18/05/2016 House of Commons


18/05/2016

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This afternoon Conservative backbench MPs Caroline Spelman and

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Philip Lee will move a motion to send a loyal address to thank the

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Queen for her speech and it will be followed by responses from the

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Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister. The debate will then

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widened to include backbench MPs and will run until 10pm. It will be the

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main business for the house to consider for the next few days.

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Remember to join me for a round-up of the day in both Houses of

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Parliament at 11pm tonight but first we start with the first reading of

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the Outlawries Bill which allows the House of Commons to assert its right

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to discuss matters of its own choosing before moving on to those

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proposed by the government in the Queens speech.

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The house has to make a statement at the beginning of each session about

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the responsibilities of honourable members. I begin by reminding those

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present to agree the code of conduct of the house and to display civility

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and fairness. The house asserts that the privilege of freedom of speech,

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it is there to assure that our constituents can be represented by

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us without fear. It's an obligation of us all to that privilege

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responsibly. It is enjoyed by members of Parliament in their work

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in this house, as private individuals who are equal under the

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law with those who we represent. In our proceedings every member should

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be heard courteously, whatever their views. Parliament should be open to

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those who it represents. We should seek to explain its work to those

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who elect us and make them welcome here. The security of this building

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and those who work and visit here depends upon all of us. We have a

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duty to be vigilant and to assist those whose job it is to maintain

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this place as a safe place to work. In this new session of Parliament I

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will be adhering more closely to the convention of ministers taking up to

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ten minutes when delivering an oral statement to the house. The official

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opposition spokesperson may make a contribution of up to five minutes.

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And the third party spokesperson maximum of two minutes.

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For urgent questions the Minister may speak for up to three minutes,

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the person asking the urgent question and the official

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spokesperson where different maximum of two minutes each. And the third

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party spokesperson maximum one minute. Members wishing to take part

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in statements, urgent questions and the business question must be in the

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chamber in accordance with very long established convention before they

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begin and colleagues should not expect to be called to ask a

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question if they are not in their place as the statement of urgent

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question or business question begins. Before moving to the first

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business I would like to express my best wishes for the 2000 1617

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session to all honourable members and all those who work here.

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Outlawries Bill. I have to acquaint the house that this house has this

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day attended Her Majesty in the house of Peers. And that Her Majesty

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was pleased to make a most gracious speech from the throne to both

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Houses of Parliament. Of which I have, for greater accuracy, obtained

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a copy. I shall direct the terms of the speech be printed in the votes

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and proceedings. Copies are already available in the vote office. Before

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I call the mover and second of the address I can inform the house of

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the proposed subjects for the remaining days of debate on the

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loyal address. Thursday 19th may transport and local infrastructure.

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Monday 23rd may defending public services. Tuesday 24th of May,

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Europe, human rights and keeping people safe at home and abroad.

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Wednesday 25th of May, education, skills, and training. Thursday 26th

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of May, economy and work. I shall first call Mrs Caroline Spelman to

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move and then doctor Philip Lee to second the address. Mrs Caroline

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Spelman. I vote to move that the humble address be presented to Her

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Majesty as followed, most gracious sovereign, we your Majesty 's masjid

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bowl and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom and Great

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Britain and Northern Ireland beg leave to offer our humble thanks to

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your Majesty for the gracious speech which your Majesty has addressed to

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both Houses of Parliament. It's an honour to be asked to propose the

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Queens speech, especially in Her Majesty 's 90th year. When I was

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asked to see the Chief Whip my first thought however was what have I

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done? The relief in discovering it was for a good reason was followed

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almost immediately by the how to do it well. So I looked carefully at

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how the Right Honourable member for Chelmsford tackled it last year. I

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know Mr Speaker that unfortunately he cannot be with us today as he has

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to attend the funeral. But we all know no of his unswerving admiration

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for Hillary Clinton. We have shared with him the anxieties of the

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primaries. So I put all colleagues on alert that if you are standing

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next to him when the news of the presidential election comes through

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the prepared to provide moral support, whichever way it goes, but

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especially should help learning trends -- especially should Hillary

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Clinton be trumped. Can I stay to my constituents how grateful I am to

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them for electing me to Parliament. I am always proud to represent them.

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A lot has changed since my first day here 19 years ago. I was often the

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only woman in meetings. I was one of very few women around a Cabinet

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table with school aged children. This could prove awkward, such as

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the Shadow Cabinet meeting interrupted by the news that one of

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my sons had fallen off a drainpipe at school. In 1997 only 18% of MPs

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were women. This has now risen to a total of almost 30%, not yet parity

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but we are heading in the right direction. It has also been a great

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privilege to help mentor newcomers and in return I have been especially

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grateful for the mentoring of Baroness Shepherd down the years.

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Now the chamber looks more like the electorate at large. Better

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decisions are made. On all sides. Better decisions are made Mr Speaker

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when those who make them are more diverse. For example when assessing

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the priorities for public transport men rate reliability and cost is the

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most important factors. But the women did something else first,

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their personal safety. Put these perspectives together and a better

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outcome is achieved. I hope by now the nearly new members are beginning

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to make friends in all parties and discover that they can have allies

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across the floor. The work of Parliament is often enhanced by the

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friendships that transcend party lines. When I was party chairman the

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Right Honourable member of Birkenhead asked me to organise a

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debate with him on the subject of dying well as we each had a parent

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with a poor experience of this in hospital. The whips did not bat an

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eyelid. The only objection was to the title, diene was considered far

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too controversial, we had to call it end of life care. I also work with

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the right Honourable gentleman on the modern day slavery Bill as we

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both served on the joint committee of both houses. If ever there was an

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outstanding example of cross-party approach to tackling a terrible

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injustice this is it. The Home Secretary deserves the credit for

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securing a piece of landmark legislation which is a world first

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in this area. The legal expertise of Baroness Butler-Sloss forced us all

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to think very hard how to get this absolutely right. And I felt it was

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my red letter day when the noble lady uttered those magic words to

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me, I think the rate Honourable Lady has a point. I have been any

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cross-party prayer Fellowship all the time I have been here which

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consists of two consecutive sectors, two labour, one liberal and won the

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Democratic Unionist. You could not do this better by proportional

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representation if you tried. We met up with our families and my children

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were initially perplexed by the fraternisation until I explained

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that it is like with your friends support Aston Villa and you support

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Coventry and you think he is misguided but you are still friends.

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Mr Speaker, we will shortly face a big decision about our membership of

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the EU and whichever way the vote goes we will need to ensure good

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relations with our neighbours moving forward. So can I commend to the

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house the recent concert by the Parliament choir in Paris to show

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our solidarity with the people of brands after the terrorist attacks

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last year. There are often opportunities for soft diplomacy and

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we should take them. The member for Harwich and North Essex and I may

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not see eye to eye on Europe but his rich baritone and my alto voice have

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produced a delightful harmony. I welcome the clear references to the

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life chances and gender in the gracious speech and I am pleased

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this is to be a key theme in the year ahead. The Right Honourable

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member for Chingford and Woodford Green pioneered this approach and

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the new Secretary of State has the life experience and the ability to

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drive it forward. My constituency has a council estate of almost

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40,000 people. I have seen how the life chances of my constituents have

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improved through the generation of housing and schools by Solihull

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Council. I took a minister on our visit there recently and two tenants

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emerged from one of our 37 refurbished tower Brock 's

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expressing their delight that their energy bills had been half to as a

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result of the new energy-saving features. The minister turned to me

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and asked how much I paid them to say that. Buildings can be

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regenerated but it's the life chances of the human beings within

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them which makes the difference. I am delighted so many young people

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are getting apprenticeships including many young women as

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engineers in the great tradition of those women who built Spitfires in

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the last world war. All of this is made possible because of the

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Renaissance in manufacturing and economic recovery we have seen.

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Parts of my constituency are rural and despite being at the very centre

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of England and we have mobile and broadband, not spots. I am glad

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effort is being made to juice the digital divide. With can I remind

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the government of the offer of church buyers and towers to help

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crack this problem. They may bring us closer to God but a proper signal

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can feel like heaven on earth to those... Prison reform is well

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overdue and we know that reoffending can beat a matter cut with the right

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kind of help. The Justice Secretary and the Education Secretary know how

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important it is to improve the life chances of schoolchildren as far too

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many prison inmates are unable to read or write. I am glad the Justice

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Secretary is using his reforming zeal to give prisoners a better

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chance to turn our lives around. I have witnessed first hand how this

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can be achieved. I set up a charity called welcome to track all drug and

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alcohol abuse, to get people free of addiction and into work. We started

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with one employee in a community hall and now employs over 20. We do

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the trio is for the NHS in our borough of 200,000 people. Some of

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the best advocates are our volunteers who have achieved this

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themselves and are role models for others. Members on all side of the

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house have sought to help the vulnerable. On entering politics it

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was my personal resolution to speak for those who were unable to speak

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for themselves. Few people in our country are more vulnerable than a

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child leaving care. This state has not often proved a great parent and

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knowing how hard it is to be a parent we should not be surprised.

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But I take my hat off in particular to those who adopt. We need more

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parents to come forward to foster and adopt so I welcome the

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government 's intention to speed up adoption. This was the objective of

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my Private members Bill on the subject but still Jordan can be left

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to one in care and the damage can be irreparable. Let's keep it going

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until I young adult is fully fledged, a team-mate be the notional

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age of adulthood but based on my experience it takes a good few more

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years of parental support before their wings can take life 's

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turbulence. New measures are needed to prevent sections of society

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filling a Lenny did but I appeal to the government not to take a hammer

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to crack a nut. I have high expectations of the new

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Mayor of London, who is not only an excellent cricketer as the Lords and

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Commons cricket team will testify, uniquely well-placed to help. Good

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luck, Sadiq. No pressure. Let me return to my theme of making friends

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across the house. Over the years there has been a good few members

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who I have sought to encourage after experiencing setbacks in their

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parliamentary careers. My key piece of advice has been don't give up,

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get stuck back in and fight for the causes you know and care about and

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this house will ultimately respect you for it. Can I say here are

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heartfelt thank you for the way the house has helped me rediscover the

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fulfilment of being an elected member of this mother of all

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parliaments. As long as you have the chance to make a difference, there

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is no such thing as having had your day. We are elected to change things

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for the better, to take up issues which confront us. So, seize the

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day. I commend this notion to the house. Doctor Philip Lees. Thank

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you, Mr Speaker. It is a privilege to second the great speech and I am

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honoured to be following my right honourable friend, the member for

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Meriden this afternoon. This is not the first time I have done so.

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Because among her many achievements, one of her proudest must be that she

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is captain of the Parliamentary ski team of which I am a junior member.

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In that role she has responsibility for leading a team of large egos,

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hidden talent, some with little sense of balance or direction,

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navigating up peaks and down slippery slopes. I can't imagine

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where she gained the experience, Mr Speaker. But such skills make her an

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extremely valuable member of this chamber, and of her party. Mr

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Speaker, I was surprised to have been given the privilege of

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seconding the address this afternoon. I am not, for example,

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the son of a bus strike. -- son of a bus driver. Although my father did

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once dried milk float in my honourable friend's Whickham

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constituency. But just as an aside, Mr Speaker, why is it always the

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case that we have to wait for so long for these sons of bus drivers

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and then two come along at once? Mr Speaker, it might be my education. I

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am, like the Leader of the Opposition, an ex-grammar schoolboy.

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And like him, I gather, I rather screwed up my A-levels. So perhaps

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there is hope for me yet. Or it might be my extensive experience of

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PR before entering politics. As the house knows, I am a practising

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doctor. Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, in a medical context, PR does not

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stand for public relations. But is shorthand for the type of

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examination that involves putting on rubber gloves, applying gel, and

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asking a man took off. -- asking a man to cough. If I may give my right

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honourable friend, the Prime Minister, a bit of advice, Mr

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Speaker, if, in the future, he finds himself speaking at a medical

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professional dinner, under no circumstances should he tell the

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audience that in his life before politics he was into PR, and that he

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found the work very stimulating. Many of my predecessors in this role

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has had a reputation for humour, and so I think it is courageous of the

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PM to ask a doctor to second the greatest speech. As the house can

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ready tell, medical humour is a famously acquired taste. And it

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would be all too easy to share some of the stories which every doctor

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has in the infinite supply. Many may not be appropriate for this place

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and its refined audience. I can perhaps, though, report on the lady

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who complained of, as she put it, a history of erotic bowels. I resisted

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the temptation to ask whether her erotic symptoms were erratic in

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nature. Or the elderly man who said his secret for looking so healthy

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was to do Kama Sutra exercises every morning. Only to be corrected by his

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wife," Gareth, I think you mean Tai Chi". If colleagues don't think I

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delivered this speech very well today, just be grateful that we are

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not holding this debate at the weekend, when I understand from some

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that doctors don't perform as well. Mr Speaker, I had hoped that my

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medical background would be an advantage in politics but I have

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been disappointed. My first disappointment when I stood for the

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Conservative Party's candidate in Gwent. I'm sure the honourable

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member would agree that sporting a blue rose outside of Kwik Save takes

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a certain type of character. Mostly delusional, perhaps even

:22:22.:22:27.

masochistic. In fact the president of my constituency association was

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elected to Woking Borough Council with more votes than I received. I

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was however able to comfort myself with the fact that my modest 816

:22:40.:22:44.

votes nevertheless represented the biggest swing to the Conservative

:22:45.:22:48.

Party of any candidate in Wales that night. In retrospect I should have

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taken more note of the lady at the market who, when I asked why she

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supported Labour, she replied "Don't you get complicated with me".

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Mr Speaker, delivering this speech is of course really an honour for

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the constituency of Bracknell, which I am privileged to represent. It is

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a particular honour in this year of Her Majesty's 90th birthday.

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Bracknell constituency has long-standing royal links. It is

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proud to host the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which celebrated

:23:36.:23:42.

its bicentenary in 2012, and has trained successive generations of

:23:43.:23:45.

British, Commonwealth and international officers serving in

:23:46.:23:49.

Her Majesty's army and elsewhere around the world. My constituents

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also enjoy access to swing the forest, which is wonderfully

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maintained by Crown Estates. With its vibrant economy and town centre

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regeneration, Bracknell constituency has a very bright future. This is

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the 63rd greatest speech that Her Majesty has given since Eric session

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to the throne. On this occasion it is apt to look back to her first

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gracious speech, and at the changes that there have been since. The

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preservation of peace was the first emphasis in 1952. Our country was

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still recovering from war. My right honourable friend, the member for

:24:27.:24:29.

Mid Sussex's grandfather was Prime Minister. The nationalisation of

:24:30.:24:35.

iron and steel was the subject of heated debate. Slums had to be

:24:36.:24:39.

cleared and people housed. This led to the creation of new towns, of

:24:40.:24:44.

which Bracknell was one. Communicable diseases such as

:24:45.:24:46.

tuberculosis challenged our young health service. Abroad, closer union

:24:47.:24:51.

is worth forcing to cement the ties on which peace depended. With the

:24:52.:24:58.

United States of America, with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,

:24:59.:25:01.

with the Commonwealth and with a recovering Europe. The vision of the

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post-war political generation was a big vision. The country that would

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never again suffer the insecurity and hardship experienced by those

:25:12.:25:15.

who had to pick up arms and fight for our existence. Of every person

:25:16.:25:22.

being able to get a chance in life. Of health, of education, of

:25:23.:25:26.

employment. Of a society that is fair, just and free. In which

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freedom is heartburn and because we value our country, our environment,

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our world -- freedom is earned. In which rights are balanced by

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responsibilities for each other and for ourselves. And most importantly

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to prepare for the future. Variations of this vision have

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guided successive governments ever since. With varying degrees of

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success. The generation Her Majesty addressed in 1952 had fought for

:25:58.:26:01.

this vision. Displayed a deep consciousness throughout our nation

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that individual lives are fleeting. That we much take care of the world

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we inherit, conserve, so we pass something better to our children.

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That we achieve more by coming together with our neighbours, with

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our friends, and with our former enemies, by respecting our riches

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and each other. And that humanity is the vital bond, without which our

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society, globally and nationally, our communities, our families will

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disintegrate. Mr Speaker, on a personal level, I am humbled by the

:26:34.:26:38.

experience of the wartime generation. My grandfather was under

:26:39.:26:43.

fire at the age of 20 in the tail end of the Halifax bomber. I also

:26:44.:26:50.

recall caring for and 89-year-old Polish patient who was short of

:26:51.:26:53.

breath and experiencing angina. He had taken the time to put on a tie

:26:54.:26:58.

and suit adorned with military ribbons. And he apologised for

:26:59.:27:03.

taking up my time. I asked him about his military experience. He told me

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that his village in eastern Poland had been overrun by the Soviets in

:27:10.:27:14.

1939. He was deported to a Siberian work camp and, in his own words,

:27:15.:27:19.

wore the same socks the two years. He was handed over to the British in

:27:20.:27:25.

1942 in Baghdad, and fought with Montgomery's eighth Army across

:27:26.:27:30.

North Africa, and up the spine of Italy via Monte Cassino. When

:27:31.:27:35.

reflecting upon his heroic story, I humbly asked whether my generation

:27:36.:27:40.

would display the same values, Mr Speaker, the same stoicism, the same

:27:41.:27:44.

modesty, the same courage, the same respect for others. And I recall his

:27:45.:27:52.

loyalty to his adopted country. Mr Speaker, the closest I have come to

:27:53.:27:58.

fighting is as a doctor battling ageing, obesity, and the challenges

:27:59.:28:01.

of cultural dislocation. In the course of Her Majesty's rain, life

:28:02.:28:05.

expectancy has increased by a decade. The percentage of people

:28:06.:28:10.

aged over 85 has grown by a factor of five. World's population has

:28:11.:28:16.

virtually trebled. Our own has gone up by a third and the proportion of

:28:17.:28:22.

our population I foreign earth has almost trebled, albeit from a low

:28:23.:28:26.

base. It is clear that we must not only treat the symptoms of the

:28:27.:28:29.

challenges that come with such marked change, but strive to cure

:28:30.:28:35.

their causes. Which is why this government's commitment to improve

:28:36.:28:37.

the life chances of those who have the misfortune to be born or raised

:28:38.:28:41.

in circumstances over which they have no control is admirable and

:28:42.:28:47.

right. Mr Speaker, the generation Her Majesty addresses today must

:28:48.:28:51.

rediscover the values of the past to face an ever accelerating pace of

:28:52.:28:55.

change. It is a world that is more connected, more conscious of its

:28:56.:28:59.

differences, but also more conscious of what we have in common than ever

:29:00.:29:06.

before. This time, Mr Speaker, we have the opportunity to rediscover

:29:07.:29:09.

those values peacefully, and the important legislation outlined in

:29:10.:29:14.

the greatest speech will enable us to do so. The challenge of

:29:15.:29:18.

overcoming extremism without undermining our humanity is one that

:29:19.:29:21.

deserves the support of the whole house. My right honourable and good

:29:22.:29:25.

friend the Home Secretary knows that dealing with our society's failure

:29:26.:29:29.

to integrate some communities will be integral. The space industry

:29:30.:29:34.

receives the attention it deserves as one of Britain's most successful

:29:35.:29:38.

industries with the power to inspire that is unmatched. I am sure all

:29:39.:29:43.

members of the last Parliament recall I mentioned the UK space

:29:44.:29:46.

industry in my maiden speech in 2010. And as British astronaut Tim

:29:47.:29:58.

Peake was a graduate of Sandhurst I'm shamelessly going to claim him

:29:59.:30:04.

as having been educated in my constituency. As such I am concerned

:30:05.:30:08.

for his welfare, Mr Speaker. I know that Tim is due back from the

:30:09.:30:12.

