedom is clearly achievable and this Government must do all they can to deliver it.

There has to be progress to a peaceful and lasting settlement in the middle east. The recent violence in Jerusalem is a tragedy, and Scotland’s First Minister has called for an end to that violence immediately. The UK Government must follow that example and show greater leadership in seeking to influence events in that part of the world.

Perhaps that is why people in Glasgow North and across Scotland increasingly look to Holyrood as the centre of gravity of political leadership, not only on devolved issues, but for the representation and implementation of their views on Scotland’s role in the world—a role that includes being a proud European country. Glasgow looks forward to welcoming world leaders to COP26, and we will not be afraid to highlight Scotland’s ambition to slash emissions and achieve a just transition, even as this Tory Government dither and delay.

If we want Scotland to speak with a clear, progressive and ambitious voice on the world stage, the best way to do it will be with a seat at the top table. When the mandate of the new Scottish Parliament is respected and the people of Scotland are given that choice, I believe that that is the choice that they will make—to build back better from the pandemic and tackle the climate crisis on an equal basis alongside every other normal independent country in the world.

Covid-19: Road Map

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a vital point, and that is why we have the £2 billion kickstart fund in addition to many other schemes to help young people into work and to help them with what could be a very difficult transition, but the best thing possible is to get the economy open and firing again.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

The German equivalent of furlough, the Kurzarbeit scheme, will be accessible to employers until at least the end of this year. Given that the Prime Minister said that the United Kingdom would “prosper mightily” outside the European Union, why cannot his Government—or why will not his Government—provide that level of certainty and support to employers on these islands so that they can plan with some confidence for our new post-pandemic normal?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member will be hearing a lot more next week about the support that we are going to give throughout the whole of the UK. While we are on the subject, perhaps he could confirm that the Scottish nationalist party would have remained in the European Medicines Agency? I think he is a member of the SNP.

Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Wednesday 10th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

Hear, hear!

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Hear, hear!

[The Prime Minister]

There you go, Mr Speaker. They believe fundamentally that it is the duty of the taxpayer to pay for more and more and more. We want to get people into jobs, and it is in that respect that the Scottish nationalist party is, I am afraid, failing—

European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Patrick Grady Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

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

It is a real pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves). While we disagree on much, she gave a characteristically thoughtful and punchy speech, and she is a great credit to her party. I wish her and her family well as they wrestle with covid.

I thank you, Mr Speaker, the staff of the House of Commons and everyone who has allowed us to come back for this debate today. I also thank the negotiators on both sides who concluded this historic agreement: Lord Frost and his team; and Michel Barnier and his. I thank the thousands of civil servants who have been working for years now to bring us to this moment.

I thank everyone who has spoken in this debate—some 59 Members. In particular, I want to pay tribute to those who have been arguing for our sovereign future outside the European Union for many years, in particular my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), and my right hon. Friends the Members for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) and for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson). Again, our hearts go out to Owen and to his family.

I also want to thank those who argued in the referendum that we should remain in the European Union, but who, in this debate, gave considered and thoughtful speeches expressing their support for the deal in front of us and clear pointers for the way forward. My hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman), my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), the right hon. Members for Warley (John Spellar) and for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) and my hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat) all made impressive speeches, recognising the importance of democracy.

Democracy is why we are here. In the 2016 referendum, more people voted to leave the European Union than have ever voted for any proposition in our history. Now, four and a half years later, we can say that we have kept faith with the people. This deal takes back control of our laws, our borders and our waters, and also guarantees tariff-free and quota-free access to the European market as well as ensuring our security. It is a good deal for aviation, for haulage, for data, and for legal and financial services, and it leaves us as sovereign equals with the EU.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Will the Minister give way?

EU Withdrawal Agreement

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend has had a brilliant business career, and he is absolutely right: we need to negotiate toughly and be prepared to be flexible in certain circumstances but know ultimately what we want. As we heard from the Leader of the Opposition earlier, I am afraid that when it comes to Brexit, we still do not know what Labour wants.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

If Brexit is shaping up to be such a success, why is it that four and a half years after the referendum, no other European country is seeking to follow the UK out the door? Why are they not looking at these deals being negotiated with envy and thinking that they want a piece of the action? In fact, what is happening is that countries such as Scotland are looking at the European Union and deciding that that is where they want their future to be. It is the United Kingdom that is being left isolated.

