Browse content similar to 21/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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who are role models to others with disabilities and to make a real | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
service to this Government of hope they will continue to do so in the | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
years ahead. We now come to the motion for an address to Her Majesty | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
on the occasion of her 90th birthday. To move the motion, I | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
called the Prime Minister. Mr Speaker, I beg to move the motion on | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
the order paper that stands in my name and that of the Leader of the | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
Opposition and the leader of the Scottish National party. Mr Speaker, | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
today we celebrate the 90th birthday of our country's longest reigning | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
monarch. Her Majesty The Queen, our Queen, has lived a life of service | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
that began long before her accession to the throne. In 1940, just 14 | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
years old, the then then Princess Elizabeth made her first BBC radio | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
broadcasts to bring comfort and hope to children who had been evacuated | :00:55. | :00:56. | |
from Britain's cities during the war. At 18, she became the first | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
female member of the Royal family to join the Armed Forces by training as | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
a driver and mechanic. And at just 21, she means that exquisite and | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
defining broadcasts from Cape Town in which she uttered those famous | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
words, saying and I quote, my whole life, whether it be long or short, | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
shall be devoted to your service. Mr Speaker, never has such an | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
extraordinary promise been so profoundly for fills. As I said when | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
we gathered in September to celebrate her length of rain, for | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
all of us in this chamber who seek to play our part in public service, | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
it is truly humbling to comprehend the scale of service that Her | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
Majesty has given to our country over so many years. If you think of | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
the vital landmark in completing our journey to democracy, when everyone | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
over 21 was finally given the vote in 1928, it means that Her Majesty | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
has provided over -- presided over two thirds of our history as a | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
democracy. She has met a quarter of all the American president since | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
independence. She has provided counsel to no fewer than 12 prime | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
ministers and that is just in Britain. She has worked with over | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
150 prime ministers in other roles so if anyone can come up with a | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
collective noun for a group of prime ministers, it is probably Her | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
Majesty and I think I will leave it to her to make some suggestions. I | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
know that like me, every Prime Minister has found her counsel and | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
incredibly valuable part of the job. Our prospective and let of | :02:35. | :02:36. | |
experience is unique and utterly invaluable. Her first Prime Minister | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
in 1952 was Winston Churchill. Like him and all those who have followed, | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
I can testify that she is quite simple of the best audiences in the | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
world will stop there is no one else in public life that any Prime | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
Minister can be read speak to in total confidence and no other | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
country has a head of state with such wisdom and such patients. Mr | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
Speaker, there are some who suspect that at times I may have put her | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
patients to the test. In the play The Audience the character who | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
Bursaries me goes on and on about Europe for so long that she falls | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
asleep but I can guarantee that has never really happens. I may not have | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
kept my promise not to bang on about Europe in every forum, but this is | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
the one where I tried the hardest. Of course, as has pointed out, she | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
is now entering her 10th decade. Her Majesty is starting to take things a | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
little easier which is why in the last year alone, she has only | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
undertaken 177 public engagements. In 90 years, Her Majesty has lived | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
through some extraordinary times in our world. From the Second World War | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
when her parents were nearly killed as bombs dropped on Buckingham | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
Palace, to the rations with which she bought the material for her | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
wedding dress, to presenting the World Cup to England in Wembley in | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
19 6262 man landed on the Moon three years later. From the end of the | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
Cold War to peace in Northern Ireland. Throughout it all, as the | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
sounds of culture shift and the tides of politics at Banff flow, Her | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
Majesty has been steadfast, a rock of strength for our nation, | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
Commonwealth and sometimes for the whole world. As her grandson has | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
said, time and again, quietly and modestly, the Queen has sold us all | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
that we can confidently embrace the future without compromising the | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
things that are important. As Her Majesty said in her first televised | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
Christmas broadcast in 1957, it is necessary to hold fast to | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
fundamental ideas and principles and this requires a special kind of | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
courage which makes us stand up for everything we know is right, | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
everything which is true and honest. In this modern Elizabethan era, Her | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
Majesty has led a gentle evolution of our more keen. From that first | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
televised Christmas Day message over three decades before cameras were | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
allowed into this House, to the opening up of the royal palaces, | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
invention of the royal walkabout, she has brought the monarchy closer | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
to the people while also maintaining its dignity. Her role as supreme | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
Governor of the church of England has also been incredibly important | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
to her. She has often said that her life is inspired not only by her | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
love of this great country but also by her faith in God will stop as she | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
said, I know that the only way to live my life is to do what is right | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
to take the long view, to give of my best in all the day brings and to | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
put my trust in God. Added that it up for Christianity, she has been | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
clear that the Church of England has a duty to protect the free practice | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
of all faiths in our country. Mr Speaker, Her Majesty always performs | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
her constitutional treaty as head of state in impeccable but as head of | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
our nation, she has held in even higher regard for how she represents | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
the United Kingdom. It has rightly been said by some constitutional | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
experts that Her Majesty The Queen is the only person born in the | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
United Kingdom who is neither a English, Scottish, Welsh, or | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
Northern Irish. She is all and none of these things and can represent | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
all the nations of the United Kingdom on an equal basis in a way | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
that no president ever occurred. She is also constantly represented the | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
nation to its self when abroad. Foreign leaders from President | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
Truman to nuzzle Mandela and Ronald Reagan have all testified to her | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
extraordinary ability to represent this country and understand the | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
world -- Nelson Mandela. On the Hercules take visit to Ireland in | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
2011, she began her results in Irish and spoke about the history of the | :06:43. | :06:44. | |
troubled relationship between the UK and Ireland. She did so with a | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
kindness as well as authority that went far beyond anything that would | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
be possible for an elected politician. As a diplomat and | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
ambassador for the United Kingdom, she has represented our country on | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
266 official visits to 116 different countries. As I saw again at the | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
Commonwealth heads of Government meeting in Malta last year, she has | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
made an extraordinary contribution to the future of our Commonwealth, | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
growing it from eight members in 1952 to 53 today. In doing so, she | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
has helped to grow a family of nations that spans every continent, | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
all main religions, a quarter of the members of the United Nations and | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
nearly one third of the world's population. The reach of Her | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
Majesty's diplomacy is without parallel, so much so that as a | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
result of a visit to Balmoral, she can claim to be the only woman ever | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
to have driven the King of Saudi Arabia around in a car. I have that | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
story sourced from both of the participant! Through it all, Her | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
Majesty has carried herself with the most extraordinary grace and | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
humility. When people meet the Queen, they talk about it for the | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
rest of their lives. She understands that ensures a genuine interest in | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
all though she meets. They can see that she cares. As the | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
constitutional historian Vernon Bogle has said, Her Majesty | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
understands what might be called the soul of the British people. Mr | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
Speaker, Her Majesty has done so much throughout her life that when | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
it comes to her 90th birthday, there cannot be much that is new for her | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
to try but I'm pleased to hear that she will sample the orange drizzle | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
cake baked by the winner of the Great British Bake Off winner Nadia | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
Hussain. She will be joined as ever by her family including her son, the | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
Prince of Wales and her husband the Prince of Edinburgh who have stood | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
by her side throughout her reign. They have both served this country | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
with an unshakeable sense of Judy. The Prince of Edinburgh's award team | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
has inspired millions of people around the world. As we have seen in | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
those delightful portraits released this week, family has always been at | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
the heart of Her Majesty's long life. Mr Speaker, we are uniquely | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
blessed in our country. Her Majesty's service is extraordinary | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
and it is a joy for us all to celebrate, to cherish, and to | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
honour. In June, the whole country will serve in the special milestone | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
with a service in St Paul's Cathedral and April Street party. | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
But for today, I know the whole house and the whole country will | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
want to join me in wishing Her Majesty The Queen health, happiness | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
and above all a very special 90th birthday. Order, the question is | :09:29. | :09:37. | |
that our humble address be delivered to Her Majesty. I call the Leader of | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
the Opposition, Mr Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you. It is a pleasure to | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
second be humble address. Many people across the country today will | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
be wishing Her Majesty a very happy 90th birthday and these benches send | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
our warmest greetings to add to that. May I say, as a relatively | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
young whippersnapper, I am fully in favour of our country having readers | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
of a fine vintage. -- leaders. Today we are talking about a highly | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
respected individual who is 90 and whatever differing views people | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
across this country have about the institution, the vast majority share | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
an opinion that Her Majesty has served this country and has | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
overwhelming support with a clear sense of public service and public | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
duty as the Prime Minister just indicated. She has carried out that | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
duty with enormous warmth. My dear friend Mildred Gordon, former member | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
who recently died aged 92 and whose funeral is tomorrow, met the Queen | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
at the opening of the Docklands light Railway. The Queen asked her | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
how she was getting on as a newly roulette did MP and Mildred replied | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
with the devastating honesty she always used that she had very little | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
power to help her constituents. The Queen to occur on one side and with | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
her customary wit said, once they find out you're lot can't help them, | :11:07. | :11:16. | |
they will write to me! Her Majesty was born less than one month before | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
the general strike. The first otter who would later and unexpectedly | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
become heir to the throne was born two years as the Prime Minister | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
pointed out before all women in Britain got the vote. Her childhood | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
was during the poverty of the 1930s, her two new shears to the brutal | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
carnage of the Second World War and at awards and, she experienced | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
first-hand the joy of people as the young people walked through the | :11:48. | :11:49. | |
streets of London. A very moving oral history that I'm very pleased | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
was replayed on Radio 4 this morning. | :11:54. | :12:00. | |
She became Queen at just 25 years old following the death of her | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
father. She has reigned for nearly 64 years, the longest reigning | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
monarch in our history. At that time, in our time, the country has | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
become a better and more civilised place. We have enacted equality | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
legislation and ended colonialism. We treated the National Health | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
Service, the wealthy state and the open University. And as head of the | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
Commonwealth, she has been a defender of this incredible | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
multicultural, global 's decision, from which we are all very grateful, | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
the way she stood up for the Commonwealth and visited every | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
country in the Commonwealth. The Prime Minister was quite right to | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
draw attention to her historic visit to Ireland in 2011 and the way she | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
spoke in the Irish language at the reception that was held for hire in | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
Dublin during that visit. Today, Mr Speaker, I welcome to more than | :12:55. | :13:05. | |
knowledge -- people from my constituency here. Iris was born in | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
what is now the Republic of Ireland but was then part of Britain. She | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
came to London in 1951 before the coronation and was a clown civil | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
servant in the Inland Revenue. She has helped collect taxes ever since | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
1951, which has helped to keep us all in a state to which we are | :13:26. | :13:27. | |
accustomed. George Ford in the Second World War, serving in the 1st | :13:28. | :13:35. | |
Battalion with the rifle Brigade, and had a daily close affinity with | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
Her Majesty wrote his working life. -- George fought. Yesterday, I was | :13:40. | :13:52. | |
present at the graduation of a 91 euros constituent who has just | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
completed her third-degree, a Masters, no less. It proves you're | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
never too late to take up a new career and learn something else. It | :14:02. | :14:10. | |
is the generation, the Queen's generation and my parents' | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
generation that defeated the horrors of fascism in Europe. He built a | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
more civilised and equal Britain. We have much to be grateful for to that | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
generation. On her coronation in 1953, Her Majesty was driven through | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
a street in my borough. Her crowning achievement in Islington was to come | :14:32. | :14:33. | |
some years later. You will enjoy this, Mr Speaker. In 2006, she was | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
due to open the new Emirates Stadium in my constituency but had to pull | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
out due to an injury. Unfortunately, this is a fate that has collected | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
far too many of Arsenal's squad in subsequent years. So we must | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
congratulate her on her prescience. My honourable friend was then the | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
leader of Islington Council. As the Queen could not attend the opening, | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
they were invited to Buckingham Palace and she accompanied the whole | :15:05. | :15:06. | |
squad to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen. We know that the Queen is | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
absolutely above politics. She might be about football as well but many | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
locals harbour of this quite secret view that she is actually, | :15:17. | :15:26. | |
privately, a Gooner. In her reign, she has seen off 12 Prime Ministers. | :15:27. | :15:38. | |
Whilst recently I attended my first state dinner, she has received over | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
100 state visits and visited, as Prime Minister well over 100 | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
countries on our behalf. I admire her energy, wish her well in her | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
continuing and a Standing Committee public life. I can wish her a very | :15:53. | :16:04. | |
happy 90th birthday. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
first of all, may I associate myself with the excellent tribute of the | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
