Oral Answers to Questions

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[John Lamont]

We continue to engage with our colleagues in the Scottish Government on this and a number of other policy areas, I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss further opportunities that we might be able to create in future.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

10. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for households with energy bill increases in Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (John Lamont)]

The UK Government’s energy price guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas so that typical households across Great Britain, including in Scotland, save around £700 this winter, reducing bills by roughly a third.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

When people face energy price increases, it is important that they have confidence that the bills they receive from their provider are correct. After an intervention from my office, we have sorted out my constituent’s bill, but she has now had another invoice. This seems to be a growing trend, as I am now dealing with seven cases. What discussions has the Scotland Office had with Ofgem? With rising prices and higher energy costs in Scotland, it is critical that we address this issue.

[John Lamont]

I am concerned to hear about that case. Ofgem is independent of the Government but, if the hon. Lady sends me the details, I would be happy to raise the case directly with Ofgem.

Home Secretary: Resignation and Reappointment

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

The ministerial code was last updated in May, so I very much doubt that a further update is likely. The ministerial code makes it clear, after a recommendation from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, that it is not the case that every single breach should result in resignation or dismissal, but that appropriate measures need to be put in place, depending on the circumstances of each case.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

A risk assessment is carried out in other workplaces when somebody returns to work following a data breach, inadvertent or otherwise. What risk assessment is the Home Office carrying out to ensure these things do not happen again? Indeed, what assurances has the Home Secretary given that she will not engage in this behaviour again?

[Jeremy Quin]

The Home Secretary is clearly very aware that she has made a mistake and very aware that it can never be repeated. It is a salutary lesson not only for her but for everyone else who is privileged to serve in Government that we need to be extraordinarily careful on these matters. I think we should leave it there. The Home Secretary knows what she needs to do in future, and she knows that she has to ensure there is no repetition. She will focus on her proper role, which is to ensure the safety of this country and the future of the police.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

It is an honour to pay tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth in this place on behalf of my constituents in North East Fife.

As a relatively new MP, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the history of this place and the events that it has seen, and never more so than today when considering the Queen’s life, her dedication and her work. I feel, as I know many do, unanchored. We were all Elizabethans, the majority of us without realisation or acknowledgement. No matter our views on the monarchy, the Queen was there—our constant through ever-changing times. We have seen both a jolting and an imperceptible change in the filter of our lives, with QC changing to KC, and the prospect of future King’s Speeches in this place and the singing of “God Save the King.” Given the current line of succession, it is unlikely that any of us here will see a reigning queen again in our lifetime.

Like other hon. Members, I want to pay tribute to the Queen’s service, her dedication to the nations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and their citizens, and her commitment to her people. In Scotland, she was our Queen of Scots—the Scots as a people—and we know her love of Scotland, as a place of beauty, of escape and of peace. I trust that she found some of that beauty and peace on her visits to North East Fife.

Fife is known as the Kingdom of Fife in recognition of its royal and religious heritage, including that of St Andrews, named for our nation’s patron saint, and Falkland, whose palace is closely associated with another Queen of Scots, Mary. The Queen’s first and last visits to the area were to Leuchars military base, where in 2018, as their Colonel-in-Chief, she presented the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards with a new standard.

Visits in between took in the broad spectrum of meeting the communities of East Neuk, the former royal borough of Cupar and beyond, and visiting the ancient University of St Andrews, a place of recent family significance. I wish the Queen’s granddaughter, Lady Louise, well as she commences her studies there and hope that she finds comfort in our town. The breadth of the Queen’s engagements in North East Fife reflect her life, from leading her armed services to hearing from the smallest of children.

For me, as a primary child of the ’80s, the Queen meant Brownie promises and royal weddings, with the Queen off centre as a happy and proud parent. I never had the privilege of meeting her. My only connection is that I was one of the last babies christened by the Reverend Keith Angus before he went to Crathie Kirk, to become the Queen’s chaplain in Scotland. It has been wonderful to hear from right hon. and hon. Members who did meet her. The twinkle in her eye has come through strongly, although I have always wondered if, like Paddington, she could subject Ministers to a very hard stare.

