(10 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberI know that Kim’s family will be grateful to my hon. Friend for what he said, and I know that the whole House’s thoughts will be with them at this unspeakably difficult time.
Hamas has not just abducted civilians but refused to release proof of life or lists, which is clearly adding even more to the distress. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps he is taking to ensure that the Red Cross does everything possible to extract that information from this terror group?
One of the things we have been discussing with our regional partners, including the Qataris, is how best to ensure humanitarian access to those hostages and to get better information on their wellbeing. That is something we will continue to press on.
(1 year, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberIt would not be right for me to comment on the circumstances of any individual company, but I make absolutely no apology for respecting what local communities want in their local areas. While the Labour party may want to ride roughshod over the views of local communities, impose top-down housing targets and carpet over the green belt, that is not something that this Government will do.
As we speak, the Royal Air Force is operating the Hercules farewell flypast over all parts of the UK. For more than 107 years, my constituents at 47 Squadron have defended our country, including by operating the legendary Hercules for more than 50 years. As this amazing squadron stands down, will my right hon. Friend join the whole House in paying tribute to its remarkable record of service? They are all men and women who have made their country proud.
I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to 47 Squadron. Its association with the Hercules now stretches to 45 years. Although its vital work at the heart of defence has often been unheralded, this squadron has served with professionalism and distinction throughout. I think that the whole House will join me in saying that the personnel and crews can be rightly proud, and they have our full thanks.
(1 year, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberMy right hon. Friend is correct. I know how seriously he takes solar energy in his own constituency, because we have talked about this before. The public must be on board, and it is important for there to be clarity for them in the planning process. I will say more about some of the points he has raised later in my speech.
My right hon. Friend has made some excellent points which will certainly have been heard by my constituents in West Oxfordshire who are subject to the Botley West proposal, or, as it has been called locally, the Blenheim power station. He has referred to large-scale solar farms. The one proposed in my constituency is to be the size of Heathrow—the biggest, if allowed, in Europe, and the biggest ever allowed on farmland—and 76% of it will be on green belt land. What he has just said about public support is entirely right. We all support solar energy, but when projects are this size and when they have an irreversible impact on local areas, that will subtract from public support. Does he agree that, as well as protecting power, we must ensure that we protect amenity, farmland, food security and the character of rural areas?
My hon. Friend is right: we must do all those things and, especially given the conflicts that are taking place around the world, we must ensure that our food security is protected. In my constituency, there are a number of large breweries, which depend heavily on local growers for their supply chains. My hon. Friend has made a brilliant point. He also referred to farmland. As the size of these proposed solar farm increases, so does the amount of productive farmland—
I thank my right hon. Friend for the question. He will understand that I do not know the “nuts” project that he is talking about, but again, I will pass that on to the relevant Minister.
All large solar developments must complete an environmental statement, as I was saying. Decision makers will consider a range of factors, such as whether the project proposal allows for continued agricultural use where relevant or encourages biodiversity improvements around the proposed site. Solar farms are temporary in nature and most solar panel components and equipment can be recycled.
I will be quick. The Minister says solar farms are designed to be temporary in nature, but in the case of the Botley West solar farm, the proposal is for about 40 years. That is not temporary but long term, and is it not the case that those areas will never be the same again?
Again, with my hon. Friend’s permission, I will take that point back to the relevant Minister and get back to him with an answer. I am aware that I only have a few minutes left, so with your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will continue.
Solar projects and agricultural practice can co-exist. Many solar projects are designed to enable continued livestock grazing. There is also a science of agrivoltaics developing, in which solar is integrated with arable farming in innovative ways. Solar energy can be an important way for farmers to increase their revenue from land less suited to higher-value crop production. There is also evidence that solar can improve biodiversity where it is installed on agricultural land.
Protecting our environment, backing British farmers and delivering long-term energy security with more low-carbon energy are all at the heart of His Majesty’s Government’s manifesto. It is possible to maintain and increase our food production in a more sustainable way in some areas, and to see land use change occur in others.
Striking the right balance between different land uses is a challenging task and will involve trade-offs. There are many uses of our land that we need to anticipate for the future, such as growing food, hosting low-carbon energy projects, planting trees, building homes, natural habitats, land for infrastructure, and leisure and recreation. In the Government’s food strategy we committed to publish a land use framework for England in 2023, which will help to inform how we manage those trade-offs. In terms of the safety of these systems, when installed, maintained and decommissioned correctly, electricity storage poses minimal risks.
To conclude, solar is a UK success story. Over 99% of the UK’s solar capacity has been deployed since 2010. The technology’s flexibility, low costs and rapid deployment can help us to reach our challenging net zero targets, strengthen our energy security, and bring new green jobs and economic growth. It is clear that that growth must be sustained and enabled by a robust planning system that balances those wider benefits against the local impacts.
Question put and agreed to.
(1 year, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberIn terms of what a mayor acting in the interests of his local community could do, perhaps the hon. Gentleman would permit me to ask Ben Houchen to set something out for him, rather than have me talk about it. As I pointed out, there has been a series of meetings with the previous aviation Minister and the current Minister. They have met Peel Group and local businesses affected, and they continue to do so. Any cross-party offer is welcome, and perhaps the hon. Gentleman could have a word with local leaders to engage them over a longer period of time than they have been engaged.