International Space Station just before the EU referendum vote. But

:30:13.:30:17.

if he's slightly delayed and the country votes to leave in June, he

:30:18.:30:20.

need not worry about getting home since the European Space Agency sits

:30:21.:30:27.

outside the European Union. Seriously though, Mr Speaker, the

:30:28.:30:30.

government's support of the space industry will help secure Britain

:30:31.:30:35.

has a globally recognised centre for high-technology, whether we are

:30:36.:30:37.

inside or outside the European Union. Finally, some honourable

:30:38.:30:43.

members will know that I've kept my own counsel on June's big European

:30:44.:30:47.

event, but the time is fast approaching when I feel I should

:30:48.:30:51.

make my position clear. If only to deal with the alarming possibility

:30:52.:30:56.

that, as time moves on, I and other honourable members who have taken a

:30:57.:30:59.

similar approach will have to deal with the advances of two charming

:31:00.:31:04.

men. One with blonde hair and one with spectacles approaching us in

:31:05.:31:07.

the members lobby to ask when we are coming out.

:31:08.:31:10.

LAUGHTER In my view I can see no good reason

:31:11.:31:20.

we should exit. CHEERING At least not before the semifinals!

:31:21.:31:31.

LAUGHTER And preferably not after the pain of

:31:32.:31:37.

extra time and a penalty shoot out. Mr Speaker keeping up with change is

:31:38.:31:42.

a tough enough job any government, Conservative governments don't just

:31:43.:31:45.

want to keep up, they want to do better. That is why Mr Speaker I am

:31:46.:31:49.

not only privilege to represent the good people of the Bracknell

:31:50.:31:53.

constituency but proud to second this gracious speech. The question

:31:54.:32:01.

is that a humble address be presented to Her Majesty as follows,

:32:02.:32:08.

most gracious sovereign, we your Majesty 's most beautiful and loyal

:32:09.:32:14.

subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

:32:15.:32:20.

Northern Ireland in Parliament assemble beg leave to offer our

:32:21.:32:23.

humble thanks to your Majesty for the gracious speech which your

:32:24.:32:28.

Majesty has addressed to both houses of Parliament. I call the Leader of

:32:29.:32:35.

the Opposition, Mr Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you very much Mr Speaker, I am

:32:36.:32:41.

pleased we have dispensed with the Outlawries Bill which will ensure we

:32:42.:32:44.

have stability and freedom of speech in this chamber and I attended to

:32:45.:32:49.

adhere by the civility part of it, it is up to others to decide on the

:32:50.:32:53.

freedom of speech. Mr Speaker July will mark this into the of the

:32:54.:32:58.

Battle of the Somme, an episode of frankly needless carnage and horror.

:32:59.:33:06.

This week Mark the centenary of the agreement were Britain and France

:33:07.:33:11.

divided up the Ottoman Empire into spheres of influence, arbitrarily

:33:12.:33:13.

establishing borders which have been the cause of many conflicts ever

:33:14.:33:18.

since. These events should remind us in the house of two things. Firstly

:33:19.:33:23.

that decisions we take up consequences and it's our Armed

:33:24.:33:28.

Forces that face the consequences of failed foreign and military policy.

:33:29.:33:32.

Our duty to our Armed Forces is to avoid the political mistakes which

:33:33.:33:35.

will lead them to being sent unnecessarily into harms way. As the

:33:36.:33:40.

member for Bracknell pointed out, the effects of war go on for the

:33:41.:33:43.

whole lifetime of those that have taken part in it. By tradition Mr

:33:44.:33:49.

Speaker at the beginning of each parliamentary session we commemorate

:33:50.:33:52.

members of the house who we have lost in the last year. In October we

:33:53.:33:59.

lost Michael Meacher, he was as all who met him new at decent,

:34:00.:34:03.

hard-working, passionate and very profound man. He represented his

:34:04.:34:08.

constituency with diligence and distension for 45 years. He was a

:34:09.:34:14.

blind environment minister and a lifelong campaigner against

:34:15.:34:17.

injustice and poverty and a brilliant champion of the rights of

:34:18.:34:22.

this house and Parliament. We remember Michael for all of those

:34:23.:34:26.

things. Harry Harper sadly only had a sadly only had a few months to

:34:27.:34:31.

serve this house, he represented his constituency and the concerns of the

:34:32.:34:35.

steel industry in Sheffield with incredible diligence. My honourable

:34:36.:34:41.

friend and the new member for Sheffield Brightside and

:34:42.:34:43.

Hillsborough now represents that same constituency. As she told me at

:34:44.:34:48.

his passing, we have admired the bravery and courage he showed in his

:34:49.:34:53.

life which was formed during the miners strike and carried him

:34:54.:34:57.

forward for the rest of his life. Harry and Michael were both

:34:58.:35:02.

incredibly decent, honourable men, absolutely dedicated to serving

:35:03.:35:05.

their communities and standing up for strong socialist principles, we

:35:06.:35:11.

commemorate both of them. Mr Speaker, I would like to

:35:12.:35:14.

congratulate the mover and second on the Queens speech, it's a job I've

:35:15.:35:23.

never had to myself. LAUGHTER It's one of those powers of

:35:24.:35:29.

patronage. Firstly, I want to congratulate the right Honourable

:35:30.:35:33.

member for Meriden on her excellent speech which I attributed to the

:35:34.:35:37.

excellent training she received early in her career. It is possible

:35:38.:35:40.

that many members on her own side are unaware that Sister Spellman, or

:35:41.:35:49.

comrades Spellman was, like me a full-time union official before

:35:50.:35:58.

entering Parliament. LAUGHTER Because Mr Speaker while industrial

:35:59.:36:07.

strife raged across the country, I was part of it, the Right Honourable

:36:08.:36:14.

member... Wait, wait, wait. They are just too fast Mr Speaker. The Right

:36:15.:36:19.

Honourable member was travelling the whole country defending sugar beet

:36:20.:36:23.

workers from disreputable and exploitative bosses. At least that

:36:24.:36:27.

is what I think the National Farmers Union was doing at that time. But

:36:28.:36:33.

alas time changes their wings and the Right Honourable member and I

:36:34.:36:36.

now sing from a slightly different hymn sheet. Talking of which, I

:36:37.:36:42.

understand she has been a stalwart of the parliamentary choir for many

:36:43.:36:47.

years. Perhaps she will find time to give me some singing lessons, giving

:36:48.:36:51.

her background perhaps together we could sing the red flag as a duet.

:36:52.:37:00.

The Right Honourable... We will sing from the widest team sheet, don't

:37:01.:37:15.

you worry. The Right Honourable member has an excellent reputation

:37:16.:37:18.

for her outstanding work in international development, both in

:37:19.:37:23.

opposition and government. She steered her party, some might and

:37:24.:37:27.

graciously say, kicking and screaming, into delivering the

:37:28.:37:33.

pledge that 0.0 7% of our GDP would be spent on international aid. I pay

:37:34.:37:36.

tribute to the way she championed the rights of women and young girls

:37:37.:37:40.

in the developing world. She stood up for their needs, their rights and

:37:41.:37:46.

ensured our aid budget did go correctly and proportionately to

:37:47.:37:49.

helping women and young girls in the developing world and I thank her for

:37:50.:37:52.

that. I think underneath it all she is a bit of a closet radical so we

:37:53.:38:00.

will talk later. I have to say Mr Speaker after some research I can

:38:01.:38:05.

exclusively reveal that the house the roots of her radicalism. Because

:38:06.:38:15.

her constituency includes the town of dodge and the waters of storage

:38:16.:38:21.

are very important. Long before the Right Honourable member was

:38:22.:38:30.

elected... Her constituency was an nest of rebellion and it was led by

:38:31.:38:38.

a local landowner, George Frederick months. A refugee, he was one of the

:38:39.:38:47.

founders of the Birmingham political union. An organisation which was

:38:48.:38:52.

pivotal to the introduction of the 1832 reform act and the union later

:38:53.:38:56.

became part of the Chartist movement on which we trace the origins of

:38:57.:39:01.

socialism in this country and the Labour Party and naturally I hugely

:39:02.:39:05.

admire the Birmingham political union for what it's dead. -- what it

:39:06.:39:13.

did mac. I am sure the whole house will join me in thanking her for her

:39:14.:39:20.

speech today. I now turn Mr Speaker to the second of the loyal address,

:39:21.:39:25.

the Honourable member for Bracknell. Before joining the house he worked

:39:26.:39:31.

as a doctor. Today he is lancing the myth that doctors are bad

:39:32.:39:36.

communicators. In his maiden speech the Honourable member said I am

:39:37.:39:40.

often asked why I moved away from being a doctor to being a member of

:39:41.:39:44.

Parliament. To my mind people who come here should want to make this

:39:45.:39:49.

country a better place. Myself and Honourable members come from

:39:50.:39:52.

opposite sides of the political spectrum but we are both sincere in

:39:53.:39:56.

sharing the same goal, to make our country a better place for those who

:39:57.:40:01.

live here. Researching the member 's career I thought I had uncovered

:40:02.:40:04.

more evidence of the very deep fractures which exist within the

:40:05.:40:14.

government today. I was informed that he was a leading member of an

:40:15.:40:16.

organisation known as the grumblers. Further research indicated that this

:40:17.:40:23.

was not another group of malcontents on the government backbenches, that

:40:24.:40:28.

is already full. But a cricket club of which the Honourable member would

:40:29.:40:31.

have us believe he is a leading light. I did not want to leave any

:40:32.:40:36.

of this research and done so I approached the club to get a sense

:40:37.:40:40.

of the character of the Honourable member before making today's speech.

:40:41.:40:48.

Yeah, it's coming. Yeah, it's definitely coming. So I think the

:40:49.:40:55.

whole house will be eternally grateful Mr Speaker to the words of

:40:56.:41:01.

Mr Anton Joiner who is the chair man of the old grumblers Cricket club

:41:02.:41:05.

for his very insightful and very helpful response to my request. He

:41:06.:41:10.

wrote, and if I may quote the letter, I am sure the house will be

:41:11.:41:15.

the better informed. "Dear Sir, we are glad you have established

:41:16.:41:20.

contact with our team. We are desperately seeking recovery of

:41:21.:41:23.

several seasons overdue match fees by our Honourable friend. Please

:41:24.:41:35.

communicate our willingness to waive penalty interest in return for

:41:36.:41:45.

prompt payment." It goes all "In an undistinguished and tragically all

:41:46.:41:50.

too long career at the top order batsmen, the good doctor managed an

:41:51.:41:57.

average of just 11.2 runs with the bat. However his efforts with the

:41:58.:42:02.

ball yielded a solitary wicket, that of the wife of a French farmer

:42:03.:42:12.

during a tour match in Brittany in 2008." The generosity of the man

:42:13.:42:22.

knew no bounds and as a doctor he advised on many sporting injuries to

:42:23.:42:27.

club players and the letter goes on to say "The misdiagnosis of many

:42:28.:42:31.

lead to a string of unnecessary early retirements and an acute

:42:32.:42:36.

player availability crisis from which the team has only recently

:42:37.:42:44.

recovered. As captain of the old grumblers cricket club I rarely had

:42:45.:42:47.

to handle as obstinate and disrupters of a character as the

:42:48.:42:56.

doctor, who stubbornly refused to stand in any conventional field

:42:57.:43:01.

placement and very openly demonstrated a disdain for team

:43:02.:43:07.

sport, command structures and presumably this led him to the

:43:08.:43:10.

logical career choice of Tory backbencher." And the letter

:43:11.:43:22.

concludes "Please pass on my guards and the attached invoice." Mr

:43:23.:43:29.

Speaker I very much hope the Honourable member is a good sport

:43:30.:43:34.

because I understand he an equally distinguished rugby player but those

:43:35.:43:38.

stories were beyond my research capabilities and must be saved for

:43:39.:43:42.

another occasion. I thank him for his more acceptable exploits in the

:43:43.:43:49.

house today. Mr Speaker, we in the opposition will judge the government

:43:50.:43:53.

's legislative programme against three tests. Will it deliver a more

:43:54.:44:00.

equal society? An economy which works for everyone? And society in

:44:01.:44:05.

which there is opportunity for all? Sadly it appears that many of the

:44:06.:44:09.

proposals in the Queens speech militate against those aims as have

:44:10.:44:13.

the proposals in previous years. Still this government does not seem

:44:14.:44:18.

to understand that cuts have their consequences. When you cut adult

:44:19.:44:23.

social care it has an impact on National Health Service Accident and

:44:24.:44:26.

Emergency departments. When you saddle young people with more debt

:44:27.:44:30.

you impede the ability to buy a home or start a family. When you fail to

:44:31.:44:33.

build housing and housing benefit then

:44:34.:44:48.

homelessness and the number of families in temporary accommodation

:44:49.:44:50.

increase. When you slash the budgets of local authorities then leisure

:44:51.:44:52.

centres clothes, libraries close, children centres close. This

:44:53.:45:01.

austerity is a political choice, not an economic is necessity. It's made

:45:02.:45:09.

by the government with the wrong priorities and it is women who have

:45:10.:45:14.

been hit hardest by these cuts. Over 80% of cuts for this portion of play

:45:15.:45:19.

on women. As the women's budget group has pointed out all these cuts

:45:20.:45:24.

mean that the opportunities for women are systematically reduced and

:45:25.:45:28.

diminished within our society. This government is failing to deliver an

:45:29.:45:33.

economy which meets the needs and aspirations of the people that sent

:45:34.:45:37.

us here. I government that is consistently failing to meet its own

:45:38.:45:42.

economic targets. They have failed on the deficit, the debt,

:45:43.:45:45.

productivity, failed to rebalance the economy. Once again the Northern

:45:46.:45:52.

powerhouse was announced, if only the rhetoric matched the reality. We

:45:53.:45:59.

discovered in March that the Northern powerhouse has 97% of its

:46:00.:46:06.

senior staff based here in London, and Northern powerhouse outsourced

:46:07.:46:10.

to the capital. For all the Chancellor 's rhetoric there has

:46:11.:46:15.

been systematic underinvestment in the north, only 1%, up 1% of the

:46:16.:46:21.

government infrastructure pipeline currently in construction in the

:46:22.:46:22.

north-east. Much could be said in a similar vein

:46:23.:46:31.

on housing. The government claims to aspire to build a million new homes.

:46:32.:46:36.

The reality, however, is that house-building has sunk to its

:46:37.:46:42.

lowest level since the 1920s. And so out of touch are the benches

:46:43.:46:48.

opposite, they think ?450,000 is what people can afford for a starter

:46:49.:46:56.

home. And the announcement again today of Britain's's digital

:46:57.:47:00.

infrastructure is welcome. Perhaps, and I hope it does, this time it

:47:01.:47:05.

will become a reality. Perhaps the Chancellor, who sadly is not here

:47:06.:47:08.

today, is a convert to our fiscal rules. A rational rule backed by

:47:09.:47:14.

leading economists which allows for borrowing on capital spending. I

:47:15.:47:20.

point out to the Prime Minister, whether on the northern powerhouse,

:47:21.:47:24.

building homes, or investing in digital infrastructure, simply

:47:25.:47:29.

saying things does not make them happen. It takes commitment to fund

:47:30.:47:36.

them. Mr Speaker, this government is failing to deliver, even on its own

:47:37.:47:40.

proposals. Though often that is for the better. The Prime Minister said

:47:41.:47:46.

two weeks ago, we are going to have academies for all, and it will be in

:47:47.:47:50.

the Queens speech. But just a fortnight later, there is no sign of

:47:51.:47:58.

it. Parents, governors, pupils, teachers and head teachers will be

:47:59.:48:02.

relieved to get final confirmation today that the wrong-headed

:48:03.:48:09.

proposals to impose forced academies Ocean have finally been dumped. --

:48:10.:48:20.

acamadisation. They have been forced to back down on a number of issues.

:48:21.:48:27.

On tax credits, on the Saudi police deal, on cuts to personal

:48:28.:48:34.

independence payments for disabled people, on Freedom of Information,

:48:35.:48:36.

on Sunday training, and on aspects of the trade union Bill and the

:48:37.:48:40.

housing bill. To call it disarray would be generous but that's without

:48:41.:48:44.

discussing the resultant black hole in the government's finances. But

:48:45.:48:52.

perhaps, Mr Speaker, the most worrying proposal of all, is the

:48:53.:48:58.

decision to try to seemed to redefine poverty and deprivation.

:48:59.:49:02.

Apparently it's all about instability, addiction and debt. All

:49:03.:49:09.

things you can blame on individuals, about which governments like

:49:10.:49:16.

tomorrow lies. Well, no. No, Mr Speaker. It's about 1 million people

:49:17.:49:20.

in our country using food banks. About record levels of in work

:49:21.:49:26.

poverty. The fact that absolute child poverty, after housing costs,

:49:27.:49:31.

is up by half a million. That poverty is up in disabled households

:49:32.:49:36.

on the same basis. That homelessness has gone up every year since the

:49:37.:49:41.

Prime Minister took office. And that last Christmas, Mr Speaker, 100,000

:49:42.:49:49.

children spent that Festival in temporary, insecure accommodation.

:49:50.:49:55.

And the causes of this? Cuts to welfare benefits, cuts to ESA, the

:49:56.:50:01.

bedroom tax, the benefit cut, wages being too low, jobs insecure and

:50:02.:50:05.

housing, whether to rent or buy, being too expensive. Mr Speaker, you

:50:06.:50:12.

don't tackle poverty by moving the goalposts. Poverty and inequality

:50:13.:50:19.

are collective failures of our society as a whole, not individual

:50:20.:50:32.

ones. On current form, Mr Speaker, much of what Her Majesty announced

:50:33.:50:39.

today will not require her signature. And I very much hope the

:50:40.:50:44.

government's proposals to date to consign it to ever deeper debt,

:50:45.:50:50.

those seeking to learn, will be rejected. My hope is that there will

:50:51.:50:55.

be a cross-party consensus on one element of the government's

:50:56.:51:02.

proposals. The honourable member of all should stand what I am about to

:51:03.:51:06.

say. That the proposal to repeal the Human Rights Act, brought in at the

:51:07.:51:11.

very start of the last Labour government, has brought the European

:51:12.:51:13.

Convention on human rights into British law, and thus empowering

:51:14.:51:17.

British citizens and giving rights to everybody in our society. We will

:51:18.:51:24.

defend our Human Rights Act as we defend the human rights of everyone

:51:25.:51:29.

in this country, and indeed all those that benefit from the European

:51:30.:51:33.

Convention on human rights. I understand, and it's quite bizarre,

:51:34.:51:36.

that the Home Secretary is the driving force behind tearing up the

:51:37.:51:41.

Human Rights Act, and leading the convention, which is strange, as she

:51:42.:51:45.

has very strong European credentials. What it shows, Mr

:51:46.:51:50.

Speaker, is whether you are actually in or out of the EU, the main

:51:51.:51:53.

obstacle holding back the people of this country is not the EU but that

:51:54.:51:59.

Conservative government. A Conservative government that is

:52:00.:52:03.

displaying a very worrying authoritarian streak. The primacy of

:52:04.:52:10.

this house, of the House of Commons, is not in doubt. We are committed to

:52:11.:52:16.

replacing the House of Lords with a democratic chamber. But we will

:52:17.:52:23.

scrutinise, sceptically, any proposals that seek to weaken the

:52:24.:52:26.

ability to hold the government to account as the other place rightly

:52:27.:52:30.

does. Democracy, Mr Speaker, requires accountability for

:52:31.:52:35.

decisions that are made. The national health service is in record

:52:36.:52:41.

deficit, yet there is no legislation in the Queen's speech to improve our

:52:42.:52:47.

