05/07/2016 Tuesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Tuesday in Parliament,

our look at the day at Westlinster. The headlines:

As the House of Lords begins a two day debate on the EU referendum -

The Archbishop of Canterburx condemns the atmosphere

And so on and put Welling a poisoned and hatred that I cannot relember in

very many years in this country Labour MPs question the futtre

funding levels for schools as NUT members strike,

but the schools minister is unmoved. This strike is politically

motivated, and has nothing to do with raising standards in education.

And the Health Secretary paxs tribute to the role played

by foreign born nationals in the NHS.

We should be seeking to reassure many people from other countries who

do a fantastic job in our NHS that we believe they will have a great

future here. The House of Lords has

begun a marathon two-day debate on the UK's exit

from the European Union. 118 peers have lined

up to give their views Peers have considered the c`mpaign,

the reported increase in racist violence since the result,

and the prospects for Our debate today has the potential

to be one of the most significant in the history of this house. Hndeed, I

see today as a real opportunity for us as a house to reflect on the

decision that has been made, and to offer some clear thinking about the

issues we now face as a country It is an opportunity, my lords, for the

house of lords to show why ht exists. Clearly, there is ftrther

work for us to do in determhning our future work with -- our futtre

relationship with the Europdan Union. As the Prime Minister said,

we are leaving the EU, but not turning our backs on Europe. The

next steps will not be easy. There will be complex negotiations ahead,

but we should approach them with a clear, guiding principle - to ensure

the best possible outcome for the British people. As the Primd

Minister has made clear, thd nature of negotiations and the shape of any

deal we strike will be for his successor and their governmdnt.

My Lords, recently, we have seen how strong leadership, good tealwork,

thought. Today and real skill can be effective and successful.

Unfortunately, it has come not from politics or government, but from the

Welsh football team, who put some much-needed cheer to is all.

Ladysmith went on to talk about the Lady Smith went on to talk

about the uncertainty she fdlt the referendum result

had brought about. it is impossible to address the

uncertainty without recognition of the false promises that werd made on

such a gigantic scale. The lost obvious is the insistence bdfore the

vote that ?350 million a wedk would be available for the Nation`l Health

Service, before that being denied within hours of the polls closing.

And it is one thing to make promises in good faith, even if they can t

later be fully capped. It is quite another to tell tall tales, knowing

that they are complete ficthon. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out

about the referendum campaign in the strongest of terms.

Because of the campaign was both robust, as it properly should be --

the course of the campaign, as it should be, but at times, vedred over

the lines on both sides. And through those comments, were created cracks

in the thin crust of the politeness and tolerance of our societx,

through which, since the referendum, we had seen and out welling of

poison and hatred that I cannot remember in this country for very

many years. It is essential, not only in this house, but for the

leaders of both sides, and throughout our society, to challenge

the attacks, the xenophobia, and the races, that seem to have bedn felt

to be acceptable, at least for a while.

They try to "Take back our country" is not one to which I can stbscribe,

because I don't believe that I ever lost my country. Reflecting on the

words of my much missed fridnd Charles Kennedy, I also havd

multiple identities of Scottish British and European. And I am also,

my lords, a Democrat, so Aj`x apt and respect the results of the

referendum of June 23, even if saddened by it.

One of the most momentous ddcisions of our time has been taken.

Parliament agreed by an overwhelming majority that the people should

decide in a referendum whether our country should stay in the Duropean

Union or leave, and the people have decided on a massive level that we

should leave. It is regrett`ble that there are some unhappy with the

result who are seeking to prevent its implementation, whether by way

of a second referendum or some other device.

The referendum did not create a divided country. It is an expression

of an already divided country. The referendum was framed to ask

if the electorate felt that terms negotiated by the Prile

Minister were good enough to stay, and they said no, and whilst many

voters were expressing long,held beliefs, a significant

minority were persuaded that they were protecting

their communities from the onslaught of 50 million Turks,

that they were supporting their beloved NHS to the tune

of ?350 million a week, and that all the benefits

of the new membership were `vailable and that all the benefits of EU

membership were available After 65 years of public service,

I do not remember such an unholy Except, perhaps, after

the Suez affair. It is an existential

as well as a political crishs. My lord, as a result of recdnt

events, my enthusiasm for rdferenda, never very strong, has

evaporated almost to nothing. While, I do not share the gloom

of the noble Lord Armstrong. I will confess, on the day

after the referendum, to a degree of shock,

shock that the side I have supported had won, and I wasn't entirdly

confident that it would, but secondly, a much greater shock,

that there were so many people who refused to accept

the verdict of the people. There was far too much talk

about reversing the result. Lord Lamont said there would be

short-term difficulties, but also new opportunities, and the future

was not nearly as dire as predicted. Now, the government called on Labour

to condemn a teachers and tde strike which closed schools on Tuesday

The strike was called by the National Union of Te`chers,

as part of a dispute over school funding, pay and conditions.

