Business of the House

Robert Syms Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady, and the shadow Leader of the House, for their tireless campaigning for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, which is a model of how Members of Parliament ought to behave when seeking redress of grievance for their constituents. The hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) is absolutely right. The words in the passport are:

“Her Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty”.

We are, I believe, the only country that both requests and requires. When Government documents say such things, I expect them to be factual. The Foreign Office helps 30,000 British nationals each year. As I said earlier, it is a fundamental point that the British Government must protect Her Majesty’s subjects.

[Sir Robert Syms (Poole) (Con)]

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have an infection rate of about 220 people per 100,000. We are being moved up two tiers; we will be in tier 4 along with areas such as Thurrock, which has seven times that infection rate. People turning up to spend the new year in Bournemouth hotels are being turned round and sent back home with less than eight hours’ notice. This is a disaster for local businesses. If the health nutters are determined to ruin businesses in Dorset, can they at least set out clear criteria for doing it?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The problem is that the rates have been increasing very rapidly even in areas where they are very low, and this new strain seems to be infecting people more quickly. Obviously, there is hope from the vaccine. I assume that my hon. Friend did not get in on questions to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; if I may, I will pass on his question directly to our right hon. Friend for, perhaps, a more comprehensive answer.