Prime Minister to the Queen. And me I, on behalf of myself and my | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
constituents, congratulate the Queen on this great milestone in a life of | :16:22. | :16:29. | |
service and punctilious Judy dedicated entirely to her people in | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. -- duty. And as they | :16:36. | :16:44. | |
must for most Ambassador this country has ever had. It has been a | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
life of devotion and fortitude and good judgment, selfless duty, great | :16:53. | :17:00. | |
humour and uncomplaining hard work. In all this, she has been supported | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
by a loving family and blessed with a very happy marriage to her | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
remarkable consort, who has done so much for her and our country. The | :17:10. | :17:18. | |
Queen was crowned in the same Abbey Church as was William the Conqueror. | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
At the age of 26, the same age as the first Queen Elizabeth 400 years | :17:25. | :17:32. | |
earlier. And she embodies all the best qualities that are mostly | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
important to our country and lends such distinction to our nation. The | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
Queen brings to our national life and experience and knowledge of | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
Government and events and of men and women all over the world wishes | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
truly unrivalled by any other person in the land. Throughout her long | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
reign, she has displayed judgment of the first order, great tolerance and | :17:59. | :18:06. | |
absolute neutrality at all times. Mr Speaker, when she ascended to the | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
throne, her first trimester, Winston Churchill, was of an age to have | :18:14. | :18:29. | |
charged with the 21st line sees -- lances in 1800. Present Prime | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
Minister was not even born 60 years ago. It has been an extraordinary 90 | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
years of some of the most tumultuous, social and technological | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
change Britain has ever seen. She has provided a very firm hand. She | :18:49. | :18:56. | |
is a source of powerful influence for this country throughout the | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
world. She is the Queen of 16 countries, including Canada, | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
Australia and New Zealand and the head of the Commonwealth, a greatly | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
undervalued organisation that includes more than one quarter of | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
the world's population. She thus brings a vital and often | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
unrecognised edition -- addition to our efforts overseas. I think we | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
should pay great tribute to the work that she has done down the years in | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
that remarkable organisation since 1949. Every country, Mr Speaker, | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
need someone who can represent the whole nation. It might seem | :19:38. | :19:46. | |
primitive, and indeed it is, but if nationhood is to mean anything, it | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
has to have a focus. In our case, for many years now, that focus has | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
been and remains the Queen. The nations do have values and they | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
should be proud of them and be willing to express our pride. And | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
that is what we are able to do with our monarchy and with our Queen. Mr | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
Speaker, it is my firmly held belief that the Queen is the single most | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
important, respected, at my ad and loved public figure in the world | :20:20. | :20:28. | |
today. And I will, if I may, concluded with something I have told | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
you before but it bears repeating. On the night of the 4th of April, | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
1955, on the eve of his resignation as Prime Minister, Churchill gave a | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
dinner at Number 10 in honour of the Queen. It was agreed between the | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
private offices that there would be no speeches. But the Queen, greatly | :20:49. | :20:58. | |
moved by the impending retirement of her first by Minister, who she had | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
knowledge and she was a very small child, rose in her place and lifted | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
her glass with a toast, to my Prime Minister. And truck very old man, in | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
the field dress evening in a form of a night of the Garter, completely | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
unprepared, pulled herself to his feet. This is what he said to the | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
Queen. He said, madam, I propose a toast to your Majesty. I used to | :21:34. | :21:42. | |
drink as an officer in Bangalore, India, in the reign of your | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
Majesty's great, great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. And I drink to the | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
wise and kindly way of life of which your Majesty is the young and | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
climbing champion. -- gleaming champion. For the 90 years for life | :22:00. | :22:07. | |
and 60 plus years of her reign, she has always been the same. God Save | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
The Queen. It is an honour to co-sponsor to | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
the's motion with the Prime Minister, the Leader of the | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
Opposition and follow on from the right honourable gentleman who spoke | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
so eloquently. I would like to put on record the appreciation of people | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
in Scotland to Her Majesty. She has had a light in connection with these | :22:31. | :22:32. | |
people and the coming into the country. -- lifetime connection. | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
Well she has served as head of state are marketable 32 independent | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
countries in her unprecedented rain, her association with Scotland is | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
enduring and it is special. Just last year, the Queen and the Duke of | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
Edinburgh marked the day she became the UK's longest reigning monarch | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
with a steam train ride from Edinburgh for the opening of the new | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
Borders Railway. When she was born, she was delivered by a Scottish | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
nurse and since then has been making regular visits north of the border. | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
Her youngest days were spent in Angus, where her mother and | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
grandparents were from. Much of her childhood was spent at Balmoral on | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
part of our honeymoon was nearby. One of our first official tasks on | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
becoming Queen after the death of her father, King Georges sixth, was | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
to plant a cherry tree at the parish church of Holyrood house. After her | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
coronation, crowds lined this treats of the Scottish capital as the Queen | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
received the honours in Scotland, the Scottish crown, sceptre and | :23:45. | :23:53. | |
sword of state. And the 1950s, there were concerns about how Her Majesty | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
could be Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland when we had not had Queen | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
Elizabeth the first. And elegant solution was found in postboxes | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
north of the border, where there is a Scottish Crown rather than the | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
Royal cipher. ERII She has been a regular visitor to Scotland. The | :24:15. | :24:23. | |
most remarkable for me was in 1999 reopening of the Scottish parliament | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
after recess of nearly 300 years. Who can forget the entire chamber | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
collar all MSPs of all parties, public gallery, Her Majesty and Duke | :24:33. | :24:42. | |
of Edinburgh, all singing Robert Burns. As head of the Commonwealth, | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
she attended the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
Always good with keeping up with The Times, Majesty went viral on Twitter | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
following a trip to the Glasgow National hockey centre after | :24:55. | :25:02. | |
appearing to photo, selfie -- photo bomb a selfie with its Chilean | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
player in the background. There is an appreciation that it is at | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
Balmoral that she likes to be most. Queen Victoria described Balmoral as | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
her heaven on earth. The current Queen is said to be never happier | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
than spending her summer break in the north-east estate. Her private | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
home, which was handed down through generations of Royals. The usual | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
two-month stay in August and September, traditionally includes a | :25:31. | :25:42. | |
visit to the Highland Games... Her Majesty has also had a love of the | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
Hebrides and cruising around the islands and coastline. One story I | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
particularly recall is from 2006, when the royal party were murdered | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
off the West Coast of Kintyre. The Queen wanted to see the famous | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
gardens. But no advance arrangements had been made. So, Princess Anne | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
apparently cycled to the local newsagents to see if there was a way | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
that her mother could be transported around. That Julie happened in the | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
people carrier of the newsagent by the newsagent. That must have been a | :26:18. | :26:24. | |
sight to behold. There are legion of stories from tourists and visitors | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
encountering a lady bearing a striking resemblance to her modesty | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
walking her dogs alone at after's seat in Edinburgh, or offering them | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
a lift as she drove her Land Rover around. I'm sure my colleague, the | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
member for West Aberdeenshire and can garden, might have more of these | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
stories the recount. Her Majesty's connections to | :26:48. | :26:57. | |
Aberdeenshire are many. She read the Aberdeen Journal and we've heard | :26:58. | :27:05. | |
that she is an accomplished speaker of the Doric, which is no mean feat. | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
She also leads small and large companies and businesses including | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
Speyside firms. In total, there are more than 80 companies holding royal | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
warrants and no doubt many more would want to hold them as well. Mr | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
Speaker, a 90th birthday is a remarkable milestone for all who | :27:29. | :27:31. | |
reach it but particularly for our head of state and her ongoing | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
lifetime of head of service. We wish her, the Duke of Edinburgh and all | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
of her family well and look forward to many further years of outstanding | :27:41. | :27:48. | |
public service. Thank you, Mr Speaker for calling me on what I | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
think is a momentous day to celebrate the birthday of our | :27:53. | :27:55. | |
longest serving monarch. I have to say that it is also today that I | :27:56. | :28:05. | |
celebrate my birthday. Although a little younger than Her Majesty, I | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
feel that a Beatles song would be most appropriate if I find it among | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
my birthday presents. I have always been immensely proud to share the | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
date of my birth with our monarch. When I was very little in Cardiff, | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
my father always used to kids me that the 24 gun salute was in fact | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
for me. I did find out fairly shortly that it was for a much more | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
importantly. Like many here today, I am a modern Elizabethan and we have | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
never known any other monarch and we are staunchly proud to live in the | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
reign of Queen Elizabeth II. She is truly a beacon and an exemplar of | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
dedication to the people of the United Kingdom and an exemplar of | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
dedication to duty. She is also a wonderful role model for women not | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
just in this country but around the world, particularly as women try to | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
take their place in public life and to have a voice in the Government of | :29:03. | :29:09. | |
their countries. In this House, and in Parliament, we know about public | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
service. But none of us will ever equal what our queen does as a | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
matter of course in caring for all the people of this kingdom and | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
across the globe in the countries of the Commonwealth. The Queen's | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
achievement in drawing together all the countries of the Commonwealth | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
for their mutual support and benefit is truly magnificent. It is a | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
notable achievement I think in this day and age and one which is a | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
testament to her gentle guardianship and powerful advocacy. Mr Speaker, | :29:39. | :29:45. | |
the poet John Milton lived for a while in my constituency and his | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
cottage is still there, preserved as a monument to his work. He was a | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
parliamentarian and a person who argued against the restoration of | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
the monarchy. A servant of the then Commonwealth, but I would like to | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
think that had John Milton known our monarch, he would have altered his | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
view. As it is, I turned to his words. He wrote about Shakespeare, | :30:07. | :30:13. | |
whose 400 set anniversary we celebrate in two days, that is the | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
boredom playwright needed no monument. He said, in our wonder and | :30:17. | :30:23. | |
astonishment, have built myself a lifelong monument. Mr Speaker, | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
through a long life with the welfare of her people always at the heart | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
and centre of her being, Her Majesty The Queen has created such a | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
monument. This place is often described as the mother of | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
Parliaments that Her Majesty is truly the mother of our | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
parliamentary democracy and easily commands our love and respect. Long | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
may the Queen rule over us and, your Majesty, a very happy birthday to. | :30:53. | :31:02. | |
Mr Speaker, this morning when I was buying my muffin in portcullis | :31:03. | :31:09. | |
house, I noticed on the claimant with which I paid, Elizabeth II. But | :31:10. | :31:19. | |
today is not about the Elizabeth on our coins. Today is about the | :31:20. | :31:28. | |
Elizabeth in our hearts. She is of course Her Majesty The Queen but | :31:29. | :31:35. | |
today is not a royal occasion, though it is an occasion about a | :31:36. | :31:43. | |
royal. Turning 90 is a marvellous signpost in life, as I hope to | :31:44. | :31:52. | |
anticipate myself before too long. Not long ago, one of my sisters | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
turned 19 and we had a huge family celebration -- 90. And today, the | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
National family is celebrating very much including this House. I | :32:05. | :32:12. | |
remember the celebrations for King George the's Silver Jubilee. I was | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
five years old at the time and I was in hospital recovering from having | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
my tonsils out. -- King George V. I remember the ceremony of the Jubilee | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
being broadcast on the wireless throughout the ward. This ceremony | :32:30. | :32:38. | |
was of course very impressive even to somebody of my age, but it was | :32:39. | :32:49. | |
respected but remote. Over the generations, Her Majesty The Queen's | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
family has had its share of visits to choose, some handled with greater | :32:53. | :33:00. | |
adroitness than others. But over these years, Her Majesty The Queen | :33:01. | :33:07. | |
has sustained and increased the potency of the monarchy and that | :33:08. | :33:15. | |
emerges from her own personality. That emerges from the fact that not | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
only has she been brought up to serve, but it is her instinct to | :33:21. | :33:30. | |
serve and to associate. The bases of these celebrations today is that she | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
has turned the nation into a united family in a way never achieved by | :33:37. | :33:42. | |
any previous monarch. And I would say, never even attempted by a | :33:43. | :33:50. | |
previous monarch. We are all together and that is why people feel | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
so strongly and so happily about this celebration today. As shown in | :33:55. | :34:04. | |
the photographs of a recent visit by Her Majesty to my constituency, | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
which I have in my house, people are not only honoured to meet the Queen, | :34:09. | :34:17. | |
they are delighted. They are honoured by the position that they | :34:18. | :34:26. | |
are delighted by the person and this is the reason, Mr Speaker, why we | :34:27. | :34:33. | |
celebrate so gladly today. It's not just congratulations, your Majesty. | :34:34. | :34:43. | |
It's happy birthday, Elizabeth. Mr Speaker, two of my best memories are | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
seeing the Queen at schools or academies. She came in 1999 to | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
Worthing. It was a delight to see the young people and all the staff, | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
academic and support staff, so pleased by her recognition of what | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
they did together. On the 26th of October 2012, she came to an academy | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
and Howard Hill and I don't think I have ever seen young people chatting | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
so amiably during a school lunch as they did with her when they got her | :35:15. | :35:17. | |
talking about her experiences during the war. I look on her as someone | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
who provides a focus for voluntary service, the civil service and for | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
the military service. One of my best friends was very proud, he held her | :35:29. | :35:31. | |
warrants as a police constable, something he has in common with the | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
Chief constables, all equal, all serving the country through the | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
Queen. My father held her appointment as an ambassador and | :35:42. | :35:43. | |
previously as a Second Lieutenant in the Army. I think we can change our | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
feminist during the war, the Great War and end the Second World War, | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
without everything going to pieces shows the value of having a monarch | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
accepted by people on all sides. Many other things one could say, but | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
I think I can be brief and add my congratulations to those who have | :36:06. | :36:08. | |
spoken already who I think has set the tone for today which I think we | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
welcome by the Queen and if we can live up to her example, we will do | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
well for the country as well. She has helped to lead this country | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
through difficult times, good times, but most of all she has given a | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
great deal of pleasure to those trying to do their duty to others. | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. We gathered today not only to rejoice in the | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
Queen having lived a long and glorious life but to celebrate the | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
rain that encompasses so much of the lives of almost everyone that she | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
rolls over today. The Queen was not, we must remember, born to this role. | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
She was not an area and not expected to ascend to the throne. Instead, | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
