5,779 spoken contributions under 12 words (interjections such as “Will the hon. Member give way?”) are hidden. Show them

1. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Bob Blackman

   Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill

   I will not dwell on the final at Bilbao, where we finally won a trophy after 17 years. My hon. Friend quite rightly refers to the events at Wembley in 2021. I live in Wembley and I was leader of the council when we got Wembley rebuilt. Not only was that particular day fraught with attempted break-ins to the game, but a huge numbers of fans congregated who did not have tickets. One of the issues that we have must look at is how fans can be dispersed before they get anywhere near a ground, rather than actually charging into it, and I hope the Minister will respond on that point.

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2. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Bob Blackman

   Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill

   I thank the Minister for that reply to my point. The Bill quite rightly seeks to penalise those who try to gain admission to football grounds without tickets. However, it is silent on anyone who facilitates that entry, such as an individual who works for a club or stadium, or who is somehow in charge of a gate. I do not think it is reasonable for a private Member’s Bill to look at that issue, but could the Minister consider what else the Government need to do to ensure that those people are also penalised?

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3. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Bob Blackman

   Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill

   One of the challenges with electronic tickets is that people can print them out multiple times. When fans approach the ground, those tickets are barcoded and will be scanned, and multiple copies can be scanned to allow entry, which would mean that someone could potentially enter illegally. On Report, the hon. Lady may wish to look at a way of ensuring that making duplicates would also become an offence.

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4. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Bob Blackman

   Nuclear-certified Aircraft Procurement

   Clearly, the aim is to enhance what NATO has as a defensive structure, so will the Minister confirm that this is not a substitute for any of our other NATO allies withdrawing aircraft from service, and that we are adding to the potential cover against threat in case we are attacked?

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5. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Ben Obese-Jecty

   Nuclear-certified Aircraft Procurement

   The Minister is well aware of my interest in the F-35 programme. Lockheed Martin manufactures around 150 jets a year, and there are nearly 600 on order by everyone from Switzerland to Singapore. On top of that, there are 1,200 still to be delivered to the US air force, so whereabouts are we in the queue? She mentioned that we would expect the first deliveries before the end of decade, but are we cutting to the front of the line? Given that the orders from some allies are not due to be fulfilled until 2032, will delivery of all 12 planes be completed within a decade? On refuelling, will she clarify that we have no sovereign air-to-air refuelling capability outside of a NATO mission?

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6. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

   Flags: Public Buildings

   I beg to move, That this House has considered the flying of flags from public buildings. Thank you, Sir Desmond, for calling me to speak in this debate about the importance of flying flags from public buildings across our United Kingdom. I have studied and campaigned on the subject for many years, even before I entered the House of Commons. In 2000, as a councillor in the London borough of Havering, I campaigned for the Union flag, also correctly known as the Union Jack, to be flown all year round from the main flag mast at our townhall in Romford. It was a great sadness to me that the then Labour council, supported by some members of the Havering residents association, voted against my motion to do so. That led to a public outcry, leading to the eventual backing down of the then administration, which accepted that the people of my borough wanted to see their national flag flown 365 days of the year. I mounted a similar campaign when I entered Parliament in 2001, calling for our national flag to fly from the Victoria Tower throughout the year. But the tradition then was that it would only fly when Parliament was in session. After nine years of campaigning for this rule to change, I finally managed to persuade the powers that be that it was only right and proper that the Union Jack should fly all year round, during weekends, evenings and recess periods—at all times. The idea of the flag flying only when the House was sitting originated, so I was told, from when the monarch looked out of their window at Buckingham Palace to see whether the flag was flying and know whether Parliament was in session. When Her Majesty, our dear late Queen Elizabeth II, visited Romford around the time of the golden jubilee, I was proud to sit with her over lunch in the Wykeham Hall of St Edward’s church in Romford market and was able to discuss the matter directly with her. I was surprised to learn that Her late Majesty had never heard of that tradition. She told me that when she wanted to see whether the House was sitting, she would generally switch on BBC Parliament. After much debate, following that revelation, the Union flag was eventually raised permanently above the Victoria Tower on 6 January 2010, where it has proudly flown every day ever since, for the millions of visitors to London to see and for everyone to take pride in.

