Richard Tice
MP for Boston and Skegness · Reform UK · United Kingdom
“Congratulations to the Government on doing what I have been urging for seven years, which is to take this strategic national asset into public ownership. What is needed now is a comprehensive, bold vision for the blast furnaces. I am concerned about the talk about more electric arc furnaces.”
“The dictionary definition of gerrymandering is the manipulation of boundaries to suit a particular party, and decision after decision after decision in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and many, many more have, surprisingly, been the local Labour party’s proposal.”
“East Midlands Railway has cut replacement bus services on a stand-by basis when there is not sufficient railway capacity in peak season. I am concerned that that is because it is deliberately cutting any form of expenditure before going over to Great British Railways.”
“There is complete chaos at the National Energy System Operator. Whistleblowers are phoning politicians to express their concerns about blackouts. Independent investigators have had to be appointed, and NESO had to cut the interconnector for exports, without notice, in order to guarantee supplies.”
“While his own MPs may have sent him off without resorting to VAR, I have some good news for the Prime Minister: under his tenure, 76% of England football matches have been won, which is the greatest, most successful record of any Prime Minister in history.”
“Despite being a foot taller than her, I somehow always found myself looking up to her. When she phoned, I always stood up on my toes: incoming—beware! That was Ann. We will miss her dearly. Also, the Scottish whisky industry has lost a very discerning customer.”
The complete record
Every one of 505 lines we hold for Richard Tice, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 11.
“This is a critical question. Who is more dangerous to the British economy—the Secretary of State for Energy or the Chancellor of the Exchequer?”
“Well, at least this Government have a steel strategy, unlike the previous Administration. Credit where credit is due: they are right to impose tariffs and quotas. But that is as far as it goes, because otherwise it is visionless and hamstrung by net stupid zero. We have the absurd situation in which the public sector is buying tens of thousands of tonnes of steel from China, rather than from Scunthorpe and British Steel. This is a complete betrayal of thousands of workers in Scunthorpe. There is no vision. Will the Secretary of State confirm when the blast furnaces will be closed at Scunthorpe—Reform would renew and replace them—and will he guarantee that when the electric arc furnace in Port Talbot is built, it will definitely open for business?”
“The public want faster, better public services, but the existing gov.uk app works very well—I suspect most of us use it. That is a massive difference from what the public do not want, which is a digital identity card system. The first mistake that the Minister has made is calling this statement “Digital ID”. Can the Minister be honest with this House and the British people: is this about improving the gov.uk app as it currently exists or is it about a digital identity card system through the back door?”
“I recently made a submission to the Rycroft review relating my concerns about Chinese communist regime influence on the Labour party. Given that we now understand that the partners of a sitting Labour MP and of a former Labour MP have been arrested today, the Minister will understand why I shall be updating that submission ahead of my meeting with the Rycroft review next week. Will the Minister confirm whether the Rycroft review can take account of these arrests, or will it need to be extended until a decision is made on whether charges are brought?”
“The truth is that this dreadful Iranian regime has been a permanent threat to British interests and British citizens both domestically and abroad, attacking us and spreading its extremist ideology. Surely the Prime Minister understands that actually the United States and Israel have done the west a huge, huge favour in degrading the military capability of this terrible regime. Does he not understand that, after 10 years of negotiations that have failed, the west was left with no alternative? Does he understand also that in refusing to support the US, he has humiliated us on the international stage?”
“There is much in these SEND reforms that will reassure parents, particularly the reduction in the adversarial approach. I have spoken before of my concerns about excessive fees and profits of private equity-owned specialist schools. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether the legislation can be accelerated to reduce the pressure on council budgets?”
“The Secretary of State conveniently forgot to mention that he has been caught red-handed trying to cancel elections, and that he has restored them only because of the legal action of Reform UK. I do not expect him to thank us, but could he at least do the decent and honourable thing and apologise for the confusion and chaos caused to hundreds of council officers across the country, apologise to some 5 million voters, and then resign?”
