Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I know that my hon. Friend is a great champion of green energy and, in particular, hydrogen in his area. I wish him luck with the plans and of course I will raise this matter the Business Secretary.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

As has been pointed out, previous programmes to improve insulation in homes, under either this party or the Labour Party, have not delivered what any of us would have hoped. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if this was targeted effectively at the homes of those who suffer most, many of whom will also be paying unacceptable increases in their energy bills, we could have a very effective way of improving insulation, reducing energy use and improving energy efficiency?

[Alok Sharma]

I agree with my hon. Friend; this measure will not only lower bills, but reduce demand for energy at this critical point, where energy security is so important around the world and also in our country.

Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Richard Graham Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Tommy Sheppard]

No, I do not, but if there were, it should certainly be investigated. If the hon. Gentleman is trying to say something, perhaps he should say it and not be quite so coy and insinuating.

What is even more concerning is the manner in which the Prime Minister’s successor is being selected. What started out as a sort of political beauty pageant has become a carnival of reactionary ideas, as the contestants vie with each other to see who can be the most right-wing. The reason is simple. They are not appealing to the Conservative parliamentary party, they are appealing to a narrow and narrow-minded section of the electorate quite unlike the people among whom they live: the Conservative party membership. How else can we explain that, as the country burns, not a single candidate has anything to say about the climate emergency? How else can we explain that they are talking about tax cuts on business profits, rather than action to help ordinary families with the cost of living crisis?

There will be Conservative Members who will hope that that is just an aberration, that those things will disappear once the contest is over and that some of this economic illiteracy, in particular the drivel about small states and tax cuts, will pass into history.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I would just like to point out, for the benefit of the House and the hon. Gentleman, that in fact earlier today every single one of the candidates spoke and was questioned at length by the Conservative Environment Network on precisely the issues he has just described.

[Tommy Sheppard]

My point is that when they set out their stall it was not on their agenda. This was not something they chose to put in their prospectus, because they know who they are appealing to. It is worrisome in the extreme that people who ought to know better are massaging prejudices among the Conservative party membership to gain political office.

Some will hope that this will disappear once the election is over and that much of the drivel about tax cuts and small states, and the economic illiteracy that comes with it, will pass away, but there is a worrying trend here. Some of those ideas may gain traction and may change public policy. I am concerned that the Conservative party is attempting to do that—change public policy in this country, without consulting the electorate. If it does that, that would be undemocratic and illegitimate.

When it comes to Scotland, I am also concerned. I do not expect any new Conservative leader or this Conservative Government to support a Scottish independence referendum, but I do expect—I do expect—a degree of civility and respect when it comes to appreciating Scottish public opinion. It is distressing that what we have seen from quite a number of the candidates, and what now seems to mark the character of the Government, is to ignore it and override it. Hence, we get statements about how the UK Government think that they need to save the Scottish people from the SNP-led Government in Edinburgh. What a monstrous contempt that is of the people who elected that Government just 14 months ago. Surely it is not too much to expect that there should be some dialogue, some respectful conversation? If there is not, that in itself will ensure the destruction of this Union.

This attitude is fuelling the campaign in Scotland for an alternative. We come here, mandated by the communities who sent us here, to say that people in Scotland want another choice on whether they should be an independent country. It is their right, their democratic right, to have that aspiration and to demand that it be listened to. We will not be going away. We will keep coming and we will keep demanding. The more this Government, in whom I have no confidence, refuse, the more the argument for the alternative, a new independent country, will gain ground. I say to the Conservative party and to the Conservative Government: Scotland clearly has no confidence in you. Everything you are doing makes Scotland believe there is a better alternative to come.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I would have preferred, as I think my constituents would, these many long hours of debate on confidence in the Government to have been spent discussing the safety of our children and the Online Safety Bill. This is a difficult moment for Labour Members, as they all stood to make the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), who is aware of roughly what I will say, the Prime Minister of our nation. How would he have fared with his plan for a second referendum on the EU, which he did not even personally believe in? Would he have created the private sector-led vaccine taskforce? When Dame Kate Bingham was first appointed to it, there was no shortage of Opposition Members saying that it was a crony appointment. It was, in fact, a brilliant move, and she worked closely with our multinational pharmaceutical companies, which the right hon. Member for Islington North would happily have abolished, along with our intelligence agencies.

[Sarah Owen]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Richard Graham]

There is no time, alas.

