Action Against Houthi Maritime Attacks

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his previous efforts. As he knows, we are a penholder on Yemen in the UN, and we continue to use our diplomatic and political influence to support UN efforts to bring about that lasting peace to Yemen for an inclusive political settlement. The British people can be proud of what we are doing to support the Yemeni people from a humanitarian perspective. We have committed more than £1 billion in aid since the conflict began in 2014. I believe that this year we will be the fourth or fifth largest donor to the UN’s appeal.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

What assessment has the Prime Minister made of the risks if the Houthis move to a different part of Yemen, and how many civilian casualties have there been so far?

[The Prime Minister]

I am pleased to say that all our intelligence suggests that there were no civilian casualties from the strikes that we conducted last week, and that will of course have been our intention this time. We are very careful to take the time to pick the targets and minimise any civilian casualties and impacts. As I have said, we believe that there were none last time, and we have no evidence to suggest that there were any this time, but of course that is just an initial assessment.

Defending the UK and Allies

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Monday 15th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank hon. Friend for his support of our action. He will know that the Foreign Office and Ministers are regularly engaged with our partners in Africa. What we want to do is bring prosperity and security to the region, and we will continue to dialogue with everyone to ensure that that happens.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Having been born in Aden, I am obviously saddened that the democratic and humanitarian crisis in Yemen over the last nine years has not provoked such an active response against the Houthis. Who advised the Prime Minister not to come to Parliament? How will he ensure that the peace agreement in Yemen is actively and vigorously monitored and pursued?

[The Prime Minister]

As I said, we support the Saudi-Houthi negotiations and the deal announced in December by the UN special envoy on Yemen. I urge the Houthis to stop jeopardising the best chance of peace in Yemen in years and engage constructively, so that we can expand the benefits that the truce has brought to the Yemeni people. Of course, we need to see progress from them on that. Once that is done, hopefully all of us can look forward to a brighter future for the Yemeni people.

Covid 19 Inquiry: Judicial Review

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Monday 5th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

As my right hon. and learned Friend says, the chair of the inquiry is both experienced in inquiries and an eminent former Court of Appeal judge. I have alluded to arguments that have been presented, and Members may well wish to look them up.

This is a matter for the courts to determine, but I entirely agree with my right hon. and learned Friend that it is something we want to advance at the swiftest possible pace—and, incidentally, while doing so we will continue to supply documents to the inquiry. That process continues, and I hope the inquiry will feel able to continue its vital work, but it is important for the matter to be resolved in the courts as soon as possible. I am pleased to inform my right hon. and learned Friend that, according to my understanding, the courts have indicated that we can use an expedited process and have a divisional court hearing, which is expected to be held on or shortly after 30 June. I am very grateful to them for doing that so swiftly.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

The Minister has not answered the question about why he thinks the Government should decide what is and is not relevant, rather than the chair of the inquiry. He has said how well qualified she is; will he please now answer that question?

[Jeremy Quin]

It has always been the case in respect of inquiries set up by the Government, when it comes to Ministers and former Ministers, that the Government have undertaken that role, although it was not a process governed by the Inquiries Act 2005. That was, I believe, the case with the Chilcot inquiry, and that is what the Government do: they help to put the information together and to ensure that all relevant information is presented. I do not believe there is a precedent for an invitation to provide information on quite such a wide basis—all information over a two-year period, involving a certain means of communication—so this is a new situation, but what the Government are doing is consistent with what Governments have, I believe, always done in these circumstances.

Oral Answers to Questions

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Has the Minister seen the Law Society’s five-point plan to get rid of the backlog, including investing in buildings and staff and properly funding legal aid? If he has not, will he sit down with the Law Society? These people are at the heart of our justice system.

[Mike Freer]

I have seen the plan and I have sat down with the Law Society. The Lord Chancellor and I continue to have fruitful discussions to address the particular issues that the Law Society has raised.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for the loyal constituency of Newark (Robert Jenrick). It falls to our generation to tell of the passing of our gracious sovereign, and the passing of a platinum Elizabethan age. As a young woman, she had responsibility thrust on her, without a manual. She wrote her own story, and in doing so, wrote the story of our nation—a story through which we have all lived. We have known her as a young woman who actively supported the war effort and danced in the street when the war was over, and we saw her jump out of a helicopter in the Olympic ceremony in 2012; that showed us her sense of humour, and showed us that we were more than just medals.

I was in Walsall yesterday when I heard the sad news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing. I know that my constituents in Walsall South are grieving; the owner of Fortune Cookie, our local Chinese takeaway, was in tears. In every school that I and every other Member has visited, the question has always been asked: “Have you met the Queen?” Launer, based in Walsall South, makes her handbags. I hope that the royal link will continue, especially now that we know, thanks to a refugee from Peru, that she used to keep marmalade sandwiches in her handbag to keep her going.

As a lawyer, all I ever knew was “the Queen’s Bench Division” and “Queen’s Counsel”. That, like our stamps and notes, will change to herald a new era.

Having been born in Aden to Goan parents, I had never imagined that I would meet Queen Elizabeth; but I did—in the Gallery in the other place, in the British Museum, and in the Privy Council. Those who have had an audience with her can testify to her wisdom and generosity of spirit. She had the ability to speak with people as though she had known them forever, whether she was talking to a winning jockey or a little girl with a posy, or working to the end to welcome her 15th Prime Minister. Like all of us, she knew that life is a rollercoaster, but she never complained, and only ever mentioned one year as an “annus horribilis”.