Labour's Nic Dakin called an urgent question on the strike

This strike is politically motivated, and has nothing to do

In the words of Deborah Lawson, the General Secretary

of the non-striking teaching union, Voice, today's strike is a futile

Kevin Courtney, the acting General Secretary of the NUT,

in his letter to the Secret`ry of State on the 20th of Jund,

made it clear that the strike was about school funding

Yet this year's school budgdt is greater than in any

previous year, ?40 billion, some ?4 billion higher

With 15,000 more teachers in the profession than in 2010,

teaching remains one of the most popular and attractive profdssions

The industrial action by the NUT is pointless,

It disrupts children's educ`tion, it inconveniences parents,

and it damages the profession's reputation in the eyes

But because of the dedication of the vast majority

of teachers and head teachers, our analysis shows that sevdn out

of eight schools are refusing to close.

Everyone knows that despite the Secretary

of State's protestations, school budgets are going to fall

in real terms, year-on-year, to 2020.

Head teachers know this, parents know this,

and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed this.

The only person who is shovhng her hand in the sand in total ddnial

That is what results in what we are witnessing today

which leads to massive disrtption, classes cancelled, people sdnt home,

The Chancellor has now made it clear that he is tearing

up his fiscal rules, and as my honourable friend,

the member for Manchester Cdntral, asked yesterday, will the government

now committed to securing otr children's future by revershng

the planned cuts in funding and securing the necessary cash

Will the minister now accept that class sizes are increasing,

pupils are getting less chohces about the subjects they can learn

today, and jobs are going, and children are now getting less

And I have to say, Mr Speakdr, that I find the minister's faith

in the free market to decidd teachers' salaries is touchhngly

naive, on a day that the potnd has fallen to a 31-year low.

Can he tell us if there are any limits to how far

Mr Speaker, this strike by teachers is significant.

This is a group of people who have followed a vocational

They are not driven by monex, but they do seek to be recognised

The ongoing erosion of teachers pay and conditions, the increashng

workload, makes this location hard to deliver out,

workload, makes this vocation hard to live out,

when frankly, they could earn more money and have better terms

and conditions working in the local supermarket.

Kevin Courtney, the acting General Secretary of the NUT,

has made it clear that this is a dispute about pay

and conditions, and when it comes to workload, what is disappointing

about this strike is that wd have been working extremely closdly

and extremely constructivelx with all the teaching unions

Working mums and dads in the Kettering constituency

will today be hugely inconvenienced by this completely

Many of these mums and dads work in the local NHS,

local public services, social services, and their patients

and customers will also be inconvenienced by their absdnce

on what is a politically motivated strike that frankly

is an embarrassment to many members of the NUT itself.

Will my honourable friend, the Education minister,

praise those teachers who h`ve walked across picket lines today

to go and teach children in our local schools?

They are the shining example, not the NUT.

Yes, my honourable friend is absolutely right.

Nothing is more important than ensuring that young people

For the record, is he actually contradicting the IFS,

the Institute for Fiscal Sttdies, who predict an 8% fall by 2020

No, we are aware that there are costs that schools have to face

in the coming years, but what we have done

If you look across Whitehall at the reduction in spending,

we have had to secure, in order to tackle the record

public sector deficit that we inherited in 2010,

It is now down to less than 4% of GDP thanks to those savings.

Now, we have issued significant guidance to schools about how

they can manage their budgets and procure savings and effhciencies

in the way they run their schools in order to meet those challenges.

Now, Southern Railway is telporarily cutting 341 trains a day

The announcement follows wedks of problems caused by industrial

action and a shortage of train crews.

Appearing before the Commons Transport Committee,

the company's boss faced some tough questions.

You've already admitted that 40% of the delays are your direct

responsibility and you've bden fined, and only this morning,

there's been an official announcement of hundreds of services

There doesn't seem to have been any consultation

at all about which those services are, and what is happening.

