Jim Shannon
MP for Strangford · Democratic Unionist Party · United Kingdom
“I thank the Minister for those answers. This has happened three times in three years. Normally, on the third strike, you are out. Instead, the chief executive gets an £871,000 bonus. For people in Northern Ireland, a flight to Great Britain is a basic utility. When NATS crashed, my constituents were entirely cut off.”
“When it comes to lobbying, Northern Ireland has a peculiar circumstance where one party can be involved in politics in Northern Ireland and at the same time be involved in politics in the Republic of Ireland. When it comes to the accountability that the hon.”
“Member for North East Fife referred to this—everybody knew every officer in the area where they lived. Different times mean different pressures and different needs, but I have always supported community policing in all my years as an elected representative, throughout my time on the council and in the Northern Ireland Assembly before comi…”
“I will say this to the Minister: although policing is a devolved matter for us back home, I want to make some comments, if I may, about the focus of the police, which means they sometimes do what is unnecessary. I will give an example.”
“The hon. Gentleman is a Leicester City supporter, as I am; we do not have to seek our sorrows at this moment in time, but that is by the way. More importantly, his comments underline the issues for local independent pharmacy owners. As the hon.”
“That is the reality for these people, who have consciences, feel compassion and want to care for their patients and customers. The impact is clear, because almost 90% of pharmacies in Northern Ireland were unable to pay their wholesaler bill in January. Think about what that means for a second: that is real pressure.”
The complete record
Every one of 4,229 lines we hold for Jim Shannon, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 85.
“I want to highlight our real concerns about the oil and gas industry and the fact that we are highly reliant on international supply at a time, as the Holy Bible says, “of wars and rumours of wars”. That is clearly where we are now. The pastor at my church told us before Christmas that there are 67 wars in the world. I speak for the hard-working families of Northern Ireland and the wider United Kingdom. We face a defining choice for our energy future. The North sea is not just a great geographical basin, as some seem to think, but a cornerstone of our national security and an economic engine, protecting our people from foreign reliance. Yet we hear voices in the Chamber demanding a premature end to domestic drilling. They want to shut down our fields and leave our resources in the ground.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for introducing the debate and support his ambitions to take this issue forward. It is no surprise that the hon. Gentleman and his party have been at the fore in pressing it, including the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie). I thank them and add my support to what they do. It is a pleasure to see the Minister in his place. He always has a quiet demeanour and a smile. He sometimes even gives the answers we wish to have, even though we may not entirely agree. We thank him for acting in a way that endears him to all of us—that is quite a talent, and he does it well.”
“My hon. Friend and colleague brings forward the exact motivations of many people who speak to me. I endorse what he says, as I am sure others will. When it comes to our national future, security must always come first. Global instability proves that we cannot simply rely on foreign regimes for our oil and gas. If we abandon the North sea, we hand total control of our energy bills over to unpredictable international markets. We must remember the workers; I say that as a non-Labour man, but I mean it.”
“Member for Bromsgrove is as well, and I thank him for that. Protecting the Union means understanding that a strong, self-reliant United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland requires utilising every single national resource available to us. Ultimately, domestic oil will fund the future, as the tax revenues generated from it are exactly what we need to finance our future green infrastructure. My hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) referred to the fact that we are committed to net zero, but there has to be realism about how we approach that. The Democratic Unionist party stands for energy independence. We stand for the British worker. We stand for a pragmatic, common-sense strategy that keeps the lights on and the bills affordable.”
“The hon. Gentleman underlines the issues. He is an assiduous and hard-working MP; his constituents should be proud of what he does. Those problems are happening not just in his area but elsewhere. The by-election result is an indication of that, for those who take note. Tens of thousands of highly skilled British jobs depend directly on this vital sector. Furthermore, we must confront the import myth: importing foreign fuel creates higher global emissions than extracting our own safely right here at home. The benefits cannot be ignored; that is an advantage of our own oil and our own drilling capacity. We need to support a common-sense transition that values realism over rhetoric. We must secure our baseload energy before transitioning to unproven new technologies. I am committed to protecting the Union; I know that the hon.”