I saw her once in person at the last Queen’s Speech she attended in this place, which took place during covid. She processed past me down the Royal Gallery, supported by her son, now our King. He and the rest of the royal family are in my thoughts and prayers, and those of my constituents. God save the King.

Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

We are here today because we have seen a real decline in our standards in public life, and in particular in the Prime Minister. We have heard many Government Members talk about the positive things in their constituencies, and they clearly want those to continue, but we are here because the Prime Minister was put out of office by those on the Government Benches two weeks ago.

The Government had the opportunity to do things very differently, and I would argue that the rot set in in November last year, when there was an attempt to keep Owen Paterson from censure. I had the emergency debate on standards after that and, dare I say it, that was a much more collegiate and positive debate than this one, because I think there was recognition on all sides of the House that a stop needed to be put to the direction of travel. A constituent said that Mr Paterson’s resignation was not the end, but must be the beginning of an uncompromising campaign to end the corruption in our politics. We are here, and we have been where we have been in the last couple of weeks, because that corruption has not been stopped.

If we look at partygate from a constituency perspective, other than trips to Barnard Castle, I have certainly had no higher volume of emails about anything from constituents, who told me some quite devastating stories. We know how that has gone; it has gone from “There were no parties” to “All rules were followed” to an admission that “There were parties, but we weren’t quite sure what the rules were.” The PM has indicated that he intends to remain as an MP if he remains sitting in this place. Therefore, I do hope that the Privileges Committee will continue with its investigation regardless of whether he is the Prime Minister. If the new Prime Minister, whoever they may be, fails to ensure this, we will know that there is no change to the approach to our standards in public life. Lord Evans believes there has been an erosion, and Lord Geidt clearly did so. Indeed, the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose) made it clear in his resignation statement that standards have fallen.

To go back to what the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips) said, the fact that we have ended up here because of a lack of candour about office appointments means that this place is not safe. We cannot with all confidence say that it is safe. That shames and should shame us all, and we should all be committed collectively to doing something about it. By failing to face up to this corrosion and failing to identify the battery acid at the core of their party, the Government have lost people’s confidence because they have lost confidence in their values, and our by-election victories over the last year demonstrate that.

Ministers’ Severance Pay

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Wheeler]

I recall that, during the Blair and Brown years, the Labour party decided it did not need to change the legislation. The legislation is as it is, there is a three-week period, and I think that is completely fair.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

First, I commit to responding directly to the hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) and the Minister on what statements were put out.

This seems to be a situation entirely of the Conservatives’ making. We are potentially at risk of making a mockery of our system. Given that the Minister says it has been more than 30 years since this legislation was looked at, does she agree that now is the time to revisit it and that, at the very least, we should look at a minimum term of service before a Minister or Secretary of State is entitled either to waive or to receive a severance payment?

[Mrs Wheeler]

That is a fair question. The answer I would give the hon. Lady is that, obviously, the Liberal Democrat who resigned during the coalition did not think it was worth looking at either.

Standards in Public Life

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

I do not accept the premise of my hon. Friend’s question. As I think he will note, when, after the exercise—the investigation that I referred to a few moments ago—the former Minister in question was appointed to the Department for Levelling Up, and then to the Whips Office, I am not aware that any further objection was made by the senior civil servant in question. That is something from which my hon. Friend can draw a note.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

As many in this House know, I am a former police officer, and something that is important for every single one of us as MPs is our responsibility for safeguarding, both on the estate and in our constituency. If I received an unsubstantiated allegation, I would do my best to find out as much as I could about it, not just from curiosity, but to ensure that people were safe. What has failed here? Is it a failure of process, integrity or both?

[Michael Ellis]

No. As I have articulated, there was an exercise in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the matter, which I believe went on for several weeks. I need to confirm the details, because I had insufficient time to do so this morning, but as I say, there was an exercise, and it concluded to the satisfaction of all involved. That was within the Department and, it appears to me, before the Prime Minister was made aware.

Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests Resignation

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Thursday 16th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

May I gently say to the Opposition parties that if they wish for a change of Prime Minister, they should do something different from attacking personalities? They should attack policies, but of course if they were to attack policies, they would find that they would lose.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

Government is accountable to Parliament. The independent adviser on Ministers’ interests is a crucial role that is appointed by the Prime Minister. Does the Minister accept that the only way to begin the process of restoring trust in standards of public life—standards undermined by the Prime Minister—is to give Parliament a role in the appointment of the new adviser? At minimum, we should be looking at a scrutiny session by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and a confirmatory vote in this House.

Sue Gray Report

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I wish things could have been handled better and I wish we had got things right in No. 10 in the way we did not. I apologise again for things that we got wrong, but we have already changed the way we work and I really think it is time that the country moved on.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

The Prime Minister has previously stated that partygate investigations would be complied with fully, but today there are reports that senior staff simply did not answer the questionnaires and, as a result, have avoided being fined. Can he therefore confirm whether all senior staff at No. 10, including himself, met their obligations and replied to the Metropolitan police in full?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, those are matters for the Met.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

It is very telling that the SNP spokesperson, the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald), did not want to talk about those issues or Scotland’s record and asked us something totally outside the realm of Justice questions. My hon. Friend makes a compelling point, but we will not rest on our laurels south of the border. We will introduce a victims Bill that will place the victims code into law and send the clearest possible signal that the justice system must deliver for victims as a matter of moral correctness and to ensure the efficacy of the system.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

T5. In all nations of the UK, rape victims are being let down by criminal justice systems that make prosecuting rape extremely rare, lengthy and difficult. At present, charge rates for rape vary widely from 1.3% in Surrey, home to the Secretary of State’s constituency, to 8.2% in Durham. Some 63% of cases are closed because the victim gives up on the process and withdraws from it. Despite progress on disposals, what additional steps is he taking to address that horrific reality?

[Dominic Raab]

First, we have seen a step change increase in convictions by 67%—two thirds—over the last year. I think the hon. Lady is wrong, if I may say so, to use the statistic that she used. In fact, the conviction rate has increased from 68% in July to September 2021 to around 71% in the last quarter. Through Operation Soteria, section 28 and changes that are being made to disclosure, we will drive a step change in support for victims with the quadrupling of victims funding, which will help to support victims through the process and secure more convictions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Allan Dorans (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

21. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on reforming the human rights framework.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

22. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the independent Human Rights Act review published in December 2021.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Dominic Raab)]

The Government were elected on a manifesto commitment to replace the Human Rights Act 1998, and we have launched a consultation on a UK-wide Bill of Rights. We intend to bring forward legislation in the next Session.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

Although I disagree with the hon. Gentleman, I pay respect to the way he has introduced this question. There is a school of thought—I have been up to Edinburgh and discussed this with the Scottish Government—that we should expand a wider range of policy issues, social and economic, and environmental goals, and turn them into judicially enforceable rights. Many of those areas involve collective issues that require finely balanced judgment calls and often require public finances to be allocated in a very sensitive way, and I think they should be decided by hon. Members in all parts of this House, accountable to the British people, not lawyers in a courtroom.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

It is agreed by legal experts in areas ranging from local government to the House of Lords that the HRA is a delicate and well-tuned piece of legislation, and the organisation Lawyers in Local Government said in its response to the independent HRA review that the Government’s proposals not only risk reducing the accountability of public authorities and undermining the rules but will concretely cause further delay in reaching decisions on social housing, which is worse for all our constituents and for councils. This is not about ideology but about real-world outcomes. The HRA is working well, so will the Government accept that plans to scrap it are counterproductive?

[Dominic Raab]

I am afraid that I will not, and I respectfully disagree. I will side with the local authorities of whatever political colour or composition who are trying to serve their constituents. They of course need to be held to the rule of law and be accountable, but I am not on the side of the lawyers suing local authorities.