Sir Roger Gale
MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich · Conservative · United Kingdom
“May I associate myself with your remarks, Mr Speaker, relating to the sad loss of Sue Holt? During my time as the leader of our delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I found Sue to be always there, always cheerful and always helpful, as did the whole of the delegation that I was privileged to lead.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The figures underpinning the business case for National Grid’s ludicrously environmentally damaging Sea Link project have been shown to have been fiddled together in cloud cuckoo land. The Energy Secretary is due to issue her determination on the planning inspector’s inquiry into that scheme imminently.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The growth in the number of cyclists has led to a clear growth in the number of cycling offences, with cyclists on pavements, crashing through red traffic lights and cycling at night without any lights at all. Does the Minister have any information about prosecutions relating to those offences?”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I think I am right in saying that the right hon. Gentleman’s constituency, like mine, relies very heavily on the tourist trade. That industry is on its knees gasping for air. It does not need breathing space; it needs help. There was nothing in the Budget for that industry.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Afterwards, one decent human being took the trouble to pull in, look after the dying cat and make sure that the owners—not me—were aware that their desperately loved family pet had been killed on the road. I have always had some strong feelings about this issue, but this incident has inevitably sharpened my attention.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The illustrious cabinet member for highways and transport, Peter Osborne, a Reform county councillor, has chosen not to take any action to introduce traffic-calming measures, despite the fact that we have warned over and over again that it is only a question of time before a child or an elderly person—I can speak with some authority on th…”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“The right hon. Lady will know that I would not for one moment question her integrity, and certainly not her intent. However, I am perplexed by the methodology. Baroness Casey has one or two other things on her plate at the moment, but if she is able to deliver this audit in three months, that can only be a good thing. In her statement, she said that Tom Crowther has agreed to work with the Government to develop a new framework for victim-centred locally led inquiries where they are needed—five pilot schemes. That in itself will take time, and it is kicking the can down the road. We all know that the Select Committees of this House can take evidence, generate a report and publish it in short order. It does not have to take seven years—it can take less than seven months. Having heard everything that the right hon.”
House of Commons16 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Setting aside the matter of grooming gangs, the Opposition amendment on today’s Order Paper sets out very clearly why the Bill that we will be debating is so deeply flawed. If it is to become an Act of Parliament, it will have to be completely rewritten in Committee. The Prime Minister has made much from the Dispatch Box of his service as the public prosecutor, so could he tell the House why, during his time in that capacity, he declined to instigate a prosecution, for rape and sexual abuse, against Mohamed Fayed?”
House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. It appears that at least seven Members wish to take part in the debate, apart from the Front Benchers, who each have 10 minutes. On that basis, I am going to put an immediate seven-minute time limit on speeches. I may have to reduce that, which will depend on whether Members choose to intervene. If they do, that will shorten the time available for debate. If Members do intervene, I gently ask that they make interventions and not speeches.”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. To make it easier for Members, I have asked that the clock count down, rather than up, so it is easier to work out how much time you have left. You can now see that very clearly indeed.”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. This is entirely my fault. I imposed a time limit on speeches earlier, but two Members then dropped out, which has left us, perversely, slightly under-running. I should have indicated to the Front Benchers at the start of the Front-Bench contributions that we had a little more time than we might need. It is probably in the interests of the House that we hear what the Minister has to say, so I am going to allow the Minister to run over very slightly; if she wishes to take the intervention, she may do so.”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. I suspended the sitting until 11 o’clock but, with the mover of the motion and the Minister present, I see no reason not to start. I will call Richard Foord to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. As is always the case with 30-minute debates, there is no opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up. Without further ado, I call Richard Foord.”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. The hon. Gentleman is an old friend and has been here a long time. We really must get out of the habit of reading into the record pre-prepared interventions. An intervention is an intervention, not a contribution to the debate.”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Shooting Star and Demelza House are two children’s cancer hospice charities that make a significant contribution to the national health service. Is it not absolutely ludicrous that money given for charitable purposes should effectively be siphoned off to the Treasury instead of being used to provide the support to children and their families for which it is intended?”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am sorry to intrude on the Minister’s time. As I understand it, the extension of the children’s hospices grant will not meet the costs of national insurance for children’s hospices. Will she ask the Treasury to clarify that, and if necessary, discuss it with the executives of the children’s hospice movement?”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In his statement, the Minister referred to the undermining of the capacity of our great towns and cities to realise their economic potential. Does he not realise that by effectively absolving the Mayor of London of his housing responsibilities, he is exacerbating the problem of inner-London boroughs, such as Lewisham and, dare I say, Greenwich and Woolwich, using the green fields of Kent as a dumping ground for their housing problems? We are fighting a rearguard action to protect our farmland from development, in the interests of our countryside and, more importantly perhaps, of sustainability. He refers to brownfield sites. What he has announced today is the undermining of the Secretary of State’s right to rule finally on planning issues after they have been to the Planning Inspectorate. She will now have no credibility at all.”
