Debate on the Address

Debate between Boris Johnson and Antoinette Sandbach

Monday 14th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Ind)]

On that point—

[The Prime Minister]

I am going to give way for positively the last time.

--- Later in debate ---

[Antoinette Sandbach]

I am very grateful, because I welcome the Prime Minister’s opportunity to revisit the Marxist-style expulsions from the Conservative party. While doing that, he can perhaps look at moving HS2 out of Eddisbury, where he could save £100 million on the route and invest it in energy-efficiency infrastructure projects.

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention. I must direct her back to the answer I gave a moment ago: we are looking very carefully at HS2, and she should wait until the review concludes.

We have a vision of a balanced, just and fair society, where we fight crime and demand justice for victims, where we educate in prison and demand rehabilitation, where we fund superb education and healthcare, not in spite of our belief in the free market—again, the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) flinches at the mention of the free market—but because we understand that a dynamic wealth-creating economy is essential to pay for those public goods. That is the vision for the society I believe in: a generous, tolerant, outward looking and humane society. That is the vision at the core of this Queen’s Speech, and I commend it to the House.

Prime Minister's Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Antoinette Sandbach

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman will, I think, agree that the surrender Act had a material—[Interruption.] The Benn-Burt—the Hilary Benn—surrender Act did indeed have a profound psychological impact on our friends and partners over the channel; and it has had an impact on the negotiations and it has made things more difficult. I think that, in all honesty, he would concede that.

On the detail of the negotiations at present, all I can say is that we have tabled proposals. As the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Nigel Dodds) confirmed, progress is being made. It is not assisted by publishing our proposals today.

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Ind)]

The Prime Minister is very keen to point out how to deliver commitments made during an election. He wrote to the One Nation group during his election to be party leader that he was not much attracted to Prorogation—something that he may reflect on now—and that he would seek to build consensus across the House. What undermines his negotiating position is that those watching from Europe cannot see how the Prime Minister is going to deliver a majority in this House for concessions that he will get. Can he update the House on the moves that he is taking to build consensus?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady. Actually, she asks an extremely important question, because I do think, in all intellectual honesty, that Opposition Members who voted for the Benn-Burt Act—who wanted to take no deal off the table and who voted for the surrender Act—should vote for the deal that we produce, and I would like to hear from them that they will. We will, I am very confident, make progress towards getting a deal, and I hope it will command their support.

Syria and North Korea

Debate between Boris Johnson and Antoinette Sandbach

Tuesday 18th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

The policy of the Government is spelt out very clearly in resolution 2254, which calls for a political process leading to a transition away from the Assad regime. I think my hon. Friend will agree that that is the right way forward.

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con)]

The Foreign Secretary confirmed that the regime had been responsible for three previous chemical attacks on civilians. Given that, can he confirm whether there is international support for targeted sanctions against military commanders, despite the way the negotiations went earlier?

[Boris Johnson]

I am grateful for that question because there was never a proposition for general sanctions against Russia, for instance. That was a piece of media ectoplasm, if you like, Mr Speaker. We have strong support for the idea of taking the evidence that the fact-finding mission will accumulate, using it to isolate the individuals who may have been responsible—by the way, there may be Russian military advisers who are complicit—and not only imposing sanctions on them, which I know my hon. Friend agrees would be the right thing to do, but arraigning them for war crimes.