“Families throughout the United Kingdom cannot afford the cost of living increases, many of which are due to energy prices being passed on to heat homes and to the rising cost of goods and services. If we are ever to allow disposable income to rise, which lifts the local economy, we have to get on top of the energy issue. Although we should look to renewables and continue to work on those projects at speed, until they are ready to be of any use, we must be sensible, pragmatic and honest, and use the resources at our disposal. Our families—my constituents in Strangford and those across Northern Ireland—are calling out for help. Let us give them the help they need. With that in mind, I look forward to the reassurance that the Minister will give to me and many others in the Chamber.”
“I do not entirely agree with the hon. Member’s comments, but he is my friend and I take his intervention along those lines. We talk regularly about many things but we do not always agree, and we do not agree on this issue. The oil in the North sea belongs to everybody in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not just Scotland. It also belongs to Northern Ireland, Wales and England—it belongs to us. Why? Because we are part of the Union. What we produce in Northern Ireland is also for the benefit of those in Scotland. Sometimes those things are forgotten about. We will agree to disagree. We must continue to support the North sea industry, secure our borders and protect our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We need our Government to do the same.”
“First, I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this issue forward. I spoke to him beforehand, to make him aware of my intervention. He will not be aware—indeed, nobody will be—that my wife has been a volunteer in animal shelters for a great many years, so we have had the cats and dogs that could not be homed living in our home, and they became, as they often do, family members. Does he agree that we must implement strict, legally binding regulations that mandate compassion, force transparency and ensure that destruction is only ever a last medical resort?”
“I strongly urge the House to reject this proposal—although, of course, we will not vote on it—and to maintain the strength of first past the post, the best system there is. Let us continue with it.”
“Candidates with a minuscule share of first-preference votes can end up being elected on the 10th or 11th count, not because they were anybody’s first choice but because they were the least disliked one. A candidate someone disliked the most could still be elected, even though they did not want them to be. I am very conscious of time. First past the post has preserved the integrity of this Parliament for centuries. It ensures that Governments are robust and that the Union remains anchored by a strong, understandable and decisive democratic process. We must never trade a system of proven stability and direct accountability for one of permanent compromise, fractured local representation and endless coalition haggling.”
“We use PR via STV for councils and the Assembly. Although STV was introduced as a tool to ensure cross-community representation in a deeply divided society, let us be honest about its practical realities. First, it is complex. Sometimes it is confusing. Every election shows that many people, no matter how many times they are told how the PR system works, still spoil their votes by marking six or seven Xs, or by writing one, two, three, four, five and six in different columns. Someone might put ones, twos or even threes for everybody; the PR system is confusing for them. STV also fundamentally dilutes the democratic mandate. Counting goes on for days. Fractional transfers of votes decide who wins the final seats.”
“I started with hair and now I have none, so maybe that is the reason—I do not know. First past the post provides a clear outcome. It allows the electorate to decisively choose a Government or throw one out. I believe that it prevents the sort of backroom political horse-trading we see perpetuated across Europe, where coalitions are cobbled together weeks after an election has finished, rendering the manifestos that parties fought on and the public voted for completely meaningless. I point Members towards the Republic of Ireland, where partnership or coalition Governments are cobbled together each and every time. In doing so, parties have to water down what they set out to the electorate in their manifestos. Let us contrast first past the post with our experience back home in Northern Ireland.”
“When the voters of Strangford sent me here, they knew exactly who was responsible for standing up for local schools, roads, hospitals and many other issues—farming, fishing and immigration. There is no hiding behind a party list. There is no passing the buck to three or four regional members. The buck stops with the constituency MP. For the record, whenever I have been elected as an MP—that has been five times—I have always said in my election speech that I thank everybody who voted for me and those who did not vote for me, because I am still their MP and I will work for everybody to the fullest of my ability. I fought seven council elections and five Assembly elections, including for the Forum for Political Dialogue. This is my 41st year as an elected representative; it has been a long time.”
