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our own industry. It has to be on a fair basis. There are special cases | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
around British Steel and 98% of the bridge -ish -- this deal we purchase | :00:00. | :00:11. | |
is British Steel. Urgent question, Mr Bernard Jenkin. I am most | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
grateful to ask the Prime Minister if he will ask for an enquiry to be | :00:18. | :00:26. | |
launched on whether discussions between the trade unions and the | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
Labour Party on amendments of the trade union Beale -- trade union | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
bill constitute a breach of the conduct. The Cabinet Office has | :00:37. | :00:45. | |
advised me that there is no breach and nothing for the priming is to's | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
adviser on ministerial interest to investigate. As is customary at such | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
times, ministers have had regular discussions with Jago ministers to | :00:57. | :01:09. | |
discuss possible... On the basis of discussions yesterday evening, I can | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
reassure my honourable friend that we are well on our way to ensuring | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
all of our manifesto commitments. Reforms to the role of the | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
acidification of this, a tightening up of rules around the location | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
time, and introduction of a transparent opt in process and a | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
tightening up of intimidation of non-striking members. The question | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
of compulsory opt in to trade union funds was one of the most | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
contentious, especially in the Lords. The Lords referred it to a | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
special committee. Following the select committee's report, the House | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
of Lords voted by a large majority to accept an amendment to restrict | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
the opt in to new members and exclude current trade union members. | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
My honourable friend will not be surprised to learn that I speak to | :02:05. | :02:13. | |
trade unions and the secretary of the TUC regularly. Trade union | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
support for the campaign to remain in the European Union is not new and | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
should not come aces -- as a surprise to anybody. The TUC | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
declared its support in February, eg you be -- DNB did the same in | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
February, unite in March and Unison in April. We all remember the Prime | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
Minister for telling that the next scandal would be a lobbying scandal | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
and had -- here it is. Trade union members have been complaining that | :02:51. | :03:01. | |
have been unable to campaign for the in... The result of this amendment | :03:02. | :03:16. | |
means that a 19-year-old who has just started a job and is a member | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
of a trade union will now never be asked if he wants his political fund | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
subscriptions to be taken out of his pay packet. The Prime Minister told | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
the House of Commons on the 15th of July last year, there is a very | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
simple principle here. Giving money to a party should be an act of free | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
will, money should not be taken out of pay packets without them being | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
told properly about it. He likened it to mis-selling. The minister in | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
the Other Place described the Labour's amendment, which the | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
Government has accepted, as a wrecking amendment on the 16th of | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
March this year. Yesterday, the Minister's concession was wholly | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
unexpected and my right honourable friend for Grantham and Stanford | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
announced his decision to abandon the opposition to the bill. It is | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
now being reported that these unexpected concessions are linked to | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
the question of a ?1.7 million donation that trade unions make from | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
their political funds, which are now much larger than they would have | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
been, to the Labour remain campaign. Until very recently, the honourable | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
gentleman for Hull West and hassle, was trying to raise ?75,000 for the | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
loons and badges. Now they are getting ?1.7 million. It has been | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
confirmed to me through more than two independent sources that number | :04:44. | :04:45. | |
ten instructed these concessions to be made after the discussions with | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
trade union representatives. This being true would amend -- add to the | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
sale of Government policy for cash and political favours. Lest there be | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
any doubt about the propriety -- the impropriety of this deal, the leader | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
of Her Majesty's opposition should ask themselves this question -- what | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
would they be saying if this Government had altered the bill in | :05:18. | :05:19. | |
order to give money to the Conservative Party or to the | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
Conservative Party's remain campaign? My honourable friend | :05:25. | :05:27. | |
should ask himself this question. What would be the reaction if the | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
Labour Government had changed a bill to favour the Labour's ability to | :05:32. | :05:43. | |
favour it self. This stinks as cash for questions and shows this | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
Government really is at the rotten heart of the European Union. The | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
seven principles of public life requires public office holders, and | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
I quote, to avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
work. The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
their private interests. In this matter, the Labour Party constitutes | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
one of their private interests. Will my right honourable friend the Prime | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
Minister instructed friend on parliamentary interest to launch | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
this investigation. If my honourable friend is right, he has nothing to | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
fear from such an investigation. Thank you, Mr Speaker. If I can | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
start by saying I have the greatest possible respect from the passion | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
and commitment which has lasted not just for years but for decades that | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
my honourable friend has brought to the cause which he is now advocating | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
with such vigour that we should leave the European Union. I have | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
nothing but total respect for that passion and commitment. So I just | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
want to gently correct him on a view points of fact, because he has been | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
focusing so much on the very important question that there are a | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
number of things that he's adjusted which are absolutely correct about | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
the way that the current mechanism for union members subscriptions to | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
the political fund works. The first point to make is to say that it is | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
not the case that somebody who has recently joined a trade union, to | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
whom there for the new requirement for an optimal not apply, is never | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
asked whether they want to pay into the political levy. Very far from | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
it. There is a long-standing legal requirement that they are offered an | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
opt out of that political levy and that that is something communicated | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
very clearly to them and it is not just a one-time thing. It is not | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
something they are offered when they join, it is something they can | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
exercise at any time and need to be reminded of on a regular basis. The | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
other thing to say to my honourable friend is that while estimates vary | :08:04. | :08:11. | |
from different unions, the overall estimate for trade union membership | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
is that roughly 13 to 14% of all members of a trade union joined in | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
the last year. That means that over the time of this Parliament, I'm not | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
going to suggest that all members of trade unions will have needed to opt | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
into the political fund, but a very substantial proportion will have. | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
The argument that was made, and this was not a point made... I'm afraid | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
he is also not correct to say this was an amendment made by Labour. It | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
was made by the honourable member, Lord Burns, someone that I know he | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
has great respect of, who is fiercely independent, and that | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
flowed out of a committee in which there was some this representation | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
of all parties. The amendment was very clearly inspired by Lord Burns | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
when he said that it was not reasonable to ask people who have | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
signed up to an arrangement in good faith to then have to you sign up | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
again through a different process simply because we have changed the | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
law later. I did not agree with that argument and nor did we in this | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
House, but as is often the case, when the House of Lords feels very, | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
very strongly on an issue, there is a very large majority against the | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
Government's position. When an independent member of the House of | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
Lords has moved an amendment which has secured support not just from | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
the official opposition, not just from the Liberal Democrats, but from | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
a huge number of crossbenchers and not just from crossbenchers, but | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
from some very significant members of our own party, and I would simply | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
urge him to look at the people who both spoke in the debate and voted | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
or assertively chose not to vote in support of the garment's position. | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
They include not just the noble lord Cormack and the noble lord boughs, | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
they also include the noble Lord Forsyth, who supports the same | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
campaign in the European Union that he supported and who both privately | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
and publicly said that he thought it was a profound error for us to | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
pursue a compulsory opt in for all existing members. | :10:27. | :10:35. | |
Finally, Mr Speak, my honourable friend suggested that it is | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
inappropriate, of course, for Government to do anything for | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
private interests, in terms of making changes to legislation, | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
further private interests. Of course, he is right. It is not right | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
and not neven the passion of the moment is it fair to categorise the | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
Government's support, the official policy of Her Majesty's Government. | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
We support the proposition that the United Kingdom should remain a | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
member of the European Union. He disagrees, but it is not a private | :11:11. | :11:12. | |
interest, it is Government policy. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker and | :11:13. | :11:23. | |
it is very good to have this further opportunity to reemphasise our | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
implacable opposition to the trade union bill it is entirely | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
