Edward Leigh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 23 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q8. Will the Government please continue to work closely with me and West Lindsey district council to ensure that RAF Scampton is sold off in a timely fashion at a fair price, so that we secure the future of the runway, the spaceport and the heritage centre, rather than maximise value and cover it with housing?

• 21 Oct 2024 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend mentioned the 302 mentions of uncertainty. It is hard to know how that can foster growth. Let us be honest: businesses are already more highly taxed and regulated than ever before. We all know the reason—the pandemic— and we have to take responsibility for that. Will he assure me that, as a party, we will use this period of opposition to once again proclaim our values as a low-tax, deregulated economy? Otherwise, how will we foster growth in an increasingly competitive world? If we tax businesses more, we simply lay the foundation of a future Labour Government.

• 21 Oct 2024 · St Helena: UK Immigration · Hansard source

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  If it is possible legally to deport illegal migrants from Diego Garcia to St Helena, is there any legal reason why we cannot deport illegal migrants landing on these shores to St Helena or any other overseas territory? Is it, as a former Home Secretary told me recently, because after five years they would acquire rights to British citizenship?

• 17 Oct 2024 · Government’s Childcare Expansion · Hansard source

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  There are countless millions of free childminders available. The love between a grandparent and a grandchild is the purest love: love without responsibility. I declare a personal interest. Will the Minister assure me that he will incentivise grandparents to look after their grandchildren, and that nothing in the tax or benefits system will discriminate against mothers who want to look after their children full time? Will he build on the Conservatives’ scheme of transferrable allowances?

• 15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  The trouble with this sort of partial reform is that it opens other issues. Why does the Church of England have a monopoly on places in the House of Lords? I am all in favour of the established Church, and of letting it have perhaps 12 bishops, but why can we not share the other places between this country’s other Christian denominations and non-Christian faiths? Do they not deserve a voice?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Health Outcomes: East Midlands · Hansard source

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  With two thirds of people having to wait more than four hours at Lincoln County hospital’s A&E department and with horror stories from my constituents of people waiting up to 24 hours, does the Minister understand that if we are to save the NHS and give people the timely appointments they need, we must unleash the full power of the private sector?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Health Outcomes: East Midlands · Hansard source

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  1. What steps his Department plans to take to improve health outcomes in the east midlands.

• 14 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. In the run-up to the second world war, during an era of increasing international tensions, the Government opened up many new RAF airfields, in what was called the expansion programme. One of those airfields was RAF Scampton. Now that we are no longer to have illegal migrants there, this matter is sitting in the Home Office’s in-tray: will the MOD work with the Home Office to ensure that we keep the runway open for future use? It is one of the best, longest runways in Europe. Who knows—RAF Scampton might be not just part of the history of the RAF, with the Dambusters and the Red Arrows, but part of the future of the RAF and save us once again.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The previous Minister promised me and my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) that he had instructed LNER and Network Rail to ensure that we get our through train from Grimsby to London. Will the Minister confirm that she will continue those firm instructions and, above all, ensure that this train stops? If it does not stop in Market Rasen, I am going to lie down on the line and stop it that way.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  I do not want to get into the debate for and against solar farms, but even those in favour of them should surely agree that we should not have a concentration of them—10,000 acres of them—around one town, namely Gainsborough. Should the Secretary of State not consider such matters in the round, and take all the applications together?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  rose —

• 7 Oct 2024 · Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East · Hansard source

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  There are many different opinions on policy in the middle east, but does the Prime Minister agree that what must surely unite everyone in this House is our profound detestation of antisemitism in all its shapes and forces, as well as our profound love for the Jewish people on their day of suffering, especially as many of those who were murdered at the music festival and in the kibbutz were actively working for peace? Will he reflect that there are still many people—many Jewish and Arab people—who want a moderate solution, and that we should give them our support?

• 7 Oct 2024 · British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations · Hansard source

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  I do not know how many people in the Chamber have visited these islands, but I went there with the Defence Committee 38 years ago. It was crucial in our whole effort in the cold war against the Soviet Union. We never appeased once in that cold war, and we won it. The question I want to ask—it is a serious question—is this: given that Mauritius has a close relationship with China, and given that we cannot trust a single word the Chinese say with our experience on Hong Kong, and given that they are militarising islands all over the Pacific, are we absolutely sure that sometime in the future the Chinese will not exert pressure on the Mauritian Government to have a base on these islands?

