Abena Oppong-Asare MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Jun 2025 · National Resilience · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight the industrial strategy, which will be published shortly. It will set out our vision to deliver growth and economic security and resilience. Alongside that, the Government are working closely with industry to publish a new critical minerals strategy this year, to help secure our supply chain for the long term and drive forward the green industries of the future.

• 24 Mar 2025 · European Union: UK Membership · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for moving the motion; I am sure everyone will agree that he spoke very passionately. I will try to leave some time so that he can respond. I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to the debate on behalf of the Government, and I thank the Petitions Committee for its work representing constituents across the country and those who sign petitions. I have been asked about this at various times in the debate, and I thought it would be better for me to be very clear from the outset, including with members of the public who signed the petition: this Government will not seek to rejoin the EU, nor will there be a return to freedom of movement, the customs union or the single market, as we set out in our general election manifesto. That was a clear commitment ahead of the election, in which the Government secured a significant majority. The manifesto was clear on the benefits of seeking a closer relationship with the EU, and since July the Government have been doing just that, led by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations. That closer, more co-operative relationship with the EU is in the UK’s national interest. The Government are working to increase security, safety and prosperity. On security, we are responding to a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent through our ambitious UK-EU security and defence relationship. On safety, we know that we must do what we can to strengthen our collective ability to tackle organised crime and criminality and work together on illegal migration, which is a challenge across the continent. On prosperity, to grow the economy and boost living standards we need to build export and investment opportunities for UK business and reduce barriers to trade with our biggest trading partners. All of that means that we need to be ruthlessly pragmatic in seeking a closer and more co-operative relationship with the EU. I want to take this opportunity to reassure Members who raised concerns about the loss of data sharing, and about tackling matters such as cross-border crime. We have already increased the UK presence at Europol, and want to go further by including more co-ordination on real-time data sharing and arrest warrants. The Home Secretary was in Northern Ireland with her counterpart in recent weeks, showing the kind of joint working that we want to see more of. I am grateful for the contributions to the debate by Welsh colleagues. Wales is a proud trading nation, which is why Welsh businesses will stand to benefit from the Government’s efforts to tackle barriers to trade, not least through the SPS agreement. My hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) has worked tirelessly on this issue; she is an esteemed campaigner, and she is right that this is not a quick process. My hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) reminded us that someone was sadly killed during the EU referendum campaign. I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Jo Cox, who was a passionate campaigner on this issue. A number of colleagues raised concerns about the impact that leaving the EU has had on businesses. We know that the global economic headwinds of recent years have not always been easy for businesses—I have heard evidence of that in this debate. That is why we want to tackle the barriers to trade for businesses. We know that facilitating business mobility is in our shared interest with the EU, as it supports trade and growth on both sides of the channel. The Chancellor has made it clear that our biggest trading partner is the EU, with which our trade totalled over £800 billion in 2023. I reassure colleagues who have raised concerns about trade that the Government’s No.1 priority will be the growth of the UK economy, and free and open trade with our most economically important partners.

• 24 Mar 2025 · European Union: UK Membership · Hansard source

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  I have made the position very clear. In the past the SNP has not voted for the customs union. We are following very clearly what people have asked us to do—our manifesto commitments. On the Erasmus scheme, which was raised by the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) in particular, we are working with the higher education sector to ensure that our world-leading universities continue to attract the brightest and the best and to support our economy, but I have to say to the right hon. Member that we have no plans to rejoin the Erasmus scheme. Members raised concerns about opportunities for young people, and put forward proposals for a youth mobility scheme. The Government recognise the value of people-to-people connections, and of schemes that give young people the opportunity to experience different cultures and to work or study elsewhere. For example, the Turing scheme is the UK Government programme for students to study and work anywhere in the world.

