US Steel Import Tariffs

Richard Tice Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alexander]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are working on that EU reset, and continue to work on it, through the good offices of my new colleagues in the Cabinet Office. One element of that reset is looking at those linkages and how they can work effectively, and the level of engagement in relation to that reset is significantly ramping up. Again, frankly, there had to be almost confidence-building measures established after the deep betrayal of trust that was felt by our European friends, neighbours and allies—let us remember that a previous Conservative Prime Minister could not even bring herself to acknowledge President Macron as a friend and ally of the United Kingdom. In that sense, we have built the relationships, we have established trust, and we are looking forward with a clear-headed sense of national interest to the reset talks that are getting under way this year.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

The threat to the UK steel industry is not tariffs from the US, but the cost of our electricity. The Business Secretary has previously agreed with me that that is what makes our steel industry uncompetitive, and it is why imports have grown from 55% to some 70% in the last couple of years. So will the new steel strategy, due in the next few weeks, confirm how we will get down the electricity price in this country to make our industry competitive?

[Mr Alexander]

I think the difficulty with the point the hon. Gentleman makes—and I appreciate his constituency interest and the broader interests of Lincolnshire in this—is that other factors need to be recognised and addressed in the steel strategy. There is again, for example, the indisputable fact that we inherited blast furnaces that were increasingly out of date relative to technologies being used elsewhere. There had also been years of neglect in a number of plants in which there is a significant need for both public and private investment. So I respectfully hear the point that the hon. Gentleman makes about electricity prices and general power generation prices in the United Kingdom. The challenge of energy prices is not unique to the United Kingdom, but is felt across the whole of the continent of Europe. However, there are other factors that we are going to have to address as part of a comprehensive plan for steel.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Tice Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. and learned Friend for raising that point. We know that the Leader of the Opposition lobbied personally to remove annual limits on student and work visas. The shadow Foreign Secretary still thinks that the Conservatives have a great record on immigration, forgetting that they quadrupled it and that it reached almost 1 million a year. Our Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will give stronger powers than ever to tackle people smugglers. We have already removed 16,000 people who have no right to be here. The question for the Opposition is this: will they walk into the Lobby with us next week to secure our borders?

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

Q2. After she was kidnapped and shot, Emily Damari was held in captivity by Hamas in United Nations Relief and Works Agency facilities, confirming the fears of many of us that UNRWA is riddled with Hamas sympathisers. The British people do not want our aid stolen by Hamas. Does the Prime Minister agree that we should stop funding Hamas, follow the example of other nations and divert our aid to other, more trustworthy agencies?

[The Prime Minister]

On Emily Damari, I have spoken with Mandy on many occasions, including when she did not know whether or not her daughter was alive. Just listening to her was to really understand the torture that she went through. I spoke just the other day to Emily herself about the conditions in which she was held, and I will of course continue to do so. To be absolutely clear—and the hon. Gentleman knows this—we are not funding Hamas and never will. We condemn Hamas, and everybody in this House should condemn Hamas.

Covid-19 Inquiry

Richard Tice Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

One of the risks that we face is posed by mosquito-borne diseases—viruses of various kinds. The UK Health Security Agency monitors such diseases so that we have the most up-to-date information possible. This is a good example of scanning the horizon and understanding that the next crisis we face may not be the same as the last.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

I agree with other Members who have said that this inquiry is taking too long, costing too much and, in many cases, not asking the right questions. The results of the previous pandemic response exercise some nine years ago, Operation Cygnus, were so shocking that they were kept from this House and the British people. Will the Minister commit that the results of the pandemic exercise later this year will be transmitted totally openly, with full transparency, to this House and the British people?

[Pat McFadden]

I thank the hon. Member for his two questions. I have said what I said on the speed of the state’s admission when things go wrong. We do need to think about that and look at it. As for the results, the findings of the exercise will be made public, and let me repeat my prediction: they will probably show things that have gone wrong and areas where we need to improve. Anyone who carries out such an exercise and does not expect that will face a nasty surprise.

G20 and COP29 Summits

Richard Tice Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I agree. I was struck during the general election campaign, as I think members of all parties will have been wherever they campaigned across the country, that support for Ukraine was there in every quarter of the United Kingdom. I am very proud of the fact that that is the position across our country.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

I was struck that the Prime Minister’s statement contained not a single reference in to our most important security and trading partner, the United States, particularly at this time of change, with the good news of the election of President Trump. While the Prime Minister was at the COP summit, he may have missed the fact that growth is falling in this country, debt is rising, and the motor industry is panicking as jobs are being destroyed. Just yesterday, Nissan announced further job cuts, as has Ford, because of electric vehicle targets, which are causing irreversible damage to our motor industry.

[Hon. Members]

What was the question?

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Tice Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This is the second time this has come up this afternoon in Prime Minister’s questions, and I hope that SNP Members are listening good and hard. I am sorry to hear that my hon. Friend’s constituents have been waiting so many years for the medical treatment that they need. We are committed to the NHS, and the Chancellor will have a lot more to say about that in just a moment.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

Q8. The Government’s own independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, has said repeatedly recently that it is important in incidents of terrorism that the authorities put out more information sooner in order to prevent an information gap. Does the Prime Minister agree?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously I will tread carefully in answering this question, Mr Speaker, for the very reasons that you set out at the beginning of this session. It is very important, first and foremost, that in all cases, including the particularly difficult case that the Speaker mentioned earlier, the police and prosecutors are able to do their difficult job. All of us in this House have a choice to make, including both candidates to be the next Tory leader. They can either support the police in their difficult task or they can undermine the police in their difficult task. I know which side I am on.

Ministerial Code: Policy Announcements

Richard Tice Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

We have already said that the Prime Minister will update the ministerial code and publish it shortly to ensure that it is fit for purpose, deals with problems such as the Tory freebie loophole, as I have said, and meets the high standards that the Prime Minister expects.

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

We hear a lot about “14 years of failure”, but it seems to me that this Government have had 14 years to learn how the ministerial code works. In reality, the announcement made by the Chancellor last week moved the markets: bond yields went up, which means that mortgages and people’s bills have gone up. The right thing for the Government to do is to apologise.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

First, we will see the impact of what the Chancellor announces tomorrow and in the days afterwards. The ministerial code will be published shortly. That stands in stark contrast to what the previous Government did. I watched from the Opposition Benches as they tried to tear up the entire rulebook to protect one of their friends—that is not something that we will do.

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Richard Tice Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 15th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)]

I am a big fan of reform, and I detect, with the exception of one or two Members, appetite for reform of the House of Lords. But if the Government are going to do a job, they should do it properly. The Government, who often lament having waited 14 years to come back to power, have had plenty of time to get themselves organised and ready for the reform of the House of Lords.

Some of us of a certain age remember the last reform 25 years ago. The Paymaster General said earlier that this was just phase 1; no, this is phase 2. I cannot wait 25 years for phase 3. We want to get on with it, and the country wants to get on with it. I think that the country will appreciate this phase of reform, but they will say, “Hang on, Prime Minister. The Labour party stood on a platform of removing cronyism.” As other Members have rightly said, the country is sick and tired of the cronyism of cloth of ermine. It feels like cash for cloth. We are done with it. We have had enough of it. We want this sorted.

This is an opportunity for the Government: if they are not going to do it at this phase, they have a Parliament of four years ahead. Will they commit, as a Government, to go from phase 2 to phase 3? They can have the debate around the country about what the House of Lords should look like, but I urge them, on behalf of tens of millions of people who want proper reform of the House of Lords, to get on with it, please, and not to wait another 25 years.