[Michael Gove]

What a remarkable rewriting of history. Just yesterday I was watching CNN, and I saw an amazing 91-year-old gentleman called Martin Kenyon—one of the first people in the world to be vaccinated, and he was vaccinated here in the United Kingdom. It is because of the United Kingdom’s superb regulatory work, our vaccine taskforce, our NHS and our Health Secretary that the first people in the world to be vaccinated were here in the United Kingdom. There are vaccines in Scotland thanks to the UK. The rest of the world is looking on in admiration at our British NHS. On today of all days, it would be nice—and, to be fair, lots of Scottish nationalist Ministers have made this point—to acknowledge that the UK Government have been working in the interests of everyone, and people have been looking at Britain and saying, “That’s great.”

Public Health

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Tuesday 1st December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

The motions before the House relate exclusively to England, but that does not mean that they do not have consequences across these islands, so it is important that the voice of the Scottish National party is heard in this debate, although in line with our long-standing practice on matters that are devolved, we will not take part in any Division this evening. I am sure that is of some assistance to the Government Whips Office.

Perhaps the first thing the Government need to consider is why they have got to such a stage. Scotland has passed similar but not identical regulations, with a far greater degree of cross-party and intra-party consensus than seems to have been managed here in Westminster. Perhaps that is because the First Minister and her Cabinet Secretaries and senior public health officials have always taken a commendably frank and honest approach with the people of Scotland about the challenges of the virus and the difficulty of the decisions that must be made.

In the summertime, the First Minister initiated a national dialogue with people across Scotland on what a road map out of the initial lockdown should and could look like. Instead of promising moonshots and world-beating systems, and that it would all be over by Christmas, the Scottish Government and the other devolved Governments have worked to take people with them, whether that is the public at large or their own Back Benchers; and we have always been clear that public health and saving lives must be the priority. Whatever the pain —and real pain is caused to the economy and livelihoods by such restrictions—that pain is as nothing to a life ended too soon, to a family or community bereaved by this dreadful disease. As always, the Scottish National party sends its deepest sympathies to all those who have lost a loved one as a result of the pandemic.

That, however, is not to minimise the impact and effects of the economic pain. I see it first hand in Glasgow North, which thrives on the hospitality, entertainment and events sector. I will be interested to find out what the consequences will be north of the border of the Government’s announcement today on support for pubs. My constituency is home to thousands of creatives, start-ups and entrepreneurs who have all been left behind, forgotten and excluded from the Chancellor’s support package. We hear the impact from the families who are genuinely terrified that the £20 universal credit uplift will not be extended beyond March and from those on legacy benefits who have yet to see a similar uplift. And we all feel the struggle of the frontline public sector workers busting a gut to keep the services we all depend on going in the most difficult of circumstances.

On support for all those groups and for those who need to isolate, which is absolutely critical to stopping the virus, the Government have been found wanting. The Prime Minister was chuntering to the Leader of the Opposition, saying, “How do we get people to self-isolate?” Well, as he said, start by paying a decent rate of statutory sick pay. Make it affordable for people to stay at home and stay safe. Perhaps if the Government had made more effort to support those people—to support the excluded, to support families who are struggling—they would not be feeling the heat they are now from their own Back Benchers.

We just need to compare that with what we have heard in the last few days in Scotland: a £500 bonus for all NHS and social care staff. For 10 weeks, we all clapped for carers, but that was never going to be enough. This is a gesture of thanks for extraordinary service, and I really hope the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will have the decency not to level tax on this well-deserved reward. For the families who need it most, there will be a £100 one-off payment before Christmas to households with children in receipt of free school meals and a commitment that all primary children will receive free meals—breakfast and lunch—at school all year round if the SNP is re-elected next year. That is the difference that devolution makes.

For NHS workers and families in receipt of these payments, that is not a disaster; that is a Scottish Government working for and delivering for their best interests and the interests of our society as a whole. If it means that we are using our share of money that the UK Treasury has borrowed on Scotland’s behalf, well, that is the point of devolution. [Interruption.] If the Tories do not like it—I hear some chuntering—the solution is very simple. Independence for Scotland would have meant that we could have raised our own finance on our own terms and spent it on our priorities in our own time. We certainly would not have had to wait for the south-east of England to be placed into lockdown before the furlough scheme was extended across the whole of the UK.

If the Prime Minister is feeling pressure from his own side today, he only has himself to blame. Real leadership is about being able to make the hard choices and being honest with people when mistakes are made, especially in a time of crisis. People do not want bluster and false hope; they want honesty, determination and empathy. The devolved Governments have always sought a four nations approach wherever possible. We have seen that agreement can be reached in the provisions being made for those who need to travel to see loved ones over Christmas. While that period of easing will be welcomed by many, all of us will have an extra responsibility to be extra vigilant to minimise risk, practise social distancing and good hand hygiene, wear face coverings and take all the other steps we have become familiar with.