• 7 Jan 2025 · National Resilience and Preparedness · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) for giving us the opportunity to debate this important issue. I also thank you, Sir Roger, for chairing today’s debate. Happy new year, everybody. I also thank the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon), for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke), for West Dorset (Edward Morello) and for North Cornwall (Ben Maguire) for their important interventions. The Government’s first responsibility is to keep this country safe, which is why national resilience has been at the top of the agenda since we came into government. As the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth rightly said, the covid and Grenfell inquiries have shown that we inherited a challenging situation. Let me explain the situation that we face. We are dealing with huge underinvestment, and the impact of covid-19 on our public services has been well documented. We know that there was underinvestment before the pandemic, and our public services are massively stretched. That is particularly true in the NHS, where key workers feel the burden and have been asked to go above and beyond. Society is less resilient than it was before the pandemic and, as the hon. Gentleman pointed out, our resilience has been eroded at a time when wider threats, including those from nation states, are increasing and global trends are making the risk landscape more volatile. Therefore, since coming into office, we have taken immediate steps to strengthen national resilience by establishing a dedicated sub-committee of the National Security Council on resilience. As the hon. Member will know, the sub-committee is chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. We are also looking at how we can improve our approach to national risk assessment, including greater external challenge, and we are designing a national exercising programme with guidance to improve exercising at all levels and help those on the frontline identify people who are vulnerable, which was a common theme from the covid-19 module 1 report. The Government have also adopted the 2023 biological security strategy in full, and we are committed to ensuring that we have the capabilities we need to protect the public from a spectrum of biological threats. The hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth mentioned the particular need to look at the threats we face on a daily basis and ensure that we have a robust strategy, and we are looking at how we can strengthen those capabilities. The new floods resilience taskforce, of which I am a member, is doing vital work to finally speed up and improve the delivery of flooding schemes and stop communities going underwater. I know that that is an important issue to the hon. Member, whose constituents have suffered from flooding and its consequences across Devon. In the year ahead, we are looking to build on that work, starting with the Government’s response to the covid-19 inquiry module 1 report this month—I hope that that answers the hon. Member’s question. We are also continuing our review of resilience announced by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in July last year. The review is a focused exercise, designed to rapidly identify what is working well and should be kept, what needs to be changed and what needs to be stopped. We are also considering a wide range of evidence, lessons learned, risk and organisational knowledge. A particular focus for me has been to ensure that all relevant voices are heard. A common theme from both the covid-19 module 1 inquiry and the Grenfell inquiry is that certain voices were not engaged, so we need to move away from having conversations in echo chambers and group thinking. I am undertaking a programme of engagement with stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors, including the devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For example, just before Christmas, I held meetings with senior leaders from charities and representative organisations that support people at risk, who are so often disproportionately affected during emergencies. I also chaired a discussion in the autumn with 20 business leaders, where I emphasised the importance of Government and industry partnership. This month, I will invite Members of both Houses to attend parliamentary drop-in sessions. I will hold two sessions where I will answer questions about the review and discuss its progress. There will also be an opportunity for Members to put on record anything that they think the Government should be looking at, so this debate has been particularly timely given the issues that have been raised. I will also meet members of the National Preparedness Commission to gather views on where our approach to resilience could be bolstered. Finally, I want to assure all hon. Members present that this work will be closely linked to our consideration of the covid inquiry module 1 report and the Grenfell inquiry final report, which the Government will respond to within the deadlines. The hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth has raised important issues today, particularly on the future pandemic, food security and hybrid threats. The UK Government are aware of the risk around food security. We currently source around 60% of food domestically, so it is important for us to look into that. We are also addressing hybrid threats. I found the information mentioned by the hon. Member, particularly relating to his researcher’s findings when he went to Finland, really insightful and useful, so I will look into that. I also share the hon. Member’s view on a whole-society approach. It is important not only to look at resilience at a Government level, but to get to a point where the whole of society plays a role in that. That is why, particularly through the resilience review, we are looking at how we can work collaboratively across Departments, and also why, through the work that I have been doing, particularly at a grassroots level, we are ensuring that we hear people’s concerns about what we can do to strengthen resilience and making sure that everyone is part of that conversation. I hope that the hon. Member feels reassured that we are taking this seriously, particularly as we are conducting a review into national resilience. I look forward to working in partnership with him and other hon. Members here throughout the resilience review and making sure that we feed this properly into Government delivery, so that wider society benefits. Question put and agreed to .

• 24 Oct 2024 · Strengthening National Resilience · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Member is right to raise that question. We will ban China’s economic engagement, and make sure we strengthen our national security. [ Official Report , 28 October 2024; Vol. 755, c. 8WC.] (Correction)

• 24 Oct 2024 · Flood Risk: Resilience Framework · Hansard source

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  In the aftermath of the flooding experienced at the end of September, and as the final figure of flooded properties is confirmed, discussions are ongoing between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business and Trade about the activation of the flood recovery framework, which is a core package of business and community recovery support. There are stringent criteria for activation of the scheme by Ministers and the current estimates of localised impacts and a relatively low number of properties flooded in September are below the threshold for activation. However, the Flood Re insurance scheme, a joint initiative between the UK Government and the insurance industry, is available to a wide range of eligible households in flood risk areas.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered Black History Month. I start by wishing Baroness Doreen Lawrence a very happy birthday—she is bright beacon for us all. It is a great pleasure to open the debate to mark Black History Month. I have led debates on the subject many times since 2020, but this is my first time from the Government side of the House, and as the first ever woman Minister of Ghanaian descent at the Dispatch Box. For some of us, every month is Black History Month. Many Members cannot dis-entangle our own narratives, family trees and stories from the broader celebration of black history. It is not the stuff of dry history books; it is about vibrant family stories told around kitchen tables, and lived experiences shared by our mums, dads, aunties, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. I know from our previous debates that we will be hearing some of those vivid stories this afternoon. Why do we celebrate Black History Month? We do so because black history is British history; because the lives of black Britons are the building blocks of our nation, from the Roman occupation to the Windrush generation; because history is never static, but a story constantly being told and re-told over again; and because the voices of black Britons have so often been marginalised and dismissed, ignored and overlooked. The racism and bias that our forebears faced—within the factories, the foundries, the armed services, the universities and the national health service, on the streets, and even in our homes—is made worse by historians brushing it under the carpet. This country and this House cannot overlook our complex and painful history of empire and slavery. A key theme this year is “reclaiming the narrative,” and I pay tribute to all the families, historians, scholars, teachers and storytellers who keep the narrative alive. We have a duty of care to our ancestors; a debt of honour to the countless millions who built our economy, shaped our society and forged the nation.

• 25 Jul 2024 · National Resilience · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend to his place, and thank him for his earlier public service in the Royal Marines. I agree with the points that he has raised, and I, too, thank the key workers for all that they did to support and protect us during the pandemic. The Government will certainly ensure that lessons are learned from the inquiry and the response to the pandemic, and we will take the necessary time to consider the inquiry’s report and assess our resilience in respect of the full range of risks that the United Kingdom faces. Last week the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced that he would chair a committee for resilience, which will improve our health sector, increasing public trust in the Government and kick-starting our economic growth, as well as improving resilience across the UK.