Sophy Ridge on Sunday Interview with Dominic Raab Housing Minister

Sunday 10 June 2018

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY, SKY NEWS

SOPHY RIDGE: Now Donald Trump is due to land in Singapore in the next couple of hours for his meeting with the leader of North Korea, but as the American President took off from the G7 in Canada he dropped a diplomatic bombshell. Well joining us now from central London is Dominic Raab, the Housing Minister, hello to you Dominic.

DOMINIC RAAB: Good morning.

SR: I want to start off with that diplomatic hand grenade from Donald Trump. He broke all the rules of international diplomacy, he refused to budge on tariffs, he refused to have a one on one meeting with Theresa May, I mean does it really signify that we don’t matter to him very much at the moment?

DOMINIC RAAB: Well I don't think so and if you look back at the response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury you can see how with the diplomatic support that we’ve got, that Theresa May the Prime Minister rallied, including the Americans that actually when it really counts we’ve got those strong ties that bind on security and other things and of course the Prime Minister has been over and met with Donald Trump on a number of occasions now and we’ve talked about all the positive things that we have in common. Equally when there is a necessity to say where we don’t agree, I think the Prime Minister has got the resolve to do so but obviously I think at the moment if you look at what happened over in Canada, we all ought to be saying – and the UK has got a very important voice – that free trade benefits everyone and protectionism hurts everyone and I think that’s the message from the UK.

SR: He is certainly an unusual figure to deal with, Donald Trump. Boris Johnson was recorded, leaked comments from Boris Johnson earlier this week, saying perhaps Theresa May could learn one or two things from Donald Trump’s style of leadership, maybe if he was in charge of Brexit we’d be getting somewhere. Do you agree with his assessment?

DOMINIC RAAB: No, I think that’s silly really but look, all of these things when you’re at a private dinner can get taken out of context, blown out of all proportion. I think the Prime Minister has got the right team, the right approach and we’re going off to the June Council where we are going to be discussing trade talks, which is crucially important for the UK but also for the EU and we need to be focused on the substance of that and getting the best deal for the whole country.

SR: Now I want to talk to you about the Grenfell Tower anniversary with your Housing Minister hat on. Now that’s going to be next week, a year on since that appalling fire that left those households homeless. The government said that it would rehouse permanently every single household within a year, so how many households are still waiting for help?

DOMINIC RAAB: Look, first of all it is going to be a very difficult time, one year on from that appalling, unimaginable tragedy and we need to stand in solidarity with the community, with the bereaved and with the survivors. In terms of the support that we’re providing, we’ve got now all but five of the 203 households from the Tower and the Walk who have either moved into temporary accommodation or who have accepted a move. It hasn’t happened quick enough, I’m the first to say it and we’re straining every sinew to provide the support and work with the community and work with the council, which is in the lead on this, to make it happen as soon as possible but there has been progress and we shouldn’t lose sight of that …

SR: I’m listening to what you’re saying there and you are talking about people who are in temporary housing and who have accepted offers, these are not people who have moved into permanent new homes which is what the government promised. As Housing Minister do you feel ashamed of that?

DOMINIC RAAB: Sorry, I didn’t catch that last question, there are hymns being played in the background here.

SR: I’m saying you are talking about people there who are in temporary housing and also people who have only accepted moves to permanent homes, not people who are in permanent new housing so aren’t you ashamed of that as Housing Minister?

DOMINIC RAAB: Oh I feel terrible for all aspects of what the community has been through and it is crucial that we get as much support to them as possible. Of course it’s a challenge because the amount and the type of housing stock in the area is limited and the council has bought I think it’s 300 or over 300 new properties, so there have been choices that have been given to all of the households but you’re right, I do feel sorry for that community and I am very happy to apologise that we haven’t done it quickly enough but it’s not right to say there hasn’t been important progress and I’m confident that we can keep making progress. Of course those homes, once they’ve been purchased, need to be made, need to be renovated in some cases and they need to be right for the individual households, some of them have special needs or disabilities and we need to get that right but of course I want it done as soon as possible.

SR: Let’s talk about Brexit, the other of course big challenge facing the government at the current time. I went to Dover this week and I have to say what I found there made me feel a bit worried, the Head of the Port of Dover saying for example that just a two minute extra time on lorries being checked and going through customs could lead to 17 miles of queues. I mean are you worried about the lack of progress that’s been made on Brexit?

DOMINIC RAAB: Well I think we’ve made important progress with the EU Withdrawal Bill that’s gone through the Commons and now the Lords and we’ve got it back to look at again in the Commons. On the diplomatic front we got that first phase deal, important for securing the rights of EU nationals here, UK nationals on the continent, and we got the implementation period so of course I want to see us get cracking and that’s what the June Council will allow us to do in terms of progressing to trade talks, so we’ve made important progress but yes, we need to get on with this now and what we’re offering to the EU is the win-win of a free trade set of arrangements which is good for them, good for us, particularly at this time as we’ve been talking about where there are protectionist noises coming from the US and other quarters and we actually need to be standing up for free trade and the worst thing now would be to see trade barriers go up between the UK and the EU, so that’s the win-win we’re looking for. Yes, we’ve got still some hard yards to go but we have made important progress as well.

SR: You talk there about the need to crack on, this is at a time when the Brexit Secretary was rumoured to be on the brink of resignation last week, when Boris Johnson has had yet more embarrassing comments leaked to the newspapers – do you think we could do with a bit more Cabinet discipline, a bit more people getting behind the Prime Minister?

DOMINIC RAAB: Yes.

SR: A very simple answer, but what would you say to those slightly unruly colleagues of yours then?

DOMINIC RAAB: Well look, I spoke to David Davis last week, there was no discussion of resignations at all, just about the work and the progress we’re doing towards that June Council with the EU. I think everyone needs to get behind the Prime Minister, I thought it was interesting reading Amber Rudd, former Home Secretary and Remain campaigner, teaming up with Iain Duncan Smith, Cabinet member, a former Cabinet member and Leave campaigner, and saying look, this EU legislation that we’re putting through and getting passed through the House of Commons again this week is crucially important and we need a united front. We need to show as a government and also as a country that we’re bigger than the sum of our parts and I think we’ll get that legislation through, I’m reasonably confident that we will do that, but we need to work together from back benchers right the way through to the top team.

SR: Now we haven’t got long left in the interview but there is one more thing I’m quite keen to ask you. You are very loyal to Theresa May there, I’ve been listening to what you’ve been saying, we’ve had a lot of Cabinet resignations, you keep being touted for a top job but you haven’t quite made it into Cabinet yet have you? So what do you think Theresa May has got against you?

DOMINIC RAAB: You know I’m not going to comment on that. Theresa May’s the boss, she picks her top team and do you know what, I’m delighted to be working on the housing brief. We’ve got, last year we saw home ownership rise for the first time in 13 years, that’s crucial for lower and middle income families, the teachers, the nurses, the next generation who want to get on the housing ladder, so I’ve got enough on my plate without worrying about all that.

SR: Okay, thank you very much Dominic Raab.