Barry was in the Commons for the Trade Bill debate and partook in some bobbing from the backbenches to raise concerns and expose the authoritarian abuse of power the government is driving through in the Bill.
You can watch the best bits below;
Barry challenges the Chancellor
Barry was in the chamber today and challenged the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak on the lack of financial support for the hospitality sector. Barry pointed out to the Chancellor that in his May announcement gave delight to 9000 businesses in the borough of Brent for grants up to £25,000. But the detail was all too different. The money released to businesses in Brent from the Treasury was the equivalent of £366 per business.
Watch: Barry seeks assurances from The Home Secretary
Barry was in Parliament today to ask for assurances from The Home Secretary Priti Patel regarding his constituent and the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
The Home Secretary advised that if presented with the case she would be happy to help. Barry will hold her at her word and demanded action as they have waited far too long already for a British passport, compensation for how he has been treated as well as loss of earnings.
Barry questions the Secretary of State for Scotland
Barry questioned the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack regarding the proposals to house thirty thousand delegates at the now postponed COP26 in Glasgow. Firstly on the element of how much it would cost and secondly and more ironically, on the environmental impact it would have from the sheer amount of diesel being pumped out.
Suffice to say The Secretary of State offered warm words with no real assurances.
Barry speaks during Trade Bill debate
Barry was in the chamber today to speak in the Second reading of the Trade Bill and gave a detailed and passionate account of why the Bill is one of the most undemocratic and dangerous pieces of legislation that Parliament will face over the next 4 years.
Barry outlined how the Bill wasn’t at all about “taking back control” as well as the threat to the NHS that the Bill proposes despite some of the vague and unsubstantiated promises made by the Conservatives during the December General Election.
Barry challenges the Health Secretary on Care Home record
Barry asked a question during an Urgent Question today, where he praised the work of Brent Council and challenged Matt Hancock on his record in regards to Care Home policy.
Barry speaks in the Fire Safety Bill
Barry contributed to todays Second Reading on the Fire Safety Bill with a powerful speech.
He focussed on the failures in the previous legislation and the futility of the regulations on fire safety when the monitoring and enforcement regime is flawed from the beginning and how this must be tightened and looked at going forward with this present legislation.
Barry challenges The First Secretary of State at Prime Minister’s Questions
Barry took part in the first ever virtual Prime Minister’s Questions today. It was the first of its kind in the 700 year history of the House of Commons due to the current pandemic of Covid-19.
As the First Secretary of State, Dominic Raab deputised for Boris Johnson, who is still recovering from the virus. Barry asked Mr Raab why the Government were so slow to implement a lockdown originally when scientific advisors had suggested it three and a half weeks before.
Barry speaks in Urgent Question on Assisting British Citizens Abroad to Return Home
Today, Barry spoke in the House to ask the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab about the hundreds of thousands of British Citizens stranded abroad. Many of these British nationals abroad are in urgent need of help from our government.
The Government must be committed to helping these citizens. Amongst other things, Barry asked the Foreign Secretary:
To ensure embassy telephone lines are kept open.
To find flights home no matter how long it takes and guarantee accommodation for them in the meantime
To make a plan for the safe care and medical assessment of British cruiseline passengers
To negotiate with countries to ensure the safety of British citizens abroad during quarantine
To tell us how he is keeping in touch with worried citizens abroad and their families in the UK
Barry challenges the Government during Trade orals
Barry challenged the Government this week during Trade Orals.
Barry asked questions relating to trading agreements between the United Kingdom and Morocco which don’t protect the Sahrawi people as well as intersecting Customs Unions.
Barry challenges the Government on green energy during BEIS orals
Barry represented the Labour Party today during BEIS orals and challenged Minister Kwasi Kwarteng on whether the Government should be moving towards a Global Green Grid Alliance.
Barry closes for Labour during the Queen’s Speech debate on the NHS
Barry gave an impassioned speech during the wind up of the Queen’s Speech debate on the NHS yesterday evening and detailed how a future trade agreements with the USA could leave the NHS open to privatisation. Speaking from the despatch box he said;
“At the opening of the London Olympics, Danny Boyle wanted to show the world what it meant to be British, and he chose the NHS because it illustrates all that is best in our country. Watching on TV, millions marvelled at our nurses, our doctors and our carers, and in the stadium, thousands cheered. That is how proud we are of our NHS. All the people who work in it—cleaners, consultants, nurses, night porters, radiographers and receptionists—play a vital role in caring for our society. They are our national symbol of community and our model of selfless service.”
