Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her Department’s policies of the report by the APPG on Hormone Pregnancy Test entitled Bitter Pill: Primodos - the forgotten thalidomide, published on 27 February 2024.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will implement the recommendations in the report by the APPG on Hormone Pregnancy Test entitled Bitter Pill: Primodos - the forgotten thalidomide, published on 27 February 2024.
Jeff Smith: What discussions she had with her Israeli and Palestinian counterparts on compliance with international humanitarian law during her visit to the middle east in February 2024.
Jeff Smith: I welcome the Attorney General’s strong condemnation of settler violence against Bedouin communities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and I also welcome the sanctions recently imposed on some of those involved in the violence. Based on her recent visit, does she think that there is a need to go further and sanction those extremist Israeli politicians who are encouraging the violent...
Jeff Smith: What his Department’s planned timetable is for when the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Recovery will be operational.
Jeff Smith: In the light of this morning’s High Court ruling, does the Secretary of State still think that after 1 May the citizens of Northern Ireland should be the only people in the UK denied the right to seek justice for crimes committed during the troubles, through civil cases and inquests?
Jeff Smith: I have raised with the Minister and other Ministers the case of my constituent who is trying to get his wife and baby daughter through the Rafah crossing. Very frustratingly, he cannot get the mother on to the approved list. I know it is not the only case like that. Will the Minister focus with a renewed urgency to press the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to resolve these delays and make...
Jeff Smith: I welcome the Defence Secretary’s statement. He is right that the House is united in its support for Ukraine. We should be proud of the UK armed forces personnel who have trained so many Ukrainian recruits. I think he said earlier that there will be another 10,000 in the first half of the year, which is obviously welcome. Will he take the opportunity to confirm that our vital training...
Jeff Smith: Today we have seen news of another serious attack by the Houthis on a commercial vessel in the gulf of Aden. Do Ministers think that more Royal Navy ships will need to be deployed to the region, given the ongoing threat to merchant shipping?
Jeff Smith: One SME owner in my constituency told me that, if he has meetings in London, he now often travels down the night before, because he cannot rely on Avanti’s train service. Even if the trains are not cancelled, as we learned recently, Avanti is Britain’s least punctual train operator. Given that terrible service, does the Secretary of State now regret his premature decision to extend the...
Jeff Smith: What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.
Jeff Smith: Three quarters of police-recorded domestic abuse cases are closed due to evidential difficulties or because the victim does not support further action. Does the Minister agree that Labour’s proposal to put rape and domestic abuse specialists in every police force in England and Wales will give women the confidence to come forward and secure more convictions?
Jeff Smith: The Minister referred earlier to the extraordinary degree of suffering in Gaza. We need an immediate ceasefire to stop that humanitarian disaster and get the aid in now, but such has been the level of destruction in Gaza that the need for aid work will continue for many months and years. When the Minister spoke to him earlier, did Philippe Lazzarini indicate, first, how long his inquiry is...
Jeff Smith: I congratulate the right hon. Lady and her Committee on an excellent report. I very much agree with its recommendations. The Leader of the House said that the Government would respond shortly. Has she had any indication from the Government that they will accept the Committee’s recommendations? She said that it needs the agreement of the Lords. What sort of timescale is there for how quickly...
Jeff Smith: I learned to swim at Withington baths—
Jeff Smith: Indeed, the shadow Leader of the House also learned to swim there. It is a lovely Edwardian building in the heart of Withington. When the coalition cuts hit Manchester so hard around 10 years ago, the council was forced to transfer ownership to a community group. Under its leadership, the leisure centre has gone from strength to strength, and last week it celebrated the completion of a highly...
Jeff Smith: When she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to exonerate the remaining sub-postmasters with criminal convictions relating to the failure of the Post Office Horizon system.
Jeff Smith: Does the Minister have an estimate of how many convictions were made during the Horizon pilot? Will he confirm that those convictions will be included in the legislation, given that they were not made using Horizon data?
Jeff Smith: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—you will be pleased to know that I intend to be brief. Originally, I was going to speak about a number of issues, including the situation in Ukraine, but I am grateful to be able to comment briefly on the situation in the Red sea and the region. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) indicated from the Front Bench, Labour...
Jeff Smith: It is a special politician who gets a tribute covering the whole front page of the Manchester Evening News with the headline “An example of honesty, principle and kindness”, a quote taken from comments from the Mother of the House but echoed by so many in recent days. The tributes often mention what an outstanding public servant Tony was, and what a good, kind person he was. He was always...