Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State, Peter Kyle.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has told the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson) that negotiations on the protocol have only a 30% chance of success. Does the Secretary of State share that assessment?

[Brandon Lewis]

I am not sure I am in a position to give betting odds in terms of percentages. The experience we have had with the EU so far, in the past six to nine months, has shown us a lack of the pragmatism and flexibility that we need to see. We have not seen the EU move in a way that allows us to resolve the issues of the protocol, either the trade issues or the wider issues of identity and sovereignty. It is important that we do that. We have to be realistic about the reality of that lack of progress and flexibility, which is why I am clear that we take no options off the table.

[Peter Kyle]

The reason the Secretary of State cannot give a direct answer to the question is because Ministers and the Prime Minister have been telling so many people informally so many different answers. That is a reason why there is such a lack of trust in the Government at the moment. Queen’s University Belfast has just carried out a poll, which found:

“The UK government is by far the most distrusted…of all actors”.

That is because so much is happening in the shadows; Ministers are telling people different things behind closed doors. Since the Executive collapsed, there has been no statement to the House. Following five rounds of negotiations between the UK and the EU Governments, there has not been a single statement to the House. Will the Secretary of State promise to bring discussions out of the shadows and start making statements to the House, so that we can have things on the record and not behind closed doors?

[Brandon Lewis]

I think the hon. Gentleman misunderstands how negotiations need to work. We have been clear that it is right and appropriate that we have the space to have those private negotiations with the EU, which is why we have not gone out and publicly outlined some of the specific details we have put. But we have been very clear, and I am very clear publicly as well as privately, that we take no options off the table. We do need to resolve this. There is a point at which there is a judgment call for the UK Government to make on whether those negotiations are able to progress in a way that gives us confidence that we can get to a positive resolution. We have not seen that flexibility from the EU yet, but we will continue to strain every sinew, and the Foreign Secretary continues to talk to Maroš Šefčovič, to do everything we can to get a resolution that works. But we have to be very clear: this is about a resolution that respects all aspects of the Good Friday agreement and protects the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I welcome the shadow Secretary of State to the Dispatch Box.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

The Command Paper was published back in July, and since that time there have been two pauses, or perhaps more. That implies quite directly that the Secretary of State’s thinking is evolving. Can he tell the House, with as much precision as possible: what is the difference between his thinking as it currently stands and his thinking in the paper that was published in July?

[Brandon Lewis]

I, too, welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new position. I look forward not just to sparring with him at the Dispatch Box, but to working with him for the benefit of Northern Ireland in the period ahead. I am sure we will be able to ensure that, on a range of matters, we are delivering for the people of Northern Ireland, along with his team.

We have not had pauses as such. We said when we published the Command Paper that we wanted to engage with parties, and we agreed at the summer British-Irish intergovernmental conference with the Irish Government to do that in partnership. That work continued over the summer and autumn and just last week we had a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference which is developing that work. This is a very complicated, complex area, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare). We want to bring forward this package of work and legislate for it to ensure that we deliver for people in Northern Ireland—for victims who have waited too long for information. So there have not been pauses; the work continued throughout the summer and autumn.

[Peter Kyle]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his kind comments. I am also grateful for the messages and exchanges that we have had in the run-up to today.

In the spirit of constructive relations, let me share with the Secretary of State a bit of advice that comes from my experience. My last job was as the shadow Victims Minister, and when I was drafting the Victims of Crime and Anti-social Behaviour, Etc (Rights, Entitlements and Related Matters) Bill, I learnt that offering support only works when the victims are in the driving seat. According to the proposals that are currently on the table, the victims are not even in the car. Rather than delaying—the Secretary of State did promise it in the autumn and he did promise it before Christmas, and it has not emerged—can he give a clear assurance, on behalf of the victims, that he has gone back to the drawing board and will only return with proposals once victims are front and centre and in the driving seat? That is what they deserve, and that is what Governments should deliver for them.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I know that the hon. Gentleman is new to this, but we must hear from some other Front Benchers, and I am not going to make it if we do not have shorter questions and answers.

Committee on Standards: Decision of the House

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for securing and opening this debate. The Government have been listening carefully to the legitimate concerns raised by right hon. and hon. Members from all parts of the House, both during and since last Wednesday’s debate. These matters are vitally important to you, Mr Speaker, and to the whole House.

Before I set out the Government’s position, I would like, first, to express my regret and that of my ministerial colleagues over the mistake made last week. We recognise that there are concerns throughout the House about the standards system and the process by which possible breaches of the code of conduct are investigated.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way on that point?