House of Commons12 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. We have 13 Members wishing to participate and about 24 minutes. I will put on an immediate time limit of two minutes. If you do the maths, you will find that that does not work. There will be a Division at around 5 o’clock, and injury time will be added on. We will see how many Members come back after the Division, and I will reassess the situation, but for the moment, there is a two-minute time limit.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. I should have said—I did not, but I will now—that if any Member chooses to intervene, which they are quite entitled to do, I shall treat that as a speech, so they will not get called later in the debate.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have consulted widely with farming communities and farmers in my constituency. I have not been able to identify a single farmer who feels that there is anything good in this policy whatsoever. Does my right hon. Friend know whether there is a single Labour Member of Parliament representing a rural community who genuinely believes that they will be voting in their constituents’ interests tonight?”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On the general principle, is the Minister seriously saying that all the tax advisers advising all the farmers across the country and all the land valuers, who are qualified in a way that he is not, are wrong, and that he is right?”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Given that the Secretary of State’s avowed goal is to create more social housing, can she explain to the House why Labour-controlled Thanet district council is seeking to build a large housing estate on the outskirts of Birchington-on-Sea, on prime agricultural land? There is little demand for those houses, and little provision of social housing. Can she have a word with the leader of Thanet council?”
House of Commons2 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I agree with the hon. Lady entirely: the way forward should be through better palliative care and not through assisted suicide. The Bill does not address the needs of children. Would she recognise that we also need better palliative care for children as well as adults?”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. Interventions are interventions, not speeches. As the hon. Lady can see, there are quite a lot of Members who wish to participate in this debate. We cannot have speeches under the guise of interventions.”
House of Commons19 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Could those who wish to speak in the debate remain standing for a quick headcount? [ Interruption. ] We are going to put a three-minute time limit on immediately, and that may have to be reduced. I am conscious of the fact that some people have intervened, and I am assuming that those who have intervened do not intend to speak. Priority will be given to those who have not intervened.”
House of Commons19 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. I have been informed that three Members who have spoken in the debate wish to attend a meeting with the Foreign Secretary at 4 o’clock. Of course, the Divisions were not entirely foreseeable, and they have extended the debate, which will now end at 4.25 pm. I will permit this, but Members need to understand that, had there not been Divisions, the debate would have ended at 4 o’clock. Colleagues know that. Unless you are thinking of travelling by TARDIS, it is not possible to get from here to Committee Room 7 without a minute. In future, when you plan your diaries, please make sure that if you intend to speak in a debate, you have the opportunity to do the Front-Bench spokespeople the courtesy of attending the wind-ups. With that proviso, Members who need to leave may leave at three minutes to 4.”
House of Commons19 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As the Chairman I am not allowed to participate in the debate, but as the Minister comes from the land of song he might like to know that Brenda lives in Thanet and is the chairman of the Thanet male voice choir.”
House of Commons19 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will the United Kingdom, preferably in tandem with our European colleagues but if necessary bilaterally with the United States, align with the United States in permitting Ukraine to use the missile defence systems that we have supplied as it sees fit in its own defence?”
House of Commons18 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There will be small point in protecting farmers in international trade agreements if Government policy is undermining those same farmers domestically. How many thousands of farmers will it take to clog up Parliament Square next Tuesday before the Government realise that their inheritance tax policy is very deeply flawed?”
House of Commons14 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Dr Aleksandra Fox of the Ash surgery in my constituency is one of a number of GPs who have pointed out to me the deleterious effects of an ill-thought-through Budget. In addition, charities such as Shooting Star and Demelza children’s hospices are facing problems now. They cannot wait for discussions through the normal channels while this cock-up is put right. When will something be done about it, please?”
House of Commons14 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Gentleman referred to the amount of money being made available for flooding. The devastation caused by flooding pales into insignificance compared with the damage that will be done by inheritance tax. This weekend a farmer in my constituency has cancelled the building of a new barn because of it. Park home owners in my area are in despair as a result of what the Budget is doing to them. Does the right hon. Gentleman not understand that?”