“Can the Minister confirm that, in relation to the legislation for the removal of peers, Matthew Doyle will be on the first list to be removed, given that he should not have been appointed in the first place? Can he also confirm the position on disappearing or deleted WhatsApp messages, and whether they can technically be retrieved from the system to be given to the Intelligence and Security Committee?”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would be grateful for your advice on how I register my utter disgust at the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) scoring a cheap political point about me visiting a synagogue in this constituency.”
“This whole debate centres on the judgment, and trust in the judgment, of our Prime Minister of this United Kingdom when he decided to appoint the monster—when he decided to appoint Mandelson as our ambassador to the US. The right hon. Lady has just confirmed that the Cabinet Secretary refused to answer questions about vetting, yet the Prime Minister is asking us to trust the Cabinet Secretary to make decisions about the release of documents and information. Does she agree that it must be right that the Intelligence and Security Committee makes those decisions, as opposed to a Cabinet Secretary in whom we no longer can have trust?”
“The Prime Minister has said that this visit to China was good for British jobs. Having wrongly granted consent to the Chinese super-embassy, can he confirm that it will be built with brilliant British steel from Lincolnshire, as opposed to Chinese steel?”
“This is quite extraordinary. We have debates in the House of Commons every week where everybody bemoans the price of electricity, yet we have here an order that will increase bills on businesses significantly. When we reduce the annual allowance for those industries, we are increasing their bills. We have debates about businesses shutting down and having to be propped up by the Government in order to protect communities and jobs. And why are they shutting down? Because of the energy cost—all of them, without exception. This order, and this emissions trading scheme, is driving up bills, and is the sole reason why industries are leaving the country and going overseas.”
“I would be delighted to give way to the hon. Gentleman, who I hope will clarify whether he has spoken to any of these industries, and the communities who are having their jobs slaughtered because of this lunacy.”
“The reason so many industrial businesses are shutting down, whether it is at Mossmorran, Grangemouth, Immingham or elsewhere, or in the automotive sector, is because of the high cost of electricity. This emissions trading scheme, and the linkage of it to the EU emissions trading scheme, has driven up the carbon taxes, which of course has therefore driven up bills and costs. Therefore, industries are less competitive and, as was previously said, those businesses have to pass the cost on to the consumer. What this is doing is making our industry and businesses less competitive, and the tragedy of that is that we are therefore destroying growth and jobs. All we are doing is sending these industries overseas, and then the carbon dioxide is produced over there, we have lost the jobs, we have lost the money, and we have become poorer.”
“I will tell the Minister what is deeply irresponsible, and that is to give away our national sovereignty and damage our national security interests. That is what is deeply irresponsible, and thank heavens the US Administration have now realised that they were deliberately misled by our National Security Adviser and the Foreign Office— [ Interruption. ] Mr Speaker is listening intently. The National Security Adviser deliberately misled the American Administration, and they are angry. They are furious at what has gone on, and that is why they have changed their tune. Will the Minister confirm that if the Americans will not sign the update to this agreement, it is dead and buried? And who will resign?”
“A year ago, the then Deputy Prime Minister assured us and promised us that none of the delays would be for more than a year, yet five of the current 29 that are going to be delayed are from last year, and 21 of the 29 are Labour-controlled councils. The Secretary of State is aware that we have a judicial review that is due to be heard in February. I obviously do not want him to comment on the case, but can he confirm that, as this Government believe in the rules-based order, they will adhere to and comply with the rulings of the judge?”
“At the time of the election, the Government promised that the rush to renewable energy would bring bills down by £300. They are now currently almost £200—some 12%—higher than back then. Now the Government are resorting to dipping into general taxation to try to con the British people by reducing bills by some £150; they will still be much higher than the Government’s promise. Could the Chair of the Committee confirm—perhaps the Committee has a view, perhaps it does not—when the renewable energy rush is going to bring the bills down as promised, or will the Government have to admit that they misled the British people?”
“The right hon. Gentleman talks about the obstructive nature of some authorities. Does he share my concern about some of the inshore fisheries and conservation authorities? The Eastern IFCA, for instance, has caused grave concern to my fishing constituents in Boston, who are furious about the increasing interference and regulations. It is almost as though they want to stop the whole fishing industry as opposed to enhancing it.”
