Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

The hon. Lady makes a moving tribute to her constituents. I can assure her that the Government have heard the pleas that have been made. We have set out today a clear timetable on the journey to the regulations. I will, with Mr Speaker’s permission, update the House in early autumn on where we have got to and the timeline for further detail, subject to the advice of the interim CEO and the interim chair. She makes a point about stigma, which is a massive part of this for so many people I met and for her constituents, including the Smith family. We recognise that as part of the scheme, but the memorialisation process must also recognise in particular those who were so badly stigmatised in the ’80s and ’90s.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

The Minister talks about stigma. When I met some of the affected community in Peterborough, I heard about the discrimination they faced and about their lack of trust in public institutions. This all leaves a very long legacy. With that in mind, how confident is he that, despite that long legacy, the scheme will capture and benefit everyone affected or infected? How confident is he that everyone who should be compensated will come forward?

[John Glen]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am confident that the scheme will work, and that it will work as quickly as it possibly can. I mentioned today the interim payments of £210,000 to the infected who are alive. The speed with which we process the applications of those affected and infected is very much on my mind as we set up the shadow arm’s length body. I will continue to work with my officials to do everything we can to move the timeline from the right to the left, conscious of how long people have waited.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady will know, standing charges are a matter for the independent regulator, Ofgem, which is currently looking at all those things as part of a consultation. More generally, it is this Government who are providing considerable support to families across the country, including in Scotland, with their energy bills. I am sure she will join me in welcoming the recent announcement about the fall in energy bills, bringing them back to levels that we have not seen in a long time, on top of the cost of living support that the Chancellor has provided so that everyone in our country gets the help that they need.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

Q10.   Werrington Fields is a much-loved open space cherished by local residents and used by the nearby school as playing fields. Shockingly, Peterborough City Council proposed to fence off almost the entire area, rejecting a compromise that most residents and the school were happy with. Bizarrely, the local council seeks to blame the Secretary of State for Education, myself and even the Prime Minister. Will my right hon. Friend get behind my campaign to save Werrington Fields and make it clear—right here, right now—that this is a matter entirely for the local authority?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for championing his constituents on this matter. As he knows, last year the Education Secretary rightly rejected Peterborough City Council’s application to change the playing field land at Ken Stimson Community School from educational land to public open space. That decision ensured that children will have access to the open space that they deserve, but I am told by the Department that the council can provide for some of that land to be fenced and that the Department would be comfortable with that, provided that the overall site remains educational land. That is something that I know he wants to see, and the Department is ready to work with him to ensure that happens.

Pakistan: Evacuation of Afghans

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

There is no de-prioritising of single applicants. Often they are easier to reintegrate and to accommodate in the United Kingdom because they are not a wider family. There are lots of stories going around the people in this cohort because they are very scared and vulnerable. Obviously, the hon. Lady is absolutely right to raise this with me, but that is not something that I have seen. None the less, I will go back and look for it.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

I chair the all-party parliamentary group for Hazaras and, since the Taliban took over, Hazaras in particular face increasing risk of targeted killings, discrimination and persecution. What specifically are the UK Government doing to help the Hazaras stranded in Afghanistan so that they can resettle in a third country, or indeed in the UK, and start a better life?

[Johnny Mercer]

I completely recognise my hon. Friend’s passion in this space, but I have to be disciplined about what is in my remit and what is not. That is a question for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and I know that it is engaged on that issue. The Foreign Secretary will have heard his question today. If not, I will make sure that he has seen those remarks and that my hon. Friend gets an answer.

Civil Service Impartiality

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I respect the work of those hard-working civil servants in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Right across the civil service, there is an absolute desire to retain their reputation for impartiality, which they all live in their daily work. That is how they work and they are determined to work for Ministers with a relationship of trust. That is incredibly important. We are not asking much of the Labour party—just to produce that timeline of dates so that we can start to put this matter behind us, with greater transparency.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

Does the Minister share my concern that the appointment severely weakens trust in our senior civil servants? The media have now shone a light on Sue Gray and her decisions, such as her appointment of an adviser who told all his Twitter followers to join the Labour party. To the public, this looks farcical. Does he agree that, as a result, only a full disclosure of meetings and conversations will suffice in this grubby affair?

