Outcome of the EU Referendum

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The point I can add to what I have said before is that, of course, all contracts will be honoured, so if a British university has won a contract under the Horizon 2020 programme or whatever, that will continue during the life of that contract. Obviously, the key decision post-leaving will be about how we put in place arrangements to safeguard our excellent research facilities and universities.

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

The Prime Minister has rightly condemned the worrying wave of post-Brexit racism, so will he absolutely commit to the Prevent strategy and, indeed, to reviewing funding for community cohesion generally, to stamp on these emboldened xenophobes?

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I say to my hon. Friend that our net contribution accounts for just over one penny in every pound paid in taxes, so as we enter this vital debate we have to work out whether we believe that that sort of investment—one penny out of every pound—is worth the jobs and the investment, the growth and the security, and the safety and the solidarity that we get through working with our partners. I will be on the side that thinks it is, and clearly he will be on the side that thinks it is not, but we should have a polite and reasonable debate as we go through this. What I will say, which I am sure he will welcome, is that we have limited our contributions to the EU budget because we set an overall EU budget that is falling over the next six years. The reason our contribution varies is that part of it is determined by the success of a country’s economy and—to return to the questions I have just been answering—because our economy has been growing faster than others in Europe, we will make a slightly larger contribution than we otherwise would.

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

Q5. Not only has my constituent Susan Sutovic suffered the death of her son, but the unexplained circumstances of his death have led to a 12-year battle with the authorities in Belgrade, where this happened in 2004. The UK coroner has now ruled that the death was murder. Will the Prime Minister or Foreign Secretary meet the family and do what can be done to get a proper investigation, to resolve the questions that remain and to achieve justice for Petar?

[The Prime Minister]

I am not aware of the case the hon. Lady raises, but obviously it is important that her constituent gets proper resolution. I shall make sure she has a meeting with Foreign Office Ministers to discuss it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2015 Commons Chamber

[John Penrose]

This is an important issue. We have made up to £3 million available to local authorities to pursue the remaining four in every 100. By the end of this year, all those people will have been contacted up to nine times, either by phone, email or letter, or by someone knocking on their door, in order to confirm that they are genuine voters with a pulse, in which case they will have been confirmed on the register. We want to ensure that we do not inadvertently disfranchise them. Anyone who is left over will almost certainly be a ghost voter—a ghost in the machine; a data error—and can therefore be safely removed.

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

13. Would the Minister acknowledge that a disproportionately high number of those falling off the electoral roll are young people such as the students attending the Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College and the University of West London in my constituency? Can he not see that this is the biggest electoral disfranchisement in our history?

[John Penrose]

No, I would not acknowledge that, because if they are genuine people on the register, we will find them and confirm them as genuine. No genuine voters will be disfranchised by this move. The hon. Lady is absolutely right, however, to say that there are significant groups of under-represented people who are not on the register at all and therefore cannot be disfranchised by being removed from it. This is a fundamental issue for the health of our democracy, and we must go out and find those people. We need to have proper registration drives to get them on to the register in the first place.