Salisbury Incident

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 12th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what he has said. I assure him that, as I have said to others, we will consider a range of activities—a range of responses—and I will update the House further at the earliest opportunity. Let me also confirm that we will continue to defend the democratic values that underpin us as a country, but wish to do so alongside our allies. It was remarked earlier that the international rules-based order is under threat from Russia. I have to say that it is also under threat from others, and it is important that we stand up and robustly defend it.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Three people are gravely ill in hospital following this horrific chain of events. I welcome the Prime Minister’s resolve that business cannot go on as usual. Will she take this opportunity to tighten up the loopholes in the system in respect of money laundering, so that the “From Russia With Cash” situation that has occurred all too often does not turn into “From Russia With Blood”?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady will know, the Government recently took extra powers to enable us to deal with criminal finances through the Criminal Finances Act 2017, and I think it important that we did that. We are well aware that the very attractiveness of normal financial activity here in London can mean that there are those who see an opportunity for illicit flows of money, and we will take every possible action against them.

UK/EU Future Economic Partnership

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The aim is to ensure that when we leave the European Union, we have a result that is good for the whole United Kingdom—not just Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the whole of England, including the north. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that voters in the north of England voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU. This Parliament gave them that vote; it gave the people of the United Kingdom that vote, and it is right that we as politicians deliver on that, rather than talking, as the Liberal Democrats do, about a second referendum. The Labour party, too, will not rule out a second referendum. It should be listening to the people and giving them what they voted for.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

First chlorinated chicken, then hormone-pumped beef, and now a trade war. Are those really a price worth paying to keep holding hands with Trump? We should be holding him to account.

[The Prime Minister]

We are discussing with the United States of America a potential trade deal, and we will also be doing that with other countries around the world, such as Australia, because we are ensuring that we are developing the economy of the future for this country; that will bring jobs and prosperity to this country in years to come.

Carillion and Public Sector Outsourcing

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Wednesday 24th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Jon Trickett]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful and unanswerable point.

We want a categorical assurance that the jobs of the subcontractors and employees are protected and that the services will be sustained. Is it not clear that the Government played roulette with people’s livelihoods in the most reckless manner? The truth is that the Government have been so wedded to the dogmatic idea that the private is always good and the public is always bad that they never questioned the existing orthodoxy, even when the evidence was right in front of their nose.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Jon Trickett]

I will give way, but I want to make some progress.

[Dr Huq]

I echo the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell): it is a pleasure to see you back in your place, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wonder whether my hon. Friend the Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) shared my horror today at pages 4 and 5 of the Daily Mirror, which report:

“‘Greed and lunacy’ as Carillion paid shareholders £500m while pension…hole spiralled out of control.”

Surely any company of this magnitude should meet its statutory obligations before paying out dividends to shareholders.

[Jon Trickett]

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. In the 16 years up to 2016, the dividends paid to shareholders increased every single year, while the pension pot and the conditions of work and the pay that the workers received was diminishing. By the way, Mr Deputy Speaker, I met a subcontractor of Carillion the other day, who told me that the company had a policy of not paying anybody in December, because on 1 January the bank wanted to look and see how much liquidity was left. Is that not shocking?

Maybe the Government’s devotion to outsourcing is the real reason why they have failed so monumentally in relation to Carillion. They had a blind assumption—and still have—that contracting out works efficiently, and that the market always knows best, which we know is not the case. If they do not learn from the repeated failures of outsourcing, there will be another Carillion around the corner, and then another and another. One needs only to look at companies such as Interserve and Mitie, which deliver public services, to see how fragile some of these Government contractors are.

European Council

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He puts it succinctly and very well indeed. We want to maintain good trade access, but we also want to be able to take back control of our borders and laws, and that is what we will do.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on the applause she got at the EU dinner—something that even George Osborne would never have predicted. But would not the assurance on the rights of EU nationals have been more useful 18 months ago? As we now hear that a compromise is being cooked up to stave off yet another rebellion, were humble pie and fudge on the menu?

Brexit Negotiations

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I absolutely agree. We have shown that we can achieve what we want to achieve for the United Kingdom. That bodes well for the next phase of the negotiations. I am optimistic about that next phase and I hope others will be, too.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

In the light of the nearly £40 billion that we will now be spending to leave the EU, when does the Prime Minister anticipate our regaining our triple A credit rating?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, the credit ratings are determined by external bodies, but one thing is certain: if the hon. Lady wants to ensure that we have good credit ratings in the future, we do not want a Labour Government and a run on the pound.

European Council

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. That was why I set out in my Florence speech what our future trade relationship could be like. That has elicited a response from the EU27, and they are now preparing for negotiations on that relationship.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

May I just say what fine fettle the Prime Minister appears to be in, given the German media reports at the weekend suggesting that she was the opposite? Something must have been lost in translation. Anyway, does she share the concern of my constituents who work in the City of London at the declaration of the CEO of Goldman Sachs that he will be spending a lot more time in Frankfurt after all this? Similar musings have come out of J. P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley. What is the Prime Minister doing to stem the brain drain and corporate exodus that faces our great capital?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we want to ensure that the City of London retains its place as the world’s leading financial centre. That has been reconfirmed recently. I say to those who think that the City of London will be damaged by our leaving the European Union that the very reasons why the City is so important in an international financial sense are the very reasons why it is important for the City to retain that financial services provision for the rest of the EU as well.

UK Plans for Leaving the EU

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

The writing is not on the wall for this Government as some say: it is just slowly sliding off. Why did the Prime Minister choose to deliver her statement from Florence when Ealing town hall would have had her? What was the cost of flying the entire Cabinet there in pounds or euros or in terms of the carbon footprint—any will do?

[The Prime Minister]

I am asked why I gave a speech about our future relationship with Europe on mainland Europe. I do not need to give any answer to that.