Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady has raised a matter that is clearly very important to her constituents. In all decisions such as this, we have to balance economic growth, and the ability to make the transition to a higher-wage economy and level up the country, with the legally binding net zero targets to which we are committed. I think that this matter has been largely dealt with at a local level, but I shall ensure that the relevant Department is aware of the hon. Lady’s concerns.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Following the disgraceful antisemitic abuse directed at the football fan Katie Price earlier this month, may we have a debate on the so-called Y-word, so that the House can send the clear message that this is a vile racist slur which has no place in football or in wider society?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend. I was also pleased to see swift action this week with regard to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Kim Johnson), who apologised—rightly, and all credit to her for doing so—for the totally unjustified and appalling remarks that she had made about Israel.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising those important points. Business will be announced in the normal way, but I will be happy to raise those points with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and ask that he contact her office.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Can we have an urgent debate on Hinduphobic hate crime? Recent days have seen a number of appalling acts of intimidation and harassment directed against the Hindu community, including a violent mob targeting a temple and tearing down a flag with spiritual significance. It is important that those disgraceful episodes are discussed by Parliament.

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for raising that. We have all seen reported in the news the sad sight of the tensions, particularly in Leicester—a city that does not have a history of that nature; it has a reputation for being a harmonious place. She can apply for debates in the normal way. The policing issues are a local matter, but I know that the Home Secretary is being kept informed. All that, of course, has played out against the backdrop of national unity, which makes the events even more sad.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I would be very happy to raise that specific issue with the relevant Secretary of State. One of our achievements has been to halve the disability employment gap. This continues to be of huge importance to the Government, and we want to do everything we can to enable that employment and others to continue.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

I welcome the Leader of the House to her new role and congratulate her. When will we see leasehold reform on the Order Paper? This is a difficult, technical issue. We need to get it right, we need time to debate it, and there are people suffering now as a result of abusive practices that need to be tackled. I do hope that we will see it on the Order Paper soon.

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for raising this important point. I will take it up with the relevant Department and business will be announced in the usual way. I would also encourage her to use all the means that she will be very aware of to secure a debate on the issue, but I shall certainly raise it with the Department.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I will of course make sure that the Home Secretary is aware of the right hon. Gentleman’s comments and write to her directly on his behalf. She will be here on 5 September, the first day back after summer recess, and I hope that he will be in his place to hold her to account.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

The Leader of the House has already mentioned the £326 payment that is arriving in the bank accounts of 1.5 million people today and further people in the days to come. The cost of living crisis is the biggest issue we face in this country, so can we have a debate on the Government’s wider package on this, which could see low-income households benefiting from £1,200 of help and other macroeconomic measures needed to get inflation down?

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to Mr Hand who is doing a very generous thing in supporting and offering to host those people. Many people up and down the country are opening their homes to refugees. We should be enormously proud of that. I am sure the Home Secretary will have heard his comments, but to make sure I will pass them on directly to her and see whether she can assist him directly.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Can we have a debate on the huge disruption being caused to our constituents by tube and rail strikes? We need the opportunity to condemn the Labour MPs who are supporting these irresponsible strikes, even to the extent that they are actually joining picket lines, which is scandalous.

[Mark Spencer]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question. That is something that is worthy of debate. We had a debate on this matter last week. I think 25 Labour Members have been on the picket lines along with Arthur Scargill this week. It is causing misery to commuters. It is making students miss exams and it is causing huge damage to the economy. The only way out of this is for the unions to go and speak directly to Network Rail and resolve these matters around the negotiating table.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Could we have a debate on the Mayor of London’s plans to extend the ultra low emission zone to the Greater London boundary and introduce pay-per-mile driving charges, because I am deeply worried about the impact of these new charges on my constituents at a time of rising inflation?

[Mark Spencer]

It almost feels like the Mayor of London is launching a war against commuters. Extending ULEZ to the boundary and working with the union bosses to cause misery through tube strikes is going to cause commuters coming in and out of London huge challenges. He should be supporting people coming in and out of this great city to work, not making their lives more difficult.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his questions. It is good to see him back in his place after his brief absence last week. He asks for a debate on the challenges that I think he referred to as “partygate”. I thought he might ask for a debate on mask wearing, because it would appear that the SNP has one rule in Scotland and another rule in London, given that the leader of his party turned up in London to a service at Westminster Abbey and felt it unnecessary to wear a mask in England, although in Scotland, apparently, she does have to wear one. I am not quite sure whether coronavirus is more dangerous in Scotland than it is in England, but I think the question of whether one should wear a mask in one’s own country but not down in London would be worthy of debate.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the ministerial code. The rules around the ministerial code are absolutely clear and laid out, and Ministers should follow the ministerial code. There is no debate on that matter, and that is what happens. He also mentioned covid. It is a tribute to the Government that, although cases of covid are high, hospitalisations from it are much lower. That is because of our exemplary vaccination programme, which means that we are no longer in danger of hospitalisation. The great British public should be given the responsibility to make decisions, and I trust the public to make responsible decisions. If you are ill with covid, you should remain at home and isolate so that you do not inadvertently spread the disease. That is the way we should proceed from now on.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

Can we have a debate on the shocking findings of the Ockenden report? Two years ago I wrote to the Health Secretary expressing the concern of a doctor in my constituency that an ideological attachment to so-called natural childbirth was jeopardising safety. I think we need a debate to see how great a role that problem played in the disasters that occurred in Telford.