unnecessary. It is bad for workers and it is also bad for businesses. | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
And, as the minister said, the Lord set up a cross-party committee, to | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
look at the trade union and party political funding and that committee | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
came up with a series of Salisbury convention compliance | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
recommendations, which were voted for by a majority of peers from | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
parties. I wonder if the minister can confirm he met with Lord Burns, | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
who made clear the strength of clearing on the other matter. Can he | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
confirm that he has received overwhelming reputations from all | :12:10. | :12:11. | |
quarters, including the trade unions, which by the way, is hardly | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
surprising, give this is the trade union bill that he should receive | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
reputations from the unions. Is it not the case that all these various | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
reputations made clear that the proposals on political funding were | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
unworkable and breached the long established convention that major | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
changes to the funding a political party should only happen by | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
agreement. Now, it would appear, at least partially, that the minister | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
listened. Well done. But he should have listened earlier and he | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
#23450eds to keep listening, actual limit can I ask him now to have a | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
few more meetings with trade unions, who have made entourly reasonable | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
proposals on E balloting and facility time which remain in the | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
bill. There is still time for him to think again. | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
Mr Speaker, I can confirm what the honourable gentleman has said, which | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
is earlier this week that I did hold a meeting, at my request, with the | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
noble Lord Burn, in which I discussed with him an amendment we | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
put down and we were intending to move to this bill. That amendment | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
was one which would still have aapplied the compulsory option to | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
existing members of trade unions, but would have built in a longer | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
period of transition for trade unions to implement this and would | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
have changed the agraments for renewal of their opt-in to align wit | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
the political ballots that need to take place every ten years. I hoped | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
that was a compromise that the noble Lord Burns would feel, if not | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
enthusiastic about, at least able to indicate that he would not actively | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
oppose when the bill went back to the Upper House in the next stage of | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
ping-pong. And the nobble Lord Burns, who is a man I have huge | :14:07. | :14:14. | |
admiration and liking, was very, very clear to me that he felt that | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
was not an exception able compromise, that not just would he | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
not support it, he would actively the reinstatement of his amendment. | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
He made clear his judgment was not so much a political one or, and | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
certainly not inspired by questions around the balance of party funding, | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
it was simply based on his experience in the financial services | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
industry, which is where he said that it is very, very unfair to ask | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
people to sign up to new things when they have already expressed an | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
opinion on that very same question by a means which was previously | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
legal. He said that applied in this case and he thought that it was | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
wrong and that he could not support it. | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
We then reflected on Lord Burns' position and moved the amendments | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
that we passed last night. As for the honourable member's comments | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
about the rest of the bill, I just have to be very, very clear with him | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
and with honourable members on his side, this bill is going to | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
dramatically improve the state of employment relations and the state | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
of industrial action. At the moment a trade union, like various | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
education trade unions, can hold a strike three years after a ballot | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
has been passed with the turnout of less than 20% of their members and | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
still close over 1,000 colleges. That is currently legal. When the | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
bill, that with the support of my honourable friend, we are passing in | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
this House, and I anticipate the nobble Lords will pass next week, | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
when that achieves royal consent it will not be possible to inflict on | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
hard-working parents the closure of a school in the middle of a week on | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
the basis of a tiny turnout that would secure -- that was secured | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
several years ago. That is why I am proud of this bill. That is why I | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
think my honourable friend can be proud of this bill. We have secured | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
our manifesto commitments for all working people. The | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
THE SPEAKER: The minister has been diverted from the path of procedure | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
vert cho as a result of the cheeky enquiries of the opposition front | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
bench. We cannot now have a third reading on the trade union bill and | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
must focus narrowly instead upon the matter of the urgent question, which | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
I know will be done faithfully by Lord Liam Fox. Thank you, Mr | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
Speaker. In making this change in the trade union bill and following | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
on from our abavendment of our manifesto commitments on immigration | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
by not rethe goshiating freedom of movement, can he tell us of the | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
commitments he referred, which must not be abandoned in terms of trying | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
to seek a vote. Mr Speaker, your cautionary tone is ringing in my | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
ears. So, I will answer my Right Honourable friend's question by | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
narrowly focussing on the measures in this bill, which demonstrate, I | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
believe, as I said at the start of my statement, that we had genuinely | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
secured everything that was in our manifesto. It is a point that came | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
up in my discussion with Lord Burns who knows a thing or two about | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
legislative drafting. He said he was confident having read and re-read | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
the resis words in our manifesto about the transparent opt-in for the | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
political fund. He was very, very clear that the amendment that he | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
moved and it was passed in the upper place fulfilled that manifesto | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
commitment in full. Not only that, that the further introduction of | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
opt-in to apply to existing members was not given cover by the Salisbury | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
convention and he would made it plain in the Upper House if we were | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
to try and restore that position. I mean no commitment of those who | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
wrote our manifesto because it is a wonderful document which will live | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
through the ages. Their wording was not so precisely established as to | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
ekoo our that additional application of the opt-in to existing members of | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
trade unions. Thank you, Mr Speaker and we want to reiterate on these | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
benches our complete opposition to the trade union bill. Can the | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
minister confirm that it would be strange for a piece of legislation | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
that affects six million workers for a Government not to consult with | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
bodies that represent those six million workers? Can he also confirm | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
that the Government were considering concessions as far as as the 26th | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
January, when a memorandum in his name was leaked to many media | :19:13. | :19:19. | |
outlets? What onof going discussions is he having with devolved | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
institutions who have a major problem with this bill and the time | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
and further issues? Thank you, Mr Speaker. The honourable gentleman | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
made a valuable contribution to our deliberations at all stages, perhaps | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
especially in committee. He was vocal and incisive in his commitment | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
of almost every measure in the bill. Of course he is right. We don't just | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
hold discussions with institutions in society about whom we are | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
legislating. I think it would be a little unfair if we didn't. We | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
invited them to give evidence to the committee. We had one of the most | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
terrifying sightsvy seen in long time, which is the General Secretary | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
of Unite, the General of GMB and of the TUC, all sitting in a row, | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
giving evidence to that committee. So, of course it was right to do | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
that. He's also right that we consulted with a devolved | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
administration. I have had a number of conversations on phone and | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
devolved Governments who have expressed concern about whether all | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
the provisions in the bill should properly apply to them, although we | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
are confident that all the provisions in the bill relate to | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
observed matters and therefore apply to everyone and every trade union in | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
the United Kingdom. I chaired the trade union bill and committee. If I | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
am not going to comment on the trade union bill, was I can made a | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
constitutional point? There would be concern if, as part of the ping-pong | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
process, any Government, at any time made concessions on a bill, as a | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
result of something which had nothing to do with that bill. | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
My honourable friend is an honourable man and I am sure he can | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
confirm that no Government of which he was a part would ever do that. | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
Mr Speaker, I think I have expressed -- explained clearly what the | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
process was. I speak for myself in simply saying when I met the | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
immovable force of the Lord Burns, I decided that maybe discretion was | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
the better part of valour. That's not to say that Government ministers | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
don't have discussions on all sorts of issues with all sorts of people | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
in society. And it is the Government's policy to | :21:38. | :21:46. | |
support the Remain Remain campaign. The General Secretary of TUC is a | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
member and has been for months and the trade unionsvy have listed have | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