“We are not better than anybody else; it is just that we have done this for a great number of years. We do not just look at alternative voting systems in theory or on academic balance sheets. Through the single transferable vote, we live it, operate within it and contest it in every single local government mandate and Northern Ireland Assembly election. STV is the law of the land. First, I want to look at the undisputed champion of stability—forgive me, those close to me who may not agree with this—the first-past-the-post system used for our UK general elections. First past the post delivers what the British public value above almost all else in Governments: clarity, accountability and a direct, inseverable link between a Member of Parliament and their constituents.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney). I will shed some light from a constituency that operates PR for local government and Northern Ireland Assembly elections. The hon. Lady—I spoke to her already—and I will have slightly different opinions on this matter, but I respect her greatly. Indeed, I respect all my colleagues on the Opposition Benches— [ Interruption. ] And on the Government Benches, by the way—sorry, but I corrected myself quickly. We may have differences of opinion, but there are many more things that we agree on. I will put forward the point of view from Northern Ireland. I say gently and respectfully to the House that the DUP and, indeed, the people of Northern Ireland speak on this matter with a unique form of authority.”
“My Newtownards library has been allocated funding by the relevant Minister. Understanding that a warm library is a place of knowledge, friendship and community, does the Minister also agree that the benefit to communities is more than the ability to borrow a book and is in fact the ability to connect, and that that needs to be supported by all of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?”
“The Government must use their powers to enforce fair dealing and transparency right across the agrifood network, and they must protect the family farm structure from punitive taxation. Recent proposals and changes threatening agricultural property relief and business property relief strike at the very heart of generational sustainability. Forcing a grieving family to sell off parcels of land just to pay an inheritance tax bill destroys the viability of enterprise overnight. It is a tax on food security and the Democratic Unionist party will stand four-square against it.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), who set the scene incredibly well. I have four points of 30 seconds each. When we talk about farming in Northern Ireland, we are talking about family farms. Over 27,000 farming families across Northern Ireland work the land day in and day out. Financial sustainability requires three things from this Government: certainty, equity and protection. We need an increased multiannual farm support budget that is fully inflation-proofed. If there are no farmers, there is no food. That cannot be right. Financial sustainability is impossible if farmers are forced to sell their top-quality, world-leading produce at or below the cost of production.”
“I am mindful of the question asked by the hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) and the Minister’s response. What protection has the Minister put in place for those who actively and honestly seek help and prayerful support, and who are seeking guidance in churches and through Christian and faith-based groups? It is always important that people have an opportunity to seek that guidance. I know the Minister will be committed to that, and I would be very pleased to hear her answer.”
“I thank the Secretary of State very much for her answers and her positivity in responding to all the questions that have been asked. Mine is a very specific question relating to Northern Ireland, and I think she will be quite perturbed when I give her some figures. With the new media Green Paper pushing for a total IPTV transition by 2034, what specific guarantees can she give to nearly half of all households in Northern Ireland—some 370,000 people—that still rely entirely on digital terrestrial TV via an aerial, so that our rural and vulnerable communities are not left in a digital blackout as a result of the Green Paper’s proposals?”
“Lady would be kind enough to direct me on the right way to go.”
“They do not count the black bins full of rotting household waste, abandoned in the scenic coastal paths of Bangor or the rural lanes of the Ards peninsula. Every single week, local councils are forced to divert immense resources just to clean up after these waste cowboys. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency has spent some half a million pounds clearing up illegal sites just in the past period.”