[Jeremy Quin]

The tragedy is that a public servant’s hard work over a long period of time is called into question, given the nature of the process that appears to have taken place. That is incredibly unfortunate, but the Labour party could help to fix that by being a bit transparent, very open and saying, “This is what actually took place; these are the dates; this is who met and this is where they were.”

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have already committed to offer all state schools a grant to train a senior mental health lead by the end of this Parliament. Already six out of 10 are doing so. There is funding for all of them to have it. In addition, we are increasing the support that we give to those with eating disorders, because the hon. Lady is right: mental health does affect young people. This Government are backing those people to get the support that they need.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

The number of people crossing the channel is a national emergency. The number of migrants in hotels is a national emergency. Is it not time that we had a Cobra-style Committee, involving the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the Home Office and led by No.10, to tackle this crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

I share my hon. Friend’s frustration and I want to reassure him that we will do whatever it takes to reduce the number of illegal crossings to this country and take any new powers that we need to. I look forward to working with him to ensure we can do that, because this is fundamentally about our sovereignty and the proper control of our borders. While the Labour party has tried to oppose every measure we have taken, we will keep going, because we need to ensure that we stop the crossings.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

It is my solemn honour to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the people of my city, Peterborough. Peterborough loved and mourns her. Her reign managed somehow, across its seven decades, to penetrate each of our lives and bring us together. Now we are brought together in grief.

My constituents come from across the Commonwealth and beyond. The Queen mattered to each of them. That was her magic, and I saw it at work throughout the jubilee celebrations in my city just a few months ago, with different cultures, religions, creeds and nationalities all coming together to celebrate a truly remarkable woman. For our armed forces and our public servants, for organisations, charities and families, and for me, there is one less certainty in an all too turbulent world.

The Queen visited Peterborough in 1952, while still Princess Elizabeth, attending the agricultural show at the old showground in Eastfield. As our Queen, she visited on four more occasions. In March 1975, the Maundy Thursday service was held at Peterborough cathedral, where she distributed the royal Maundy coins to 49 men and 49 women, in a ceremony attended by more than 3,200 people. She later went for a walk in Bridge Street and dined at the town hall with her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, and city councillors. She returned to Peterborough for her silver jubilee, again arriving to crowds of people at Peterborough station. She opened our magistrates court and the Cresset in Bretton, while not forgetting to make a detour to the national Shire Horse Society’s centenary show. Another decade on, when she returned for the 750th anniversary of our cathedral, she also opened the Edith Cavell Hospital, now Peterborough City Hospital. Her final visit was to the east of England show, where an extra 3,000 visitors made their way through the turnstiles to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty.

Sadly, she will never return. I find it difficult to put that into words. It feels like losing a family member, even though I never met her. The institution is far more than the individual, but the Crown was greater for resting on her head. No monarch brought such selfless dedication to the role asked of them. Few before held the strings to our country’s heart. With Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the most tangible connection to our history is gone. But with His Majesty King Charles III, her legacy will continue long into our future. Peterborough proudly proclaims through its tears, “God save the King.”

Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

It will not surprise hon. Members that I have confidence in this Government.

I will talk first about some of the policies this Government have pursued. It would be very easy for me to talk about Brexit and how this Government managed to pass it through the dreadful impasse and political paralysis of the last Parliament. Opposition Members did everything they could to block Brexit, but this Government got it done.

It would be quite easy for me to talk about the great effort that led to jabs going into people’s arms and our country opening up, releasing our freedoms once again. I could talk about the millions of people supported through the furlough scheme. It would be easy for me to pour scorn on the political pygmies on social media who say that, somehow, Britain’s place in the world is diminished as a result of Brexit. We need only look at the streets of Kyiv to see that is just not the case.

But what this Government should be congratulated for is providing hope to the 14 million people who voted for the Conservatives, many for the first time, and to the many people who did not vote for us. Many of them were voting for the hope that this Government would break with an agenda that had been pursued for decades, probably starting with the Blair Government. It is a big-city, London agenda that is not for places like Peterborough: a Britain attached to the EU, dependent on mass migration and cheap labour, in which we were happy to write off millions of young people without a job because we could easily import labour from elsewhere. It is very much a liberal agenda that was happy to pour scorn on and laugh at traditional values, national identity, strong communities and strong families.

