European Council

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Do not shake your head at me, Mr Evans. I have told you what the position is. [Interruption.] Order. You ask an orderly question, or you do not ask a question. Given your long experience, you ought to know better than to start a question inquiring about the policy of the Opposition. Over Christmas, you can rehearse.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

To avoid, rightly, a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister has committed the UK, if necessary, to

“maintain full alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union”

that are necessary. Will such full alignment apply just to Northern Ireland, or to the UK as a whole?

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, we believe that we can actually deliver on having no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland through the overall relationship that we negotiate between the UK and the European Union. Failing that, we will look at specific solutions that match the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland, and failing that, we will move to the concept of full alignment, which is about having the same objectives on both sides. If he carries on reading the progress report, it makes it clear how that would operate: it could be UK-wide or, with the agreement of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, it could be specific to Northern Ireland.

Brexit Negotiations

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am optimistic about getting that good trade deal for the United Kingdom with the EU, because actually it is in the EU27’s interests for their businesses to be able to continue to trade on good terms with the UK.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

The European Union says that we will stay in the single market and the customs union during the implementation phase. The Prime Minister is saying, I presume, that we will leave at the start of the implementation phase, but will she confirm that the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice will continue throughout the two years or so of the implementation phase?

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the details of the implementation period are to be negotiated. Assuming that the EU Council takes the decision to move ahead on Thursday or Friday of this week, that will happen very quickly. He talks about leaving the single market and the customs union. We will do that when we leave the European Union in March 2019, but we will then have a relationship with the European Union during the implementation period to ensure that businesses and individuals have the reassurance of not needing to make two stages of adjustments to our future partnership.

UK Plans for Leaving the EU

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to give my hon. Friend that confirmation and reassurance. We said we wanted this issue to be looked at from an early stage and it has been. Significant progress has been made and I hope that the negotiators will be able to clear up the remaining issues between us in relation to citizens’ rights so that we can give citizens that absolute certainty.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister confirm that there will be no new restrictions at the UK border for EU citizens wishing to come into the UK during the implementation period of “around two years”? I think that is the implication of what she has been saying. She also said that there will be a registration scheme. Who will she require to register?

[The Prime Minister]

It is right that people will be able to come to live and work in the United Kingdom, but those coming from the European Union after the point at which we have left the European Union will be required to register. This is part of the building block to the new immigration rules that will be in place at the end of the implementation period.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 26th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a very important point. We have been able to invest in York, with £1.6 million this year for transport improvements, £2.2 million for highways maintenance and £1.3 million to support the sustainable i-Travel York initiative, but we can invest in infrastructure only if we have the strong and stable leadership that secures a strong economy. That is what the choice in June will be. It is very clear: a strong economy, guaranteeing investment in York and across the country under the Conservatives, or bankruptcy and chaos with Labour.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Q11. As the Prime Minister knows, fixed odds betting terminals cause immense harm in communities. On taking office, she authorised a review of maximum stakes and all the evidence was collected by the end of last year. Why do we still not have a result? Will she today show some leadership and reduce the maximum stake on these appalling machines to £2?

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise that a number of hon. Members have raised concerns about this issue. We did indeed have the consultation and there will be a Government response to it. Of course, that response—[Interruption.] “Get on with it,” we are told. We are now in a situation where these things will be published after the purdah period and after the general election, so the right hon. Gentleman will have to wait for that response. Obviously we recognise the concern over this issue and we will respond in due course.

Early Parliamentary General Election

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 19th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That intervention was not worthy of the hon. Gentleman.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister just clarify for us whether she supports fixed-term Parliaments?

[The Prime Minister]

We have a Fixed-term Parliaments Act that enables us to have fixed-term Parliaments. I believe that at this point in time, it is right for us to have this debate and this vote in this House, and I believe that it is right for Members of this House to vote—I shall explain why—for us to have a general election at this stage.

Article 50

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. We have already been able to give some reassurance to farmers with our commitment on funding through to 2020 but, of course, we will then need to look at the arrangements that are put in place after the UK leaves the European Union. I assure my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working with farmers in all parts of the United Kingdom to look at what are the best arrangements for the way ahead.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

There is a very big economic challenge ahead. Does the Prime Minister recognise that securing anything like the barrier-free access to the single market that she has rightly set as her goal will require some compromise—some middle ground—to be found on the question of free movement of people?