“The litter that has been lying there for maybe six months suddenly becomes accessible. The National Trust in Mount Stewart is out, as is the council, trying to do something. We have a beautiful nation. Recent figures show that almost 340 major illegal dumping sites were actively investigated in Northern Ireland in the past year alone. There is an epidemic. My constituency crosses two council areas: Ards and North Down, but I also partially represent Newry, Mourne and Down. They suffer some of the worst littering. They have some 31 major investigated illegal waste sites. That is not counting the mattresses that the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes referred to. People do not take their mattress down to the dump; they throw it into the laybys of the Ards peninsula.”
“The Northern Ireland environmental statistics report confirms that public anger has reached a boiling point. A staggering 73% of citizens are deeply concerned about our environment. For the first time, air and water pollution has been officially overtaken as the single greatest environmental anxiety for households in Northern Ireland by illegal dumping and littering, which was chosen by some 34% of respondents. When I am at home, I live in Greyabbey. The main town is Newtownards, where my office is. I drive up and down that road two to three times a day—maybe more. People litter their KFCs, their McDonald’s, their sandwiches and their tins. They go out the window and are usually hidden in the grass until the grass is cut. When the grass is cut, guess what?”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for setting the scene incredibly well. I welcome the Minister, who we are very fortunate to have. She is committed to the very things that we are asking for. I wish her well as she pursues these matters. We are not talking about a minor inconvenience or a bit of harmless litter; we are talking about deliberate, criminal environmental vandalism that directly devalues people’s homes, attracts vermin to their doorsteps and robs law-abiding citizens of their hard-earned money. I am going to give a Northern Ireland perspective, which will not be a big surprise to anybody, but it is important that we put on record where we are.”
“I support the comments from the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, and look forward to the Minister’s response and the other contributions.”
“I certainly do. It is an absolute disgrace that, across Northern Ireland, we see fewer than six successful illegal dumping prosecutions per year. Criminal fly-tippers are treating minor fixed penalties as nothing more than a business expense. That must change. We need to back our local authorities in Ards and North Down with the statutory teeth that they need. If a person is caught destroying a residential neighbourhood with illegal waste, the authorities should have the immediate power to crush their vehicle and publicly name and shame them. Our communities deserve clean, safe and dignified places to raise their families. It is time to stop mollycoddling these criminals, clean up our streets, and restore pride to residential areas in the whole of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
“They are not Wombles, but the Strangford Lough and Newtownards Wildfowlers clear the foreshore at Strangford Lough every Sunday—they did it this Sunday past. Their work as volunteers is very much admired.”
“I commend my hon. Friend for securing this debate. The party that she and I belong to has been highlighting this back-door approach for a number of years, but the Government have refused to act. The people recently took to the streets in their thousands to tell their Government peacefully that action was needed. Does she agree that the Government must listen and begin to act today? We look forward to what the Minister will say to reassure us.”
“I commend the hon. Lady for rightly securing this debate. She has given us some of the problems and, in her intervention, the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke) suggested some of the things that could happen to solve them. Back home in Northern Ireland, we have a number of small and medium-sized green tech businesses. They are innovative firms, who have new ideas about how to do things. Although I am not smarter than anybody else, I think that in Northern Ireland we are capable of giving some help to others. Might there be access for companies in Strangford to bidding pipelines or other international investments, to ensure that we can help? Obviously, it would be at a price, because that is how businesses operate; they exist to make a profit. If that is possible, perhaps the hon.”
“If Members have not had the chance to go to it already, I will just let them know that the British Red Cross is holding an event in a dining room A or B today. Earlier, I was talking to a young lady who is doing some work in Nepal on water issues, including water shortage. There is flooding in Nepal, but it is projected that in about 20 years’ time there will perhaps be a water shortage in the country. The British Red Cross might have some innovations or ideas for Nepal. The hon. Lady and I both know the British Red Cross; I know that she knows it very well. There is an organisation that perhaps could help, too.”
“The hon. Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) said that the first thing for people is always to feed their children and look after their families, and he is absolutely right: that is critical. If we cannot get that right, nothing can happen. Palm oil is in short supply at the moment, so how can we better ensure that those who produce it get the price they want, and the rest of the world gets the supply it needs? We need to find a balance, so perhaps we need a working partnership.”