He added;
“Free trade agreements also typically include market access clauses and national treatment provisions. These would set out the extent to which overseas businesses can operate in our markets, and they would insist that we afford at least the same treatment to foreign businesses as we do to our own businesses. In the past that was done by listing all those services that had been agreed. If an NHS service was not on the list, it could not be the subject of foreign competition. Agreements used to set out only those services that we were prepared to open up to competition, but modern trade agreements do not work that way.”
Barry summed up by reaffirming that Labour is the party of the National Health Service and finished with;
“The Labour party created the NHS. We will not allow this Government’s trade agreements to damage it. Under Labour, the NHS will remain a universal service, free at the point of use, and based on medical need, not ability to pay.”
Barry challenges the government’s response to the UN Climate Action Summit
On Thursday, the government gave a statement to the House of Commons on the UN Climate Action Summit. Barry responded to the government on behalf of the Labour Party, in his role as Shadow Minister for International Climate Change.
Barry submits urgent question on the recent unlawful award of arms export licences to Saudi Arabia
Barry spoke in an urgent question on the recent unlawful award of arms export licences to Saudi Arabia. These export licenses are in contravention of a Court of Appeal ruling that determined that the UK must cease arms exports to the country.
Barry challenges Secretary of State during Trade Orals
Barry challenges the Secretary of State for International Trade on the worst foreign direct investment statistics in five years. Canada has said that it will not now conclude a roll-over agreement conceding preferences to the UK because the Secretary of State is offering market access for free. In June, he boasted to the Select Committee that the roll-over was 99% there. Now, it is 100% not there. Was he right, or is Canada?
Barry launches London Climate Action Week in Parliament
To launch the first ever London Climate Action Week in Parliament, Barry hosted an event entitled Responding to the Climate Emergency, looking at the role that London and Parliament can play in tackling the climate crisis. The event was opened with a spoken word recital by Roundhouse Youth Poetry Slam winner, Rakaya Esime Fetuga. The panel discussion contributors included:
Sandrine Dixon-Decleve, President, Club of Rome
Nick Mabey, CEO, E3G and founder of London Climate Action Week
Ed Matthew, Coordinator of the UK Net Zero Campaign
Malini Mehra, CEO, GLOBE International
Baroness Jenny Jones, former Deputy Mayor of London
Representatives from the UK Youth Strike for Climate movement
London Climate Action Week brought together London’s climate expertise and talent from across sectors to run events across the city focused on taking local, national and international action. These events highlighted the scaling up of practical solutions and identifying new solutions to help cut our carbon emissions to keep global temperature increases within 1.5C and support the Paris Agreement.
Barry Responds to Statement on High Court Ruling regarding Saudi Arms Sales
Barry responded to the Secretary of State for International Trade’s statement on the High Court Ruling regarding the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. Ministers will now temporarily suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the court concluded that “The Government made no concluded assessments of whether the Saudi led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict and made no attempt to do so”.
The Court of Appeals ruling today is a damning indictment of this Government’s handling of exports licenses to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Barry presses government on their decision to weaken UK climate change targets
Barry pressed the government on their recent decision to weaken the UK’s climate change targets.
In the House of Commons, Barry asked:
Assuming the Government will do the right thing and legislate for net zero by 2050, in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change, why has the Minister decided to weaken the third carbon budget by carrying over surplus emissions from the second carbon budget, against the committee’s specific advice?
While the Minister is at the Dispatch Box, perhaps he will confirm that net zero can be achieved within the current cost envelope for an 80% reduction of 1% to 2% of GDP. The Chancellor’s claim of £1 trillion spuriously adds together all the costs over the next 21 years and fails to subtract any of the benefits or savings.
In response, the acting climate change minister Chris Skidmore MP said:
It is important to put on record the content of the Government’s letter to the Committee on Climate Change. After careful consideration of the committee’s advice, the Government decided to hold in reserve a small proportion of over performance from carbon budget 2—88 megatonnes of a total over performance of 384 megatonnes. The reserve will act solely as a contingency. [Interruption.] I have 384 megatonnes, but I will happily correct the record when I look at the statistics. Eighty-eight megatonnes are being held in reserve and act solely as a contingency against changes in the baseline. This will be released once it is clear that it will not be needed to address any technical changes to the baseline. We have also asked the Committee on Climate Change to look at those technical changes. We would not have asked the committee to take forward work on net zero if we did not believe we will be able to implement this.
When it comes to the cost reduction, I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman that costs have come down on technology and will continue to come down. The Committee on Climate Change has made it clear that it can be done within the envelope of 1% to 2% of GDP, as set out for the 80% reduction.
Barry in debate on Antisemitism in Modern Society
On 20th February, Barry took part in a general debate on Antisemitism in Modern Society.
You can watch the speech in full here.