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7. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

   Flags: Public Buildings

   I entirely concur. I commend the hon. Member for his patriotism, his love of country and his understanding of the importance of being proud of being British. Flying the Union flag is an essential part of that. I refer the House to early-day motion 1199 of 29 March 2010, signed by Mr Speaker himself, which records the significant moment in parliamentary history when the Union flag was raised permanently on the Victoria Tower in the Palace of Westminster. In 2007, I established the all-party parliamentary group on flags, which became the APPG on flags and heraldry, and which now forms a central part of the APPG on British heritage, which I am proud to chair.

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8. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

   Flags: Public Buildings

   I thank my right hon. Friend for his continued support for flying the Union flag and other national flags across the United Kingdom. When he was a Cabinet Office Minister, he was entirely supportive of the campaigns that I have been running for many years. I thank him for that. The APPG on British heritage is meeting today at 5 o’clock to discuss issues relating to flags, heraldry, national symbols, historic counties, patron saints’ days and all things important to the heritage of our proud island nation. I put on record my thanks to the president of the Flag Institute, Captain Malcolm Farrow OBE, and the institute’s chief vexillologist, Graham Bartram, for their support and guidance over all these years on matters relating to flags. I commend the work of the Flag Institute, the expert institute that understands the importance of flags and the protocol that surrounds them across the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies and the British overseas territories. I also commend the College of Arms and Peter O’Donoghue, the York Herald, who has given us extremely good advice on the topic over many years. The College of Arms registers flags in its institution: they are there for all to see, admire and recognise as important parts of our national character.

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9. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

   Flags: Public Buildings

   I completely agree. I only wish that my own London borough of Havering would recognise that. I have tried for many years to ensure that the Romford town crest is displayed in Romford. Sadly, however, because of the corporate identities of London boroughs, my borough has steadfastly refused. I fought that battle against my own party, which governed the council for 20 years and failed to do anything about it, and I am still fighting against the current council, which is controlled by the residents association. Local patriotism, local town crests and local flags are also very important to the culture and make-up of our great British society.

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10. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

