Ukraine

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 22nd February 2022

(2 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, indeed. Those who abet sanctioned people, help them to evade anti-money laundering provisions or help them to conceal beneficial interests will of course be breaking the law themselves.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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The three oligarchs whom the Prime Minister has sanctioned today have been sanctioned by the United States for four years. We need to do better than that. Will the Prime Minister re-examine the operation of unexplained wealth orders, not a single one of which has been issued since he became Prime Minister? Will he publish a list of all the Russians who have obtained fast-track visas for residency, as he referred to earlier, by giving cash to the UK Exchequer?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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The National Crime Agency is pursuing many investigations against people, on unexplained wealth orders. On the right hon. Gentleman’s point about visas, we are stopping tier 1 visas from Russia.

Living with Covid-19

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Monday 21st February 2022

(2 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, and it is a great shame that the Opposition cannot find it in themselves to support what I think is a balanced and proportionate approach that recognises that covid has not gone away and that we cannot throw caution to the winds.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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Given everything else the Prime Minister has said this afternoon, why is he keeping the bureaucratic and irritating passenger locator form when the rest of Europe can already travel freely by showing a vaccine certificate?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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That is a welcome call for liberty from the Opposition Benches. I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that we already have one of the most open travel systems in the world. I understand his grievance against the passenger locator form, and we will certainly review it by Easter.

Ukraine

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 25th January 2022

(2 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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My right hon. Friend is completely right. I want to say a word or two in praise of Olaf Scholz, because it was clear from our conversation last night—as I have said to the House—how difficult this is for Germany. No one should be in any doubt about that. However, it was also clear that the new German Chancellor is determined to stand with the rest of the west to maintain a united front. Among other things, Germany has made it plain that Nord Stream 2 cannot go ahead—Germany cannot take part in it—if there is a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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The Prime Minister is right to say that western unity is key. Can he therefore explain why the UK began withdrawing some of our diplomats from Kyiv this week, unlike most of the rest of NATO?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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We are actually in lockstep with the United States, and, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, we have kept at least 30 of our diplomats in Kyiv, including Melinda Simmons, our outstanding ambassador. The UK presence continues to be very strong there, but those are sensible precautionary steps.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Wednesday 27th October 2021

(2 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I am delighted to respond in the affirmative to my hon. Friend, because the last time he asked me about this it was to ensure that we got an Eden Project in Morecambe. It sounds from what he is saying that we are making progress in that direction, and that is thrilling.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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Q3. I am sure that the whole House will want to send my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition their best wishes. Also, it is good to see a few more Conservative MPs heeding the Health Secretary’s plea to wear a mask. Given that we have had far, far higher covid infection, hospitalisation and death rates than any other western European country for several weeks now, was it a mistake to abandon all those precautions back in July? If not, why are our figures so bad?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question, but the reality is that of course we monitor all the data very carefully every day. We see nothing to suggest that we need to deviate from the plan we have set out that began with the road map in February, that we are sticking to, and that has given business and this country the ability to get on and achieve the unlockings that we have seen and indeed the fastest economic growth in the G7.

Health and Social Care

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 7th September 2021

(2 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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My right hon. Friend has done great work on this subject and I am indebted to him for some of the advice that he has given to me personally about how to proceed in this. He is right in what he says. The issue is making sure that the funding goes where it is needed and that it is specifically ring-fenced. The investments in social care will be protected by the Government and by the Treasury.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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There are better ways of doing this than to take money from the less well off in work and the young to give to better off pensioners. Can I commend to the Prime Minister and my own Front Benchers the work of the Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government Committees in their joint report of 2018, agreed unanimously by all Members of all parties in this House, which would deliver a system that is sustainable and equitable, address poor quality and low pay, and allow the proper integration of health and social care—none of which, from what I have heard today, his proposals would deliver?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Time and again, Labour Members have stood up and said that there is a better way to do this, without offering a single idea. A plan beats no plan.

Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Monday 22nd February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend. This is already a very fast unlocking programme by other international standards. As I have explained, the timetable is dictated by the intervals we need to evaluate the effect of each successive unlocking. I think that what people want to see—what businesses want—is as much certainty as possible, rather than uncertainty, and that is what we aim to provide.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]
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Forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I did not hear the Prime Minister’s reply just then because one of the Zoom operators was talking to another Member. The Prime Minister is absolutely right to say we should be driven by the data and not dates, and that his dates are therefore subject to review. Given the stunning success of the vaccination programme, with the evidence today of how it prevents serious illness and death, why is he not prepared to bring his dates forward, as well as back, if the data justifies that?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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The right hon. Gentleman did not hear my answer to the previous question, so I will repeat it, because his question is identical to several previous questions. The answer is that we need time to evaluate the success or otherwise of each unlocking; we need four weeks to see what has happened. We must bear in mind that we are dealing with a disease that is extremely contagious and large numbers of people who are still unvaccinated and still very vulnerable, so we have to proceed with caution. That is why there is the five-week interval that we have. The second reason is that we want a timetable that we can stick to. People would really much rather have a sense of certainty and security—the maximum possible certainty and security—rather than any sense that this is fluid again and the date they have in their heads could change. That is very, very important. Certainty in this particular road map is of great value.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Wednesday 20th January 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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The potential of the greater south-west is enormous, particularly in the areas of blue and green technology. My hon. Friend can be assured that we will be giving massive investment in infrastructure to support the green industrial revolution in the south-west as well as in all parts of the UK.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]
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When the Prime Minister told fishermen in the south-west that they would not face new export barriers or unnecessary form-filling, and when he told Britain’s musicians and artists that they would still be free to tour and work in the rest of the European Union after Brexit, neither of those statements was correct, was it?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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It is absolutely true that some British fishermen have faced barriers at the present time owing to complications over form-filling. Indeed, one of the biggest problems is that, alas, there is a decline in appetite for fish in continental markets just because most of the restaurants, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, are shut. But the reality is that Brexit will deliver, and is delivering, a huge uplift in quota already in the next five years. By 2026, the fishing people of this country will have access to all the fish in all the territorial waters of this country. To get them ready for that Eldorado, we are investing £100 million in improving our boats and our fish processing industry, and getting fishing ready for the opportunities ahead.

Covid-19

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Wednesday 6th January 2021

(3 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, indeed. I will commit to better and fuller information if that is necessary, although of course as my right hon. Friend knows, it is a general principle of these restrictions that people have more freedoms when they need to exercise for health needs.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab) [V]
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If, as reports suggest, the Government intend requiring people arriving in the UK to have a negative PCR test within 72 hours of their arrival, how will British people currently abroad in areas where it is difficult to get quick turnaround PCR tests get home? I should declare an interest.

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I think that the people of this country would want to see—as I do, and as I believe Members on the Benches opposite do—proper protection against the readmission of the virus. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman understands that, too.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Monday 12th October 2020

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, of course. My hon. Friend is totally right about the importance of childcare. We remain committed to giving 30 hours of free childcare. The crucial thing about our measures is to keep the economy moving as much as possible.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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In university cities like Exeter that have a covid spike in student accommodation but not yet significant community spread, but that nevertheless inflate local figures, what is the Prime Minister’s strategy for containing those spikes in student accommodation and preventing the need for lockdowns affecting the rest of the community?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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The differentiation that is often made between students and other members of the public is sometimes overdone. Students are playing a heroic role in containing the virus where they can in following the guidance and not spreading it back into their families and their home towns. I thank them very much for what they are doing and hope they continue in that way, in Exeter and elsewhere.

