Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Kit Malthouse)]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, this issue has been debated widely and extensively in this House. I would ask him to contemplate what inequalities would be produced for men, and indeed for women born in the 1960s, if changes were made to the pension arrangements, which have effectively been advertised since 1995, for women born in the 1950s.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

The appalling abuse of Alice Terry on social media overnight demonstrates the totally unacceptable direction of travel of political debate in this country. Does my right hon. Friend agree that no party should have any problem whatever with signing the respect pledge?

[Amber Rudd]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I was shown the sort of abuse that Alice Terry received overnight, and it was particularly horrific and persistent. A lot of my colleagues on the Government Benches have stated their support for her, and I would urge some—not all—Opposition Members to take more action to speak out against such abuse because, as Lord Bew’s independent review of this issue has shown, a lot of it comes from the hard left, also known as Momentum.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 22nd February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Suella Fernandes]

This Government have a proud record of protecting and enhancing women’s rights, and that record of action predates our membership of the EU, as seen, for example, in the Equal Pay Act 1970. The EU’s own gender equality index places us sixth out of 28, and our gender pay gap reporting requirements and our public sector equality duty are world-leading initiatives that go beyond EU law in many ways.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

As on employment rights, the UK has a been right at the forefront of advancing equality across the world. Will the Minister confirm that that simply is not going to change?

[Suella Fernandes]

Yes, we have a proud record, history and tradition in the UK of supporting workers, protecting civil liberties and championing human rights. Leaving the EU will in no way affect that historical tradition, of which we can all be proud.

Trade Bill (Sixth sitting)

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Committee Debate: 6th sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 30th January 2018 Public Bill Committees

[Bill Esterson]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent intervention, as he has done throughout Committee. That body has to carry the confidence of all sides of industry and all parts of society and of the United Kingdom. It is crucial that it does so, which is why we are attempting to push the amendments through. I imagine, from what the Minister has said, that he is unlikely to support us—why change the habit? Perhaps, however, he will explain how those points will be addressed and how the Government will respond to the witnesses mentioned by my hon. Friend, as well as some of the other witnesses.

The Minister is not letting on that trade remedies are not simply a technical detail of trade policy. They have the potential to be highly political. In essence, trade remedies defend domestic producers from unfair competition from dumped goods from other countries. The remedies are an essential policy tool to correct multilateral distortions, as Mr Stevenson, the specialist adviser to the Manufacturing Trade Remedies Alliance told us last week. Deciding when and how to use such trade defence instruments, however, is a political decision, and a highly political one at that, as is that on the membership of the TRA. It is crucial to get the membership right, to ensure that the TRA makes correct, balanced and evidence-based recommendations—as the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford put it—to Government.

As the system is to operate under this Bill and the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill, the Secretary of State has the capacity to use an economic interest test to allow the Government not to take action even when problematic trade behaviour by another country has been identified. In other words, the Government will have the capacity to decide that even when harm is being done to our domestic industries, other interests such as the consumer interest may outweigh those of the producers affected. To quote the words of George Peretz, QC, who we heard from last week:

“That seems to me to be a political position: it is balancing the interests of jobs in a particular area of the country against the interests of consumers across the country”.––[Official Report, Trade Public Bill Committee, 23 January 2018; c. 55, Q105.]

The same point was made on Second Reading by a number of hon. Members, including about the Scotch whisky and steel sectors.

The Minister cannot pretend that the Bill and the structures created by it are apolitical and purely technocratic. Trade remedies can make the difference between the survival of an industry and its decimation. They can protect thousands of jobs or let them be exported overseas. They can defend our foundation industries or let them fall by the wayside. I am sure the constituents of the hon. Member for Corby can attest to that.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

That’s why I voted to set it up.

[Bill Esterson]

The hon. Gentleman comments from a sedentary positon; perhaps he is allowed to do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 6th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the impact of vile online abuse on people, particularly women, coming forward to stand for public office?

[Justine Greening]

Following this election, the issue has never been higher on the political agenda. As somebody who did not have a particular life mission to become an MP, but wanted to play a constructive role in my community and represent it in this place, I think it is important that we get rid of this aggressive sort of political campaigning. It does our democracy no good and puts decent people off running for Parliament, and that is a bad thing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 23rd March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mark Garnier]

The Department for International Trade absolutely shares those desires for a disruption-free exit from the European Union. We are certainly representing those interests to the Department for Exiting the European Union, which is tasked specifically with the objectives described by the hon. Gentleman.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

11. The United States is the UK’s single biggest export market. What early discussions has the Minister had with his new US counterparts about trying to secure a timely new trade deal?

[Mark Garnier]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to identify the United States as our single biggest trading partner, with 23% of the UK’s exports going to the United States. We are waiting for confirmation of when we can start having conversations.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Fox]

As we withdraw from the European Union, we will be having continued discussions with our partners about how we intend the process to be notified.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

T6. What early consideration are Ministers giving to product standards?

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

The entire departmental strength is now some 3,000. We are adding some 50 extra staff to our trade policy group this week, and the process will continue. We will increase the numbers further in the months ahead as we look to our WTO obligations, the transposition of our EU free trade agreements, and the FTAs that we have. The current number of about 200 staff will be augmented as we proceed.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

As the Secretary of State knows, UK steel is the best in the world. What opportunities does he envisage to promote the sale of it around the world?

[Greg Hands]

We take an ongoing and strong interest in the steel sector. It faces difficulties at present because of the low global steel price, but we see a good future for UK steel, and the Department looks forward to taking part in a whole-of-Government approach to ensuring that it is sold abroad.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

2. What discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the development of bilateral trade deals between the UK and other countries.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

While we remain members of the European Union, discussions we have are limited by our considerations of the common commercial policy and our duties of sincere co-operation. We cannot negotiate and conclude trade agreements while we are a member of the European Union, but we can have discussions on our future trading relationships. The UK will continue to be a champion for free trade, and back the EU’s current and ongoing negotiations.

[Tom Pursglove]

I am very grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Does he agree that the decision to leave the European Union presents this country with an enormous opportunity to re-engage with our Commonwealth friends and to forge proper trading links with them once more?

[Dr Fox]

Yes, we are keen to seize all the opportunities that leaving the EU presents, and so, too, are many of our international partners, who recognise the attractiveness of doing business with the UK. I will be accompanying the Prime Minister on a trip next week to India to take forward some of those opportunities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The earnestness of the Minister cannot be surpassed.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

T10. I recently had an opportunity to visit the Corby Smash Table Tennis Centre and see those excellent new facilities, and also to meet the staff and volunteers who work there. What steps are the Government taking to promote the sport, and does the Minister fancy coming along for a game when she is next in the area?

[Tracey Crouch]

I am glad to learn that my hon. Friend has been inspired by Paul Drinkhall, the first GB player in 24 years to reach the last 16 in the Olympics. I would love to come and visit, but I should warn my hon. Friend that I am not sure whether my officials would allow me to do so. The last time I visited a table tennis event, I got a bit over-competitive with some table-tennis-playing pensioners.