Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for raising this issue, and there were many nods around the Chamber when he was speaking. I am aware that my noble Friend Lord Vaizey has a debate on this matter in the House of Lords, but I can tell my right hon. Friend that revisiting the National Heritage Act is not a priority for this Government.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (Ind)]

Scotland is a nation of animal lovers, and constituents in Glasgow North want to see the highest standards of animal welfare and nature protection enforced across these islands. There is growing concern about the Government’s intentions when it comes to improving such protections, so can the Leader of the House tell us when the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will be brought back to this House for its Report stage?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Future business will be announced in the usual way, but I know that the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is deeply concerned by these issues and wants to make good progress on them. I would just reassure the hon. Gentleman by asking him to look at our track record on a whole raft of issues on improving animal welfare not only in the UK, but also around the world.

Voting by Proxy (Amendment and Extension)

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (Ind)]

I think that there is only one Amy Callaghan, and the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire has just proven that with one of the most eloquent speeches that many of us will have heard in this House. I congratulate her immensely on everything that she has achieved.

I think the hon. Member alluded to the point that, if we started from scratch, we would not invent the current system for voting in Divisions in this House. Crowding into Lobbies to queue up for an individual headcount is a colossal waste of time and resources.

The card reader system has marginally improved things, but we still waste hours, if not days, each year simply queuing up to vote. Anything that improves the experience and accessibility of voting in Divisions, however marginal, is to be welcomed.

During the pandemic, the then Leader of the House—now, quite remarkably, the Business Secretary—made great play of the historic and

“absolute, unequivocal constitutional right of Members to attend Parliament”,—[Official Report, 16 December 2021; Vol. 705, c. 1172.]

which, he repeatedly reminded us, dates back to at least 1340. Of course he was correct: we are privileged to have an absolute right to attend Parliament.

I completely agree with the hon. Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland) that, ultimately, the purpose of attending is first and foremost to vote. We have an absolute right to vote in this House, but we do not have an absolute right to speak. We can do our best to get on the Order Paper or to catch the Speaker’s eye, but there is rarely, if ever, an absolute guarantee of being called to speak, so ultimately it is through voting that we can be certain of exercising our mandates to represent our constituents.

However, there are times when attending Parliament is difficult, if not impossible. The House eventually recognised that, with a system of proxy votes for baby leave. Even in a few short years, that experience has been overwhelmingly positive and has evolved and developed. Anyone who would suggest rolling it back would find very little appetite at all for doing so.

Extending proxy votes to Members in other unavoidable situations that make attendance difficult is the natural next step. The Procedure Committee heard many important personal examples, and we have just heard one, incredibly powerfully, on the Floor of the Chamber. The broad consensus for today’s motion is to be welcomed, as is everything in the Procedure Committee’s report. I echo other Members of the Committee in thanking the Clerks for their outstanding work, as always, in assisting with its production.

Having served on the Committee from 2015 to 2017, it has been a fascinating experience to return to it in this Parliament. I agree with the Chair that perhaps there will be a little flexibility to let the pilot scheme breathe, given the delays in getting this motion to the Floor of the House in the first place, but I slightly disagree with her when I say that, in reviewing the operation of the scheme, I hope we can consider whether there is room to go further or do things a little bit differently.

The “proxies for all” system that existed during the pandemic operated incredibly successfully and removed any question of what the reason was, what the qualifications were or why people had to be absent at any given time. It also remained voluntary throughout the pandemic. Members did not have to sign up for a proxy vote; they could attend if they wanted to, or make an arrangement for pairing, or to have a slip or to be nodded through, using the other mechanisms that exist.

It is worth exploring how the system might evolve, and that includes looking again at remote voting, because it worked extremely well and ultimately that is where the future of a modern, 21st-century Parliament should lie.

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

Does my hon. Friend share my surprise and puzzlement that most people are not allowed to have a vote counted if they do not physically go through the Lobby, but there is absolutely no requirement on us to have listened to a single word of the debate? We do not need to know what it is we are voting on, as long as we turn up. Does he understand why my constituents, and possibly his, think that that in itself is something strange?

[Patrick Grady]

Yes, my hon. Friend makes a good point. The Chamber is maybe not quite as full as it ought to be for a debate of this importance, but I am sure that other hon. Members, wherever they might be, are following our proceedings live—as no doubt are the many thousands of people tuning in to the live stream and to BBC coverage and so on. There are a lot of different ways now to engage with parliamentary proceedings, both for members of the public and for those of us who, for whatever length of time, are Members of Parliament.

We only have to look at the Scottish Parliament to see how, when it was first set up 20 years ago, it went out of its way to become that kind of modern exemplar, adopting fixed decision times and electronic voting. Similar systems are in place in devolved legislatures and, indeed, local council chambers across these islands. In Holyrood they have continued to use remote voting since the pandemic, which is of huge assistance to Members of the Scottish Parliament who have remote constituencies, caring responsibilities or other kinds of accessibility requirements.

