Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear about that issue in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I thank her for raising it. She will know that the next Transport questions are on 8 February. I am sure she will take that opportunity to raise the issue directly with the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman), but as that is a little time away, I will make sure that he has heard what she has said today. With respect to delivery companies that use these vehicles, the former Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), wrote to the major delivery companies to remind them of their obligations in this respect.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

The Royal Free Hospital is a jewel in the crown of my constituency. The maternity unit holds a special place in my heart, because I had both my children there and received wonderful aftercare from the doctors and nurses there. I am very concerned to hear that there are now plans to consult on the closure of the maternity unit at the Royal Free Hospital. Will the Leader of the House grant us a debate in Government time to discuss the potential closure of the maternity units at the Royal Free Hospital and other hospitals across London?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sure that all Members would join the hon. Lady in singing the praises of the Royal Free, which has an incredible reputation. She will know that these are matters that must be consulted on locally, and it is for local commissioners to decide what needs to happen at a local level. However, I know that the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is keen to ensure that commissioners are doing their job well, so I will make sure that she has heard what the hon. Lady has said today. I would also encourage her to raise it with the Secretary of State directly, as she may be able to assist and ensure a better outcome locally.

Replacement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

What I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that I think it is an honourable thing to act in the national interest, even if it is incredibly difficult personally and politically for someone to do that, and that all Conservative Members were elected in 2019 as a team, on a manifesto that we are determined to deliver.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

The right hon. Lady has said many times that the Prime Minister could not come here for a specific reason at this time. Is there a reason why the Prime Minister decided she did not want to make a statement to the House? She could have chosen any time to do that, even at 10 pm. Does the Leader of the House not think that we, as elected MPs, and the public in this country deserve to hear from the Prime Minister?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sure there will be many opportunities to hear from the Prime Minister, some in the next 24 hours, but given the nature of the statement today, it is appropriate that the Chancellor delivers it.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My right hon. Friend raises a very important point. It is going to be important for us to remember the people who have died during this national pandemic. Obviously the proposal for a minute’s silence is a matter for you, Mr Speaker, but there would be absolutely no objection—indeed, there would be support—from Her Majesty’s Government. It may be, Mr Speaker, that your Chaplain would like to hold a service on that day to have a commemoration. I think that it will be a prayerful day for the nation.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]]

As Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s local MP, I have raised the issue of the £400 million that the UK owes Iran with three Prime Ministers and four Foreign Secretaries so far. In a call to the Prime Minister yesterday, Iranian President Rouhani all but confirmed that resolving this debt was the key to diplomatic progress, and could help Nazanin’s case. Will the Leader of the House finally admit that there is a clear link between the two, or at least allow a debate in Government time to test their arguments?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

No. The hon. Lady has quite rightly campaigned for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as has the shadow Leader of the House. However, it would be quite wrong to link payments of any money to the release of somebody who is improperly detained. Once Her Majesty’s Government go down that route, every badly run country in the world will hold us to ransom via our citizens; we must not do that. We must be absolutely clear that the UK Government do not pay for the release of hostages, whether they are held by states or by individuals. To link these two issues would be a dangerous change of very, very long-standing Government policy.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend. His views of what should happen and mine are very close. I would point out to him that there are quite a few Bills currently in their lordships’ House, which they are working through patiently; of course, every peer has important views that they wish to express on many of these issues. Those will come back, and as they come back, that will take up our time. But there is good news for my right hon. Friend: although it is not necessarily right for me to announce the Bills that are coming, because other Secretaries of State may wish to announce them individually, I have a feeling that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary may be cooking something up that he will like very much.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]]

I am sure that the well-informed and intelligent Leader of the House will know that written on the first page of every UK passport is a commitment to

“afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary,”

yet the Government this week stated that British citizens unlawfully arrested and detained abroad have no right to consular assistance. There is serious concern among my constituents in Hampstead and Kilburn that the Government are not taking seriously their responsibilities to British citizens abroad, so may we have a debate in Government time about the UK’s duty to help those such as my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held hostage in Iran for nearly five years now?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady, and the shadow Leader of the House, for their tireless campaigning for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, which is a model of how Members of Parliament ought to behave when seeking redress of grievance for their constituents. The hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) is absolutely right. The words in the passport are:

“Her Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty”.