That familiarity, however, cannot become complacency. The threat of the virus to overwhelm our health service and to undermine the economy, and to individual lives across the country, has not gone away. We welcome the light at the end of the tunnel as vaccines come online, but that light must be approached slowly and carefully. That is why Scotland will continue with its tier system and the difficult decisions we need until the virus is beaten. The other devolved nations are making similar decisions and Members representing England in this place have a responsibility to do likewise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

It is very important that working mothers and working fathers have access to the childcare they need so that they are able to get into work during the coronavirus crisis. That is why it is so important that we keep our schools and nurseries open, and that we continue to give the support of the 30 hours a week of childcare for three and four-year-olds.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

What steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of support for disabled people on legacy benefits during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Justin Tomlinson)]

The Government are committed to supporting disabled people affected by the covid-19 outbreak. We are ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to disability benefits and other financial support during it.

[Patrick Grady]

I wonder whether the Minister is aware that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that nearly half of people in poverty in the UK are either themselves disabled or live in a household with someone who is. As he says, covid has exacerbated that hardship, and the inequalities disabled people face will only be exacerbated by the fact that those who are on not on universal credit will not have benefited from the uplift of £20 that was applied to UC. So has he, or anyone else in the Government, carried out an equalities impact assessment on the decision not to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefits?

[Justin Tomlinson]

Those on legacy benefits will have benefited from the 1.7% uplift as part of the annual upratings. Depending on individual circumstances, they may have also benefited from the changes to the local housing allowance; the increases in discretionary housing support; the various employment support schemes; and the additional discretionary support administered via local authorities. This year alone we anticipate expenditure on disability benefits to increase by nearly 5%.

Exiting the European Union (European Union)

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I am grateful to have caught your eye, Mr Deputy Speaker, because those paying close attention to the call list will see that my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Alyn Smith) ought to have been here, but he has been detained in Westminster Hall.

I am not sure whether it was a happy memory of or a nightmarish flashback to the parent legislation and my time served on the European Statutory Instruments Committee when I looked at this statutory instrument. The purpose of the instrument is

“to ensure that the UK statute book works coherently and effectively following the end of the transition period.”

I thought that was what the 2018 Act was for in the first place and all the 600 statutory instruments the Minister referred to, yet here we are, years after the referendum and years after the Act was passed, still having to through this process. It is the legacy of the mess of Brexit, caused by Cameron and his cronies, who had no real vision and kicked off a referendum process with no idea what would happen if people actually voted to leave. Here we are dealing with the consequences, and now we have a Government who do not particularly want any kind of deal. They would quite happily crash out and deal with all the consequences afterwards. That is why we are barrelling towards no deal.

This might be a necessary statutory instrument, but it really should not be. It is disappointing on a number of levels. First, as I have said, it is disappointing that it is happening at all. Secondly, it refers to the interesting concept of a UK statute book. Scots law has always been distinct from English and Welsh legislation, before and after the union of Parliaments in 1707, let alone after the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. I accept what the Minister says—of course there has been constructive dialogue with the devolved Administrations, because nobody wants a messed up statute book or acquis of law, but it does not change the fact that the UK Government are using a statutory instrument to directly amend primary legislation passed by Scotland’s Parliament, in the shape of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

This goes on with a host of repeals of primary legislation by statutory instrument, which is being done late at night in a not very busy Chamber. Thus these laws are amended. Where is the European research group, where are the Maastricht rebels for this great act of taking back control? In effect, this is ministerial fiat. Ultimately, the Brussels bureaucrats are being replaced by Whitehall mandarins. This is not parliamentary sovereignty; it is effectively executive diktat.

Frankly, let them get on with it, as my hon. Friend—he should be my right hon. Friend—the Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) likes to say. Scotland wants no part of this shabby Brexit process. The more the Government hasten its implementation through statutory instruments like this, the more it hastens the day when Scotland takes full control of its statute book once again as a fully independent and sovereign nation.

Public Health

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Congratulations on your anniversary, Mr Speaker.

We in the SNP are not unused to the Prime Minister scuttling out before our spokesperson gets to their feet, but the fact that he could not wait four minutes to listen to his predecessor was, I think, extremely unfortunate. Like her, I want to acknowledge the personal tragedies and loss of life caused by the pandemic and extend our condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one this year.