[The Prime Minister]

The decision that was taken on 23 June in relation to free movement was that it should be the UK Government who determine the immigration rules for people coming to the United Kingdom from the European Union. We will be putting forward proposals to the House in due course on what those future arrangements should be. We will not be stopping immigration from the European Union—we will not stop people coming into the United Kingdom—and we recognise that people will still move from the EU into the United Kingdom, but the important point is that the rules governing that movement will be determined by the UK Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked—

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

1. What recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the government transformation strategy 2017 to 2020 on cyber-security.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Ben Gummer)]

Cyber-attacks are growing more frequent, sophisticated and damaging. The government transformation strategy will ensure that government protects all its services and products from cybercrime, and will ensure that all systems are designed with cyber-security and appropriate privacy safeguards in place.

[Stephen Timms]

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Can he reassure us that as the transformation strategy, for very good reasons, puts more and more of our personal data—on our taxes, on our health and so on—online, none of those data will be at risk of ending up in the wrong hands?

[Ben Gummer]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for making that point. Central to what we are doing is protecting not only the information that government requires to be kept confidential, but, as importantly, the information that citizens require to be kept confidential. That is partly why gov.uk Verify has been designed so that it protects citizens’ data in the inquires that they make of government.

European Council

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right, and the figures are very clear: the single market that is most important to Scotland is the single market with the United Kingdom. [Interruption.] The right hon. Member for Gordon shouts “frictionless borders” at me; of course, Scotland has a frictionless border with the rest of the United Kingdom, which is the most important single market it is a member of.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

In recent discussions I have taken part in, it has been clear that there is no support among any of the parties represented in the German Parliament for the UK to retain barrier-free access to the single market if we no longer operate free movement. The Prime Minister has asserted her optimism, but does she recognise that that is the reality of the starting point we are at?

[The Prime Minister]

The reality of the starting point we are at is that we are going to sit down with the European Commission and, obviously, representatives of the European Council and the European Parliament, to negotiate the relationship that is going to be right for the United Kingdom and right for the rest of the European Union. The discussions I have had so far indicate that there is a recognition on both sides of the negotiation of the importance of making sure that we get a very good free trade agreement.

Outcome of the EU Referendum

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me try to reassure Members. The only reason I am saying “No immediate changes” is that I am just trying accurately to reflect the legal situation, which is this: for people who are free at the moment to come and live and work in the UK—let me repeat that if they come here and they cannot support themselves, we can ask them to leave; that is important and has been the case for some time—as long as we are members of the EU, that continues. At the point at which we go, a Government will have to make a decision about what to negotiate with the rest of Europe about the rights of Europeans to come and live and work here—whether there will be visas or work permits, or what have you—and then there will be consequences potentially for British citizens going to live and work in Europe. The House is going to be able to debate all these things, so Members will be able to contribute to all these discussions and conversations, but I must answer accurately from this Dispatch Box, and what I can say is that as long as we stay in the EU those rights are protected, and I have gone further than that and said that everything I have heard from those who were campaigning to leave is that those rights will be continued after we have left.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister accept that maintaining very strong UK participation in Europe-wide scientific research collaboration needs to be an important strand of the work he has described going forward?

[The Prime Minister]

I very much agree with the right hon. Gentleman. This is an area where we have got more out of Europe than we have put in, and we will clearly want to safeguard that for the future.

UK-EU Renegotiation

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have heard from the former Attorney General and the former Solicitor General, who have great legal expertise. The point that they make is right: this agreement will be legally binding on member states as a matter of international law. First, of course, it has to be agreed, but once it has been agreed, my hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right that it would be irreversible because it could be amended or revoked only if all member states, Britain included, decided to reverse it. Therein lies its irreversibility.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

I want us to stay in the European Union, but the Prime Minister indicated that he would use the renegotiation to seek to address the unfairness in the European sugar market, which currently affects cane sugar refiners such as Tate & Lyle in my constituency. Has the right hon. Gentleman made any progress on that specific issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I will have to write to the right hon. Gentleman about that issue.