Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Karen Bradley and Kerry McCarthy

Wednesday 30th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

5. What recent steps she has taken to help restore devolution in Northern Ireland.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

14. What recent steps she has taken to help restore devolution in Northern Ireland.

[Karen Bradley]

Last year, I passed the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018, which creates a limited period in which an Executive can be formed at any time. I am actively encouraging the parties to use that opportunity to come together to make progress on restoring the Executive.

[Karen Bradley]

As Secretary of State, I clearly have a role in helping to facilitate those talks, but I cannot impose a solution on the parties in Northern Ireland. That must be something that they want to do for the good of the people in Northern Ireland. I am working to find that.

[Kerry McCarthy]

Environmental campaigners in Northern Ireland have raised concerns with me about the fact that the push towards ever-more intensive industrialised farming is continuing unchecked because of the power vacuum. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs does not seem to be interested. May I urge the Northern Ireland Office to take an interest in the environmental damage that is being caused by that trend?

[Karen Bradley]

The hon. Lady will know that DEFRA does not have jurisdiction over environmental policies in Northern Ireland; that is for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland. I am sure the permanent secretary has heard her comments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Karen Bradley and Kerry McCarthy

Wednesday 21st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

10. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that healthcare provision in Northern Ireland is maintained after the UK leaves the EU.

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Karen Bradley)]

There is ongoing positive engagement between UK Government officials and the Northern Ireland civil service to ensure that the current provision is maintained as part of the common travel area, as agreed in the joint report in the December Council.

[Kerry McCarthy]

At the moment, children from Northern Ireland can access emergency heart surgery in Dublin, cancer patients from the Republic can have treatment in Derry and ambulances cross the border to attend emergencies. Can the Secretary of State give an absolute guarantee that that will continue post Brexit?

[Karen Bradley]

I visited the hospital in Derry and saw for myself the excellent treatment that patients from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland receive there. About a third of the patients at that hospital come from the Republic. It is essential that we maintain that situation by maintaining the common travel area, as agreed in the joint report in December. [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Karen Bradley and Kerry McCarthy

Thursday 14th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I hope the Secretary of State will be aware of the ongoing problems that UK musicians have trying to get visas to tour in the United States. Will she assure me that as well as addressing those problems, which I am told have got worse recently, we will not see a replication of them when we leave the EU, and that musicians will not have to have visas to travel and tour around Europe?

[Karen Bradley]

As I said, I met the Immigration Minister earlier this week. The experiences of UK musicians touring throughout the world are very important in helping us to design an immigration system that not only works for the 27 member states, but the whole world.

Sky: 21st Century Fox Takeover Bid

Debate between Karen Bradley and Kerry McCarthy

Tuesday 20th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Karen Bradley]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I will fulfil my role exactly in line with the legislation and I will of course be answerable to Parliament in the decisions that I take.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I know that it is pointless to ask the Culture Secretary to give a view on the bid, but may I express to her the clear views about the bid of more than 100 constituents who have emailed me in recent days? Will she undertake to come back to the House on 9 January to give us an update?

[Karen Bradley]

I hear the hon. Lady’s comments about her constituents’ concerns. I will of course update the House as and when there is anything to say on the matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Karen Bradley and Kerry McCarthy

Thursday 3rd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Karen Bradley]

My hon. Friend is right. We stand right behind the FA and the Scottish FA in their decision to wear poppies. I will be at the match next week and I will make sure that I pass on those comments. It is absolutely right that home nations should, if they choose, wear poppies to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives, and I hope that FIFA will see sense and withdraw any threat of sanctions for those who do so.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

T2. Many grassroots music venues are struggling, with 40% closing in London alone over the past decade. There are many pressures on venues, but will the Minister look specifically at the call from the Music Venue Trust for PRS for Music to scrap its minimum tariff, which is hitting grassroots venues very hard, and to introduce the 3% fee across the board?

[Karen Bradley]

I know that the hon. Lady is campaigning hard on this issue and I will look at all that she has said.