made their positions clear, long before this bill came back to this | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
House or was considered in connection with the opt-in the Upper | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
House. So, I just gently say to my honourable and Right Honourable | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
friends that not every compromise is a conspiracy. | :22:10. | :22:18. | |
THE SPEAKER: Mr Denis Skipper. -- Ski in, ner. | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
Now that the Government are calling to this barmy idea which has been | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
propagated this morning from the right-wing of the Tory Party, now | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
that the Government has seemingly prepared to give way on different | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
subjects, can I ask him, what is the price for dropping this lousy, | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
rotten trade union bill at? -- all together? | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
Mr Speaker, it is the goal of my life to give pleasure to the | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
honourable gentleman. I have to, I am afraid, I have to | :22:55. | :23:01. | |
tell him that there is no price, because we believe in this bill, we | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
believe in our manifesto. And we are well on the way to delivering it. | :23:06. | :23:14. | |
I hope the minister will understand that when we read from a senior | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
political journalist in the Telegraph the following words, "Last | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
night a union source said bosses had always been clear it would be | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
difficult to spend significant amounts on the campaign to keep | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
Britain in the Union, whilst fighting against the trade union | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
bill, but they revealed that unions will now step up their campaigning | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
and funding efforts in light of the concessions." He can well understand | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
why people are asking these questions. Can he confirm right now | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
that this journalist is absolutely wrong? Her sources are incorrect and | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
no such trade took place? Mr Speaker, I am afraid I am going | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
to have to repeat what I have already said, which is there is a | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
natural process towards the end oh of a parliamentary session, where | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
concessions are made on bills in order to secure their timely | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
passage. What trade unions decide to do about their long-standing | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
commitment to back the remain campaign is entirely a matter for | :24:16. | :24:25. | |
them. I think this is a very rare occurrence for the Government to | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
actually listen to the Members of Parliament, both in the Upper House | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
and here. And I welcome that. That is the right thing to do. And it is | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
right that they should meet with trade unions. Of course they should. | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
This legislation is an attack on trade unions and does nothing for | :24:44. | :24:50. | |
employer relations whatsoever. It is a wrecking piece of legislation and | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
any concessions, at all, can only improve this bill and I hope we | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
could see more in the short time left to it. | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
Mr Speaker, the honourable lady is far too kind to me. I didn't want to | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
listen at all. I simply acknowledged that when you have a -- an array of | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
forces which includes most of the crossbench, all of the Liberal | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
Democrat party, all of the Labour Party and some very influential | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
Conservative peers, when you have that, neophytes like me in this game | :25:29. | :25:38. | |
perhaps need to admit defeat. It is true that the noble lord, Lord | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
Cormack, is a very special parliamentarian. As the grandson of | :25:42. | :25:51. | |
a trade union shop steward who went on to become a Conservative trade | :25:52. | :26:02. | |
unionist, I can say that has been opposition on this side of the House | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
and can I thank him for listening to that. The debate can family | :26:07. | :26:15. | |
Conservative manifesto piece to improve situations. I thank my | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
honourable friend and his father, who did not just make it to the | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
Other Place but made it into the Cabinet and was a very significant | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
performer in the area of employment law and industrial relations, so we | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
have much to learn from his work, and he is right about that. I hope | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
it is not breaking a confidence to say that there are other members of | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
this House with whom I've had conversations about the specific | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
provision who were deeply concerned about them and they do include among | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
them, I don't think I should mention their names, they include among them | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
leading supporters of those in the campaign to leave the European | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
Union. Can there be any psychological explanation why so | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
many Tory MPs have such a loathing of trade unions? I do not recognise | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
that loathing and I certainly don't feel it myself. Can I join with my | :27:19. | :27:27. | |
honourable friend from Worcester to say firstly congratulations to the | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
minister in the way that he has handled this bill but also to ask | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
him, again, if it is not the case that he has had conversations with | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
many people on all sides of the House, including this side of the | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
House, both here and in the Other Place about their concerns and that | :27:47. | :27:49. | |
many of those concerns have been addressed without any contributions | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
being made at all to us? I can confirm that and none more important | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
than my honourable friend who had some very serious concerns which he | :28:01. | :28:03. | |
did exactly the right thing, you came to see me privately about them | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
as we were deliberating in this House, he laid an amendment at | :28:08. | :28:10. | |
reports state which he then did not move because I gave him reassurance | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
we would look closely at it as the Bill progressed and while he was not | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
here, I mentioned specifically yesterday that he had been hugely | :28:21. | :28:23. | |
influential in our decision ultimately not to press ahead with | :28:24. | :28:31. | |
the decision to remove the check arrangement from trade unions the | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
public sector. Can I declare an interest as someone who has been in | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
the following level -- for an levy since 1969, and the former head of | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
the trade union. The trade unions are clear. They do not want this | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
bill at all. Even Winston Churchill spoke against what they are trying | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
to do and what ever gossip people are hearing, there is no doubt that | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
the trade unions vote would be Labour Party's remain campaign | :29:07. | :29:13. | |
because they realise that the right-wing reactionaries who would | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
deregulate this nation would be bad for employers -- employees. I think | :29:18. | :29:28. | |
the honourable gentleman's words speak for themselves and they are | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
very helpful. It is a shabby political episode when the | :29:34. | :29:36. | |
Government has been caught violating trade union legislation to sit | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
persuade the trade unions to come on board with a campaign to stay in the | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
European Union. Isn't it now clear that the Government, big business, | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
the BBC and now the trade unions are all hanging up on British people to | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
try to persuade them to stay in the European Union? Mr Speaker, nothing | :29:57. | :30:03. | |
pains me more than to have clearly angered my own furry friend -- by | :30:04. | :30:10. | |
honorary friend because I have extreme liking for him. I always | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
dropped everything to go to his constituency because he is a great | :30:15. | :30:17. | |
man but I do reject what he has said. I think perhaps in this case | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
he is able the bit blinded by his passion for the issue and I would | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
simply point to him that all he needs to do is to look at the front | :30:29. | :30:31. | |
pages and the editorial pages of every single newspaper that is | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
traditionally seen as a Conservative supporting newspaper to see that | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
there is a balance of opinion in this debate. His arguments are being | :30:40. | :30:47. | |
well represented. Given the impact this bill will have on workers | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
rights across the whole of the United Kingdom, can I ask the | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
minister what discussions he had with the devolved administrations | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
since the Lords amendments? I haven't yet had that pleasure but I | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
anticipate it. Thank you Mr Speaker. This is a very simple issue which | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
the Minister could give a straightforward answer to. The | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
allegation is that the trade union bill was watered down for the | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
benefit of the trade unions on the understanding that they would then | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
make a considerable donation to the campaign to stay in the European | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
Union. Can the Minister give us, with the authority of the dispatch | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
box, a clear denial that any such discussion took place and that in no | :31:32. | :31:38. | |
way whatsoever, no discussions with ministers or officials, in no way | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
what any of the watering down of the trade union Bill done with any | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
mention of any funding for the U remain campaign for the trade | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
unions? It is very simple to deny it if it is not true. Mr Speaker, I | :31:50. | :31:56. | |
aspire to be as straightforward as my honourable friend. I have been | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
very clear. We went through a process of negotiation, not just | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
with Shadow ministers but with members of other parties and in the | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
Other House and we have secured a package, which I have to say I do | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
not believe any honourable member on my side of the House would have | :32:13. | :32:15. | |
predicted when we introduced this bill that we would have secured as | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
much of it as swiftly and as easily as we have, because it was probably | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
the most politically controversial bill in our original Queen 's | :32:24. | :32:31. | |
speech. As for decisions by the trade unions to back the campaign | :32:32. | :32:33. | |
for which they have already declared, long before's -- long | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
before yesterday's considerations of the Bill, I think the honourable | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
gentleman spoke very clearly when he said they would support this | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
campaign full heartedly and full throated Lee because they believe it | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
is in the interests of their members to do so. I do not think there is | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
anything so grubby as a deal but if an agreement was reached can I | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
congratulate the opposition Chief Whip on showing how this can be | :33:02. | :33:08. | |
done? Can I ask him to follow the leadership of the trade unions and | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
contact their members to make the case for year up and the terrible | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
threats for growth if we leave a single market of 500 million | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
