COP27

Clive Efford Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Not only will I pay tribute to the work of Lord Goldsmith on that particular issue, but I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his knowledge of and engagement in the region. He deserves praise and credit for that. He is right about the exciting opportunity to have what is called a “country platform” with Indonesia to bring together public and private finance to help it with its energy transition. I am hopeful that we can play a big part in that.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

Is the Prime Minister’s refusal to approve onshore wind generation the reason why he cannot commit to 100% clean energy by 2030?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the Labour party’s plans on climate change were called “incredible” and “unrealistic” at the last election. Our plans are practical and credible and they are the most ambitious in the developed world. I feel very good about them, but we need to do this in a realistic way that actually brings people along with us. That is what our targets do.

Home Secretary: Resignation and Reappointment

Clive Efford Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

The Home Secretary is clearly very aware that she has made a mistake and very aware that it can never be repeated. It is a salutary lesson not only for her but for everyone else who is privileged to serve in Government that we need to be extraordinarily careful on these matters. I think we should leave it there. The Home Secretary knows what she needs to do in future, and she knows that she has to ensure there is no repetition. She will focus on her proper role, which is to ensure the safety of this country and the future of the police.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

The role of Home Secretary has major security implications for our country. Does the Minister accept that a Home Secretary who does not have full security clearance cannot do the job?

[Jeremy Quin]

I do not know where the hon. Gentleman has got the concept of people not having full security clearance—I do not understand where that would come from. As I have said, the Home Secretary is doing the job of the Home Secretary, with all that that entails. I hope that that reassures him.

Departure of Previous Home Secretary

Clive Efford Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

Although I may have already said that I cannot speak on behalf of other Ministers, I think my hon. Friend will have seen the Prime Minister’s letter to the Home Secretary in which she was thanked for her work. As well as the huge policing operation for Her late Majesty, there is the other work that she has been doing, such as clamping down on illegal immigration and keeping the British people safe, and I am sure that that work will continue.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

It has been widely reported that a member of the Cabinet was involved in a fracas during the vote last night. Was there a breach of the ministerial code? Will it be investigated?

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

If the hon. Gentleman believes that such a breach has occurred, there is a set process for referring it, but I do not think that we should be commenting on speculation. As we saw in the press this morning, there are many stories about the Lobby last night. I was in the Lobby and certainly did not see what I believe other people have been saying they saw. Rather than commenting on speculation, I think we should stick to facts—and the facts are why we are here today.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Clive Efford Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

On behalf of my constituents in Eltham, I send my deepest sympathies to His Royal Highness King Charles III and his family on the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Over the last few days we have identified a new syndrome, which I think will be studied for years: Queen Elizabeth II syndrome. I thought that I would be sorry for the nation at losing its Head of State; I thought that I would be very sympathetic and sorry for the family at losing a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother; but I must admit that I did not expect to feel such a deep personal sense of loss. I know others have expressed the same feeling.

If we conjure to mind the images that mould us—those that make us British, if you like—it is the Queen’s image that stands out most prominently. If we think of the characteristics that we associate with Britishness—strength, fairness, dignity, dedication, determination, duty, tradition, charity—those are all attributes that we would associate with the Queen in the way that she performed her task as our monarch. They are characteristics that she applied both at home and abroad. She was the embodiment of how we would want to be seen in the world.

The Queen’s longevity in her role gave her a deep knowledge and understanding of global politics and its personalities, which no other country benefited from. She saw politicians come and go: she reigned over 15 Prime Ministers, more than a quarter of the Prime Ministers we have ever had, and she saw 13 Presidents and six Popes. She was determined to lead by example each and every time she stepped out in public. Her generation—the war generation—is a tough generation. Her experience of that gave her the insight to know exactly what message we needed during the covid pandemic. She knew that, through our collective endeavour, we would get through, and she set that beacon at the end of the road, which will be etched forever in the rock of our nation: “We will meet again”.

The Queen’s generation knew loss in the darkest of hours, and her dedication to duty told her that at her darkest of times she must lead by example. She sat alone wearing a mask—obeying the rules—at her husband’s funeral. I do not think I admired her more at any other time. She did not waver in her duty. It is not fair to those who will follow to say that we will not see her like again. Our King has a hard act to follow, so I say: God help the King.

UK Energy Costs

Clive Efford Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

Although the solutions to this crisis may sound complicated in this debate, the choice is straightforward for the Government: who pays at the end of the day? Let us be clear what a windfall tax is. It does not tax profits that energy companies had planned for and could have expected in all reason. This windfall has come about, as the Government have said themselves, as a consequence of what is happening in Ukraine and the aggression by Putin. The question that I have and my constituents will have is: how can the Government reasonably come to a conclusion that it is okay for those energy companies to make these huge profits on the back of that aggression by Putin?

No matter what we do over the windfall tax, there will be a cost to the taxpayer because the Government are under pressure in other areas of expenditure. We only have to look at the newspapers today to see how, yet again, the number of people waiting for operations in the NHS has gone up to 6.8 million; and how the cost of living is forcing teaching assistants to question whether they can commit themselves to supporting children in schools or should move to higher-paid jobs, such as in supermarkets. Everywhere we look, the Government are under pressure over public expenditure on our vital public services. Yet they are prepared to wave aside the potential to pay for these increases through a windfall tax.

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

I am grateful that my hon. Friend mentions teaching assistants because one contacted me recently. Many low-paid workers and others on moderate incomes be staggered by the Government’s decision to put the interests of energy companies ahead of those of normal families.

[Clive Efford]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Government are morally wrong to turn their back on a windfall tax when they are clearly under financial pressure in other areas of public expenditure.

