Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Minister stop reading his brief and speak from the heart? I have two sets of workers in Huddersfield. Many people work in financial services for Lloyds, and their jobs are in peril. I also have a large number of people who work in the national health service, and the Government are doing nothing to stop the cruel closure of the Huddersfield infirmary. Will the Minister do something about my financial sector workers and my health workers, with the EU catastrophe arriving soon?

[Mr Speaker]

My counsel would be to stick to the financial services industry.

[Mr Walker]

I will follow your guidance, Mr Speaker.

I am delighted that the Government are standing up for every sector of our economy, including the financial services sector. The hon. Gentleman neatly points out that the financial services sector matters not only in the City of London but throughout the country, in constituencies such as his. We will fight for those jobs; unfortunately, every Labour Government in history has destroyed jobs.

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

All the evidence shows that public holidays improve the productivity and wellbeing of workers, including those in the NHS still awaiting their £350 million a week as promised by the leave campaign. Does the Secretary of State agree with having an additional four days, as the Labour party proposes? Although that would still be short of the number in Finland and Spain, which have 14 and 15 days respectively, it would bring us in line with the European average of 12. At the moment we only have eight. That is an example of how, when we leave—

[Mr Speaker]

Well done—very good. I think we have the gist. The thrust of the question has been communicated and we are eternally grateful to the hon. Lady.

[Mr Davis]

The short answer is no. The more elaborate answer is that employment rights in this country are better than the European Union minimum across the board. That is true of the average number of mandatory annual holidays and maternity rights, to give just two examples. I am afraid that we do not have an awful lot to learn from the European Union in that respect.

[Stephen Gethins (North East Fife) (SNP)]

After these questions, we go into a general election that, as the EU has already said, will make very little difference to its negotiations. It has a lot more to do with exploiting a civil war on the Labour Benches and preventing yet another civil war on the Tory Benches. In terms of workers’ rights, what about those who are currently in work? This week, Diageo announced that there could be 100 job losses in Scotland, with 70 in Leven. The union has described the company as

“hedging their bets over Brexit”

and the Government have been asleep at the wheel. Now, regarding the workers—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We just need one brief sentence. Spit it out, man.

[Stephen Gethins]

Well, I think the issue of job losses is very important. Will job losses be a priority?

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[Mr Walker]

The Government’s position has been very clear: we are a member of the European economic area as a consequence of our European Union membership, and we respect the position of European leaders that the four freedoms underpinning the European Union are inseparable. We are leaving the European Union, but we will seek to form a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement between the UK and the EU.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Edward Leigh.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

My hon. Friend and the Government are right to seek—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The right hon. Gentleman is a very fine man, but his name is not Sir Edward Leigh. [Interruption.] Be patient—we will hear from the fellow shortly. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman, who is a person of immense distinction, knows his own name—he just did not hear me.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

We are of one mind anyway—it does not really matter very much.

In the interests of good government, will the Minister instruct the permanent secretary to ensure that there are worthwhile discussions with a possible future Government on how we square the circle of staying in the single market but controlling immigration and of being inside the customs union, or outside it—I do not know what they are going to do—and trying to make new trade agreements? I am sure that the permanent secretary is a very clever man and that he can do all this work.

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[Natalie McGarry]

Before asking my last question in this House, may I thank you, Mr Speaker, your staff, and the outstanding House staff across all areas, and wish colleagues right across the House every success in the coming months?

Can the Minister confirm whether the great repeal Bill will require legislative consent from the devolved Assemblies—yes or no?

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the hon. Lady very much for her warm remarks, which are very much appreciated.

[Mr Jones]

Similarly, Mr Speaker, may I express my best wishes to the hon. Lady for the future?

The question of whether a legislative consent motion will be required for the great repeal Bill will of course depend on the form and content of the great repeal Bill, which will be published in the next Parliament.

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[Mr Jones]

Yes, my hon. Friend is entirely right. Any such statutory instruments would be made pursuant to statute, which would of course go through this House and the other place in the normal way.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Ian Mearns. Not here.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

12. What steps he is taking to ensure protection of the Welsh sheep meat trade in negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.

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[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

If the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) wishes to contribute on the matter of the Welsh sheep meat trade, she is welcome to do so.

[Mr David Jones]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The agricultural sector is of particular importance in the forthcoming negotiations. We have already increased the number of exports from the British farming sector. We are currently in the process, for example, of negotiations to open the market for UK lamb to Saudi Arabia. There are a host of other opportunities out there, which will be available to us once we have left the European Union.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Tom Pursglove on question 15. [Interruption.] Aah, excellent! I was rather hoping that the hon. Member for Crawley (Henry Smith) would beetle into the Chamber just in time. In fact, I was prolonging the previous exchange in the confident expectation that he would arrive. He has done so, so we will reinstate question 13.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

13. What recent discussions his Department has had with the aerospace industry on the negotiations for the UK leaving the EU.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As this is the last day and, other than points of order, we will be suspending, my instinct is to hear colleagues who want to ask questions, but I hope that they will not expect to be heard without limit. Therefore, if colleagues now want briefly to put their questions to the esteemed Secretary of State and his colleagues, I am open to that. I call Suella Fernandes, who will speak with great brevity, I am sure.

[Suella Fernandes (Fareham) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree that financial services in London, Edinburgh and throughout the country will be able to benefit from principles of equivalence and mutual recognition as an alternative to passporting, to ensure that that sector remains open and thriving, as stated recently by Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

I thought we were about to hear the mellifluous tones of the hon. Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon), who has periodically bobbed and then ceased to do so, but we are gratified if we are going to hear the hon. Gentleman.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker. I had earlier wished to ask about the pig industry, a very important industry across East Anglia. Can the Minister tell us what prospects he sees for the industry? It is an industry that does not have subsidy from the public purse, but which has made huge gains, particularly in China where the pigs’ ear deal added £5 per carcass? What prospects does he see for this important sector?

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[Mr Davis]

Clearly it is part of our negotiating aims to have free and frictionless travel as well as trade. Obviously there will be more control of our borders in the future, but it will not be designed to inconvenience people. It will be control designed to deliver the national interest and to keep this a free and open country that welcomes people from all over the world in the way we have done for centuries and will do for centuries to come. Was that the last question, Mr Speaker?

[Mr Speaker]

It was indeed.

[Mr Davis]

In that case, I should like to wish everyone in the House a happy six weeks, and I look forward to seeing some of them here again.

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said, and also for his kind remarks about me earlier.