We again saw scorn being poured on these people during the jubilee. The agenda is one of big business and big cities, but little people and little places like Peterborough were left behind with low-paid jobs, suppressed wages, a sky-high welfare bill, regional inequalities, the negative effects of mass migration—as well as the positives—and high rates of family breakdown and alcohol and drug abuse.

To many people, including many Opposition Members, these people do not matter. They are denounced as bigots, gammons, Karens and many other vulgar terms when they voice their objection to this agenda. That is what this Government are trying to address in creating a high-wage, high-skill economy, and in levelling up and valuing places like Peterborough.

In Peterborough we have built a new university, with students starting in September. We have £23 million for towns fund regeneration and investment. We have new police officers, more money for theatres and more money for our schools. I implore Members on both sides of the House to understand that, when they take their nose away from SW1 and away from their Twitter feed, they will find that real people still support the Prime Minister. [Interruption.] Okay, I will read out a quote. I do not have time to go through all of them:

“The current government have best dealt with the pandemic, given circumstances, and also delivered Brexit. It is the only government that can deliver today, tomorrow and future!”

These are the ordinary people of Peterborough. [Interruption.] Members should take their nose away from their Twitter account and realise that the Prime Minister is still very popular. He is a greater man than many of his critics, and it is a sad day to see him go. I still have confidence in this Government.

Parole System: Public Protection

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. On that decision making, the frustration is that if we delegate from this place or from accountable Ministers, particularly when we are talking about judgment calls, not things that require a purely technocratic or scientific approach—psychiatry and psychology can only take us so far—the public feel that we have abdicated our responsibility. We are taking back control to provide a safeguard in those high-risk cases, and that is exactly what the public already expect of us.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his statement. We sometimes forget that the most important reason for having prisons is not necessarily as a punishment, but to keep the public safe. I know that my constituents in Peterborough would want the Parole Board always to be risk averse on public protection when it comes to releasing criminals found guilty of serious crimes. Can he reassure the good people of Peterborough that he understands their concern and that public protection is at the heart of these proposals?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is right: public protection must be the overriding priority. Moreover, it is important that the credibility of measures such as open conditions and release on licence is sustained as well. The rehabilitative work that we do—encouraging offenders into work and getting off drugs—is critical to reducing reoffending and also to protecting the public. The credibility will be eroded if we do not make sure that we have the safeguards right.

Elections Bill (First sitting)

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 15th September 2021 Public Bill Committees

[The Chair]

Gareth Cann, do you have anything to add?

Assistant Chief Constable Cann: Nothing specific. Quite a few issues were raised by Councillor Golds there, but nothing specific for me to come back on, other than that it felt to me that the police had not so much ignored that allegation as assessed and investigated it, and unfortunately it could not be substantiated, which they reported back to the interested parties. I have nothing specific to add on the last question.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

Q Gillian, it is nice to talk to you in a different context, and thank you for everything that you do to keep elections free and fair in my city. You are right to say that there have been accusations of postal vote harvesting—I have seen it with my own eyes—so it is good to see that you are comforted that the legislation will help you with that. In the most recent elections in the city—certainly when I was elected in December 2019—the city council placed CCTV at polling stations. Will you explain why you felt the need to do that?

Gillian Beasley: In Peterborough, we have a range of measures to make sure that electoral integrity is maintained. The CCTV was a result of personation allegations of individuals going to one polling station to vote and then taking a polling card to another polling station. We decided to observe the polling stations and who was going into them very closely to see if we could pick up evidence of personation and use it in the prosecution.