    Flags: Public Buildings

    Yes, I do. I thank the hon. Member for his helpful intervention. I will refer to much of that later in my speech. On the matter of flying flags from public buildings, I draw the attention of the Minister to my early-day motion 1452, which so far has been supported by my hon. Friends the Members for Windsor (Jack Rankin), for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford), for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) and for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking), the right hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) and the hon. Members for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe), for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell). I also thank Ryan-Mark Parsons and George Bundock, the staff of the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith), for their advice and amazing support for the campaign to uphold neutrality in flying flags from public buildings. It is now more important than ever for this House to recognise and unequivocally support the importance of maintaining the institutional neutrality of Government and publicly funded spaces. That is particularly vital when seen in the context of a range of entirely new and overtly political flags or banners—as they should be correctly referred to—being flown not only by individuals, as is their right, but by publicly funded bodies such as local councils, town halls, civic centres, hospitals, schools, universities, police stations, railway and underground stations, bus garages and other institutions and organisations, as well as Departments of His Majesty’s Government. This innovation of recent years is not only alien to the civic traditions of this country. I believe that it is emblematic of a declining understanding of the importance of national unity and pride in our national heritage and constitution that is often alienating to many hard-working, law-abiding citizens of this great country who see themselves, first and foremost, as British and not part of a minority or a separate community. I believe that the British people firmly stand for upholding neutrality of the public square, enabling all to have their welcoming corner, but under one nation, one Union flag and one King. The recently announced policy of Reform UK is actually the policy that I have long championed. I am glad to see it adopting that stance in the local councils that it now controls across England. I believe that all political parties should do the same. Our free society is one that I cherish, but all that we have in Britain today is founded on our forebears, embracing one cultural heritage based on the customs, traditions, conventions, laws and constitution of these islands. I am sure that some in this House may hold a certain reticence about the position that I am taking, but I say to them that it is abundantly clear that the flying of identity-based political banners, especially those representing what is sometimes only a slim, exclusive and often exclusionary subset of a particular interest group or social movement, is often seen as implicitly endorsing a specific viewpoint. Some may ask why there is any problem with that being a permissible approach for public bodies to take. They may say that this great nation should accommodate freedom of belief and expression that finds voice in flying flags. I fully accept, and indeed endorse, the notion that free individuals and organisations on their private property may express their identities and customs in whichever manner they see fit, but a publicly owned building or a state-owned or funded institution must, I believe, maintain neutrality. For example, if a town hall chooses to fly a banner for one group of people, it would surely be obliged to fly one for another group, and another group, and so on. In so doing, the council will inevitably appear to be endorsing every cause, identity and political campaign, of which there are absolutely no limits. Not only is that divisive to many who do not necessarily support the cause in question, but the costs and staff time spent on displaying a seemingly never-ending array of banners and flags to please and appease every possible cause—not to mention the organisation of individual ceremonies to go with them—is devaluing the significance of flying the flags of nation, country, county, city, village and town that unite and represent everyone in that community. Indeed, it is becoming unmanageable, as so many banners representing a multitude of groups and causes are being added to the list. It simply has to stop. We must restore a flag protocol regime that upholds our national identity, which should always come first, followed by that which represents our country, boroughs, counties, cities, towns and villages. Of course, no flag of any kind should take precedence over the Union flag on a public building, apart from the royal standard when His Majesty is present. Private expression of political sympathies, and other institutional expressions of political sympathies, are entirely different. Although individuals and communities must continue to be free to express their identities and customs, including by flying flags of public institutions, they should exercise extreme caution and professionalism in order to remain inclusive to all British citizens regardless of their views. Quite contrary to silencing minorities, this age-old position ensures that everyone can pursue their expression and association, find a place and be represented in this country under our nation’s official flags. That is the only logically defensible position, and it is the stance taken by the vast majority of British people, with whom I am in profound agreement. Once we have accepted the importance of maintaining the neutrality of the public square, enabled by the local and national publicly funded institutions of this country, the particular rules for how that should be governed must be decided and expressed in plain English. There is guidance on flag etiquette and rules on flying flags, and the Flag Institute are the experts in this field. I hope the Minister will take advice from them in making sure that everything is handled in the correct fashion. Flag protocol largely dictates how flags should be handled, including how they should be put up, taken down and illuminated. There are flags that require special consent to be flown, and others that do not and ought not, such as national flags, the Commonwealth flag and flags of the United Nations. They should, of course, be flown. There are also flags that are rightly and expressly banned from being flown, most notably those of proscribed terrorist organisations. These rules should strictly be enforced in their entirety. However, there is a grey area in the middle that has been not only occupied, but actively exploited by minority and sometimes extreme political factions—as well as their subscribers or sympathisers—in public institutions. That is the area for which new guidance and rules ought to be implemented, published and enforced, so that we can prevent the domination of public institutions and the public square by overtly political interest groups. That would prevent the continuous vying for a position of institutional dominance by a range of sometimes extreme minority groups, of both the left and the right, which are unrepresentative of British people, culture or heritage, and enable freer expression and a sense of belonging for all British people. I therefore call on all public bodies, especially those representing national and local government, to adopt clear and consistent policies limiting flag displays to flags representing the nation, country, county, borough, city, town and village or those representing the monarch, the royal family or officially recognised flags, to preserve neutrality, true freedom and toleration.