Are you fit to be running this railway?

We are fit to be running this railway.

We're out in the middle of an extremely, er,

difficult moment in the franchise at this stage.

It is a difficult and challdnging franchise anyway, but the problems

over the last few weeks, following the industrial action

taken by the RMT conductors, have added to some challenghng

circumstances, which are inherent in this franchise.

But staff shortages are enthrely the responsibility of the company.

You knew what the timetable commitments were, and you qtite

simply have not got enough staff to deal with that.

So, at the start of the franchise, we had fewer drivers

than we anticipated, based on the evidence

that we had in the data and, immediately on taking

on the franchise, we launchdd the UK's biggest ever

driver training programme to address that shortfall.

But unfortunately, it takes 14 months to train a driver off

the street and it is taking time for us to actually get levels

of driver numbers up to a ldvel we need to be in a situation

where we don't cancel a train as a result

You said there is compelling evidence that a rise

in staff sickness absence during the industrial

dispute in effect amounts to unofficial strike action.

What is the compelling evidence that you have?

OK, so we saw, um, at the time of the first strike

a doubling of sickness amongst conductors.

We saw, um, the clustering of that sickness

And we also saw, um, the change was completely

For the individual passenger who wants to be sure that,

when they go out in the morning they are going to get to work

on time, when is that going to be the case?

Well, from the start of next week, with the amended timetable,

passengers will have a basis on which they can

plan their journeys and I am genuinely...

"A basis on which they can plan their journeys" -

So, from next week, will solebody catching a train to get to work be

What's happening at the momdnt is that we are seeing, as I said,

random cancellations and people not able to plan their lives.

But when will they be able to plan them?

Next week? From Monday, next week, the...

So, from next week, people who go to catch a train to get to work can

be reasonably be assured thdy're actually going to get to work?

Indeed, and that's the intention of putting

Earlier, the RMT blamed the company for the problems,

saying it been heavy-handed in its dealings with union lembers.

I want to make sure we have a safe and efficient railwax.

I don't want to have a punch-up with the government.

What needs to be done to trx and resolve the situation?

Well, the suggestion that I just said to your colleague around,

um, a suspension on both sides of what they plan to do,

and see if we can get around the table, and the government

facilitating a proper way of dealing with this issue of driver-only

operation, rather than trying to use Southern as the template

Is that what you think's happening?

You're watching Tuesday in Parliament.

The House of Lords has begun a two-day debate on the futtre

of the UK, following the vote to leave the European Union.

The role of EU nationals in the NHS was high on the agenda

at Health Questions in the House of Commons.

The government was keen to emphasise the positive ilpact

But one Conservative highlighted the use of the NHS by immigrants,

to the audible unhappiness of some other MPs.

Can the Secretary of State for Health tell the House

how many EU nationals work in the National Health Servhce

and how many EU nationals use the National Health Service?

And isn't it simply the casd that the number of Eastern Duropeans

especially coming to this country has overwhelmed GP practices...

..and A centres up and down the country and now we've got

Well, um, without wanting to reopen the debates that concluded,

that concluded on June the 23rd I would say to him that

the overwhelming view in thd NHS is actually that we are verx lucky

to have the incredible support of a EU nationals working

to have the incredible support of 110,000 EU nationals working

in the health and social care system, and I want to put

on record to this House what a fantastic job they do,

and how much we are all in their debt.

The head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, has strongly defended the role

of immigrants in the NHS, saying, I quote, "There has never

been a time in its 68 year history when the NHS has not relied

on committed employees from around the world."

One of these employees was my own mother, who migr`ted

from Jamaica to the UK in the 1 50s to be a pupil nurse.

While we also know that workers from the EU and other countries

are not just the backbone of the NHS,

they are currently the backbone of our social care system,

Does the Minister agree with me that we should be thanking these

hard working individuals for their service, but leavhng

hard working individuals for their service, not leavhng

them with questions about their status and job security?

I do entirely agree with the Right Hnourable Lady

that we should be thanking DU nationals working in the NHS

And she herself is evidence of the enormous contribution

that migrant labour is being, not just in the first gener`tion,

but in consequence ones and we as a nation and as a House

The Health Secretary has just promised 5000 new GPs.

The GP Forward View talks about recruiting

Indeed, Lincolnshire GP leaders I understand, are looking

to recruit GPs from Spain, Poland and Romania.

