Richard Tice MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 19 Dec 2024 · MV Ruby: Safety · Hansard source

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  If there was no potential contamination and if all the processes were fully followed, as the Minister is indicating, then presumably the Government will have no problem ensuring that all that documentation is made available and public, in a transparent and open way, so that we can have no doubts about that, and any lessons that need to be learned, will be learned.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Deputy leader.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker—as the deputy leader of Reform UK. Along with, I think, millions of other British citizens, I was shocked to read the exposé in The Times that Britain has become the “western capital” for the use of sharia courts. May we have a debate on this issue in the new year? In my view, the use of sharia courts to make unofficial rulings about marriages, divorces and family life has no place in the United Kingdom.

• 19 Dec 2024 · River Dredging · Hansard source

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  9. What steps his Department is taking to improve the dredging of rivers.

• 19 Dec 2024 · River Dredging · Hansard source

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  I wish a merry Christmas to one and all. My constituents in Boston and Skegness are very concerned that the Environment Agency is unable to properly maintain riverbanks and properly dredge rivers in order to protect homes and livelihoods because of the very demanding requirements of Natural England regarding the protection of badgers and water voles, which means that the priorities are wrong. Will the Minister meet me and senior people at the Environment Agency to ensure that we get these priorities correct?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Immigration and Nationality Statistics · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I congratulate the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) on securing this debate. It seems to me that there is a dearth of information, or a sort of conspiracy of silence. It seems quite simple; we have been told for decades that immigration is great for this nation, and therefore it seems quite obvious that we should say, “Fine, prove it.” Why do we not suggest proving it nation by nation, so that we know who is genuinely contributing and adding value, or who is maybe costing us money? We can then work out how we improve growth and ensure that smart immigration works for this country. A Government who believe in transparency and high-quality data, which we have heard to be the case on numerous occasions, should welcome the opportunity and the suggestion that we need to know, nation by nation, who is coming here, how much they are contributing, and how much they are costing. In the unfortunate example where they commit crimes, we need to know—nation by nation—who is costing us by way of criminals and why they are not immediately removed. With that quality of data, we can make judgments and decisions about smart immigration to the benefit of all, and to the confidence of all our constituents.

• 12 Dec 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  There is a Dunkelflaute across the UK and the whole of Europe, meaning there is no wind and therefore reduced power generation. That highlights the importance of alternative energy sources, such as nuclear. Will the Leader of the House ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero to update the House on the expansion programme for small modular reactors, to ensure we have alterative power sources?

• 12 Dec 2024 · Building Homes · Hansard source

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  As a former house builder, I know some of the challenges about viability. I welcome the Minister and the Government’s focus on affordable housing targets and viability assessments, but there is a basic mathematical calculation about affordable housing: 20% of something is better and more than 50% of nothing.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Syria · Hansard source

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  We welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement on this fast-evolving situation. He has referred to the opportunities and risks for the many displaced Syrians who are looking to return to Syria. Will the Government be providing assistance to those Syrians in this country who wish to return to their homeland? Will the Government look to follow the example of European nations such as Germany, which has suspended asylum applications?

• 6 Dec 2024 · European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill · Hansard source

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  It may be helpful to remind the Minister that the EU’s own expert, Mr Lars Karlsson, said in his “Smart Border 2.0” report that with technology and good will, all these issues could be overcome. However, the politics of Mr Varadkar and the EU overrode that.

• 6 Dec 2024 · European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill · Hansard source

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  To continue the analogy, the Stormont brake has been described to me as rusty and not attached to anything.

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

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  My constituents in Boston and Skegness and people across the whole of Lincolnshire are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding British Steel. There were reports this week that it might be on the verge of collapse. Will the Leader of the House ensure that there is a ministerial statement to update us on the position, with a guarantee that British Steel will not be allowed to close?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  The Minister talks about data. Given the massive discrepancy involved, and the impact of this policy, if the data shows in 12 months and 24 months that the Government have got this catastrophically wrong, will they revisit the policy and do a U-turn?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Future of Farming · Hansard source

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  It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. Many hundreds of family farmers in the constituency of Boston and Skegness are appalled at the family farm tax. Just last week, Richard and his son Jake came to see me. Their farm has been in the family for 120 years. They went through the cost increases recently: the fertiliser tax, the reduction in basic payment scheme payments, the carbon tax, and now the increase in national insurance. They say they will not be able to afford to pay the farm tax even with the 10-year payment timeframe, and will therefore have to sell upon death. This tax will bring the exact opposite of what the Government want—what we all want—which is growth. One farmer told me that he has cancelled a £1 million expansion to his strawberry farm. Another said that he has cancelled an order for a £300,000 piece of equipment. This tax will do the exact opposite of what the Government want. There is a very simple solution: to increase the threshold on which it is payable and increase the qualifying period threshold at which people benefit from the tax relief. With that, the Government can achieve their aims and avoid the abuse, and family farmers can continue to invest.