We are, I believe, the only country that both requests and requires. When Government documents say such things, I expect them to be factual. The Foreign Office helps 30,000 British nationals each year. As I said earlier, it is a fundamental point that the British Government must protect Her Majesty’s subjects.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend raises a pressing issue, and I think many Members of the House will see this in their own constituencies. Remote working has benefits for some companies and organisations, but in many essential services it cannot serve as an appropriate substitute for face-to-face personal contact. I am sure I am not alone among MPs in finding that face-to-face constituency surgeries are much better than remote ones or ones held purely by correspondence. Current local authority meeting regulations enable all meetings to be held remotely, but since July the regulations have been adjusted to allow indoor gatherings of more than 30 people in places such as council buildings. I would encourage his local council and other local councils to try to get back to normal, and not make lives more difficult for democratic accountability by not getting back to the ordinary way of running things.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]]

Although face masks are vital for containing coronavirus, they can be profoundly isolating for deaf and hard-of-hearing people who rely on lip reading to understand what others are saying. Would it be possible to have a debate in Government time about clear face masks—the ones with a transparent panel over the mouth—and their use in the NHS, schools and elsewhere, to help the 12 million people in the UK who are affected by hearing loss?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Lady raises a point of great interest and, if I may say so, good sense. I do not want to promise her a debate in Government time, because I think she has managed to highlight something that will be important and that I certainly had not considered, although I was aware that deaf and hard-of-hearing people who lip read found that face masks made it harder for them to understand what others were saying. Indeed, I think many of us may lip read rather more than we thought—partially, in conversation. I think her suggestion of see-through face masks is a very good one. She has made her point, and I hope that others will pick it up.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend does not need any advice from me. He clearly knows how to use parliamentary procedures to raise an important issue that affects his constituency. It is our duty as MPs to help to ensure that our communities are safe and secure, and that their law-abiding members feel confidence as they go about their business. The Government are doing the right things. We have already taken on an extra 3,000 new police officers, which is part of the aim to employ another 20,000 in total. I commend my hon. Friend for what he has done so far and encourage him to carry on badgering us all until he is satisfied.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab) [V]]

The Ministry of Defence owes Iran more than £400 million and has said that it wants to pay that debt, but the Government have fought paying that debt for more than 20 years in the international courts. In 2017, the Iranian ambassador put on social media that the money was about to be sent. Can we please have a debate in Government time about the delay in settling our debt to Iran?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Iran is not necessarily the most friendly regime to the United Kingdom, and we have to look at our relationship with Iran in the round, but I will happily take up the hon. Lady’s point with the Foreign Office.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I commend my right hon Friend for her work. This is absolutely the sort of thing that we need to do to help local charities to understand how other charities make a success of things. I cannot promise her Government time for a debate, but I think that the matter is ideally suited for a Backbench Business Committee debate, perhaps in Westminster Hall, after that Committee is re-established.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

Later today, the Prime Minister will meet my constituent, Richard Ratcliffe. At the same time, representatives from the Iranian authorities are in London to observe the International Military Services Ltd court case in the Court of Appeal. That case relates to the £400 million that we as a country owe Iran, and anyone with a passing interest in my constituent’s case will know that the debt is linked to her imprisonment. The Leader of the House said that the behaviour of the Iranian Government is unforgivable. I agree, but the behaviour of our Government is also unforgivable because we have not paid the money that we owe. I make this plea: please may we have a debate in Government time to discuss how we pay this money back to Iran so that my constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, can be returned safely to West Hampstead, where she belongs, after four long years?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I thank the hon. Lady for standing up for her constituent, which she is obviously right to be doing. She has the support of both sides of the House in doing so. However, the issue that she raises is extraordinarily difficult. The British Government cannot and must not pay, or appear to pay, either in fact or in reality, money to allow people who have been illegally detained to be released. The risk that would cause to other Britons travelling abroad would be very considerable. The law must take its course in relation to the money that was deposited here, but it would be absolutely wrong to connect the two issues.

Business of the House

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I have huge sympathy with what my hon. Friend is asking for. It might be possible to do that at business questions, in the way that the shadow Leader of the House raises the issue of people held illegally by foreign Governments. If Members were to raise this issue at business questions every week, that would be extraordinarily welcome. I think it is important, even though I am now sitting on the Treasury Bench—[Hon. Members: “Lying on it!”]—sometimes, indeed—to keep pressure on the Government to act in favour of good and important activities so that they do not get forgotten. I am very grateful to him for raising this.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

After nine years of austerity, there is a huge funding gap in the early years sector, so I was shocked to hear not a single mention of the sector in the Queen’s Speech. Will the Leader of the House therefore commit to having a specific debate on the closure of Sure Start centres and nurseries across the country?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

That was actually mentioned in the Queen’s Speech debate yesterday, so it has already been covered.