consumers? Mr Speaker, I'm not sure if you will that I'm likely answer | :33:24. | :33:31. | |
to that question as directly relevant to the question but I will | :33:32. | :33:34. | |
venture until you stop me. I will venture that small companies have | :33:35. | :33:42. | |
beefs about the European Union, so do I, but ultimately they feel it is | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
in our interest to stay will stop I feel all of us should be doing what | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
we can do to encourage people that we represent to see that their | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
interests are best protected by staying in. The person who asked | :33:56. | :34:04. | |
this question speaks passionately on behalf of of his own union which is | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
the general and municipal union of a Brexit bigots. It is extraordinary | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
that he asks for the advisor on ministerial interest to be woken up | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
from his slumber. He has been virtually unemployed since he was | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
appointed when the previous holder of that office resigned, believing | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
that he should have been called in to investigate the conduct of the | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
Member for North Somerset who -- North Somerset who gained absolution | :34:37. | :34:44. | |
by resignation. As the person asking this question, why isn't he asking | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
for an enquiry into the two ministers who gave ?3 million to | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
Kids Company in the face of advice from their civil servants three days | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
before it collapsed? It is because the office of the advisor had been | :34:58. | :35:04. | |
degraded and politicised. Calm down. Calm. For the benefit of yoga -- the | :35:05. | :35:13. | |
benefit of yoga, even for ministers, should not be underestimated. I want | :35:14. | :35:26. | |
to talk about a pause for order. The reason I didn't intervene when a | :35:27. | :35:29. | |
word was used is because I believe it to be a matter of taste. There | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
was no imputation of dishonour. I mean this in no unkind spirit but | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
the honourable member for Harwich and North Essex and other | :35:41. | :35:49. | |
like-minded souls are perfectly capable of looking after themselves | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
and their honour has not been impugned in any way. That is why the | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
remark stands. The Minister must of course reply. Mr Speaker, there are | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
no bigots on this side of the House, least of all my honourable | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
disavowing to disagree with me on this subject. The honourable | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
gentleman does himself absolutely no credit by hurling that kind of | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
Playschool abuse across this chamber. He is a disgrace, the | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
comment was a disgrace and he should withdraw it. The Minister is | :36:22. | :36:28. | |
entitled to his view and I hope the House won't take offence if I say I | :36:29. | :36:37. | |
will judge if a comment should be withdrawn. I think we should leave | :36:38. | :36:47. | |
it there. If I were to intervene on grounds of order every time a | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
question were not answered nothing else would ever happen in the | :36:52. | :36:58. | |
chamber. I must confess, Mr Speaker, I must find myself amused by this | :36:59. | :37:12. | |
question of urgency. I am restating yet again my absolute opposition to | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
this bill. Can the Minister confirm that trade unions remain a part of | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
civil society and they have an absolute right to make | :37:21. | :37:22. | |
representations on the half of them and the two Government irrespective | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
of what right-wing members of his own backbenchers might wish? Of | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
course I can confirm that but I have to say to the honourable gentleman | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
that frankly the position governing strike action the position governing | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
the proper regulation of trade union activities with regards to finances | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
and membership, the position regarding picketing and intimidation | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
of non-striking workers, all of those were frankly not acceptable | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
until this bill was introduced to this House and remain not acceptable | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
until this bill has secured Royal assent. Of course I accept that | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
trade unions have an important role in society but they needed this | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
reform, they will benefit from this reform and I want to put on my | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
record -- on record my gratitude to all members on my side, not least | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
the honourable member who has made comments on this bill, their support | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
of this bill. As today is International Workers Memorial Day, | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
I think it says that they poignant reminder as to why we need good and | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
strong trade unions in our society. I think it's also right that we have | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
the trade union movement opposed to many of the measures contained | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
within this bill which is an attack on how they operate on behalf of | :38:39. | :38:43. | |
their members. In terms of the substantive point of the urgent | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
question today, of course the trade union Bill is not yet legislation. | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
It hasn't been connected, so surely -- it hasn't been an active, so | :38:56. | :38:57. | |
surely the fact that the Labour affiliated trade union has decided | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
to donate some of its money, it's Labour affiliated political fund, to | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
a Labour supported campaign is perfectly within the law? Mr | :39:10. | :39:18. | |
Speaker, he is correct. I am extremely grateful to the Minister | :39:19. | :39:21. | |
and all colleagues. We come now to the business question. | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
Points of order have really come after statements, I would prefer... | :39:27. | :39:36. | |
The honourable gentleman has had a good run. He should be patient. Aam | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
sure his point of -- I am sure his point of order can be heard later. | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
Mr Speaker, will the lead ore of the House give us the forthcoming | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
business? So, Mr Speaker, on Monday 2nd May | :39:51. | :39:59. | |
the House is not sitting. It is the Mayday bank hole dasmt Tuesday 3rd | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
we will sit Monday hours, not Tuesday hours, when we will debate a | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
motion to approve a ways and means resolution to the Housing Bill, | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
followed by considerations and amendments of the planning bill. On | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
the 4th May, an Opposition Day Debate. That will be followed by a | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
motion relating to education funding in London. A subject determined by | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
the backbench committee. Thursday 5th, there'll be a debate on | :40:32. | :40:39. | |
contributions of faith sector to local communities. Friday 6th May, | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
the House is not sitting. The provisional business for the | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
following week, commencing Monday 9th May, will include on the Monday | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
a debate on the motion of Government departments outside London and the | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
subject of this debate determined by the Backbench Business Committee, | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
followed by consideration of Lords' amendments. I should like to inform | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
the House that the business in Westminster Hall will be a debate on | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
an e-petition relating to the Government's referendum leaflet. Mr | :41:10. | :41:16. | |
Speaker, Ed Balls, do we actually, Mr Speaker, have a Government at | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
all? They are all over the place. We all thought the referendum was a | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
simple question of EU in or out? This week it got much more | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
complicated as we learnt it is all about the ECHR in or out as well. So | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
the Home Secretary is an in-out, but the hostage-taker is an out-in and | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
the Chancellor is an in-in, along with the Attorney General and the | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
Solicitor-General, but the lead ore the House is an out-out. As for me, | :41:44. | :41:55. | |
I am out for in. Mr Speaker, the Health Secretary tells us he's in | :41:56. | :42:05. | |
his last big job in politics. I hear with an impending reshuffle several | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
ministers have been scouring the job market. I heard rumours of | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
Government postings to overseas territories being planned. | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
Boris is off to cultivate his that polyian complex and for the Health | :42:20. | :42:27. | |
Secretary there is the island known as "inaccessible island" which is | :42:28. | :42:30. | |
probably where the junior doctors want to send him anyway. 33-1 to be | :42:31. | :42:42. | |
the next chancellor of the Exchequer. On this day in 1789 | :42:43. | :42:51. | |
Fletcher Citian mutinied on the bounty. He ended up on an island | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
9,000 miles away from here. I can imagine the leader of the House as | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
the governor of Pitcane, dressed in his white socks and sandals, Lording | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
it over the inhabitants, all 56 of them. If he wants I can put in a | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
word with the Prime Minister for him because the Prime Minister is trying | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
to advance my career, I see. Can we, Mr Speaker, have a debate on | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
irresponsible politics? I suspect the leader may never have heard of | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
Avon Jones, but he tweeted, I think we should have a protest where | :43:29. | :43:36. | |
thousands of us have send e-mails with the words bomb, Iran... He may | :43:37. | :43:44. | |
be a crank but he's the Plaid Cymru condedate for Police and Crime | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
Commissioner in North Wales. Can we have a statement from the Home | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
Secretary on the worrying break down of the E border systems on 13th and | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
14th June last year? We need to know, have there been other break | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
downs? Were full index warnings checked? Why did the Home Secretary | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
cover this up for so long? The leader of the House says we should | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
leave the EU so we can control our borders. Surely the lesson is the | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
greatest threat to our border is frankly Tory income I pi tense. The | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
leader said we should -- incompetence. As I walked into | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
Parliament this morning the police were moving two homeless people on | :44:28. | :44:30. | |
who had been sleeping on the doorstep of this parliamentary | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
palace for the last week. Under the Tories, rough sleeping has doubled | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
and funding for those who are sleeping rough has halved. Now, we | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
believe this bill will make the housing crisis in London even worse. | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
Will this Government, at least ensure for heavens sake that for | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
every single social housing unit sold off another is built in its | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
place? Mr Speaker, on 29th November, 2012, the Prime Minister said of the | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
Leveson Inquiry there would be a second part to investigate | :45:06. | :45:07. | |
wrongdoing in the press and the police. I listened to the Home | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
Secretary very carefully yesterday. She made an excellent statement. She | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
said we have always said a decision on lef son will be made when all the | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
investigations have been completed. That is not right, Mr Speaker. Up | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
until now the Government position, the Prime Minister's position has | :45:25. | :45:31. | |
always been that Leveson will start, but should start as soon as the | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