Would the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) today be defending his Prime Minister’s record on standing up to Putin? We are talking about the man who gave Putin the benefit of the doubt when it came to the murder of a British citizen in Salisbury and the handling of Novichok, which could have killed hundreds, if not thousands. As I say, I understand that this is a difficult debate for Labour.

Nor did we hear any mention from the Scottish National party of the first ever dedicated, ringfenced funding pot for marine energy in the recent renewables auction, which provides £20 million a year for investment in Scottish companies such as Orbital Marine Power, MeyGen Ltd, and Nova Innovation. There was nothing from the SNP about the value of the Prime Minister’s 33 trade envoys, who tirelessly promote Scottish products abroad. None of us has ever lost confidence in Scotland, or in the quality of Scottish products, but we think it is sad that the SNP does not see the value of the United Kingdom promoting Scottish exports all over the world.

On what this Government have achieved, let me highlight first their strong record on the Indo-Pacific pivot, which has led to better relationships across south-east Asia, to the great benefit of those nations and our own; and, secondly, what has been done with levelling up, pride and regeneration in small cities such as my own of Gloucester. There, the levelling-up fund, the station improvement fund and a whole number of improvements have done things that under Labour’s tenure were never even dreamed of.

Let us be in no doubt. There are always things that a Government can do better. For example, I wish this Government were thinking closely and hard about insulation for some of our poorer families to help them through this winter’s energy increase, and maybe that will come. However, I am in no doubt that this is a Government who are delivering, and I have full confidence in them.

Bill of Rights

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I am reassured by the intentions behind this Bill of Rights, and by two things above all: by the Justice Secretary’s absolute commitment that we will remain party to the European convention on human rights, and by what the former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption wrote at the weekend:

“modifying its operation here need not mean abrogating human rights. We can have all or any of the rights in the convention under ordinary domestic legislation”.

However, will my right hon. Friend help me to understand why he is proposing not to apply interim measures on courts in the UK and make them non-binding, because surely this would be a breach of international law, and would it not be better instead to focus on winning an appeal against any interim measure that the Government do not agree with?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is always sensible and judicious about these matters. On interim orders, he may recall that rule 39—which is the basis—is a rule of procedure of the Strasbourg Court, it is not part of the convention and the rules of procedure are supposed to govern only the internal workings of the Strasbourg Court. Indeed, that is not just my view—it was the Strasbourg Court’s view until 2005. It is not right that a judicial institution abrogates a power, whether at home or abroad, that has to be given to it by the legislators of state parties or Members of Parliament here. Therefore, we will be clear about the impact on the UK courts and under UK law. The Bill of Rights is right to address that squarely. It is a good example of the creeping, shifting goalposts, which are contrary to any democratic oversight, and that is important. Finally on that point, I want to be careful not to impinge on matters subject to legal proceedings, but, as a matter of principle, it cannot be right that the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court address these issues and see no realistic risk to those being removed, but have that trumped by the Strasbourg Court on a vague basis.

Armed Forces Bill

Richard Graham Excerpts

Consideration of Lords message
Monday 13th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Leo Docherty]

The objection principally is about our need for an expeditionary system that should not be salami sliced. If we start to take components out of our service justice system, it would undermine the confidence that those serving should have. That is an additional reason for us to reject the amendment this evening.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

The Minister is discussing an incredibly important issue, but in terms of “doing the right thing for the armed forces”, does he share my belief that it is also important that the Ministry of Defence resolve with the Home Office the outstanding question of the free visa applications for servicemen and women who are of non-UK nationality? Does he share my belief that the current proposal of 12 years’ service before such a free visa is available is too long a period for those involved, for us and for the wider public?

[Leo Docherty]

I am very pleased that my hon. Friend has raised such an important question. We are hugely grateful for the amazing contribution that our foreign and Commonwealth servicepeople make. I cannot pre-empt the Government announcement on the results of the consultation, but return of service is an important principle and I think it will be at the heart of the Government’s policy when it is announced in due course.