If Parliament—any Parliament, including the future independent Parliament of Scotland—is to be inclusive and truly representative of our modern and diverse society, then participation for its elected Members must be as straightforward and as intelligible to the outside observer as possible. Proxy voting means that Members are not forced into an opaque pairing system or the nonsense of nodding through, which is essentially a proxy voting system but means that Members—I have experienced this as I have had to nod people through in the past—have to stay somewhere else on the estate but are excused from having to go through the Lobbies. That does not help people who have difficult conditions for which they should really be at home recuperating and regaining their strength. The extension of the scheme will allow constituents to be represented even when a Member is indisposed through no fault of their own.

[Karen Bradley]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Patrick Grady]

I am happy to give way to the Chair of the Procedure Committee.

[Karen Bradley]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, who is a valuable member of the Committee. I want to reassure him that many people who are not here are watching the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Theo Clarke), who is availing herself of the proxy vote for baby leave, has just texted me to say how pleased she is that the debate is happening and how much she wants the extension to go through, so there are Members observing who might not be in the Chamber.

[Patrick Grady]

I entirely agree. That exactly proves the point. Many Members are in their offices right now catching up on their constituency correspondence, but they will have the Chamber feed on and will be watching the debate out of the corner of their eye, if only just to find out when the Government will drop the Whip so they can all go home. That is exactly the point: we engage differently now. It does none of us a service when people see pictures of a full Commons talking about one thing and an empty Commons talking about another. That is not representative of how this job works. This point has already been made, but if we want people from more diverse communities, with broader life experience, and who want to raise a broader range of issues, we have to make the job as accessible as possible. That is what I think is happening today.

At this rate, we might manage to drag this House into the 21st century sometime around the start of the 22nd, but by then Scotland will be blazing its own trail as an independent country and, for us, Westminster will be merely a quaint historical curiosity.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I will certainly raise this with the relevant Department. I would encourage the hon. Lady, when the next schedule of questions is published, to come to the House and ask the Secretary of State.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (Ind)]

I welcome the confirmation from the Leader of the House that a statement on the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund will be forthcoming, but I wonder whether we could have a wider debate on UK aid spending, in particular on the pressures on the budget, given the decision to go from 0.7% to 0.5%, and on how we can ensure support for Ukraine is additional to, not instead of, existing aid plans.

[Penny Mordaunt]

Again, the hon. Member has an opportunity tomorrow to raise those issues directly with the Chancellor. We have had fairly recent debates on the aid budget, but I am sure that, when the announcement, which is imminent, on the Global Fund is made, there will be further opportunities to question Ministers about that.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I am blessed to have my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Fay Jones) as my Parliamentary Private Secretary, so I have been tutored on how to say Blaen-y-Maes. I wish the hon. Lady’s community well. It is doing great work, and there are lots of suggestions from across the House on how families up and down the country can meet the economic challenge we face and the global battle against inflation.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

“The UK Government’s Strategy

for International Development” was published as Command Paper 676 on 16 May, but the Government have not seen fit to schedule either a statement or a debate so that Members can scrutinise this significant change in international development policy, which particularly diminishes the role of tackling climate change, mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Will the Leader of the House arrange for the Foreign Secretary either to come and lead a debate or make a statement on this important policy change as soon as possible?

[Mark Spencer]

There are Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions on 21 June. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be in his place to put those questions directly to the Foreign Secretary and that she will be able to respond in due course.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight this matter. Frankly, it is almost laughable that Russia even thinks it would have the remotest chance of hosting an event of that nature while it is committing such actions in Ukraine. I know that FA representatives will be making the strongest representations to UEFA to make sure that that does not happen, but I am sure that my hon. Friend will find other opportunities to continue to raise the matter in the House.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Can we have an urgent debate or statement on the future of the aid budget? Yesterday, the Chancellor could not confirm whether humanitarian aid for Ukraine would be counted towards the official development assistance total, which would squeeze spending plans elsewhere in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Our responsibility to people in need should not be an either/or choice. The resources desperately needed in Ukraine should not be at the expense of existing FCDO aid plans. Can an FCDO Minister come to the House as a matter of urgency and explain exactly what is happening to the international aid budget?

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I think there are Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions in the week we return from half-term, and I know that my hon. Friend will take the opportunity to question our colleagues in BEIS then. The Government are managing the transition from a carbon-driven energy production system to new tech. I know that he is a keen advocate of that, and I am sure that he will hold us to account as we make that transition.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

FDR created the Executive Office of the President in response to the great depression and to drive through the new deal. The Office of the Prime Minister has been created in response to partygate and to get through a leadership crisis. Can we have a debate on the significant constitutional change—the power grab—that is being perpetrated by Downing Street?

