Recommendations of the Infected Blood Inquiry

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Friday 22nd March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Today the British Youth Council has declared insolvency. As you may know, the British Youth Council runs the UK Youth Parliament, which sits here in this Chamber and holds the Youth Select Committee in this House. The organisation has been around for more than 50 years. It was set up by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to represent young people around the world, and has been supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Since it runs programmes in partnership with the House, will you and Mr Speaker inquire how these programmes can continue, so that young people can continue to be given a voice in Britain, and so that if we cannot save the British Youth Council from insolvency, we can at least save these programmes?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. I think we all value the work of that organisation, particularly when the Youth Parliament sits here in the Chamber. They are the parliamentarians of tomorrow, after all. I will make certain that this is brought to the attention of Mr Speaker, and I will inform the hon. Member of his response.

Conversion Practices (Prohibition) Bill

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

2nd reading
Friday 1st March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle]

The right hon. Gentleman says he does not understand or has not heard scenarios in the debate that would be covered by the Bill but are not covered by existing legislation. I give him the scenario of an unregulated therapist—that is, someone who is not part of any registered body, of which we have many in this country who do significant harm, and there is another debate, possibly, about registering them. That unregulated therapist can take a vulnerable person—to some extent, anyone questioning their sexuality or transgender identity is vulnerable because they are questioning—and repeatedly tell them that they cannot be that, they should be ashamed of that, and they should be disgusted about that. That does not meet a criminal threshold. It might meet a threshold many years down the line of a psychological harm that we will not know. Surely that is a clear example where this Bill, or a Bill like it, would act, but he suggests there are no examples.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Again, interventions should be short—I understand the reason.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle]

It is clear in the exemptions that individual prayer is not caught by the Bill, but if Members feel that that is too thinly defined, we could thrash it out in Committee. Can the right hon. and learned Member tell me any mainstream religion whose religious texts say, “You must change your sexual orientation or your transgender identity”? I am not aware of any, so I do not understand why any religion would be caught by the Bill.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Before the right hon. and learned Lady responds, I just want to point out that several other Members still wish to participate in the debate.

Pride Month

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Thursday 15th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

The spirit of Glenda Jackson was with us today. Rest in peace.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered Pride Month.

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. While we have been having this debate, my constituents and many people across Sussex and Kent have had no fresh water for three to four days. We had arranged a public meeting with South East Water, which continues to fail local residents who are having to use bottled water or have very low flows of water. However, South East Water has withdrawn from all public meetings on this matter, because it says it needs to focus its time on fixing the problem. This does not seem to be an appropriate response to families without running water on some of the hottest days of the year. Could you advise me how I can get the chief executive of South East Water to come and be held to account by my constituents and those in Wealden and Rother who have not had running water?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. It does seem an incredibly unacceptable position to be put in. I hope those on the Treasury Bench have heard that and will urgently get that through to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who will engage in dialogue immediately.

Points of Order

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Thursday 15th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the hon. Member for his point of order and forward notice of it. I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench will have heard the point of order. In the first instance, I would recommend getting in contact with the Department concerned. If that does not work, I would recommend going to the Table Office to see what support and information it can give, but this seems prime territory for an Adjournment debate as well.

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. On gaining control of the council in Brighton and Hove, the Labour administration found that £3 million had been overspent by the Green administration, above and beyond what was legally set in the budget. That is a third of our operating reserves. Can you advise me on how I can hold to account councillors who have been chucked out by the electorate, but who have cost us millions of pounds?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I think the hon. Gentleman has done so, supremely well, by raising his point of order.

Before we come to the first debate, I just want to say—I know that Madam Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton mentioned this, but I want to put my tribute on the record as well—that Glenda Jackson was an incredible talent, not just within the world of theatre and the arts, but in the world of politics, where many of us got to know her over many years, particularly when she was a Minister. I have had more than a few hugs from her on the Terrace, I have to say. She was a personal friend.

When I last went to New York, I went to see her play “King Lear”. She commanded that stage for over three hours—I was shattered just watching her. I got in touch with her before I went, and she said, “Come back into the dressing room and have a chat.” When I went into the dressing room, I was expecting to see somebody who was shattered, quite frankly. Quite the reverse: she was sitting up, supreme. She looked at me and said, “Nigel! What’s going on with Brexit?” We had a good chat for well over an hour. She will be sorely missed.

I have already sent my condolences to her son, but I now extend them publicly to the rest of her family. I hope that the lights of the west end, Broadway, and theatres all over the world will be dimmed in tribute to her, indeed in deep contrast to the way she dazzled when she took to the stage. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

We now come to the Backbench Business debate on Pride Month. I call Elliot Colburn to move the motion.

Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) Bill

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle]

That is why I used the example of blindness: the point of knowledge would be the first time that sight is lost, but total sight loss could take much longer. [Interruption.] The Minister for Defence People and Veterans can come back come in his usual style.

On the criminal part, I think the Bill threatens our service people with being more likely to be investigated by the ICC. I am not convinced that prosecutions would be sought in the ICC, but the very risk of investigation by the ICC defeats the whole point of this Bill, which in my view—I have said this a few times in the Chamber tonight—was to tackle a series of vexatious investigations. We need a system where cases, once they are fully investigated, can be closed and not reopened unless a significant bar is met. This Bill does nothing at all about that and fails in its very purpose. That is why it is a great shame that this wording—not the concept; I think we all agree this issue must be tackled—is what the Government have brought forward.

I also want to touch on the time limits. France has a 30-year time limit for serious crimes, while crimes under international humanitarian law are never given a time limit. In the USA, time limits are exempted for the law of war and also for serious crimes or murder. This Bill would put us at odds with how the French and American systems protect their veterans. It would seem extremely odd to take that approach. We should be learning from our allies, not trying to diverge from their approach.

I am extremely disappointed with the wording of this Bill. If it passes tonight, I will work extremely hard to try to amend it. I do not think it will ever be an amazing Bill, because it started from the wrong point and is answering the wrong questions, but I will work with others to try to get the best out of it. Given its drafting, however, I am not convinced that it deserves to go forward in its initial form. The Government should come forward with an alternative plan that hits the nail on the head, because this certainly does not.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I am terribly sorry to the 23 Members who were unable to get in, but I am afraid there was a lot of interest in this debate. I call Stephen Morgan to start the wind-ups.

Points of Order

Debate between Nigel Evans and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Tuesday 14th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Not at this moment in time. However, I am really hopeful that, as we go into September, after the recess, sufficient progress will have been made that we can then start to normalise the proceedings in this Chamber. I fully appreciate that the way that we are currently operating is not how we would all like it to be, but we have to do this at a rate of progress that is safe for all Members and staff here. I do hope that we will make sufficient progress.

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In ministerial correspondence, the response repeatedly comes back from civil servants and not the Minister themselves, which is a trend that I have noticed more often recently. If I have written to a Minister, I find it uncourteous for the Minister not to respond. I am worried about going into a recess and receiving more civil servants’ responses that do not provide the political context that is often needed. Could you advise me on how I could encourage Ministers to respond directly?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I have been a Member of Parliament for 28 years, and the vast majority of replies I have had have always been from Secretaries of State or the relevant Minister. I know that those on the Treasury Bench will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s point of order, and I hope that the matter will be fed back into the system.

The House is suspended for three minutes.