Lucy Powell

I thank the shadow Leader of the House for that tribute to his father, Torquil Norman. I did not know him, but he sounds like a wonderful father—someone who invented children’s toys but also who had great wisdom and gave him great advice. We in this House should all live by those values of positivity, creativity and resilience that the right hon. Gentleman so fondly shared with us. I send him and his family my very best wishes, as I am sure the whole House does, as he comes to terms with that in the coming days. I want to congratulate Newcastle United—I would not normally, but they did win their first silverware in 70 years. It is also great to see that the Tour de France in 2027 will start in Edinburgh and make its way through England and Wales. As international events yet again dominate, I am sure we all look with horror at the unfolding situation in Gaza in particular, with aid being withheld and the killing continuing. As the Foreign Secretary will set out to the House shortly, we want to see an urgent resumption of the ceasefire and the long-term peace talks continuing. In the spirit of the right hon. Gentleman’s contribution, I want to put on the record my thanks to him for the cross-party work that he and I do across the House, not just through the Modernisation Committee but on the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Mr Speaker, and the many other boards that we have to sit on for many hours indeed. He makes a really important point, and it is one of the reasons why I wanted to establish the Modernisation Committee. I could have come into this position as Leader of the House and just laid down motions—which I do on many days—to change the rules of the House, but that is not how I want to work. I take very seriously my role as Leader of the House, and as such I represent the whole House and want to bring the House together. I want to hear from smaller parties and to work cross-party. I believe that in this place we work best when we work together cross-party, on Select Committees and on issues that unite us. Many of those issues are raised regularly with me in Business questions, and I join the right hon. Gentleman in saying that we could definitely do more to tackle the big issues that this country faces, whether that is our defence and security, the welfare reform that is needed, jobs of the future or social care—that might be raised with me again today. Long may that continue, and we should strive to do more of it.