[Mark Spencer]

I think that the hon. Gentleman is being a little disingenuous. The Prime Minister wants to bring efficiency to Downing Street, which will benefit my constituents and his. We need a system in Government that delivers for the House of Commons so that hon. Members in the Chamber can hold the Government to account as well as bringing the changes that our constituents desperately need to see.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the work that he has been doing on this particularly important issue. The Government are committed to considering carefully the inquiry’s recommendations and will respond fully within the inquiry’s deadline of six months. Obviously, I cannot comment on the recommendations at this stage, but the Government are delivering the action set out in our groundbreaking tackling child sexual abuse strategy, which sets out our whole-system response to tackling sexual abuse, including exploitation. The Government will shortly publish an updated child exploitation disruption toolkit to help the police and local authorities to prevent and disrupt organised exploitation. It is likely that there will be an opportunity for Members to discuss the work of the IICSA when it publishes its final report later this year.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

During COP26 the Women’s Institute distributed crocheted bangles like the one I am wearing—a bracelet made by Jean Boyle of Flockton WI—to remind decision makers that there should be no more loopholes in carbon emission reduction targets. May we have a debate on how decisions made at COP26 will be monitored and held to account later this year at COP27?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I congratulate the WI on its terrific work. It makes not only marmalade but items for the hon. Gentleman to wear. Of course there will be regular discussions on COP26, and we will be held to account in this House through Adjournment debates, Backbench Business debates and, indeed, questions to the COP26 President.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 28th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I was not at the Parliament in 1295, I am sorry to say. I clearly missed a treat.

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the work that she is doing in Great Grimsby to highlight Parliament during Parliament week, which follows Hallowe’en. I do not know whether we should read anything into that; perhaps people will be tucking into pumpkin soup made from the leftover pumpkins.

It is so important that we engage everyone with Parliament and the work that we do. One thing that should always concern us, as hon. and right hon. Members, is who does not come to see us, and who does not know that they can seek redress of grievance through their Member of Parliament. Most of the time when something has gone wrong and we take it up on behalf of a constituent, it can be put right. We want to ensure that more people know that, and we want to encourage, for instance, the brilliant pupils in my hon. Friend’s constituency to stand for Parliament so that they can go forth and become involved in the democratic process.

I shall certainly be active during Parliament Week, but although it is no competition, Mr Speaker, I have a feeling that you will be even more active than me.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Some important amendments have been tabled to the Elections Bill, which is due to come back to us on Report. They include new clause 1, which would give the House the chance to decide on lowering the voting age to 16. Will the Leader of the House revisit the programme motion to ensure that there is proper, protected time rather a risk of the debate being squeezed and finishing at the moment of interruption? I think it important for the Bill, given its constitutional significance, to be given a full airing on the Floor of the House.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am very sympathetic to what the hon. Gentleman has said. I think that one of our main tasks here—indeed, our main main task—is the scrutiny of legislation. Unfortunately, the House does not always seem to agree with me. I was slightly surprised that the Second Reading of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill fell slightly short, even though it had lost time because of the earlier debate on the remaining stages of the Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Bill.

It ends up being a balance, depending on what Members want—how many urgent questions they ask for earlier in the day, for instance, and what statements are called. This goes back to the issue of making announcements to the Chamber first. We must strike a balance between the legislative business carried out by the House and the other important matters that are brought to it. So I am not unsympathetic, but I think that this is one of those things that are simply a question of balance, and for the House to decide for itself.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Obviously, when the Government do things that prevent business from taking place, a responsibility falls on the Government to ensure that businesses do not lose out. COP26 ought, though, to be a huge success for Glasgow, attracting many visitors to go there and a considerable amount of expenditure, and I hope that the overall economic benefit will be good. This is a further example of the benefits of the United Kingdom, because COP26 is taking place in Glasgow because Scotland is part of a strong and powerful United Kingdom.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

The Leader of the House said he believed that the hybrid procedures we adopted during an earlier phase of the pandemic somehow diminished scrutiny of the Government, but today’s urgent business was announced just minutes before the House sat and then changed after the House had begun to sit. I do not know how that enhances Back-Bench Members’ opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Government. At the very least, may we have a debate on the lessons that might be learned from the procedures that previously we had in place during the pandemic, and perhaps on what better practice out of all that might be adopted, or re-adopted, for the longer term?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

It seems to me to be completely obvious that scrutiny is much better, much tighter and much more spontaneous in this House when we are all present. If Members are in the Chamber, they will know what the business is.

Business of the House

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I very much sympathise with my hon. Friend. Business events are vital for the UK economy, directly contributing over £31 billion each year prior to the pandemic. They also support a vast supply chain and stimulate valuable trade opportunities. The events research programme plays an important role in our work fully to reopen the sector, with another business event pilot set to take place at the Harrogate Convention Centre next week. The Government know how badly the sector has been hit by the pandemic and will continue to encourage and engage with people to monitor the situation and try to support a recovery plan. I accept that this will be a longer-term effort, but I think that beginning to get back to normal from Monday will begin to be helpful.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Can we take it from the Leader of the House’s comments in response to the shadow Leader of the House that if this Chamber is indeed a crowded place next Wednesday at Prime Minister’s questions, he will be following his own Government’s advice and wearing a mask?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Wait and see.