National Health Service. Perhaps the Prime Minister can belatedly adopt

:52:48.:52:55.

the central medical principle: first, do no harm. Unfortunately

:52:56.:52:58.

there is legislation pending which will affect the NHS. The decision

:52:59.:53:02.

last year to cut nurses bursaries. Can the Prime Minister confirm this

:53:03.:53:06.

decision will be put to the house and voted on in this chamber? It is

:53:07.:53:11.

opposed by all the unions involved in the NHS and the Royal colleges

:53:12.:53:18.

representing nurses and midwives. The move to dissuade people from

:53:19.:53:24.

taking up nursing is all the more bizarre, Mr Speaker, coming as it

:53:25.:53:28.

does at a time when the government is planning to train nurses to take

:53:29.:53:32.

on more responsibilities from doctors. We welcome the government's

:53:33.:53:40.

proposals to support driverless cars in our society. But can they address

:53:41.:53:47.

the Secretary of State, who appears to be asleep at the wheel, in

:53:48.:53:54.

control of the NHS? Mr Speaker, we've made it clear before that with

:53:55.:53:58.

regard to the sugar tax, we will look favourably on proposals to

:53:59.:54:06.

tackle childhood obesity. We welcome the government's U-turn on forced

:54:07.:54:20.

acamedisation. As with schools -- academisation. As with schools, we

:54:21.:54:24.

would like to see... Mr Speaker, I will continue with my speech if I

:54:25.:54:29.

may. As with schools, we would like to see all ministers in good or even

:54:30.:54:34.

outstanding. But they need the freedom to listen to the public and

:54:35.:54:37.

the people who understand services best. So we look forward to

:54:38.:54:43.

scrutinising the surviving proposals in the government's education Bill,

:54:44.:54:47.

to ensure they are better thought through. Just as we have opposed the

:54:48.:54:55.

increase in unqualified teachers in our classrooms, we hope that the

:54:56.:55:03.

government will get to grips with the ?800 million being spent

:55:04.:55:05.

annually on supply teachers. Because of the recruitment and retention

:55:06.:55:14.

crisis in schools. With school budgets scheduled. Mr Speaker, we

:55:15.:55:19.

just agreed to behave with civility in this chamber, some members have

:55:20.:55:27.

very short memories. Point of order, Mr Jacob Rees Mogg. Point of order,

:55:28.:55:36.

Mr Speaker, am I not right in thinking it is customary cursory for

:55:37.:55:42.

people to give way in speeches that last over 20 minutes? The essence of

:55:43.:55:50.

the Honourable gentleman's point was encapsulated in that first sentence.

:55:51.:55:56.

Customary but it is not required. There is no obligation. Members may

:55:57.:55:59.

want the right honourable gentleman to give way but he is not obliged to

:56:00.:56:03.

do so and I gently say to the Honourable member for Winchester and

:56:04.:56:07.

to the Honourable member for Sherwood, that they can have a go

:56:08.:56:13.

but if the right honourable gentleman does not want to give way,

:56:14.:56:18.

they will not advance their cause by shouting and that in itself is an

:56:19.:56:22.

civil. Something the member for North East Somerset is never guilty

:56:23.:56:30.

of. Mr Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you, Mr Speaker. School budgets are

:56:31.:56:35.

scheduled to receive their biggest real terms cut since the 1970s. Mr

:56:36.:56:43.

Speaker, education is actually quite important in our society. The

:56:44.:56:48.

government can therefore ill afford to be spending so much on supply

:56:49.:56:53.

teachers. We have to move away from agency Britain. So we will look at

:56:54.:56:59.

the proposals for a national funding formula that would encourage the

:57:00.:57:02.

government to look for example at the school meals and breakfast

:57:03.:57:07.

policies that are being introduced in Labour Wales which help young

:57:08.:57:12.

people in Wales. Mr Speaker, we welcome moves to speed up adoption.

:57:13.:57:21.

That is in the interests of both children and those families

:57:22.:57:25.

committed to adoption. But the priority has to always be the

:57:26.:57:30.

welfare and safety of the child. But, Mr Speaker, at a time when

:57:31.:57:34.

social services and children's services are being slashed, we have

:57:35.:57:37.

to ask whether the funding will match the desire. We should also

:57:38.:57:43.

put, and all of us I'm sure can agree on this, on record our thanks

:57:44.:57:48.

to all those families that do foster, do adopt and do give

:57:49.:57:51.

children the very best lives that they possibly can. They are heroes

:57:52.:57:56.

within our society. Students today are more in debt than ever, and I

:57:57.:58:00.

want to make it clear to the Prime Minister he will not get any support

:58:01.:58:03.

from these benches on raising tuition fees. This government is

:58:04.:58:10.

penalising students. Announcing the abolition of maintenance grants last

:58:11.:58:13.

year and now announcing that fees will be raised even further. This is

:58:14.:58:19.

a tax on learning, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer called it in 2003,

:58:20.:58:23.

from a government backed cuts taxes on capital gains. What message does

:58:24.:58:28.

that send about the economy they want to create? That wealth

:58:29.:58:34.

generates more wealth with minimal tax? That effort and hard work plans

:58:35.:58:39.

you in a lifetime of debt with no support while you are making that

:58:40.:58:42.

effort? What an insult to the aspirations of young people wanting

:58:43.:58:48.

an education. We are deeply concerned about the locations for a

:58:49.:58:53.

free-market free for all in higher education. Mr Speaker, the

:58:54.:58:59.

government has committed to more apprenticeships. We welcome that if

:59:00.:59:03.

it means more high-quality apprenticeships. Also that those

:59:04.:59:09.

apprenticeships, equally, inspire young people to become engineers, as

:59:10.:59:16.

young men to become carers. It gives opportunities for every young person

:59:17.:59:19.

in our society. But they should not be seen by any employer as a means

:59:20.:59:24.

of circumventing paying a decent wage while offering little training.

:59:25.:59:30.

We all hear far too many cases of that. We will scrutinise carefully

:59:31.:59:37.

proposals to give prison governors more freedom. It seems the policies

:59:38.:59:43.

of this government have been to give greater freedoms to prisoners. That

:59:44.:59:48.

is the consequences of overcrowding prisons and cutting one third of

:59:49.:59:53.

dedicated prison officer positions. We welcome the proposals to give

:59:54.:59:59.

greater time for education and reform and to reduce reoffending

:00:00.:00:02.

rates. When I was a member of the justice select committee I visited

:00:03.:00:08.

young offender institutions in Denmark and Norway. Their approach,

:00:09.:00:18.

Mr Speaker, works. The prison crisis is one that does not require

:00:19.:00:21.

laughter to solve its problems. The approach they've adopted in those

:00:22.:00:29.

two Scandinavian countries does require more funding and more staff,

:00:30.:00:34.

but it does have a very good effect on reoffending rates. There is

:00:35.:00:40.

equally a very urgent need to invest in the care for prisoners who suffer

:00:41.:00:45.

from mental health conditions. The alarming rise in prison suicides in

:00:46.:00:50.

recent years means that to prisoners every week are taking their lives in

:00:51.:00:56.

our prisons. That is a truly horrifying statistic. It is only

:00:57.:01:01.

part of the disarray in our prisons. Emergency services were called out.

:01:02.:01:13.

Mr Speaker emergency services were called to 26,600 times for over 20

:01:14.:01:26.

minutes on average is two incidents in UK prisons last year, the tide of

:01:27.:01:31.

violence in UK prisons is rising and has to be addressed, that is our

:01:32.:01:34.

responsibility in this house to do so. Many more of our public services

:01:35.:01:44.

are under threat... No. Many more of our public services are under

:01:45.:01:47.

threat, the land Registry is threatened with privatisation and

:01:48.:01:53.

move considered and then rejected in the last two parliaments. Those

:01:54.:01:58.

governments lessened to the concerns of the public and expert opinion. I

:01:59.:02:06.

hope and trust this government will consult and come to the same

:02:07.:02:09.

conclusion rather than selling of the family silver, it will retain

:02:10.:02:13.

the land Registry in public ownership and administration. We are

:02:14.:02:21.

very clear... We are very clear that the BBC is national institution. But

:02:22.:02:33.

its success is an anathema to this ideological government. Labour will

:02:34.:02:37.

continue to stand up for the licence fee payer. We will fight any further

:02:38.:02:41.

government attacks on the BBC and its independence. Whether it is the

:02:42.:02:50.

NHS, good and outstanding schools, the East Coast Main line in public

:02:51.:02:54.

operation or the BBC, the government just cannot stand the threat of a

:02:55.:03:00.

good example of popular successful public services. We will stand up

:03:01.:03:04.

for them against what this government is doing. On this side of

:03:05.:03:11.

the house we have a long, we have long highlighted the injustice of

:03:12.:03:16.

the unequal funding allocation to local authorities. I hope the

:03:17.:03:22.

government Finance Bill will be an opportunity to address the

:03:23.:03:26.

disgraceful situation in which the protest area is, mainly the inner

:03:27.:03:30.

cities of this country, suffered by far the greatest cuts in their

:03:31.:03:34.

expenditure. The cuts imposed on local authorities have a devastating

:03:35.:03:38.

impact of services for both young and old. Just this week Oxbridge

:03:39.:03:45.

Council, the Prime Minister favourite county council, despite

:03:46.:03:49.

the protestations of some local residents and announced it was

:03:50.:03:51.

closing half of its children centres. In the past five years 4.5

:03:52.:04:00.

billion has been cut from the adult social care budget. Taking away

:04:01.:04:04.

dignity from elderly and disabled people. Again Mr Speaker, those

:04:05.:04:10.

massive cuts in the adult social care budget mainly affects of them

:04:11.:04:14.

Paul Best proportionately women in our society. We will scrutinise very

:04:15.:04:24.

carefully the demolition of business rates -- devolution of business

:04:25.:04:27.

rates which if not handled correctly has the potential to exacerbate

:04:28.:04:32.

inequality between areas of this country. We have deeply unbalanced

:04:33.:04:39.

economy and we will oppose plans which widen regional inequalities

:04:40.:04:42.

rather than narrow them. On a positive note, we do wholeheartedly,

:04:43.:04:51.

we do wholeheartedly welcome moves to devolve powers to re-regulate the

:04:52.:04:56.

bus service. We will look to expand those provisions more widely. There

:04:57.:05:01.

are whole areas of the country, particularly in the role Britain

:05:02.:05:04.

which have no bus services at all and they should be provided with

:05:05.:05:08.

them, particularly of those who don't have access to their own cars.

:05:09.:05:17.

We are very sceptical about competition in the water industry.

:05:18.:05:20.

It goes against much of the trend of the rest of Europe. For really super

:05:21.:05:28.

lies Asian of water, giving water back to communities, I government

:05:29.:05:34.

committed to devolution might consider that. But they want

:05:35.:05:40.

competition, perhaps we can have competition in reservoirs, pumping

:05:41.:05:44.

stations and mains pipes? You could even have three standpipes at every

:05:45.:05:54.

corner. Imagine the vision of Tory Britain, Mr Speaker, I will not give

:05:55.:06:05.

way. We have no objection... Mr Speaker... Order. I am well aware

:06:06.:06:10.

there are members who want to intervene and that is perfectly

:06:11.:06:14.

reasonable of them to want to intervene. Equally there is no

:06:15.:06:18.

obligation on the Leader of the Opposition to give way. Border.

:06:19.:06:25.

Somebody muttered from a sedentary position too long. The honourable

:06:26.:06:29.

gentleman is entitled to his opinion. I am telling the house will

:06:30.:06:36.

be factual position is, however uncomfortable. And that is that the

:06:37.:06:39.

right Honourable gentleman is in order. What is not in order is for

:06:40.:06:46.

people to shout and Barrick. In total violation of what has been set

:06:47.:06:51.

out at the start of proceedings. I urge members who may be irritated to

:06:52.:06:57.

behave with dignity. The Leader of the Opposition. Thank you Mr

:06:58.:07:04.

Speaker, no, I will not give way. Mr Speaker, we have no objection to

:07:05.:07:08.

reviewing the franchise with regards to overseas citizens but I do hope,

:07:09.:07:13.

and I hope the government take this point seriously, that the government

:07:14.:07:16.

will be minded not only to looking at those who have lived abroad for

:07:17.:07:21.

several decades but also to look at 16 and 17-year-olds in this country.

:07:22.:07:27.

Alden after marry and work and join the Army, rightly allowed to vote in

:07:28.:07:31.

the Scottish referendum but not able to vote in our elections. There is

:07:32.:07:37.

something perverse about the government in franchising people who

:07:38.:07:41.

have not lived in Britain for years when its disenfranchised in hundreds

:07:42.:07:45.

of thousands of British residents throughout individual voter

:07:46.:07:49.

registration plan. That is why as part of the EU referendum campaign

:07:50.:07:53.

many of us are spending a lot of time encouraging young people to

:07:54.:07:56.

ensure they are registered to vote. It is the future at stake. Everyone

:07:57.:08:02.

in this house Mr Speaker understands the risks posed by terrorism. This

:08:03.:08:07.

city, London, had experienced it before as have other cities around

:08:08.:08:13.

the world. We will of course support strong measures to give the police

:08:14.:08:17.

and security the services and resources they need. But we will

:08:18.:08:22.

also support checks and balances to ensure powers are used

:08:23.:08:26.

appropriately. We would welcome any proposals from the government to

:08:27.:08:31.

reform the prevent strategy and instead emphasised the value of

:08:32.:08:36.

community led work to prevent young people being drawn into extremism in

:08:37.:08:43.

any form. In foreign policy we must put our promotion of human rights at

:08:44.:08:48.

the centre. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye and worse sell arms

:08:49.:08:54.

to those countries that abuse human rights either within or beyond their

:08:55.:08:59.

borders. I welcome the forthcoming visit of President Santos of

:09:00.:09:04.

Colombia and look forward to meeting him to discuss human rights in what

:09:05.:09:09.

is hopefully on its way to becoming a post-conflict society. This

:09:10.:09:14.

government's legislative programme spoke of humanitarian challenges. We

:09:15.:09:18.

are grateful to Lord dubs for taking on the challenge of making the

:09:19.:09:23.

government more humanitarian. Just a few weeks previously Mr Speaker this

:09:24.:09:28.

Prime Minister was rebelling to refugees fleeing persecution as a

:09:29.:09:33.

bunch of migrants and a swarm. I have to say this, those words were

:09:34.:09:37.

wrong and I hope the Prime Minister will think again about them and

:09:38.:09:42.

recognise as everyone issued that refugees are simply human beings

:09:43.:09:46.

just like any of us in this chamber who are trying to survive in a

:09:47.:09:53.

dangerous and cruel world. We need to solve their problems with

:09:54.:09:57.

humanity, not with that kind of language. All sides of the house Mr

:09:58.:10:01.

Speaker will have been heartened by the increased turnout in the

:10:02.:10:05.

elections for police and crime commissioners. We welcome any moves

:10:06.:10:13.

which will give them the power to improve accountability of their

:10:14.:10:17.

communities. Our police forces mostly do an excellent job. But Mr

:10:18.:10:23.

Speaker the recent Hillsboro inquest and the results of it showed they

:10:24.:10:28.

must never be above scrutiny to ensure they do their jobs properly.

:10:29.:10:42.

We welcome any measures designed to properly tackle tax avoidance and

:10:43.:10:52.

tax evasion. But this government 's record on this subject is one of

:10:53.:10:57.

continuous failure. Just a month ago the Prime Minister welcomed in this

:10:58.:11:03.

house EU proposals on country by country tax transparency. But on the

:11:04.:11:11.

26th of April Conservative MEPs yet again voted against the same

:11:12.:11:16.

proposal. Did they not get the memo? That same Prime Minister continues

:11:17.:11:23.

to allow UK tax havens not to issue public registers of beneficial

:11:24.:11:29.

ownership. And oppose wholesale the introduction of beneficial ownership

:11:30.:11:34.

registers for offshore trusts. People expect companies that trade

:11:35.:11:38.

in this country and people who live in this country to pay their tax in

:11:39.:11:44.

this country. It funds our public services. Aggressive tax avoidance

:11:45.:11:51.

and tax evasion are an attack on our NHS, on our schools, on key for the

:11:52.:11:56.

elderly and disabled people, on Social Security and prevent poverty,

:11:57.:12:02.

homelessness destitution. If anyone wants to deliver a more equal

:12:03.:12:08.

society, an economy which works for anyone, and a society where there is

:12:09.:12:13.

opportunity for all, it takes an active government to do it. Not the

:12:14.:12:18.

driverless car heading in the wrong direction that we have in this

:12:19.:12:19.

government at the present time. Should calm themselves, they have

:12:20.:12:48.

got the moment they have been waiting for! The Prime Minister!

:12:49.:12:57.

Thank you Mr Speaker. I think we have just witnessed a parliamentary

:12:58.:13:02.

records of 41 minutes speech without a single intervention. I have been

:13:03.:13:08.

taking part in these debates on the Queen 's speech for I think the last

:13:09.:13:13.

ten years and I have never seen a minister or opposition leader refuse

:13:14.:13:17.

a single, was there really no question from any Labour MP, did

:13:18.:13:25.

anyone in the SMP have anything to say? I know the SNP have other

:13:26.:13:30.

things on their mind! I think actually it's mostly the same thing

:13:31.:13:33.

on their minds but not a single question! Mr Speaker this Queen 's

:13:34.:13:40.

speech builds on strong foundations. The deficit cut by almost two thirds

:13:41.:13:45.

as a share of GDP, the highest employment rate in our record and

:13:46.:13:49.

our long-term economic plan means the economy is over 13% bigger than

:13:50.:13:55.

the start of 2010. We have 900,000 more businesses, poverty is at its

:13:56.:14:03.

lowest rate in three decades. Mr Speaker I am the first to say there

:14:04.:14:08.

is far more to be done to entrench our strong economic performance. We

:14:09.:14:14.

want more exports, higher productivity, we need better

:14:15.:14:16.

infrastructure and that is why one of the key measures in the Queens

:14:17.:14:20.

speech is for the first time I universal service obligation to

:14:21.:14:24.

deliver broadband to every and every business in the country. With this

:14:25.:14:29.

government economic security always comes first. This Queen 's speech

:14:30.:14:33.

uses the strong economic foundations to make a series of bold choices

:14:34.:14:37.

which will deliver opportunity for all at every stage of life. For

:14:38.:14:43.

children we make the choice to rebalance the system in favour of

:14:44.:14:47.

faster adoption so more children get a loving and stable home. Fortier

:14:48.:14:52.

levers we choose to put them first for training and jobs so the most

:14:53.:14:58.

disadvantaged get a better life for themselves. I will give way a lot!

:14:59.:15:01.

CHEERING But I am going to make some

:15:02.:15:06.

progress, I will deal with the proposers and second is and then I

:15:07.:15:11.

am happy to give way a lot. I predict at least 500% more than my

:15:12.:15:15.

principal opponent. For all our young people we offer them the

:15:16.:15:20.

chance to do National Service, for school leavers we make the choice to

:15:21.:15:27.

extend for low-income families we choose to offer new support to build

:15:28.:15:30.

up their savings through the first ever helped to save scheme. For

:15:31.:15:34.

those who want to get on the housing ladder we are choosing to build a

:15:35.:15:39.

new home and we choose to deliver the biggest reform of our prison

:15:40.:15:42.

system for a century, knocking down the old and outdated resins and

:15:43.:15:45.

reforming education and rehabilitation of offenders. This

:15:46.:15:53.

combines economic security with extending life chances for all. It

:15:54.:16:00.

is the Queen 's speech of a progressive, one nation Conservative

:16:01.:16:04.

government. Her Majesty 's greatest speech was buoyantly proposed by my

:16:05.:16:07.

right honourable friend the member for Meriden. Her speech was powerful

:16:08.:16:12.

and passionate and included some excellent advice.

:16:13.:16:19.

As the leader said, a union background, too. In charge of sugar

:16:20.:16:25.

beet for the National farmers union and a consultant on food and

:16:26.:16:29.

biotechnology. You can imagine the shock in deaf awareness into

:16:30.:16:34.

thousand ten they began to get the Secretary of State for agriculture

:16:35.:16:37.

who knew what you was talking about. She stripped away unnecessary

:16:38.:16:40.

burdens of bureaucracy for farmers. Cheap reduced first environment

:16:41.:16:49.