[Steve Barclay]

I will in a moment.

Although sincerely held concerns clearly warrant further attention, the manner in which the Government approached last week’s debate conflated them with the response to an individual case. This House shares a collective interest in ensuring that the code of conduct reflects and fosters the highest standards of public life. The Government fully recognise that the Standards Committee is critical to that, including in respect of the important role performed by its Chairman, the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant).

[Peter Kyle]

The Minister has already offered one apology; will he give another to residents who live in constituencies with MPs whom his Front-Bench team and Whips threatened with the withdrawal of spending in their communities to punish them for thinking about not voting for the amendment last week? Will he apologise to those residents, who are innocent bystanders? It is not their fault that money can be taken out of their communities simply because of something their MP does on a matter of conscience.

[Steve Barclay]

I think the hon. Gentleman prepared that intervention before he heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell), who said that, despite his voting against the Government, that was a misrepresentation of the conversations he had.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will indeed join my hon. Friend in thanking St John Ambulance for everything it has done. The volunteers have been fantastic and I have met many of them over the past 18 months who have done an absolutely astonishing job. I do not think that I can come to his reception, but I am sure it will be very well attended. May I also take this opportunity to urge everybody in the country who has not yet had a vaccination and who is eligible for one to get it as soon as they can?

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Q5.   Given the Education Secretary’s net approval rating among Tory supporters of minus 53, can the Prime Minister get to his feet, put his hand on his heart and promise the country, this House and his own supporters that his Education Secretary is the right person for the job and is up to the job?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the whole House will recognise that the Education Secretary has done a heroic job in dealing with very difficult circumstances in which we had to close schools during the pandemic. Never forget that the job of teachers and parents up and down the land would have been made much easier if Labour, and the Labour leadership in particular, had had the guts—and if the hon. Gentleman had had the guts—to say that schools were safe.

Afghanistan

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend, whose trenchant views I often agree with, but I think in this case the special relationship—at Carbis Bay I called it the irreplaceable or the indestructible relationship; I cannot remember exactly what phrase I used—is a basic geopolitical fact. On the special relationship rests much of the security of the last 100 years. It will continue to be of cardinal importance to this country. That is a fact that is as understood in Washington as it is in this country.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has turned his back on the EU, and Washington has turned its back on him. Since he stood on a platform of global Britain, can he tell us where Britain has more influence than we did before he became Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

Virtually everywhere is the answer to that. [Interruption.] We have our own sanctions policy. We have been able to set up new embassies and legations around the world. We are opening up in the south Pacific and in Africa. We are doing free trade deals; I think a total of 63 so far. Who knows—there may even be another one this week.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Wednesday 14th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the victims on Alderney. We must never forget those on the Channel Islands who suffered under occupation between 1940 and 1945. I am told that the documents in question have been transferred to the National Archives, but I will ensure that the relevant Minister meets my hon. Friend to discuss the matter further.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

  There are currently 800,000 students self-isolating, and even after the reforms to the bubbling system, the Government’s failure to get the delta variant under control means that infections rising over the summer will mean that the autumn term in our schools will be very severely affected. If the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation says that it is safe and appropriate for adolescents to receive the vaccine, will the Prime Minister promise that every single adolescent will be offered the vaccine over the summer and parents given all the information they need to make an informed decision, so that schools can return and not continue to be affected by the bad policy making of this Government and their failure to get the delta variant under control?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman seems to want us to relax our rules on self-isolation that are protecting people from coronavirus. I do not think that is the right thing to do at this time. He also calls for us to go against the JCVI. The point he raises is a matter for the JCVI.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Can I just gently say to all leaders that in the end I have had to cut off quite a few Back Benchers because of the amount of time that has been taken up at the beginning? Can we think about those as well? It is so important that they get their questions heard.

[Peter Kyle]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

There will be no points of order now. I am now suspending the House for a few minutes, to enable the necessary arrangements for the next item of business to be made.

International Aid: Treasury Update

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Programme motion
Tuesday 13th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Does the Chancellor accept that in areas of instability and potential social decline, if we withdraw aid and support people are more likely to end up needing the support of our military? We know that for a fact, because we have had to give that support a lot in the past. Does he not accept the principle that in areas that are extremely volatile it is much, much cheaper to the British purse to provide support via aid workers than to send the military in with hardware and put our soldiers on the frontline, often in danger?

[Rishi Sunak]

It is not an either/or. This Government are doing both. We are one of the largest donors to the UN peacekeeping operations and that is why we are making a difference in countries across the globe, not just through our ODA budget but through all the other ways we express global leadership.

