Business of the House

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the business for 4 December in the Chamber. I understand that the House may be suspended for a period on that day because of a state visit, so will he give consideration to protected time for those two very heavily subscribed debates? Will he also indicate whether we will get time in the Chamber on 11 December? Our backlog of debates is such that if we had every Thursday between now and the Easter recess, we could fill every single one. I note that the House rose very early yesterday. If the Government are having a problem with business, we can always put on debates to allow colleagues from the Back Benches to debate what they wish to debate in Government time. If we are given Thursday 18 December, it will be the traditional pre-recess Adjournment debate for Christmas.

Our forthcoming business in Westminster Hall is as follows. On Tuesday 25 November, there will be a debate on the potential impact of immigration reforms on humanitarian visa routes. On Thursday 27 November, because of the Budget debate in the main Chamber, there will be a Select Committee statement from the Business and Trade Committee, followed by debates on the impact of extended producer responsibility for packaging and on protecting children from domestic abuse. On 2 December, there will be a debate on the adequacy of funding to support homeless people, and on 4 December, there will be a debate on a comprehensive acquired brain injury action plan, followed by a debate on seafarers’ welfare.

Today is the 80th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials. Earlier this week we had a very good briefing at the all-party parliamentary group for the Holocaust memorial and education centre from Adam Wagner, a renowned human rights lawyer. Twenty-four Nazis were put on trial, and the trial lasted 11 months. At the end of it, 22 of them were sentenced to either very long prison sentences or death; amazingly enough, two were acquitted. It would be very helpful if we could have a statement from the Education Secretary on incorporating the business of the Nuremberg trials into the national curriculum, because this was the first time that human rights law started to come to the fore, particularly on war crimes and crimes against humanity. Could the Leader of the House arrange for that to happen?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman back to his place and thank him for raising those important matters. The Nuremberg trials marked a reassertion of justice, human rights and accountability, and their 80th anniversary is a stark reminder of the need to commit to international criminal justice. That is one of the Government’s top priorities in supporting the international legal order. I will give consideration to what he says about a statement, but will also make sure that the Secretary of State for Education is aware of his comments.

I will certainly give consideration to the hon. Gentleman’s request for protected time; he knows that I am sympathetic to that. I do not think it is appropriate on every occasion, but I am sympathetic to it should the House be suspended for any reason. I will let him know about 11 December at the earliest opportunity. Yes, this week has been a little up and down in terms of sitting hours, with the debates and statements that we have had. It is always slightly difficult to get a balance, but let me say gently that it is not a problem for the Government and their business; it is a problem for the Opposition. If they cannot turn up in numbers to hold the Government to account, what are they doing?