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11. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Andrew Rosindell

    Flags: Public Buildings

    I am afraid I have to continue as I have very little time to complete my speech. When representatives from other countries visit, it is of course right that, out of courtesy, their national flag should fly for the occasion. Alternatively, when there is a tragic event in a particular country, it is right for that nation’s flag to fly for a strictly limited period out of respect and sympathy. I firmly believe that we are reaching a point of broad consensus on the flying of flags, and it should be based on the principles of neutrality of public institutions, public buildings and the public square when it comes to matters of deep political controversy, much like the position of Speaker of the House of Commons. That is needed now more than ever. I have here a copy of the booklet on the approved flying of flags. It is available in the Speaker’s Office. It explains the policy on flying flags on flagpoles on the parliamentary estate and outlines what I consider to be, with a few exceptions, a broadly correct approach. However, I strongly believe that the cross of St Patrick or the red hand of Ulster should be flown on 17 March for St Patrick’s Day, in addition to the cross of St George, the cross St Andrew and the red dragon for St George’s, St Andrew’s and St David’s Days respectively. However, in many town hall and public buildings across the UK, political polarisation has reached a new height. Change in a variety of social and political principles is coming fast. Civic unrest is on the rise and I do not believe that ever more calls for diversity are the answer. We need a more unified approach, with the British people represented by national symbols, including flags, which bring us together and do not divide us further. One example is the so-called Progress Pride flag, which many believe promotes a contentious ideology that harms women and vulnerable children. It is clearly politically divisive and should not be flown from public buildings anywhere in the United Kingdom. There is a clear and simple expression of the position that I believe we ought to adopt. We must recognise the importance of institutional neutrality in government and publicly funded spaces. We must acknowledge that the flying of political flags can be seen as implicitly endorsing specific viewpoints. We must enable individuals and communities to freely express their identities and customs, while ensuring that public institutions exercise strict caution to remain inclusive to all British citizens. We must call on all public bodies, especially those representing national and local government, to draw up clear and consistent policies limiting flag displays to country, county, city, borough, town, village, military or those that represent the monarch, the royal family or officially recognised flags such as Armed Forces Day, VE Day, VJ Day, and for occasions such as the Royal Air Force flag for Battle of Britain Day, the red ensign for Merchant Navy Day, the Royal Navy flag for Trafalgar Day and the British Army flag on Waterloo Day. We, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, must give a firm answer to the grey area filled with uncertainties and questions. It must be one of unifying patriotic neutrality. Finally, I commend His Majesty’s Government for continuing the tradition of flying the flags of historic counties for one week in July every year. Our historic counties, my own being Essex, make up the genuine identities of peoples across these islands, separate from the administrative and council boundaries. However, I strongly believe that the display of county flags in Parliament Square each July for Historic County Flags Day should be strictly restricted to the historic county flags alone. Regional flags and other flags can be flown on other days, but it is important that only historic flags representing the historic counties are flown. Sir Desmond, thank you for allowing me to speak at such length today. I commend the Minister for her interest in this subject. I also thank her for visiting the Channel Islands earlier this year, where I am sure she was proud to see the flags of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark for their 80th anniversary of Liberation Day. Pride and patriotism in our countries is something that all people, and all members of all parties, should be proud to uphold. I have no doubt that the Minister will not disappoint Members of this House today.

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12. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Alan Mak

    Online Safety: Children

    May I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West (Dame Chi Onwurah) on her well- deserved honour in the King’s birthday honours? I hope the whole House will agree that it is a fitting and well-deserved honour for her expertise and service to the House. Protecting children online should be a top priority for every Government, and that is why the Conservatives passed the Online Safety Act to give this Government all the sweeping powers they need to act, but when the Minister was asked in Parliament why implementation under Labour was so slow, she said that implementation must be “as proofed against judicial review as possible.”—[Official Report, 26 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 405WH.] Why is she more concerned about protecting herself and the Government than about protecting children?

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13. 25 Jun 2025·Parliament·Alan Mak

    Online Safety: Children

    It was my party that passed the Online Safety Act; it is the Minister’s party that is failing our children. Ian Russell, who set up the Molly Rose Foundation following the tragic death of his daughter, says that Britain is now “going backwards” when it comes to protecting our children online. The Government are being timid when they should be bold. Their priorities are wrong, and legal caution is trumping children’s safety. Why is the Minister still defending this Government’s track record of total failure?

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14. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Wendy Morton

    Rights of Women and Girls

    Education is a basic right, and ensuring quality education for every girl is essential to building a more equitable world. In 2023, the Conservative Government launched the women and girls strategy to deliver on the three Es: education, empowering women and girls, and ending violence. Does the Minister stand by the commitment to ensure that at least 50% of aid reaches women and girls? Most importantly, will she confirm the 2025-26 official development assistance spending for global education following the spending review?

