Sue Gray Report

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What we are already doing is sharpening up the management of No.10, making it easier for staff to complain and to voice their anxieties. We have to get on with the business of government; I know that the hon. Lady wants to persist with this subject, but I want those officials to focus on the priorities of the people.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

It is rumoured that the Chancellor will shortly—finally—be announcing some further help for our constituents who are struggling with the cost of living crisis, but we know how things work in this Government with their enormous team of spin doctors. Have the Prime Minister’s Government deliberately held back the details of that desperately needed help in order to provide some cover for the damning impact of this report?

[The Prime Minister]

No, Mr Speaker.

Easter Recess: Government Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

We have rightly heard from Conservative Members about the barbaric nature of Putin’s aggressive attitude to Ukraine, but nothing about the Prime Minister’s party returning the donations it has received from friends of Putin; when can we hear about that?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much, and all donations are registered in the normal way.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right to draw attention to those who are living with conditions that make them particularly vulnerable. That is why it is so important that, among all the other things the Government have done, we have invested more in antivirals per head than any other country in Europe.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Reports are circulating that the Government plan to lift all restrictions by early March because No. 10 thinks that we must all just learn to live with the virus. However, 438 people across the UK yesterday failed to live with the virus. How does this Prime Minister persuade their loved ones that the wholesale lifting of restrictions is not premature and misguided?

[The Prime Minister]

I must just repeat that that is not what I said in my statement, but I do think this is the right, balanced and proportionate approach. I notice that measures are also being lifted in Scotland, and I think that that is appropriate.

COP26

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I passionately agree: I know that UK farming is getting cleaner and greener all the time. I pay tribute to the UK farming industry, which leads the world in setting standards.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Commitments are one thing; actions are another. For the UK to deliver on its promises and commitments in the COP26 agreement, a transition to renewable energy must occur, and must be supported by the Government. Will the Prime Minister commit himself to at least matching the Scottish Government’s £500 million just transition fund to drive the move to renewable energy and meet the UK’s emissions reduction obligations, while also ensuring that workers are not left behind?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right to say that a just transition is vital, but that is why we are investing £12.6 billion around the world and £26 billion in this country, to help the transition to a clean, green economy, while creating 440,000 new, high-quality jobs.

G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for an exceedingly thoughtful question. He is absolutely right in the logic of what he says. We must help the developing world to leapfrog. All sorts of technologies are very attractive, including the one that he suggests. The opportunity there is to generate fantastic British jobs as well.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Open Democracy recently reported the Prime Minister’s former colleague in the EU Vote Leave campaign, Nigel Farage, as saying that a referendum on green taxes

“could well be my latest campaign”.

We are hearing increasingly loud objections from the so-called net zero scrutiny group from among his ranks of MPs. The Institute of Economic Affairs said recently that it would

“continue to challenge the ropey economics”

of net zero. What will the Prime Minister do to challenge those siren voices from among his supporters?

[The Prime Minister]

I study the people’s feelings about this. What so changed in this COP from Paris, which I attended, or from Copenhagen, which I was also at, is that this time, it is from the public. I have great respect for colleagues around the House who say that this is all going too far, too fast and that people cannot afford it. Actually, I do not think that we can afford not to do it. I also think that it is economically a massive opportunity for this country and that that is where people increasingly are. Calls for a referendum on this will fall on stony ground.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that point. I am not sure that I want to put the Government’s chief economic adviser through the experience of the press briefings, but we are always aware of the economic consequences and the downsides of what, alas, we are forced to do at the moment. That is why it is vital that we work together and get the R down below 1 again; it is only just above 1, and I do believe that we can do it by 2 December. We can then open up the economy again in the way that I know both he and I would like to see.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Small businesses in my constituency of Edinburgh North and Leith, and right across the UK, are facing permanent closure. The rainy day funds are exhausted, the personal investments of owners and partners are about to be lost, and the millions of people that they employ are facing redundancy. Will the Prime Minister give a guarantee that this will be treated with the same urgency with which a UK Government treated a threat to the banks a few years ago, and will he commit to directing major cash resources to small enterprises and the self-employed to see them through this period? Any recovery will be built on their backs. What will his Government do to protect them?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member is completely correct in what she says about the recovery; it will be on the backs of small and medium-sized businesses up and down the land. As she knows, that is why we have extended a massive package of support including £25,000 grants, bounce back loans and all the investments that have been made—a total package worth £200 billion. For those now forced to close by these restrictions, there are grants of £3,000. There are also grants of £2,100 for those that may not be legally forced to close, but which are adversely affected. As she knows, we have also put in place cuts to VAT and deferred business rates until next year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Wednesday 12th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Our new Office for Veterans Affairs is helping veterans to transition to new jobs and to secure homes. A discount railcard will be rolled out by Armistice day, and veterans will get guaranteed interviews for civil service jobs so that we have more veterans bringing their talents to government.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Q8. The Prime Minister’s junior Scotland Office Minister told the National Farmers Union last week that substandard food would be allowed into the UK under a US trade deal, but that it would have to be labelled as such. The Prime Minister has denied this in the past, so who is telling the truth and which of them does not know what is coming?

[The Prime Minister]

I can assure the hon. Lady that the UK has and will continue to have the highest standards in the world for our food.

Brexit Negotiations

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Thursday 3rd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

Now that the Prime Minister has established the principle that different parts of the UK can have different EU status, Scotland must at least be entitled to claim her place in the single market and customs union. When will that proposal be put to the EU?

[The Prime Minister]

I think most people in the House understand that the Good Friday agreement imposes particular requirements on the governance of Northern Ireland—it is a unique situation. As for the question the hon. Lady raises, the people of Scotland had a referendum in 2014. They voted very substantially to remain part of the UK and were told it was a once-in-a-generation decision.

Priorities for Government

Debate between Boris Johnson and Deidre Brock

Thursday 25th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is a sad irony that the Labour party, which purports to be the party of the people, is now the party that seeks to thwart the will of the people, and it sends a terrible message around the world.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

What did the Prime Minister meet Cambridge Analytica about in December 2016, when he was Foreign Secretary?

[The Prime Minister]

I have no idea.