police and prosecuting authorities have finished their work. Surely one | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
of the many lessons we must learn from Hillsborough is when the | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
relationship between the police and the press gets too close it corrupts | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
them both. After all, some have argued that the law of liable means | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
there's no need nor a strong press regulator, but the 96 whose | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
reputation was dragged through the mud by the police, by the Sun and | :45:58. | :46:07. | |
the Spectator, couldn't sue for libel, could they? As passover ends | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
on Saturday, let me say again, as clearly as I can, anti-Semitism is | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
wrong, full stop, end of story. I am sick and tired of people trying to | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
explain it away and yes, I talking to you Ken Livingstone. Of course | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
the illegal settlements are wrong and the Palestinians deserve a | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
better deal. Rocket attacks are wrong and Hamas and Hezbollah must | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
acknowledge the right of Is hail to exist. I was taught -- of Israel to | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
exist. I was taught not to judge people by the colour of their skin, | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
their gender but their character. I also say it is no better when a | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
senior politician looks at the President of the United States and | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
only sees the colour of his skin and his part Kenyan ancestry, or when | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
the Tory candidate for Mayor of London runs a racially-charged | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
campaign against his Labour opponent. It is irresponsible. I off | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
fendss the decency -- it off fends the decency of the British people. I | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
say racism and racial peg disare not welcome in our political parties. | :47:25. | :47:32. | |
I will come back and I share most of the sentiments just raised let me | :47:33. | :47:43. | |
start by wishing you and the Shadow Minister a happyEd Balls day. I | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
never thought they would miss him as much as they would. He didn't talk | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
about all over the place policies. That is what the Labour Party's | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
position is on this. They don't want prisoners to have the vote. They | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
don't want to change our human rights laws. They ought to be smrt | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
enough to know those two position -- smart enough to know those two | :48:06. | :48:12. | |
positions are income pat tibl. He raised the subject of big jobs in | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
Government. We will remind the gentleman opposite, he does not see | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
his job as the last in Government, as the Prime Minister reminded him | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
yesterday. He talked about jobs for the future. I suspect the odds on | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
him becoming the speaker of this House are longer than the odds of me | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
becoming the manager of Liverpool Football Club. On that subject, can | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
I say a couple of things? I served when we were in opposition as shadow | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
member for Liverpool. I have enormous regard for that city, its | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
people and resilience. I would pay a tribute to all of the Hillsborough | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
families and all the people in Liverpool who supported them through | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
their long years of struggle. They, this week, achieved justice. I would | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
like to pay a trib boo to the member for Lee, who I thought was -- a trib | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
boo to the member for Lee, he deserves credit for what he's done. | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
The honourable gentleman talked about LevesonII. We will not move | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
forward until the cases are complete. That is the right thing to | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
do. We will continue to stick to that position. | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
He made the point about Mr Jones - yes I know who he is. The views he | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
expressed are objectionable. It is my hope in that part of North Wales | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
he is not elected as police and crimes commissioner. On the borders | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
issue I would remind him when Labour were in power the e-Borders | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
programme was supported to arrive and be put into effect. It didn't | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
happen because they failed to deliver the programme. When they | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
talk to us about what we have done in Government, they were in power | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
for 13 years. They started by dismantling our exit check borders | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
and they failed to put in place an alternative. Mr Speaker, he talked | :50:06. | :50:14. | |
about homelessness. Let me remind him of his party's record. They | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
built fewer council Houses than we did in office. Let me talk about | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
anti-Semitism. He has been a voice of reason and common sense. He | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
deserves credit for that. I wish all his colleagues saw things the same | :50:31. | :50:37. | |
way. He is right to talk about Ken Livingstone. His matters suggest | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
they were not anti-accept mettic, they were disgraceful. I do not | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
understand as many Labour MPs do not understand how Ken Livingstone is | :50:48. | :50:49. | |
still today a member of the Labour Party. He should be suspended from | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
the Labour Party for the things that he said. | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
But I also think there's some any evety on those benches, a member | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
said on the Today Programme she regarded the events as trial via | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
Twitter. She clearly does not fully | :51:10. | :51:12. | |
understand the gravity of the situation. Mr Speaker, despite the | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
wise words of the shadow leader, and I disagree what he said about my | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
honourable friend for Uxbridge, he nonetheless makes a powerful point. | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
He is a beacon of sense in this party. Where is the sense on the | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
rest of his benches of what is a deeply, deeply serious matter? | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
A number of my constituents have been the victims of who appears to | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
be a financial scam. The police have referred them to action fraud. The | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
contact they have had with Action Fraud is minimal. And they are very | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
dissatisfied. Could the leader arrange for a debate on the work of | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
Action Fraud? Well, Mr Speaker, my honourable | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
friend makes an important point. We are aware across our society of a | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
range of different scams. Often it is vulnerable people in our society | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
who are the victims. I pay tribute to him for raiding this issue. I | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
would say the Secretary of State and the business department will be here | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
next week. I hope he will take advantage to make sure it is on his | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
radar as well. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Can | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
I thank you for the business for next week. Forget aboutEd Balls -- | :52:26. | :52:33. | |
about Ed Balls, but we remember all those killed in the workplace. | :52:34. | :52:36. | |
Remember the dead and fight for the living has been considered. The | :52:37. | :52:40. | |
trade union bill, that is very apt words for the business we are | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
considering. Will the Government just now not do it? Will it now do | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
the right thing when it comes to accepting uncompanied child refugees | :52:51. | :53:00. | |
in number of camps. Even the Daily Mail are calling for the Government | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
to accept these children. For the Daily Mail to say this, surely the | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
time has come for this, even this, the most callous of Governments to | :53:09. | :53:11. | |
reconsider its position and do the right thing? It has its chance, it | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
looks like on May 9th the amendment will come back to this House again. | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
Will the Government look at this positively and for the sake of this | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
country, for all the people, even the right-wing press, will it do the | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
right thing for these children? When I was growing up in Scotland, and we | :53:28. | :53:34. | |
sometimes got an announcement which would preview the programmes, it was | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
not for viewers in Scotland. I was sort of thing maybe we could | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
resurrect this and apply it to Prime Minister's Questions. For most of | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
the last two sessions it has been about English schools, not for | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
viewers in Scotland or most other parts of the UK. The leader of the | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
opposition can raise whateverish shoo shoe he wants. It is up to him | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
-- whatever issue he wants. The time has testimony coreview Prime | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
Minister's Questions to make it -- the time has come for a review of | :54:08. | :54:11. | |
Prime Minister's Questions. Maybe the Leader of the House could | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
support that call, Mr Speaker. Can we have a debate on the Government's | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
commitments on the spending on the Clyde shipyards? I remember only too | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
well during the independence referendum and some of the things | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
which were said and I remember a leaflet that went around, which was | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
designed by the Labour and the Tory alliance and a bit together, it was | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
separation kills shipyards. It is what they said. It was a neat | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
slogan. It was all with the union and doom and gloom for secured | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
independence. We know that for the nonsense it is. It is not | :54:47. | :54:50. | |
independence that is killing shipyards, it is the union who is | :54:51. | :54:57. | |
killing it slowly and painfully by administering these yards and | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
delaying the start of works T Scottish people feel duped. Can we | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
have a debate where the Government can explain what is going and an and | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
ensure we get this work started on time. Lastly, I am sure the House, | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
as leader of the House, has full access to the Prime Minister's | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
diary. Can he explain why there's no visit to Scotland from the Prime | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
Minister in advance of a Scottish election? It is probably the last | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
person that Ruth David son would like to see if she has division and | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
beating Labour into third place in Scotland. We would love to see him. | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
Every time he appears it is an extra 2% for the Scottish National Party. | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
Can he encourage the Prime Minister, even his good self to come to | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
Scotland. The more Tories in Scotland the better for the Scottish | :55:49. | :55:51. | |
National Party. Mr Speaker, as the Honourable | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
Speaker knows I have great regard for him as a parliamentary colleague | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
but I do think sometimes his rhetoric lets him down. The idea | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
when he describes this as the most callous of Government, we are | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
providing the second largest amount of aid to all the refugee camps | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
