Exiting the European Union

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The political declaration makes it very clear that what will be negotiated will give effect to what is in the political declaration. If you like, it is instructions to the negotiators. What is also clear within the deal that has been agreed is that both sides will use their best endeavours, acting in good faith, to achieve that negotiation by the end of December 2020.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Nine times, the Prime Minister assured us that there would be no early general election, and still it happened. As recently as this morning her hapless, ever-changing band of Ministers were out on the airwaves assuring us that there would be a meaningful vote tomorrow before this latest twist—a sort of premature parliamentary ejaculation—that has put the lie to the claim that she sticks to her guns. When she will not even tell us when the vote is deferred to and as it appears the lady is for turning, how can we or anyone trust anything she says again?

[The Prime Minister]

I am tempted to say to the hon. Lady that, if she looks carefully, I think she will see that I am not capable of a parliamentary ejaculation. [Laughter.]

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Leslie]

rose—

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

rose—

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I give way to my hon. Friend.

[Dr Huq]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. He makes a very good point: Brexit is painted as dividing our nation, but it has actually united our party in opposition to the Prime Minister’s proposals. It has also united many Conservative Members against her proposals, including two former Brexit Secretaries, the former Foreign Secretary and two former science and higher education Ministers. I wanted to ask the Prime Minister who the new science and higher education Minister is, but she did not take my intervention. Perhaps batting for that sector is incompatible with her Brexit, and indeed any form of Brexit.

G20 Summit

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 3rd December 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, the incoming President who made those remarks was not there at the G20 summit; as my hon. Friend said, it was the current President, Mr Temer, who was there. We will continue to be clear with all countries around the world about the importance that we attach to equal rights and human rights.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

May I congratulate the Prime Minister on all the air miles she has clocked up recently on our behalf? I urge her Government not to forget their promises on anticorruption. The G20 declaration commits leaders to tackling

“vulnerabilities in the financial system”.

What with the National Crime Agency—which the Prime Minister had a hand in setting up, as she reminded us—estimating that hundreds of billions of pounds are currently being laundered through the UK, will she give us a date for when the commitment to consult on the creation of a criminal offence for corporations of failure to prevent money laundering will materialise, so that we can practise what we preach?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for her remarks. I did set up the National Crime Agency and it is doing important work in this area. The new economic crime centre has been set up, and that is an important step in dealing with these issues. We continue to look at the powers that are necessary to deal with money laundering, but we have already introduced new powers that enable us to take action against those involved in these matters.

Leaving the EU

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I thank my hon. Friend for bringing the views of business in Taunton to the House. She is absolutely right. We listen to business. That is exactly why the free trade area with good customs arrangements lies at the heart of our future economic partnership. This deal delivers Brexit, but it does it in a way that enables business to thrive and jobs to be protected.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister is fond of telling us what the British people think. She trumpets the end of freedom of movement as a plus of what is now a face-saving exercise, but for businesses that are losing their EU workforces, for EU nationals—there are 13,000 in my seat—and for young people who want to study and live abroad, that, as well as her crass comments about jumping the queue, are a tragedy. Is it not time that she sought a fresh assessment of the will of the people and gave all electors in this 65 million nation—not just 650 MPs—a say? What if the will of the people in June 2016 is no longer the will of the people?

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave earlier.

Progress on EU Negotiations

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Thursday 22nd November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to give my hon. Friend that commitment, and he is absolutely right. That is why I have said, as I have said before, that any second referendum would not be a people’s vote but a politicians’ vote.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

There is a strange sense of déjà vu and, indeed, anti-climax in this document after more than two years. The words “shall be decided” occur 127 times, and paragraph 147, at the end, states that a high-level conference will be convened at least every six months, with no guarantees of anything. That is a possible Brexternity. At what date and time will these negotiations ever end? With both this and with last week’s so-called deal, will the Prime Minister not just admit that she is flogging a dead horse?