with her mother, father and sister, she was part of a loving and | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
contented family growing up in devoted content of her grandfather | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
King George. In the shade of her glamorous uncle, the Prince of | :37:06. | :37:08. | |
Wales. That is peaceful life came to an end for the Duke of York and his | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
family with the trauma of the abdication. But as His Majesty King | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
George VI, with the support of Elizabeth and later the Queen mother | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
and their daughters, ensured that the Crown remained at the heart of | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
its peoples' affections and together they embodied our will to defeat the | :37:29. | :37:36. | |
great evil of living memory and to win the war to ensure that Chris | :37:37. | :37:40. | |
prospers rather than perished in Europe and across the world. Her | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
Majesty, iconic and perpetual as she sometimes seems, is not a symbol. | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
She is rather a reminder to us all of that generation who did great | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
things and stopped terrible things from being done to us. Our history, | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
and it is a great one as a history that we can be truly proud of, is | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
not something that our Queen merely symbolises. It is something that she | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
and her generation lived for us and thank God she and they did. In | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
deserved and dramatic fashion, the Queen' life underdog war saw a | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
dashing young hero into her life and Her Majesty in her choice of husband | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
has kept us all alert, invigorated and more than once amused. Their | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
life together, rising on some 70 years, is a tribute to the character | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
of both our Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Only yesterday, we saw | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
the wonderful picture of Her Majesty and the Prince of Wales, the tube of | :38:42. | :38:43. | |
Cambridge and the young Prince George. Altogether, continuity and | :38:44. | :38:50. | |
change in one loving and beloveds image. The gift of the Queen model's | :38:51. | :38:59. | |
life includes seeing the future that surely lies in store. We in the | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
column she has done so much to restore see that the crown rests on | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
a long line of security. In a country such as ours and the other | :39:11. | :39:14. | |
realms of which she reigns, the Crown the Queen wears embodies our | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
unity. In my corner of this kingdom, Northern Ireland, it will never be | :39:20. | :39:22. | |
forgotten how steadfastly Queen was in her support for and affection | :39:23. | :39:30. | |
towards our afflicted province. I can personally attest during my time | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
as Lord Maher of the great city of Belfast to her compassion and | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
concern for those affected by the violence. -- Lord mayor. Those dark | :39:41. | :39:48. | |
days are, we pray, over now but Her Majesty's enduring interest and | :39:49. | :39:50. | |
contribution towards peace in Northern Ireland continues. Her | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
frequent visits and those of other members of the Royal family are | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
always warmly received right across the community. For that, and so much | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
more, we from Northern Ireland are immensely grateful. I, like most, | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
have known no other sovereign. We have been blessed through the | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
generations to have one so dedicated to the service of our country and | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
the Commonwealth and the nations of the Commonwealth are joining with us | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
today in our tributes to the Queen and the Commonwealth is, as we have | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
been reminded, a powerful expression of the unifying and inspirational | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
spirit of its great head. It is but one of Her Majesty's great injuring | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
legacies. She has been the rock upon which this country has continued to | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
nourish and has built the democracy so envied throughout the world. Her | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
shining face has been a constant and unwavering inspiration through times | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
of national celebration and national sadness. And in times of personal | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
sadness, Her Majesty has shown great grace that comes with great faith. | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
We are thankful for the wonderful life that God has given us in his | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
servant, Queen Elizabeth, and may he in our great wisdom and his great | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
mercy, be pleased to grant Her Majesty and we heard people the | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
continued blessing of having her reign over us for many many more | :41:17. | :41:18. | |
years to come. Sir Howarth. Gerald Thank you for | :41:19. | :41:37. | |
calling me and I hope the duty under delegated committee, you may come to | :41:38. | :41:45. | |
my aid should I be chastised by the Whip's office. I am delighted to | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
join my right honourable friend in once again saluting Her Majesty's | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
dedicated service to the nation and the Commonwealth and wishing her | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
many happy returns on this the 90th birthday. I do so as a member | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
privileged to represent overshot the home of the British Army and I am | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
authorised by the most senior officer to associate the garrison | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
most warmly with today's tributes. The Majesty is head of the Armed | :42:16. | :42:25. | |
Forces. Soldiers, sailors and airmen like members of parliament swear an | :42:26. | :42:28. | |
oath of allegiance to the sovereign. It is she the surf and that bond | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
between the sovereign and the men and women of the Armed Forces is a | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
very special one. Not least because in her is personified the ideal of | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
service. Whilst King George II was the last sovereign to lead his | :42:45. | :42:52. | |
forces into battle, Elizabeth the second has led from the front by | :42:53. | :42:59. | |
example. Not least in appalling her commitment to defend the faith, our | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
Christian faith. My own modest commission in the Royal Air Force | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
volunteer reserve hangs prominently on my study wall to remind me of the | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
duty I hope to my sovereign. The Prime Minister knows how important | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
the support of a spouses as he discharges his duties and I'm sure | :43:21. | :43:29. | |
he gets advice from his spouse. I certainly do. I think it is | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
therefore right today that we should reflect also on the support which | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
the Duke of Edinburgh has given the Queen throughout her life. Whilst we | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
have not been privileged to know the nature of any advice he may have | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
given to Her Majesty we can be sure that his immense reservoir of common | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
sense and capacity for plain speaking will have been an added | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
blessing to her. As others have said, Her Majesty does have a | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
wonderful sense of humour. I recall stories of the Privy Council meeting | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
where a cabinet minister was present and during that meeting the Cabinet | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
Mr 's telephone had not been switched off and it rang and the | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
Cabinet minister talk the fallout a handbag and moves away to answer it | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
and when she had finished the call Her Majesty turned to the Cabinet in | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
this and said somebody important was it? Finally, I conclude with the | :44:36. | :44:44. | |
editorial in this week's country life which has relocated to my | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
constituency and they say in the editorial, often accused in the past | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
of being too traditional it is now her old-fashioned values and | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
steadfastness that have made her someone to be admired and emulated | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
the world over. Her long reign and vast Achaemenid wisdom have helped | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
to stabilise relations across the world, especially within the | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
Commonwealth. We owe Her Majesty a great debt of gratitude. God Save | :45:13. | :45:20. | |
The Queen. In the event the honourable gentleman is chastised he | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
can always advise the web to sample the joys of riparian entertainments. | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
It is something I did myself in years past. I am very pleased to | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
follow the right honourable gentleman from Aldershot. I am | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
grateful to contribute to this collective greeting. I wish to read | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
three experiences from my period as Vice Chamberlain of the fight -- | :45:49. | :45:59. | |
while household. As colleagues will no the Vice Chamberlain who | :46:00. | :46:01. | |
traditionally is the senior government whip has a variety of | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
duties to fulfil. Three of them are designing a daily message to send to | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
Her Majesty outlining what's happening here. Acting as hostage | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
during the State Openings of Parliament and taking treaties to be | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
signed by Her Majesty and presenting them here to the House of Commons. | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
When I was first presented to Her Majesty in 2003 and I asked her the | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
same question as I'm sure all my predecessors and successors, watch | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
you would like to see in the message, her answer was that what | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
generally doesn't make the papers would be of interest. Given the way | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
we are reporting in today's media that is a pretty high bar. The | :46:49. | :46:59. | |
second duty is as hostage since our predecessors executed Charles the | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
first in 1649 every time the moniker comes to visit as we have to send a | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
senior MP to ask as hostage and I did that on two occasions and I did | :47:08. | :47:16. | |
get the impression of being the impression I was not allowed to | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
leave but the Buckingham Alice officials said I could have Coffey, | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
Walkabout but I wasn't leaving. When I expressed my anxiety is a short | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
time later, Mike Jackson said you should not have worried, if anything | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
happened to Her Majesty we would have just shot you. He wasn't | :47:40. | :47:47. | |
kidding. The third experiences on Easter when we had to have a | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
document signed to be presented to the House and the civil servants | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
contacted Buckingham Palace who responded that Her Majesty wasn't at | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
Buckingham Palace, she was at Windsor and our officials said | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
Fitzpatrick will go to Windsor to get this document signed. The | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
message came back from Her Majesty and said Mr Fitzpatrick is coming | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
all the way to Windsor, ask if you would like to stay to lunch. My | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
civil servants said, do you want to stay for lunch? I said bite her | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
royal handoff. When I was being driven down to Windsor Castle on a | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
semi-day I was wondering how many people does Her Majesty entertained | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
to lunch at Easter on the Monday and they were six of us. Her private | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
secretary, myself and Her Majesty. I was totally unprepared for this. It | :48:47. | :48:54. | |
is a measure of the human -- humanity of the dear lady that for | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
an hour and a half she commanded the conversation and included everybody. | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
Not having known her at all before she demonstrated her charm, | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
generosity and the Regal must. I am grateful for the experience of | :49:12. | :49:14. | |
having been Vice Chamberlain the two years and I am very grateful to my | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
constituents and greetings to Her Majesty on this day. Her Majesty The | :49:21. | :49:28. | |
Queen came to the throne the year that I was born so she is the only | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
moniker I have ever known and because of the way she has fulfilled | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
her duties I am a staunch royalist. In my time in this place we had one | :49:39. | :49:45. | |
Prime Minister who behaved as if he was president and that certainly | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
confirmed my view how blessed we are to have a moniker rather than a | :49:50. | :49:57. | |
president. I have seen at first hand the joy that the Queen brings to | :49:58. | :50:06. | |
people's lives. I remember her visit in 1999 to my two constituencies. | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
Residents were thrilled with her visits, something we politicians | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
struggle to achieve. Mr Speaker I represent the highest number of | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
centenarians in the country and I am constantly attending centenarian | :50:21. | :50:29. | |
birthday parties. My own mother is 14 years older than the Queen and I | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
know how thrilled she was to receive her telegram and I have told her | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
that the good Lord needs to spare here for another year if she is to | :50:40. | :50:46. | |
receive her second telegram. Finally, when I had the good fortune | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
of being invested at Windsor Castle last year I was in absolute awe of | :50:52. | :50:59. | |
how a woman of nearly 90 stood for over an hour and with the | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
conversation and manner made it such a specialised memorable occasion for | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
each of the recipients. I should say Her Majesty has only made one | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
mistake in her life and that is when she observed that I had been a | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
member of Parliament for a long time and she asked me had I seen many | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
changes and her eyes glaze over as I went on and on. You and I know only | :51:24. | :51:33. | |
too well what a challenge it can be being nice to people morning, noon | :51:34. | :51:46. | |
and night. Her Majesty certainly succeeds in that regard and like | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
myself. So this wonderful and gracious lady has served our country | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
with integrity, charm and dignity for all of her life, through the | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
upheavals and tribulations our nation has faced. Her own personal | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
life with all its tragedies and sorrows has never been allowed to | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
come between her and her subjects. She has been a constant example to | :52:15. | :52:22. | |
all of us rising above party politics and the ebb and flow of | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
public opinion. She has been faultlessly impartial, loyal only to | :52:27. | :52:33. | |
her people. The natural warmth and empathy that she has shown | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
throughout her long reign had endeared her even to the most | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
hardened Republican and she is now more loved than she has ever been. | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
So yes, long may she reign over us. God Save The Queen and can we please | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
all have of this birthday cake we keep hearing about. I think I have | :52:56. | :53:03. | |
just been introduced by the honourable gentleman who just spoke. | :53:04. | :53:11. | |
I believe the most momentous moment the Queen's reign was the visit was | :53:12. | :53:19. | |
when she stood dressed in green in Croke Park and bowed her head in | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
penitence because of the terrible massacre that have placed there. | :53:23. | :53:28. | |
That was an act of humility and Majesty which had an enormous | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
symbolic effect and will continue to have that effect on relations | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
between the nations of this island. I want to give a special words of | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
thanks on behalf of the people in the country who regard themselves as | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
proud Republicans. I have affection for her and it goes back a very long | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
time. I did know another monarchy in this country and until today she was | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
a fellow octogenarian and she teaches us a great lesson, an | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
example of this House should take. We have done well on diversity as | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
bad as ethnic minorities and women are concerned but we are improving | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
but we're still dreadfully under represented by octogenarian is in | :54:16. | :54:24. | |
this House and I am reminded by my friend the Leader of the Opposition | :54:25. | :54:34. | |
of Mildred Gordon who became an MP and Ian Mercado stood down because | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
he felt he was sold and the Labour Party chose Mildred Gordon who was | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
older and she served with distinction in this institution. I | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
want to say there is a distinction between respect for Her Majesty and | :54:52. | :54:57. | |
criticism of the institution of monarchy. She has continued the | :54:58. | :55:05. | |
institution and given it new life and meaning because of her own | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
personality and because of her decision not to be broiled in anyway | :55:09. | :55:15. | |
in affairs that are political. I believe there was an occasion | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
described by the late member for Cambridge when he wrote an article | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
describing what might have been a crisis in the party when Mrs | :55:26. | :55:34. | |
Thatcher was about to leave office and at that time the fear expressed | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
was that if Mrs Thatcher had decided to call a general election she was | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
more popular in the country than she was in the House or the party at the | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
time and the Conservative Party could not stop the calling an | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
election and neither could Parliament and neither could anyone | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
else but the Queen could and I believe that was an example of where | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
the personality of the Queen would have acted in the interests of the | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
country rather than the interests of a Prime Minister and that is the | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
supreme job of any monarchy in this country. I am happy as a Republican | :56:13. | :56:21. | |
to speak for a city where the last revolution or attempted revolution | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
to set up a Republic to placing 1839 and it's interesting that last week | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
Mr Mark reckless came into Newport to launches campaign and paid | :56:32. | :56:37. | |
tributes to the attractions of Chartism as a forerunner of Ukip is. | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
People have suggested this was opportunist but I don't think it was | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
because I believe if that honourable gentleman had stood in Coventry he | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
would have probably ever arrives in the constituency naked on a horse. | :56:53. | :56:59. | |
Is great privilege to be called in this debate and may I say that I | :57:00. | :57:07. | |
share 81 years of life with Her Majesty and I have watched with | :57:08. | :57:09. | |
