Andrew Murrison MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 21 Oct 2024 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that growth, if it comes, will come from small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the bedrock of industry in this country? Does she accept that although the measures may be capable of being accommodated by large businesses with big human resources departments, they certainly will not be by small and medium-sized enterprises, so the Bill is likely to damage the growth that she insists will come under a Labour Government?

• 21 Oct 2024 · St Helena: UK Immigration · Hansard source

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  Since no migrants have arrived in BIOT since 2022, and given that this agreement lapses after 18 months, what is the problem that the Minister is trying to solve? And given that Rwanda was apparently considered immoral and this is not, is he not simply offering an insult to Kigali?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Gaza and Lebanon · Hansard source

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  Deliberate targeting of UN peacekeepers is always unacceptable, but given the evident failure of UN Security Council resolution 1701 and UNIFIL in intent and mission, what does the Minister suggest Israel is to do when it is facing incessant attacks on its population by a terrorist organisation backed by a state? Is it to tolerate the building of tunnels and attack positions in territories south of the Litani river indefinitely?

• 15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister recognise that a recent survey of Church of England clergy showed the need to reform the participation of Church of England bishops in our legislature? Will he reflect on that, and on the fact that it looks like we are in danger of having bishops who, instead of focusing their efforts on the cure of souls, are more like mitred politicians? That cannot be good for any of us. Finally, we are talking about the Church of England in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In that respect, my right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) is correct about expanding the clergy’s membership to include other denominations, or removing them entirely if that proves impossible, for reasons that are pretty clear.

• 14 Oct 2024 · Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that the use of police outriders, whistles and sirens to facilitate the ferrying of the favoured few around capital cities characterises the capital cities of less enlightened realms and not—until this point—our own? Does she also agree that the special escort group needs to be used sparingly, and not to ferry entertainers around, regardless of the number of free tickets dispensed to senior members of the Government?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Afghan Special Forces Relocation Review · Hansard source

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  I welcome the tone and substance of the Minister’s statement. Few of us thought 20 years ago that we would still be mopping up after Operations Telic and Herrick. Does he agree that the long shadow of discretionary warfare, particularly in the civil domain, should act as a powerful incentive for any Government when considering future military conflict?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Gibraltar-Spain Border Checks · Hansard source

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  The unforced surrender of the Chagos islands casts a long shadow, does it not? Are we seriously to believe that the timing of the Government of Spain’s action in respect of Gibraltar has nothing to do with the unforced error that the Government have committed in recent days? Is it not the case that this Government will always put ideology, virtue signalling and post-colonial guilt ahead of the defence and security of this country?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Film Industry · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State will understand that the boundaries between film, cinema, e-sports and gaming are increasingly diffuse, but what they have in common is digital, and the need for digital skills. Does she agree that the local skills improvement fund has been crucial in developing digital skills across the country? Will she commend the work of Trowbridge college’s “Tech Trowbridge” initiative in its digital skills centre, which has been facilitated by that fund, and does she hope, as I do, that it will continue to be generous? She is very welcome to visit Trowbridge at any time and see the excellent work that we are doing to advance digital and its contribution to the media industry, particularly around e-sports and gaming.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Northern Ireland City Deals · Hansard source

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  I assume that the Secretary of State has done an impact assessment on the uncertainty costs of this decision, and will know how it will impact growth in Northern Ireland in particular. If so, can he publish that impact assessment? Secondly, I assume that the improved futures funding in Northern Ireland is unaffected by this decision. Can he confirm that, please?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  I am following the hon. Gentleman’s remarks with a great deal of interest. Does he agree that the vast majority of people in this country, given the choice, would rather buy British food? Certainly, all the surveys that have been done would bear that out. However, one of the principal problems is the information they are provided with by the supermarkets and, I am afraid, the cynical way in which many of those supermarkets approach the labelling of food, suggesting it is British when in fact it is not. What does he suggest we do to give consumers, who have not yet been mentioned in this debate, the genuine choice they are seeking and to help our farmers along the way?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  In the calculus that my right hon. Friend rightly asks the Government to publish, can we include the foreign receipts that the independent sector generates? The roll of a school in my constituency includes a very large number of children from overseas whose parents pay directly into the UK economy. That school is now under threat. The loss of that revenue will be substantial, and the local impact huge. May we have that factored in, given that, so far, we have not seen any figures on the loss of money and reputation that the closure of many such schools will entail?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East · Hansard source

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  Many of us have been fortunate enough to see the good work that UNRWA has done on the ground over many years, but, to be effective, an aid delivery vehicle needs to be rigorously impartial. Given that, will the Government treat UNRWA with caution and carefully, and remember that other aid delivery agencies are available?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage · Hansard source

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  Given the Chancellor’s rhetoric about black holes, it is perhaps a little surprising that the Government have managed to magic £22 billion for this, but I wish the Secretary of State well. I hope his plan works. Does he share my concern that, in doing this, we will reduce the drive to decarbonise industries, just as the use of waste incinerators has reduced the imperative to reduce, reuse and recycle waste, including in Westbury in my constituency?

