It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I add my support to new clauses 163 and 193, tabled by
my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne). My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North made an excellent speech about why the Government should accept the new clauses, but I want to add something else.
At a meeting of the Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire all-party parliamentary group yesterday, we heard from representatives from the four LEPs, from industry, from the creative industries and from universities, and we agreed to analyse what Brexit means for Yorkshire and the Humber. We agreed on a cross-party basis to submit that analysis to Ministers so that we can analyse not only what leaving the European Union would mean, but what we want to see from the negotiations. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North said, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union talked about a meeting with mayors in York; that is a very vague promise, and we need to put some meat on its bones.
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We heard yesterday that the LEPs have a ministerial champion, which is terrific news, I am sure. Apparently, that champion is the Minister for Climate Change and Industry. I suggest that the Minister of State, Department for Exiting the European Union, the right hon. Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones) asks the LEP champion to draw together the proposals from all the regions—I know that there will be right hon. and hon. Members who would be happy to go back to their regions to see whether a similar plan could be put forward for them all—and then convene the MPs and representatives from the regions, so that we would be on an equal footing with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London and really have an input into the process. I urge the Minister to look carefully at that proposal.
I turn to new clause 193, tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill. You are, Sir Roger, the leader of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe. I am sure Members will be aware of the different media reports on the Government’s view of the European convention on human rights, so I hope that the Minister will accept the new clause to dispel, once and for all, any doubts about the Government’s view of the Council of Europe and the convention. The Prime Minister said that we need to be a good neighbour to other European countries; accepting the new clause would be a way to illustrate that. We must not vacate such global platforms and we need to continue to have a voice in Europe, so I hope the Minister will accept the proposals I have outlined.