“Surely we are regrettably here because of our membership of a foreign court. Without our membership of the ECHR, we would not be in this mess or having this debate, and we could be moving on towards truth and reconciliation.”
“So the Chinese communist regime sanctions Members of this House, spies on Members of this House and carries out more cyber-attacks than any other country. The Minister admits that they are a national security threat, yet the Government think it is a good idea to kowtow to the Beijing bullies and allow this mega-embassy. If the decision is in the national economic interest, could the Minister confirm that some British steel might be used in this Chinese embassy? Can he guarantee that it is in the national security interests of British citizens?”
“There has been an absolutely shambolic, chaotic furore around these business rates since the Budget. When will the Minister do the right thing and confirm to the House exactly when we are going to get some clarity on these changes? Is he aware just how despairing businesses are in my constituency of Boston and Skegness and around the country because of the uncertainty and the increased costs? Is he also aware that pubs are reducing opening hours and employee hours? Will he do the decent thing and apologise?”
“As thousands of brave Iranian protesters are slaughtered on the streets of Iran, I was humbled yesterday to speak in front of thousands of wonderful Iranians here in Whitehall. They asked me to ask the Government a simple question: how much more will it take for this Government to do the right thing and proscribe that terror group, the IRGC—and, while they are at it, the Muslim Brotherhood?”
“Only dictators cancel elections, as well as Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councils, which are terrified of facing the wrath of the voters. We will be carrying out a judicial review of this appalling decision to cancel elections. Will the Minister confirm that if the noble judges rule in our favour that this is the wrong thing to do, the Government will abide by their ruling?”
“The Minister may be aware that there is already a thing called gov.uk. Just last night, I was delighted with the ID check; it connected with my phone digitally, and took a picture of my face beautifully. How will the new, voluntary, dead parrot digital ID scheme differ from what already exists? How will it supersede the wonderful things called national insurance numbers?”
“The Home Secretary has rightly lost confidence in the West Midlands chief constable, who kowtowed to thugs, abandoned the Jewish community and blamed Jewish fans. The question for the Home Secretary now is this: if the police and crime commissioner fails to fire the chief constable, will she still have confidence in that commissioner, and will she make the new legislation retrospective, to ensure that action is delivered?”
“The Secretary of State has inadvertently misled the House. I have gas-fired power plant developers willing to build and operate at last year’s price of £79 per megawatt-hour. Will the Secretary of State admit that, with inflation, the bids today are some 25% higher than that £79? By the time that capacity is built, the cost will be almost 50% higher than £79 per megawatt-hour.”
“Picking up that point, if there was a serious bid to buy the whole site—to invest in it, keep it going, maintain the jobs and grow the number of jobs—surely that should have been taken into account, not only in the interests of the local area, but in the strategic interests of Lincolnshire and the country. Will the hon. Gentleman therefore ask the Minister to ensure full transparency in this whole process so that we can establish whether or not there were credible alternative bids to keep Lindsey oil refinery going?”
“The bottom line is that P66 is mothballing the site, and will use certain bits of it for parts, rather than investing in its other site. Will the Minister allow a full, open and transparent look at alternative bids that would have kept the site open, and would have allowed us to keep many more jobs and to retain a strategic national asset?”
“Can the Minister confirm whether the rumours are true that one reason for the delay in the medium-lift helicopter is that there has been a rearguard action in the Army to buy US Black Hawks instead? If he will not give a timeline for the defence investment plan, will he at least confirm that it will include a medium-lift helicopter—yes or no?”
“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. We congratulate all those involved in taking and boarding the rogue ship in the Atlantic. I also congratulate the Prime Minister and the Government on securing from the US the strongest security guarantees and the strongest commitments. That is clearly good news. On the leadership of the coalition of the willing, many will be questioning why 37 of the 39 countries have not committed to put boots on the ground. Can I just gently correct the Secretary of State? What my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) said about putting boots and kit into Ukraine was that, to ensure we can do that on a long-term and durable basis, the Government need to increase their defence spending earlier and faster than currently planned.”
