Business of the House

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend raises a very important issue. I congratulate her on doing so and on the great charity work going on in her constituency, and I join her in paying particular tribute to Irene and Jean.

Loneliness can cause significant ill health, yet up to a fifth of the UK adult population feel often or always lonely. To tackle this pressing public health issue we have established a cross-Government fund dedicated to a cross-Government strategy that has almost 60 new policy ideas from nine Government Departments. So the Government are determined to tackle this. My hon. Friend and many other hon. Members do their own support in their own constituencies and deserve great credit for doing so.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Is the Leader of the House aware that yesterday was the 102nd birthday of Dame Vera? [Hon. Members: “Lynn.”] Yes, Lynn. Sorry; I had a senior moment there. One of her most famous tunes was “Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer” and I have to say that many of us, on all Benches, are a little upset about the Prime Minister’s remarks yesterday. We spend every minute of the day—every waking hour, and stay awake at night—thinking about this dilemma and to undervalue parliamentarians’ dedication and commitment is not good at all for the current discourse.

May we have an early debate? Many of my constituents want to know about the secret sources of power. They thought they knew about the Cabinet and collective agreements, and about where power lay in the Conservative and Labour parties, but they do not understand why something called the European Research Group is now wielding immense power behind the scenes. They do not understand what the pizza club is and how it can wield such power that it can stop an extension of the period before we leave the European Union. May we have an early debate on this, because going home on a wing and a prayer is not good enough for the future of this country?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I did not know that it was Dame Vera Lynn’s 102nd birthday, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that. However, I did know that today is World Poetry Day. I was tempted to come up with some of my own poetry, but I did not think that the House would be in the mood for it, so I did not bother. I am sure that hon. Members will have their own views on that. The hon. Gentleman makes a serious point, however. I do not believe that the Prime Minister was in any sense seeking to denigrate MPs’ commitment to the issue. She was urging colleagues to consider the duty to make an active decision about what they want to see. In a hung Parliament, that is the challenge that faces us. A Government with a big majority will, on the whole, be able to get their business through, but in a hung Parliament, all right hon. and hon. Members have to give great consideration to good governance. The Prime Minister is urging all Members to consider her deal again, because the reality is, as the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) has pointed out, that the legal default position remains that this House voted to leave the European Union on 29 March and the only way we can avoid that is either by extending article 50, as the Prime Minister is seeking to do, or by this House coming up with an alternative solution, which it has so far been unable to do.