Our Queen carried out her duties with dignity, grace and love for us and her country, yet also embraced different countries and cultures through the Commonwealth, always respecting differences, dealing with changes, and acknowledging past mistakes, knowing that life and history move on. Queen Elizabeth reminded us that we are human beings first and members of a race second, and that our duty is to help each other make this world a better place and live in peace—just as she said in her first broadcast. How we will miss those quiet, reassuring messages to the nation, at Christmas and at difficult times.

Duty, service, Defender of the Faith and love for her United Kingdom: a constant that brought us all together. The bright full moon shone down last night, and there was a rainbow over Windsor castle, which reminded us of God’s promise to His faithful. We pray for her grieving family to get through this difficult time, and especially for King Charles III. Eternal rest grant unto Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor: may she rest in peace.

Standards in Public Life

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Tuesday 7th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

Of course I agree that the truth is an important and paramount object in public life. That goes without saying. Sanctions are another matter. This is a question of fact and degree in each individual case. The right hon. Lady is pursuing this line that somehow truth has been removed from this iteration of the ministerial code. It has not—it is still there at paragraph 1.3.c—so she is pursuing an imaginary problem.

Let me turn to the letter on the application of the ministerial code to the Prime Minister. Before I talk about the detail of the letter, it is important that I touch on the recent communication between the Prime Minister and the independent adviser in relation to the fixed penalty notice received by the Prime Minister and the application of the ministerial code.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Before the Minister does that, will he give way?

[Michael Ellis]

I am giving way quite frequently, but I will give way to the right hon. Lady.

[Valerie Vaz]

I thank the Minister for giving way. Will he say what the position is if the Prime Minister has broken the law? Does he accept that that is a breach of the ministerial code?

Covid-19 Update

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Why aren’t you using them?

[The Prime Minister]

We are using them. It is also important that all manufacturers that want to supply lateral flow tests should pass the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s tests. That is what the public would expect.

Human Rights Legislation

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Tuesday 14th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend, who has been a champion of the ECHR and makes, in a powerful and eloquent way, the case for trying to deliver better outcomes at international level. We want that as well, so I will work with him and support his efforts. We, of course, want to ensure that the Council and ECHR system, post the 2012 Brighton declaration, is properly implemented. We were told—my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst, the Chair of the Justice Committee, is nodding—that the Court was entering an age of subsidiarity, which also picks up on the point made by the leader of the Labour party back in 1999. What we are doing goes with the grain of that, but we will also hold Strasbourg and the Council system to its word to see through those reforms.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

It is the Justice Secretary who is contradictory, is it not? All the convention did was to be enacted in the Human Rights Act, so he cannot say he is keeping the convention and taking away the Human Rights Act. We are talking about evidence, not opinion. Will he publish a list of cases where British judges have not applied British law and have been hamstrung by European law?

Oral Answers to Questions

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Wednesday 1st December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point, and I want to pay tribute obviously to the children of West Lodge Primary School and also to him for all the work that he does in his constituency. We have an opportunity for all of us to play our part in tackling climate action, and we want to ensure during our presidency year that the voices of young people are integral to driving climate action.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

I also pay tribute to the President of COP26 for the incredible work that he did. Has he had any discussions with the Egyptian Government about whether civil society groups can attend the fringe meetings, including very important people such as David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, and also first nations around the world that maybe did not have a seat at the table?

[Alok Sharma]

I thank the right hon. Lady for her kind words. Obviously, we had some initial discussions with Egyptian colleagues at COP26 itself, but I hope to have a conversation with them, certainly before Christmas, and to visit Egypt again in the new year to talk about how we work in our presidency year as we move to COP27.

Budget Resolutions

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

Thank you for the advice, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I was simply responding to the chuntering by the Prime Minister.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

He interrupted.

[Ian Blackford]

Indeed, he did interrupt.

Despite all the money that has been spent, there is still not an ounce of clarity on the UK shared prosperity fund, which was supposed to be the great sweetener offered by the Brexiteers. There was nothing in the Budget from the Chancellor on that. There was no clarity, either, for young people in respect of their opportunities to enjoy the right to travel, work and education throughout Europe as part of the Erasmus scheme. We took those rights and benefits for granted. Around 15,000 people have been involved in the programme through nearly 500 Erasmus+ projects throughout Scotland. On Monday, Universities UK estimated that leaving Erasmus+ will cost around £243 million per year. So why do it? There was no clarity, either, for the vital research and development facilities in our world-leading universities, or on their ability to access the new multibillion-pound Horizon Europe project.

One of the biggest costs of the hard Tory Brexit will fall on rural Scotland. We know what the Government think of rural Scotland: their own adviser revealed that farming and fishing are not “critically important” to them. Farming and fishing are not critically important to the Government. In fairness, that was not really a revelation: rural Scotland has long since been wise to the Tory attitude of contempt, and more and more of our fishing communities are seeing it unfold before their eyes. With trade talks starting and the clock now ticking, we are now less than four months away from when the Tories repeat history and sell out on all their promises to Scotland’s fishing communities. The truth is that the Government will be able to secure a free trade deal with Europe only if they let EU fleets continue to access our waters on essentially the same terms as today.

I would like to think that Ted Heath felt some level of responsibility when he treated the Scottish fishing sector as expendable in the 1970s. It was expendable under Ted Heath in the 1970s and it is expendable under this Prime Minister in 2020. The sad truth about the Prime Minister is that he will not even bat an eyelid as he sells out on his promise to Scottish fishing communities. He simply does not care. The same is true for our farmers and crofters. In the Agriculture Bill Committee last week, SNP amendments—[Interruption.] The Prime Minister should calm down; I really worry about his blood pressure.