Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Since the SNP Government came to office in 2007, the value of Scottish food exports has more than doubled, with businesses in my constituency enjoying excellent levels of growth. What impact assessment has the Department carried out on the impact of Brexit on such excellent growth, or is there simply a fingers-crossed approach? This morning at 9.21, I received a response from the Scotland...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: The average band D council tax bill in Scotland is almost £400 lower than it is in England. Will the Secretary of State’s discussions consider how local authorities in England can learn from Scotland’s successes in providing local and national services while maintaining the lowest council tax rate in the UK?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: I thank the Foreign Secretary for advance sight of his statement and I associate Scottish National party Members with his opening remarks, in which he paid tribute to those who lost their lives in Jerusalem and Stockholm. Our thoughts are with their families. The international community must respond to what can only be described as the monstrous actions of the Assad regime. There should be an...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Paragraph 4.4 of the White Paper speaks of working closely with devolved Administrations for “an approach that works for the whole and each part of the UK.” I cannot help but feel that it is déjà vu all over again; so far, this Government have done nothing to demonstrate their intention to work with the devolved Administrations. If the Government continue their unsustainable approach of...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: May I take this opportunity to place on the record my congratulations to Marvi Memon on winning the inaugural Speaker’s Democracy Award? That speaks to the importance of highlighting women’s contribution to politics, which should be the focus of people’s attention, not what we wear or how we appear. Has the Leader of the House ever had the opportunity to listen to a recording of a...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: The Prime Minister has stated that she will not provide a running commentary on negotiations. Earlier this week in the Financial Times, Michel Barnier stated: “The unity of the 27 will be stronger when based on full transparency and public debate.” I ask the Prime Minister: what exactly does it say about this so-called team approach if Members of this Parliament, and indeed devolved...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: May I ask the Secretary of State what work her Department is doing with the international community to help ensure that they are better able to provide a more urgent early response to food crises, to avoid mass loss of life?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Will the Minister join me in welcoming the establishment of a psychological training centre for former Daesh sex slaves at the University of Dohuk in Iraq, which is the first of its kind in the region? Can he confirm what support the UK Government will be giving to that groundbreaking trauma unit?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Has the Secretary of State watched or listened to an appeal hearing for PIP applicants? I have received information and representations from a number of constituents who feel intimidated and misrepresented by the process. What steps is he taking to ensure that the people involved in the process are treated with the respect, dignity and compassion that they deserve?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: May I associate myself and my party with the Secretary of State’s opening remarks? We will have an opportunity to pay our respects later, but we are grateful that we are here because of the bravery of others. The rise in Scottish exports has been one of the major success stories in the Scottish economy over the past decade. What lessons does the Minister believe the rest of the UK can learn...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brent Central (Dawn Butler) on securing the debate and on setting the scene so beautifully and eloquently, as always, and so passionately as we observe this day. It is of course important to mark this day. She said that we should be united together with one voice. In turbulent political times,...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: I am grateful to the Secretary of State for her statement. I have received a huge number of emails on this issue from many constituents, and I welcome the intervention that she detailed in her statement. A free, open and diverse press is of course important to democracy, and I want to put on record that my constituents have asked that she understands the depth and strength of feeling on this...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: I am grateful to the Secretary of State for her interesting statement, particularly in relation to the work around children. What is being done to help support and empower women to rebuild the civil society of which she correctly speaks, and what support is being offered on the ground to women and young people so that they can resist the ongoing call to arms from Daesh, which uses their...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: This is of course a welcome U-turn, but if it is right to rethink this decision, is it not also right to look at the decisions that were overlooked last week? The Chancellor spoke in his statement about unfairness in treatment. May I remind him of the thousands of WASPI— Women Against State Pension Inequality—women who protested outside the Chamber last week, and ask him when his...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Our First Minister was elected with the largest vote in Scottish parliamentary history, on a manifesto that stated that the Scottish Parliament—
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will start again. Our First Minister was elected with the largest vote in Scottish parliamentary history, on a manifesto pledge that the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold an independence referendum “if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances…such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will.” My question to the...
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: In the spirit of the so-called UK-wide approach to Brexit, will the Prime Minister confirm how much notice she intends to give to the First Ministers of Wales and Scotland and to the leadership in Northern Ireland of the date upon which she intends to invoke article 50?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: rose—
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: Will the Secretary of State give way?
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: I am very grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. This Government’s track record on contingency planning is as bad as their handling of the Brexit process, so if it is the case that they are not going to protect the position of EU nationals and it therefore becomes the case that the position of EU nationals is not protected, has the Secretary of State given any consideration to a...