Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Hayes and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 30th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend; he has campaigned very much on that issue. The Government of course have fulfilled their promise to introduce legislation on the matter, and, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has had productive meetings with representatives from victim and survivor groups. But the most powerful way to address this issue, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, will be if we can all work together to get the Stormont Executive back up and running to deal with the matter themselves.

[Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)]

There will never be, because there could never be, a more eloquent and articulate Speaker than you, Mr Speaker; we will miss your style and your remarkable, encyclopaedic grasp of detail—and I will miss the literary references by the way, Mr Speaker.

Marcel Proust said the only—[Interruption.]

[Sir John Hayes]

Marcel Proust said:

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”.

Hard-working British patriots who voted to leave the European Union with fresh eyes have in their sights the bourgeois liberal elite who are trying to steal Brexit from them. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, as he is broadcast on the wireless and elsewhere and actually meets people in real life too in the coming days and weeks, simply evangelise this plain and straightforward message: back Brexit, back Britain, back Boris?

[The Prime Minister]

There is only one way to take this country forward, and that is to get Brexit done. My right hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for people in his constituency and across the country, and if our Government are returned, as I hope we will be—and I will work very hard to ensure that we are—the people of this country will be seeing record investment in their NHS, they will be seeing improvements in their wages through the biggest expansion of the living wage in memory, and they will be seeing reductions in the cost of living, because it is one nation Conservative policies that can be relied on to take this country forward—and the Labour party would take us backwards.

Debate on the Address

Debate between John Hayes and Boris Johnson

Monday 14th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right on that, and I congratulate him on everything he is doing to advance the cause of Scottish fishing, in stark contrast to his opponents on the Scottish National party Benches. As I never tire of pointing out, their whole policy is to hand back control of Scottish fishing to Brussels.

Brexit will bring all sorts of commercial, economic and also humanitarian objectives. It is very relevant to the concerns of this country that we will be able, for the first time, to ban the exports of live animals, which have offended people in this country for so long. I wonder whether the right hon. Member for Islington North has even considered that. Those are among the things we can get done once we get Brexit done, but even before we get Brexit done, let us get on—

[Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)]

rose—

[The Prime Minister]

But I am going to give way, before I come to a juddering conclusion, to my right hon. Friend.

[Sir John Hayes]

I hesitate to intervene on the Prime Minister and spoil his splendid peroration, except to say this: Brexit gives the opportunity for us to revisit the issue of the common agricultural policy, which has disadvantaged our farmers and growers for years. Does he agree that we need to make more of our food in this country and so we need to back our farmers?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend has spoken with his customary wisdom and he is entirely right: that is one of the opportunities Brexit gives us. But even before we have achieved it and even before we have got Brexit done, let us get on with the measures announced in this Queen’s Speech. Let us get on with our vision for a Britain where fairness and balance are at the heart of what we do, a Britain where we fight crime and demand justice for the victims, but where we also insist—I agree with the right hon. Member for Islington North on this point—on rehabilitation of offenders and education in prison.

Brexit Negotiations

Debate between John Hayes and Boris Johnson

Thursday 3rd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman is making a very valid point, but the mechanism of consent is clearly vital and we are in the midst of discussions with our friends about exactly how it should work. I will not hide it from the House that he is making a legitimate point, but we will, I am sure, solve this question during the discussions about consent.

[Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)]

The test of reasonableness is well understood by legislators, and compromise is intrinsic to all negotiations, as the Prime Minister has said already. But what the British people are most frustrated about is what they perceive as displacement, dither and delay, so will the Prime Minister be clear in his decisive determination to continue to personify the spirit of getting on, getting out and getting ahead?

[The Prime Minister]

That is exactly what we intend to do. The purpose of this deal and these proposals is to get Brexit done and for us all to move on as a country and move on together. I believe that they represent a very good way forward for the UK. They will enable us to do free trade deals and to regulate our own laws and our own system. Above all, they will enable the UK to leave the EU, as the people of this country were promised, whole and entire, and to protect our precious Union with Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister's Update

Debate between John Hayes and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

If I may say so, I think that the involuntary commentary on the Benches of this House was directed more at the Leader of the Opposition than at anything I had to say. My strong view is that the opinion of the Supreme Court has, of course, to be respected and fulfilled. That is why I am pleased to say that we are all here today to listen to the hon. Lady.

[Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)]

In 1801 Horatio Nelson, perhaps our nation’s greatest hero, chose not to see advice to retreat. In that spirit, will the Prime Minister turn a blind eye to the antics of the liberal establishment, and turn a deaf ear to the shrill bleats of those who seek to foil Brexit and frustrate the will of the people? For he must know that the loud and clear cry of the working people of this country is as straightforward as this: “Back Brexit and back Boris.”

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend. I will not only try to imitate Horatio Nelson; I will lash myself to the mast, figuratively speaking, like Odysseus and stop my ears to the siren cries of those opposite who would try to frustrate the will of the people and block Brexit. That is what they want to do, but we are not going to let them do it.