great interest all that time and those of us who wish to have a new | :57:10. | :57:16. | |
system of heads of state can stay with deep sincerity, happy birthday, | :57:17. | :57:26. | |
ma'am. Mr Speaker, having cocksure eye, I want to pay tribute to Her | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
Majesty as one of -- caught your eye. I represent Buckingham Palace, | :57:31. | :57:39. | |
and in my case, Sandringham. I want to endorse what the Prime Minister | :57:40. | :57:42. | |
has said because from the moment Her Majesty stepped off that flight back | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
from Kenya on February seven, 1952 to return to a nation in mourning, | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
her life has been one of relentless, selfless and dedicated duty to our | :57:55. | :58:01. | |
nation. And also to Britain's dependencies, our overseas territory | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
and are realms. And I'm very glad that the Prime Minister and indeed | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
my honourable friend for a Mid Sussex mentioned the Commonwealth | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
because this is ceaseless service also applies to the Commonwealth. It | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
has been pointed out, started out as a loose a Association that has grown | :58:18. | :58:25. | |
into an incredible organisation that includes 2 billion plus people in | :58:26. | :58:32. | |
this world and 30% of the world's population. It truly global | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
organisation that I believe has led to countries within the Commonwealth | :58:36. | :58:39. | |
core operating and collaborating as never before and I believe Her | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
Majesty can be very proud of how this organisation has moved forward. | :58:44. | :58:51. | |
Mr Speaker, this extraordinary levels service and indeed ongoing | :58:52. | :58:54. | |
service to our nation is in stark contrast to the cult of the Ute that | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
seems to have taken over -- cult of youth that has taken over a lot of | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
democracies. This has given a lot of hope to people such as myself. But I | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
wanted its thing about Sandringham because Her Majesty could easily be | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
excused for coming to her beloveds antonym to get away from London as | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
the pressures of work, to relax with her family, for courses on the two | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
studs and with her dogs. But every year, without fail, Her Majesty | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
carries out numerous local visits, many of them to the same | :59:32. | :59:34. | |
organisations every year without fail. But every year, she will go | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
and visit new organisations, for example, opening new village halls, | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
a new ward of the hospital in Kingston, are local museums and | :59:45. | :59:53. | |
businesses -- King's Lynn. And what I have noticed is that what she has | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
met the dignities, she always makes it clear that she wants to go and | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
meet real people. She shows to those people and failing courtesy, good | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
humour and a deep knowledge of West Norfolk and time and again, she has | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
brought an told joy and happiness to my constituents. And so many | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
different occasions. I think she personifies the dignity and civics | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
Perrett that are the very Best of Norfolk and also the very best of | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
British and very often beside her is her consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Prince Philip who has been an indefatigable rock of support. We | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
celebrate the birthday of a remarkable person but we also | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
celebrate something else. We celebrate that covenant between the | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
monarch and the people which under her stewardship has made the | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
monarchy is stronger than ever. So, long may she reign over us. Thank | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
you, Mr Speaker for calling me especially since I only entered the | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
chamber when the premise was concluding his remarks and I can say | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
on this occasion, having not heard them, I would have agreed with them | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
all. My apologies. It is a massive honour to give praise and to | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
acknowledge the service of Her Majesty on her 90th birthday will | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
stop unlike many people in this place, the occasions I've had to | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
speak with Her Majesty are very limited, one occasion believed. As a | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
very new member of Parliament, and she was asking me about how I was | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
getting onto the setting up as a new MP. How did I cope with the | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
correspondence? And I did confide that on occasions people would come | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
unto me the street and say, thank you or acknowledged that the letter | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
I had written to them and I would sometimes go blank. I'm sure | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
colleagues might share the sensation, thinking, what are they | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
talking about? I can trigger the detail. She said, this happens to me | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
all the time. I always say, it's the least I can do. It's a nice get out | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
of jail card that we can perhaps cling onto. Her Majesty has an | :02:06. | :02:12. | |
occasion to visit formerly my part of the world on two occasions in her | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
reign. The first was 1956, 14 years before I was born. It was the year | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
of the Suez crisis and the clean air act. It was the year that you do | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
United Kingdom turned on its first nuclear power station. The second | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
occasion was three years ago when I was privileged to meet her in Kendal | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
as the member of Parliament and in the 57 years in between those two | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
visits and indeed since she shouldn't be thrown, so much has | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
changed for all of us. So much has changed for Britain and the world we | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
live in. The Elizabethan age will be reviewed by history as a vast | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
transformational, tumultuous era, during which our Queen has provided | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
immense constancy which I think will be looked back on as the thread | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
which ones do all of it and made change possible without the | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
uncertainty and instability that could have come about otherwise. In | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
Her Majesty's time, governments have indeed come and gone. She has seen | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
them read Britain into the European Common market and then people vote | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
to remain in when I was five years of age. She has in Britain leads the | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
world by becoming the first 27 country to commit not .7% of GDP in | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
international development. She has seen us become world leaders in | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
taking charge of tackling climate change. She has seen technological | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
advances raced ahead from any telegram or a radio programme was a | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
thing of great and claimant to the prevalence of satellite television, | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
the iPhone and letters being supplanted by e-mails, playgrounds | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
conversations by Facebook updates. But through all those years of | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
change and upheaval, one thing has been a constant and that has been | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
Her Majesty's selfless service to Britain, admired around the world | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
for a consistent advocacy of Britain at its best. Iron bound to say, as | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
others have, that she embodies the value of their being a | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
constitutional monarchy. A neutral person who is above politics and a | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
foundation upon which our Constitution, to whom all of us | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
whatever our political views, can look and share and allegiance. That | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
is an immensely valuable thing. So, even as we contemplate the | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
monumental things that have occurred during Her Majesty's rain, it is | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
worth remembering that birthdays are a very personal occasions. They are | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
an opportunity to celebrate the lives we live and give thanks with | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
friends and family. Hers has been an extraordinary life and an | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
extraordinary example of all in public life of the meaning of public | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
service. As we and others paid tribute to her example, I hope that | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
she with so many friends, grandchildren, children, | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
great-grandchildren and a loving husband experiences the same joy and | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
pleasure we all do when we get together to celebrate with those | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
that we love. And as wonderful and historic dates, and a half of my | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
party and constituents, I paid tribute to Her Majesty's dedication | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
to a lifetime of public service, to her faith and to wish a very happy | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
birthday and many more to come. I thank God for her service. Long live | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
the Queen. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am honoured and humbled to be able | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
to follow other members and the Prime Minister in congratulating Her | :05:49. | :05:51. | |
Majesty The Queen on her 90th birthday and indeed and 90 years of | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
tremendous service to her country and the common law. How fortunate we | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
are to be British, to have a head of state in this conflict is modern age | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
who is admired and respected throughout the world. The | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
contribution Her Majesty has made to the standing of the United Kingdom | :06:07. | :06:08. | |
in the world is hard to overestimate. From my own view, the | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
Queen's gritters contribution has been as a steadying influence on | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
British life through good times and bad, the one guaranteed constant in | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
all our lives. In many ways, she has been at the nation's grandmother. At | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
the age of 45, I am precisely half the age of the Queen yet when I was | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
born, she had already been Queen for 18 years. She had been a public | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
figure for many years before that. Indeed, like so many members of the | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
Royal family, the Queen has let her entire life in the public gaze. She | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
sat for pictures almost from birth and she made her first solo public | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
appearance when she was a mere 16. Indeed, she has been a lady of many | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
firsts. She was the first British monarch to visit China, Australia, | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
and New Zealand. The first to address the US Congress, and the | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
first head of state to have opened not one but two Olympic Games. She | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
made her first televised Christmas broadcast in 1957 and was the first | :07:07. | :07:09. | |
monarch and one of the first people in the world to send an e-mail as | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
early as 1976. It is to Her Majesty's credit that lobbying a | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
figure of great stability, she is also moved with the times. As we | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
entered the digital age, the Royal e-mail address was launched in 2007 | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
as was the Royal Channel on YouTube, the role Twitter account went live | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
in 2009 and the royal Facebook page in 2010. Today, the British monarchy | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
has 2.2 million followers on Twitter and growing even today. 2.7 million | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
likes on Facebook. That is a number of many of us in this place would be | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
rather jealous. A Google search for Queen Elizabeth II returns over 21 | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
million results and for the Queen returns 240 million results and | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
while many others past and present can claim that is rather generic | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
title, the Queen, you have to go to page six of the results before you | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
come to any other topic than Her Majesty. Incidentally and not | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
surprisingly, it is indeed a public house. The Queen is one of if not | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
what the most recognisable public figure in the world and yet as we | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
have heard, one of her former protection officers has shared in | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
most enduring stories this week. I recognise that the honourable member | :08:22. | :08:23. | |
who represents Balmoral is here today so I will not serial the punch | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
line of that story but it shows how gracious Her Majesty is. So many | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
people have personal stories of their own interactions with Her | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
Majesty. She has met hundreds of thousands of her subjects and | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
millions have seen her face-to-face at one of the many great festivals | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
and events that she attends each year. In 2012 during Jubilee year, | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
many residents of Worcestershire met Her Majesty when she opens the highs | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
library and history Centre in Worcester and she attended a | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
reception at the Guildhall. Such personal interactions are one of the | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
main reasons why she is so incredibly and enduringly popular. | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
Opinion polls show that Britons continue Queen Elizabeth II is to be | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
our greatest ever monarch despite considerable, petition and she has | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
reigned over a new Elizabethan age. We are fortunate to have shared that | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
era with her. On behalf of my constituents, the Royal people of | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
Ulster, and all the people of Worcestershire, I wish her a very | :09:23. | :09:30. | |
happy 90 birthday. -- Worcester. It's a pleasure to join in the | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
celebration today. I am looking forward to returning home this | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
evening to my husband and four children for our own celebration | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
because today is not only Her Majesty's budget but also the | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
birthday of my daughter. April 21 is a daily diary member very well, one | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
which was particularly long in number of years ago. My daughter has | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
prepared her own birthday wish list. I do not know if Her Majesty has | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
done the same thing, but I think they may share some of the same | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
aspirations for the future. I and a lighter to wish them both a very | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
happy birthday. I should also add for the benefit of the Speaker as | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
the House of Commons that I have just returned from my delegation at | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
the Council of Europe or that house can be assured that Her Majesty's | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
birthday will be celebrated in the normal manner just about now. For | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
the past 64 years, Scotland has enjoyed Her Majesty's leadership. | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
Indeed, in 1999, she said that our country has a special place in my | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
own and my family's heart and I know that Scotland feels the same in | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
return and we very much look forward to her opening the new Scottish | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
parliament after the elections next month. Mr Speaker, the people of my | :10:44. | :10:52. | |
constituency are very proud of our royal connections, especially our | :10:53. | :10:54. | |
association with the Queen's grandson and his wife. Through | :10:55. | :11:02. | |
26-year-olds could have been prepared to cope with the brawl that | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
she inherited in 1952, but it has been clear to all that she has | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
provided it cleverly leadership over the last decade and hopefully for | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
many to come. Over and above this, to have been seen to conduct | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
yourself in it chorus manner in any of unprecedented public scrutiny has | :11:22. | :11:24. | |
been an example to us all in public life. Mr Speaker, I am proud to have | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
been honoured for my work in business and within Scotland's Asian | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
community by receiving an all be evil. -- all BT. | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
Believed the honour wasn't just a personal one, a commitment to the | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
whole of the Asian community in Scotland, reinforcing our valuable | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
place in its fabric. I believe how lovely indeed, that the lady | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
preparing the birthday cake for Her Majesty is also a member of the | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
Asian community, I have no doubt that Nadia's cake will be a mass | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
fierce, the recognition I received from Her Majesty symbolised to me | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
and my father, and those of us with Pakistani heritage, that it has, we | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
have all been accepted into the heart of this country. This is a | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
gift that could only have been bestowed by somebody who conducts | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
themselves outside politics. I was fortunate enough to have been | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
presented with the OBE by Her Majesty herself, what I remember | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
about the conversation I had with her she spoke so knowledgeably about | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
work I had been involved w and the achievement of the organisations I | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
had supported. I remember thinking, at that time, that to carry out | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
these duties, for every single recipient she met that day, with | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
skill and insight, must have taken considerable personal commitment, | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
and preparation on her part. And by committing herself so | :12:59. | :13:06. | |
diligently to her public duties at home and and broad, Her Majesty has | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
shown herself to be a model and modern constitutional monarch. Mr | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
Speaker, she has not only acted as our head of state but has been a | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
great servant to our democracy. I am glad to have this opportunity to | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
thank her once again, for her public service, and to wish her a very very | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
