European Council

Debate between Kelly Tolhurst and Theresa May

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What I said in the statement was this: “there can never be a place for the threats of violence and intimidation against some Members that we have seen in recent days. Our politics must be better than that.” I stand by that. All political parties in this House must be aware of the need to ensure that our politics is conducted in the right way and there is no place for threats and intimidation.

[Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on the way that she has worked with the EU over the past few weeks and how she has moved things on to the next stage. Does she agree that during any implementation period, it is important and right that we do indeed negotiate trade deals with other parts of the world to make the most of these new opportunities, to benefit British business, our economy and, most importantly, the British people?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Of course, the work on negotiating those trade deals—on looking to see what is possible—has already been started within the Department for International Trade by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Ministers there. Only earlier last week, I was discussing with the President of Mexico that country’s desire to have a trade deal negotiated with us. It is one of the first countries to say that it wanted that. The point of the trade deals is exactly as my hon. Friend says: it is about bringing jobs, bringing prosperity and improving people’s lives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kelly Tolhurst and Theresa May

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)]

Q6. Given that revised housing proposals would force unprecedented numbers of homes, equivalent to the size of a new town, to be built on what is left of Medway’s green belt, will the Prime Minister assure me and my constituents that the necessary large-scale investment will be made to boost the public service infrastructure, which will have to cope with up to 100,000 more people?

[The Prime Minister]

That is an important point for people not just in my hon. Friend’s constituency but elsewhere. We do want more homes to be built, because I want young people to have the prospect of the future that their parents and grandparents were able to have through owning their own homes. We will go further in building more homes, but she is absolutely right that, as we do that, we need to make sure that the infrastructure is in place. We are putting in billions of pounds from central Government for economic infrastructure in every year up to 2021. That includes transport projects and fibre broadband connections. We recognise the importance of making sure that homes are supported by the right infrastructure.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kelly Tolhurst and Theresa May

Wednesday 13th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right. She has raised that case before, and I understand that the Immigration Minister was in touch with her. I can confirm that, following a comprehensive and rigorous review, Ms Ilesamni has now been granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom, as the hon. Lady set out.

I want to say something about the issue of female genital mutilation, which the hon. Lady raised. She talked about her concern about the threat that Lola’s daughter might be facing. FGM is an absolutely abhorrent crime. The Government have done a lot to deal with it, but we cannot tolerate that practice. Our work to tackle FGM is an integral part of our strategy on violence against women and girls, which we published in March last year. We all accept that we need to do more to ensure that young girls are not subject to this horrific abuse.

[Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Labour party’s cynical attempt to block the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill on Monday shows that it is still interested only in playing party politics, rather than delivering the best deal for our future, which is what my constituents and the majority of this country want to see?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Most people in this country want to see the Government doing what we are doing, which is getting on with the job of delivering the best deal for Britain from Brexit. There was a certain amount of noise from the Opposition when I said earlier that the Leader of the Opposition let workers down by failing to protect their rights on Monday, but that is exactly one of the issues in the Bill. It is about bringing workers’ rights that are contained in EU legislation into the UK, and he voted against it.