Covid-19

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 22nd September 2020

(3 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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Churchgoers will continue to have freedom of worship under the proposals. We want life, as far as we possibly we can, to keep going as normally as possible. We want the economy to keep moving. The best hope I can offer my hon. Friend’s constituents, for whom he fights so valiantly, is that we get this virus back under control, take the country forward and keep the economy moving. That is the best prospect for our country.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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Does the Prime Minister think that the reason Germany and Italy have far lower covid rates than us, with life continuing more or less normally, might be that they have locally and publicly run test and trace services that actually work?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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No, I don’t, and I think the continual attacks on local test and trace and what NHS Test and Trace has done are undermining and unnecessary. Actually, there is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world: our country is a freedom-loving country. If we look at the history of this country over the past 300 years, virtually every advance, from free speech to democracy, has come from this country. It is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary. What we are saying today is that collectively—I am answering the right hon. Gentleman’s question directly—the way to do that is for us all to follow the guidelines, which we will strictly enforce, and get the R down. That is the way forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Wednesday 22nd July 2020

(3 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. As I have said repeatedly at this Dispatch Box, it is very important that we wait until the conclusion of this epidemic and have a proper statistical assessment of where we are. That is the course I would recommend to him.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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I was the first Member of this House to raise concerns about Russian interference in our democracy, four years ago. By blocking the publication of the Russia report before the election, on grounds that the Intelligence and Security Committee has said were spurious, and then trying to fix the Committee, is it not abundantly clear that this Prime Minister has knowingly and repeatedly put his own personal and party interests before the national security of our country?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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No, and I think that is a pretty lamentable way of looking at it—it is a lamentable question. If the right hon. Gentleman thought there was genuinely something in the ISC report that showed that, for instance, the Brexit referendum had been undermined by Russia, he would now be saying it, but that does not appear. I am afraid that what we have here, as I have told the House several times, is the rage and fury of the remainer elite finding that there is in fact nothing in this report—no smoking gun whatever, after all that froth and fury. Suddenly, all those who want to remain in the EU find that they had no argument to stand on. They should simply move on.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 23rd June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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The House will have heard what I have had to say about air bridges repeatedly since the quarantine announcement was made. We do understand the balance, but we also understand the vital necessity of protecting our country from reinfection from abroad. Every serious country that has got this disease under control has had to introduce a quarantine for people coming into or back into the country.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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A number of countries will be surprised by the Prime Minister’s claim that they do not have a functioning track and trace app.

Given that it is costing Britain thousands of jobs and millions of pounds a day and has no basis in the science, why is the Prime Minister waiting another two weeks to scrap his disastrous blanket quarantine policy?

Global Britain

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Tuesday 16th June 2020

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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We are keeping the Department for International Trade separate, and it is working hard on free trade deals, as it must for the moment, but it is very important that in post—in missions around the world—there will be a single point of reference for Governments who need to understand the UK position. It is a powerful change. The ambassadors around the world will be newly empowered and authorised to project the UK’s point of view.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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How is it compatible with global Britain to be the only country in the world at this stage of the covid pandemic, and as the rest of Europe opens up, to be putting up a great, big “closed for business” sign in the form the Prime Minister’s quarantine policy?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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It is curious that the right hon. Member says that because, as far as I know, the quarantine policy is actively supported by the shadow Foreign Secretary at the very least, and indeed supported by the Labour party. If he is dissenting from his own party, I perfectly understand that, but the reason for our policy is of course to prevent the reinfection of this country, as we drive the virus down, by people coming back from countries where it is out of control.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and Boris Johnson
Wednesday 3rd June 2020

(3 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend; he represents his businesses in Aylesbury well. We are certainly talking to all councils about how they can properly utilise the allocations that they have.

Ben Bradshaw Portrait Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
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The Public Health Minister told me in an email on 22 May that the justification for a 14-day quarantine is

“where local Covid incidence and prevalence is much lower relative to international incidence and prevalence”.

It is not, is it? So why is the Prime Minister inflicting, from Monday, a blanket quarantine with no basis in science that will devastate our travel industry and rob British families of their foreign holidays?

Boris Johnson Portrait The Prime Minister
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I am surprised to hear that criticism from the Labour Benches. I thought that the Opposition were in favour of the quarantine policy. The simple reason is to protect the British people from the reimporting of that disease once we have driven infection rates down.