Andrew Murrison MP: speeches

Speeches

• 7 Jul 2026 · Summer Jobs · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the biggest tragedy is for those kids who go to university, with all the costs that involves and three years of their life, only to find that they are no further forward? Does he agree that the Government would be well advised to focus on skills through further education, rather than obsessing about higher education, which I am afraid is a fraud on young people?

• 6 Jul 2026 · Ceramics Industry · Hansard source

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  Order. There is a lot of interest in this debate, so I am imposing an indicative time limit on speeches of four minutes, an exemplar of which will be Sir Gavin Williamson.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Ceramics Industry · Hansard source

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  Order. The sitting is suspended for 15 minutes.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Ceramics Industry · Hansard source

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  That was commendably brief, although not everyone will get in at this rate. I shall have to impose a three-and-a-half minute indicative time limit.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Ceramics Industry · Hansard source

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  Order. I am calling the Front-Bench spokespeople at 6.58 pm—so do the maths, folks.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Police Leadership Commission Report · Hansard source

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  Lords Blunkett and Herbert have done a good job, but I would counsel against introducing a new police rank when most large organisations are stripping ranks out and trying to compress their hierarchies. Does the Minister agree that the No. 1 thing that needs to be done is to improve the quality of top leadership? Their lordships made that point very clearly. In 1839, Captain Samuel Meredith of the Royal Navy was appointed as the first chief constable of Wiltshire. Will the Minister give some consideration to the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) about allowing people from the armed forces and other uniformed services to aspire to top ranks within our police force? It would break down groupthink, and I think it would add a great deal—middle-grade senior people within the armed forces, in particular, would have a great deal to offer.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Foreign Interference in UK Politics · Hansard source

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  The Government are right to pursue this. Foreign interference in UK politics is a blight that needs to be dealt with, and the Government are right to commission Philip Rycroft to do the work. However, does the Minister not understand that the optics of failing to consult political parties across the House are not good? Whatever emerges has to command the respect of everyone, and although I am no apologist for the Reform party, this looks very much like something of a stitch-up, which does none of us any good.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Russia: Level of Threat to UK · Hansard source

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  The Ministry of Defence said over the weekend that the action against HMS Prince of Wales was “unsafe and unprofessional”. Does the Secretary of State not agree that it is far more than that? It is provocative. Does he not further agree that Russia will take the next step, if this threat is not faced down? What action will we take to make it absolutely clear to the killer in the Kremlin that this sort of thing is simply not acceptable?

• 1 Jul 2026 · Israel: E1 Zone Expansion · Hansard source

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  I share the Minister’s frustration about our appearing to be on the sidelines as this Israeli Government divide up the west bank, making a two-state solution nigh-on impossible. What is happening is contrary to the fourth Geneva convention, Oslo II and all the rest of it. However, does he agree that his capacity to influence what is happening is finite? If Israel, under Netanyahu, is not listening to the Trump Administration, it almost certainly will not listen to the Administration that the Minister is part of. However, he can do something in this awful situation: he can at least protect those in this country who will suffer the consequences of what is happening in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who are the butt of a lot of the violence in this country, namely the Jewish community. What will he do to ensure that they do not suffer the consequences of what is going on?

• 30 Jun 2026 · Defence Investment Plan · Hansard source

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  The Daring class and Sea Viper are due to be retired from the mid-2030s. As I understand it from the DIP, the plan is that the Common Combat Vessel, and its slave drone vessels, the Type 91 and Type 94, will come in to replace it as our principal means of hybrid maritime air defence. Given that this is simply little more than a concept at this stage, what confidence does the Secretary of State have that we will not still be reliant on the Daring class, and has he made contingency for extending her service, so that we are not left undefended?

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming: Financial Sustainability · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is right to say that we need to produce more food in this country but, at the moment, farmers are telling me that they are not putting crops in the ground because they cannot afford the fertiliser to sustain them because of the situation in the Gulf. What does the hon. Member think the Government should do to support farmers right now?