White Paper for 30 years. She prepared two United Nations

:16:50.:16:51.

agreement is taking huge steps forward to protect our environment.

:16:52.:16:57.

Everyone in this house knows she is at deeply committed Christian. This

:16:58.:17:01.

would have come in handy during her time in deaf when she had to deal

:17:02.:17:03.

with floods, droughts, food shortages and even disease. Indeed

:17:04.:17:09.

everything short of a plague of locusts, which I will be predicting

:17:10.:17:20.

in my next speech on Europe. While chairing the Conservative Party, my

:17:21.:17:22.

right honourable friend did a massive amount to encourage more

:17:23.:17:26.

women to stand for Parliament and I am the first to say there is still

:17:27.:17:29.

more to do but the change in the benches around me is a significant

:17:30.:17:33.

tribute to her great efforts. She talked about her charity work and in

:17:34.:17:36.

pursuit of these causes it does seem as though she is prepared to do

:17:37.:17:41.

almost anything with almost anybody. During her time in this house she

:17:42.:17:45.

has sung the flower duet with Sara Teva. She performed the joiner

:17:46.:17:51.

monologues with Jerry Hall. And more recently she launched

:17:52.:17:53.

environmentalists Europe with Stanley Johnson. I now need to set

:17:54.:17:57.

her to work on other members of the family. Mr Speaker, her speech was

:17:58.:18:00.

in the finest traditions of the house. The gracious speech was

:18:01.:18:04.

brilliantly seconded by my honourable friend the member for

:18:05.:18:09.

Bracknell. He was witty comedy with self-deprecating, he was thoughtful.

:18:10.:18:13.

His description of his medical examinations and indeed his

:18:14.:18:16.

explanation of the true nature of PR means that I will shortly be

:18:17.:18:20.

recommending him for a role in the Whip's office where he presumably

:18:21.:18:23.

could carry out a number of important pieces of work. He began,

:18:24.:18:29.

as he said, his political life, canned and sing in Beaconsfield

:18:30.:18:34.

where he was also the local GP. I'm sure he will welcome our record

:18:35.:18:37.

spending on health and the progress we are making towards a seven-day

:18:38.:18:41.

NHS. And I'm sure the quality of his speeches are just as good on Sunday

:18:42.:18:45.

as the one we had today. We look forward to hearing more. Every time

:18:46.:18:49.

he goes canvassing he is besieged not only with political problems but

:18:50.:18:53.

the medical problems of his constituents, bringing a whole new

:18:54.:18:57.

meaning to the concept of MP's surgery. He is also, I understand,

:18:58.:19:02.

romantic supporter of lost causes. He told us in his own speech of

:19:03.:19:06.

standing in Michael foot's old seat, he told us that he got 816 votes,

:19:07.:19:13.

but he didn't tell us that at the time he had 1500 patients so it was

:19:14.:19:18.

not that good result. It is now applied Camry marginal so things

:19:19.:19:22.

have changed. He is also an ardent fan of Queens Park Rangers but we

:19:23.:19:25.

won't say too much about that because at least one of my teams is

:19:26.:19:28.

joining him in the championship next season. My honourable friend is a

:19:29.:19:34.

passion or member of the England supporters club, he travelled with

:19:35.:19:39.

the England team to Japan in 2002, Portugal in 2004, Germany in 2006

:19:40.:19:42.

and of course England lost on all those occasions. So the house will

:19:43.:19:47.

be pleased to hear that we will be exercising our firm border controls

:19:48.:19:50.

and not letting him anywhere near France this summer. My honourable

:19:51.:19:54.

friend and I have both benefited from your decision to establish a

:19:55.:19:58.

nursery on the parliamentary estate. We thank you for that, as do our

:19:59.:20:03.

daughters. Mr Speaker, my honourable friend has made his own contribution

:20:04.:20:07.

to this house which he referred to, not least in his role as

:20:08.:20:10.

vice-chairman of the Parliamentary space committee, he told us about

:20:11.:20:13.

his passion for this issue and indeed for Tim Peake, who we all

:20:14.:20:18.

wish well. And of course the Madden Ellie modern transport Bill will

:20:19.:20:21.

bring about something he has long compay and four, the first British

:20:22.:20:26.

spaceport. This gives the opportunity for people to be sent

:20:27.:20:29.

into orbit for prolonged periods, thousands of miles away from this

:20:30.:20:35.

place. We may have different candidates for who should qualify

:20:36.:20:37.

for this honour, but I'm grateful that we will both be supporting the

:20:38.:20:42.

bill. He told us he is one of the few MPs who is not yet decided which

:20:43.:20:46.

way he will vote in the EU referendum, he kept us guessing

:20:47.:20:50.

today. But I know that he, like everybody else, particularly on

:20:51.:20:53.

these benches, will welcome the fact that we are keeping our promise of

:20:54.:20:57.

holding and in out EU referendum. Mr Speaker, his speech I thought a very

:20:58.:21:02.

thoughtful speech, was also in the finest traditions of our house. Mr

:21:03.:21:06.

Speaker, let me also joined the right Honourable member the Leader

:21:07.:21:09.

of the Opposition in paying tribute to two great members of this house

:21:10.:21:13.

who passed away over the last year. Harry Harper and was only in this

:21:14.:21:17.

place a short time but quickly became a very popular member. He and

:21:18.:21:21.

great admiration from all sides by the way he continued to carry out

:21:22.:21:25.

his work throughout his treatment for cancer. His widow, the new

:21:26.:21:29.

honourable member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough is

:21:30.:21:31.

continuing his great work of standing up for the constituency he

:21:32.:21:36.

loved so much. Michael Meacher represented his old constituents in

:21:37.:21:39.

this place for a staggering 45 Years. He were sometimes known as

:21:40.:21:45.

Tony Benn's vicar on earth. He was a passionate campaigner for equality

:21:46.:21:49.

and climate change and this house is a poorer place without both of those

:21:50.:21:51.

members and we miss them greatly. Let me welcome the Leader of the

:21:52.:21:58.

Opposition to his first Queen 's speech debate. I wasn't entirely

:21:59.:22:02.

sure whether he would turn up. He once described it as a ridiculous

:22:03.:22:05.

18th-century performance. He has even suggested that the monarchy

:22:06.:22:11.

call it a day when the Queen completes her reign. I have to say,

:22:12.:22:15.

Mr Speaker, I think there's more chance of the Labour Party calling

:22:16.:22:18.

it a day when he completes his reign, but there we are. I've been

:22:19.:22:23.

doing my research is, too. It may come a little sooner than people

:22:24.:22:26.

think. He recently placed an advert for a job in his office that said,

:22:27.:22:32.

and I quote, fixed term contract for the period only that Jeremy Corbyn

:22:33.:22:39.

is leader of the Labour Party, or until 31st of December 2016,

:22:40.:22:43.

whichever is sooner. Is there something we are not being told? I

:22:44.:22:49.

wondered the course, I thought maybe it was the long and training hours

:22:50.:22:52.

having done this job, so in preparing for my speech I asked my

:22:53.:22:55.

office to ring his office to find out. I promise I'm not making this

:22:56.:22:59.

up, this is the answerphone message that we got. Thank you for calling

:23:00.:23:05.

the office of Jeremy Corbyn, MP, Leader of the Opposition. Our phone

:23:06.:23:10.

lines are open between the times of 2p and 4pm every weekday. I know he

:23:11.:23:13.

wants a shorter working week, but there are limits. Presumably even

:23:14.:23:20.

for him. There were rumours that at one point he would be challenged for

:23:21.:23:23.

the leadership by the former chair of the public amounts Ellie accounts

:23:24.:23:28.

committee. I was thrilled by the prospect of making jokes about

:23:29.:23:30.

labour moving from Islington to Barking. I got the feeling after

:23:31.:23:36.

today's performance that they will be moving to Barking without the

:23:37.:23:40.

leadership contest but there we are. We do face an extraordinary

:23:41.:23:46.

opposition team. The Shadow Business Secretary is anti-business, the

:23:47.:23:49.

shadow city minister does not speak to the city, the Shadow farming

:23:50.:23:52.

secretary who should be responsible for encouraging Britain's livestock

:23:53.:23:57.

industry is actually a vegan. The shadow defence member does not

:23:58.:24:01.

believe in defence. They are led by a proud Republican who now has to

:24:02.:24:06.

call himself the leader of Her Majesty's opposition. I have to say,

:24:07.:24:14.

Mr Speaker. If you were to propose, does he want me to give way? If you

:24:15.:24:23.

were to propose this script for the thick of it, even with the

:24:24.:24:27.

entreaties of my right honourable friend the cultural secretary about

:24:28.:24:30.

the importance of diversity and innovation, the BBC would have to

:24:31.:24:34.

reject the script as utterly far-fetched. I give way to the

:24:35.:24:42.

honourable gentleman. Will the Prime Minister remind the house when

:24:43.:24:45.

either he or the Secretary of State for business actually went to meet

:24:46.:24:52.

Tata during the steel crisis when our own front bench including the

:24:53.:24:56.

general secretary of the community went when no frontbencher was

:24:57.:24:59.

available, indeed they were in Australia on holiday. Can the Prime

:25:00.:25:04.

Minister remind us when he actually met with Tata? I was in Port Talbot

:25:05.:25:11.

two weeks ago meeting with Tata. Look, let me give them a tip. It's

:25:12.:25:15.

all right not intervening on your own leader but if you are going to

:25:16.:25:19.

intervene on the other guy, try to think of a question they are going

:25:20.:25:24.

to find difficult. To be fair to the Leader of the Opposition he made an

:25:25.:25:27.

inspiring speech after the local elections. He said across England we

:25:28.:25:32.

had predictions we would lose councils, we didn't, we hung on.

:25:33.:25:36.

This will surely go down as one of the great rallying cries. Go back to

:25:37.:25:41.

your constituencies and prepare to hang on. I have to say, to be fair

:25:42.:25:46.

there are days I know it's acting how he feels. But Mr Speaker you can

:25:47.:25:50.

say what you like about the right honourable gentleman but he has

:25:51.:25:54.

never hidden his beliefs. While I may disagree with most of them he's

:25:55.:25:57.

been totally consistent in his opposition to market economics,

:25:58.:26:01.

choice of public services, and Britain maintaining strong defences.

:26:02.:26:06.

I'm not surprised he opposes this Queen 's speech almost in its

:26:07.:26:09.

entirety. But nobody can say the British people are not in offered a

:26:10.:26:17.

choice. Mr Speaker we want to see true equality of opportunity in our

:26:18.:26:21.

country. That is why we are reforming our schools, creating 3

:26:22.:26:26.

million apprenticeships, establishing new universities,

:26:27.:26:28.

boosting entrepreneurship, cutting taxes for business, and creating a

:26:29.:26:31.

dynamic economy in which people will make the most of their talents. But

:26:32.:26:35.

if we really want to make a true difference to people's life chances,

:26:36.:26:39.

we've got to go further in tackling the barriers to opportunities,

:26:40.:26:43.

helping those who get left behind, helping those who are stuck in

:26:44.:26:46.

poverty, helping those who grow up without the advantages of a strong

:26:47.:26:50.

family. I give way to the honourable lady. I am grateful to be Prime

:26:51.:26:54.

Minister for giving way. Could he explain why he is going back on his

:26:55.:26:59.

promise to introduce a white paper for support for disabled people into

:27:00.:27:04.

employment after he's cut ?1500 per year from sick and disabled people?

:27:05.:27:08.

We are not going back on that promise. We want to do more to help

:27:09.:27:11.

disabled people into work and what we've seen in the last year is well

:27:12.:27:15.

over 100,000 disabled people get into work and we will continue with

:27:16.:27:19.

that excellent work. But let me make this point, because if we really

:27:20.:27:23.

want to help people's life chances, we need to help those who need the

:27:24.:27:27.

help the most. That's why there is such an emphasis in this Queen 's

:27:28.:27:31.

speech on adoption and care. When I became Prime Minister, some social

:27:32.:27:33.

workers were refusing to place black, mixed race or Asian children

:27:34.:27:38.

with white adoptive parents. I think that is profoundly wrong and we

:27:39.:27:42.

change the law to prevent it. As a result of that change and the other

:27:43.:27:52.

things we've done, adoption today is up by 72%, but there is still a lot

:27:53.:27:55.

more to do in a system that still favours foster parents or distant

:27:56.:27:58.

relatives, we chose to promote an option which would provide more

:27:59.:28:00.

permanent and stable homes. To make sure our social workers get proper

:28:01.:28:02.

training on the job, we are reforming training and raising

:28:03.:28:04.

professional standards for every single social worker by 2020. And

:28:05.:28:09.

while young people are in care, they already get the first choice of

:28:10.:28:12.

which school they go to, we don't give them sufficient advantages when

:28:13.:28:16.

they leave care and it's time that we did so. So in this Queen 's

:28:17.:28:20.

speech we are saying to care leavers, you will get guaranteed

:28:21.:28:23.

care entitlements to local services, funding for apprenticeships and

:28:24.:28:26.

personal mentor up to the age of 25. All this will be included in our

:28:27.:28:31.

care leavers government so that our most disadvantaged young people get

:28:32.:28:34.

the opportunities they deserve. These are the choices of a

:28:35.:28:38.

progressive, one nation Conservative government. I give way to my

:28:39.:28:42.

honourable friend. I am grateful to the Prime Minister for giving way.

:28:43.:28:45.

Can he assure the house that whatever your background, wherever

:28:46.:28:49.

you were born, if you have aspiration, not only will you be

:28:50.:28:52.

given the inspiration to succeed but the education to allow you to get to

:28:53.:28:56.

where you want to get to? My honourable friend is absolutely

:28:57.:29:00.

right. It's no good just talking about opportunity into 's of giving

:29:01.:29:09.

people the on. We've got to unblock those who are stuck, whether they

:29:10.:29:12.

are stuck in poverty or in troubled families or in care, or because they

:29:13.:29:14.

can't get adopted or because they have mental health problems. That is

:29:15.:29:16.

the modern agenda of this Conservative government. Yes, the

:29:17.:29:19.

economic opportunities we have always talked about but let's

:29:20.:29:22.

unblock the opportunities that have been blocked for too many in my

:29:23.:29:27.

country. I will give way to the Scottish National party now they

:29:28.:29:30.

have woken up. Further to the intervention from the honourable

:29:31.:29:35.

member from Oldham East and Saddleworth, his last appearance at

:29:36.:29:38.

the dispatch box the right honourable member for Chingford gave

:29:39.:29:41.

me a commitment that the White Paper on health and work would be

:29:42.:29:44.

published well before the summer, what has changed? Well, what's

:29:45.:29:48.

changed is we are getting more disabled people into work. We want

:29:49.:29:52.

to make more progress with that. We have a new Secretary of State for

:29:53.:29:55.

Work and Pensions who is absolutely committed to continuing with that of

:29:56.:29:58.

element and that is what you will see in the months to come. After a

:29:59.:30:02.

strong family the greatest driver of opportunity is a good school. Under

:30:03.:30:07.

the last Labour government and number of pupils studying core

:30:08.:30:10.

academic subjects at GCSE halved. According to the OECD generation

:30:11.:30:15.

educated under the government are among the least literate and

:30:16.:30:18.

numerate in the developed world. This government is determined to

:30:19.:30:22.

turn around that shameful legacy. Already we've got 1.4 million more

:30:23.:30:26.

pupils taught in good or outstanding schools. The number studying the

:30:27.:30:29.

core academic subjects at GCSE has gone up. There are more teachers

:30:30.:30:33.

with degrees, more pupils studying maths, more pupils studying science,

:30:34.:30:38.

and in this week's speech we will help to make that educational

:30:39.:30:41.

excellence available to all in our country. A national funding formula

:30:42.:30:46.

so schools get the money they need. Local authorities that aren't

:30:47.:30:50.

delivering intervened on at once. Failing and coastal schools turned

:30:51.:30:55.

into academies without delay. We should be clear about the choice we

:30:56.:30:59.

are making. Rigour in standards, discipline in the classroom,

:31:00.:31:03.

excellence in teaching, autonomy in schools, no tolerance of failure.

:31:04.:31:07.

Again, this is the policy of a progressive, one nation Conservative

:31:08.:31:07.

government. How is equal opportunity consistent

:31:08.:31:18.

with lowering the best opportunities to their fees so instead of the

:31:19.:31:23.

brightest getting access, the richest get access? I am coming on

:31:24.:31:29.

to this point that what we have seen since the introduction of fees is

:31:30.:31:33.

not only record numbers going to university but record numbers from

:31:34.:31:39.

poorer backgrounds. So a real opportunity to offer school leavers

:31:40.:31:43.

apprenticeships, the choice of a good university and a good job, and

:31:44.:31:48.

our Queen's speech helps deliver on all three. We are providing funding

:31:49.:31:53.

for apprenticeships, and capping numbers that universities or the one

:31:54.:31:57.

who can get the benefit will get one, and now we are legislating to

:31:58.:32:01.

make sure degrees are of high quality and new universities can be

:32:02.:32:05.

established. None of this would be possible without the bold decision

:32:06.:32:09.

to reform fees and it demonstrates that reform and value for money

:32:10.:32:12.

don't hold back opportunities but help create them. I am sure the

:32:13.:32:23.

Prime Minister that would agree that one of the best thing we can do

:32:24.:32:26.

thorough children is to give them a university education and I welcome

:32:27.:32:30.

that more universities will be enabled to be opened. I would love

:32:31.:32:34.

one in Somerset but it is the best thing we can do for young people. I

:32:35.:32:39.

will certainly look at what she says because all the evidence when we

:32:40.:32:43.

look at economic growth and development is that having

:32:44.:32:46.

universities of a high quality in all regions is a massive driver for

:32:47.:32:53.

growth and retaining talent. I give way. He is being typically generous.

:32:54.:33:06.

All the secondary schools in my constituency at academies, a process

:33:07.:33:10.

begun by the Labour county council before it was booted out in 2009. In

:33:11.:33:15.

welcoming the national funding formula that will help all schools

:33:16.:33:20.

in Staffordshire, will my right honourable friend make sure the

:33:21.:33:25.

academies in Tamworth are protected and another abolished as the Leader

:33:26.:33:30.

of the Opposition would like? We are absolutely committed to academies

:33:31.:33:33.

and the skills and we want to combine that autonomy with the

:33:34.:33:35.

national funding formula and make sure all the money goes to the

:33:36.:33:40.

school itself. All these reforms go together to drive change in our

:33:41.:33:45.

education system. Turning to jobs, today's figures show unemployment

:33:46.:33:50.

falling, employment rising and the record for the number of people in

:33:51.:33:55.

work in our country. This builds on the record with further improvements

:33:56.:33:59.

to infrastructure and measures to make Britain a world leader in the

:34:00.:34:03.

Digital economy. We are determined to deliver an economy that is rich

:34:04.:34:08.

in jobs and with the national living wage, nobody earning tax before the

:34:09.:34:13.

?11,000, in work training and learning through life and all the

:34:14.:34:18.

steps being taken to boost productivity, our ambition should be

:34:19.:34:22.

to have Britain have the best trained, best paid workforce in

:34:23.:34:30.

Europe. I apologise for being semicomatose during the speech by

:34:31.:34:37.

the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister mentions the economy

:34:38.:34:42.

and productivity. Will he tell us why the worst productivity doesn't

:34:43.:34:48.

appear in the Queen's Speech? Is it because this country's productivity

:34:49.:34:52.

record is so appalling? It is because everything in the Queen's

:34:53.:34:55.

Speech is about enhancing productivity. If we make these

:34:56.:34:59.

investments and improve the transport system, all those things

:35:00.:35:04.

will help to drive productivity which is absolutely vital to our

:35:05.:35:09.

success. Opportunity for all also means continuing to make sure that

:35:10.:35:12.

every part of concrete Cheers and rising prosperity so this Queen's

:35:13.:35:18.

