Graham Stuart MP: speeches

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Speeches

25 Nov 2024 · Speaker’s Statement · Hansard source
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Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. When I was elected for Beverley and Holderness in 2005, John Prescott, the MP for neighbouring Kingston upon Hull East, was of course already a legend. He was the word-mangling, fast-fisted former bar steward who had, for the last eight years, been Deputy Prime Minister of this United Kingdom. Hearing the tributes from across the House and all the ways in which that one man was able to influence history and make a difference is, I hope, an inspiration to aspirant working-class politicians all over the country, but also to people in this House. I knew John from a few years before I entered Parliament. He came to Cambridge for a transport summit, so I organised a demonstration against it and stood outside all day. The day went on and he did not come out. When eventually he did come out, I was just about the only demonstrator left. I immediately berated him and his entourage, and we had a surreal dance around the car park, before he went up to a Jaguar and tried to get in: it was not his. I think it took him quite some time to forgive me for that. I regularly saw John—as did colleagues from Hull, such as the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham (Dame Diana Johnson), who is sitting on the Government Front Bench—on Hull trains, and he was normally surrounded by papers at a four-place table that he was trying to keep entirely to himself. Although he was gruff, he was also engaging. He would often come to Beverley, when Pauline would go shopping and he would go to the Royal Standard pub, the finest establishment in Beverley, where he was always very welcome, and people to this day hold him in the highest regard. As has been remarked, he led our delegation to the COP at Kyoto in 1997, and was widely regarded as the key element in delivering its historic outcome, the first time an international agreement was made to recognise and cut climate emissions. The former US Vice-President Al Gore said that he had “never worked with anyone in politics…quite like John Prescott.” John continued to take climate issues seriously, and we would have passionate and rather loud conversations on the train as we went to and fro from east Yorkshire. When I led our delegation to last year’s COP, the first to commit to phasing out fossil fuels, I knew my team and I were following in the footsteps of someone who may have come from a humble background but went on to change the world.
25 Nov 2024 · Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman is quite right to highlight the impact on small schools, which often have pretty low fees, so is he going to vote against the Bill tonight? The spirit of this legislation is to hit everything in the private sector, as if every institution was Eton, when he knows and we know that they are anything but.
25 Nov 2024 · Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman is giving a thoughtful and impassioned speech. Notwithstanding his support for the Government’s policy, I wonder whether he regrets the fact that it is being introduced midway through the year, so that children, including those with special educational needs, will find themselves struggling to get involved with the curriculum and to fulfil the examinations for which they have put in a lot of effort and preparation.
25 Nov 2024 · Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill · Hansard source
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I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman listened to the speech of the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain). Many private schools actually charge less than the funding that goes to state schools. Every school is not Eton. What does the hon. Gentleman have to say about the most vulnerable schools and the children therein? Should the proper design of any policy not be grounded in looking at the most vulnerable rather than the strongest?
21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source
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John Prescott was a remarkable climate diplomat, and a funny, moving, and strangely mesmerising speaker, but he was also aware that while ambitious climate targets are necessary, climate action is essential. On that point, I understand that the hydrogen allocation round 1 agreements are ready to go. Can the Prime Minister commit to getting those agreements issued to companies, so that we can get the hydrogen economy going before Christmas, together with the jobs that go with it?
20 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q12. The whole House recognises the authenticity of the right hon. Lady’s back story—her pride in being a carer, and indeed in her recent elevation. In contrast, the chief constable of Northamptonshire was sacked in June for misrepresenting his CV, and just last month a nurse, Tanya Nasir, was imprisoned for five years for doing the same. Does the right hon. Lady agree that such serious consequences are right and just in such cases?
20 Nov 2024 · Draft Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment of Schedule A2) Order 2024 · Hansard source
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You are bringing it forward—that’s what we are doing here!
18 Nov 2024 · Children’s Social Care · Hansard source
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Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. [ Interruption. ] I did not mean to knock you down a peg, Mr Speaker; that would be very unwise. I regret the Secretary of State’s tone in response to the shadow Secretary of State, and I hope that, over time, she learns not to adopt that tone on issues such as this. The shadow Secretary of State noted that there is a capacity crisis, and the Secretary of State has said that we need greater early intervention now. Is the Secretary of State confident that she has the resources to support local authorities and others in tackling this twin challenge? Both parts need to be tackled at the same time, which is a truly serious undertaking.
