08/02/2016 Monday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Monday In Parliament,

of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

The wrangling continues over the looming strikes

The opposition has done verx little to help get this contract into a

place in need to be. That ddlayed Heathrow. We'll get it anywhere for

London? We need to get to a place where we want to be in a position.

And voting for trade union ballots. I would argue that under less

pressure, in my preferred w`y in the workplace.

The next 24-hour strike by junior doctors in England,

planned for Wednesday, will mean the cancellation of more

So says the Health Minister, Ben Gummer.

The action by the junior doctors is part of a long running

dispute over new working conditions and pay.

The changes to their contracts have been designed to make it silpler

to have more medical cover in hospitals at weekends.

Mr Gummer came to the Commons when Labour put down an urgdnt

The Government are clear that our door remains open

for further discussion, and we continue to urge the BMA

Regrettably, the BMA is instead proceeding with strike action over

a 24-hour period from 8am this Wednesday.

Robust contingency planning has been taking place to try to minilise

the risk of harm to the public, but I regret to inform the house

that the latest estimates stggest that 2884 operations

members from both sides of the house will join me in urging the BMA

to put patients first, call off its damaging strikd

and work with us to ensure we can offer patients consistent standards

Throughout the dispute, ministers have repeatedly

to reform the junior doctor contract with their manifesto commitlent

Can the Minister name a single chief executive who has told him

that the junior doctor contract is the barrier to providing

E has insinuated that junior doctors do not work long enough hours and he

has insulted the intelligence by saying they have been listed as led

by the BMA. If you are here, I would ask if he regrets the way you handle

this pursuit but he doesn't even have the nerve to turn up.

We have extended the point at which we will introduce

the new contract, precisely so that we can give time for talks

to proceed, even though the BMA in a disjointed manner,

refused to discuss it for sdveral years until this point.

At some point, we will have to make the changes necessary to get

consistency of service over weekends.

No Health Secretary or Health Minister could st`nd

in the face of the many academic studies that have shown

an avoidable weekend effect and say that nothing should happen.

Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Health accused the BMA

Today, the Minister comes to the house and accuses

Is he really asking us to bdlieve that some of the most intelligent

people in the country, junior doctors, cannot see

Does he not feel that the continued abuse directed at the junior

doctors' representatives is hindering any possibilitx

of a settlement to this dispute and that that is

Does the Minister agree that most, if not all, junior doctors

exceed their contracted hours and that a 72-hour limit

Will he also acknowledge th`t, even after the negotiations

are complete, many junior doctors will continue

I met one of my constituents from Polegate this morning whose

operation is going to be cancelled this week, thanks

I welcome the Minister's colment that the door is still open even

at this late hour to call off the strike.

Would he find it helpful if the shadow Secretary of State

also condemned the strike and asked the doctors to call it off,

so that patients do not become the real losers in this dispute

The whole Royal Infirmary is under black alert, meaning people can only

turn up if it is a life or death situation. Is not very odd, Mr

Speaker, that the Secretary of State chooses to stay away and not come to

answer important questions on this subject himself? I know how

difficult getting hold of the DNA can be -- BMA, but this is very

important and someone should be here to answer the questions. With

regards to industrial action, will he agree with me that they `re

putting their support of industrial action in front of my consthtuents

and their health care needs? I completely agree with my honourable

friend. Like an arsonist, pouring petrol on a fire and running away

before it gets put out. The patients who will not get cancer operations

this week won't get them because there is not a firm position.

And strikes in general were also up for discussion

A proposal for unions to usd electronic voting for strikd ballots

was put forward, during the latest day of debate on the Trade Tnion

This aims to alter the rules on strike ballots,

meaning a walk-out in the ptblic sector could only go ahead

IF at least half a union's membership takes part in thd ballot.

At the moment, unions are ldgally obliged to hold postal ballots

But a crossbench, or independent, peer wanted to see a modern

The public in general and trade union members in particular now

expect to have the digital choice - an important point.

It is a choice that their trade unions ought to be

The Government's own policy is to be digital by default in the ddlivery

In no sense does this destroy or undermine the Bill,

but it allows those who wish to vote to do so,

One could argue that they mhght be under less pressure

than if they voted in my prdferred way, in the workplace,

The First Division Associathon, which is the union of the most

senior civil servants and which would look at how to make

this work, has stated: "The continued prohibition

of electronic balloting for statutory ballots supports

the view that the purpose of these reforms is to impede trade tnions

rather than encourage democracy as claimed".

Despite this opportunity to make a positive reform,

the Government have chosen to retain the ban on electronic balloting

It has depressed turnout figures in most unions,

it has certainly not increased them.

The Government clearly do not trust - at the moment,

In their wish to curtail the relatively few strikes that do

take place in the UK today, the Government are using

the combination of high thrdsholds plus postal ballots as a wax

We now know that nothing is secure against a cyberattack

and the problems associated with hacking are much more prevalent

That is not an argument against electronic voting,

I actually think we should bring in electronic voting,

but we must do it with our dyes open to the fact that there are now far

I think the noble lord, Lord Kerslake, will accept

that there are now far more challenges and difficulties.