around Syria, doing as much as any nation in the world by the United | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
States to try to help the people affected. We are taking 20,000 | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
people not from other European countries but from the refugee camps | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
where they are the most vulnerable. And when he talks about | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
unaccompanied children, we are talking unaccompanied children not | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
from other EU countries where they are safe, but from the camps where | :56:35. | :56:37. | |
they are safe. Surely that is the sensible, wise on the thoughtful and | :56:38. | :56:41. | |
considerate thing to do? It is not saying no, we won't assist. It is | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
providing assistance to those not able to make it to Europe and that | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
is a policy with resolutely stand-by. He talks about by | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
ministers questions and the discussion about education. I would | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
simply remind him that is the consequence of devolution. This is a | :56:59. | :57:01. | |
United Kingdom Parliament but it is true that in his constituency, | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
education matters are not a matter for him but for the Scottish | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
parliament. That is something we have debated over time, but the | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
reality is that it is a consequence of the Doully volution championship | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
-- devolution that he has championed over time. He talks about shipping. | :57:19. | :57:28. | |
He wants a debate and a chance to vote, he will soon have a chance to | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
vote on removing from Scotland one of the biggest defence facilities in | :57:33. | :57:38. | |
the United Kingdom, very moving jobs, and removing part of the | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
nation's defences and when he can explain his thought on that with | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
regards to Scotland, I will take him seriously. He talks about | :57:51. | :57:54. | |
conservatives in Scotland and I have been to Scotland since the start of | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
the election campaign and I am delighted to see the Conservatives | :57:59. | :58:01. | |
moving up in the polls, though I am sure there is no connection between | :58:02. | :58:04. | |
the two, and all of us on the side of the House believes we have the | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
best leader in Scotland and we believe she will play a crucial part | :58:10. | :58:12. | |
in its affairs over the coming years as people come to realise that the | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
SNP Government in Edinburgh may make a lot of noise, but it's actually | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
incapable of getting the job done. On the 12th of May, the Prime | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
Minister is hosting an anti-corruption Summit in London | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
which has never happened before and I think it will have far reaching | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
impact. Can we have a debate conferred -- concerning the British | :58:37. | :58:39. | |
Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies on a process for | :58:40. | :58:47. | |
benefit information. This is a subject to be debated in Westminster | :58:48. | :58:50. | |
Hall shortly but by honourable friend is absolutely right about the | :58:51. | :58:53. | |
role this Government has played in the last six years, bursting | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
coalition and then on our own. We have delivered -- inevitable change | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
than any previous Government and we should be proud of that. I thank the | :59:04. | :59:10. | |
leader for the announcement of the business and with this afternoon's | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
business which is nominated by the backbench business committed and the | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
half day and day next week that he has announced, we are inching ever | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
closer to the 27 days which the backbench business committee are | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
entitled to within the parliamentary session and I do thank the Leader of | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
the House for that. As has been mentioned, today is Workers Memorial | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
Day and it is a day that is commemorated by the TUC and trades | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
councils all around the country and in my own constituency there will be | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
a memorial service at noon today. We say, remember the date -- the dead, | :59:52. | :59:59. | |
remember the living. It is for those who die within their workplace. I | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
wonder if the leader would consider recognising Workers Memorial Day in | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
the future Parliamentary calendar? Well, Mr Speaker, can I say first of | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
all on the subject of Workers Memorial Day that this country is a | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
better place than it was in the past? He is right, representing an | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
area where there have been great industrial accidents in the past, to | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
recognise the progress made but also to recognise those who died before | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
that progress was made. None of us would want to go back to those days | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
and even though we often debate the complexity of health and safety, I | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
put on record that in my view it is in no way in the interest of anyone | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
in this country to have an environment where people are at risk | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
in the workplace. When industrial accidents happen, as tragically | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
happened at Didcot power station recently, we all regret it and I pay | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
tribute to him and all sides of the House for the work they do to mark | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
this occasion and that has never go back to a time when these things | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
were commonplace in our country. With regards to the Parliamentary | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
character, I am sure he will find an opportunity to recognise this | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
important day but also to ensure that in coming years, the same | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
opportunity is there for members of the House. -- the Parliamentary | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
calendar. Macy, a nine-year-old girl in my constituency is not well at | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
the moment. I think she was taken into hospital again last night. To | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
make her completely better, she's going to have to go to the United | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
States and the NHS are providing for that. But there was a problem | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
because she couldn't get her passport. She doesn't have a | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
passport and her mother doesn't have a passport and it would have taken | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
up to six weeks for this to have occurred. Thanks to the intervention | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
by my friend, the honourable member for Northampton North, and a | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
personal intervention of the Home Secretary, the passports are now | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
going to be sorted out tomorrow. Macy asked if I could thank the | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
House for that and in particular the Home Secretary. So perhaps we could | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
have a general debate sometime in the future about how the Government | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
can, at times, work together for common sense? Mr Speaker, I think my | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
honourable friend's words say at all. We wish her all the very best | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
for her treatment and her recovery. It is nice to see. Very often the | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
image of this place is one of political debate and confrontation, | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
but actually behind the scenes there are decent people on all sides of | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
this House, of whom he is one, working under half of their | :02:47. | :02:48. | |
constituents, trying to solve problems like this one where all of | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
us would want the right thing to be done. Mr Speaker, the Leader of the | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
House will know that Calvin Thomas is retiring today after 26 years | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
great service to the House, including six teen years as a | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
doorkeeper and in the special gallery since 2009. I know Calvin | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
well personally because we have sometimes been confused with each | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
other due to our similar if different names. He has been | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
consistently charming in carrying out his duties as a valued member of | :03:19. | :03:25. | |
our staff, so may I raise the banks of all the members of the staff and | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
wish him a happy retirement on our behalf? The honourable gentleman has | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
had said it eloquently on behalf of all of us and I would echo his | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
words, not only to which Calvin a very happy retirement but also to | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
express thanks to our doorkeepers who are great servants to this | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
House, treating us all with great courtesy and good humour, performing | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
valuable work for us and we value what they do enormously. As my right | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
honourable friend may know, the UK sepsis trust has been working for | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
some time with the Secretary of State for Health to try to establish | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
a public awareness campaign. This. Sepsis currently claims around | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
44,000 lives in the UK a year and the symptoms of the disease are | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
still not well recognised. Do you think we could have a debate on what | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
could be done to introduce a sepsis specific awareness campaign for both | :04:23. | :04:24. | |
children and adults because I believe it would save the lives of | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
thousands of people every year? Mr Speaker, can I start by | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
congratulating my honourable friend on the work she is doing in this | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
important area and say I am aware that the Secretary of State is | :04:39. | :04:40. | |
taking this issue enormously seriously. He has had meetings about | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
the kind of work she is talking about and I am sure he will wish to | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
take that forward. It is of course a very serious matter and it is | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
beholden upon us, Mr Speaker, as representatives of our constituents | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
as well as members of the Government to deal with challenges like that. I | :04:59. | :05:07. | |
would ask the Leader of the House to condemn the Labour PCC candidate in | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
North Wales for the appallingly callous Twitter comments which can | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
only be interrupted by right thinking candidates as marking | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
Hillsborough families. I tend to this. We'll be Leader of the House | :05:21. | :05:30. | |
presently Business Secretary to make a statement to ensure Port Talbot | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
workers that this Government priorities -- prioritises their | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
future indeed as well is worth? All future decisions will be made on | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
evidence -based research? Mr Speaker, I can ensure the honourable | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
lady that this is a matter the Government takes enormously | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
seriously. The Secretary of State for business will be here next week | :05:56. | :05:57. | |
and I would say to her this is something the Government has taken | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
interest in from the Prime Minister downwards. He has taken a personal | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
interest and none of us want to see Paul Tolbert disappear. We all want | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
to make steel and we will all make sure that it continues. Can we find | :06:08. | :06:19. | |
time for a debate on the conduct of the EU referendum campaign so far? | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
Can this thing in the south-west I have filed local residents | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