Debate on the Address

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Tuesday 11th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

rose—

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

rose—

[The Prime Minister]

In a moment.

We understand this crucial point: we find flair, imagination, enthusiasm and genius distributed evenly throughout this country, while opportunity is not. We mean to change that, because it is not just a moral and social disgrace, but an economic mistake and a criminal waste of talent. Although we cannot for one moment minimise the damage that covid has done—the loss of learning, the NHS backlogs, the court delays and the massive fiscal consequences—we must use this opportunity to achieve a national recovery so that jabs, jabs, jabs becomes jobs, jobs, jobs. That is our plan. We will address the decades-old problems that have held us back, and transform the whole United Kingdom into a stronger, fairer, greener and healthier nation. That is the central aim of the Queen’s Speech.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

No, no, no.

My hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire is a kindly man and a lawyer, but unlike some other lawyers in this House he is tough on crime. In fact, he is so tough that when three thugs were so rash as to attack him in Covent Garden, he transformed himself like Hong Kong Phooey and floored all three with moves that have earned him—I can tell the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras—not just a black belt but a Blue Peter badge.

[Peter Kyle]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[The Prime Minister]

No.

My hon. Friend has served in many distinguished political roles and can be proud of his campaigns on behalf of sufferers from breast cancer, on behalf of homeowners who surprise nocturnal intruders with cricket bats and, as he said, on behalf of the Cambridgeshire village of Stilton, where the eponymous cheese originated and where, he claimed, local cheesemakers were forbidden from calling the cheese of Stilton “Stilton cheese”—a bizarre prohibition that he blamed on Brussels. That is understandable, although I have yet to discover whether he was altogether right about that and whether he has actually solved the problem by getting Brexit done. I think you will agree, Mr Speaker, that he spoke with pungency and maturity—he spoke for Stilton—and he made a speech in the best traditions of this House.

He was ably seconded by my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Katherine Fletcher), a palaeontologist, a biologist and—as the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras said—a former safari guide. She knows that in any pride of lions, it is the male who tends to occupy the position of titular, nominal authority, while the most dangerous beast, the prize hunter of the pack, is in fact the lioness. That is a point that I am sure the right hon. and learned Gentleman bears in mind as he contemplates his right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), the deputy leader, shadow First Secretary of State, shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work—though the more titles he feeds her, the hungrier, I fear, she is likely to become. Judging by her excellent speech, my hon. Friend has a long and successful career ahead of her as we work together to deliver for South Ribble, and for everywhere else in Lancashire and the whole United Kingdom.

However, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman said, we are all poorer for the absence of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham. During her long career in the House, Dame Cheryl Gillan introduced what became the Autism Act, which helped many vulnerable people, and served as Secretary of State for Wales. She always stood up for her constituents, including by securing important concessions on HS2 on their behalf. Cheryl was both an effective and an extremely popular Member of this House, and she was my Whip for many years. She was kindly, protective, and supernaturally well informed about my whereabouts. I am sure I speak for the whole House when I say that we will miss her deeply. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

I also know that Cheryl was a one nation believer in the Conservatives as the party of hope, change and opportunity, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire has just said. She therefore would have been as thrilled and proud as I am to welcome my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Jill Mortimer) to her place and congratulate her on her victory, and to thank everyone who has placed their trust in this Government, many thousands of them for the first time in their and their family’s history. Across this country, Conservative councillors were elected in areas that my party has seldom had the honour of representing, alongside Conservative mayors, Conservative London Assembly members, Conservative police and crime commissioners—70% of whom are now Conservatives, reflecting the importance we place on fighting crime—and Conservative Members of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd.

Labour’s response to these events is best summed up by the outgoing Labour leader of Amber Valley Borough Council, who said these immortal words:

“The voters have let us down. I hope they don’t live to regret it.”

There you go, Mr Speaker: yet again, Labour’s bonkers solution in the face of any electoral setback is to wish they could dissolve the electorate and call for another one, while we get on with our work, taking forward our programme of change and regeneration filled with obligation towards those we serve, who have every right to hold us to account with the wisdom and common sense that the British people have always exemplified. We will get on with safeguarding the health of the nation, pressing on full tilt with our vaccination programme until the job is done and our people are as safe as science can make them. We will accelerate the recovery of our public services from the crisis of the past year, investing in our NHS and introducing vital reforms, making it easier for the different arms of the health and care system to work together to provide the best service by means of the health and care Bill. I can tell the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras and his colleagues that later this year, we will bring forward proposals on adult social care, so that every person receives the dignity and security they deserve in old age.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

If the hon. Member for Hove (Peter Kyle) opposes that, he can let me know. Perhaps he would like to tell me.

