Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Morgan and Elizabeth Truss

Thursday 10th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

What her Department’s trade priorities are for the upcoming G7 summit.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade (Elizabeth Truss)]

Happy birthday, Mr Speaker; I am sorry that I did not mention it earlier.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

I refute what the hon. Lady just said. We have changed the rules that govern UK Export Finance to make sure that it is focused solely on financing clean-energy projects, and that is alongside other measures that support our zero-carbon objectives. We are also working hard at the World Trade Organisation and through the G7 to make trade greener and to make sure that zero carbon is part of how the global trading system works.

[Stephen Morgan]

Labour has backed an intellectual property waiver on vaccines to help with the pandemic in the poorest countries. The US agrees, as do the majority of world leaders, but the UK remains steadfastly against the plan. With the G7 giving us the opportunity for breakthrough this weekend, will the Secretary of State tell us why she will not support this life-saving initiative?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am very proud that the UK Government funded research into the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is now producing 98% of the 49 million covid vaccines delivered right around the world. We have played a leading role in that. I am interested in practical measures that have real effect, such as voluntary licensing agreements. If there is any evidence that intellectual property waivers could help, I am all ears and interested to hear it, but we cannot have a regime that destroys intellectual property rights and ends up stopping future innovation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Morgan and Elizabeth Truss

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

T3. The annual number of customs declarations established by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs under a no-deal scenario is estimated to be 270 million. The current number is 55 million. How do the Government expect to process the additional workload when they are shutting down vital HMRC centres such as Lynx House in Portsmouth?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that an incredible amount of work has been going on across Government to make sure that we are fully prepared for all scenarios. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has been holding daily meetings—there have been 60 so far—and we are performing well, particularly on making sure that actions at the borders are in place.

Public Sector Pay

Debate between Stephen Morgan and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

The Chief Secretary says that our armed forces will receive a 0.9% one-off payment, but there is no clear timeframe. Will she tell us exactly when armed forces personnel will receive that payment?

[Elizabeth Truss]

Personnel will receive that payment alongside their 2% pay rise this year. Many armed forces personnel will also receive pay increments—we saw an average of 1.3% last year—on top of the bonus and the pay rise.