[The Prime Minister]

I have made clear before that we will be working to ensure that the future relationship can be in place on 1 January 2021.

October EU Council

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I would not require any other EU member state to do that, and it is unacceptable for the EU to require us effectively to carve Northern Ireland away from the United Kingdom with a customs border down the Irish sea. I have made that very clear, and that is why we are looking for alternative backstop proposals.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

A huge number of people marching for a democratic say on the next steps and a fresh assessment of the will of the people should not be ignored by any Government, unless the Government are perhaps not being completely full with us about what they know. Does the Prime Minister think that her deal will leave us better off than the deal we already have as an EU member—yes or no?

[The Prime Minister]

I have been very clear that we are working for a good deal. Our best days lie ahead of us, but this is about getting a good deal, getting good deals around the rest of the world and ensuring that we build a better and brighter future for the people of this country.

EU Exit Negotiations

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

The Brexit Minister luckily made it back okay from the continent yesterday, but my son’s school trip letter about Berlin in June warns that in the case of a no-deal Brexit the projected price may rise due to the pound sterling rate relative to the euro and that additional fees may be incurred for visas—not to mention what will happen to the plane if the open skies agreement is not renewed. If Elthorne Park High School is not prepared to take the whole “It’ll be all right on the night” line that we be keep being fed, surely “Project Fear” is fast becoming “Project Reality”.

[The Prime Minister]

We are working for a good deal, but it is right that the Government, as we have done through the publication of the technical notices and our work on the matters that are the responsibility of Government, prepare for the possibility of no deal. The European Union is preparing for the possibility of no deal, but both sides are working to ensure that we get a deal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

We are introducing a new programme to support our pre-independence Commonwealth veterans who have been living in poverty. There are about 7,000 of these individuals, to whom we owe an immense debt of gratitude. The new programme will ensure that they can live out the rest of their lives with their families in dignity.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

T4. Freedom of expression and democracy are aid programme headings under which we fund Bangladesh, so why has it been able to imprison and torture the acclaimed photojournalist Shahidul Alam for championing those very values? What are we doing to secure his release?

[Alistair Burt]

Once again in New York, I took part in a special session at the United Nations devoted to the pressures on journalists, led by Amal Clooney and others. We were able to state very clearly our support for those Bangladeshi journalists. Representations have been made, and will continue to be made. I met the family, who were there.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I commend my hon. Friend for the work that he has done to champion the cause of blood cancer and raise a much greater awareness of the issue. I can assure him that we will continue to press on and raise awareness of the issue, and I, too, am pleased that the decision that was announced yesterday was able to be made. I congratulate him, because he has personally campaigned on this and championed this cause.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Q5. The Prime Minister and I both represent seats around Heathrow airport, and we both campaigned for years against its damaging effects on our constituents and against its expansion. But when it came to the third runway vote, she shifted. If I can understand her change of heart—because new facts emerge and it was not the same proposal as it was years ago—can she not apply the same logic and allow the electorate the final say on the final Brexit deal?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an ingenious attempt to raise the Brexit issue. This Parliament overwhelmingly gave the British the decision on whether to remain in or leave the European Union. The British people voted. It is now up to this Government and politicians across the whole House to show our faith with the British people and deliver on their vote.

NATO Summit

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend makes a good and important point. He is absolutely right that this is an opportunity for us to show global Britain and to show our absolute commitment to NATO for the future.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Our NATO obligations are entwined with our other collective security arrangements. The Prime Minister has previously said:

“Thanks to the arrest warrant, more than 2,500 people wanted for crimes abroad are no longer roaming the streets of Britain…These include serious international criminals like murderers, paedophiles, human traffickers and terrorists.”

Can she tell us how she intends to defend us from these undesirables, as the White Paper does not commit to keeping us in the European arrest warrant system post Brexit?

[Mr Speaker]

Not altogether adjacent to the NATO summit.

[Dr Huq]

In parallel.