Speech we continue to support the development of a northern powerhouse

:35:19.:35:23.

and Midlands engine. We want to have elected me hours and six of our

:35:24.:35:26.

largest cities and with plans local authorities will have complete plans

:35:27.:35:31.

for revenue raised from businesses and for the first time the decisions

:35:32.:35:34.

they take to attract businesses to the area will help grow the economy

:35:35.:35:39.

and benefit the bottom line. It is a huge change in our country. I am

:35:40.:35:45.

most grateful to the Prime Minister and perhaps I can just say that in

:35:46.:35:52.

the years 2000-2010, 300 and ?50 million was removed from the city of

:35:53.:36:00.

Leeds for Crossrail. Since 2010 over half ?1 billion has been invested

:36:01.:36:02.

showing we believe in the northern powerhouse. We can add the plans for

:36:03.:36:13.

the M62 and HS2 and electrifying the Trans Pennine Railway. Believing an

:36:14.:36:18.

opportunity means never writing in a one-off and for too long and our

:36:19.:36:22.

country the young offenders institutions and presence have not

:36:23.:36:26.

been working. They give the public the security of knowing that

:36:27.:36:30.

offenders are locked in but they are not doing enough to turn round the

:36:31.:36:34.

lives of people who will one day be let out. And our presence we will

:36:35.:36:39.

apply the lessons learned and other public service reforms, publishing

:36:40.:36:41.

results and getting the people who run the service is proper control

:36:42.:36:46.

over them. Encouraging innovation and rewarding success and not

:36:47.:36:50.

correlating persistent failure. -- tolerating. It's key serious about

:36:51.:36:59.

prison reform because why have prison budgets been slashed at a

:37:00.:37:05.

time that populations are going? And given 40,000 prisoners are currently

:37:06.:37:08.

incarcerated for offences linked to drug use, isn't it time to review

:37:09.:37:12.

our policy that treats drug addicts only as criminals and not people who

:37:13.:37:16.

as well need our support? I really think we need to get away from the

:37:17.:37:20.

idea that you will measure progress on public services by the amount of

:37:21.:37:26.

money is spent. The aim is to try to do more with less and that is what

:37:27.:37:29.

we have done with so many parts of the public sector. The point about

:37:30.:37:32.

drugs is important but the first thing we have to ensure there is

:37:33.:37:37.

that our prisons are drug-free and also free of legal highs with the

:37:38.:37:43.

Leader of the House made such a powerful case this morning. I will

:37:44.:37:46.

make progress but I promise I will be giving way a lot more. For

:37:47.:37:51.

decades we have been cramming people into crumbling prisons built very

:37:52.:37:54.

different age and many are now unfit for human habitation. These

:37:55.:37:58.

buildings do not help rehabilitation and are rife with bullying and

:37:59.:38:04.

violence. We have made ?1.3 billion worth of commitment to get rid of

:38:05.:38:09.

ageing prisons and build nine new prisons with modern facilities. Bold

:38:10.:38:14.

reform from a progressive one nation Conservative government. Could he

:38:15.:38:22.

explain to the House wife figures for suicide in prison, attacks on

:38:23.:38:27.

prison staff, and contraband have gone up? Could it be to do with the

:38:28.:38:31.

fact there are 7000 fewer prison officers done in 2010? As we were

:38:32.:38:36.

discussing, one of the reasons is the availability of legal highs and

:38:37.:38:39.

we need to deal with that and deal with that in our presence. I don't

:38:40.:38:45.

think it's right simply to lay this at the door. What we need is prisons

:38:46.:38:51.

that are run well, prisons where the management and in control and

:38:52.:38:53.

presence where we are able to turn round the lives of people who are

:38:54.:38:57.

and it is all very well live at asking questions. They had 13 years

:38:58.:39:02.

to reform prisons but it took a reforming Tory Government to put it

:39:03.:39:08.

on the agenda! Mr Speaker, we cannot extend life chances unless we also

:39:09.:39:12.

tackle the menace of extremism. In our country, there is still

:39:13.:39:18.

discrimination we must fight, opportunities still block and glass

:39:19.:39:22.

ceilings that need to be smashed. We should all be proud of the fact that

:39:23.:39:25.

if you look around the world Britain is already one of the most

:39:26.:39:30.

successful multiracial, multi-faith democracies anywhere. I will make

:39:31.:39:33.

progress because I want to make this argument. Extremists hate this fact

:39:34.:39:41.

because it challenges the whole worldview. The preachers who see the

:39:42.:39:47.

Christians, Jews and news forms can live together. The people who said

:39:48.:39:52.

women can travel more than a few miles beyond the cities where they

:39:53.:39:57.

live. The activists who insist on segregation. The religious schools

:39:58.:40:01.

who teach pupils not to mix with those of other backgrounds and who

:40:02.:40:06.

sometimes teach Jews are the enemy. To people who say that pointing this

:40:07.:40:11.

out is some hope intolerant or Islamophobic IC nonsense. It is not

:40:12.:40:17.

liberalism to walk on by and pretend it isn't happening to pretend that

:40:18.:40:21.

is part of another culture. Real liberalism means standing up liberal

:40:22.:40:24.

values and that is what we need to do. Before I give way, I want to

:40:25.:40:32.

make one last point. It is not the reserve of one party to make this

:40:33.:40:36.

point, whether it is my honourable friend on this side of the House,

:40:37.:40:41.

the honourable member for Birmingham opposite, I have heard powerful

:40:42.:40:45.

speeches right across the House, so when it comes to our Queen's Speech

:40:46.:40:50.

proposal for the Kent of extremism safeguarding bill, whether we are

:40:51.:40:55.

disrupting the activity of extremists are protecting young

:40:56.:40:58.

children in unregulated schools, I hope there will be all-party support

:40:59.:41:01.

to tackle the poisonous ideology at the heart of the extremist threat. I

:41:02.:41:09.

give way. It is very clear that one of the areas used by the jihadist is

:41:10.:41:16.

to recruit British citizens, especially young citizens, is the

:41:17.:41:20.

Internet. Does he not agree that more should be done and perhaps

:41:21.:41:25.

enshrined in legislation to ensure that the Internet companies do much

:41:26.:41:29.

more to take down these websites and to pursue those responsible for this

:41:30.:41:36.

hate? I agree and it is fair to say more than 170,000 pages have been

:41:37.:41:40.

taken down because of the work we have done with Internet companies. I

:41:41.:41:44.

have great hope because the companies originally said they

:41:45.:41:48.

couldn't work with us on tackling online child pornography and then

:41:49.:41:51.

the dead and a huge amount of change has come from that. They are now

:41:52.:41:54.

beginning to see that whether it is beheading videos or the rest of it

:41:55.:41:59.

they need to act and demonstrate legal responsibilities, so I am

:42:00.:42:03.

hugely hopeful that we are clear in this house about what needs to be

:42:04.:42:06.

done and we work with Internet companies we can make progress. I

:42:07.:42:15.

give way. He will know that David Anderson, his own review of

:42:16.:42:17.

terrorist legislation, who has seen the proposed extremism bill has said

:42:18.:42:24.

that it ran the risk of playing into the hands of those who seek to drive

:42:25.:42:30.

people farther towards extremism and terrorism. Will the Prime Minister

:42:31.:42:36.

listen to his adviser and not simply give a propaganda victory to those

:42:37.:42:39.

who wish to do us harm? I will of course listen to everyone about this

:42:40.:42:43.

bill but I will say to the leader of the Liberal party that it is our

:42:44.:42:47.

liberal values in this country that are being stamped over by people

:42:48.:42:51.

saying you cannot travel out of the city you live in, or you cannot mix

:42:52.:42:57.

with Jews and Muslims. That is what is happening and it is no good

:42:58.:43:02.

saying, as the Liberal Democrats sometimes do, let's just focus on

:43:03.:43:06.

the violent extremists and everyone else's exercising their freedom of

:43:07.:43:09.

speech. That is not good enough and we have to stand up and fight for

:43:10.:43:17.

liberal values. I think the Prime Minister for giving way. Extremists

:43:18.:43:20.

are adept at blooming and brainwashing young people. Does the

:43:21.:43:25.

Prime Minister agreed that we should be even bolder in offering greater

:43:26.:43:29.

support and encouragement to the brave Muslims in our communities

:43:30.:43:32.

that seek to stand up and challenge the intolerance and hatred exported

:43:33.:43:40.

by Daesh? My honourable friend is correct and

:43:41.:43:45.

if we give in to the idea that spokespeople who are extremists but

:43:46.:43:51.

not violent can some how represent their communities, we completely

:43:52.:43:54.

disempower the moderate voices who want us to stand up for the liberal

:43:55.:43:57.

values we should champion in this house. I give way. Can he have an

:43:58.:44:08.

early meeting with the Mayor of London in which he can discuss the

:44:09.:44:14.

issues of London and its security and how we combat extremism and

:44:15.:44:18.

capital, and could he then the opportunity to apologise for the

:44:19.:44:26.

comments of his candidate? Once again, let me congratulate the Mayor

:44:27.:44:29.

of London and see how much I am looking forward to meeting with him

:44:30.:44:31.

to discuss this issue because I think you can actually do a huge

:44:32.:44:35.

amount working with the government and labour colleagues and Liberal

:44:36.:44:39.

Democrats and others to pursue this agenda about standing up for the

:44:40.:44:42.

liberal democratic values that we hold so dear. Let me say, I am not

:44:43.:44:49.

going to take any lectures from labour about giving way. We are not

:44:50.:44:56.

allowed to drop the bomb of hypocrisy in this house but for

:44:57.:45:01.

heavens sake, have a go at your own front bench. The Prime Minister

:45:02.:45:09.

didn't say this but members shouldn't shriek at the Prime

:45:10.:45:12.

Minister or the opposition for that matter. If they want to intervene

:45:13.:45:18.

they should do so with civility. I thank the Prime Minister for giving

:45:19.:45:24.

way. On extremism, government efforts to tackle hate preachers who

:45:25.:45:27.

poison under minds and destroyer communities has to be welcomed and I

:45:28.:45:33.

applaud what the Prime Minister is doing in tackling nonviolent

:45:34.:45:36.

extremism. Can the Prime Minister clarify how this bill will be fine

:45:37.:45:39.

when an individual has crossed the threshold in terms of what is

:45:40.:45:44.

acceptable and what is not, so that our enforcement agencies and

:45:45.:45:46.

communities know when to take action? My honourable friend raises

:45:47.:45:52.

the crucial point that will be the heart of the debate and expected to

:45:53.:45:56.

be difficult, because we're trying to balance two things. Our profound

:45:57.:46:00.

belief about free speech in this country but also the need to stand

:46:01.:46:04.

up for the liberal democratic values I have spoken about. It is not good

:46:05.:46:08.

enough to say this is too difficult therefore we shouldn't take any

:46:09.:46:10.

action to try to stop the people who are the minds of particularly young

:46:11.:46:16.

children, so let me make this point in particular about the importance

:46:17.:46:21.

of being able to go on to unregulated education sectors and to

:46:22.:46:23.

check whether extremism is being taught or promoted.

:46:24.:46:29.

If that is happening, walking by on the other side and saying we have to

:46:30.:46:35.

put up with it, that is not good enough and it has to change. In this

:46:36.:46:40.

speech were using our economic strength to choose to invest in the

:46:41.:46:44.

national security of our United Kingdom. We are legislating on the

:46:45.:46:49.

police, intelligence powers, human rights. Meeting our Nato commitment

:46:50.:46:56.

to spend 2% of our GDP on the fence. But this government will also make a

:46:57.:47:02.

further choice to disarm unilaterally -- will make a further

:47:03.:47:12.

choice. To disarm unit Jara -- unilaterally would be a mistake. We

:47:13.:47:17.

will campaign to secure the future of Britain's nuclear deterrent. We

:47:18.:47:22.

are building homes again since Labour's recession, with more than

:47:23.:47:27.

700,000 more since 2010. We are creating jobs with 2 million more in

:47:28.:47:31.

work. We are investing in the NHS with almost 10,000 more doctors,

:47:32.:47:36.

10,000 more nurses on words than in 2010. We are building a greater

:47:37.:47:42.

Britain again with a Sound economy, strong defences and an opportunity

:47:43.:47:47.

for all. These are the actions of the Progressive Conservative

:47:48.:47:49.

government and I commend this speech to the House.

:47:50.:48:04.

Mr Angus Robertson. Sit down, you might learn something. Pathetic.

:48:05.:48:19.

Bye-bye, Tories. Well done, Tories. Goodbye, Tories. Members leaving the

:48:20.:48:26.

chamber, if they could do so quickly and quietly we will hear from Mr

:48:27.:48:32.

Angus Robertson. May I begin by echoing the tributes from the Leader

:48:33.:48:36.

of the Opposition and by the Prime Minister in making reference to

:48:37.:48:40.

members who have passed away in the last year and can I also take the

:48:41.:48:44.

opportunity, which has not happened yet, given that today is a day of

:48:45.:48:47.

heightened security, to pay tribute to the great number of police and

:48:48.:48:51.

Parliamentary staff working very hard, often behind-the-scenes, to

:48:52.:48:55.

make sure that everybody in this place, also the ministers and the

:48:56.:49:00.

general public, are safer. Mr Speaker, can I start by ensuring

:49:01.:49:04.

everybody on all sides of the House that I have absolutely no intentions

:49:05.:49:08.

of speaking for 41 minutes without taking any interventions and I think

:49:09.:49:12.

it is appropriate to give other members of the House also the

:49:13.:49:16.

opportunity to speak in the proceedings. But as is appropriate,

:49:17.:49:22.

it is right to start by commending the movers and secondaries. May I

:49:23.:49:27.

start by the right honourable member for Meriden. I would like to pay

:49:28.:49:31.

tribute to a long-standing interest, in particular for European interests

:49:32.:49:39.

that are close to her heart. We are both fellow German speakers and have

:49:40.:49:42.

found ourselves at a number of European events and I look forward

:49:43.:49:45.

to contributions over the next five weeks especially on the subject of

:49:46.:49:50.

why it is important that we remain part of the European Union. The

:49:51.:49:57.

second also has a significant interest in European issues and has

:49:58.:50:08.

worked... Migrate uncle... The Member for Bracknell brings

:50:09.:50:12.

considerable experience with him as a medical general practitioner and

:50:13.:50:14.

has been prepared to make difficult decisions on issues in Parliament,

:50:15.:50:19.

joining with the SNP, for example, and others, in voting against the

:50:20.:50:25.

government's intervention in Syria. Mr Speaker, last year's Queen's

:50:26.:50:29.

Speech followed immediately after the general election when in

:50:30.:50:33.

Scotland the SNP won almost every single seat in the country. This

:50:34.:50:37.

year's Queen's Speech follows shortly after the Scottish

:50:38.:50:41.

Parliamentary elections where the SNP won an impressive majority of

:50:42.:50:45.

constituencies across Scotland. And I would like to congratulate

:50:46.:50:50.

everyone of all parties who was returned, and also those who ended

:50:51.:50:53.

their Parliamentary public service at Holyrood at the election, such as

:50:54.:50:57.

my colleague, the right honourable member for Gordon. On these benches

:50:58.:51:02.

we are delighted by a clear mandate for Nicola Sturgeon as First

:51:03.:51:05.

Minister, currently forming a government. I would like to take the

:51:06.:51:10.

opportunity to thank Alex Neil and Richard Lochhead, the outgoing

:51:11.:51:13.

secretaries. Richard has been the longest serving and most experienced

:51:14.:51:17.

rural affairs and fisheries Minister anywhere in the European Union. And

:51:18.:51:25.

given the circumstances of his wife's brave battle with cancer, I'm

:51:26.:51:29.

sure members across the House will send their best wishes. The Queen's

:51:30.:51:34.

Speech has clearly been drafted with the referendum campaign and our

:51:35.:51:39.

impending decision looming larger and overshadowing proceedings. The

:51:40.:51:44.

SNP will make positive steps over the next five weeks to make the case

:51:45.:51:50.

for Scotland and the UK to remain in the world's largest financial union.

:51:51.:52:03.

Much of the speech relates to England and Wales, and it is

:52:04.:52:05.

understandable that this is an issue that needs to be tackled. The

:52:06.:52:09.

Scottish Government has increased spending in modernising and

:52:10.:52:15.

increasing expenditure above the border. We understand why colleagues

:52:16.:52:25.

in the rest of the UK would wish to see and emulate those kind of

:52:26.:52:29.

changes which we have been able to introduce in Scotland. There are

:52:30.:52:32.

quite a number of other major pieces of legislation which in fact largely

:52:33.:52:37.

on England and Wales. They related to education, adoption, reforms to

:52:38.:52:42.

democratic processes, so when the premature talks of this being a one

:52:43.:52:46.

nation Queen's Speech, we now which nation he is talking about. I know

:52:47.:52:51.

it is not fashionable and sometimes in political discourse it is

:52:52.:52:57.

unfashionable to point out things were you agree. I would like to

:52:58.:53:00.

break that convention because I think it is important to acknowledge

:53:01.:53:04.

that there is the need for legislation when measures are

:53:05.:53:06.

brought forward with which you agree, and with the usual caveat of

:53:07.:53:10.

not having seen the legislative proposals, I'm sure that my

:53:11.:53:13.

colleagues and I would be interested in supporting those measures from

:53:14.:53:17.

the Queen's Speech which are worthy of support. So we are especially

:53:18.:53:22.

interested in the proposal relating to combating tax avoidance, and also

:53:23.:53:26.

keeping up with rapid technological developments which will have

:53:27.:53:30.

transformative economic and societal impacts, such as 100% broadband

:53:31.:53:34.

access, which has already been committed to by the Scottish

:53:35.:53:38.

Government as well as legislation on driverless cars and drones. Of the

:53:39.:53:44.

SNP is the only major opposition party in the House of Commons that

:53:45.:53:47.

has bothered to prepare an alternative to the Queen's Speech. I

:53:48.:53:54.

think it behoves serious opposition parties, yes, to hold the government

:53:55.:53:58.

to account but also to propose alternatives. The SNP alternatives

:53:59.:54:04.

prioritise strong action on encouraging productivity and export

:54:05.:54:09.

growth in the economy. In support of the most vulnerable through

:54:10.:54:13.

progressive action, and delivering meaningful further devolution to

:54:14.:54:17.

Scotland. At the top of our list of what we have proposed in advance of

:54:18.:54:22.

the day's Queen's Speech is a need for an emergency summer budget. Why?

:54:23.:54:25.

Because it would give the government an opportunity to put an end to

:54:26.:54:33.

austerity. It could bring about an inclusive, Prost Perris economy in

:54:34.:54:40.

line with vital public services. -- prosperous. It would oversee an

:54:41.:54:49.

increased spending on public services by a modest 0.5% a year in

:54:50.:54:57.

real terms between 2016, 2017 and 20 20. This will release over ?150

:54:58.:55:02.

billion over that period for investment of public services

:55:03.:55:04.

whilst, and this will be important for members on the other side of the

:55:05.:55:08.

House no doubt, ensuring that the public sector debt and borrowing

:55:09.:55:11.

falls over at the current Parliament. It is a choice that the

:55:12.:55:16.

government has two pursue this or not. We believe it should do so. The

:55:17.:55:20.

budget would stimulate the GDP growth, support wage growth, and by

:55:21.:55:27.

transforming productivity, it would act as a signal of confidence in our

:55:28.:55:32.

economy. It would also do much in terms of an inclusive economy. The

:55:33.:55:37.

modest increase in expenditure would stop the cutbacks which

:55:38.:55:39.

disproportionately burden the disadvantaged groups. -- the most

:55:40.:55:46.

disadvantaged groups. It would also, and this is important for all part

:55:47.:55:51.

of the UK, supports trade and exports. The figures should be

:55:52.:55:54.

worrying for all of us because they are moving in the wrong direction.

