Speeches by Blackman.

“I join the shadow Leader of the House, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), and the Leader of the House in expressing condolences to Catholics all over the world on the death of the Pope. His leadership of the Church will be sadly missed. In terms of the business, I comme…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment. The first quarter of this year has flown by, and it seems as though it was only yesterday that we were preparing for Christmas and the new year. I am pleased that the weather has finally indicated that spring has spru…”

“I thank the Backbench Business Committee season ticket holder for his intervention, but I assure him that it will not get him any favours in his applications for further debates. I was saddened to hear that on Sunday night, Hamas yet again fired 10 rockets into Israel in an attempt to cause further harm and destruction…”

“Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I assure you, and the whole House, that no discourtesy was intended whatsoever? We did not get notice of whether we would get time for a debate, and when that time would be, until quite late on. I take what my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell…”

“One of the beauties of these debates is that they allow Whips to speak in the Chamber, and I congratulate both Whips on their contributions. I thank all Members who have participated. I end by wishing a very happy Easter to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to Mr Speaker and the other Deputy Speakers, all MPs, our staff, …”

“Since the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 was passed, local authorities have prevented 1.4 million people from becoming homeless. However, there is still evidence of local authorities refusing to plan to prevent people becoming homeless. Will the Minister take up the private Member’s Bill that I championed the other we…”

“My sympathies are with my two colleagues, the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and the hon. Member for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang), for what they experienced over the weekend. However, we must remember that Israel is in a state of war against a terrorist enemy and it is—[Interruption.] At differen…”

“On the business that the Leader of the House announced, I have to say it is disappointing that we do not have Backbench Business on 24 April. My reading of the business that day is that the Bill is uncontroversial and we are likely to finish early, but we will be denied the opportunity to have a debate on St George’s d…”

“It takes rather a long time to train a doctor—up to six years—so it is a good job that the previous Government had the opportunity to train more doctors. Will the Minister look at one aspect of concern, which is that if doctors start reducing their overtime hours because of fiscal aspects, it will hamper the opportunit…”

“Yesterday was the anniversary of the attempted genocide of the Azerbaijani people by the Armenians, and I am sure the whole House will issue its condolences for that purpose. In the newly liberated territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, hundreds of mines are still being cleared by hand. What action will the Government offer …”

“T6. Yesterday, Mail Online reported on the leaking of a report from the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the Leicester riots of 2022. The report blamed Hindu extremism; however, during the riots, 105 Hindu homes were attacked, but no Muslim homes, and two Hindu temples were attacked, but no mosques. Will the Minister…”

“I think the Minister is giving a few mixed messages, if I may say so. The Government are sending support people to counsel those who may be out of a job and are making an offer to the firm that will actually be providing those jobs to try to cushion the blow. The sad reality is that if those blast furnaces close down t…”

“I have already been contacted by carers in my constituency who are scared about what will happen to them and the people they care for. I welcome the Minister’s explanations thus far, but there will clearly be a problem with encouraging people who care for others to go out to work, who will say, “Who’s going to care for…”

“The Minister is absolutely right in saying that patient safety must be at the forefront. However, we know that 40% of babies whose mothers took these drugs have developmental problems and one in nine have severe handicaps following birth, yet the drugs are still being prescribed to pregnant women. Will the Minister hav…”

“Sodium valproate is currently the third most prescribed epilepsy treatment for many women, and it is very effective in combating epilepsy. What they do not tell people, of course, is the damage that can be caused if someone is pregnant. The damaging effects have affected thousands of women over the years. The alarm bel…”

“In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, it would be very helpful if we were told whether we will get Thursday 24 April in the Chamber, because we have debates requested. Equally, she has announced that there will be general debates on Monday 7 April, but we now have a queue of 37 debates…”

“I welcome that intervention from the vice-chair of the all-party group. As we have said, smoking is not a free choice; it is an addiction peddled by an aggressive industry. I will come to some of the things that the hon. Gentleman has said.”

“It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon), and I congratulate her on her work on vaping and combating illegal sales. I declare my interest as the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for action on smoking and health for nine and a half years. I have see…”

“The Minister will be well aware that 99% of internet traffic is carried on undersea cables. Clearly the Russians and other enemies would seek to disrupt that, so will the Minister look at utilising autonomous minesweepers that could be deployed to protect our undersea cables? In particular, will he commit to looking at…”

“7. What steps he is taking to strengthen the UK’s defences against threats to undersea infrastructure.”