happy 90th birthday today. Thank you Mr Speaker. I am delighted | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
to speak and support this humble address on this splendid day, | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
celebrating the landmark 90th birthday of our be loved Queen | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
Elizabeth. It is an historic day where we celebrate the life and dead | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
casing of our Queen who is the oldest and longest reigning monarch, | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
two records she continues to extend which each passing day and I hope | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
she continues to do for many days and years to come. On the subject of | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
age, I do observer that on entering Parliament last year at a similar | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
age to Her Majesty when she ascended to the throne. It was an honour to | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
swear allegiance on taking my seat on the benches. In so doing I hope I | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
reflect the highest regard in which Her Majesty is held. As we remember | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
the Queen's popularity here, and at home, we should remember the role | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
through the world, and that she undertakes in the form of Head of | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
the Commonwealth. The organisation of 53 countries and remaining the | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
sovereign head of state, of a further 15 realms in addition to the | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
United Kingdom. Her Majesty's sense of duty is never stronger than when | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
it comes to her dealings with the Commonwealth and now as ever is a | :14:44. | :14:45. | |
fitting time to remember how much Britain owes to the Commonwealth and | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
how much its members and citizens have supported us in times of | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
difficulty. Aside from that, some of Her Majesty's duties have sausaged I | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
haves to my own constituency of hazing Grove. She last visited in | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
1977. As part of the celebration for her Silver Jubilee, there she opened | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
Hazel Grove railway station, a fine example of Britain's 1970s urban | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
design, still there today. It is migrate pleasure as a councillor to | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
propose that the road currently under construction between Hazel | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
Grove and Manchester Airport be named the Queen Elizabeth II way in | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
her honour, were she keen to come and open the road, I am sure she | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
would be warmly welcomed by my and my constituents. However, I | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
redegreed to remind the house that my stit city has not always enjoyed | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
such a happy relationship. It was the, in 2 town of Marple the home of | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
John Bradshaw, the lead judge at the trial of Charles I who later became | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
an MP for Cheshire. Charles I was the great, great, great, great, | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
great, great, great and that is eight greats for the benefit of | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
Hansard sentence nothing fers. The then monarch was the tyrant traitor, | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
murderer and public enemy, let me reassure the house that no such | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
Republican tendencies arise in me, and nor have I detected them among | :16:17. | :16:24. | |
my constituents. The country, the country has truly taken our current | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
monarch to our collective hearts. I was interested to read some polling | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
figures in The Evening Standard which found 67% holding the Queen in | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
high favour ability. The Queen is herself of course above all of this, | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
and I understand she is a much bigger fan of the Racing Post rather | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
than the standard, but we can be sure that, but we can be sure there | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
are members and right honourable members and right honourable friends | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
who would yearn for such popularity, in addition her grandchildren were | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
reported to receive similar high favour about ratings, suggesting | :17:02. | :17:03. | |
that the monarchy is in good shape for generations to come. This is | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
great news and having a monarch in the form we do, we are spared the | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
prospect of a Presidential head of state. | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
Rather the Queen is above politics, is steadfast in her belief, | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
resolute, as he executes her duties faithfully as she. Proitsed and will | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
continue to do so. In my opinion the secret of her success is that she | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
believes in what she is doing, and has dedicated and is dedicated to | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
the service of Britain, and our place in the world, long may she | :17:34. | :17:42. | |
reign, God Save The Queen and happy birthday ma' am. All over loyal | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
Ulster Her Majesty The Queen will be receiving best birthday wish, and | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
it's a huge and humbling trait to join with and join with my | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
constituents in particular. At prayers this morning, your chaplain | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
prayed for Her Majesty The Queen, the words, may she have long life, | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
and everlasting Felicity, that prayer asking for a long and joyous | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
life is answered on a daily basis, for her imagine industry the Queen, | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
we thank God for his mercy to her as she terns her 91st year and for her | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
faithfulness, not only to this nation, but to her ridge. It is with | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
great joy, that we we extend to our gracious sovereign the many happy | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
returns and wish she has many, many more in the future, find I would | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
like to see the constitution Aldi Liberal Democrat what of how the | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
Queen gets over the problem of sending herself a tell gram when she | :18:48. | :18:55. | |
reaches a century. Just this week, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
invited me to a Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen, to which | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
I will of course most certainly attend. The people of Northern | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
Ireland are always in a buzz when they learn of a royal visit, during | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
her time as Princess Elizabeth she visited northern on three occasions | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
and made a further 20 official visits to Northern Ireland as Queen. | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
The many visits throughout her reign have always been successful, in | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
terses of their outreach and engagement, despite the at times | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
very real personal threat to herself and to the Royal Family. On one | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
occasion the IRA made the sinister threat that they would give her a | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
visit to remember. The same IRA of course murdered Lord Mountbatten in | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
Ireland, today she is witness to the remarkable change of which she has | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
played no small part, in the change in attitude, in fact the very man | :19:52. | :19:54. | |
who is in second of command of the require at the time of that murder | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
and the time of that threat is the Deputy First Minister of Northern | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
Ireland, and in law, accepts the Queen as hit Queen, so much so that | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
every piece of legislation he signs, commences with the words, be it | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
enacted by her gracious Majesty the Queen. What a remarkable change, the | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
Queen has reigned over and no small success on her part. The Prime | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
Minister today, importantly referred to the Queen's landmark visit to the | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
Republic of Ireland and what a success that was, who know, maybe | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
Her Majesty will see the 55th nights joining the Commonwealth, and will | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
see Ireland playing a considerable part to the trade and relationships | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
of that wonderful organisation. Anyone who has met Her Majesty The | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
Queen remembers every aspect of that meeting. The conversation, and the | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
circumstance, the happy memories that flow from it, and indeed, | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
tonight, the Queen will light the first beacon to mark her birthday in | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
Windsor great park. I am delighted that 17-year-old army cadet Emma Lee | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
Ray from County Antrim will be at her side representing Northern | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
Ireland, that will be an inspiring moment for Emma Lee, that she will | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
cherish I believe for the rest of her life. The release today of the | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
stamps of Her Majesty The Queen, her son, her grandson and great grandson | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
is a real inspiration to us all and emphasises the sure line of | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
succession and the ever increasing popularity of the monarch, and | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
indeed in which the monarch is held. Long may she reign over us, many | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
happy returns ma' am on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland. As | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
other honourable members have indicated it an honour to be able to | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
pay tribute to Her Majesty The Queen today. As other honourable members | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
have said, what an amazing an inspirational 90 years they have | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
been. Her Majesty's commitment and dedication to our nation, to public | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
duty throughout her life, through the good time, and the bad, are the | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
envy of the world. Mr Speaker, there are two businesses in my | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
constituency that have been inspired as a result of receiving award from | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
Her Majesty. A textile company received the Queen's award for | :22:25. | :22:32. | |
international trade in 2009. And sailing clothes company received the | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
Queen's Award for Enterprise as a result of increasing export sales to | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
75% of the total revenue in 2011. Those awards are treasured and | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
displayed with immense pride in those businesses. | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
Sadly, my constituents have never had the honour of a visit from the | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
great lady. In fact, the last time a Monday that visited us was over 100 | :22:58. | :23:04. | |
years ago in June 1914 when Her Majesty's grandfather King George V | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
opened a grammar school. The king pressed a button while standing in | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
the market place, which opened the school gates. That was a good half a | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
mile away, and well out of sight. And the story goes a charge relayed | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
the success of the operation back to the assembled crowds in the town | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
centre. It is reported that the king did pass by the school, in his car, | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
on his way out-of-town, and did have a few words with the headmaster. | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
So Mr Speaker, I want to add to the list of invites my honourable friend | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
from Hazel Grove has already given and take the opportunity to invite | :23:41. | :23:48. | |
Her Majesty to my constituency to open the new train station, where | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
she will be able to alight at the station, and not behalf a mile away | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
when she opens it. And despite her great years, honourable members will | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
know that her imagine industry is a very modern lady. I feel she | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
probably won't have time today to be listening to the tributes being paid | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
in this House, so I am sure he will bh catching up on YouTube later, so | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
hopefully she will get the invitation to my constituency to | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
open the station in that way. So Mr Speaker, on behalf our my | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
constituents may wish Her Majesty a very happy birthday and may she | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
enjoy many more to come. Thank you very much. It a great | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
pleasure to participant in this debate. Debate. I it was on these | :24:38. | :24:50. | |
benches ten years ago when I % painted in the 80th birthday | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
addresses. -- participated. | :24:54. | :25:03. | |
I mean I am on the exact same bench as I was ten years ago, the address | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
had six speakers and took about 15 minute, given the advance in time | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
today, I look forward to the length of the humble address in ten years' | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
time if indeed we are all spared. The Queen is six years older than | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
the SNP, and it is not the only connection, the private secretary's | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
first cousin is a SNP councillor in Stornoway and a very good one | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
indeed. Mentioning sporn way gives me the opportunity to seamlessly | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
mention one of the Queen's great passion, islands, and looking back | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
on my speech of ten years ago in the place, I praised her good sense for | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
her choice of holiday that year to mark her birthday, which was a sail | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
round the Hebrides as was alluded to by the member for Moray. She visited | :25:57. | :26:04. | |
all the islands, when she has come many times in fact, mostly | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
informally. Since then, I have met the Queen and asked her about the | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
trip and I can report happily she found it to be a very splendid | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
occasion indeed. In the intervening period many others have followed her | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
example and visited, and have had a right royal time in other ways I am | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
sure. I would of course encourage many others to follow the Queen's | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
example, and as well as welcoming those who will be coming back again | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
for a revisit, I certainly hope Her Majesty has the Hans to return to | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
the islands she has visited so much, and I can remember clearly seeing | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
the Royal Yacht with its three mast, from behind, as a youngster from my | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
grandmother's house, her enjoin is more than formal, it is very | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
personal indeed. People in the Hebrides were very pleased when the | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
Queen in Ireland spoke in ear Irish Gaelic in what was a great gesture. | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
So therefore, as I did on this debate ten years ago, I will end in | :27:03. | :27:15. | |
Scottish Gaelic, and say... Mr Speaker, I should Reich to | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
associate myself with the congratulations offered by the Prime | :27:19. | :27:20. | |
Minister and others to Her Majesty. Windsor cup when he said that Her | :27:21. | :27:33. | |
Majesty is the nation about my grandmother, perhaps I could add | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
that with her commitment to seeing a nation and serving God diet that she | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
is the nation's. Mother too. I'm delighted to rise to add the | :27:45. | :27:46. | |
heartfelt good wishes of the people of North East Hampshire and why we | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
have heard from all corners of the United Kingdom, there is perhaps not | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
much for me is to add. Looking at our country. Perhaps I can blog is | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
my contribution on Her Majesty's lifelong commitments to the | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
Commonwealth. Many countries around the world share our common history | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
and shared history leads to shared language, shared values, and I hope | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
a shared future. The majesty has overseen in its current form the | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
creation of the Commonwealth to harness this shared history around | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
the world as a forceful good a force for good the future given that the | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
Commonwealth is home to 2.2 billion people of which over 60% are under | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
the age of 30, and this is clear in my mind on Parliamentary group of | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
Sri Lanka, and Her Majesty has overlapped all the ten years of all | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
for Prime Minister says the country's independence. Her Majesty | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
and I have only one thing in common, both having only visited Sri Lanka | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
twice. A former British High Commissioner said following her | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
second visit, Her Majesty has fond memories of the first visit to Sri | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
Lanka in 1954. He continued, Mr Speaker, as part of engagements | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
during the visit, Her Majesty also addressed the nation from the | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
historic studios of radio Ceylon, now known as the Sri Lanka | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
broadcasting Corporation. She came back to Sri Lanka as head of the | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
Commonwealth, and people I have met travelling around the country fondly | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
recall memories of her second visit. Not only do these excerpts highlight | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
the mutual delight at each other's involvement in the Commonwealth but | :29:38. | :29:40. | |
they also illustrate the strength afforded by the changes that have | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
occurred. Her Majesty has helped ensure that Britain and Sri Lanka | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
have enjoyed a long association remaining cordial throughout the | :29:50. | :29:52. | |
various constitutional changes of recent decades. This is true of the | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
wider world. The United Kingdom's relationship with Australia, Canada, | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
and India and other Commonwealth countries has changed and is | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
stronger for it. Thousands of this Commonwealth students study in the | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
UK each year at world-class universities. There are this tedious | :30:11. | :30:22. | |
bursaries available. This provides real hope for the future. Tomorrow's | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
leaders across the world are being provided with the tools to create | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
and sustain the Commonwealth that is mutual respectful, resilient, | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
peaceful and prosperous. A Commonwealth that cherishes quality, | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
diversity, and our shared values. A Commonwealth that Her Majesty has | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
created, is committed to, and if I may be so bold, is rightly proud of. | :30:46. | :30:55. | |