:55:55.:55:58.

The UK is likely to fall short of its target to double exports to one

:55:59.:56:04.

truly impose this decade by some ?300 billion, which is an enormous

:56:05.:56:09.

shortfall. A summer budget could contain measures to stimulate the

:56:10.:56:14.

type of investment needed to improve direct UK trade and export figures.

:56:15.:56:20.

The government, it was to follow our proposals, could have proposed a

:56:21.:56:23.

fair tax bill. Incidentally, because I know the Prime Minister is

:56:24.:56:27.

listening, it is not too late for he and his officials in the box, should

:56:28.:56:31.

be here a good suggestion, to take down notes and include it in their

:56:32.:56:36.

legislation. I would encourage him and his colleagues to do so. Perhaps

:56:37.:56:41.

a fair tax bill, a bill to simple either tax in the UK and deliver

:56:42.:56:46.

greater tax transparency. How about a moratorium on the HMRC office

:56:47.:56:51.

closures? So that there is a network of tax advice officers to support

:56:52.:56:55.

local businesses in navigating the tax system. How about committing the

:56:56.:57:00.

Treasury to establishing an independent commission to report

:57:01.:57:03.

back in two years following a copper hands of consultation on the simple

:57:04.:57:09.

location of the tax code. How about strengthening tax transparency by

:57:10.:57:11.

guaranteeing that the beneficial ownership of companies and trusts is

:57:12.:57:18.

made public? And on this point, I have listened over recent weeks to

:57:19.:57:24.

the Prime Minister adopting it on and it is one that I would endorse,

:57:25.:57:30.

of concern. And I have no reason to doubt his genuine tension in wanting

:57:31.:57:35.

to deal with corruption and tax avoidance because it is a scourge.

:57:36.:57:38.

It means that the government and ministers are unable to have the

:57:39.:57:41.

resources at their disposal to support the public services on which

:57:42.:57:45.

we depend. But I do not understand why it should be that if one were to

:57:46.:57:50.

publish a list of beneficial owners, that that is something that is only

:57:51.:57:54.

shared by prosecuting authorities. It seems to me that as much public

:57:55.:57:59.

information that we can have on all forms of beneficial ownership would

:58:00.:58:04.

be to the benefit of all. On the issue of Scotland and the

:58:05.:58:08.

constitution, the Scotland act passed earlier this year was welcome

:58:09.:58:14.

progress in Scotland's devolution journey. But members opposite will

:58:15.:58:22.

not be surprised when I say it does not go nearly far enough. And that

:58:23.:58:27.

is why, having been elected by the people of Scotland to raise these

:58:28.:58:33.

points in the chamber, the SNP tabled 100 amendments during the

:58:34.:58:36.

course of the Scotland Bill. Interesting to note that not a

:58:37.:58:41.

single amendment was accepted by the UK Government. So the people sent to

:58:42.:58:45.

parliament to represent the people of Scotland, elected on a manifesto,

:58:46.:58:50.

presenting those amendments to this House, not one single amendment was

:58:51.:58:59.

accepted by the government. Is it not the reality that this was a

:59:00.:59:03.

Queen's Speech not for viewers in Scotland? So much so that the

:59:04.:59:06.

Scottish Secretary was nowhere to be seen on the front bench during the

:59:07.:59:09.

entire thing. Even my predecessor had more to say on Scotland. So

:59:10.:59:14.

perhaps he could encourage the Prime Minister to tell us what the plans

:59:15.:59:18.

he has two embolden our national parliament in Edinburgh. Of course

:59:19.:59:23.

the Prime Minister had an opportunity and he still does. He

:59:24.:59:26.

could intervene on me and outline the plans. But he is not wanting to

:59:27.:59:33.

take the opportunity. That is fine. We have the right to take

:59:34.:59:36.

interventions or not. He is happy to follow your guidance. The SNP's

:59:37.:59:43.

alternative Queen's Speech would deliver a Scottish home rule... May

:59:44.:59:47.

I make progress and then I will come back? The SNP's alternative Queen's

:59:48.:59:51.

Speech would deliver a Scottish home rule Bill and the wording is quite

:59:52.:59:56.

important. That would involve a strong package of powers to the

:59:57.:59:59.

Scottish Parliament because home-rule, near federalism, that was

:00:00.:00:04.

what was promised to the people of Scotland. My degree is in politics

:00:05.:00:11.

and I have had a look at federal systems around the world. There are

:00:12.:00:15.

a number of parties in this House that favour federalism but we do not

:00:16.:00:18.

live in a federal state in the UK and there is nothing that has been

:00:19.:00:21.

passed as part of the Scotland Bill that remotely comes close to near

:00:22.:00:26.

federalism. So that is something that was not in the Queen's Speech

:00:27.:00:29.

and it would have been good to see it. Perhaps the government might

:00:30.:00:35.

think about it. One thing... I have my doubts. He says, looking at the

:00:36.:00:50.

poor and should writers. Is the Scotland -- given me an happiness

:00:51.:00:53.

about House of Lords on the Treasury bench, for the first time in a long

:00:54.:00:59.

while, perhaps the time is even coming for the Conservative Party to

:01:00.:01:01.

realise that there is a need for Parliamentary reform. Let's be

:01:02.:01:08.

serious. We work in a parliament where the second chamber is not

:01:09.:01:13.

elected by anyone. Let me say that again. The second chamber of the

:01:14.:01:18.

parliament described as the mother of all Parliaments is made up of

:01:19.:01:21.

people elected by nobody. This is the 21st century. Please let us get

:01:22.:01:28.

on with replacing the House of Lords. I give way to the honourable

:01:29.:01:30.

gentleman. The the honourable gentleman is

:01:31.:01:39.

actually wrong because some members on the other place are elected. Lord

:01:40.:01:45.

Thurso was recently elected by three members of the House of Lords! I

:01:46.:01:54.

stand corrected. I still think that is totally unacceptable and I give

:01:55.:02:02.

way. My late Honourable friend has raised that, is it not right that

:02:03.:02:05.

the Prime Minister reforms this given the Prime Minister himself has

:02:06.:02:10.

elected more members themselves than Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and

:02:11.:02:20.

John Major put together? I am delighted to be speaking today on

:02:21.:02:25.

behalf of the parliamentary party in this place that has never nominated

:02:26.:02:31.

a single person to the House of Lords, nor will we ever do so,

:02:32.:02:36.

however if we wish to have a second chamber with the oversight

:02:37.:02:38.

responsibilities that many people argue is necessary, why not have

:02:39.:02:45.

chambermaid up of representatives of the nations and regions? This is the

:02:46.:02:50.

21st century, why don't we get on with it? While we are doing that why

:02:51.:02:56.

not look at electoral reform? The issue was raised by the Leader of

:02:57.:03:01.

the Opposition who has clearly now rode in behind on the changes the

:03:02.:03:06.

SNP proposed with the changes to the referendum and that like the

:03:07.:03:10.

independence referendum. It proves that extending the vote is a

:03:11.:03:14.

sensible move for a ban on 16 and 17-year-olds across the UK should be

:03:15.:03:18.

fully enfranchised and while we're at it, this is the time to establish

:03:19.:03:23.

an independent commission on proportional representation to look

:03:24.:03:27.

at possible models for Westminster, and I say that as a political party

:03:28.:03:33.

that frankly might do worse in terms of representation were we to have

:03:34.:03:39.

proportional representation. It was our policy when we were

:03:40.:03:42.

underrepresented and it is policy only represent almost every seat the

:03:43.:03:47.

country, and in my speech last year I made the point and will say again,

:03:48.:03:52.

the SNP does not represent everybody in Scotland and we are mindful of

:03:53.:03:57.

that, and it is important for all of us as Democrats to make sure the

:03:58.:04:00.

electoral systems we use properly reflect and make sure that every

:04:01.:04:07.

strand of opinion that has support is reflected in Parliament and it

:04:08.:04:10.

should be no different in this place. Happy to give way. I realise

:04:11.:04:20.

the SNP members like to discard referendum results but we actually

:04:21.:04:24.

had one in the last parliament on changing the Westminster voting

:04:25.:04:29.

system and constituents voted 2-1 and the country voted overall to

:04:30.:04:32.

keep first past the post, end of the matter. Right. I noticed the body

:04:33.:04:42.

language was a bit hostile. A debate to be had about what form of

:04:43.:04:51.

electoral system should be used. Some favour STV, others AMS, let's

:04:52.:04:58.

just agree that surely first past the post has had its day. It is long

:04:59.:05:07.

past its sell by date. Moving on, to issue is not in the Queen's Speech

:05:08.:05:11.

but that should have been, I would like to move on to the area of

:05:12.:05:15.

justice and home affairs because the UK Government approach to

:05:16.:05:19.

immigration has been heavy-handed. It has been a one size fits all

:05:20.:05:23.

approach that has only fuelled the misconceptions around migrants. The

:05:24.:05:26.

government has had to be dragged kicking and screaming by public

:05:27.:05:33.

opinion on issues such as unaccompanied children on the

:05:34.:05:37.

European continent. We had to be reminded, the Prime Minister needed

:05:38.:05:42.

to be reminded, about the UK's role in the 1930s and taking in

:05:43.:05:45.

unaccompanied children from the European continent. I commend him

:05:46.:05:49.

for thinking about the issue again and I hope those changes can be

:05:50.:05:52.

brought about as quickly as possible so those children can arrive in the

:05:53.:05:57.

UK as quickly as possible. I would reiterate what I said before, I hope

:05:58.:06:02.

he does not see 3000 as the height of his ambition. I would also say

:06:03.:06:07.

that putting the Human Rights Act endanger is of great concern to a

:06:08.:06:13.

great number of us. I don't think it has a majority in the House of

:06:14.:06:16.

Commons and we would be happy to work with members on both sides of

:06:17.:06:18.

the House and we are happy to discuss how to do it. We will work

:06:19.:06:27.

together to make sure that human rights are not undermined in the UK.

:06:28.:06:32.

We will always seek to protect the transnational legislation that

:06:33.:06:34.

underpins human rights in our country. The SNP's alternative

:06:35.:06:40.

Queen's Speech would deliver a more measured approach to migration and

:06:41.:06:42.

would reaffirm the importance of human rights. Why not a migration

:06:43.:06:50.

bill, to ensure the UK maximises the benefits of migration and insures

:06:51.:06:53.

people coming into the UK are treated with respect. Why does the

:06:54.:06:59.

government not report annually on migration forecasts and produce a

:07:00.:07:03.

strategy including plans for maximising the benefits of

:07:04.:07:07.

migration? How about reversing changes to immigration laws that

:07:08.:07:10.

prevent citizens living here with their partners and children from

:07:11.:07:15.

overseas? That deprives businesses and public services of key staff and

:07:16.:07:19.

prevents universities for competing for the best and brightest. Why not

:07:20.:07:25.

adopt a strategy of providing integration opportunities from day

:07:26.:07:30.

one? How about the introducing a post study work these are? All of

:07:31.:07:33.

this could have been in the Queen's Speech but they is still time he

:07:34.:07:41.

says looking at the Treasury bench. Wouldn't it be the case if we had

:07:42.:07:46.

the post-work-study Visa that families like the one in my

:07:47.:07:49.

constituency being forced out by this government would be able to

:07:50.:07:52.

stay in the Highlands and make a valuable contribution to our

:07:53.:07:58.

economy? My honourable friend, I noticed the Foreign Secretary

:07:59.:08:02.

shaking his head, but let me tell the Foreign Secretary, please look

:08:03.:08:08.

at this case. Have a look at this family, their qualifications. These

:08:09.:08:12.

are the kind of people we need. Scotland's problem has never been

:08:13.:08:17.

immigration but immigration and when people have come to our shores from

:08:18.:08:22.

all kinds of countries they have contributed and I appeal to the

:08:23.:08:25.

Prime Minister and the Home Office to look at this case in particular

:08:26.:08:31.

and reverse the ruling. On the issue of human rights and enhancing

:08:32.:08:37.

equality, what about preventing the revocation of the application of the

:08:38.:08:42.

Human Rights Act of 1998 to any devolved nation without the express

:08:43.:08:45.

consent of the parliament or assembly of that nation? How about

:08:46.:08:51.

modernising the equalities act to strengthen the rights and liberties

:08:52.:08:55.

of people across the UK? How about protecting the role of the European

:08:56.:08:59.

Convention of human rights in the UK through entrenchment? We are in

:09:00.:09:02.

favour of that and would welcome the government thinking likewise. That

:09:03.:09:09.

is unfortunately unlikely. Moving on to social justice. This government

:09:10.:09:13.

has orchestrated some truly devastating cuts that have destroyed

:09:14.:09:18.

the safety net Social Security should provide and any others who

:09:19.:09:21.

hold regular surgeries now this to be true. Instead of business as

:09:22.:09:26.

usual the government should return to the drawing board on Social

:09:27.:09:29.

Security and abandon their prosperity agenda. The cuts are

:09:30.:09:35.

butcher at the very aspects of universal credit that might have

:09:36.:09:38.

created what incentives and instead hammered low paid workers. The time

:09:39.:09:44.

is up universal credit and the need to find a favour alternative for

:09:45.:09:47.

children and low-income families and disabled people. I am sure my right

:09:48.:09:54.

honourable friend would agree that the 4 million families set to lose

:09:55.:09:59.

out because of cuts to work allowances will see the children and

:10:00.:10:06.

those families' life chances be severely disadvantaged because of

:10:07.:10:11.

those changes. My honourable lady has fought a good fight on the

:10:12.:10:15.

subject and will continue to do that. The points you were making

:10:16.:10:19.

were extremely powerful. Can I bring up the issue of pensions? The issues

:10:20.:10:31.

brought up in this house, it is not a simple issue but it is one they

:10:32.:10:38.

should look at and that relates to women affected by the rapid pace of

:10:39.:10:51.

increase to the pension age. I think privately in government a little

:10:52.:10:55.

appreciation there is an unfairness here. There's a similar impact and

:10:56.:11:08.

any quality on Windows? This should be something that should be looked

:11:09.:11:13.

at as part of universal pensions. We should have commission to

:11:14.:11:20.

investigate any qualities. We should develop access to automatic

:11:21.:11:23.

enrolment to incentivise pension saving, all of this matters

:11:24.:11:27.

tremendously. Before concluding, I would like to bring up two issue is

:11:28.:11:32.

also important, firstly on defence. The UK has suffered a squeeze in

:11:33.:11:36.

many respects on conventional defence capabilities. Bases have

:11:37.:11:42.

been closed including the end of flying operations from two out of

:11:43.:11:47.

Scotland's the bases. Crucial capability gaps have been exposed

:11:48.:11:52.

including the absence of a single maritime patrol aircraft. Not a

:11:53.:11:59.

single one currently operational for the United Kingdom. The government

:12:00.:12:03.

has committed to bridging this gap and I would encourage them to do

:12:04.:12:08.

this as quickly as possible. To look at how the training of defence

:12:09.:12:13.

personnel is: treated with the maritime fleet to make sure that the

:12:14.:12:17.

best, I see the former Defence Secretary is thinking about this,

:12:18.:12:22.

and it makes perfect sense to locate this. It is ludicrous that the

:12:23.:12:29.

maritime state has been without maritime patrol aircraft for a year

:12:30.:12:34.

after year. Another important defence issue for people in Scotland

:12:35.:12:39.

relates to nuclear weapons and this Prime Minister and unfortunately too

:12:40.:12:43.

many people on the Labour side, intends to vote for more than ?200

:12:44.:12:50.

billion, the lifetime cost, of a replacement system for the Trident

:12:51.:12:55.

weapons of mass destruction. We on these benches will vote against but

:12:56.:13:01.

how about a nuclear weapons consent Bill, which would require the UK

:13:02.:13:06.

Government to seek the consent of the Scottish Parliament for the

:13:07.:13:10.

Trident nuclear weapons system to be based in Scotland? How about

:13:11.:13:15.

respecting the views of the people of Scotland on this subject? The

:13:16.:13:20.

last point I would like to raise... I will give way. I thank my right

:13:21.:13:27.

honourable friend. It is an issue of defence in as much as the workers on

:13:28.:13:32.

the Clyde shipyard have been told 800 jobs are under threat because of

:13:33.:13:35.

delays to the procurement system by the MOD? My honourable friend is a

:13:36.:13:40.

doughty campaigner for his constituents and he makes his case

:13:41.:13:44.

well. The Prime Minister is setting on the Treasury bench and I hope he

:13:45.:13:47.

is also listening because it would be intolerable given what was

:13:48.:13:51.

promised in 2014 in the run-up to the Scottish referendum that he

:13:52.:13:56.

could go back. On foreign affairs I would like to return to something

:13:57.:14:02.

that was said not that long ago, the UK should have, and that is an

:14:03.:14:07.

ethical foreign policy. Mr Speaker, I am profoundly troubled by the way

:14:08.:14:12.

in which the United Kingdom sells weapons that are used in armed

:14:13.:14:17.

conflict, where people use those weapons, are trained by the UK

:14:18.:14:24.

military in planes produced by the United Kingdom firing weapons made

:14:25.:14:26.

in the United Kingdom and that the present time that is happening in

:14:27.:14:31.

Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. The time has come to better regulate weapons

:14:32.:14:35.

trading and this government should have brought forward a weapons

:14:36.:14:40.

trading bill, but they haven't. We should end our existing arms deals

:14:41.:14:43.

with Saudi Arabia following the example of our European neighbours.

:14:44.:14:48.

We should have an ethical foreign policy and this government should

:14:49.:14:52.

pursue an ethical foreign policy which they sadly have not. Mr

:14:53.:14:58.

Speaker, I made a commitment I wouldn't attenuate the leader of the

:14:59.:15:00.

Labour Party by speaking for 41 minutes and I am running the risk of

:15:01.:15:06.

doing so. The right honourable gentleman will be expert in

:15:07.:15:09.

mathematics but he has 30 minutes to spare! Thank you for the connection.

:15:10.:15:16.

In that case I will be delighted to give way to the honourable

:15:17.:15:19.

gentleman. I am grateful to the right honourable member has ever

:15:20.:15:22.

very courteous in these matters. Before he concludes his speech, he

:15:23.:15:26.

began by talking about some of the areas where he might agree with the

:15:27.:15:31.

Prime Minister. Does he agree with the Prime Minister on the question

:15:32.:15:37.

of extremism and indoctrination in our country? His party has a very

:15:38.:15:42.

good record in opposing Daesh in everything they stand for and does

:15:43.:15:45.

he agree that what the Prime Minister was saying was encapsulated

:15:46.:15:50.

by the weight great philosopher Karl Popper and the paradox of tolerance

:15:51.:15:53.

when he said he must tolerate all but the intolerant because if you

:15:54.:15:57.

tolerate the intolerant the conditions for pollination disappear

:15:58.:16:02.

and the pollen and go with them. Is there something he can reach across

:16:03.:16:05.

the party divide and support the government on because it is very

:16:06.:16:12.

important for them? There are things in politics about which there should

:16:13.:16:15.

be no disagreement between mainstream political parties and I

:16:16.:16:19.

would hope that the proposals the government brings forward, very much

:16:20.:16:22.

in the spirit of what the honourable gentleman says, can garner the

:16:23.:16:25.

maximum support. That is the reason why I raised the death of the Muslim

:16:26.:16:35.

and Glasgow, I went to visit the community here in London. The oldest

:16:36.:16:42.

mosque in London, and I are meeting with the British Jewish community

:16:43.:16:45.

next week because it is not just about issues of intolerance towards

:16:46.:16:50.

or between different parts of the Islamic community, it also impacts

:16:51.:16:54.

on the Jewish community and sadly there are whole range of other forms

:16:55.:16:58.

of intolerance for which we should have no tolerance and I would hope

:16:59.:17:01.

the premise and his colleagues can bring forward something that can

:17:02.:17:02.

come and support across the House. Although one of his honourable

:17:03.:17:12.

friends sitting there and asked a very difficult question that we

:17:13.:17:16.

would all grapple with, which is at what point does the radicalisation

:17:17.:17:22.

of service becomes problematic that the law is tripped? There is also a

:17:23.:17:28.

big challenge for all of us in this age of modern technology that there

:17:29.:17:34.

are many examples known, and this is a matter of public record, people

:17:35.:17:39.

becoming radicalised a very, very quickly. And we all know that our

:17:40.:17:42.

security services are having to grapple with the dangers, as they

:17:43.:17:48.

have and unfortunately in Belgium and France, with operations by

:17:49.:17:54.

terrorist groups, the difference between Flash and bang being

:17:55.:17:57.

extremely short. These are difficult questions for all of us and I hope

:17:58.:18:01.

it is an area that we can find cross-party agreement. I would like

:18:02.:18:05.

to conclude without reaching the 41 minute mark by saying that sadly I

:18:06.:18:13.

think the Queen's Speech is anaemic, containing many preannounced

:18:14.:18:15.

proposals for a carried over measures. There is a strong focus on

:18:16.:18:18.

legislation for England and Wales which is of itself not a bad thing.