I do not think many people outside realise just how

I hope and expect the Government will take away the comments that

have been made this afternoon in a very serious and sensible

fashion, bang them about a bit, get it right and make it work,

so that we have the safest possible mechanism to get the maximul turnout

I think there has been a social change and that change is that

people are willing to vote online. That'll help the turn out. H don't

think we should be considerhng putting a burden on the unions to

get the turnout up if we do not help them do it.

That seems to be a fundamental principle.

I believe the amendment fails to address the security isstes,

such as hacking and maliciots attacks, which my noble fridnd,

Strikes have a huge effect on our public services and can cause

enormous problems for hardworking people.

We heard a number of examples at Second Reading.

The public sector strikes in 20 1 closed 62% of the schools in England

and led the NHS to cancel tdns of thousands of operations.

We therefore need people to have confidence both in the way

the ballot is conducted and in the outcome obtained.

Thresholds will provide the level of confidence we need in thd outcome

that is currently lacking, but the method of voting

At which, the amendment on electronic voting was withdrawn.

The statistics after five ydars of brutal fighting in Syria

Some 250,000 lives have been lost, 13.5 million people are esthmated

And a further 4.5 million h`ve fled to neighbouring

The gathering in London last week, labelled a donor

conference, saw more than ?7 billion pledged to help in the conflict

In the Commons, the International Development Secretary called the sum

the largest amount committed in a single day to a humanitarian

in the first five weeks of this year for the Syria crisis

than was raised in the whole of 2015.

We announced that we would double our commitment, increasing our total

pledge to Syria and the reghon to more than ?2.3 billion.

Going beyond people's basic needs, the world said at the London

conference that there must be no lost generation of Syrian children

and pledged to deliver educ`tion to children inside Syria

and to at least 1 million rdfugee and host-community children

in the region outside Syria who were out of school.

Justine Greening appealed to Moscow to use its influenced and attacks

by troops loyal to Syria's President Assad.

Across Syria, Assad and othdr parties to the conflict are wilfully

impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis.

It is brutal, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation

-- It is brutal, unacceptable and illegal action to use starvation

In London, world leaders delanded an end to those abuses,

including the illegal use of siege and obstruction of humanitarian aid.

for life-saving humanitarian support, which must be allowed

to reach those who are in nded as a result of the Syria conflict,

Does the Secretary of State accept that

many people are surprised

and disappointed that the Government have rejected the Save the Children

campaign to take in just 3,000 child refugees?

The Secretary of State may well wish that these children had staxed

in the region, but the direction in which the children chose to flee

does not make them any less vulnerable.

These children may not be in the part of the world shd might

prefer them to be in, but they are still lone children

at risk of abuse, sex-trafficking and worse.

She cannot behave as if there are two classes of Syrian child

refugee - one set who stay in the region, whom she is prepared

to help, but another class who have travelled to Europd

Recognising the role the Government have played,

I echo the concerns about the response to the rdfugee

Analysis from Oxfam suggests that, rather than 20,000 refugees over

four years, the UK's fair share would be 24,000 this year alone

Words cannot convey the impotence and the anger that we,

as politicians, feel at the lack of progress in the peace process.

I understand the contribution made by the Government,

but we are seeing an awful humanitarian crisis develop today

Mrs Angela Merkel has made puite clear what she feels about ht.

She says that the Russians are primarily responsible

for the bombing and are the reason that people are fleeing

The easiest thing in politics is to say, "Do more",

but may I say how proud I al of the Secretary of State,

the Prime Minister and the TK for our response to this

humanitarian crisis? I agree with my right honourable

and Cynon Valley and many other Members that we must

now tackle the issue of indiscriminate bombing

What can be done to get the UN special envoy back around the table

with the Russians and to stop the bombing, which is making

The Secretary of State has dvery right to be exceptionally proud

of what was achieved at the conference, but I fe`r

that we need to do more locally in Europe.

She will know, I am sure, that I and the Members for Bury St Edmtnds

and for Eastbourne were in Lesbos last weekend,

and I can tell her that the Greeks are not coping.

Britain needs to lead in Europe as we have done on the glob`l stage.

There are refugees, including children, in Europe

who need our help, and Greece is on its knees.

Will the Secretary of State meet us to hear our first-hand emothonal

I've read about the reports that she made.

You're watching our round-up of the day in the Commons

Still to come: Good news for the hard-pressed local councils

The Volkswagen diesel emisshons scandal was one of the reasons why

the decision on the future of Heathrow Airport got del`yed

according to the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

He told the Transport Committee that the final

decision, that had been due in December, wasn't put off

because of the coming elections for Lord Mayor.

The third runway at Heathrow would cost ?17.5 billion

and would increase capacity at the airport by 220,000 flights

a year, meaning Heathrow would be on an equal

footing with Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

The commission headed by economist Sir Howard Davhes

recommended that the third runway should go ahead.

