Outcome of the EU Referendum

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Mark Menzies

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am moving on that as fast as I can. Obviously, the process of getting the commissioner appointed includes hearings of the European Parliament and all the rest of it, but as a full-paying, full member, I think that we are entitled to have a commissioner.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

May I put on record my sincere thanks to the Prime Minister for the support that he has given to BAE Systems and its 6,500 men and women, many of whom are apprentices and graduates, who work at its facility in my constituency? Such is the level of his dedication that he has visited that plant more often than all of his predecessors combined. May I ask him for his reassurance that the Government will continue to do everything they can to secure the futures of the people who work on the Typhoon Eurofighter and on pan-European projects?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his remarks. I will continue to do everything I can to support BAE Systems. I enjoyed watching Typhoons fly over Cleethorpes on Armed Forces Day on Saturday. I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure that we secure orders abroad.

Panama Papers

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Mark Menzies

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am glad to see the hon. Gentleman back in his familiar place. It is fair to say that the guest list for the anti-corruption summit is still being worked on. The point is that we will ask people not on the basis that they run perfect countries or perfect Governments but on the basis of whether they will commit to public declarations on things like open beneficial ownership registration, sharing tax information, and making sure that when assets are looted we can confiscate them and restore them to the people they belong to. If countries want to sign up to that, we will be encouraging them to come and do just that, however imperfect their record may have been in the past.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

My mother spent 32 years working in an ICI factory. She is 81 and, like the Prime Minister’s mother, she has lost her husband and wants to hand some of that money down to the next generation. Some remarks from over the past few days must have been deeply hurtful to the Prime Minister, and I urge him to tell the House what message we want to send to millions of people in our constituencies who want to do the right thing by the next generation.

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s remarks, and I am sure that my mother will be too. She said that like me, she is developing a thicker skin with every week that goes past. He is right to say that many people want to pass down wealth, assets and help their children in all the ways they can. That is not something we should be ashamed of; it is something that we should actively encourage, because it can help to build the strong society that we want in our country.

National Security and Defence

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Mark Menzies

Monday 23rd November 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The exit strategy is a Government in Syria who represent all its people. I would just make the point that when I first became Prime Minister we were nine years into an Afghanistan deployment, and I delivered that exit strategy by setting a time and a date by which our combat troops should leave that country and by which we should be training up the Afghans to take over. So yes, there must always be an exit strategy, and there will be a very clear one for this.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

May I take this opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister’s statement? I had the privilege of visiting the two aircraft carriers, including the Queen Elizabeth, in Rosyth last week, and I welcome today’s announcement on them. Will he give me, as the Member of Parliament representing Warton, an assurance that the future of unmanned aerial combat vehicles will involve more than simply buying them off the shelf?

[The Prime Minister]

I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. We have set out a separate budget item for working with the French and the Americans on unmanned combat vehicles for the future. As I have said, we cannot know exactly what form they will take, but the commitment, the money and the research are all there. I want Britain to stay at the cutting edge of these technologies. That is why we invested in Typhoon and that is why it is important to have this programme too.