In my brief contribution, I want to raise one specific issue relating to my constituency. I have a craft bakery that has survived for 100 years and is about to celebrate its centenary. It has been run by six generations of the same family. It kept feeding people in my constituency—I was not the MP at the time, I hasten to add—during the second world war, so even the Luftwaffe could not shut down this bakery. It employs 20 members of staff, in an industry where energy use is really heavy, and faces cost increases of 300% or 400%, so it is trying to renegotiate its energy contracts. As the statement published by the Government says—I have it here; on such an important crisis, its sheer length is 200 words—there will be assistance for businesses equivalent to that given to individuals, guaranteed “for six months”. The Prime Minister said—I wrote these words down—that businesses would be given some idea of what assistance they will get “within three months”, but they are negotiating now. We had no clarity from the Prime Minister in her statement. It was as though she was making a Queen’s Speech—“My Government will”—but she gave us no detail on what Ministers will be doing.

One thing I want a guarantee on is that, if we are to get a financial statement from the Government next week or before the conference recess, we will have a proper debate in this Chamber, as we are required to have. Or will the Government avoid scrutiny—as has been a repeated action—yet again?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Order.

Cabinet Office

Clive Efford Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from the urgent question on 18 July 2022.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

I do not feel that the House is any better informed about the Government’s response to this heatwave following the answer to the urgent question than we were when we first walked in. The Government’s approach seems to be that this is merely an unfortunate 36 hours of very hot weather and we will just have to soldier on through it and stand in the shade, but what we need from them is a long-term plan. What are our vulnerable and elderly constituents to do? Who should they contact in this situation? Where is the advice from the Government? There does not seem to be any urgency. Will the Minister go away and then come back and do a better job?

[Kit Malthouse]

There has been enormous urgency. As I said in my response to the urgent question—I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was listening—I have just come from the third Cobra meeting, in which we discussed our preparations.

[Official Report, 18 July 2022, Vol. 718, c. 709.]

Letter of correction from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse).

An error has been identified in the response given to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford).

The correct response should have been:

Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for Victims

Clive Efford Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

The hon. Gentleman makes his point with characteristic eloquence, and my heart goes out to his constituent in that appalling example. That is one of many tragic examples in this matter. I also note what he says about the Northern Ireland aspect of this and that matter will be given proper consideration.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

The fact that interim payments have been recommended implies that there is an urgency in compensating these people. It is five years since the inquiry was set up and more than 400 people have died since that time. So what is it about the 19 recommendations that links them to the interim payments? Why do the Government have to wait to respond to those 19 recommendations and not, as the report suggests, get on with the interim payments?

[Michael Ellis]

It is not as though the Government are waiting; the Government are working, across Whitehall, to produce results in the matter. There is no dilatoriness here; there is expedition on the part of my officials and officials across Government, and the wish to get the matter right.

Extreme Heat Preparedness

Clive Efford Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

I am sure the hon. and learned Lady will be pleased to know that I am meeting the Secretary of State for Transport this very afternoon, to ensure that our plans—not just for the next 36 hours, but for the next few weeks—are in place from a governmental point of view, and that we issue exactly the sort of challenge to the private sector that she has requested.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

I do not feel that the House is any better informed about the Government’s response to this heatwave following the answer to the urgent question than we were when we first walked in. The Government’s approach seems to be that this is merely an unfortunate 36 hours of very hot weather and we will just have to soldier on through it and stand in the shade, but what we need from them is a long-term plan. What are our vulnerable and elderly constituents to do? Who should they contact in this situation? Where is the advice from the Government? There does not seem to be any urgency. Will the Minister go away and then come back and do a better job?

[Kit Malthouse]

There has been enormous urgency. As I said in my response to the urgent question—I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was listening—I have just come from the third COBRA meeting, in which we discussed our preparations. They involve extensive work with the devolved Administrations, the communications plan which is out there, and the plethora of guidance that has been issued in the last 48 hours or so—and even in the middle of last week.

This is a short period of hot weather. The best thing we can do while we stand up public services—[Interruption.] I can only answer the question that I am asked. The best thing we can do is adapt our individual behaviour to get us through it while we learn the lessons from it.

Standards in Public Life

Clive Efford Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

I am unable to speak to that. But what I would say is that we must do everything we can to protect the confidentiality of those who make complaints. I am very concerned that the way in which this matter has been processed by some individuals means that it opens up a risk of a breach of confidentiality for those who have made complaints. That is paramount.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

The Minister is increasingly looking like the boy who stands on the burning deck. His problem is that the Prime Minister is going to desert him as well. The trouble is that gossip and innuendo actually become facts, which is something that the Minister does not recognise. Minister after Minister has been humiliated, going out and giving a storyline that has been given to them by No.10, which subsequently changes. And the story has changed again today from the Minister’s own mouth. We have heard from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Colchester (Will Quince), and now we have the facts from Lord McDonald. The fact is that special advisers have been used to put out and peddle this misinformation. So what is going to be done to investigate them and the special advisers’ code of conduct because we cannot keep having No.10 just peddling lies?

[Michael Ellis]

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. There is absolutely no evidence of what he speaks. The reality is that, when years-old allegations resurface, inquiries have to be made. It is not an immediate exercise; those have to be got right. Every effort is being made to give accurate information. I said in my opening remarks to this honourable House that, in the limited amount of time that I have had available, that is the information that I have received, but, clearly, there will be an exercise to be done.

Bill of Rights

Clive Efford Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. I know that when he gets a chance to peruse the proposals, he will find those principles and that spirit reflected in the Bill of Rights, and I look forward to discussing these matters with him further.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has asserted that 70% of successful human rights challenges are brought by foreign nationals who cite a right to family life in the first instance when appealing deportation orders. Can he give the House the source of that assertion?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The consultation document gives hon. Members the precise source; it was published back in December.