:18:19.:18:22.

We wish our colleagues in England and Wales and the rest of the UK

:18:23.:18:28.

success. But it does mean that it has crowded out of the alternatives,

:18:29.:18:32.

many of which have been proposed by the SNP. I conclude. Surely what the

:18:33.:18:42.

UK requires is strong action on encouraging productivity and export

:18:43.:18:45.

growth in the economy. Surely what the UK requires is support for the

:18:46.:18:49.

most vulnerable through progressive action and working pensions and

:18:50.:18:54.

surely what Scotland requires is meaningful devolution that we were

:18:55.:19:00.

promised. That is what the SNP's alternative Queen's Speech proposers

:19:01.:19:09.

and I commend it to the House. Mr Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow

:19:10.:19:13.

the rights honourable gentleman and to hear about his alternative

:19:14.:19:16.

Queen's Speech. I was particularly interested in his proposal for a

:19:17.:19:25.

real home rule Bill for Scotland. But what concerned me was that he

:19:26.:19:34.

has made no reference to control by the Scottish people and Scottish

:19:35.:19:37.

Parliament over their own fishing grounds, or control over their own

:19:38.:19:45.

agricultural policy. Surely the logical position for those in

:19:46.:19:49.

Scotland who want home rule is that they should want control over their

:19:50.:19:52.

own fishing and agriculture, which can only be delivered to them by

:19:53.:19:58.

putting leave on the 23rd of June. I was also very much with the

:19:59.:20:00.

honourable gentleman on his concerns stressed about maritime patrol

:20:01.:20:06.

aircraft, an issue I have raised on a number of occasions in this House

:20:07.:20:09.

and that I do not think we have that satisfactory explanation of how we

:20:10.:20:16.

are going to protect our borders against intruders, whether they be

:20:17.:20:20.

people traffickers or drug smugglers or whatever. And I think it was a

:20:21.:20:26.

great mistake of the government to disband the very effective maritime

:20:27.:20:33.

patrol system operating in my constituency. But can I also

:20:34.:20:37.

congratulate my honourable friend the Member for Meriden. It was great

:20:38.:20:42.

to hear her say that she has dug into the idea of being a member of

:20:43.:20:49.

the backbenchers. Don't give up the chance to make a difference, she

:20:50.:20:54.

says. Seize the day. And indeed, Mr Speaker, that is exactly what I

:20:55.:20:57.

intend to do on the 23rd of June. And at the heart of this gracious

:20:58.:21:06.

speech is the statement, my ministers will uphold the

:21:07.:21:12.

sovereignty of Parliament. In my humble submission, the only way in

:21:13.:21:17.

which that can be delivered is by leaving the European union. Because

:21:18.:21:25.

our very membership of the European Union undermines the sovereignty of

:21:26.:21:30.

our Parliament and that is why my right honourable friend, the Lord

:21:31.:21:36.

Chancellor, is so much in the Brexit campaign. Because he realises that

:21:37.:21:41.

if we wish to retain sovereignty, to have control over our own laws, it

:21:42.:21:45.

can only be truly done by leaving the European union. And my

:21:46.:21:51.

honourable friend the Member for Bracknell, whom I congratulate on

:21:52.:21:58.

his speech as well, he omitted to say that one of the great benefits

:21:59.:22:02.

of the referendum has been that the government has been forced to come

:22:03.:22:07.

to an accommodation with the British medical Association and the junior

:22:08.:22:13.

doctors over weekend working, because the government is

:22:14.:22:16.

understandably trying to clear the decks so there are no obstacles in

:22:17.:22:21.

the way, in the run-up to the referendum. And I am delighted my

:22:22.:22:25.

right honourable friend the Prime Minister is still on the front

:22:26.:22:31.

bench. Can I congratulate him for the joke against himself about the

:22:32.:22:34.

plague of locusts because I think that shows that he has taken on

:22:35.:22:39.

board the very serious criticism that there was in a leader in the

:22:40.:22:45.

Daily Telegraph, critical of my right honourable friend for the way

:22:46.:22:50.

in which he had allowed what we might describe as his capacity for

:22:51.:23:00.

invective to extend into the areas of suggesting, through exaggeration,

:23:01.:23:03.

but basically the whole of our destiny was at stake in this

:23:04.:23:08.

upcoming referendum. Because my right honourable friend, and this

:23:09.:23:16.

time last year he was saying that he quite possibly envisaged a situation

:23:17.:23:21.

in which we would actually be leaving the European Union at his

:23:22.:23:25.

request. Because he was quite prepared to do that if he did not

:23:26.:23:31.

get sufficient deals. He knows he went out to try to get a deal and he

:23:32.:23:35.

thinks that was sufficient but it was in any event quite a marginal

:23:36.:23:40.

situation. But some of the hyperbole coming from the people who want to

:23:41.:23:47.

remain in the European Union, including my right honourable

:23:48.:23:52.

friend, some of that hyperbole suggests that at no material time

:23:53.:23:56.

could it have ever been in the interests of the people of the

:23:57.:23:59.

United Kingdom to leave the European Union. That is manifestly absurd in

:24:00.:24:02.

the light of the fact that my right honourable friend was telling his

:24:03.:24:11.

colleagues that he would be quite prepared to recommend that we should

:24:12.:24:15.

leave the European Union with all the consequences that would flow

:24:16.:24:21.

from that. And I think that is still one of the big questions which

:24:22.:24:24.

remains unanswered in this referendum campaign. If the Prime

:24:25.:24:31.

Minister really thought it was that obvious that it would be doom and

:24:32.:24:35.

disaster if we left the European Union, why did he ever have a

:24:36.:24:39.

referendum or ever let it be thought that he might support the league

:24:40.:24:49.

campaign? I think the government's credibility has been damaged by the

:24:50.:24:52.

cavalier use of statistics and I think that misuse of statistics has

:24:53.:24:57.

been designed to mislead the public in this referendum. And this time

:24:58.:25:04.

last year I was arguing that there should be an independent audit of

:25:05.:25:07.

the economic costs and benefits of the European Union. And I have a

:25:08.:25:12.

Private Members' Bill and have had it in successive parliaments. I put

:25:13.:25:19.

down a parliamentary question last June asking whether such an

:25:20.:25:22.

independent audit would be brought forward and I did not get any

:25:23.:25:27.

substantive reply from the Treasury. Yet now we are told that the cost of

:25:28.:25:35.

leaving the European Union would be ?4300 per annum in terms of GDP per

:25:36.:25:45.

household. And that rather good programme which the BBC is running

:25:46.:25:50.

at the moment poured scorn on this statistic on Saturday when they said

:25:51.:25:56.

that of course GDP per household is not the same as income per

:25:57.:26:02.

household. In fact GDP per household is ?66,000 per annum. Wouldn't every

:26:03.:26:08.

house love to have ?66,000 on average? It is not the same as

:26:09.:26:14.

income per household. What was being suggested was that by the 30, this

:26:15.:26:23.

amount of loss would have been incurred by every single household.

:26:24.:26:28.

-- by 2030. And then I looked at the leaflet which is part of the

:26:29.:26:33.

Electoral Commission brochure which is being circulated to every

:26:34.:26:36.

household as part of the referendum campaign and I saw at the top of the

:26:37.:26:44.

Remain campaign propaganda the assertion that it would cost ?91

:26:45.:26:51.

billion if we were to leave the European Union. And they quoted a

:26:52.:26:56.

CPI figure for that. Mr Speaker, because I was speaking last night to

:26:57.:27:03.

a group of accountants, I went and checked the origins of that figure

:27:04.:27:10.

produced in the Remain leaflet. I found out that in March,

:27:11.:27:16.

PricewaterhouseCoopers did a study at the behest of the CBI and it is

:27:17.:27:24.

quite a substantial study, and it is called leaving the EU, implications

:27:25.:27:33.

for the UK. And what it makes clear is that in 2030, the date chosen by

:27:34.:27:38.

the Treasury for these eggs application is, -- these exceptions,

:27:39.:27:51.

if we remain in the EU, real GDP will be 41% higher than it is at the

:27:52.:27:55.

moment. What they say is that if we leave the European Union, real UK

:27:56.:28:04.

GDP will be about 39% higher than it is at the moment. And a marginal

:28:05.:28:09.

difference of about one or two back percent, 39% compared with 41%, in

:28:10.:28:17.

2030, not tomorrow or the next day but 15 years out. So it is absurd

:28:18.:28:22.

for this scaremongering fear creation tactic of the Remain

:28:23.:28:31.

campaign to try to present to the people are totally different picture

:28:32.:28:35.

which is in contrast with the data which the CBI themselves

:28:36.:28:44.

commissioned from an international firm of accountants with

:28:45.:28:48.

international repute. So it is against that background that I think

:28:49.:28:53.

this speech has to be addressed, because the people are pretty

:28:54.:28:57.

cynical and sceptical. They are pretty sceptical about the claims of

:28:58.:29:01.

the government that if we remain in the European Union, we will be able

:29:02.:29:05.

to retain control over our borders, implying that we have control at the

:29:06.:29:10.

moment over who comes to our country and who leaves our country, which we

:29:11.:29:15.

manifestly do not. Even if those people have got criminal

:29:16.:29:18.

convictions, we cannot deport them or prevent them from coming because

:29:19.:29:23.

of their human rights and the freedom of movement rules of the

:29:24.:29:31.

European in. -- European Union. When we have assertions in this speech

:29:32.:29:34.

that the government will do lots of wonderful things, it is going to

:29:35.:29:40.

build another 1 million houses. We have to ask the question, if we are

:29:41.:29:47.

short of houses, why are we contemplating having 3 million more

:29:48.:29:52.

migrants from the European Union by the year 2030? And how are we going

:29:53.:29:58.

to be able to deliver on our manifesto pledge to reduce net

:29:59.:30:02.

migration to the tens of thousands when all the figures show that every

:30:03.:30:06.

year we are getting more than 300,000 coming in from the European

:30:07.:30:14.

Union. My challenge to my honourable friend and I would be happy to give

:30:15.:30:17.

way to the Prime Minister if he chose to intervene, how are we going

:30:18.:30:20.

to be able to deliver on that Solomon manifesto promise unless we

:30:21.:30:25.

leave the European Union. I accept that when that promise was made, the

:30:26.:30:30.

Prime Minister thought he was going to be able to get a better deal from

:30:31.:30:34.

his counterparts in the European Union but having failed to secure

:30:35.:30:37.

their deal, how does he think we are going to be able to meet that very

:30:38.:30:46.

important manifesto promise? We talked in the Queens speech about

:30:47.:30:50.

the need for more funding for schools, fairer funding. And as

:30:51.:30:55.

somebody who represents a constituency in Dorset, I know how

:30:56.:30:57.

unfair the current funding system is. But surely there is tremendous

:30:58.:31:05.

pressure on our public services and this is caused by high levels of net

:31:06.:31:12.

migration. And the same is true for infrastructure. Again, it is

:31:13.:31:16.

referred to in the gracious speech that we are going to improve

:31:17.:31:20.

infrastructure for businesses. But when my right honourable friend

:31:21.:31:23.

visits a Dorset, as he does on many occasions, he will now that the

:31:24.:31:28.

traffic conditions are dire. And that is because of the pressure of

:31:29.:31:40.

population and traffic on the roads, meaning that there are high levels

:31:41.:31:43.

of congestion feeding into pressure on the green belt. My constituents

:31:44.:31:50.

really share the Conservative vision of the green belt being sacrosanct.

:31:51.:31:53.

But the pressure on the erosion of the green belt from housing and

:31:54.:31:59.

industrial development is very great at the moment. And there is nothing

:32:00.:32:05.

in the address about fishing and agriculture which are two a very

:32:06.:32:09.

important parts of the economy of the South West of England.

:32:10.:32:15.

Mr Speaker, there's a lot in this address which is premised upon the

:32:16.:32:23.

fact that we are going to leave the European Union after the vote on

:32:24.:32:31.

23rd June, and I am grateful to the government for ensuring that is in

:32:32.:32:37.

this address, because I have already referred to the issue of

:32:38.:32:43.

sovereignty, but we... The only way we can improve the number and

:32:44.:32:47.

quality of houses is to ensure that we don't have this incredible

:32:48.:32:53.

pressure on our public services forced on us by uncontrolled

:32:54.:33:01.

immigration. Can I just make a couple more points. It says further

:33:02.:33:07.

powers will be default to directly elected mailers. Can I say to my

:33:08.:33:14.

right honourable friend that in the is no appetite for directly elected

:33:15.:33:24.

Mayors although there is an appetite for genuinely devolved powers, and I

:33:25.:33:29.

think the government needs to start thinking about differentiating

:33:30.:33:34.

between the large urban areas where elected Mayor may be appropriate and

:33:35.:33:37.

the early years which are largely rural and nature, where there is no

:33:38.:33:44.

appetite at all for directly elected Mayors. Can I also said that the

:33:45.:33:48.

provision relating to powers governing local bus services are

:33:49.:33:56.

rather vague. If the consequence of this is to unravel the legislation

:33:57.:34:02.

passed in 1985 when I was a member of the standing committee on the

:34:03.:34:06.

then buses Bill, which actually introduced choice and competition

:34:07.:34:12.

into the bus services in this country, I will be extremely

:34:13.:34:18.

concerned about it. My constituents are finding that the bus services

:34:19.:34:24.

are becoming less frequent and that is a problem. They are prepared,

:34:25.:34:29.

they tell me, to actually contribute something themselves, even if they

:34:30.:34:35.

are pensioners. They are happy to contribute themselves towards the

:34:36.:34:39.

cost of buses so they can beat in the service, because a free bus

:34:40.:34:43.

passes no use if you have not a bus to use it on. I would hope we are

:34:44.:34:48.

unable to have that looked at in the context of the buses Bill. The

:34:49.:34:55.

result or considerable scepticism about the assertion that local

:34:56.:35:00.

authorities will be allowed to detain business breaks. Does that

:35:01.:35:03.

mean all the business rates raised in the local authority area will be

:35:04.:35:08.

able to be detained by that local authority? The advice I have been

:35:09.:35:13.

given is that it doesn't mean that. If you are in an area where there is

:35:14.:35:16.

a high resource coming in from business rates, then they will be an

:35:17.:35:22.

equalisation system to ensure that not all those business rates

:35:23.:35:26.

actually accrue to the local people. I think that needs to be made clear.

:35:27.:35:36.

Then the other provisions relating to our presence. The Leader of the

:35:37.:35:42.

Opposition and I were both on the same visit from the Justice

:35:43.:35:47.

committee in the last parliament to Denmark, to visit Danish presence.

:35:48.:35:54.

One of the aspects of our visit to Danish presence was that the regime

:35:55.:35:58.

is so liberal that the people who live in person receive a higher

:35:59.:36:05.

income than they would receive if they were in their home countries in

:36:06.:36:11.

Eastern Europe whence they have come in order to commit crimes in

:36:12.:36:16.

Denmark. That is what you have when you have a very liberal prison

:36:17.:36:20.

regime, absolutely no deterrent for people who come to the country from

:36:21.:36:26.

another EU country, we wage levels are much lower, and if they come to

:36:27.:36:32.

Denmark, the biggest UN Denmark about the number of burglaries being

:36:33.:36:36.

committed by people from Eastern Europe, but there is no deterrent.

:36:37.:36:43.

Even when incarcerated, the penalties they pay are low and the

:36:44.:36:49.

income they get for working in a prison is greater than they would

:36:50.:36:53.

get back all. That brings me onto what will be final point. We are

:36:54.:37:02.

talking about the needs to get more resources into our present system

:37:03.:37:07.

and reduce the pressure on a prison systems. Why can't we do more to

:37:08.:37:14.

ensure that foreign offenders can be deported and are not filling up our

:37:15.:37:19.

presence. We tried to do something like that with the negotiations in

:37:20.:37:24.

the European Union but so far, we have failed. Mr Speaker, when one

:37:25.:37:31.

looks at the small print in this gracious speech, one can see that

:37:32.:37:38.

the busy lot which would actually be able to blossom and flourish when

:37:39.:37:42.

the people vote to leave on 23rd June. Thank you. I hadn't intended

:37:43.:37:56.

to get drawn on the issue of Europe but I first want to claim my firm

:37:57.:38:01.

support for remaining in Europe, and to be clear about is for the

:38:02.:38:05.

security of citizens, and I spent three years negotiating on home

:38:06.:38:10.

affairs for the then Labour government, for security and safety

:38:11.:38:13.

issues. It is my firm belief that if you are at the table you can make a

:38:14.:38:16.

difference as we have done and continue to do, but if you are not,

:38:17.:38:22.

you cannot influence, and if we vote out, the very next day we will be

:38:23.:38:26.

out of all the discussions that are necessary. I also direct the

:38:27.:38:29.

honourable gentleman to the work done by the National Audit Office at

:38:30.:38:33.

the behest of the Public Accounts Committee to look at the costs. It

:38:34.:38:41.

is near to the audit he was seeking. It shows clearly that the net cost

:38:42.:38:47.

to the UK is the equivalent of 1.4% of total UK Government departmental

:38:48.:38:51.

spending. I believe that is a small price to pay for the benefits of

:38:52.:38:56.

being part of a wider community and the peace and security that brings.

:38:57.:39:00.

If I may turn more generally to the gracious speech. I believe it is

:39:01.:39:06.

rather short on detail and I hope to outline some of the issues that I

:39:07.:39:09.

think ministers and departments should consider as the flesh out

:39:10.:39:14.

their plans, as clearly it is headlines when Her Majesty reads the

:39:15.:39:18.

speech out but I worry and having spent five years on a Public

:39:19.:39:22.

Accounts Committee, very often, there's not much more behind the

:39:23.:39:26.

headlines in the speech and I hope the government will heed our

:39:27.:39:31.

concerns about policy planning. Too often we have seen policy built on

:39:32.:39:36.

sand, a political pledge made in a press release without detail and

:39:37.:39:40.

with that crucially cost and impact assessments. Let me turn to some of

:39:41.:39:46.

the measures in the speech in particular. Broadband is an issue I

:39:47.:39:51.

will come if finally the government gets it right as with this pledge to

:39:52.:39:55.

have high-speed broadband universally across the country. I do

:39:56.:40:01.

have a weary cynicism. We have heard all of it before. The Public

:40:02.:40:04.

Accounts Committee has raised concerns about the use of taxpayer

:40:05.:40:09.

money to fund rural broadband, where the low hanging fruit was taken

:40:10.:40:13.

first, and many innovative technologies were priced out of the

:40:14.:40:17.

market, and many areas up and down the country. It has been so

:40:18.:40:22.

successful the government has had to include a game and the gracious

:40:23.:40:26.

address and I will be watching closely as all the Public Accounts

:40:27.:40:29.