I will be as brief as I can, because none of us wants to deny the 48 Tory Back Benchers lined up on the call list the opportunity to make their views known to their Government. Perhaps even more Members would be taking part if the Government had allowed them to continue to contribute virtually in this Chamber. Asking Members to travel hundreds of miles to Westminster while the public are being asked to stay at home looks increasingly untenable and puts too many staff of the House at risk. Perhaps it suits the Government not to hear from their own Back Benchers with constituencies or households in the high-risk category.

In any event, had the Standing Orders on English votes for English laws not been suspended during the pandemic, this motion would be subject to the double majority procedure, which would have had the effect of negating any votes cast by MPs representing Scottish constituencies. I can confirm that the SNP will not be taking part in any Division arising from the motion, which probably gives the Government some comfort in the Lobbies. That is because the development and implementation of public health policy is devolved across the United Kingdom, and it is right that the relevant legislatures should make decisions for their own areas and not interfere in the decisions of others. However, the Tory Government’s continued delays and obfuscation on the provision of economic support, especially for job retention and furlough, have effectively interfered with the ability of the devolved Administrations to make the decisions that they might have wanted to, so even if we are not voting on the motion before us, we have to use this opportunity to press the Government yet again.

The obfuscation is continuing—even at Prime Minister’s questions and in the Prime Minister’s responses to my hon. Friends who intervened on him. On Monday, to Members across the House from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister kept saying that furlough was UK-wide. Then, conveniently, in response to the hon. Member for Moray (Douglas Ross), he said “of course” furlough would be available whenever the devolved Administrations need it. Today at Prime Minister’s questions, he said, “Well we have to wait for the Chancellor to make a statement tomorrow.”

The Prime Minister repeatedly says that the SNP will not take yes for an answer. We will take yes for an answer when it is put in writing to the Scottish Government and it is clear and unambiguous. This Tory Government must urgently engage with the devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and confirm that if any of those Governments move all or part of their territories into lockdown-level restrictions, with the closure of non-essential retail, hospitality and leisure, funding will be available on the current furlough terms for employers to retain staff at 80% of their wages.

The Scottish Government are also still waiting for clarity on Barnett consequentials as a result of increased spending for English local government, and there is still no clarity on whether the unlimited payments for business support in England will be made available on a similar demand-led basis for Scotland. That has to come in writing, on usual-channels terms, from the Chancellor before he gets up and makes his statement in the House tomorrow.

As I said to the Prime Minister in the Chamber on Monday, his furlough scheme is in place across the UK until December this year; the equivalent scheme in Germany is in place until December 2021. That is the kind of certainty that employers and employees alike are crying out for. That is the kind of certainty that businesses need in order to plan for and adapt to a health and economic crisis that will not go away any time soon.

That is why the Government must use this time wisely and well. They must use the period of heavier restrictions to work with the devolved Administrations to improve test and trace across the United Kingdom and to ensure that capacity and support gets to where it is needed in the four health services, and they have to put in place provision to support businesses and the economy in a way that will provide certainty for however long the crisis lasts.

I want to acknowledge, as the First Minister of Scotland has repeatedly, that lockdown is tough. There are hard times behind us and hard times ahead, and all of us in the SNP want to say thank you—thank you to our amazing NHS and social care workers and others on the frontline; thank you to the businesses owners who are being forced to close and to their employees, who are making huge sacrifices; and thank you to the excluded, who have had no support whatsoever from this Government and are still holding their heads high.

The rules being introduced in England today and the restrictions in place elsewhere in the UK are difficult, but they are necessary. They help us to protect ourselves, they undoubtedly help us to protect our loved ones and those around us, and they help wider communities. They definitely help to protect our NHS and, ultimately, they help to save lives. We thank everyone making sacrifices to follow these restrictions. Together, we will get through this.

Covid-19 Update

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is certainly the intention, and that is why we are massively ramping up the tests in the way that my hon. Friend describes.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

The Prime Minister’s furlough is in place until December; the German equivalent is in place until December 2021. That is the kind of certainty that employers and employees in Glasgow North are looking for. He said that the furlough scheme is UK-wide, so does that mean that, if parts of the United Kingdom are still in a lockdown beyond December, devolved Administrations will have the resources they need to extend the 80% furlough?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman must have missed my answer to the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford). I can tell him that the furlough is a UK-wide scheme that applies throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. I remind him that the UK has already contributed £7.2 billion to support the people of Scotland throughout the crisis.