Proxy Voting

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

Let me say again that I am absolutely committed to ensuring that women will be able to spend time with their new babies, and the fathers, including in cases of adoption. It is vital that they are able to do so. I have made it extremely clear that I will arrange for a debate during the September sitting, and we can then make fast progress.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

This morning, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on child care and early education, I hosted a lobby consisting of more than 100 nursery and childcare providers. They spoke to me at great length about the challenges that new parents face when they go back to their workplaces, and about maternity discrimination. Does the Leader of the House think that we, here in the House, have the moral legitimacy to lecture those in other workplaces about maternity discrimination and unfair practices when our Government have cheated a pregnant woman out of her vote in the most underhand manner?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I fundamentally disagree with the hon. Lady’s assessment, but I absolutely agree with the nursery workers whom she mentioned about the vital importance of women being treated fairly. What she is seeking to do is simply to politicise this issue, at a time when the Government have made it absolutely clear that there are guaranteed pairs for anyone on baby leave and that what happened yesterday was an error.

Baby Leave for Members of Parliament

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) for calling this important debate. It is important for me to be here, because I had a baby a year and a half ago as a sitting MP. I will not go into details about what happened to my insides, but I will talk a little about the impact of pregnancy and birth.

I will not go into the exact details, but I will say that I had a 40-hour long labour which resulted in an emergency C-section, after which I caught an infection and so did the baby. The Royal Free Hospital in my constituency, which is amazing, looked after us for nine days, but even in those nine days while I was in the hospital bed I had to handle emails and sign things off from my office simply because there was no one else to do it and I could not nominate someone to take care of crucial matters—and certain crucial matters did come up, which I will elaborate on in a minute.

I am not describing these details because I want sympathy; I am describing them because before I had a child I had never quite realised the physical impact pregnancy has on the body. I was quite old when my younger sister was born, so I had been around babies and children, but I still did not realise quite what would happen to my body going through a 40-hour ordeal and an emergency C-section. I could not move from the bed and had to ask everyone for help, which was definitely not easy, as I am used to doing things for myself.

I represent a marginal seat—the lady I took over from had won the seat by only 42 votes, and I had won by only just over 1,000 votes—and did not feel that I could neglect my constituents, so I came back to work very quickly. As a result, because my body had not recovered, I developed a serious case of mastitis. Anyone who has had that will know what it does to their body. When I went to the GP, they made it very clear that I had got it because I was overworked and exhausted and because I had gone back to work very early.

During that time, in my sleep-deprived state, I knew that I had to do something, so I tabled an early-day motion asking whether we could change the way the voting system worked. I was getting emails saying, “Why didn’t you turned up for this vote?” even during the six weeks that I had taken off following my emergency C-section. I was being asked why I had not voted in a certain way or why I had not turned up for a certain meeting. Anyone who knows the constituents of Hampstead and Kilburn will know that they look up their Member’s voting record to see whether they have turned up to vote or not. In tabling the early-day motion, I wanted to make it clear that we have to change the voting system, and this is the time to do it, now that more women Members of Parliament are having children than ever before.

I also want to point out how our position here in Parliament lags behind that of other countries in the world. In Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia, Members of Parliament may be granted leave of up to 12 months in the case of pregnancy, childbirth or adoption. The situation is the same in Estonia, Finland and Latvia. In Belgium, Portugal, Croatia and the Netherlands, there is no formal maternity leave, but a Member of the House of Representatives who is on maternity leave can be replaced by another Member from the same political group, so that they are not penalised for their absence.

The fact that our attitude to parental leave lags behind those countries is compounded by our attitude to our parliamentary voting system. Scotland, India, Ireland, Israel and the European Union—to name but a few—all have electronic voting, which is not only time efficient but accommodating for members.

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is making an incredibly powerful speech. Does she agree that, by the time we are done with this, we should match if not better the best Parliaments in the world? Also, may I just say that, physically, having the second child is harder?

[Tulip Siddiq]

I thank my hon. Friend for that note of confidence. I absolutely agree with what she says: we have to do even better if we want to make Parliament a more welcoming place for female representatives and if we want to act in the way that my constituency Labour party did when I stood for election. One after another, its members stated categorically that they wanted more women in Parliament and wanted an all-women shortlist. The constituency had had a female MP for 23 years in the form of Glenda Jackson, and they wanted another one. That is what we should all be encouraging in the House of Commons.