House of Commons11 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This is a one-hour debate. Four Members, in addition to the Member in charge, have already indicated that they wish to speak. We are pushing the clock a bit, so anybody who has not already so indicated is unlikely to get called, although that depends on how long Members speak for. Members may wish to consider intervening rather than trying to make a speech.”
House of Commons6 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Before I call the hon. Member for North Down to move the motion, I inform Members that the Parliamentary Digital Communications Team will be conducting secondary filming during today’s debate.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will those Members wishing to speak please stand up? I want to see who they are. Right—I am going to put a time limit of six minutes on each speech. There are four who certainly want to get in and we need to hit the winding-up speeches at about 5.5 pm.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. Mr Shannon, I appreciate that you have been detained elsewhere with other business in the House but we are playing “beat the clock”, so I will not be able to call you. Ordinarily, because you arrived so late, I would not be able to allow you to intervene, but under these circumstances, if you choose to intervene on one of the Front-Bench spokesmen, I will allow you to do so.”
House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In the rural England that I am privileged to represent part of, they say that you should live as if you are going to die tomorrow and farm as if you are going to live forever. Do the Government not understand that if we inheritance-tax our farms out of existence, there will be no forever, and there will be no food from what was once the garden of England?”
House of Commons4 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I ram home this message to the Minister and ask him to take it away to the Secretary of State: when we set up, as I am sure we will, a national cancer strategy, the Government must make certain that the 13-to-25 age group is given the recognition it deserves, so that they get the diagnoses in time, before they die, and the treatment they need, and so they are included in clinical trials.”
House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is the largest single killer of young people in this country—bar none—yet young people are overlooked when it comes to clinical trials that could be lifesaving. There is a real reason why young people as a proportion of the population should be included in clinical trials, but they are not—they are overlooked. Why? Because there is the assumption that it is not a disease that affects young people. But it does. I make my plea on behalf of those in my family who support the Teenage Cancer Trust, and those in the Teenage Cancer Trust who have taken the trouble to brief Members of Parliament.”
House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is not infrequent for a young person, subsequently diagnosed, to have to make at least three visits to a general practitioner before even being referred, because it is assumed, completely wrongly, that cancer is something that affects old people—people like me. I am expected to get cancer, but young people do not get it, do they? Well, sadly, yes they do, at a rate of seven a day, rising to 10 a day by the end of the decade. My plea is for the Minister to take away this message: however much money is being pumped into the health service and being made available for investment in diagnostic kit, there is a real need to address one area of the population that has been neglected. That area is teenage cancer victims.”
House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The point was made that, every day, seven young people between their teenage years and their mid-20s are diagnosed with cancer. By the end of this decade, that figure is likely to have risen to 10 per day. Most of us in the Chamber probably have family members who have had experience of cancer—or even have personal experience, as the hon. Member for Wokingham clearly has. We all know somebody who has had cancer, and sadly some of us know, only too well, people who have died of cancer. But the instances of cancer among young people are widely disregarded and neglected within the health service and beyond.”
House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not want to go down the road of party politics. The previous Government poured shedloads of money into the national health service, but throwing money at the problem is not the answer. I am not saying that there is not any demand for more capital expenditure—there is—but that is not the point. Unless we get the structure right, we will go on wasting more and more money. We need to be grown up about this; we must all understand that. In the few minutes I have, I want to concentrate on an issue that the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) touched on, but only briefly: the incidence of cancer in young people. It is many years since my eldest son used his wedding—and probably his bride too—to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. In the time between then and now, sadly not a very great deal has changed. That is lamentable.”
House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Given that answer, does the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office consider that the reported presence of the United Nations Secretary-General at Putin’s summit in Russia will be helpful or unhelpful to Ukraine? If the latter, what is the Minister doing about it?”
House of Commons22 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In sharp contrast to the presence of the United Nations Secretary-General at Putin’s summit in Russia, which sent out all the wrong signals, this statement is hugely welcome, so I thank the Secretary of State. Further to the question that the Chairman of the Defence Committee asked, is it not now time that not only Storm Shadow but all the matériel supplied to Ukraine by the western alliance should be used by Ukraine in the manner that it sees fit?”
House of Commons22 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. The Minister has a very limited amount of time to wind up. I appreciate that there will be hon. Members who have not said everything that they want to, but I ask them to resist the temptation of doing so if the Minister is to respond to the debate.”
House of Commons16 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. Before we proceed, let me first point out that I am going to call those who have submitted letters. Not every Member present and not every Member rising has written in. I have to give priority to those who have submitted an application to participate in the debate first. The second point I have to make, sadly, is that this debate is very time limited indeed. I am going to have to impose a time limit of three minutes and I may have to reduce that.”