[Peter Kyle]

Perhaps the Prime Minister can answer this. In the last three Tory manifestos and every humble Address since 2016, his Government have promised a victims Bill. It is in the Humble Address again, and we are grateful for that. Will he assure us that it will be delivered this year? It has not been published, and there are no details of what will be in it. We hear rumours that it will just put a code of conduct on to statute, but will he promise that he will take the Labour approach of going much further, empowering victims, giving rights to victims that are enforceable by law, and that there will be consequences for those in the criminal justice system who do not uphold them? Will he promise that?

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

There are many reasons why I am very keen to participate in today’s memorial debate. First, obviously, I want to play my part in celebrating the life of Prince Philip. On behalf of all residents across the community of Hove and Portslade, I also want to express the deep gratitude for his service and to pass on the very best wishes to Her Majesty the Queen.

Also, I have a personal, family reason why I very much want to be here. For the first time in the five years that I have been a Member of this House, my father called me this weekend and said, “Peter, I expect to see you in the House on Monday speaking.” My dad served in the Royal Navy in the 1960s, in the Fleet Air Arm as a mechanic, and his words mean a great deal, because he respected hugely the figure of Prince Philip. As a member of the armed forces parliamentary scheme, I speak to many senior officers in the Navy and have consistently heard the respect of senior officers. But the reason I wanted to mention my dad is that he served, in his words, several decks down, and his gratitude and respect for Prince Philip was equal to that of any other person who has served in our military.

We have only to look at the core values of the Royal Navy to understand why. Those core values are: commitment, courage, discipline, respect, integrity and loyalty. Prince Philip embodied those values. Whereas all people who serve in the military and our Parliament have deep, enduring respect for the royal family, it is understandable, when we consider the core values of the Royal Navy, why people who serve have a particular connection with Prince Philip.

Prince Philip also served our communities down in Sussex for an extraordinary period of time. He first visited Sussex on an official engagement in 1953, the year of the coronation and almost 20 years before I was born. He had been serving our community down there for almost two decades before I was even born. He visited most recently just five years ago, well into his 90s, when he opened the i360 visitor attraction. On the way in, he spotted a seven-year-old girl and went straight over to speak to her. An hour later, coming out, he went straight over to the same girl, remembered her name and spoke about what he had seen and learnt at the attraction. Back in the 1950s, he visited our community to inspect the sea cadets. His service was long, enduring and very well respected.

I will finish, as so many colleagues have finished, by sharing a personal anecdote, because The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the only member of the royal family I have ever met and had a conversation with. It was when I was in a previous job, working at ACEVO, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, and had been invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the work of the voluntary sector. As the members of my organisation were there, they should obviously have been front and centre, so I stood by the door at the back and watched as Prince Philip walked around the room. I saw the intensity with which he had conversations and the humour that he often brought to them, because laughter followed him around the room.

Finally, Prince Philip walked up to the group I was in and immediately launched into a conversation of extraordinary detail about the running of charities and their challenges, but about their potential into the future. He was rooted in the future—bearing in mind that that was a decade ago, when he was well into his 80s. It was very obvious that he spoke with experience of setting up and running charities, which is why he understood, in such detail, the potential of the voluntary sector.

At the end of the conversation, without taking a breath, he pointed to me and asked, “That thing on your chin—is it coming or going?” At the time, I was making a rather pathetic attempt at growing a beard. Everyone in the group starting laughing, none more so than the Duke himself—he actually brought tears to his own eyes. It was genuinely a great moment, because he ended the conversation on a note of humour. He then bid us farewell and walked out the door. I could not help looking over a moment later, to see him walking down a very long corridor on his own, his shoulders still shaking with laughter at the joke he had told. That memory has lasted more than a decade, and I think it sums up the character with which he served our country.

Integrated Review

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed, and that is why we are investing in cyber and in shipbuilding. By the end of this decade, we will have 24 frigates, as opposed to the 15 today.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister says that he is tough on illegal migration at home, but withdrawing and reducing aid, development and military support in areas of conflict, famine, war and instability will drive a new wave of international migration. Does he not accept that he cannot be tough, and claim to be tough, on illegal migration at home if his policies are driving it to start with?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is not right; in fact, I think he is talking total nonsense. The most effective thing we can do to ensure that we protect ourselves against illegal migration is to do what we have done, which is take back control of our borders—a measure that he and the Labour party opposed, and that the Labour party would repudiate.