Mark Fletcher: It is slightly separate, as I am going back in my hon. Friend’s speech, but I thank her for giving way. She has taken many interventions, and I think she is doing a marvellous job. I want to go back to her point about specialists being able to prescribe versus GPs. I have a particular concern about the pressures on GPs at the moment, particularly coming out of the pandemic and the fact that...
Mark Fletcher: On both sides of the House, there is a clear demand to see that evidence base come forward. We are sending a very powerful message to companies and manufacturers by saying, “Please provide us with this evidence, because we want to go in the same of direction”. My hon. Friend is doing a very good job on that front.
Mark Fletcher: One of my difficulties with the Bill is with clause 3 and the precedent it would set that the House effectively gets to decide which medicines we should prioritise and for which conditions. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that, if we go down that route, we undermine our independent regulatory system that is based on science and evidence?
Mark Fletcher: In response to some of the passions expressed, I want to say that my hon. Friend is making an incredible speech. Not only is it emotional, but it outlines the difficulties of ethics, decision making, science and research. I have listened for the past 30 minutes, captivated by the way in which she is presenting the matter to the House. On behalf of all hon. Members here today, may I say thank you?
Mark Fletcher: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) on securing, as he called it, a timely debate that is at the heart of the Government’s levelling-up agenda. I question the Cornwall and Devon bias to my right; Derbyshire is where people should be going for their holidays. Like many former coal communities, the...
Mark Fletcher: I was grateful to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) for meeting me last week to discuss the lack of post-16 educational opportunities in the Bolsover constituency. Does she agree that in order for the next generation of young people in Bolsover truly to reach their potential, it is vital that they can access the...
Mark Fletcher: Diplomatic.
Mark Fletcher: I once again declare my interest as a member of the Standards Committee, which seems to be gaining more responsibilities and notoriety every day. Lord Bew’s introductory letter to the 2018 report that we have been discussing asks: “most importantly, how can MPs and Parliament build and promote greater public trust?” In essence, that is the most relevant question for today’s debate....
Mark Fletcher: I think that point about the Lords was answered by the Leader of the House earlier, and I think he made the position very clear. I am personally very sympathetic to paragraph (1) of the Opposition motion, which is also covered in the Government’s amendment. I am afraid that my support does not extend to paragraphs (2) and (3). If the Committee on Standards is to be tasked with drawing up...
Mark Fletcher: I congratulate the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on securing this debate and very much welcome it. I, too, am a member of the Standards Committee. Usually, by precedent, we do not comment on the cases that we deal with: we put everything into our report and allow the report to speak for itself. However, last week left us in slightly unusual circumstances where we felt...
Mark Fletcher: If ever an intervention killed a career, Mr Speaker! It is the untold story of last week’s situation that absolutely none of the points raised by Mr Paterson and his various supporters were not discussed by the Committee at length. The report that was produced contained many of the responses and corrections. Everyone is entitled to disagree with what the Committee decided, but it is...
Mark Fletcher: What steps his Department is taking to improve the condition of roads in England.
Mark Fletcher: More than 300 of my constituents have already signed my petition backing plans to improve junction 28 of the M1. It has been a constant bottleneck; residents of Pinxton and South Normanton are so often stuck there for a very long time. Will the Minister commit to working with me to make sure that we can deliver plans to improve that junction?
Mark Fletcher: What recent discussions he has had with the Irish Government on addressing the legacy of the Troubles.
Mark Fletcher: May I place on record my condolences to the families of the two colleagues whom we have lost? I recently undertook residents surveys in Heath and Shirebrook in my constituency, which showed strong demand for more bobbies on the beat to tackle antisocial behaviour. What progress have we made in getting more police on the streets in Derbyshire?
Mark Fletcher: Does the Prime Minister agree that this new partnership with Australia, which builds on the recently announced trade deal that will boost jobs and businesses across the country, including the east midlands, shows the huge opportunities available to global Britain as we look beyond our friends and allies in Europe to become a truly global power on the world stage?
Mark Fletcher: What discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the potential merits of a separate independent public inquiry into the handling of the covid-19 outbreak in Wales.
Mark Fletcher: My hon. Friend is giving an excellent speech. One thing he has touched on, but perhaps not expanded on, is the efficiencies that local government has found. Are there any particular lessons that he thinks are relevant to the NHS as we move forward?
Mark Fletcher: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ilford South (Sam Tarry), if only because he asked what we would say to the people in his constituency who have been struggling. It seems a strange time to ask that question when the Government have just spent £400 billion helping individuals and businesses through a tremendous crisis, keeping the show on the road and making sure that our...
Mark Fletcher: I am very grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s concern about our future job prospects, but I would much rather be standing for a party that is willing to invest in the NHS, to be the party of the NHS, and to try to fix the problems in social care. I would much rather have those job prospects than be a Back-Bench Labour MP who stands for nothing, has no plan and has weak leadership.