God Save The Queen. Thank you Mr Speaker. It is a pleasure to be | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
called today to wish Her Majesty a happy 90th birthday. I have the | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
privilege to represent the royal residence of Balmoral will stop it | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
is this royal connection begun under Queen Victoria to my constituency | :31:10. | :31:12. | |
that gives the area I grew up in the name royal Deeside. In gives the | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
royal name to the local whiskey, and means that the highest concentration | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
of royal warrant holders anywhere in the UK is in my constituency. We | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
have had a very tough year, and is the royal family has supported them. | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
They are now open for business. It is fair to say that as has been | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
mentioned, the Royal family and Her Majesty are most at home when | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
spending time in my constituency, something I am proud to share with | :31:50. | :31:58. | |
Her Majesty. Mr Speaker, people living on ten Micro -- Royal | :31:59. | :32:10. | |
Deeside, they talk of her in light-hearted conversation, seeing | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
her driving along, he kindly lady. It is a nice thought to think of Her | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
Majesty in such a way. If I could just manage my brief remarks as the | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
speaker with a story, and I thank the member for Mid Worcestershire | :32:24. | :32:30. | |
the not recounting it, he told while walking near Balmoral Castle Her | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
Majesty encountered a group of American tourists. The tourist asked | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
if she was a local to which she replied that she had a house nearby. | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
The tourists then asked if she had met the Queen. No, and gesturing to | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
her protection officer, she said but he has! I'd like to finish by | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
wishing Her Majesty a very happy 90th birthday and very many happy | :32:56. | :33:05. | |
returns. Thank you very much Mr Speaker. Thank you for your | :33:06. | :33:13. | |
enthusiastic endorsement. Now take the opportunity to thank the | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
previous speaker, the honourable member for west Aberdeen, it is a | :33:18. | :33:28. | |
pleasure to follow him. I'm honestly have this opportunity to speak in | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
the debate to a great honour to be in this house, and it is a | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
particular honour for me to have this opportunity because Her Majesty | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
is someone here we can all look up to, as an exemplar la of duty and | :33:42. | :33:51. | |
public service. I want to wish her a happy birthday and very many happy | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
returns. I hope and confidently expect that Her Majesty will reach | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
her 100th birthday, of course, more after that. It is a fact of course | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
that is widely acknowledged around the world that Her Majesty has shown | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
the most extraordinary and selfless devotion to duty and public service. | :34:13. | :34:22. | |
64 years, now, and this house, all these houses of parliament marked | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee in 1977 I of course racing a rather special | :34:28. | :34:36. | |
fountain in new Palace Yard, in the shadow of Big Ben which is still | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
working today, and which gives great pleasure to many of us here and many | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
visitors. The house also recognised Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee in 2002 | :34:48. | :34:55. | |
when it placed a sundial in the ground at old Palace Yard, outside | :34:56. | :35:03. | |
the house of lords. Of course, more recently, the house, both Houses of | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
Parliament I am pleased to say, across the political divide, across | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
the aisle as it work, across both houses recognised her diamond | :35:13. | :35:20. | |
jubilee in 2012 by placing a stained-glass window, a very special | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
stained-glass window in the north window of Westminster Hall. It is | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
hoped that it will be there for many hundreds of years to come. That | :35:30. | :35:33. | |
stained-glass window shows Her Majesty's coat of arms, and it is | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
almost directly opposite the World War II window, which was put in in | :35:40. | :35:48. | |
around 1950. The original Victorian window having been blown out by | :35:49. | :35:51. | |
enemy action during the war, but it means that the coat of arms of Her | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
Majesty's late father, the King, are directly opposite her coat of arms, | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
now, across Westminster Hall, that ancient edifice that is now nearly | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
1000 years old, and is a suitable honour for this house and this | :36:10. | :36:17. | |
country, and for Her Majesty and Her Majesty's late father who served | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
this country so well and continue to do so. We are only five and a half | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
years away from the Platinum jubilee so we need to keep in mind that, and | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
I have no doubt that both houses of parliament will mark that in an | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
equally special way. And without recourse to public funds, Imad ad, | :36:37. | :36:45. | |
as happened with the Diamond Jubilee, and matter entirely funded | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
by private donations by these houses. In the preparations for that | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
window, the scratchings were made of the design to be used, and there | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
were two beings and froing and precision work needed, and members | :37:01. | :37:12. | |
can no doubt imagine. The exact and design, the heraldry, the very last | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
drawing... The drawing was going to be signed off and sent to the | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
glaziers for manufacture in the ancient way, the way made... | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
Stained-glass has been made for 800 years, and just to be signed off, | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
seen by the Leader of the Opposition, the Prime Minister, by | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
everyone who needed to see Ed, and it was noticed, not by me I hasten | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
to add, by an expert, that the chain on the unicorn was the wrong way | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
round, and this was something that was just noticed in time by one of | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
the experts in heraldry and consequently changed. Later when Her | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
Majesty came to Parliament and saw the window in situ, I mentioned to | :37:57. | :38:03. | |
Her Majesty that this has nearly happened, that the unicorn's chain | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
had nearly been placed the wrong way round on the stained-glass window, | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
and Her Majesty smiled broadly. I won't indicate the conversation that | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
we had, but if I say that later somebody else remarked that it was | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
always importance to ensure that a unicorn's chain is the right way | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
round, I dread to think what might have happened if acted and place the | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
wrong way round. It would have been no doubt a story to be told for a | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
long time to come that that had gone wrong. Particularly by the | :38:40. | :38:49. | |
Honourable gentleman! Even though it didn't go wrong guy still tell the | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
story! Can I just say one other point I would like to make before | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
closing. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip has been | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
Her Majesty's consort for nearly 70 years now and has been a steady fast | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
support to Her Majesty. It is clear to everyone. By being such a stead | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
fast support to our sovereign and to the Queen and to his wife, he has of | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
course been a stead fast supports do this country, and I thank him for | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
that, I wish Her Majesty a very happy birthday and many happy | :39:30. | :39:36. | |
returns. But save the Queen. Thank you Mr Speaker, and thank you for | :39:37. | :39:39. | |
allowing me to speak briefly today in this really special debate. On | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
the half of my constituents in North Tyneside, I would like to | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
congratulate the Queen on reaching her 90th birthday and I remember the | :39:50. | :39:56. | |
last time the Queen and Prince Delaware in North Tyneside which was | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
in 2012 when the Queen officially open the Tyne Tunnel 45 years after | :40:02. | :40:09. | |
the first one. She was work and on that before day by many | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
schoolchildren, Air Cadets who played music for her and it was a | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
wonderful occasion. It took me back to the day back in 1967 when she | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
came to Tyneside to open the first Tyne Tunnel, a school day for me in | :40:25. | :40:31. | |
north shields, and we knew the Queen was coming, and we were all excited | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
because one boy in our class who happens to live near the Tyne Tunnel | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
was going to join the crowds. We were all in or we were stuck in | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
school and I think the boy was Michael Bell or David Bell, going to | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
see the Queen. I never dreamt on that day that in 2012 I would be, as | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
the NP, at the Tyne Tunnel to meet the Queen. I have to say I am, I | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
have been brought up in a household that was very royalist, my parents | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
were very proud of the Queen as were many of their generation who were | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
contemporaries of that part of the Royal family, and our family over | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
many years enjoyed watching all the Royal events on TV, the royal | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
wedding, the annual Trooping of the Colour, we always enjoyed getting | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
into the spirit of the occasion and felt very patriotic alongside so | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
many others, who have been so proud of everything our Queen has | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
achieved. I know that my late mother in particular where she alive to day | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
would be both thrilled and particularly humbles to know that I | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
am standing here on behalf of North Tyneside to wish our Queen not only | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
a very happy birthday but also a very many happy returns. Thank you | :41:51. | :41:59. | |
very much Mr Speaker. In the Windsor constituency, the history of the | :42:00. | :42:02. | |
monarchy runs deep and wide. From the border last got through the | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
great Park to the barracks and the charities, good causes and hospitals | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
and schools and way beyond. The magnificent Windsor Castle is both | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
at the heart of the local activities but also can be seen nationwide. In | :42:14. | :42:20. | |
many ways Her Majesty runs an open home and an open life full stop very | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
few people have not paid a visit all to Windsor Castle, and it would be | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
unusual not to see her and her family out in the constituency. | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
In He has been a consistent forge for social cohesion in her entire 90 | :42:39. | :42:46. | |
year, she has been a beacon for civilised people, both at home, and | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
abroad. There are few features of our national life which are brought | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
such consist sentence is, stability and happiness and joy and | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
celebration over such a long period of history. As the head of state, he | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
role is more than symbolic, she is more than a figurehead. | :43:08. | :43:14. | |
She has been a warm and consistent presence in often harsh and a | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
changing world. So on behalf of mice, the country, my constituent, | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
the Commonwealth and the world I sent my heartfelt congratulations to | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
you on your 0th birthday, long may you reign and long may you rain rein | :43:30. | :43:36. | |
in the forces that seek to divide us. Thank you for this opportunity, | :43:37. | :43:45. | |
to do so on behalf of my friends, the member for Carmarthen. The good | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
wishes of my member for Brighton Pavilion who can't be here. Mr | :43:53. | :43:58. | |
Speaker, as has been said the Queen has a remarkable record of service | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
throughout which she has been Sloan a model devoice to her duty and | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
dignity in public life, I think this is particularly instructive in his | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
days when so many feel compulsion to reveal all. It's a caution in | :44:12. | :44:19. | |
respect of our activities here, as she has outlasted so many here today | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
and gone tomorrow Prime Ministers and leaders of the opposition for | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
that matter. Now, Professor Davis was once my parents' MP, a liberal | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
MP for a very short period between Lloyd George's moving to the other | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
place as the Earl and the post-war disillusion and the landslide that | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
swept him and them away. Many years later standing on my home square | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
with some gentlemen of a similar vintage, they were approached by a | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
younger man who said, you three standing there, you are looking | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
good. You are looking good. To which Davis replied there are four ages to | :45:01. | :45:03. | |
man, when you are young, when you are middle-aged, when king good. You | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
are looking good. To which Davis replied there are four ages to man, | :45:09. | :45:11. | |
when you are young, when you are middle-aged, when you are older and | :45:12. | :45:13. | |
king good. You are looking good. To which Davis replied there are four | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
ages to man, when you are young, when you are middle-aged, when you | :45:17. | :45:18. | |
are older and when "You're looking good. "The Queen is looking good, | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
and that is both a statement of fact and symbolic of the personal respect | :45:22. | :45:23. | |
and affection that she enjoys so widely. Mr Speaker, today is a | :45:24. | :45:26. | |
public celebration, but also more importantly, a joyous family | :45:27. | :45:33. | |
occasion, so I will close by saying... By wishing her a very | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
happy birthday and on her 9 #09 birthday, best wishes for the | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
future. -- 90th. Thank you for your | :45:43. | :45:49. | |
indulgence and I rise momentarily to wish Her Majesty The Queen many | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
happy pressures on behalf of his constituents? St Helens North, one | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
of whom Nora Collins celebrates her birthday day. I thought it was very | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
appropriate that I spoke to her this morning, because of course, Her | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
Majesty The Queen has done so much to further good relations between | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
Britain and Ireland and as chair of the all party group on the Irish in | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
Britain, I know the community here felt a very special pride at her | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
state visit to Ireland and the visit here by the President of Ireland. So | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
on behalf of the all-party group and the community here, I say... Happy | :46:32. | :46:40. | |
birthday to Her Majesty The Queen. Thank you very much Mr Speaker, and | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
of course as you know, it will be you that properly summarises this | :46:45. | :46:47. | |
debate because it is for you to choose the words that are | :46:48. | :46:50. | |
appropriate from this debate when you go to the Palace with the 12 | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
others of us, so this isn't really a summing up, speech, more a | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
contribution of my own, and I am grateful for that opportunity, not | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
least because I think I am the only member of this House who has ever | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
sworn the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty and her successor as a | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
member of Parliament and a clerk in holy order, and so personally I | :47:12. | :47:14. | |
would like to thank enormously for the faithfulness she has shown to | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
the Church of England, and for that matter, the church of Scotland. She | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
manages to be am by dextrous in that as so many other things. It reminds | :47:24. | :47:32. | |
when Norman St John to see vas, he greeted the then Queen Mother at the | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
foot of the stairs of the Royal Opera House, and as they climbed the | :47:38. | :47:44. | |
stair, the crowd burst into spontaneous applause at which Her | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
Majesty was distinctly third heard to say, lucky thing, two Queens for | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
the price of one. I cannot pretend to know Her Majesty well or indeed | :47:54. | :48:03. | |
at all, really, but I did canvas once in a by-election the staff at | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
Balmoral, we didn't get very many supporters I have to say, in fact I | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
think we came fourth as well. However, my father played a very | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
important part in the Coronation in 1953. He was serving in the RAF at | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
the time, and was at saint Lytham, when 31 group based in north Wales, | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
decided to send 40 male and female RAF officers, to march in the | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
Coronation, they decided they somebody had to brush up their | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
marching skills and so my 19-year-old father was sent for, and | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
was flown up in a tiny aeroplane and spent a few days with the officers. | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
Apparently my father was so good at shouting at people, that he wasn't | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
needed for the Coronation itself. I make... I make this point simply to | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
underline how many people's lives she Her Majesty has touched. She has | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
visited the Rhondda many time, indeed a photo of her in 1989 was | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
used for the 24 pence stamp to celebrate her 40th anniversary in | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
19926789 when she came to the Rhondda in June 2002, I was asked to | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
walk with her, past the great number of people who lined the street, all | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
of whom were singing she'll be stopping here when she comes. I knew | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
my office manager Kevin Morgan was going to be there with his two young | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
son, Sam and Owen, so when I saw their little flags waving I gently | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
steered Her Majesty towards them, the two boys were still young and | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
shy, so m and Owen, so when I saw their little flags waving I gently | :49:46. | :49:47. | |
steered Her Majesty towards them, the two boys were still young and | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
shy, so as we approached, I said "Go on then, say hello." Unfortunately | :49:51. | :49:52. | |
Her Majesty thought I was referring to her, all right young man, she | :49:53. | :49:55. | |
barked back at me. So she is probably not going to be reading | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
this speech later. The truth is she has had to put up with a lot in her | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