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15. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Wendy Morton

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    I rise to the three-minute challenge. We hear that this is the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation. I am sure we all remember the day when we got the keys to our first home and how that felt. We are told there will be £39 billion over 10 years, but the real test is whether it reaches the councils and communities that need it the most. As ever, we need detail and clarity, and once again it is lacking from this Government and these estimates—I fear that is because of their pursuit of their ideologically driven utopia. Will the Government commit to publishing the regional allocation of local authority housing and affordable homes programme funds, which is critical to understanding the impact on our own communities? We must ensure that funding flows to not just city regions, but towns such as Walsall and the Walsall borough, where my constituency sits. Local authorities must have fair access to the affordable homes programme and to infrastructure support. I have previously expressed my concerns in a debate on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill about the lack of democratic accountability that this Government will create in their approach to planning. A further point, which has been expressed by the National Association of Local Councils, is that the Minister’s Department is not proceeding with commissioning new neighbourhood planning support services from 2025. I feel that that is just another kick in the teeth for local parish and town councils. I know that the Minister is a good man and brings loads of experience to this place from his time in local government, but I do not believe that his Government are interested in local communities, preferring to drive a coach and horses over our precious green spaces. I look at how Birmingham’s housing targets are being slashed, yet ours across the Walsall borough are being hiked up. Maybe it is because Birmingham is incompetent and cannot empty its bins, but I will leave that for another day. These are arbitrary, Whitehall-driven and centralised targets. I have long campaigned for development to happen on brownfield first, but that needs real funding for remediation, infrastructure and up-front costs. Under Andy Street’s leadership and a Conservative Government, we showed in the west midlands that we can remediate brownfield sites—look at the Caparo and Harvestime sites—and deliver for local people, but we need funding, which is lacking in this estimate. A failure to remediate is a failure to regenerate our towns, cities, communities and local economies. I have done it in less than three minutes, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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16. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Tom Tugendhat

    National Security Strategy

    I welcome today’s national security strategy, which bears a remarkable resemblance to every single one I have seen over the past 15 years. There have been only very slight adjustments over that period; I wonder whether there is any connection between the authors, or whether it is just that the officials have not changed, so the politics has not changed. However, one thing that really has changed over that period is technology, and the document I have seen this morning has very little connection to the democratisation of technology that we have seen in Ukraine’s warfare in Russia or between Israel and Iran—or, indeed, in warfare we might see waged against us by the switching off of electronic items, including solar panels and cars by the Chinese state.

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17. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Tom Tugendhat

    China Audit

    I enjoyed playing buzzword bingo when the right hon. Member presented his statement. I remind him that the rebellion on Huawei was actually led by Conservative Members, not Labour. May I question the right hon. Gentleman about a meeting, which he referred to with a little more pride than I would have done? It was the meeting with Liu Jianchao, who is personally responsible for Operations Fox Hunt and Sky Net, which, of course, concern transnational repression, the kidnapping of Chinese citizens and their repatriation by force to mainland China. He did not seem quite as ashamed of that as I would have been. Why has he still not made it clear that the first scheme, which the Conservatives left intact and ready to go, will not yet be introduced for the whole of the Chinese state, as it should be? That is what it was designed for. For all the words that we have heard, there is not a single practical outcome. It is all still waffle.

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18. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Stuart Anderson

    Chagos Archipelago: Sovereignty

    10. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the treaty with Mauritius on the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago on the UK.

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19. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Stuart Anderson

    Chagos Archipelago: Sovereignty

    If the US wanted to launch an attack on Iran from Diego Garcia in the current circumstances, would the UK Government support it?

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20. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Roger Gale

    National Security Strategy

    I call the Chairman of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

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21. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Roger Gale

    Department for Education

    Order. I am sorry to have had to be a little brutal, but we managed to get everybody in. We are, however, 10 minutes over time, so if Front Benchers exercised a little discretion, that would be helpful. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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22. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Roger Gale

    Department of Health and Social Care

    The debate will be opened by a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, Paulette Hamilton.