• 3 Dec 2024 · National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Gentleman seriously consider a GP surgery in my constituency with seven doctors and six members of staff to be one of the largest businesses, even though it is suffering from tens of thousands of pounds in extra costs and will have to lay people off, which will reduce capacity?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Migration and Border Security · Hansard source

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  The Home Secretary has quite rightly lambasted the absolute failures of the last Government on mass immigration, but could she comment on whether people in the Home Office will be held accountable for allowing systems and controls to crumble in the last five years, and on whether people in the Office for National Statistics will be held accountable for getting their numbers wrong by almost a quarter of a million people in just one year?

• 29 Nov 2024 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent case for the Bill to be passed today. What he is actually saying is that there are specifics that require debate, analysis and discussion in great detail in Committee—that is the whole point of it. If it is not dealt with properly in Committee, it will not pass Third Reading. He is suggesting that because he does not like those specifics, we cannot discuss the Bill in any detail.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Stellantis Luton · Hansard source

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  Let us be honest: these job losses are a direct result of net zero and the previous Government’s electric vehicle targets. Is the Secretary of State aware that car manufacturers across Europe are losing fortunes on EV production? They are trying to delay targets, and what we are witnessing is just the beginning of the slow, agonising, painful and tragic destruction of hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the UK automotive industry.

• 21 Nov 2024 · Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) on securing this vital debate. I declare an interest, which I have raised with the Speaker’s Office and parliamentary authorities, as I am currently the defendant in a lawsuit. I will refer not to that but to general concepts. We pride ourselves in this country on free speech—the quality of our campaigners, our journalism, our broadcasters and our investigators—so how ironic, embarrassing and frankly humiliating that we should be the global epicentre of SLAPPs designed to prevent exactly that. As the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) said, there is a crisis in free speech now in this country, and a crisis of fear among journalists, authors, writers and broadcasters about what they can and cannot say. How have we got to this situation? Surely, if we are a beacon of free speech around the world, with the greatest Parliament and the greatest legal system, we should be able to preserve and protect free speech. We have heard lots of shocking examples and evidence, but there are examples elsewhere in the world—states in America, for example—where anti-SLAPP mechanisms have been introduced. As a new Member of this place, I was surprised to hear how long we have been talking about this—years and years. This Government have been elected on a mandate of change, so now seems to be the moment for them to grasp that mandate in this vital issue and say, “Yes. It’s now time to stop talking about this and do something about it with concerted action.” I just hope that the Minister and the Government will find time in this Session to bring forward anti-SLAPP mechanisms in legislation to preserve what we cherish so dearly: free speech.

• 21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source

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  I was struck that the Prime Minister’s statement contained not a single reference in to our most important security and trading partner, the United States, particularly at this time of change, with the good news of the election of President Trump. While the Prime Minister was at the COP summit, he may have missed the fact that growth is falling in this country, debt is rising, and the motor industry is panicking as jobs are being destroyed. Just yesterday, Nissan announced further job cuts, as has Ford, because of electric vehicle targets, which are causing irreversible damage to our motor industry.

• 20 Nov 2024 · Defence Programmes Developments · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State rightly says that the MOD needs reform. One of the major failures has been the procurement of equipment, which has led to the wasting of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of pounds of taxpayers’ cash. Will he commit to also reform the recruitment of new personnel into the armed forces? Nobody has a good word to say about the outsourcing contract to Capita. Bring it in-house. Will he commit to that?

• 20 Nov 2024 · Asylum Seekers: Hotel Accommodation · Hansard source

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  In Boston and Skegness, we want the use of hotels by asylum seekers to stop, as is the case across the country. Under the previous Labour Government 20 years ago, processes and applications were dealt with within three to four weeks, including appeals, and only about 20% of applications were granted asylum. When will the Minister and the Home Office get back to the sensible workmanlike processes that worked 20 year ago?

• 20 Nov 2024 · Police Reform · Hansard source

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  My residents in Boston and Skegness want the police on the streets, preventing antisocial behaviour and crime. They do not want our valuable police resources wasted on monitoring tweets for non-crime hate incidents, threatening and bullying residents, and then that record remaining on a database, which can prevent people from getting a job in the future. It is a complete waste of time. Will the Minister and the Home Office scrap those guidelines as an unnecessary use of valuable time and resources?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Chagos Islands · Hansard source

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  If the incoming President Trump Administration confirm that they are against this dreadful deal, will the Government stop negotiations and apologise to this House, or will they try to force it upon our most important international strategic partner?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Lady has obviously had lots of letters and emails. Has she had a single one from any farmer who thinks this is a good idea? I have not had any from my constituency of Boston and Skegness.