time. She has had to suffer a stream point of view fission and she is | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
getting another is in a few day, 160 Prime Ministers in all her dominions | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
and Mr Speaker living with change is one of the most difficult things in | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
the world, especially when you are almost powerless yourself to affect | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
it. Yet, that is exactly what she has done, I belief, in admirable | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
style. Technology has changed haster than any other generation, social | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
attitudes have changed dramatically too, in 1952, it is strange to think | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
there were just 17 women in Parliament. 18 I suppose if you | :50:41. | :50:50. | |
include her. Today, there are 191 women MPs, and 201 women peers, | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
still not enough but better than it was. It seems incredible today but | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
in 19 a 5 parents of children with cerebral palsy found it impossible | :51:01. | :51:03. | |
to find anyone to educate their children. Which is why three parents | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
set up the s society which came Scope. We have made enormous | :51:09. | :51:16. | |
strides. The First Minister for disabled people. I think the Royal | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
Family have played a dramatic role in changing the attitudes by the way | :51:21. | :51:28. | |
they have each out. Likewise when the diagnostics and cities tits | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
manual of mental disorders was published it classified | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
homosexuality as a mental disorder e yet very few today would hold that | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
view, and you can even get married in Parliament, in the same sex | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
ceremony. So when you think what she has lived through, the Second World | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
War, the Cold War, the Falklands, the end of empire, the troubles and | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
the peace in Northern Ireland, it is difficult, I think, not to feel in | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
Shakespeare's world at the end of King Lear, the oldest Ms Borne most, | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
we that are young will never see to much or live so long. For all the | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
Pomp and world at the end of King Lear, the oldest Ms Borne most, we | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
that are young will never see to much or live so long. For all the | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
Pomp and Circumstance and the reason our @s, Republicans and monarchists | :52:17. | :52:18. | |
alike admire and respect her, is because of her fundamental decency, | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
her manifest commitment to do her duty and herable to keep her | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
council. At the end of Thomas Hardy's novel the peasant girl pays | :52:30. | :52:35. | |
tribute in simple terms to Giles. A good man who did good things, I | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
think we could all agree we should surely say the same of Her Majesty, | :52:39. | :52:47. | |
a good woman, who does good things. Thank you. It is my privilege and | :52:48. | :52:54. | |
honour to conclude this debate and commend the motion no House. The | :52:55. | :52:57. | |
Prime Minister singled out the importance of faith to Her Majesty. | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
Earlier your chaplain led us in extra special prayers to which I | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
will add one which used to be sung in Catholic Churches. Churches. IN | :53:08. | :53:24. | |
LATIN. So fittingly adorned may she be enable to avoid all foul tame | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
takes a with her Prince Consort may she be welcomed by you who are the | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
way, the truth and the light. We have heard from memory, from all | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
parts of the United Kingdom, and all languages said, Gallic, Welsh, | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
Irish, Latin, as well as the Queen's language. Paying individual tributes | :53:49. | :53:55. | |
to Her Majesty, citing individual story, stories of their | :53:56. | :53:58. | |
constituency, widely reflecting on her service to this nation and the | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
Commonwealth. As the Prime Minister pointed out, the influence of our | :54:04. | :54:05. | |
Queen started long before she was crowned. We have heard of her | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
special children's broadcast during the war, and her service in the ATS. | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
I understand as a young girl she reminded her father of the poem good | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
Knows known as the gate to the year. Part of which he recited in the 1939 | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
Christmas broadcast, in which he said I said to the man who stood at | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
the gate of the year, give me a light that I may tread safely into | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
the unknown and he replied. Go out into the darkness and put your hand | :54:34. | :54:36. | |
into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
than a known way. This world is uncertain, Mr Speaker, but Her | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
Majesty brings a constant, calming presence, full of good council, for | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
the, all the Prime Ministers an our Parliament and for the nation and | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
the Commonwealth. Especially shown by her leadership, as Head of the | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
Commonwealth and the many challenges that, that joy has brought to her | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
and her country, she has seen much change in her 90 year, I have | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
thought of her as being timeless, the steady hand, but keeping up with | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
the times. Technology is being used to commence her today. The hashtag | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
happy birthday your Majesty is trending. The Google icon is happy | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
90th birthday ma'am. As many people are excited and overjoyed to meet | :55:25. | :55:27. | |
the Queen. I recall a few years ago when she opened the New Broadcasting | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
House at the BBC, when she Mel Rabibly and deliberately walked into | :55:34. | :55:37. | |
the live news broad cacking. Even if the cool wizards were running and | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
climbing on desks simply to catch a glimpse of their special visitor, | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
she touches all hearts and up and down the country tonight, people | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
will join in a tra decisional form of ceremony, the lighting of beacon, | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
I will make it back to celebrate one of those events W have heard about | :55:56. | :55:58. | |
further celebrations that will continue later this year, I for one | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
hope she will enjoy time with her family, and with her as well as with | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
the wider nation, but for now, in commending this motion I conclude | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
with part of the National Anthem which is choice irgift -- choicest | :56:16. | :56:21. | |
gifts restore. To sing with heart and voice, God Save The Queen. | :56:22. | :56:29. | |
? The question is the motion for a humble address on the order paper, | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
as many of that opinion say aye. I think the ayes have it. The ayes | :56:36. | :56:37. | |
have it. About to move that the house do now | :56:38. | :56:50. | |
or journal. The question is that the house now adjourn. Mr Peter Aldous. | :56:51. | :56:58. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker. I am pleased to secure this debate as it provides | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
the opportunity to examine how the government are getting on in | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
preventing article 17 of the reformed Common fisheries policy | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
which came into operation on the 1st of January in 2014. Article 17 | :57:12. | 3:09:49 | |
presents the opportunity to regenerate the fishing industry | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
imports such as Lowestoft in my constituency. It has the potential | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to bring economic and social benefits to coastal communities | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
around the UK, and will also help the government achieve their | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
objectives of rebalancing the economy away from London and the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
south-east. In facilitating much needed regeneration of coastal | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
areas, where many communities feel that they have been neglected for | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
far too long. There is a concern which while the government has | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
introduced some instant initiative is to comply with 17, they do not | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
have a inherent long-term strategy in place to ensure that it's very | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
important objectives are met. Prince Beachley -- put simply, the way the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Common fishing policy works is that an overarching policies put in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Brussels, and then individual states pursue their own initiatives to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
ensure that the framework is met. Under the previous 2002 regime, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
member states were given a very wide discretion and the equivalent policy | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
framework was very loosely worded letters, and it was in article 23 | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
from 2002, which states: each member state shall decide that vessels | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
flying its flag on the method of allocating wishing opportunities | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
assigned to that member state in accordance with community law, it | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
should inform the commission of the allocation method. Very wide | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
discretion to do what they will, only they then had to tell the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
commission what they were doing. This article has been replaced by a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Article 17 which is far more specific. I will just read it. It | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
says: well when allocating opportunities alone to them as per | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
article 16 member states shall use transparent and objective criteria | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
day including those from an environmental, social and economic | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
nature. The criteria to be used may include inter-alia, the impact of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fishing on the environment, compliance, attribution to economic | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
levels. The opportunities allocated to the states shall provide | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
incentives to fishing vessels, deploying selective here, or using | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
techniques with released environmental impacts such as | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
reduced energy consumption or habitats damage. As the speaker I | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
shall just highlight some of the important requirements from this | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
more targeted policy strategy. Firstly, there is the need for | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
transparency. This is particularly welcome for too long domestic and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
indeed European fishing has been unnecessarily complicated and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
opaque, and actually an example of this is trying to find out who | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
actually held the fishing quota. That was shrouded in mystery until | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
my honourable friend sitting to my side, the former minister, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
member for Newbury, actually did introduce the register that has to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
be produced, and before you had that register, you had all manner of some | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
might describe as urban myths developing, as to who actually held | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the fishing quota. What a car companies, was it even football | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
clubs? Secondly, in allocating opportunities, government are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
required to give consideration to three criteria. Environmental, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
social, and economic factors. This means maximising the economic and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
social benefits to UK coastal communities, but at the same time | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
minimising the environmental impact of fishing, which is the activity | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
that does have the greatest ecological impact on the UK's | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
precious and vitally important marine ecosystem. It is vitally | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
important that the allocation of fishing opportunities is based on | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the targeting of these multiple and diverse objectives will stop if it | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
is not, history has shown down the ages, time and time again, that fish | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
stocks decline, market forces push inextricably towards industry | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
concentration of the muscling out of small fishermen, small businesses, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
and coastal communities are weakened and undermined, and their economies | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
then take off in decades to recover. Thirdly, article 17 encourages | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
member states to pursue a variety of methods pursuing fishing | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
opportunities. No longer should they be one trick ponies were lying just | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
on catch history, but consider a whole package of measures and issues | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to impact on the environment, the history of violence, the country for | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the economy, the incentivising of fishing vessels to deploy selective | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fishing gear, the promotion of fishing techniques that have reduced | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
environmental impact, and the reduction of energy consumption, or | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the reducing of habitats damage. This the speaker, the government | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
have signed up to a policy that can actually help bring prosperity back | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to our coastal communities. They have been provided with a number of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
tools in the past to do so, and I have two questions. Firstly, are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
they using all the endeavours in pursuit of these policies, and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
secondly are they using all those tools in the box? It is vital that | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
they do so, as there are fishing communities all around our coast | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
which are in urgent need of support. In the past those communities, those | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fishermen, those people working in the industry have delivered so much | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to this country, not just by putting good, wholesome food on our plates, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
but in providing jobs in a supply chain that stretches far and wide | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
inland. What has happened in Lowestoft in my constituency in the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
past 40 years is a vivid illustration of how the policymakers | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
have got it terribly wrong. Now, as a matter of urgency, we need to do | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
things, we need to write these mistakes of the past. Lowestoft was | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
built on fishing. It was the fishing capital of the southern north sea. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
From one side of the Hamilton dock to the other, one could walk from | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
boat to boat. Today, the. Is virtually empty. In the past four | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
decades, low stock has been hit hard by overfishing, Miss peeling of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
issues by politicians and vulnerabilities of the very make-up | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
of the industry, whereby large trawlers help sustain the small | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
boats. All the way that the quota system has been allocated has been a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
major factor in Lowestoft's decline, and has taken away those trawlers | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
that were the cornerstone of the industry. The six affiliated vessels | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
of the Lowestoft news organisation this year have a fixed quota | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
allocation of 80000 and 419 units. This is a significant amount of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fish, but none of it is landed in Lowestoft. 68% goes to the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Netherlands and 30% to Scotland. Boats such as those in the Lowestoft | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
PO, these solar Fido, this solar Rio Grande owing... To name a few, babe | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
bring very little if any economic benefit to Lowestoft. Lowestoft | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fleet today is made of ten small boats. Nationally, the under tens | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
comprise of 77% of the UK fleet, 65% of the workforce, but received only | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
4% of the total quota available. As from the 1st of April this year, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
many of these boats in Lowestoft are only able to catch 100 kilograms of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
skate, and two tonnes of card per month. This is not enough for | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
skippers to sustain a business, let alone earn a living. Mr Speaker of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
this story is not unique to Lowestoft. It is a tale for all | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
around our coast. It is being repeated all around the UK, it is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the reason why we cannot delay from properly and fully lamenting Article | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
17. It is fair to say that from a legal perspective the government are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
complying with the requirements of Article 17, that was the conclusion | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
that Mrs Justice Andrews reached in determining Greenpeace's traditional | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
review of January this year. The government have carried out some | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
welcome initiatives, such as the permanent transfer of underused | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
quota to the under tens. This is worth an extra 678 tonnes in 2015. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
The inshore fleet will also benefit from an extra 1000 tonnes this year. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
However one can argue that these initiatives was much welcome our | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
piecemeal allocations, and what is lacking is a clearly articulated and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
overarching framework for the full implementation of Article 17. We | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
need, dare I say it, not just a long-term economic plan, but a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
long-term economic social and environmental plan. The government | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
can be criticised for adhering to a system I think that is too strict, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
that relies exclusively on catch history, and doesn't make full use | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
of the other initiatives that article 17 positively endorses, and | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
actively promotes. As I have said already, there is a need to use | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
other tools in the box. Other governments are doing this, and they | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
are pursuing a course which I would suggest the UK Government should | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
seriously consider following. Belgian, Denmark, France, Germany, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
and Sweden are all moving away from systems for the allocation of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fishing opportunities that were based exclusively on historic catch | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
levels. In Belgium, there is a requirement is to contribute to the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