“Could the Minister explain why the Government have rejected a higher bid for the Lindsey oil refinery that would have kept jobs, kept the refinery open and attracted more investment in favour of a lower bid that is destroying jobs, is mothballing the refinery and is against the growth interests that the Government profess? Can he also confirm whether or not the taxpayer is retaining the decommissioning liabilities of the oil refinery?”
“The last thing we need is for the group to be bought by a substantial Chinese infrastructure group that is already the single biggest owner of all our utilities in the United Kingdom, and that takes over £1 billion in dividends and interest on shareholder loans every single year. No—now is the time for the Government to show some genuine courage and to say that enough is enough. It is time to buy it back for a pound, make the investment that is required, with competent people to stop the outrageous leaks and mismanagement of the physical assets. We will then have a worthwhile water company we can all be proud of.”
“In Thames Water’s recent accounts there are four pages on whether or not the company is a going concern. That basically means it is not. It is effectively bust. As a genuine private company, it is not able to meet its financial or regulatory obligations. It is time to say that enough is enough. In business there is an expression: caveat emptor. The private equity groups, the debt holders and the bond holders knew what they were doing. They were trying to make large private equity returns. That is fine—I believe in free markets—but when they mess it up, they have to pay the price. Now is the time to say to those investors that enough is enough.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. We have heard about Thames Water’s incompetent management of the physical pipes and networks. I want to touch on the mismanagement of its finances: the profit and loss and the balance sheet. In 2007, Macquarie, a big private equity group, bought the company and loaded it up with so much debt that it could not cope. That is why we have ended up with the debt soaring from £6 billion to some £18 billion over the last 15 years or so, while the regulator was completely asleep at the wheel and allowed that to happen. The previous Conservative Government allowed it to happen. We now have a situation in which the debt is trading on the markets at somewhere between 5p and 50p in the pound—in other words, the debt is not worth what the original holders provided.”
“Thames Water is not able to meet its financial obligations. The debt is trading at 5p in the pound. It says it is going to invest £20 billion in the next five years; it does not have the money. It cannot meet its obligations. While all that is going on, it is not repairing or investing in the pipes. It is bust. It is not meeting its obligations. It does meet those criteria, Minister.”
“This partial U-turn on the dreadful family farm tax is partially welcomed by farmers in Boston and Skegness, but where is the Chancellor to come and admit the error of her ways? Jobs have been lost, investment has been slashed and, tragically, lives have been lost by this grief tax. Will the Minister, at the third time of asking, apologise to the farming community?”
“Maduro was an enemy of the west, and while there is disagreement in this House about the means, I think there is much agreement that the Venezuelan people are better off without him. Can I ask the Foreign Secretary to comment more about the constructive influence that the UK and other western allies can have to ensure an early return to democracy for the Venezuelan people?”
“I welcome the Minister’s statement and reiterate Reform’s strong support, with all parties in this House, for Ukraine, its sovereignty and its independence against the dictator Putin. The Minister knows that I have spoken frequently about using the frozen central assets, and I am encouraged by his words today, but can I urge him to go further? Ukrainian friends of mine have reinforced the strength of the negotiating leverage of such assets. This Government therefore have the opportunity to show real leadership in the coalition of the willing by committing unilaterally to using those frozen central assets.”
“The Minister is doing a noble job of defending the absolutely indefensible cancellation of further elections, but where is the Secretary of State who just two days ago told this House, I am sure in good faith, that the elections would go ahead? The Minister needs to explain what has changed in the last 48 hours; otherwise, MPs are left with the regrettable conclusion that the Secretary of State inadvertently misled the House.”
“The Minister talks warmly of the relationship with the Chagossians. They have, of course, just formed a Government in exile. Do the British Government recognise the Chagossian Government in exile?”
