Bernard Jenkin: When are the Government planning to hold another debate on the situation in Ukraine? Does my right hon. Friend not agree that it is an important opportunity for the nation’s representatives to state their support for the Government’s policy—also supported by His Majesty’s Opposition—as a clear act of will that we are determined to see the Ukrainians reach a satisfactory outcome to...
Bernard Jenkin: I congratulate my right hon. Friend on putting Ukraine front and centre at the G7 summit. Will he make it clear that that is not just because we believe it is morally right to support Ukraine in her own self-defence, but is because the successful outcome of the war in Ukraine is intrinsically tied up with our own strategic and national interest, and that of the whole western world, upon which...
Bernard Jenkin: I apologise to my right hon. Friend and the Minister that I cannot stay, but I will read very carefully what the Minister says. Perhaps she could quantify what she thinks the VAT take from FE colleges is, so that we know what we are discussing. Does my right hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) agree that we are not discussing a free gift to FE colleges? Like...
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will make an estimate of the cost of tackling environmental issues arising from (a) the East Anglia Green Energy Enablement project and (b) offshore alternatives to that project.
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate he has made of when the review announced by the electricity system operator of the offshore alternative to the East Anglia Green Energy Enablement project will be (a) concluded and (b) published.
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions he has had with ESO-National Grid on the timing of the next consultation on the East Anglia Green Energy Enablement project; and if he will make a statement.
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of electricity generating capacity that will be required in each year between 2023 and 2050; what the minimum generating margin will be in each of those years; and if he will make a statement.
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is planning to take in response to Russia's capture of 14 Bulgarian sailors who were stranded in Mariupol as hostages; whether the Government has provided support to the government of Bulgaria to resist Russian demands; and if he will make a statement.
Bernard Jenkin: I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and for the presentation of this paper, which shows a far greater strategic awareness of the vulnerability that the whole of the west faces than we would have seen in any document just a few years ago. But is not the ghost at the feast still the money? I very much welcome his commitment to 2.5% of GDP for defence, but when are we going to see our...
Bernard Jenkin: Just to make the obvious point, the whole purpose of the buffer zones legislation is to create an exclusion zone around abortion clinics so that people with views they want to express about the subject of abortion clinics will not be in contact with people going to use those services. Amendment (a) would drive a coach and horses through that whole process. The way it is worded would mean that...
Bernard Jenkin: Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Bernard Jenkin: I utterly respect the sincerity with which amendment (a) to Lords amendment 5 was moved and why my hon. Friend is supporting it. I am pleased to hear that the hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) is against harassment, but that is the point of amendment (a). It does not say that any person engaged in consensual communication or silent prayer shall avoid harassment; it says that it...
Bernard Jenkin: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Bernard Jenkin: It is not a matter of interpretation, because it seems to me that this amendment would create exactly the kind of conflict and disruption to public peace that it is intended to avoid? If somebody kneels ostentatiously to pray in front of someone on their way to an abortion clinic, what is that intended to do? This amendment says that “such communication or prayer shall not, without more, be...
Bernard Jenkin: I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer), because His Majesty the King was visiting my constituency today, so I arrived back too late to hear him propose the amendment. It is worth pointing out, however, that both Houses have now voted heavily in favour of the principle of buffer zones. We have to understand the passions behind what is proposed, but it is...
Bernard Jenkin: Can we be clear about the fact that, inexplicably, what has been happening has been completely legal? Nothing has changed since the gas and electricity Acts of the 1980s, and, indeed, the Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act dates from 1954. Can the Minister explain whose decision it was that the courts should start issuing warrants for the forcible fitting of prepayment meters...
Bernard Jenkin: I am on my feet because I have a crustacean industry in my constituency, and I also represent a constituent, Charles Clover, who is director of the Blue Marine Foundation. I have also read Jenni Russell’s commentary about this in The Times, which I find to be compelling. I am disappointed by many of the exchanges that have taken place, and there has clearly been a huge breakdown of trust....
Bernard Jenkin: I thank my hon. and learned Friend and the Government for the exemplary way in which the UK Government have led on all this. They have made a very significant and considerable change in the atmosphere over the past few days. But what about France? What discussions are taking place with it? If we want NATO unity, it is now the odd man out because it is not sending tanks. Does the Minister...
Bernard Jenkin: I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement—what a blessing it is to have someone who knows so much about farming at the Dispatch Box—and in particular for his emphasis on food security, which, as we can now see, has been too neglected for too long. It is clear from the current food price inflation and shortages in the shops that we need better food security. Perhaps he would like to...
Bernard Jenkin: I thank everyone who has taken part ably in this debate, and my hon. Friend the Minister for his response. I would point out to the Scottish nationalists that I do not think that President Putin would have attacked Ukraine if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons. But the main point that I wish to make—for all the positive things that my hon. Friend said—is that it is complacent to say that...