18 Nov 2024 · Strategic Defence Review · Hansard source
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Further to the question raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), I welcome the £2.9 billion of extra defence expenditure from next year. However, not only do we not have a timetable for meeting 2.5% of GDP, which the whole House would like to hear about; will the Secretary of State confirm that there will be no additional funding for the in-year pressures that this Department, alongside so many others, is suffering from?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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What about on the Front Bench?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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The hon. Lady makes absolutely the right point about the NHS and its interdependence with social care, but the Government have done more than be silent on social care: through the minimum wage and the NICs, they have imposed £2.5 billion of additional costs on social care while giving just £600 million to local authorities. They are taking an already difficult situation and making it rather worse.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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Not when an intervention is happening. Every Labour Government in history have ended with higher unemployment than when they began. From the look of these measures, does it not seem that this one will be exactly the same?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to take part in the debate. We have heard fantastic maiden speeches from across the House, and I am sure that we have all enjoyed the insights from them. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Dan Tomlinson). I loved the way he set out his aspiration for the kind of country of abundance that we should seek. He is entirely right, but I am just not sure that this Budget is the way to get there. If the penny drops with him over time, I hope that he will be able to engage with us in coming up with a more constructive way of delivering the growth that this country needs. Not only is this a Budget of broken promises, but unfortunately—and this is an important issue—it is a bad faith Budget. I do not want to rehearse—although there is so much to rehearse—the 50 promises not to raise taxes or the bogus £22 billion that was not validated by the OBR, but those are serious points. It is good to see the engagement from Labour Members, because in politics one cannot afford to have a reputation for being dishonest and not doing what one says. [ Interruption. ] Labour Members who laugh at that should remember Cicero’s advice. He was always better at giving advice than following it, but he said: “The foundation of justice is…good faith; that is, truth and fidelity to promises and agreements.” Without that, we lose trust.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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Yes. And with respect to the hon. Gentleman’s point, I think that the former Prime Minister and Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip was true to himself, true to his heart and true in his expressions—although, like all of us, he probably had his moments. What he never did was set out on a deliberate path to mislead people. He set out his honest view of the way the world should be. Unfortunately, 9.7 million people, including 15,000 of my constituents, believed the promises of the now Labour Government, and even 410 Members of Parliament thought that they were being honest.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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No, it is relevant here. I wonder whether it is in order for the hon. Gentleman to have been given assurances by the Government that funding will be put in place to mitigate the impact on GPs, because that information has repeatedly been refused to this House. I know, Madam Deputy Speaker that you represent all Back Benchers, like me, in making sure the truth is out.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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I know that my hon. Friend follows these things closely. According to the OBR, the £26 billion jobs tax bombshell actually nets only £16 billion because of reduced investment and other funds, and three quarters of the £26 billion falls on workers’ wages. Only this socialist Government could be so incompetent as to reduce wages by more than they will take from a tax that they have introduced. I have not heard that observation yet in the debate, but I share it with my hon. Friend.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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The right hon. Gentleman will, I hope, be aware that the long-term economic growth of this country relies not primarily on public investment or indeed public infrastructure, but on a healthy private sector—the wealth creators from whom we can take the funding to deliver into those goods that he talks about and that are part of a balanced and successful society. This Budget does not help them. It does the opposite.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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It is.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said that honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the way that this Government are serially breaking all the promises they made during the election is corrosive for our politics?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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No doubt?
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. It is good to see the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in his place. I hope he will take on board these arguments, and perhaps the overall settlement can be reworked to minimise the negative impacts that my hon. Friend outlines.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. [Interruption.] Government Members do not like to hear this.
6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?

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