Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban

Debate between John Cooper and Nusrat Ghani

Monday 20th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Birmingham’s best band is, of course, Black Sabbath and it has counselled us that:

“If you listen to fools, the mob rules.”

This is a case of mob rule here. The Secretary of State has done a tremendous job of setting out the Government’s position. Will she review, while maintaining police independence—[Interruption.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. If Mr Kruger and Ms Zarah Sultana want to continue their own personal debate, they need to take it out of the Chamber.

[John Cooper]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Back to the Sabs. Will the Secretary of State review the rules around sporting and entertainment events to make sure that this Government, and any future Government, are not rendered impotent in the face of the mob?

Employment Rights Bill

Debate between John Cooper and Nusrat Ghani

Report stage
Wednesday 12th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is a fearsome campaigner on the Business and Trade Committee. She talks about intimidation and paints a lovely picture of unions working actively for their workers, but how can we square that with the version of intimidation that the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) seems to be referring to with the return of flying pickets?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Before the hon. Lady responds, she will no doubt realise that she is close to eight minutes. I know she will want to speak for a little while, but not too much longer.

Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill

Debate between John Cooper and Nusrat Ghani

2nd reading
Friday 17th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman talks about simplifying systems. My father applied for a postal vote because he was taking advantage of the early Scottish holiday and was going to be away on 4 July. When he tried to access a postal vote to vote for me, he found that the council could not recognise him, yet as he pointed out, it had been able to collect his council tax for some years. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that if we are going to increase the number of postal and proxy votes, we must also have better systems on the other side to short-circuit those problems?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Since the vote is private, who knows how the hon. Gentleman’s father actually voted?

Ukraine

Debate between John Cooper and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Saving the best Back-Bench contributor till last.

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour and a novelty to follow my near neighbour, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).

The cost of a new year’s dinner in Russia is up over 11%, interest rates are up, taxes are up and the rouble is down. That is largely down to the fact that the previous Government introduced a punitive range of sanctions against Russia. The famous military phrase is “in all domains” and the economic domain is absolutely critical. Can the Minister assure us that we will continue to ramp up economic pressure, as well as military pressure?

Harland & Wolff

Debate between John Cooper and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call John Cooper, a member of the Business and Trade Committee.

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

I congratulate this Front-Bench team and the wider Government on landing this deal in the face of what the Secretary of State has euphemistically called the “headwinds” —I would call them a full-force gale—created by the Budget. Did Navantia raise concerns about the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill? It swings the pendulum very much in favour of trade unions, which, as we know, are very often red in tooth and claw. Was that an issue in landing the deal?