[Hannah Bardell]

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. She mentioned Scotland, and I did not want to miss the opportunity to jump in. We have debated these matters before, and she mentioned electronic voting. In the Scottish Parliament, we have a seat for every Member. She will know that one of the arguments against proxy and electronic voting is that Members need to be here in the Chamber to listen to the debate. The irony is that we cannot fit even half the Members of this House into this Chamber. We all have modern technology, and we can all watch the debates at home, so does she agree that there is no reason not to introduce such voting methods?

[Tulip Siddiq]

Absolutely. The hon. Lady and I have had discussions about this matter, and we agree that Parliament needs to become more modern and that we need to encourage e-voting. Perhaps that will be next on the agenda.

As I have mentioned, I had a lot of support from my constituency Labour party when I ran to be an MP. As I was a young woman, they thought that there was a chance I would have children. Questions were raised about that, but the chairman—David Queen, who sadly died a few weeks ago—was a real feminist. He said, “What is the problem if we have MPs who have children? It is good for the constituency.” He said that politicians with children apparently got more votes, although I do not know if that is true.

I also want to take this opportunity to mention the support I have received in Parliament. The staff in the nursery here were really fantastic when I first took my child in, and I want to pay tribute to them. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), who was in the Chamber earlier, is my neighbouring MP. Right at the beginning, when I had morning sickness, he was the first to ring and say that he was happy to cover any meetings that I needed him to cover, because his wife had gone through the same thing.

On a trip to Paris, my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) carried my suitcase up and down the stairs at the Gare du Nord and St Pancras International because I physically could not lift it. On that same trip to Paris to explore how we tackle anti-Semitism, the former MP for Brentwood and Ongar, Eric Pickles, told me that he would be happy to be godfather to my child and asked whether I wanted to name my daughter Erica, after him. I declined his offer. The hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) gave me a wristband to monitor the number of times my baby kicked. I developed a real spirit with Members on the other side—including the hon. Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith)—who I would often talk to about what it was like for us to be young women with children who also wanted to be good MPs for their constituencies. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker both noticed my ever-growing bump—when you are 4 foot 11, your bump really stands out—and told me that I did not need to bob up and down, and that I could just wave my Order Paper if I wanted to be selected to speak. That was a real privilege at the time; I wish I could still do it.

Perhaps the memory that stands out most is when I received an urgent call from my office right after I had had the baby. A constituent, Richard Ratcliffe, had called my office because his wife had been in Iran and she and their small child had been detained by the Iranian authorities. I had just had my baby, but obviously I had to meet him because there was no one I could delegate that responsibility to. When I spoke to Richard on the phone, he said, “Why don’t I pop over to your house?” I said, “That’s a good idea. Let’s have a meeting.” He then said, “Is there any chance that the leader of the Labour party could meet me as well?” I rang my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) and told him, “I’ve just had a baby, but I have a really urgent case. Is there anything we can do about this? He will have to meet me at my flat because I am breastfeeding.” My right hon. Friend said, “Why don’t I come over to your flat and we’ll all have the meeting there?”

So I had the meeting—with a tiny baby in my arms—with Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife had just been detained in Iran, and with the leader of the Labour party in the room. While I breastfed the baby, we discussed the Iranian authorities and the revolutionary guards, and talked about how we could get my constituent back into the country. At one point, my baby was very unsettled but I had to take some important notes, so I said to my right hon. Friend, “Could you hold the baby for a bit while I write these notes?” The baby had been quite unsettled, but for some reason, as soon as I handed her to him, she settled down and went to sleep. Perhaps there might be a kinder, gentler cuddling, which she preferred; I do not know what it was.

That was a defining moment for me and my motherhood. Both the men in that room demonstrated a serious comradely spirit to me. They took the time to come to my house because I did not feel that I could leave it, and they did not bat an eyelid while I breastfed. That is the kind of ethos that we need to bring into this House, to show people that a female MP who has an urgent case involving a woman being detained in Iran can still fulfil her duties. There are ways to make provisions. If it can be done in my flat in north London, it can be done in this place. I sit on the Women and Equalities Committee. We scrutinise legislation on other people’s maternity and paternity leave. If we cannot lead by example, we should not be sitting here. I commend the motion to the House.