Things that happened since the Davis commission

report came out, for instance the Environmental Audit Seldct

Committee, on its report on the 1st of December,

before we had had the committee meeting that took the decishon

which I reported to the House on the 14th.

That and other issues that have been going along

You're not seriously telling me that it was

because of the work of another committee that you decided

It was an issue and indeed so high words

--Sir Howard did say when he was giving evidence,

quote in front of me, but he did say that the Govdrnment

would have to take these factors into account.

I'm not saying that is the only issue.

There are other issues as well which made us take

that decision. What were these other issues?

Would it be a mayoral election perhaps?

We have always known when the mayoral election

was going to be when we said we hoped to take a decision

I think to somehow now say the only reason we're not

making a decision is becausd of the mayoral elections is not really

credible but I know that is what some people

There were other issues like the mitigation

facts that the commission h`s set out very clearly for Heathrow

and not being set out so cldarly in other areas from Gatwick.

Does that mean you are looking at some

completely different environmental work that doesn't relate

to the commission's recommendation? Sorry, let's be absolutely honest.

As a result of what came out in the VW

scandal and the admitted use of defeats devices,

which gave us readings on cars which we were not

expecting to have, that has caused more work to be done as far

as energy and exhausts pollution by the

That work is presently ongoing at the moment.

That is where the Environmental Audit Committde

But when you and your offichals came in front of this committee

in October, you told us that Nox emissions

resulting from the Volkswagdn scandal did not have a signhficant

Sir Howard Davies speaking to the Environmental Audit Comlission

also said that the assessments they had

made looked at real emissions, not test emissions.

Is this something that is a real reason for delay or is this just

something you have found to be a mixed into the pot?

No, no, it's a real reason for the delay.

I very much hope that by the summer of this year,

Conservative MPs have welcoled a move by ministers to give extra

money to hard-pressed local authorities in rural

Rural councils are to receive a ?93 million package

as the Government helps thel to move away from reliance on Whitehall

grants for their funding to more local funding.

Having listened to colleaguds representing rural parts

of the country, including Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Devon,

I suspect I may have the opportunity to respond to colleagues.

In fact, distinguished local authority leaders are with ts today.

I propose to increase more than fivefold the rural services

delivery grant from ?15.5 mhllion this year to ?80.5 million

With an extra ?32.7 million available to rural councils

through the transitional grant I have described,

this ?93.2 million of incre`sed funding compared with

the provisional settlement is available to rural areas.

The idea of some councils h`ving to gnaw on the bone is absolutely

accurate, and I refer, of course, to my own council of Bromlex,

which has been gnawing on the bone, because of its efficiency

and competence in providing services.

friend for the careful and diligent way in which hd has

Does he agree that what seels to be so difficult for local government,

particularly in rural areas, is that some counties

and authorities, such as my local Mid Sussex District Council,

run their affairs in an exelplary and very orderly fashion,

but the more efficient and effective they are,

That seems to be a completely idiotic way of proceeding.

Looking at the breakdown of the spending of core spending

power appears to show that `reas that are already very wealthy

Further to the remarks of the Scottish National party

representative, who suggested that rural ardas

were richer than urban areas. The opposite is true,

average earnings are higher in urban than in rural areas,

If we allow percentage rises to continue on a much higher base

for much poorer people, there is a danger that we whll

reinforce the inequities in our system.

So in a world of business r`te retention and council tax,

what can the Secretary of State do to ensure that our poorer,

older, harder-to-service citizens are not unfairly impacted bx ever

greater council tax, while the lower council tax

areas, often richer people, pay less and continue to be

Has he had to cut other are`s of local government expenditure

Above all, will he confirm that all this is purely transitional

It reminds me of someone spdeding along the road into a disaster

who then says he will take his foot off the accelerator

Local government is facing a disaster.

The death was announced at the end of last week of the Labour LP

Harry Harpham was first elected MP for Sheffield Brightside

and Hillsborough at the gendral election last year.

The Speaker John Bercow said among his different

lines of work, he'd been a researcher for David Blunkett

and was a city councillor in Sheffield.

Harry was a diligent constituency Member of Parliament,

who held the Executive to account on behalf of his constituents.

Most recently, on Wednesday 20 January, he asked the Prime Minister

what support the Government were providing to world-class

companies such as Sheffield Forgemasters.

I must tell the House that Harry informed me a few weeks ago

Let it be recorded that he first fought bravely his illness,

and then bore it with stoichsm and fortitude, continuing to battle

on behalf of his constituents to the very end.

I join you, Mr Speaker, in paying tribute to my fridnd

and colleague, Harry Harphal, who will probably be the last

As you rightly said, despite the seriousness

of his illness, he was still here three weeks ago arguing passionately

for the steelworkers and stdel industry in Sheffield.

It was a fitting culmination to years of dedicated service

That service included the ddlivery of the decent homes programle,

from which thousands of our tenants have benefitdd.

Clive Betts paying tribute to Harry Harpham.

Alicia McCarthy will be here for the rest of the wedk.

But from me, Keith Macdougall, goodbye.