“I thank the Minister for outlining the issues. One of the critical problems in prisons is the mental health crisis. People are coming in with complex needs, including complex emotional needs; sometimes they have addiction issues; and they may have experienced abuse in the past as well. Those things need to be addressed. We can provide all the body armour and other equipment that needs to be provided, as we should, but he and the Government need to address the mental health crisis as well.”
“I commend the shadow Minister and the Conservatives for what they are bringing forward today. Warfare is changing, and the shadow Minister knows that. As an example of how warfare is changing, the papers today are talking about warfare that could be done by artificial intelligence, with maybe some 10,000 drones. The Minister for the Armed Forces who resigned mentioned that in his personal statement in Parliament last week. When it comes to deciding the defence strategy, does the shadow Minister agree that we must look at new technology and at how wars are going to be fought? They will be different, but we need to be on the winning side, so is it not time we did that?”
“I see the former Veterans Minister, the hon. Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns), in his place. We need to ensure that our veterans are looked after. Many have mental health issues, and I regularly come across people who are affected by what they have seen during their service. It has affected them physically, emotionally and mentally. When it comes to the spend that is necessary, does the hon. Gentleman agree that there must be a commitment to ensuring that those veterans who have served and are suffering are looked after?”
“I just say this to the hon. Lady and, perhaps more importantly, to the Secretary of State, who is very genuine, personable and easy to speak to. In Northern Ireland, the Assembly and the Minister there have taken a decision not to pursue this. Would the hon. Lady agree that, when the Government pursue something here that may set a precedent for somewhere that has not agreed to it at the time, there could be an influence, with an adverse impact on the regional Administrations—the Northern Ireland Assembly where we are, and elsewhere—and it is important that the Government here do not take a decision that could influence areas they do not control?”
“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has shown that we stand for what is right, and Israel’s ability to exist, which is ultimately at stake, is right and proper. I will continue to stand for that while not being unduly influenced by anything other than belief.”
“Our intelligence sharing saves lives right here on the streets of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in Israel and across the world. Let us be completely honest: the real threat to our democracy comes not from those advocating for an ally, but from the terrifying antisemitism on our university campuses and streets that masks itself as political debate. It comes from foreign adversaries who want to fracture our alliances and see western democracies fall. I urge the Minister to send a clear message from our Government, reaffirming that the relationship of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with Israel is not a matter of political expediency or bowing to pressure but a fundamental commitment to a fellow democracy and a friend to this nation.”
“The Democratic Unionist party, of which I am very proud to be a Member, has always stood four-square with the Jewish community in Northern Ireland. We know only too well what it is like to see a democratic state subjected to the scourge of terrorism. We know what it is like to see a legitimate Government forced to defend their citizens from those who wish to wipe them off the map—that is Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. We know all too well the experience of living through terrorist war and seeing acts of thuggery whitewashed, while being held to impossible standards. As I said, Israel is not perfect, but at least it is held to account by all of us and by itself. When my constituents ask me why the UK must maintain robust, iron-clad diplomatic and security ties with Israel, I tell them that it is because our safety is intertwined.”
“I am not infallible, Mrs Harris, and neither are you, with great respect—none of us in this room is. I do not agree with all the things that Israel has done. We hear a lot of noise in the media. We hear sinister undertones and talk about undue influence and lobbying in UK politics by the pro-Israel community, but I can highlight exactly what that influence is: shared democratic values. Israel is a lone beacon of democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law in a deeply unstable region of the world. When British citizens and British parliamentarians stand up to defend Israel, they are defending the very principle upon which this mother of Parliaments was built. The idea of democracy is not as clear anywhere else in the middle east as it is in Israel, which puts that principle to use.”