G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I study the people’s feelings about this. What so changed in this COP from Paris, which I attended, or from Copenhagen, which I was also at, is that this time, it is from the public. I have great respect for colleagues around the House who say that this is all going too far, too fast and that people cannot afford it. Actually, I do not think that we can afford not to do it. I also think that it is economically a massive opportunity for this country and that that is where people increasingly are. Calls for a referendum on this will fall on stony ground.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I spent the past couple of days at COP26 with south-east Asian nations’ representatives. The situation is exactly as the Prime Minister described, with real progress on cash, coal and trees and particularly momentum in signing up to the forestry declaration. My right hon. Friend will know that the UK pavilion is symbolically opposite next year’s G20 Chair, Indonesia. Does he agree that using the clean, green finance initiative is a real opportunity for us to do more to help them to transition from coal-fired energy to renewable energy, often in collaboration with UK partners on wind, solar and marine energy?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for everything that he has done with ASEAN—Association of Southeast Asian Nations—partners. He has absolutely been leading the charge for us in that region, particularly with Indonesia, and they are great partners of ours. What is coming out of COP is the idea that countries who are finding it tough, as he said, to move beyond coal need a coalition of countries to help them, with a portfolio of programmes that they need to get done, whether it is hydropower or carbon capture and storage—whatever it is—that we can help to finance and de-risk, in order to leverage in the trillions from the private sector, as we did with wind power in our country. People are seeing this model as the way we can do it—not with endless grants and handouts from Governments in the richer countries around the world, but through stimulating the private sector to come in and deliver a quantum leap in the infrastructure concerned.

Health and Social Care

Richard Graham Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is entirely right in what he says, in the sense that we are doing 50 million more GP appointments. That is part of our manifesto pledge. What we are also going to do as part of these reforms—I do not think anyone wants to see money just funnelled into the NHS without reform—is look at GP contracts to make sure that GPs see the right patients at the right time.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

If there was an easy solution to the problem of social care, it would have happened years, if not decades ago. I believe that everybody in this House, but particularly those from parties offering no alternatives, should welcome how the Prime Minister is tackling health and social care together with a hypothecated tax, which means that this health and social care levy is ring-fenced for all our constituents’ benefit. On the issue of intergenerational fairness, my right hon. Friend said that the recently retired would contribute and the lowest earning would not contribute, so will he encourage the Health Secretary to lay out the details of the tapers as soon as possible, so that everyone can see that this is a progressive levy?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary will certainly be laying that out. What everybody in the country understands is that there is no intergenerational issue here, because in the end all families are affected by this. Everybody has older relatives whom we love, and the cost of whose care makes us anxious. Everybody understands that families across the country are liable for this and we must take steps to fix it, and that is what we are doing.

Afghanistan

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 18th August 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

This has not been the orderly withdrawal that any of us would have wanted. The rapid collapse of the Afghan Government and their armed forces, and the takeover by the Taliban have been more an implosion than a transition. This is not our finest hour. But nor is it our worst humiliation since Suez, for let us not forget that we went in with a UN mandate as NATO and we stopped fighting seven years ago, since when we have been giving support and training to the elected Afghan Government. Our exit is not of our making, but the US Government’s. None of those things was true of Suez.

It is important that we recognise that in order to support the great present and future work that will be done by organisations such as NATO’s Gloucestershire-headquartered Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, and the individual men and women of armed forces units such as 1 Rifles, which is also based in Gloucestershire, and their families. They did so much to prevent international terrorism coming out of Afghanistan for two decades. Now we have to focus on the immediate priorities of getting our own citizens out of Afghanistan safely, helping to get out as many of the most vulnerable of those who helped us while we were there and then organising a generous resettlement programme, about which we have heard very good news from the Prime Minister today. The longer term debate about how we work with different partners across the world, how we work with Islamic states and how we project our values peacefully through organisations such as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy must come another day.

In the short term, in order to achieve those three objectives we are going to have to work, however much it grates, with those who are now in power in Afghanistan. Just as we know from recent events that we did not always predict what was going to happen accurately, we should not assume that we know exactly how things will pan out from now. We do not have complete control of the situation, and I believe that we owe to all those at Kabul airport, our diplomats and our armed forces good fortune in managing to extricate ourselves with some honour from this incredibly difficult situation. The future will see a debate that all of us will want to play a part in, but for now let us wish them all good fortune in executing the mission.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 14th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I have seen at first hand, when I was Secretary of State for International Development and, indeed, in other roles, that UK support continues to transform millions of lives for the better across the world. The hon. Gentleman will know that we will continue to spend over £10 billion this year in aid, and of course we now have certainty that we will be returning to the 0.7% target.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

What assessment he has made of the opportunities through COP26 for potential exports in energy and renewables to emerging markets. [R]

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

For COP26, we want clean power to be the most attractive option for new power generation for any country. This presents economic opportunities for every country choosing clean energy. The UK Government will showcase a variety of organisations and technologies at COP26 in the blue and green zones, including innovative energy solutions, green technologies and services that can help fight climate change and support resilience.