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23. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Roger Gale

    Department of Health and Social Care

    Order. It will not have escaped Members’ notice that we are playing “beat the clock” this afternoon. There is another debate to follow, with a very large number of speakers, and we are going to have to try and split the time between two debates. That means two things. First, after the next speaker I will impose a limit of three minutes on every speaker. The Liberal Democrat Front Bencher has agreed to cut her speech to six minutes and the other two Front Benchers have agreed to cut theirs to eight minutes, with no interventions. Secondly, it is up to Members, but if they intervene, we will not get through this, or else some Members will not be called—and it may be that Members who have spoken in earlier debates will not be called at all.

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24. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Julian Lewis

    War Memorials

    Does the hon. Gentleman agree that something that makes the erection and maintenance of war memorials so much more poignant is that they are often paid for by the local communities themselves? They raise the money, and they continue to do so many years later. Only last weekend, I was at Marchwood village hall in my constituency, looking at a presentation about the war years with residents of that village in order to raise money to restore and refurbish their war memorial.

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25. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Julian Lewis

    War Memorials

    Does the Minister agree that there is a particular importance of memorials to people who have no known grave but the sea? I believe I am right in saying that the three great Royal Naval memorials at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth commemorate more than 66,000 Royal Naval personnel who lost their lives in the two world wars. Of course, the one at Tower Hill commemorates about 36,000 merchant seamen and fishing fleet personnel who were similarly lost with no known grave.

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26. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Julian Lewis

    Topical Questions

    What practical steps can the Government take to support women and girls in Afghanistan who, after a period of being encouraged to liberate themselves, are now cast back into domestic servitude?

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27. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Julian Lewis

    China Audit

    In his statement, the Foreign Secretary says that “our approach will always be guided by the UK’s long-term economic growth priorities”. As an example of that, he refers to our universities’ second largest source of international students being China, yet the Intelligence and Security Committee stated in the press notice for its report on China, of which he approves: “China is similarly aggressive in its interference activities… China oversteps the boundary. It has been particularly effective at using its money and influence to penetrate or buy Academia in order to ensure its international narrative is advanced and criticism suppressed.” In answer to the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse), he said that we look to the universities to take precautions. Given the financial incentive to universities, I would rather look to someone else to take the precautions.

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28. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir John Hayes

    Chagos Archipelago: Sovereignty

    9. What changes were made to the draft agreement to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos islands to Mauritius between October 2024 and May 2025.

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29. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir John Hayes

    Chagos Archipelago: Sovereignty

    The Foreign Secretary is an old friend and the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), is a Lincolnshire neighbour whom, in all his innocence, I regard with a degree of paternal care, so I ask this question more in sorrow than in anger. The assumption rooted in the Government’s statements is that unless we do a deal with Mauritius, the International Telecommunication Union could decide that Mauritius is sovereign and deny access to both the US and the UK. That is fundamentally untrue. The ITU has no competence in that regard and it is ignored by the US already, so will the Minister confirm that that argument is entirely bogus? This is not a deal. This is not diplomacy. It is a disgrace.

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30. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Jeremy Wright

    National Security Strategy

    The right hon. Gentleman’s long experience will tell him that sometimes in government the grander the language the less significant the actual announcement. But if on this occasion—I am perfectly prepared to accept that this is so—the Government are making a serious effort to redraw the boundaries of what is national security policy and what is not, does he agree that we need matching parliamentary scrutiny of that area of policy? As he knows, the Intelligence and Security Committee is the only Committee with the necessary clearances to look at classified material. Does he think that this is a good moment to look again at the memorandum of understanding between the Committee and the Government about what the Committee covers?

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31. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir James Cleverly

    Topical Questions

    Dame Karen Pierce is one of our most senior and experienced diplomats, and I very much welcome her appointment as an envoy to the western Balkans, but since her appointment, we have heard precious little about the western Balkans from the Foreign Secretary’s Department. Can he reassure this House that we have not lost interest in the western Balkans?