absolutely angered by the intervention of the outgoing | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
president and the intervention of national affairs and the ?9 million | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
which has been spent on the leaflet and think the booklet making | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
predictions for 2030 is crazy, when just like weather forecasters they | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
cannot get their projections right for the next day? My honourable | :06:49. | :06:59. | |
friend is a vigorous campaigner on these issues and he will be able to | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
take part in a debate on the 9th of May. The interesting thing is, will | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
be factors he has described have an impact on the poll he is describing? | :07:12. | :07:19. | |
We have heard from the Shadow Leader of the House this morning that a | :07:20. | :07:21. | |
British Airways computer system despite -- designed to stop the | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
movement of terrorists crashed for 48 hours last year. I have also | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
learned that an outsourcing programme at BA threatens 800 | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
skilled workers, skilled workers who are working to protect our country. | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
May we therefore have a debate to discuss the role of outsourcing in | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
this event and to stop BA from threatening our national security to | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
save money? The Government takes our national security enormously | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
importantly and of course, while the failure she talks about to Place, | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
border control checks do and will always remain in place. Passports | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
are checked when people arrive in this country and the new border | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
system is mostly about trying to check people when they leave the | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
country. It is something we hoped would happen many years ago but it | :08:09. | :08:18. | |
never came to pass. Can we have a debate in Government time on the | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
implications for the United Kingdom of the five presidents report on | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
economic monetary union, because as my right honourable friend will be | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
aware, under the guise of single market legislation, the proposals | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
are to take Intel can signal, company law and is property rights, | :08:34. | :08:42. | |
so don't we have a duty to talk about the consequences of remaining | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
in the European Union? The five Presidents report is a major | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
document which sets out the visions of the institution for the next ten | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
years and it has and will provoke a lively debate about the future of | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
this country and the European Union as a whole. If my honourable friend | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
feels it is a matter that should be debated in this House, I would | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
suggest, and I suspect they would be time available, and I would suggest | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
a debate on the subject would attract widespread participation. | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
Last week during prime ministers questions I raised a very serious | :09:22. | :09:24. | |
issue of food banks increasing in the last year alone of 20% and this | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
is precisely due to benefit delays and even more criminally benefit | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
sanctions. One person had been sanctioned for three whole years. | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
The reply I got from the Leader of the House was, this could only | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
happen if three reasonable job offers had been turned down so I | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
want to return to this issue to answer a question. Paul was on ?36 a | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
week. He was on three sanctions you to not filling out his job log but | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
correctly. He turned up ten minutes late due to problems getting a bus | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
and thirdly, he was waiting for an hour at the Jobcentre which he had | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
two expresses dissatisfaction for. Living on ?36 a week for three whole | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
years, I would like them to consider as a matter of urgency a debate on | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
the sanctions on an increasing number of people are having to | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
depend on the Sanctuary -- the charity of others. | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
I suggest the honourable gentleman looks at the circumstances of the | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
case closely because I produced the sanction and it was a judge is for | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
people who are on three separate occasions turned only reasonable job | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
offer, people who refused to work, and it remains my view that people | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
who refuse to work and refuse to work again and again should not be | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
entitled to carry on receiving support from the benefit system. | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
Last week in the excellent news, really welcome news that my | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and safeguard | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
the qualifications and teaching of community language. Gujarati, | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
Bengali, who do, Japanese, Arabic, modern Greek, modern Hebrew, | :11:07. | :11:14. | |
Portuguese and Turkish. That means we have safeguarded the | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
qualifications and the teachings of these vital languages in the modern | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
world so that everyone can communicate. Unfortunately, the | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
Secretary of State was not able at Questions this week to regale the | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
good news and I don't think something like this should be left | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
to wither on the vine so surely we should have a statement on this | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
position so that we can actually make sure that everyone understands | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
that from 2018, these languages are safeguarded our education system. Of | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
course this is enormously important and why we have the benefit of this | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
country and the news we had to an international language and English, | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
it is right and proper that as a cosmopolitan society we champion | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
languages that not only preserve the communities that live here but also | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
open enormous opportunities for Britain around the world saw my | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
honourable friend makes an important point and I have no doubt she will | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
look into the different channels available to him to make sure these | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
matters are debated a lot more in this House. Last week I spoke in the | :12:13. | :12:21. | |
introduction of the national living wage debate to highlight the | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
injustice of the decision to deny the living wage to under 25 is. A | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
young person could start work at 18 and be in a role for seven years | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
before being paid the same as their older and potentially less | :12:36. | :12:37. | |
experienced colleagues. Can we give members the time to write this wrong | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
and extend a living wage to people under 25? It was the policy of this | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
Government and previous Government to differentiate between older and | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
younger workers precisely because when a young worker enters the | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
workplace, the employer is making an investment decision as well as a | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
recruitment decision. The employer takes responsibility for training | :13:03. | :13:12. | |
and developing that worker. Many young people who start on the | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
national living which will live on through success either in their own | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
workplace or moving to another job to move up the pace skill but I | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
think it is important to do everything we can to incentivise | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
employers to take on young people. As we're talking about the dodgy | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
behaviour of PCC candidates, a number of folks standing for | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
election next week are previous coppers who are trading on the | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
record as police officers. Does he agree with me that they should bring | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
forward proposals to make sure that those standing to be PCC makes their | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
police service records available for scrutiny? My honourable friend makes | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
an important point, I am aware of allegations around the Labour PCC | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
candidate in Humberside. It is absolutely the case that if the | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
story alleged is true, he is unfit for public office and it is a matter | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
of public interest that the two should be known before election day. | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
Back in 1847 when Lord John Russell was Prime Minister, our taxi | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
licensing laws were developed. We now have a problem in the North West | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
of England where one particular local authority is handing out | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
Hackney taxi licences like sweeties. The problem we've got is that once | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
you have a hackney license, you can operate as a private hire a anywhere | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
in the country so there are no taxis on this local authority operating as | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
far afield as Bristol without appropriate checks and balances so | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
can we have an urgent debate on how we bring up to date our taxi | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
licensing regime? The honourable gentleman makes a good point and I | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
was not aware of the situation. I will make sure that as John to the | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
attention of the Secretary of State who was also unaware I'm sure I will | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
look at the matter seriously. The Secretary of State for communities | :15:16. | :15:17. | |
and local Government has threatened to introduce legislation which would | :15:18. | :15:19. | |
make it illegal for those in my constituency to charge on Government | :15:20. | :15:26. | |
and organise sporting event which attracts the few hundred people to a | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
small part every weekend. I think it is a tad hypocritical. Could I ask | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
my honourable friend if we can have a debate on the power of local | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
councils the freedom to charge organisers who run sporting events | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
in their parks? I am not aware of the proposal my honourable friend | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
refers to it but I understand his concern and I can see why he would | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
raise this as a matter of importance in the House today. What I would say | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
to him is that I will draw that to the Secretary of State. Clearly we | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
want to encourage local authorities to support and develop and underpin | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
events like this that bring communities together. He makes an | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
important point about his own constituency. I'll make sure we get | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
the proper response for you. This week seen a dispute between the | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
other place in this chamber and instead of leading to accompanied | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
refugee children being allowed in, it will lead to more cronies in the | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
House of Lords. The leader said there is no appetite for proper | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
reform. I would like to ask him to make a statement, asking when is the | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