[Mark Spencer]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that the Secretary of State made a statement yesterday on this matter. I pay tribute not only to my right hon. Friend but to my hon. Friend the Member for Telford (Lucy Allan) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Philip Dunne), who have been vociferous in their pursuit of this matter. Some of the report’s findings were frankly shocking. The good news is that things have now moved forward at the Shrewsbury hospital within the trust, and people can have confidence in maternity services across England. That is why we have announced a further £127 million of funding for maternity services, so that people can have confidence in those services.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 6th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I agree with the hon. Lady that the RUH does terrific work. I went to see it recently, and it is a well-managed hospital that does its best under difficult circumstances. However, I think that her charge against the Government is ill-founded. Taxpayers have provided an extra £5.4 billion to the NHS to respond to covid-19 over the next six months, which takes the total this year to £34 billion. We have also given ambulance trusts an extra £55 million, as ambulances have been one of the issues. When I visited the RUH, I was conscious that it has an issue with the number of people who ought to be released into social care being considerably higher than normal. That pressure often occurs in the winter, but the very competent management at the RUH is doing a first-class job.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the impact of NHS covid protocols on cancer sufferers? I was disturbed when a constituent got in touch to say that she needs weekly vital life-saving treatment at a hospital, but she has been told that if by any chance she comes into contact with someone who has tested positive for covid, she will not be allowed that treatment.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I always say to right hon. and hon. Members across the House that if they raise specific constituent issues at business questions, I will always take them up directly afterwards with the relevant Department. Treatment rates for cancer are now back to usual levels, and since the pandemic began more than 480,000 people have started treatment for cancer, but there is record spending of £2 billion to deal with the backlog and £8 billion over the next three years to deliver an extra 9 million checks, scans and operations for patients across the country. I reiterate my offer to take up my right hon. Friend’s specific case directly.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

I must say that in my constituency there is a sense of exasperation and exhaustion with the imposition of new covid rules, and a real fear that we are now back on the conveyor belt to more restrictions. Can we have a debate on how we learn to live with covid and its variants in the long term without unacceptable measures such as widespread use of vaccine passports, or the shocking suggestion that members of the public might be forced to get a vaccine? That would be unacceptable, and it is not what we need in this country.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend because I think I share the concerns and frustrations of her constituents. I do not think anybody wanted to be in this position. I think she is right in saying not only that we should learn to live with covid, but that we are in the process of doing so in that through the vaccination programme—88% of people over 12 have been vaccinated—we are getting life back to normal. Some temporary measures have been introduced to try to delay the seeding of the omicron variant, but if variants keep on coming, ultimately we are going to have to return to normal life, and I think that is just the way it is going to be. I think we are beginning to learn to live with covid, and that must be the way policy is going. That is why these temporary measures are both proportionate and go with the consensus among the British public that we have constantly worked with the grain of public opinion in any restrictions that have been imposed, and I think that is the right thing to do.

Business of the House

Theresa Villiers Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I heartily reciprocate the kind good wishes of the hon. Gentleman. I hope he has a splendid new year and that he, his party, his friends and family and everyone in this House have a very jolly new year and a better 2021 than perhaps 2020 has been.

Every week, the hon. Gentleman complains that he lost the referendum in 2014. However, that does not change the fact that he lost. And when he lost, it was said by the SNP, which we now know is nationalist with a small “n”, that the result was for a generation. It is still for a generation, that generation has still not passed and he has still lost. I basically just repeat what I have been saying for the past few weeks.

The fishing industry, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned, is one of the great beneficiaries of Brexit. Is it not extraordinary that the Scottish nationalists, with a small “n”, wish to hand it back to Brussels and lose all the opportunities for Scottish fishing, so that they can be regulated from Brussels? It is quite extraordinary. It must be—what is it?—Stockholm syndrome that they have got. They have been imprisoned so long by the EU that they cannot bear to leave and want to be controlled, even at the cost of their fishing communities.

The hon. Gentleman complains that the debate was not long enough. Well, it was long enough—it was probably 50 years of debate over our membership of the European Union in truth—but if he wants to speak further on it, I know that the House will be waiting with bated breath for his contributions in the global Britain debate, which will be held on 11 January.

As regards the prospect of increasing the period of transition, that would have been a very unwise thing to do, because it would have potentially entered us into billions of pounds of risk, as it would have taken us into the new multi-annual financial framework. It was fundamentally important that we did not take that risk and that we left when we said we would. It is also quite important to stick to commitments made to voters. We had promised the voters that we would leave, and so we did.

Proxy voting allows people to vote effectively and safely, and with their conscience. The hon. Gentleman might not have noticed, but the Deputy Chief Whip has facilitated people voting against the Government, if that is what they wish to do. The votes are being recorded according to the Member’s desire, not what they are ordered to do, because one cannot order Members. Members vote of their own accord, although occasionally their friends give them helpful advice.

As regards the move to more hybrid technology, the hon. Gentlemen is in Scotland and may not have noticed that London has gone into tier 4. We have therefore adopted a similar scheme to the one we had earlier in the year, when the highest level of restrictions was in place. This is merely responding to the reality in the country at large, which we always said we did. It is therefore consistent, but I look forward to us getting back to normal and having a full, bustling Chamber, without Perspex screens, plastic markings and signs facing this great Chamber.

[Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)]

It is great news that the Oxford vaccine was approved today. Can we have a debate at the earliest opportunity on the delivery of that vaccine? It is desperately important that it happens quickly. People are desperate to get their jobs, their businesses and their lives back, and the only way to do that is to make sure that jabs start being delivered as soon as possible.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My right hon. Friend’s wish is my command. I am glad, therefore, to say that there will be a debate on covid on 12 January, which will be absolutely the opportunity to raise these issues. My right hon Friend, as so often, is absolutely right: the roll-out of the vaccine is key to us getting back our freedoms.