[Richard Graham]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the contracts for difference auction that is happening in November, shortly before COP26, is a wonderful opportunity to ensure that there is a separate pot for marine energy, which can give opportunities for some of our great new technologies around the coastline to shine? Does she also agree that COP26 provides an opportunity for us to showcase some of those technologies to visiting delegations from abroad, particularly Asia? Mr Speaker, you will be interested to hear that a British company is the second biggest investor in renewables in the Philippines and will be launching a new large fund on the London stock exchange this autumn to invest in further renewable opportunities in Asia.

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

Just to confirm, the next contracts for difference auction will open in December this year and will be our biggest yet, firmly charting our path towards net zero. Technologies such as wave and tidal stream projects are eligible to compete in pot 2 for CfD auctions, and we will publish specific allocation round parameters in advance of the auction. The Government continue to provide support to UK companies that are looking to export tidal technologies and other marine renewables abroad.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Richard Graham Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

As he was famously uninterested in what others thought about him and perhaps not much given to self-reflection, I doubt that His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh would have approved much of these deliberations on him. In truth, we have all learnt so much about him and this great long life so well lived that I hope that other members of the royal family will take great solace and pride in understanding the volume of the tributes from around the country today. The main reason for that is that the Duke’s intense curiosity about the world around him, perhaps excepting the occasional human tendency to bellyache or sit on the fence, struck home to millions of people not just in our country but around the Commonwealth and in the wider world.

I saw that at first hand, particularly on issues to do with the Commonwealth, and I am grateful for the comments from the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), who rightly highlighted that, too. It was after I had created the all-party parliamentary group for the Commonwealth. The Prince’s great encouragement was not to talk about things but to do them, and time and again all of us who had meetings with him saw that. It was almost as if, although Churchill coined the phrase “action this day” during world war two, that was the driving motto for his life. That came through in all our constituencies, too. In his two visits to Gloucester with Her Majesty the Queen in 2003 and 2009, he made it clear that he thought that there was still plenty to be done to repair the cathedral and regenerate the city. He was absolutely right on both points.

Sometimes, of course, his great knack for getting straight to the point could bruise some and amuse others. At the state banquet for the Indonesian President SBY in 2012, I was let off quite lightly, but when George Osborne was introduced to the President as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a phrase that the President may not have come across before, the Duke intervened to clarify. He pointed at George Osborne: “He’s the chap who is in charge of the money, only we haven’t got any at the moment.” This ability to lighten what could be a formal or even pompous occasion was something that many in this House have seen in action.

The Prime Minister and others touched on the grand themes of the Duke’s life, celebrating above all our greatest ever consort’s duty and service. We all have family or constituents who have benefited from the great confidence-building of the DofE Award. We now recognise even more than before his groundbreaking interest in the environment and nature, but perhaps the vast accumulation of anecdotes from so many people touched by his interest and wit leave us another legacy. Life is a gift, but there is plenty of hard work and sadness involved, and it is made more tolerable by being amused by its absurdities and intended or unintended moments of fun.

His Royal Highness was a refugee, a man of no fixed abode, let alone a home, until he married. I doubt that any refugee has ever given greater service to his or her adopted country. In that spirit and on behalf of all my constituents in Gloucester, may I offer my grateful thanks for the Duke of Edinburgh’s immense work for our monarchy, our nation, the Commonwealth and beyond and for the great sense of fun with which he approached it?

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Richard Graham Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This is a matter for the Welsh Labour Government in Wales to deal with, but I understand the fundamental inability of the Welsh Labour Government to deal with so many matters that concern the people of Rhondda, and we will do what we can to address the hon. Gentleman’s point.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

Many will be relieved that collective worship, outdoor sports, gyms, shops and personal care will resume business as usual, but can the Prime Minister tell us when the limits for spectators at spectator sports and business events will be set, as this will affect many self-employed contractors? Most importantly, what does my right hon. Friend think the chances are of getting the over-80s and the most vulnerable vaccinated before Christmas so that that great festival can be a lot more stressful for everyone—a lot less stressful for everyone? [Laughter.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

While the Prime Minister computes what that question actually was, I should point out that the hon. Gentleman—I am being kind to him, because he is an hon. Gentleman—had two questions. I am not allowing any more two questions; it is one question, not a speech, or we will be here all day. Of course, some people want to be.