“It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for setting the scene incredibly well and for giving us a chance to participate. I rise to speak on a matter that touches the very core of our democratic values, foreign policy and historical obligations as a nation. The Minister and hon. Members know that I have never been one to hide my views on this issue. I stand here proud to say that I am a friend of Israel, whether in this Chamber, walking the streets of Newtownards in my constituency or speaking to believers across our great United Kingdom. I declare my interest as a friend of Israel. Of course, saying that does not mean that I blindly support or defend every action of that nation—no nation is infallible.”
“I commend the hon. Gentleman, who is speaking exceptionally well, for his very strong words. Does he agree that the Government were right to take action against Palestine Action? The Government went to the Court of Appeal and won that case. Palestine Action has stepped over the line of what is acceptable when it comes to protesting, so it should be condemned for being an illegal organisation.”
“I commend the Minister on his honest, truthful and forthright stand. He deserves credit for that, and he is right to underline the issue. The Prime Minister deserves credit for all he has done to change attitudes in the Labour party. He is about to depart, but we should put our thanks to him on the record for what he did to change attitudes and make sure that antisemitism was frowned upon.”
“I commend the hon. Gentleman for, as he often does, leading this debate on a petition that has generated a lot of interest. I understand that the one of the life-altering gene therapies for SMA, Zolgensma—I hope that I have pronounced it correctly—is available on the NHS, but such gene therapies only work if they are administered before irreversible nerve damage and muscle wasting occur. My hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) has been at the forefront on this issue. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that perhaps what we really need is a UK-wide purchasing power for these heel-prick testing kits to be fully extended to all local health trusts without delay? That would make sure that those who have SMA are caught in time.”
“On 23 March, Scotland rightly introduced routine screening. In October, babies born in England will benefit from the in-service evaluation framework. Yet families in Northern Ireland do not qualify whatsoever. Does the hon. Member agree that the Government must commit to working across jurisdictions with the Northern Ireland Department of Health to ensure that the evaluation framework is immediately extended to Northern Ireland so that a child’s chances of walking, breathing and surviving are not dictated by the part of the United Kingdom that they are from?”
“On reservists, I am sure that the hon. Member will be aware that the maximum age of recall is being increased from 60 to 65, and the threshold for mobilisation is being lowered. The problem in Northern Ireland is that our reservists are overwhelmingly employed in civilian jobs in our small and medium-sized enterprises, so the changes create real problems. Can he put forward a solution that would enable our small and medium-sized businesses to employ reservists and let them do their duty?”
“I thank the shadow Minister again for all his endeavours on behalf of the defence forces. He is an example to us all. I understand that the Government have extended the armed forces covenant to Northern Ireland, but there is a question mark over the responsibility of local borough and district councils in Northern Ireland that may have adverse feelings about the covenant. Does the right hon. Gentleman think it is important that the Government bring forward legislation tonight to ensure that every district and borough council in Northern Ireland must adhere to the same rules as those here on the mainland?”
“I commend the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) on securing the debate. I think it is the third time that he has brought the issue before the House, and I congratulate him on that. The issue is a matter of basic dignity and fair play, because this is about the miners’ own money, paid in from hard, back-breaking labour. Does he agree that the Minister must commit to scrapping the outdated 50:50 split entirely, and ensure that 100% of future surpluses go directly into the pockets of those elderly pensioners and their widows, some of whom live in my constituency of Strangford, so that absolute, total pension justice can finally be delivered?”
“It has done some 13.75 million forced-labour transactions, and it is time for those to stop.”
“First, Mr Dowd, I commend you for taking the Chair and saving the debate. It is said that you never go home, so perhaps that is why you were able to get here. I thank the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing this incredibly important debate. He has outlined a number of countries where the problems are acute, but does he agree that China is the worst of all? Its abuses—of human rights in particular—are on an industrial scale. Some 70 million Christians are abused in terms of their human rights, including their right to believe, as are millions of Uyghur Muslims and between 7 million and 20 million Falun Gong. China must be taken to task. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, in summing up the debate, the Minister needs to outline a number of methods to take China on?”