• 12 Sept 2024 · NHS: Independent Investigation · Hansard source

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  I greatly respect the Secretary of State, and, as an older person who relies on the NHS, I support his radical zeal. I repeat what he said in his statement: cancer is more likely to be a death sentence for NHS patients than for patients in other countries. We have had this conversation previously, but can he at least look at the health systems in other countries, particularly those in the Netherlands, Australia, France and Germany? Those countries, which have wonderful health systems protecting the vulnerable, use a mixture of social insurance and public and private funds to maximise inputs into their health services.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Social Security · Hansard source

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  If I can reach out to the Labour party for a moment, there is a case for having a serious debate about the total package that we give to pensioners. We could have done that in a sensible way—I have raised it myself, having questioned some aspects of the triple lock a couple of years ago. It is a very difficult debate, but I understand that the total package paid to pensioners as a proportion of gross national product must not keep increasing every year, because that is the way ultimately to bankrupt the country. We need to have a social contract between older people like myself and younger people, particularly when it comes to house building. I understand all that. That is the debate we should have been having today, and we could have combined as a House to have that debate and protect the public finances. However, that is not the debate we are having. We are debating the action of a Government who have not just gone against a manifesto commitment—there was no manifesto commitment to do this—but actually gave a specific promise that they would not do it. This is surely a question of public trust. They gave an absolute guarantee and I think that is why people are so upset. I know that some people will say, and here I declare an interest: why should somebody like me receive the winter fuel allowance? All right, let us have a serious debate about that. But what about the people—these are the people I feel so strongly about—who have worked hard all their life, have served their country, receive a very small occupational pension, do not receive pension credit and are looking after every penny, and suddenly, because they do not and cannot receive pension credit because they have a very small occupational pension, their winter fuel allowance is taken away? That will make a real difference to them, so we really have to consider them, and have a serious debate about how we are going to protect those people. May I make one suggestion to the Government? The hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier) alluded to the fact that there should have been a serious debate about tapering, or something similar. I will tell the House what this is all about. This is about a punishment beating. The New Labour Government decided they had to make their case that the public finances were in a dire state and that there was this— [ Interruption. ] Hang on—there was this £22 billion black hole. We spend £1,200 billion every year. The £22 billion so-called black hole is a mere accounting device. The Labour Government are trying to make the political point that the Conservative party ran the country into the ground, so we have to punish the pensioners. It is absolute and complete rubbish. What those we represent cannot understand—the people who worked hard all of their life, who have done their bit for the country and whose total package is perhaps £13,000 or £14,000 a year—is that this so-called saving of public money is actually going to go to the train drivers, who earn £70,000 a year. So for God’s sake, let us have a serious debate, let us try to unite on this issue and let us not keep taking away benefits from people just above the pension credit limit. Of course, there are many pensioners who are entitled to pension credit who, for all sorts of reasons, will never claim it. They are suffering, so they will be even worse off. There is another point to be made. The Government will argue that the total package will be worth more after the increase in the triple lock next year, but actually a pensioner who drew their pension before 2016, by the time they have had this cut, will probably be even worse off. The first cut in the state pension for years! This is not acceptable. This is not the right way to go about things. We should unite around a sensible package that rewards pensioners for their hard work, but does not just indulge in a political gesture.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  It seems to me that if you are attacked by a demented bear, you either run away or hit him so hard that he runs away, but the west’s policy on Ukraine appears to be to wound and not win. In that context, will the Government make an unequivocal public statement that Ukraine should be allowed to use Storm Shadow and, more importantly, the US-made army tactical missile system? Then we might actually win this war.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  To make his maiden speech, I call Richard Baker.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  For his maiden speech, I call Richard Tice.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Sir Ashley Fox to make his maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Nesil Caliskan to make her maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Jo White to make her maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Brian Leishman to make his maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Shockat Adam to make his maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I call Max Wilkinson to make his maiden speech.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  Order. The convention is that during maiden speeches, everybody keeps very quiet. Whatever you think of what is being said, for a maiden speech, keep quiet.