local economy, in Denmark there is the objective of aiming at best | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
economic reforms and investing in energy consumption reduction | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
methods. In France market orientation and social economic | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
equilibrium are considered alongside historic catch levels. In Germany, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
historic catch levels likewise will remain important, but measures have | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
been introduced to reduce the Imp tract of fishing on the Marine | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
environment and reduce discards and by catch. The contribution to the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
society and local amenities is also taken very seriously there. In | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
criteria is -- in Sweden, economic criteria are incredibly important. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
The policies pursued in Ireland are particularly ill and I would urge | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the Minister to look at them very closely to see how they could be | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
applied in the UK. Fishing industries and fishing communities | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
in our two countries have a great deal in common. In Ireland, quota is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
assigned to vessels, and if it is not used it is returned to the state | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
for reallocation. Inshore fisheries operate under a community quota | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
system. There is a monthly catch allocation for stocks under | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
pressure. A specific Irish measure which I think we should seriously | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
consider adopting is that of consultation with those actively | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
involved in local fishing communities, those people in Ireland | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
as in the UK who ultimately know their industry, know their water is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
best. There was a consultation in Ireland when the allocation | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
framework was set up, and when amendments were made to it, they are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
always consulted upon. It is also appropriate to look outside the EU. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
In Canada, which is Colombia now have one of the most comprehensive | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
integrated and successful catch share programmes in the world, which | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
takes full account of economic, social, and environmental | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
considerations. The starting point is there for setting up this | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
consultation likewise was public consultation. With an independent | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
arbitrator then submitting recommendations to committee then | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
adopted them. In conclusion, Mr Speaker, what is needed, I feel, is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
clearly and well articulated frameworks in which the UK fishermen | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
and industries can work, then invest in businesses, can make a living. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
This will lead to a healthy industry, benefiting coastal | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
communities around the UK. With the allocation of fishing opportunities | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
coming up in 2017, there is now a real chance to put this system in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
place. And I'll be grateful if the minister would give an assurance | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
that he will look at doing this and his officials to. Last May, Geoffrey | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Melton, this gap of Serene Dawn from Lowestoft lost his leg aboard his | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
boat, got a pathetically, and is about to return to sea. We owe it to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
people like Geoffrey to do all we can to ensure that he had every | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
chance of returning a decent living and returning prosperity to the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
community in which he lives. Ve it. The ayes have it. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
I would like to thank him for the opportunity of speaking on this | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
subject. And for his long commitment to the fishing industry in Lowestoft | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
and beyond, I got to know him well, even before the election, that when | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
he joined us in this House, if he, the fact is that if he was just | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
doing things for political purposes he probably has more newsagent in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
his constituency than active musher men, his many -- fishermen, his | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
commitment to them is credit to his love of his town and community. I | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
want to take this opportunity to add to what he said, and to say that at | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
last, it may not seem like it for some members of the fishing | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
industry, but last, there is some good news in terms of rising stocks | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
in our seas. The sort of iconic species that people use as a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
measure, of the health of our seas is cod. Cod in the North Sea, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
biomass of cod in the North Sea is rising sun Stan chalet. There is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
more to do but it is credit to the fish American, to the scientist, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
those in organisations like Defra and others who are not always a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fisherman's best friends who have relentlessly tried to find new | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
methods of conservation of stocks and are starting to see it work. The | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sea is is a complex echo system, and what might assist one stock might | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
damage another. We haven't got time today to go into this. What I want | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to pay tribute to what my honourable friend said is to talk about people, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
if in Government and in poll snakers and among NGOs and the chancelleries | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
of Europe where matters are discussed, that is all that happen, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
then we fail. We have engage those on whose lives and on whose | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
livelihoods the health of things like fishistic os depend. It is not | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
just a, the sadly few fishermen his has left in hiss constituency, it is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the heartbeat of coastal community, it is about something that goes very | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
deep in the psyche of the British people, whether you live in the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
coastal region like his or about as far from the coast as you can in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
constituencies like mine. So, combining those three stools of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sustainability, economy, environment, and of course social | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
factors, is so important, and I well remember the negotiations about | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
article 17, some of which took place through the night, I can remember | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
being prevented from getting in there to make the case for | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sustainability by a blockade by Greenpeace which I thought was a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
strange irony. But really looking forward, I think there are something | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
very important that the minister needs to take away with him. One of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the great wins in reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, was not the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
headline issue which most people were concerned about, which is the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
absurd necessity by fish American at that time to throw away perfectly | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
edible fish, an affront to all of us, quite rightly and a welcome | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
reform that we were able to achieve and although we are not there yet it | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
is starting to take place. The ending of discards, for me, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
great win was a legally binding commitment to fish to maximum | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sustainable yield. And what we have discovered, recently, is that still, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
50% of stocks in British waters are not fished sustainably. If you want | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to say the glass is half full you can say half, that is a big | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
improvement on a few years ago, there so much more to do. And where | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the splitical effort has go is in the council of minister, will the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
remains a roll solve in European particle that remains in this | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
particle. In the Parliaments and governments of our devolved | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
administration, there are remains a resolve in the Commission, but in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
order to carry through the bold ambitions that were agreed | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
unanimously in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy it requires | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
great leadership by our excellent Fisheries Minister and others, in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
trying to drive through those reforms and make them effective. I | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
would just conclude by saying that I hold to nobody the folly and the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
failures of the Common Fisheries Policy, I have been as rule about | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the Common Fisheries Policy as anybody, and reforming it was | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
something that I enjoyed doing, and felt that we as a Parliament were | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
very united in achieving. But, we shouldn't kid ourselves that the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Common Fisheries Policy is the only problem, in fact, if you look at | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Professor Callum Roberts interest graph of the decline of fish stocks | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
since the late 19th century. You can see two peaks in cod stocks in the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
north sea, one between 1914 and 1918, one between 1939 and 19456789 | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
I will let honourable members work out what was going on then. In the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
'70s it doesn't blip. What we have of course as a society done, is get | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
ever more #2ec logical advantage in terms of harvesting wild fish, we | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
need and Parliament and regulatety authorities have been behind the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
curve, with more regional control and with understanding that we have | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to involve catches as well as scientists and others in achieving | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
this. It is vital. I will also finish by saying I applaud the way | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
my honourable friend has looked abroad for good practise. Because | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the catch share schemes I have -- schemes I have seen offer great | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
opportunities for fishermen to buy into a rising boyo mass, to have | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
something of value when you are helping increase the, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
harvestable surplus of a stock, you are increasing the value of your | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
right to fish it. And that gives you something either to hand down your | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
child, or to sell to another fisherman coming into the business | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
when you want to eretire. There is cause for optimism. We have to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
remember that it is not easy, there is much more to do in complex in | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
environment. It requires political will. It requires resolve and people | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
like my honourable friend who represent these places round our | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
coastline, to continue to be be a great champion for the health of our | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sea, and for those whose livelihoods defend on them. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Thank you very much Mr Speaker. It is a great privilege to be here, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Minister of State responsible for fisheries can't be here and it is a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
great privilege for me to be able to hear these speeches, which, reveal | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
just how much care affection, and thought has gonen in from the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
honourable members in thinking through the issues of complex | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fisheries. If I can reply briefly, because this | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
is really the Minister of State's subject rather than mine, a couple | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
of observations on Defra's behalf. First we accept the importance of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the inshore fleet. It does have an economic value, and that economic | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
value isn't just in terms of the amount of fish it catches, it is the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
contribution particularly to the ports, to the fleets in general, it | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
is also the fact that often selective finishing done by the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
inshore fleet, the under 10 metre vessels is more | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
environmentally-friendly, less likely to have biocatch, less likely | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to disrupt spawning stocks, much less likely to have problems round | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
carbon emissions and generally ticks almost every box we are aiming for, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
in terms of sustainable fishery. It is true of course as the honourable | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
member for Newbury pointed out, it isn't just about the economic, not | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
just about the environment, it is the life blood of these ports, we | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
love to go to these places, and see those fishing boat, they simply | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
won't be there unless we protect the fleet. It connecting to our maritime | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
threat as a nairks it inspires us to know the vessels can continue to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
operate, so it connects the tourism, the wider economy, it connects the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
environment and for all these reason, we need to pay attention to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
these fleets. We have to balance that, of course w | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the interests of the offshore fleets, the offshore fleets of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
course are catching far more of the fish that we eat. But 666,000 tonnes | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
caught compared to about 42,000 caught by the inshore fleets and if | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
you look at the quota stocks, the 42 thousand caught by the inshore | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fleets only about 5,000 are within the quota stock range, so there are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
about five-and-a-half thousand people supported by the offshore | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fleets and a lot of the benefit we get from fish, the nutrition we get, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
we know more and more about how good it is for our health, what a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
delicious healthy way it is to live depend on the offshore fleet as well | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
as the insheer. Ho how do we get the balance right? The gut instinct of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
this Government is the pendulum did swing too far in favour of those | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
offshore fleet, we need to begin to push that pendulum back, we have | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
begun do that. The latest negotiations we have allocated as | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the honourable member has acknowledged, another 1,000 tonnes | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
to the inshore fleet, we have began to use the opportunities provided by | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
getting rid of the discards so more of the quota goes to the inshore | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
fleets. The challenge is to have a good study to think about the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
future, rather than my pontificating from this despatch box an a subject | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
I don't need know a great deal I would like the honourable members to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
sit down with our officials and talk in great detail through the issues | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
raised, particularly the fantastic work he has done on looking at | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
comparative study, Swedish fishing method, the French approach, the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
German approach, the Canadian approach. We have got a process now | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
and that is fantastic. We have now got not just the processing people | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
but we have retailer, the industry, we have fish salesman, coastal | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
communities all discussing what more we can do for the inshore fleet, how | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
much more of the quota they feel they can catch, how that is going to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
deliver economic benefit and we need the details from the two hob has | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
been members to do that. -- honourable members to do that. It is | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
true we are already incentivising more sustainable ways of catching, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
there are grants available from the European to upgrade the type of net | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
you use in order to get more sustainable catching and we are | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
already emphasising the economic links from people who possess these | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
quotas in terms of providing jobs for coastal community, if I can | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
conclude with a great tribute to what I thought was really serious | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
piece of work, really impressive piece of research, some very very | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
stimulating ideas, take up that challenge of thinking forward over | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
the 25 years, a 25 year environment plan, we need to think how we | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
ingreat fish and coastal communities into that plan. In addition to | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
protecting this bit of maritime heritage think about the fish | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
themselves, the finite and precious resource. Thank you very much. | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
The question is this House do now adjourn, as many of that opinion say | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
aye? The contrary no. I think the ayes have it. The ayes have it P | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Order. Order. That the end of the day in the | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Holocaust. We will go over live to the House of Lords. In the House of | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
Commons. I think I echo Lord McAvoy in when | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
we have heard from two eminent historians one should tread wearily, | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
but tread I must. My Lord's the proposed amendment relates to a | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
number of clauses in the bill which deal with the independent reporting | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
commission. And this as was made clear, it was an issue made clear | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
during second reading. I am grateful to him for giving the House an | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
opportunity to debate it this afternoon. My noble friend has | 3:09:50 | 3:09:49 | |
proposed that the reference | 3:09:50 | 3:09:50 |