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32. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Iain Duncan Smith

    National Security Strategy

    Before the most recent election, the Intelligence and Security Committee produced a very comprehensive report on China, making it very clear that it considers China to be one of our greatest threats. I am therefore astonished that, in the whole of today’s strategy, there are three paragraphs that deal with China, and that it raises one or two issues and then proceeds to take a different decision. It talks about there being a problem with human rights—which is genocide—and the cyber-security attacks on the UK, as well as China’s espionage, interference in our democracy, sanctioning of people like myself and undermining of our economic security, and its being guilty of transnational repression. China also ships arms to Myanmar, keeping that brutal regime in charge, at the same time as building the largest navy. To what degree do three paragraphs satisfy the idea that China should surely be in the list of threats?

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33. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Iain Duncan Smith

    China Audit

    First of all, before we go to the political knockabout, let me say that I have spoken critically on this issue no matter who was in government; let us settle that before we go on. I want to give the Foreign Secretary a quick audit of exactly what should have been said. China threatens Taiwan, has invaded the South China seas and is having massive disputes with the Philippines. There is genocide, slave labour, organ harvesting and transnational repression. There have been attacks on Hong Kong dissidents here, and Hong Kong dissidents are constantly under threat. There have been cyber-attacks on the UK. China supports Myanmar’s repressive military regime and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also supports North Korea and Iran. It has trashed the Sino-British treaty on Hong Kong, arrested Jemmy Lai and placed sanctions on UK MPs, and it thieves all the intellectual property from private companies. What a record! And what would we balance against that? Some potential trade? This question has already been asked, in a way, but it is worth repeating. On the embassy decision, it was said clearly in the media that China would not apply again after the refusal from Tower Hamlets unless it received assurances from the UK Government. Can the Foreign Secretary tell me that China has not received any assurances? Or has it received private assurances from the Government that it will get what it wants, and will get this embassy?

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34. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Iain Duncan Smith

    Points of Order

    On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. While the Foreign Secretary is sitting here, I thought it relevant to record that we have just heard that the American Government have put in a second disapproval, for security reasons, to the granting of a Chinese embassy in the proposed location.

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35. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Desmond Swayne

    Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

    On three occasions in answering this question the Minister has said that “Israel must”. What will he do if Israel does not?

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36. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Sir Desmond Swayne

    China Audit

    It was proper and lawful to send HMS Spey through the Taiwan strait in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China sea, was it not, and can we see more like it?

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37. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Robbie Moore

    VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs

    Does my hon. Friend agree that this demonstrates that the Labour Government do not understand how our small businesses operate, and are not on their side? We see the impact of not only VAT registration, but employer’s national insurance, minimum wage and business rates increases, among other things. Does he agree that this Government do not understand how small businesses want to grow, operate and thrive?

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38. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Robbie Moore

    VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) for securing today’s important debate because, as he and my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking) have illustrated, many of our small independent businesses have contacted us as their representatives about the challenge around the VAT threshold time and again. The VAT threshold builds on the collective impact of all the budgetary changes that have been having a hugely detrimental—indeed, catastrophic—impact on our many family businesses. The increases in employers’ national insurance, minimum wage, business rates—crikey, the list goes on. That is before we start looking at other legislation that is coming down the line, such as the Employment Rights Bill, which is creating more uncertainty for employees, dare I say, because employers quite rightly will not want to take the risk of growing and expanding, with further regulation and legislation coming down the line. Small businesses are the lifeblood of any prosperous community, and my constituency of Keighley and Ilkley is no exception. Keighley is home to many fantastic small high street businesses, as well as a number of nationally and internationally acclaimed manufacturers. Likewise, Ilkley boasts a fabulously good high street, which helped the town to be officially named the best place to live in the whole north of England, as rated by The Sunday Times. I am sorry to say that our many small businesses are under immensely increasing regulatory and tax pressures as we go forward. Whether because of the rise in budgetary pressures introduced by the Budget last year or VAT, the subject of this debate, those businesses are struggling right now to make ends meet, and the challenge continues. The mighty British fish and chip shop is one sector that is particularly struggling, with rising input prices and uncertainty over supply chains. I am honoured to represent many fish and chip shops across Keighley and Ilkley, and was lucky enough meet a great constituent of mine, Dwaine Smith, and go along to Old Time Fisheries at the top of Devonshire Street in Keighley to sample the fine offering. He was keen to get across to me the absolute pressure that the fish and chip industry is facing as a result of the increased cost of fish and chips coming into the sector, as well as the increased pressures around employer’s national insurance, the minimum wage and the challenge around VAT thresholds. On a number of occasions I have spoken to the operator of Kirkgate Fisheries, in Silsden in my constituency, and he has raised the issue of VAT with me as the No. 1 challenge that he is facing. Bearing out what my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Leicestershire said, as an organisation it has actively looked at reducing the number of hours that it is open because of the challenges associated with VAT registration and the threshold that has been put in place. We cannot be in a scenario where businesses are coming to us time and again, whether in the fish and chip industry or other sectors such as the wedding industry, as was referenced by my hon. Friend—it applies to every business—because they are being effectively constrained from growing and expanding because of the VAT registration challenges and the burden of the VAT threshold. It is sad to see popular, successful businesses in our communities having to commit acts of self-harm, not because they want to but because they have no other option available—they are forced to because of the increased taxes being put on their shoulders. That brings me to the nub of the issue: this debate is about not just the level of the VAT threshold—although I am pleased to say that it rose steadily under the last Conservative Administration—but the hugely negative impact that the cost of VAT registration is having on the growth of many businesses in my constituency. It is not viable to sit just under the threshold, as has often been communicated to me by many of my constituents, and without further investment to get above it, businesses stagnate. That is the problem that we are actively seeing. I hope that the Minister will reference this cliff edge, which many of our hard-working businesses are facing, and that he will address how the Government plan to see the transition for businesses between VAT regimes. I want to see businesses across Keighley, Ilkley, Silsden and the Worth valley thrive; I want to see families set up businesses that they have control of, that are pillars of the community and drive the local economy. Without doubt, they are the fabric of our communities. To do that, we must create a tax system that encourages expansion and growth. At the moment, the VAT threshold is a great filter to success. It is stagnating many of our businesses and constraining them from being able to grow at the speed they wish. At worst, many of our businesses are reducing their hours of operation and the amount of products that they are selling, because of the VAT threshold and the cost of VAT registration. This simply cannot continue. It is within the power of the Government to make that change, and I hope that the Minister is listening. Finally, I would like to understand from the Minister whether any financial impact assessment has been made by this Government, not only on VAT but on the collective impact of those additional regulatory and financial burdens that have been put on hard-working businesses in our constituencies. I go door-knocking every week, speaking to residents and large and small businesses across my constituency. On the doorstep I openly ask people, 20% or 25% of the way into this Parliament—a year into this Government—to give me one thing that they feel the Government have delivered that has had a positive impact on their business. They cannot name one thing.

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39. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Robbie Moore

    VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs

    I struggle to understand how the Minister can come out with these pre-written speeches and expect anyone to believe him. How can he say that stability has now been put back into the wider economy when many hard-working businesses, including the SMEs that many hon. Members have talked about in this debate, are struggling to deal with the consequences of employer’s national insurance contributions rising; the consequences of VAT, which we are debating today; and the consequences of the Employment Rights Bill, which are coming down the line? Yet he still stands at the Dispatch Box and comes out with the bizarre claim that the Government have installed stability with their plan for change. That is nonsense.

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40. 24 Jun 2025·Parliament·Rebecca Smith

    Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)

    I am conscious that we are finishing in three minutes, so I will limit my comments to give the Minister some time. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland and Fakenham, I query the premise that public is better than private. The hon. Member for Warrington South mentioned the ability to provide a better service than existing franchise services, but I want to put on record that we can still get £2 fares in South West Devon. There is not necessarily a concrete need for a franchise; it is not necessarily a magic wand. I will fit my other comments in somewhere else, because I am conscious of time.

    Hansard source