House of Commons16 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Some minutes ago, the right hon. Gentleman said that the young people of Torfaen believed in and wanted equal opportunity, a point reiterated by the hon. Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey). I am not quite sure how that equal opportunity squares with a Labour party that wants to stuff the House of Lords with its cronies. I cannot see any equal opportunity in that. That aside, this legislation, on which we will be required to vote, is ill thought through. Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that the hereditary peers who are Members of the House of Lords have made, and continue to make, a considerable contribution to the work of the upper House, and if so, has he given any consideration to, at the very least, ensuring that those hereditary peers who are abolished are given life peerages in a future Parliament?”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have long advocated—with, I think, the support of my right hon. Friend the Member for Goole and Pocklington (Sir David Davis)—the abolition of the House of Commons, the abolition of the House of Lords, and instead four national Parliaments, each with a First Minister, and an upper House dealing solely with defence, foreign policy and macro-taxation, which was the original purpose of Parliament. Why is the hon. Lady prepared to go half hog rather than the whole hog?”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Setting aside the hon. Gentleman’s ageist remarks, which I find deeply offensive, let me consider the point that the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) made. Why is it okay for the Labour party to maintain the Prime Minister’s patronage to appoint party cronies to the House of Lords while abolishing the hereditary peers, who do a good job?”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will my hon. Friend agree that if this legislation is to go through, there should be a provision to ensure that all the hereditary peers are offered a life peerage as part of the package?”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not wish to detain the House, but when I raised this point during the Minister’s remarks he indicated that it would be perfectly proper and possible for a leader of a party to put forward hereditary peers for life peerages, but that is not the point. The point is that there should be a separate list in this legislation to accommodate all of them.”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In an earlier intervention, my right hon. Friend said that this Bill is an opportunity missed, and that such legislative opportunities do not come by very often. For the moment, the Cabinet Office has this Bill. Might I suggest that replacing 92 hereditary peers with what my right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) called “placemen” is not reform? Would it not be a good idea if Ministers gave a clear undertaking this afternoon that they will accept amendments of the kind that my right hon. Friend the Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) proposes?”
House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This is a policy dreamed up in 2014 by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer—that is on the record. It is a policy made in No. 11 Downing Street and endorsed by the nation’s undertaker in No. 10. It is cruel, it is heartless, and it is going to lead to deaths this winter, so while I believe that there should be a means test, the manner in which the Government are going about it is profoundly wrong and deeply flawed and will cause untold-of hardship. It has got to change.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My wife, Suzy, is over retirement age. She is also in full-time employment. I am over retirement age. I am also in full-time employment and a higher rate taxpayer. I have always believed that the winter fuel allowance should be means-tested, because while we give it to charity, there are other, perhaps younger people—such as the young and disabled, who cannot run around and keep warm—who could use the money. I have believed that for probably as long as the now Chancellor of the Exchequer has believed it. Let us be clear: this has nothing to do with black holes in the economy, which Laura Kuenssberg identified while interviewing the Prime Minister on Sunday as being largely contributed to by inflationary pay increases for the unions—for railway workers and junior doctors.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question, because it does not lie with the hon. Member for Ealing North (James Murray). It lies with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and with the Prime Minister, both of whom should be on the Government Front Bench this afternoon, but neither of whom have been present during the debates—although the Chancellor did come in to vote, and then nipped out again. That in itself is shameful. I abhor the fact that there are politicians sitting on the Labour Benches who are quite prepared to fight to the last drop of somebody else’s political blood, because that is what is happening this afternoon.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—I stand chastised. The Leader of the Opposition was in the Chamber earlier this afternoon, but I saw no sign whatsoever of the Prime Minister. However, the answer to the hon. Lady remains the same: the responsibility for this policy lies directly with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister, and they are going to live to regret it.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There seems to be a belief that the next election is five years away. The next general election may be five years away, but the next election is next May, and those voting in the county council elections in May—those pensioners and their families—will not forget this.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I have made the point, and will make it again, that I have no quarrel with the principle. I have a huge quarrel with the manner in which this policy is being implemented, because it is cruel and heartless. It is going to leave thousands, if not millions, of pensioners literally out—or more probably in—in the cold this winter, and some of them will die as a result. It is not necessary, it does not have to be done, and it will not save money, so there has to be a rethink. Just to conclude, I detect a degree of arrogance on the Government Benches this afternoon. The fact that there are only about 30 Members on those Benches speaks volumes to those outside who thought that Members were going to come and hear this matter being seriously debated.”
House of Commons10 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