• 24 Jun 2026 · Farming Road Map and Profitability Review · Hansard source

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  Wiltshire farmers listened to Ministers at the Oxford farming conference and heard the Government’s pledge to support farmers during difficult harvests and supply shocks. They now find that they are in the middle of a supply shock, with many considering whether to plant their fields right now because of the price of fertiliser, about a third of which comes through the strait of Hormuz. If the pledge was more than rhetorical, is the Secretary of State able to say what practical measures the Government will be executing right now to assist the people I have just described?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Defence Spending and Readiness · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. The Liberal Democrats are famously known for their love of bicycling. Does he agree that it would be a good idea for the Government to drop their plan to spend £4.5 billion over five years on creating cycleways and rededicate that money to defence?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Defence Spending and Readiness · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that Ankara is going to be extremely interesting this year, especially at a time when characters like Foreign Minister Sikorski are pointing out that Poland will be spending 4.8% of its GDP on defence while we spend £4.5 billion on cycle tracks? Mr Sikorski has pointed out that that is indicative of the priorities of this Government, and, as a committed Anglophile, fears that it is indicative of this country retreating into the shadows. It is difficult to avoid that conclusion, isn’t it?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Defence Spending and Readiness · Hansard source

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  I am fascinated by the Minister’s remarks about the withdrawal of troops after the cold war, many of them to Salisbury plain in and around my constituency where they continued to train for current operations. Is she seriously saying that she would recreate the British Army of the Rhine? Is that Government policy—for this Government, or for the Government to come? If so, how is she going to fund it?

• 16 Jun 2026 · Strait of Hormuz · Hansard source

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  Iran has demonstrated that it can close the strait at will, and it probably will threaten to do so in the future when it wants something, so what can we do with international partners, particularly in the region, to engineer alternative routes that will allow oil, gas and fertiliser to exit the Gulf overland, thus neutralising the strait?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Russian Shadow Fleet · Hansard source

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  I warmly congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his appointment, and wish him the best of luck—he will certainly need it. I congratulate all involved in the successful operation in the channel. The reputation of our troops is peerless, and that operation followed similar operations by our allies France, Germany and the US. May I press the Secretary of State on the point raised by my hon. Friend the shadow Defence Secretary about the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which he did not address? That surprised me slightly because, as an Op Banner veteran, he must have a view on that. Will he now ensure, in his new office, that that dreadful measure is cancelled, and bring comfort to those who are threatened by it?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Defence Investment Plan · Hansard source

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  In his excoriating resignation letter, the genuinely hon. and gallant Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) made it clear that he was leaving not just because he considered the DIP to be underfunded but, more particularly, because it planned to spend the money on the wrong things, preparing to fight the last war and not the war to come. He was right, wasn’t he?

• 10 Jun 2026 · Defence Investment Plan · Hansard source

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  At a recent defence industry dinner, the Minister informed diners that the definition of “British” for the purposes of assigning support from the Government to the British defence industry would be an address in the British Isles, which of course is a complete nonsense. Will the upcoming—and much-awaited and much-anticipated—defence investment plan clarify what is meant by a “British firm” for the purposes of Government support and advantaging British defence industry?

• 10 Jun 2026 · Child Contact Arrangements · Hansard source

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  I will call Alison Hume to move the motion; I will then call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and from the Minister.

• 10 Jun 2026 · Belfast: Violent Disorder · Hansard source

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  Happy birthday to you, Mr Speaker. The Minister said to criminals—who are criminals, Minister, not thugs—“Do not do it.” With respect, that will not cut it. It suggests that the Government are simply a passive, pearl-clutching observer rather than an active participant. I accept that operational matters are for the PSNI, not the Minister, but will he say what the Government are doing to try to fix the fundamentals that underpin the dreadful situation in Belfast?

• 10 Jun 2026 · Local Government Reform · Hansard source

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  Last but by no means least, I call Lewis Cocking.

• 10 Jun 2026 · Local Government Reform · Hansard source

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  Colleagues will note the number of Members who are interested in speaking and the time available. I will call the Front Benchers from 10.30 am, so please do the maths.

• 9 Jun 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Can the Foreign Secretary explain the “multi” bit of the multinational maritime mission, because so far all I see are contributions from France and the UK? In particular, she said that she had spoken to her interlocutors last week in China and India. One is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the other is a member of the G20, and both of them stand to suffer far more than the UK and France do from a cessation of trade in oil, gas and fertiliser. What assets will China and India be providing to this multinational maritime mission?

• 8 Jun 2026 · Cuba: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  In trying to understand what America has been doing in its own backyard, what assessment has the Minister made of Cuba as one of the largest foreign contributors to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine? What are the Government doing to better understand the position of Cuba as a potential hub for hybrid warfare in the area, inspired by Russia and as Russia’s entry point for its malign activities in the wider Hispanic region?