Desmond Swayne MP: speeches

Speeches

• 3 Jul 2025 · Project Spire · Hansard source

  More

  A number of Members this morning have lobbied for expenditure to repair their churches, and the hon. Lady has told them to lobby the Government—the Department for Culture, Media and Sport—for that money. At the same time, the Church has already spent £5 million on this project, with the aspiration of taking it to £1 billion, when the Charity Commission has yet to deliver its verdict on whether that is within the charitable objectives allowable. How has that been allowed to happen?

• 3 Jul 2025 · Project Spire · Hansard source

  More

  6. What statutory powers the Church plans to use to facilitate Project Spire.

• 3 Jul 2025 · Charities: National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

  More

  8. What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to employer national insurance contributions on charities.

• 3 Jul 2025 · Charities: National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

  More

  The National Council for Voluntary Organisations puts the cost at £1.4 billion. That is right, isn’t it?

• 2 Jul 2025 · Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill · Hansard source

  More

  We have had Borstals and approved schools, neither of which were particularly successful at reforming those who were in custody in them. Is the Minister confident that this new architecture, this new arrangement, will be more successful?

• 30 Jun 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

  More

  To describe it as fair and equal to treat people with identical conditions differently purely on the basis of whether they are an existing recipient of benefits is Orwellian newspeak on stilts, isn’t it?

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

  More

  Was there any discussion about the killing zones that currently constitute the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

  More

  Order. I suggest that Members limit themselves to five minutes.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Flags: Public Buildings · Hansard source

  More

  I call the Minister, in the time that remains to you.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Flags: Public Buildings · Hansard source

  More

  I remind hon. Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge and the Minister. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

• 24 Jun 2025 · China Audit · Hansard source

  More

  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?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

  More

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

• 23 Jun 2025 · Child Poverty · Hansard source

  More

  At the lobby last week by the food banks, a number of people expressed the wish to have greater facilities to educate their clients with respect to shopping and preparing meals more effectively. They make a fair point, don’t they?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

  More

  There is a difference of principle on the question of human rights, because there are two lives involved in these decisions. That is the fundamental problem.

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wonder if you can assist me as I am at a loss as to what amendment we are discussing.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

  More

  Sanctions are no remedy when it comes to the imperilled two-state solution. Is the Minister going to the conference with a plan?

• 4 Jun 2025 · School Standards · Hansard source

  More

  5. What discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on school standards.

• 4 Jun 2025 · School Standards · Hansard source

  More

  What has caused the system, which was once the benchmark for all others, to become such a disappointment?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

  More

  Studied ambiguity of what and when has had no impact on Israeli policy. We want to know, and Israel needs to know, precisely what the Government mean by “further steps”.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T5. Lord Hermer says that we are not even trying to reform the convention. Why not?

• 2 Jun 2025 · UK Nuclear Deterrent · Hansard source

  More

  In pursuit of deterrence, will the Minister recommit to first use when either the strategic or tactical situation demands it?

• 22 May 2025 · Independent Sentencing Review · Hansard source

  More

  Respect for justice is diminished by the fiction of the judge announcing a sentence and those in the know then calculating on the back of a fag packet the fraction that it actually represents. Has this statement not reinforced that system with bells on?

• 21 May 2025 · Business and the Economy · Hansard source

  More

  May I tell my hon. Friend why I think the hon. Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) is wrong? Since the very inception of our negotiations to join what was then the common market—now the European Union—it has attached huge importance to fishing. We have just handed over the enormous leverage of an annual negotiation, and for what? Absolutely nothing.

• 21 May 2025 · Interim Custody Orders: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  Will the Secretary of State withhold the remedial order until he is certain that he can deliver the Prime Minister’s pledge to prevent Gerry Adams from receiving compensation?

• 21 May 2025 · Interim Custody Orders: Compensation · Hansard source

  More

  1. If he will take steps to ensure that compensation is not paid to people detained using interim custody orders during the troubles in Northern Ireland.