Committee, both nationally and in my own constituency of Shoreditch, the

:40:30.:40:34.

home of tech city and telecom roundabout, where they are asked

:40:35.:40:37.

Dell significant problems with speed. So much so that businesses

:40:38.:40:42.

relocate in order to get faster speeds particularly for uploading.

:40:43.:40:46.

It is striking that the former editor of tech city news, the local

:40:47.:40:53.

web news vehicle for that area, had to take the video he recorded each

:40:54.:40:56.

week about the local news round-up to be uploaded at his home address

:40:57.:41:01.

because his office didn't have the broad bandwidth to do it. It is them

:41:02.:41:08.

important that as the government rules out it has to make sure

:41:09.:41:12.

alternative providers get a look and so I welcome the access to land and

:41:13.:41:15.

buildings that seems to be indicated in the publicity so far but we will

:41:16.:41:18.

be watching it and no doubt looking at it more closely. Unsurprisingly

:41:19.:41:26.

and well heralded the Queen's Speech included measures around devolution

:41:27.:41:31.

and directly electing Mayors. As a member for the borough of Hackney

:41:32.:41:35.

and London I fully recognise that I directly elected Mayor can be a good

:41:36.:41:38.

thing and I pay tribute to my colleague who was first elected in

:41:39.:41:45.

2002 as the directly elected Mayor and who has overseen stability and

:41:46.:41:48.

good public service delivery in our borough. But in the rush to

:41:49.:41:54.

devolution which is going very fast, it is vital that it is properly

:41:55.:41:58.

thought through. We heard from the honourable gentleman for

:41:59.:42:01.

Christchurch and I hear from others the concern in some areas about the

:42:02.:42:06.

need for the directly elected Mayor. While I recognise that government as

:42:07.:42:11.

it is the devolving power, money and responsible need to have somebody

:42:12.:42:15.

responsible it may be that things work in different places and maybe

:42:16.:42:19.

one size doesn't fit all. The question remains what powers exactly

:42:20.:42:26.

we passed down? It was recently indicated that once Mayors are

:42:27.:42:34.

elected with a manifesto negotiations may be reopened. How

:42:35.:42:38.

will this devolution be properly funded? Google watch taxpayer money?

:42:39.:42:47.

We know that in the boroughs of Kensington, Westminster Hammersmith

:42:48.:42:49.

there was talk of a Public Accounts Committee. I am in favour of them as

:42:50.:42:56.

you might understand but we know that in Oxfordshire the Prime

:42:57.:42:59.

Minister's own county, when the council sought external orders for

:43:00.:43:03.

its audit committee, they could only find one person. If the whole of

:43:04.:43:09.

that borough with the talent pool there, they can only find one person

:43:10.:43:14.

willing to be on the audit committee there is a concern. There was also a

:43:15.:43:17.

concern about the sourcing and how we watched money being spent. The is

:43:18.:43:20.

the issue of retention of business rates. In my own early LB stands to

:43:21.:43:26.

potentially game quite a lot and there is an issue of concern about

:43:27.:43:30.

the distribution to the areas where they are not the businesses that

:43:31.:43:33.

could accrue those rates for the local taxpayer. Watching taxpayers'

:43:34.:43:39.

money is the key thing and who decides what is right for

:43:40.:43:43.

Manchester? When the Treasury has decided on the amount if they come

:43:44.:43:46.

back and say they want more who will be the arbiter? We have lost the

:43:47.:43:55.

audit commission. Those of us who sat on the pre-legislative scrutiny

:43:56.:43:58.

warmth there was a lot being throwing out and we have real

:43:59.:44:02.

concerns and will be returning to this very much as a committee. The

:44:03.:44:06.

gracious speech also mentions mental health in the criminal justice

:44:07.:44:12.

system. My own constituency hosts a medium security unit for those with

:44:13.:44:16.

serious mental health issues. I have spoken in the past two patients in

:44:17.:44:20.

that unit who fear going back to prison because of the lack of mental

:44:21.:44:23.

health support in the mainstream Prison Service. I wish the

:44:24.:44:28.

government will and its reformist to the Prison Service and I also

:44:29.:44:32.

represent penal reform and I know they will want to see the succeed

:44:33.:44:36.

and the devil is in the details and of course on the funding. We have

:44:37.:44:41.

seen a 20% cut in the budget of which 80% of that 20 has been in

:44:42.:44:45.

prisons and we know there a shortage prison officers. I watch that whips

:44:46.:44:52.

caution. The northern powerhouse is mentioned again, something the

:44:53.:44:55.

government heralds positively but which we know from our work on the

:44:56.:44:59.

committee that the Department for business is planning to move its

:45:00.:45:03.

policy team from Sheffield to that well-known northern powerhouse aka

:45:04.:45:08.

Victoria Street S W one. That is to join the existing civil servants

:45:09.:45:14.

working on the northern powerhouse already based in London. I may be a

:45:15.:45:18.

London MP but I know when something doesn't make sense so it is vital

:45:19.:45:21.

the government gets the best input from around the nations and regions

:45:22.:45:27.

of the United Kingdom to make sure the policy isn't just London centric

:45:28.:45:33.

and their getaway. I understand the points made but does she not

:45:34.:45:36.

appreciate the whole point of devolution is to give more power

:45:37.:45:41.

back into the combined authorities or to local partnerships and that is

:45:42.:45:44.

what we are delivering, regardless of what happens to one policy or

:45:45.:45:51.

strategy team. I think my point is that is a litmus test for how

:45:52.:45:56.

seriously devolution is taken. Actually, what we seek frequently on

:45:57.:46:02.

the committee is we ask, when they talk about devolving powers, how

:46:03.:46:06.

many civil servants will move from Whitehall to the region? Maybe not

:46:07.:46:10.

the same people but what percentage in total will shift, because if

:46:11.:46:18.

Whitehall shifts, we should see a deduction potentially in the civil

:46:19.:46:21.

service. If not we should see an explanation for why that is not the

:46:22.:46:25.

case. I have seen some fuzzy thinking on that and we are watching

:46:26.:46:26.

closely. The investigatory Powers Bill is

:46:27.:46:34.

mentioned again as it did not make enough progress in the previous

:46:35.:46:39.

parliament. I believe we need to keep up with technology to keep our

:46:40.:46:42.

citizens safe so I support this bill in principle. But I sincerely hope

:46:43.:46:49.

that the Home Secretary will listen to opposition calls on this side of

:46:50.:46:54.

the House for appropriate government safeguards so that this legislation

:46:55.:46:59.

can gain cross-party support. We must unite against terror and those

:47:00.:47:03.

who wish our country ill. I think we could work together in that spirit

:47:04.:47:06.

to make sure that this bill is the best piece of legislation could be.

:47:07.:47:11.

I am talking about security and that brings me onto the issue tackling

:47:12.:47:16.

extremism. I do not believe it is something that can be done from

:47:17.:47:18.

Whitehall. It is important that Whitehall sets the framework for

:47:19.:47:22.

doing that. The best way of doing this is the work at the grassroots

:47:23.:47:27.

level. We are very prevent strategy in the past but we need to make sure

:47:28.:47:30.

we work to deliver this this time. And we need to do that in a spirit

:47:31.:47:34.

of unity. It has been shocking over the last weeks and months that

:47:35.:47:38.

senior government ministers, even the Prime Minister himself, had been

:47:39.:47:42.

casting aspersions on the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. It is beyond the

:47:43.:47:45.

pale and unacceptable that someone in his position has been pilloried

:47:46.:47:49.

in such a way when he is part of the solution and certainly nothing to do

:47:50.:47:54.

with the problem. I hope that we can move forward in a spirit of greater

:47:55.:47:58.

unity because we need to tackle that is part of our long-term strategy to

:47:59.:48:02.

make our country secure. The main issues on which the dock about today

:48:03.:48:10.

are around housing, health and education and I am concerned about

:48:11.:48:14.

what is not included as much as what is included in the sketchy detail.

:48:15.:48:20.

The government commits to building 1 million homes but let's replay what

:48:21.:48:24.

happened in the last parliament. The government committed to releasing

:48:25.:48:30.

public land to build new homes. But five years on, when the committee

:48:31.:48:37.

looked at this, the government could not say how much the land had been

:48:38.:48:41.

sold for and how many homes had been built on the land, and whether there

:48:42.:48:44.

was any appreciable value for money for the taxpayer. You really could

:48:45.:48:49.

not make it up. And the Public Accounts Committee remains concerned

:48:50.:48:54.

about the pledge to release land for homes. It is interesting that there

:48:55.:49:00.

is such a figure when we know that the number of homes built is not

:49:01.:49:03.

something that ministers have considered that they should be

:49:04.:49:07.

counting as an outcome. As one of my colleagues on the committee

:49:08.:49:10.

describes it, none of our constituents want to live in a

:49:11.:49:14.

potential home, they want to live in a real home. We should not just

:49:15.:49:17.

count the homes being built, we should make sure they are the right

:49:18.:49:21.

ones, which means allowing local authorities in their own areas to

:49:22.:49:25.

determine what is necessary. The speech talks about tackling poverty

:49:26.:49:30.

and the courses of that to give every child the best start in life.

:49:31.:49:48.

Are presented which is at the top of child... -- I represent... The new

:49:49.:49:55.

bill will make a damaging effect on my constituency, pulling the carpet

:49:56.:50:04.

out from underneath my constituents. In my own borough, 700 right to buy

:50:05.:50:11.

homes will... Mr Speaker, I do not begrudge people wanting to own their

:50:12.:50:14.

own home or getting the opportunity to do that, but it must not be at

:50:15.:50:22.

the expense of others. There is also pay to stay which was introduced to

:50:23.:50:26.

push up rents for people on a household income of ?40,000 a year.

:50:27.:50:31.

That might sound like not a lot of money to some members but in London

:50:32.:50:35.

it does not stretch very far. In London, the average property price

:50:36.:50:42.

is now ?691,969. It has gone up about ?7,000 since I last raced this

:50:43.:50:47.

in the House three weeks ago. That is an 85% increase in the last six

:50:48.:50:52.

years. Private rents as of February this year, the median for a

:50:53.:50:58.

one-bedroom property is ?1399 per calendar month. To afford that, you

:50:59.:51:03.

would require a gross household income of ?48,000. I do not know

:51:04.:51:08.

where people are expected to pay and stay, where they are expected to go.

:51:09.:51:12.

They cannot afford to buy their own home rent privately. That affects a

:51:13.:51:16.

number of pensioners in my constituency and there are also

:51:17.:51:20.

overcrowded households because adult children cannot leave, and they are

:51:21.:51:27.

not necessarily paying for huge palaces but often overcrowded

:51:28.:51:29.

situations. Under the housing bill, there is a proposal to replace homes

:51:30.:51:38.

sold underwrite four by 141 but that is not necessarily like for like.

:51:39.:51:41.

They could be a different size, in a different location or city, and on a

:51:42.:51:46.

different tenure. Frankly, it is not good enough for the government to

:51:47.:51:49.

sit back and allow this to happen. I hope the government will work with

:51:50.:51:53.

Sadiq Khan to come up with at least a workaround for London, because it

:51:54.:52:00.

will not work as it is. I am fed up with hearing government ministers

:52:01.:52:03.

and the Prime Minister talking about starter homes being the solution.

:52:04.:52:06.

Starter homes in my constituency would need to be -- would require a

:52:07.:52:15.

household income of ?71,000 on average to be affordable. The

:52:16.:52:19.

average household income is much lower. Government policies are

:52:20.:52:24.

fuelling house prices but not solving the problem. If we underline

:52:25.:52:32.

the crucial need to sort out housing in my borough, 11,000 people are on

:52:33.:52:38.

the council housing register. In 2014, 1338 social rented homes were

:52:39.:52:44.

allocated to people. People are waiting a very long time. And there

:52:45.:52:49.

are 2286 households in temporary accommodation. My surgeries are the

:52:50.:52:52.

busiest and worst they have ever been in the 20 years since I was

:52:53.:52:56.

elected. I thought it could not get worse when I visited people 20 years

:52:57.:53:01.

ago but it is even worse now is. People being relocated long way away

:53:02.:53:05.

from schools and families and increasingly having no more security

:53:06.:53:09.

and I do not know where people go. I speak for the private sector

:53:10.:53:13.

individuals as well. I mean the people in good jobs, but not well

:53:14.:53:17.

paid, people in their 40s who have rented privately all their lives,

:53:18.:53:20.

suddenly now finding themselves priced out. They cannot or rent and

:53:21.:53:25.

heaven forbid they are on any housing benefit, because if you are

:53:26.:53:29.

on low income, you will require housing benefit. Where do those

:53:30.:53:32.

people go? We are hollowing out London? The gracious speech could

:53:33.:53:42.

have and should have included an outline of how the government will

:53:43.:53:49.

work with London. There is a promise of a seven-day NHS in this speech

:53:50.:53:55.

but in a series of reports, the committee has concluded that the

:53:56.:54:00.

budget of the NHS is far too squeezed. It is like a balloon. If

:54:01.:54:03.

you squeeze it in one place, the bulge go somewhere else. Acute

:54:04.:54:09.

trusts are nearly bursting with three quarters in deficit. The

:54:10.:54:12.

seven-day NHS is just not being costed. The NHS commissioners

:54:13.:54:20.

providers had a deficit of ?471 million in 2014 and the Public

:54:21.:54:23.

Accounts Committee concluded that there is not yet a convincing plan

:54:24.:54:32.

for causing the efficiency gap. There are not enough GPs to meet

:54:33.:54:38.

demand. That is not enough capacity to support decisions on general

:54:39.:54:42.

practice. This is another conclusion from the Public Accounts Committee.

:54:43.:54:54.

And targeted trusts are... There is a 9% shortfall in clinical staff

:54:55.:55:00.

nationally and nurses and midwives and health care visitors have a

:55:01.:55:04.

vacancy rate of over 7%. And we have seen the fiasco with the handling of

:55:05.:55:09.

the junior doctors contracts. If the government is planning to legislate

:55:10.:55:12.

on a seven-day NHS, it must do the maths. I think it is about time that

:55:13.:55:17.

somebody gave the Health Secretary is a simple cartilage. It is pretty

:55:18.:55:25.

basic. But we are seeing a squeeze in GP services, acute trusts

:55:26.:55:30.

bursting until this week. Specialist services, any risk of increasing

:55:31.:55:36.

their wishes are likely. Workforce planning is dire and there is an

:55:37.:55:40.

over reliance on expensive agency staff and locums. The basic maths is

:55:41.:55:44.

not being met and needs to be more done to make sure that this is

:55:45.:55:54.

deliverable. Currently on the evidence, it is not planned or

:55:55.:55:57.

funded or realistic. And the government must address of this

:55:58.:56:01.

fundamental issue. I think there is cross-party support on all sides of

:56:02.:56:06.

the House. It is something that we all treasure and love and we know

:56:07.:56:09.

that when it is needed, it is there, but it will not be there if we

:56:10.:56:13.

allowed this approach to continue. There has to be a better approach.

:56:14.:56:20.

Education is mentioned in the Gracious Speech. My borough needs no

:56:21.:56:23.

lessons in excellence when it comes to education. Thanks to decent

:56:24.:56:28.

funding, committed teachers and head teachers and the vision of the

:56:29.:56:33.

mayor, we have some of the rest schools in the country with a number

:56:34.:56:36.

ranking in the top 1% nationally. When I was selected to run for the

:56:37.:56:41.

seat 12 years ago, I was asked about whether I had thought about tuition

:56:42.:56:45.

fees at universities. I pointed out that so many people -- so few pupils

:56:46.:56:51.

in Hackney went to university that it was an academic question in my

:56:52.:56:57.

borough. Now we see many more students going to university so it

:56:58.:57:01.

has been a major success. But I worry. It is easy for the government

:57:02.:57:05.

to talk about raising excellence but London is under threat. When the

:57:06.:57:08.

government talks about the funding, it means reducing funding in London.

:57:09.:57:15.

This is unjust, foolish and short-sighted. It risks putting back

:57:16.:57:20.

the progress made by and for London's young people. Nationally

:57:21.:57:24.

there are lessons to be learned from London but it must not be hammered

:57:25.:57:28.

while we are trying to resolve issues in the rest of the country.

:57:29.:57:33.

Mr Speaker, there is a lot to be looking at in this Queen's Speech

:57:34.:57:36.

and we will be busy as a committee as we examine it. But I hope the

:57:37.:57:39.

government learns lessons from its policies on housing in particular

:57:40.:57:42.

and particularly on the funding of the health service, working out a

:57:43.:57:46.

way of having a stable financial footing for these policies so that

:57:47.:57:49.

they are actually come up when they are good they are deliverable and

:57:50.:57:52.

when they are not, we have the chance to mend them not just through

:57:53.:57:56.

secondary legislation but that we have primary legislation which is

:57:57.:57:58.

debatable and amendable by this House and that the Lords is not so

:57:59.:58:03.

muted under the government's last but one line in the Queen's Speech,

:58:04.:58:07.

talking about the primacy of the House of Commons. It is vital that

:58:08.:58:11.

the Lords' experts get their say to make sure that these policies are

:58:12.:58:16.

better. It is now proud thing for the government to introduce policies

:58:17.:58:19.

that increase inequality and deprivation and I fear that without

:58:20.:58:23.

proper scrutiny and detail, that will be what will happen as a

:58:24.:58:30.

result. It is a pleasure to follow the honourable lady for Hackney. I

:58:31.:58:34.

may not agree with the conclusions he reached and the commentary on the

:58:35.:58:39.

Queen's Speech but the manner with which she gave her speech, the

:58:40.:58:43.

thoughtful way with which she approached the subjects she

:58:44.:58:48.

discussed, is, if I may say so, a commendable way to debate the

:58:49.:58:51.

Queen's Speech and particularly so from the opposition benches because

:58:52.:58:53.

people tend to listen to you from the opposition benches when you

:58:54.:58:59.

speak carefully, calmly and without hectoring, and she certainly was

:59:00.:59:03.

listened to by me and I am grateful. I am also very happy to take the

:59:04.:59:09.

opportunity to thank my right honourable friend, the Member for

:59:10.:59:14.

Bracknell, for starting off our deliberations this afternoon with

:59:15.:59:20.

first-class speeches. Both different in style but both hugely amusing and

:59:21.:59:31.

insightful. And they are to be congratulated for what they have to

:59:32.:59:41.

say. Like all Queen's Speech is, they can be something of a curates

:59:42.:59:48.

egg. A bit of detail, that of aspiration and other measures laid

:59:49.:59:57.

before you. And I don't suppose this Queen's Speech is an exception to

:59:58.:00:01.

that rule. But I am keen to highlight three areas of the speech

:00:02.:00:04.

which appeals to me and which I think will be of interest to the

:00:05.:00:10.

country as a whole. It does not matter to me that the bills that I

:00:11.:00:20.

want to concentrate on male may have a bearing on England and Wales. I

:00:21.:00:25.

think the theory behind it and the public policy behind it should be of

:00:26.:00:30.

interest across the United Kingdom. The first issue I want to deal with

:00:31.:00:37.

is the anti-corruption Summit in London and the follow-on legislation

:00:38.:00:44.

which will tackle money laundering and tax evasion. There is no

:00:45.:00:51.

question that for too long the police and public policy

:00:52.:00:54.

commentators have probably not given enough attention to white-collar

:00:55.:00:58.

crime as it is sometimes called. Nobody dies, there is no blood and

:00:59.:01:05.

guts, and there are not obvious victims in so many cases. But

:01:06.:01:13.

nonetheless, these are serious crimes. If somebody went into a bank

:01:14.:01:19.

fished on offshore gun and stole ?10 million, we would get exercise about

:01:20.:01:24.

it. -- went into a bank with a sawn off shotgun.

:01:25.:01:28.

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