I declare my interest as the previous aviation Minister—that has just been referred to. Once the political bluster is over we are all on the same page, and we all have an undoubted understanding of the value of regional airports for areas such as Doncaster and Sheffield. Does the Minister agree that although the Government can bring people together and facilitate conversations, they are not in the business of owning and running airports? Local authorities sometimes are, however, and coming up with a credible commercial solution for how the airport can be bought and operated is something that must be locally led.
I thank my hon. Friend for the expertise that he brought to his previous portfolio. I would not dare to gainsay him, and yes, he is quite correct.
(1 year, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberThursday was one of those days when it seems as if the world has stopped. In the streets, crowds of people looked at the notifications coming up on their phones, stopped and looked at each other without speaking, because everyone was thinking the same thing: the day that we all hoped would never come had finally come. It was the day we lost the best servant and best leader that this country could ever hope to have.
Since then we have been thinking, as we have heard from the speeches in the House, about the incredible honour and privilege it is to be able to call ourselves Elizabethans. I rise to pay tribute to Her Majesty on my behalf, that of my family, and that of my constituency of Witney and west Oxfordshire.
I think about the early contact that west Oxfordshire had with Her Majesty, the first example of which may have been in 1928, during the reign of King George VI, when its most famous son, Winston Churchill, stayed with the royal family at Balmoral. He wrote to his wife Clementine:
“There is no one here at all except the family, the Household & Princess Elizabeth—aged 2. The last is a character. She has an air of authority & reflectiveness astonishing in an infant”.
Is it not extraordinary, yet not surprising, that Winston Churchill picked out so early the very qualities in Her Majesty that would make her such a revered individual, the most famous woman in the world and the most revered monarch in our history? She had an easy authority, which so many hon. Members have referred to today.
Throughout her 70 years of service, she saw unparalleled change. When she was a girl, the Royal Air Force was flying aircraft of wood and canvas, but she reached a time of fast, supersonic planes that do not even need a pilot—utterly extraordinary levels of change. She remained the same, yet she changed as society changed.
It is not just that the Queen had always been here, true though that is; it is not just that she was a constant, but that she was a unifying constant. We will all have different memories, but what is gone is not lost. The memories we have of her remain, and her example can guide us as we weather the storms of today and tomorrow. As we heard in the electrifying speech by His Majesty the King last night, that duty will continue. Although our voices are choked with emotion, we can all rally with the timeless cry: God save the King.
(4 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberI can tell the House that we have already taken steps to support local authorities—through another £3.2 billion to support them, a £600 million contribution to fight infection—and we are incredibly proud of what our social care workers do. What this Government have done, in sharp contrast to the previous Government, is not only introduce a national living wage, but increase it by the biggest ever amount.
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I will indeed think about what we can do. As he knows, these are matters for the honours committees, which are independent of Government, and I urge him strongly to make his representations to them.
(4 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberNot only was an oven-ready deal secured, but we had that oven-ready deal delivered and agreed to by this House earlier this year, which is why we left the European Union on 31 January. Of course, we will always honour the withdrawal agreement and, as far as the political declaration goes, it commits the European Union to use its best endeavours to secure a zero-tariff, zero-quota arrangement, and we hope that the EU will do that.
As my right hon. Friend knows, article 184 requires both parties, including the European Union, to use their best endeavours to reach that agreement. Will he update the House on the progress that has been made, and cite one significant thing that he thinks would help things further?
(4 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am not going to make any commitments now from the Dispatch Box on future pay settlements, but what I can say is that I am lost in admiration for the efforts of our civil servants, whether in DWP, HMRC or the Treasury. If we think about the furloughing scheme, everybody said it was impossible and far too complicated, and that we would never get that cash into people’s pockets, but they did it within four weeks. That is a fantastic tribute to the work of our civil service, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
I thank the Prime Minister for his update on progress in testing and tracing this invisible killer, but can he confirm for the people of West Oxfordshire that the new systems we are putting in place will, in the fullness of time, be able to detect local flare-ups?
Yes indeed. The intention is that the covid alert system, in time, will be sufficiently sensitive and flexible to detect local flare-ups, so that, for instance, if the covid is detected in the water supply of a certain town or in a school in an area, steps can be taken on the spot to deal with that flare-up and measures taken to keep the R down locally as well as nationally.
(4 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberWe are, of course, responsible, and we take full responsibility, but overall GP numbers are up and we are now recruiting 6,000 more. We are able to do that because we are running a sound economy and investing massively in our NHS across the whole country.
As the coronavirus hits the headlines every day, will the Prime Minister join me in thanking and paying tribute to the supreme professionalism of those at Public Health England and, in my area, to RAF Brize Norton for bringing home people who have been affected? Their work often goes unremarked, but it has the admiration of all of us.
My hon. Friend puts it beautifully, and I salute everybody involved in bringing home the victims and potential victims of coronavirus for the difficulties and risks they face. Indeed, our NHS has so far done an outstanding job in preparing and informing the country.
(4 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe hon. Lady raises a very important point about the need to move Government activity out of London. That is why, for example, we have created a default whereby when new agencies are created, they must be located outside London and the south-east. I know that the Prime Minister is determined to go further and faster with that agenda.
I welcome the manifesto commitment to offer guaranteed interviews for veterans—people for whom public service is so hugely important—in the public sector. Will the Minister confirm that the Government will be taking that forward with real energy as they consider wider reform?
As ever, my hon. Friend raises an important point. People who have served in our armed forces can also make an enormous contribution to wider life, including in the civil service. That is why I am determined that we deliver on that manifesto commitment, and I have already instructed officials to make that happen.