Business of the House

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House please give us the forthcoming business?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg)]

The business for next week will include:

Monday 3 February—Second Reading of the Agriculture Bill.

Tuesday 4 February—Committee and remaining stages of the NHS Funding Bill, followed by a motion to approve a statutory instrument, the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers) (England) Order 2019.

Wednesday 5 February—Opposition day (2nd allotted day). There will be a debate on local government finance followed by a debate on transport. Both debates will arise on a motion in the name of the official Opposition.

Thursday 6 February—General debate on historical stillbirth burials and cremations followed by a general debate on the persecution of Christians.

Friday 7 February—The House will not be sitting.

The provisional business for the following week will include:

Monday 10 February—Second Reading of the Windrush Compensation Scheme (Expenditure) Bill followed by, motions relating to the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2020 and the draft Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2020.

Tuesday 11 February—Second Reading of the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Bill, followed by Opposition half day (3rd allotted day—first part). There will be a debate on a motion in the name of the Scottish National Party.

Wednesday 12 February—Motions relating to the police grant and local government finance reports.

Thursday 13 February—General debate: subject to be confirmed.

Friday 14 February—The House will not be sitting.

[Valerie Vaz]

I thank the Leader of the House for the forthcoming business. May I start by asking him to clarify the new system that UK Visas and Immigration has put in place? There is a central system, and I was told yesterday that, if I was to write a letter and then ring, I would not get a written response. It is right that if Members write to UKVI, they should get that written response. I would be grateful if he could clarify that.

There is clearly time in the business to update the House on any ongoing negotiations. I am referring, albeit subtly, to negotiations to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anousheh, Kylie and other British hostages. Given that we have a debate on global Britain, I wondered whether anyone would update the House on that. It was raised last week by my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq).

The Leader of the House has very kindly given us the dates of sitting Fridays up to January 2021. Can he confirm that this Session will end in May, and that there will be a new Queen’s Speech? Everybody is working to that timetable, so it would be helpful to have that confirmation.

I want to congratulate all the new Select Committee Chairs, but we wait for the machinery of Government to announce some changes, and we hope that that will happen inside this House, not outside it. Clearly, the Department for Exiting the European Union is no more as of 11 pm tomorrow. With parliamentary sovereignty in place, is the Leader of the House able to say which Ministers will be answering questions and appearing before the Exiting the European Union Committee, which still exists? No. 10 has said this:

“The negotiations on the future relationship with the EU will be led from a Taskforce Europe team within Number 10…reporting directly to the Prime Minister.”

How will this taskforce be subject to any parliamentary scrutiny?

There is more taking back control to No. 10, rather than parliamentary scrutiny—which is why we are all here. The Government removed clause 31 from what became the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. We would have had a vote on trade negotiating objectives, regular reporting during negotiations and a final vote on a final UK-EU trade deal. I thought that people voted in the referendum to take back sovereignty, so can the Leader of the House say why MEPs in Brussels have more say over the UK-EU future relationship than this House? Can we have a debate on parliamentary sovereignty generally and scrutiny of these negotiations specifically?

The Leader of the House will recall these words on Huawei’s involvement in our telecommunications network. It is a “bad policy decision” that risks

“alienating our closest defence allies, and potentially putting at risk our communication system.”

As someone said, was the Education Secretary stitched up for being right? Can the Leader of the House answer his own question? Will he also find time for a further statement on this decision, as, I think, negotiations are still ongoing? Discussions are still going on with No. 10. This affects our national security, and the Government appear not to have made the case—not even on their own side.

We seem now to have policy by press release. The Prime Minister announced a new talent visa, but no immigration Bill. He says that he wants to attract people of talent. We do, too—this country is brimming with talent that austerity has not allowed to flourish. It is a two-way system. We want the exchange that enables our talented people to work and live abroad. That is why Erasmus was so important. More than 17,000 students at UK universities study or work abroad. Earlier this month, the Government voted down the amendment on Erasmus, and yesterday the Prime Minister said that a statement was due, so can we have that sooner rather than later? It is sad that the Government do not want to be patriotic and invest in our own talent.

Finally, as we leave the EU, let us remember the following: the more than 3 million UK jobs linked to our trade with the EU, which the CBI has estimated to be worth 4% to 5% of GDP, or £62 billion to £72 billion a year; the right to paid holiday leave; maximum working hours; equal treatment for men and women; health and safety standards; and EU investment in climate finance for emerging countries. Let me say something about parliamentary sovereignty, for the record. It was set out by John Laws, in the case of the metric martyrs, which many people will know—he happens to be the uncle of someone who works in No. 10. He said that rights created by the EU must be incorporated into UK law and take precedence, but the legal basis of that supremacy rests with Parliament. Parliament delegated that power to the EU and could take it away at any time—Parliament was always sovereign. Just as the EU evolved, so it will again.

I hope that the Leader of the House will join me in thanking all the public servants who have worked in the EU, our elected representatives, commissioners and civil servants—those who have served their country and put the UK at the heart of Europe. We hope that peace, the security of our citizens and the co-operation of nearly 50 years will live on. Auld acquaintance will never be forgot.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

If I may, I will begin with the specific question on UK Visas and Immigration. It is extremely important that Members get proper responses from all Government Departments, and Departments have strict guidelines on responding to Members that they must follow. I understand that there were issues when Members wrote as candidates during the election and did not receive full responses. It seems to me completely obvious that Members who have been returned should receive responses as Members, regardless of whether or not the House was dissolved at the point at which they wrote. I think that it would be bureaucratic folderol to say that they were not Members on the date the letter was sent, even though they are Members now. I will certainly ensure that the relevant Home Office Minister is aware of that.

The right hon. Lady, as always, quite rightly raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Since our last business questions, the Prime Minister has met Mr Ratcliffe. The British Government remain extremely concerned about the welfare of British-Iranian dual nationals. The treatment of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been appalling. It is something that should not be done by civilised nations that are part of the international community. The Government are in regular contact with her family and with the Iranian authorities, and we continue to push for a proper outcome and for her release, but this has taken much longer than anyone would have hoped.

As for the length of the Session, we have given dates up until Christmas, so we have been quite generous, really. We in Her Majesty’s Government are doing our best to keep people fully informed, and I am sure that we will continue to do so.

I add my congratulations to those that the right hon. Lady offered to Members who have been elected to chair Select Committees. The elections were a very successful enterprise. I am pleased that the House has managed to get proper scrutiny up and running reasonably quickly and in accordance with our Standing Orders. We now wait to hear from the respective parties on their nominees for the membership of Select Committees. Everything is going ahead in a pretty timely manner.

As for the machinery of government changes, DExEU will indeed cease to exist on 31 January, and the schedule of questions will be announced in due course. The right hon. Lady must be pleased that these matters are going to Downing Street, because the Prime Minister is regularly accountable. It is not quite on the hour every hour, but every Wednesday at 12.30 pm the Prime Minister is here to answer questions.