“The irony of hearing the Secretary of State talk about protecting democracy a week after cancelling mayoral elections will not be lost on millions of British voters. Nevertheless, we welcome the review, of course. Will the Secretary of State confirm that it will also cover the influence of the Chinese communist regime on the Labour party—a senior MP allegedly received hundreds of thousands of pounds of donations from a potential Chinese spy—as well as a Labour Government who gave away our valuable and strategic Chagos islands, a Labour Government who were responsible for the Chinese spy case collapse, and a Labour Government who are kowtowing to China over the mega-embassy?”
“This afternoon, I am hearing of resident doctors who are not BMA members, and who plan to go to work, as we would urge them to, being pressured and bullied by the BMA not to go to work. They are being told that locum doctors have been booked in their place, at huge extra cost to the NHS. Does the Secretary of State join me in absolutely condemning this pressure and bullying by the BMA?”
“This report by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy is not only damning; it refers to “systemic failures”, “shambolic” aspects and “inadequate” communications. I am particularly struck by paragraphs 41 to 45, which call into question the judgment of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, described the decision not to proceed with the case as “inexplicable”, and the Committee in paragraph 45 is gentle in saying that it was “surprised” by the decision not to proceed. The question has to be asked: do the Government still have confidence in the Director of Public Prosecutions?”
“I thank the Foreign Secretary. This is an appalling civil war, with all its atrocities. How concerned is the Foreign Secretary that the growing influence of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood is leading to the deliberate fomenting of extremism, and the rejection of ceasefire efforts by the Sudanese regime?”
“It concerns me that the Minister has today, in this House, misled the House—inadvertently—on three separate occasions, as the Prime Minister inadvertently misled the British people this morning. Cutting borrowing is simply not the case. The OBR’s numbers show clearly that over the next five years Government borrowing will increase by a net £504 billion, which is £60 billion more than was forecast by the OBR back in March. The Minister cannot even claim that it is a percentage of net debt, because all those numbers are increasing, so will he please correct the record?”
“Trial by jury is a fundamental principle of our justice system, engendering confidence among the British people. We all want to bring the backlogs down, but may I urge the Government to focus on the efficiencies, on technology and on additional investment? There is a fundamental point here: are the Minister and the Government aware that victims and the British people have more confidence in juries’ decisions than the decisions of judges?”
“Earlier this week I spoke to recruitment agents from up and down the country who told me that, essentially, businesses had stopped hiring particularly, and most damagingly, young workers. I fear this Budget will make that even worse. Let us now look at the other data. Taxes will go up, over the next few years, to the highest level since the second world war. This Chancellor has achieved the extraordinary, unbelievable feat, after just two Budgets, of being the second highest tax raising Chancellor ever, raising taxes by some £70 billion.”
“This Budget has been a car crash—the third car crash over which this Chancellor has presided. The first was last year’s Budget, which was so damaging to business confidence, to jobs, and to the farmers who provide the food for this great nation. The second was the run-up to this Budget, with so many leaks. It was the hokey-cokey Budget—in, out, shake it all about—which, again, was damaging to business confidence. The third car crash has, I fear, written off the engine of the British economy, because once again all the data, all the incentives, are bad. Let us just look at the simple data, shall we? Growth is down. It has been flatlining over the last quarter, and the OBR numbers show that the growth forecasts for the next four years have all been reduced. Jobs are down by nearly 200,000 people since the last Budget.”
“The good news is that when Reform wins more and more elections next May, we will be able to get better value for council tax across the whole country. I will keep going. Over the next five years, welfare spending will increase by £70 billion per annum. That shows that this is not a Budget for workers; it is a Budget for those on welfare. It reduces the incentive to work, and it reduces the incentive to be an entrepreneur or a small business owner.”
“The truth is that if we carry on going this way, nothing will be affordable, because this Chancellor is heading us towards bankruptcy as a nation. The reality is that nothing becomes affordable if we go bust under the Minister’s and the Chancellor’s mismanagement of this economy, so we need to change course, because all the data is bad. I cannot believe the borrowing numbers, Madam Deputy Speaker! The OBR is forecasting that borrowing in this year alone will be some £21 billion higher—”