• 7 Oct 2024 · British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations · Hansard source

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  My old boss, Admiral Lord West of Spithead, won his Distinguished Service Cross in the Falklands in 1982. As the right hon. Gentleman will know, Lord West is a former Labour security Minister. Why does the right hon. Gentleman think that Lord West is of the view that what he is doing poses a grave security risk to this country and is likely to undermine our position in the Falkland Islands? Will he give a straight answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis), who asked whether Lord Robertson had been consulted in any way over the decision that the Foreign Secretary has made?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Port Talbot Transition Project · Hansard source

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  The wholesale price of electricity in this country is already pretty much the highest in Europe, and it will probably get worse as we shift towards renewables, with the possibility of outages and intermittency. That means that electric arc furnaces will become more expensive. What is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that suppliers do not, perfectly legitimately, turn to China for its virgin steel, produced in dirty blast furnaces?

• 10 Sept 2024 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  What assessment has the Defence Secretary made of Operation Renovator and how does he plan to change it?

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  Old people die in cold homes, and they die particularly if they are very old. Does my right hon. Friend think that if the Government are not minded to change their mind entirely, they might look at those aged over 80? Those people are in receipt of the higher rate of winter fuel payment, and paragraph 3 of the regulations points out that there is a difference between those over 80 and those under 80. That might be one way that the Government could make this slightly less worse than it otherwise is.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Is the Leader of the House concerned that those who will suffer as a result of the Government’s decision to cut the winter fuel allowance live in remote, rural locations, in homes that often are difficult to insulate and off-grid? Could we have a debate in Government time on how the Government’s early priorities will disproportionally impact those people living in the countryside in remote and rural locations?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Contracts for Difference · Hansard source

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  What consideration has the Secretary of State given to proposals for an interconnector from north Africa to the UK, bringing reliable solar and wind power at times when the wind is not blowing here and the sun is not shining?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  With that in mind, and given the need to involve all parties—we are talking not just about this Parliament, but potentially about Parliaments for decades to come—does my right hon. Friend agree that amendment (b), in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, is entirely reasonable and, indeed, addresses some of the issues that have been raised by the minor parties, because it would potentially bring them into scope?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Can we have a debate early in this Parliament on trust in politics and politicians? Newly minted Ministers are already hopping on and off the Airbus A321: the same plane that was condemned in 2022 by the then Opposition as “obscene”, “brazen” and “disgusting”. In that debate, will the Government be able to explain how that jaw-dropping show of double standards and hypocrisy is compatible with restoring trust?

• 24 Jul 2024 · International Immunities and Privileges · Hansard source

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  Many jobs in our constituencies depend on contracts with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is also interested in GCAP. What conversations have been had with Saudi Arabia, particularly in the light of the procrastination by the Prime Minister on this programme—reaffirmed, if I am honest, by the Minister today in her remarks?

• 24 Jul 2024 · International Immunities and Privileges · Hansard source

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  I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your victory. You will be brilliant and I look forward to serving under your chairmanship in the three or four years ahead. May I say how very much I support the statutory instrument? I do not support the Prime Minister’s lukewarm words at Farnborough. I think the concerns we have on the Conservative Benches are to do with the hares he set running not by what he said, but by what did not say. My advice to Ministers would be, “For goodness’ sake, up the rhetoric around this.” No Government in their right mind would cancel this project. This project is not only essential to our defence; it is the bridge to the unmanned future of defence that will come by mid-century. Kick away that bridge and we are left with very little: we undermine fundamentally the defence of these islands; we destroy the reputation of this country not just with the Japanese and the Italians, but with practically any partner in defence, present and future, that we can imagine, not least the Saudis; and it means that we will not be able to successfully translate our defence industrial base to the future, which we all appreciate is largely unmanned in each of the four domains that defence these days has to consider. Words mean what words say, except when they trip from the lips of politicians. Then, it is very often what is not said that influences the conversation, particularly in the media. My plea, in the very short time available to me, is for Ministers, senior Ministers and the Prime Minister to correct what was said this week and, in particular, to ramp up the rhetoric on our support for this fundamentally important programme that is vital to our defence and our defence base. I appreciate that the Prime Minister has a problem, in that he has failed to commit to 2.5% of GDP within a recognisable timeframe, which is no commitment at all, and he has launched a largely unnecessary defence review, which will be a distraction for at least 12 months. I am confident in the sound good sense of Lord Robertson and Richard Barrons. I cannot image that they will be party to the cancellation or delay of this programme.

• 18 Jul 2024 · Clean Energy Superpower Mission · Hansard source

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  What assessment has the new Secretary of State made of the proposal to build an interconnector between Morocco and the UK to bring clean solar and wind energy that could potentially provide 8% of the UK’s grid requirements?