CCTV is also a deterrent, to a degree. We are open about the fact that we have CCTV. We tell everybody, including the election agents, that that is going to happen, and we say that we will use the CCTV in evidence if we detect that kind of activity going on. Councillor Golds made the point about people congregating outside polling stations. We get to observe that, and if it is happening, we would get the presiding officer—or the police, who are sometimes in polling stations for assistance with personation—to go out and disperse those who are congregating, so that people can walk into the polling station and feel confident that they will not be subject to any intimidation or comment. We use CCTV for a number of reasons: for the purposes of potential prosecution and to keep an eye on what is happening outside the polling station so that we keep it free and enable voters to go in.

[Paul Bristow]

Q I have one follow-up question. Would you say that CCTV also gives the electorate confidence in the process and that personation and other things will not happen?

Gillian Beasley: I think exactly that. We want to say that we take it very seriously, and that seriousness is exemplified by the CCTV and the measures we have put in place. It is a confidence mechanism as well, and we communicate that not just to those who are involved in the administration, but to the wider public.

[The Chair]

Gareth Cann, do you have anything to add?

Assistant Chief Constable Cann: No, nothing on that one.

Elections Bill (Second sitting)

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 15th September 2021 Public Bill Committees

[The Chair]

I have Paul Bristow, Chris Clarkson, Nick Smith and Fleur Anderson remaining to ask questions, and we have until 3.15 pm, so can we be kind to each other? Thank you.

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

Q Thank you, Ms Rees. I will only ask the one question, to Peter Stanyon. We have heard evidence today from Gillian Beasley, the chief executive of Peterborough City Council, who does a fantastic job of making sure that our elections in Peterborough are done freely and fairly. She outlined some of the things that she has undertaken in Peterborough, such as CCTV, and the professionalism of her team and her staff. We have also seen how well some of the pilots have gone with voter ID. I have every confidence in the AEA and election administrators across the country to get this right. Do you have that confidence, too?

Peter Stanyon: I would echo the words that Gillian said this morning. At the end of the day, Peterborough has some challenges, and they face up to them superbly well. Whatever is expected of administrators, they will once again step up to that mark, but we should not underestimate the challenges that are being levelled not just by voter ID, but by the other elements of the Bill that make it harder and harder—more challenging—for elections to be delivered. I do not think you will find one electoral administrator who does not want to enfranchise people, who does not want them to cast their ballots or who does not want to provide that free and fair election. That is what it is all about; it is just becoming harder and harder to do so. There are resource and training implications, but the really good practice that local authorities such as Peterborough are able to demonstrate is really helpful and is shared across the whole electoral community.

[Paul Bristow]

That is very reassuring to know. Thank you very much.

[The Chair]

I call Chris Clarkson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Bristow]

Q You said in your evidence that a feature of elections in Birmingham in the past has been people turning up at polling stations with a collection of ballots. That is a feature I know all too well from Peterborough—it happens all the time. There is clear evidence of postal vote harvesting. I know that it goes on. We see people knocking on doors down the street collecting ballot papers and postal votes. Do you feel that the provisions in the Bill will go some way to ending what is a pretty murky practice?

Rob Connelly: They do—I would like to think so. One thing we have to be careful about is that if we introduce voter ID, one of the unknown consequences could be that people say, “I can’t be bothered to go and get my ID card.” Will they then think, “I’ll go and get a postal vote instead.”? We just have to be mindful of that.

[Paul Bristow]

Q What about party activists collecting ballot papers and handing them in? The Labour party once had its own mock ballot box that it was taking around and asking people to put their votes into. I think we can all agree that that is a practice we ought to end, and we could end it.

Rob Connelly: After 2004, all the political parties undertook not to—

[Paul Bristow]

That is absolutely true.

Rob Connelly: The Labour party have signed undertakings before every election following that. It gets undertakings from its candidates and activists that they will abide by all the guidance. It shares that with me and gives clear instructions that, certainly in Birmingham, its party activists will not go anywhere near postal votes.

[Paul Bristow]

Q There is no excuse for it—do you agree?

Rob Connelly: The only reason you would allow it is if a disabled or elderly person wanted some help, but that is a service we can offer.

[Paul Bristow]

Yes, indeed. Thank you.

[The Chair]

If there are no further questions, I thank the witnesses for their evidence and we will move on to the next panel.

Examination of witnesses

Dr Kate Dommett, Professor Justin Fisher and Darren Grimes, gave evidence.