Now, as we've heard, the EU nationals living

here and working in the NHS are seen by the Home Secret`ry

as "bargaining chips", making them, as we've heard,

incredibly nervous about thdir status, how successful does he think

Well, I think this is a timd when when, on all sides

of the House, we should be seeking to reassure many people

from other countries who do a fantastic job in our NHS,

that we believe they will h`ve a great future here,

but let me also say to her that this Home Secretary has prioritised

doctors and paramedics and nurses in the shortage occupation lists

and, in all the countries that have points-based systdms,

if you look at what happens in Australia or Canada,

you see that the needs of the health service and the health care system

are usually given very, very high priority.

Now, the fall-out from the DU referendum was also pre-occtpying

MPs in Westminster's committee rooms.

The Foreign Affairs Committde took evidence from the man

preparing the ground for the Brexit negotiations.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Letwin,

has been appointed to head a special unit at the Cabindt Office

The committee chair suggestdd it had been a "dereliction of duty"

that contingency plans for ` Leave victory had not been put in place.

Let me just understand the logic of this situation.

The Prime Minister says publicly he's staying, whatever the result,

um, and then orders there to be no contingency planning and thdrefore

making it quite impossible for him to stay in those circumstances,

because he would then be seen as negligent.

Um, you do see there's a sort of contradiction sitting

I don't think there's any contradiction here.

As events fell out, the Prime Minister did not

remain in place and therefore a new Prime Minister will h`ve

to make decisions about the negotiation strategy and those

are very important decisions and very difficult

As I repeat, actually, in the period available to ts,

and this is I think the point which is material to the nation

we are able I believe to provide the firm base on which thosd

Do you think the Prime Minister had a mandate to carry on?

The Prime Minister made it perfectly clear in his resignation spdech

that he felt that he didn't. Well, I'm...

Why was he saying the opposhte on the run in to the referendul, then?

If you want to interrogate the Prime Minister on the conduct

of the referendum campaign, that's a separate enquiry.

But you are... I am not here...

The Prime Minister declined to come before this committde

to take questions on Libya, so I think it's highly unlikely

he is going to come forward to committee now.

But you are the one left holding the baby.

I can only say that the babx is being firmly held

and that my intention is that the baby should prosper

because I care about the baby in question,

it is in fact our country. Right.

a new Prime Minister came into office.

Well, if that's the case, is there no point, really?

Is this not just some kind of figleaf?

Isn't it an irrelevant figldaf unless you can get assurancds,

at least from the two candidates who finally go into a ballot,

that they will abide by the work and the recommendations

No, I know this is, um, a cause of great difficulty

in all the reporting, so let me try again to expl`in.

We are not making any recommendations.

Um, there's no question of them abiding by anything.

We are providing a basis for them to make decisions.

It's a very, very important distinction, um,

and when you ask the question, "Is it worth doing that?"

I would have speculated a wdek ago that it was abundantly worthwhile.

I can now tell you, after a week of very intensive effort,

that it is totally necessarx to do, and abundantly worthwhile for sure.

Given there doesn't sound like you've got enough plans

to fill the back of a fag p`cket at the moment, would you agree

that the UK is a pretty uncdrtain place to be right now?

No, um... Why not?

The, um, UK's current position is the same

We are fully paid-up members of the EU, we benefit

from all the benefits. We make all the payments.

We have all the obligations and so forth.

Change WAS coming, Mr Letwin acknowledged, but the UK was not

The House of Lords has been reminded of the death

Public Health England is dud to publish an independent rdport

But at Question Time, a Labour peer said the situ`tion

the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that

hospital admissions due to alcohol-related illnesses

are now continuing to rise again, over a million.

That the number of deaths arising from alcohol continue to go up.

And the cost to the NHS of alcohol-related problems

Lord Brooke suggested, if there was a recession,

government spending commitmdnts might have to be revisited.

The government is committed to putting in ?10 million

of new money between now, in real terms, between now `nd 020.

Clearly, if the economy changes to a great extent,

In broadcast of the recent Dngland, Wales football match showed

Could I ask the Minister how this helps public health and ask him also

why the government permits the marketing of alcohol

to reach audiences below the legal drinking age?

which the PHE review is going to take into account.

That review should be published before the end of the year `nd I'm

sure that we will take action accordingly.

Alicia McCarthy's here for the rest of the week.