public appetite for even more cronies and donors in the 800 that | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
exist at present and where does the manifesto commitment to continue | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
stuffing that other place? I do think the honourable gentleman and | :16:48. | :16:48. | |
his colleagues opposite insult many of the very deserving and very | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
effective people operating the other place, people who represent the | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
disability lobby who have serious disabilities themselves, people who | :17:01. | :17:02. | |
represent the arts world who have long track record in the arts, | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
people from the business world. I think the expertise and the other | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
place brings something significant to our parliamentary system even | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
though sometimes the two houses disagree over issues are weak -- as | :17:16. | :17:24. | |
we are currently. Given the delays my constituents have faced in reform | :17:25. | :17:33. | |
payments, could we have a debate on farmers whose land crosses the | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
English and Welsh borders and Scottish and English borderers who | :17:37. | :17:39. | |
always appear to be at the back of the queue? This of course remains an | :17:40. | :17:47. | |
issue. I have spoken to the department about this and it is true | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
across the country that the vast majority of payments have now been | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
made but I hear the point my honourable friend makes an owl make | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
sure the Secretary of State is aware of his concerns and she will be here | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
next week and will be able to respond to him fully. The Leader of | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
the House will be aware of the emerging crisis at the yards on the | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
Clyde tasked with building the type 26 frigate. A late start of the | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
project and uncertainty over the future workflow threatens hundreds | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
of jobs at Govan in Scotstoun. Can we therefore have a debate on | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
Government time to allow members of this House to discuss in depth the | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
future of the Klein ship building industry -- Clyde, and give a voice | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
to those workers and should of the future? The reason the Clyde | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
shipbuilding industry has a strong future is twofold, firstly because | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
they remain part of the United Kingdom and therefore benefit from | :18:47. | :18:48. | |
the United Kingdom's defence spending and the second is because | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
this Government has committed to the 2% spending level is part of our | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
commitment to Nato. If those things were not happening, of course the | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
future would be much more uncertain but I'm convinced that the Clyde | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
shipyards have a strong future. They are an essential part of and we need | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
to make sure they continue to flourish. I have a statement about | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
the treatment of Idaho is about politicians, petitions that | :19:16. | :19:17. | |
attracted large number of signatures. As the leader knows, | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
there's going to be a debate on the 9th of May about the petition to | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
stop the Government spending sums of public money on pro Remain EU | :19:25. | :19:37. | |
referendum. 2072 have so far signed as a few moments ago but that debate | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
will be held in Westminster hall were no vote can be held. Should it | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
not be a possibility for the backbench business committee to hold | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
such debates in the main chamber because otherwise petitioners will | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
be disappointed to find that although their concerns get debated, | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
the House is unable to vote on them? My honourable friend makes an | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
important point and not only on the subject, there are others, I do | :20:10. | :20:11. | |
think I would encourage discourse between the two honourable members | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
who cheer the business and backbench committees to see how well it | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
petition reaches a certain level of public interest that the debate can | :20:25. | :20:26. | |
be brought to the front of the House. Perhaps I can see from the | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
chair, I think that would be a very good thing. I wouldn't dream of | :20:32. | :20:34. | |
taking sides on the issues but in terms of the link dream Parliament | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
and the people, I think it is very important that it be not just | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
tangible but meaningful and a little scope for progress there so I very | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
much appreciate what the Leader of the House has said. On that topic of | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
democracy and having votes, the House divided last week on a motion | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
to ask the UK Government to bring to the UN security council the issue of | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other people. The House 4278 | :21:06. | :21:14. | |
votes to zero. What the House do to bring the Government to account to | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
make sure that it respects the democracy of this place and do what | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
it has been asked to do and make sure that we take crimes against the | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
people in these countries to the UN Security Council as major action is | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
taken? The Government's position as one of shock, horror and | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
condemnation about what has taken place, that is an unreserved | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
statement, and I know that my honourable friend the Foreign | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
Secretary is taking careful note of the view of the House as expressed | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
in the debate that the honourable gentleman refers to. I recently had | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
cause to write to the president of the European Commission asking him | :21:53. | :21:54. | |
to clarify the role his commission is playing in her EU referendum. I | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
have had no answer but given the fact that the commission spent ?560 | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
million directly promoting itself in 2014, that the commission interfered | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
in the Irish referendum in 2009, could we have a statement from the | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
Government as to whether it believes EU interviewers in this referendum | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
as well, not? As I understand, it has no powers to prevent the EU | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
being an unwelcome active participant in our democratic | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
process. I can confirm that that is the case. However, I'm sure there | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
will be different opinions in this House as to whether such an | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
intervention would be helpful or unhelpful to either side of the | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
argument. The minister who spoke from that dispatch box less than a | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
year ago is now employed by industry in China, presumably using his | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
insider knowledge with firms that bring competition with British | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
industries. 70% of former civil servants on income tax are now | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
working in the retirement tax avoidance industry, there should be | :23:08. | :23:18. | |
a fierce, Rottweiler watchdog but there is nothing but a poodle | :23:19. | :23:27. | |
without teeth or clause, Bart -- bark or bite and it is useless. Tell | :23:28. | :23:37. | |
us what you really think! I'm not sure if my memory is correct but if | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
I remember rightly, the committee to which she referred was set up by the | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
party of which she is a part and I would remind him that it was a | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
senior member of his own party who describe themselves after leaving | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
office and well in pursuit of commercial opportunities as a taxi | :23:53. | :24:05. | |
for hire. I visited the rugby junket is project in my constituency under | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
the inspirational dealership of Annette Callier for amazing young | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
people who play a part in the care of family members so I was concerned | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
to hear that Warwickshire Young carers Project will lose funding | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
that affects those under 18 and it will have an effect in rugby. Can I | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
ask for a debate in the importance of properly supporting these young | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
people? My friend makes an important point. One of the most invisible | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
drips of yours are our young carers. None of us understand it until we | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
come across it, how a child can be a full-time carer for a parent. I have | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
a young carers in my constituency which does enormously valuable work. | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
His grip plays an important role clearly and I'm sure he will do | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
everything he can to make sure its future is guaranteed because it is | :24:56. | :24:57. | |
important to the communities represents. | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the discriminatory language | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
that has been used in the chamber recently the Education Secretary | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
called the opposition death, using deafness as a pejorative term, which | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
I think is unacceptable. The Prime Minister used the term pond see, | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
which many people think is homophobic. I wonder if we could | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
have a statement about the language that we use in this chamber. Mr | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
Speaker, I think people here in words what they want to hear but the | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
one thing I would say is that nobody could accuse the pie Minister of | :25:37. | :25:43. | |
homophobia. The man who bought this House and saw through same-sex | :25:44. | :25:45. | |
marriage is not somebody who could ever be described as homophobic. We | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
know that there has been a very thorough committee meeting on the UK | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
steel industry but will be Leader of the House organised a statement to | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
be put out next week so that all members are able to put questions to | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
ministers on behalf of our steel towns, because it is very important | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
that both we and our constituents know exactly what is happening and | :26:12. | :26:14. | |
what process -- progress is being made to secure the industry? All of | :26:15. | :26:24. | |
those who represent steel towns have done a great job in recent weeks to | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
remind us of the importance of that industry and I commend them for | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
that. I can lay on just such an opportunity because next week is the | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
Business Secretary them skills questions and he will be -- he will | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
be able to put it to the Secretary of State then. Heart of the press | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
this morning is early day motion 1432 which backs up the bill I | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
produced on Tuesday to abolish hereditary peers rights to vote and | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
speak in the House of Lords. Given that there are now the same number | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
of members on the front bench of the Government as they were voting in | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
the election of hereditary peers last week, is there not -- is it not | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
time we had a debate to and this farcical process? The party opposite | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
was endowment for 13 years but didn't address the issue they are | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
calling for change on. We all admit that there is something curiously | :27:22. | :27:23. | |
quaint about the Liberal Democrat electorate of three and one has to | :27:24. | :27:29. | |
cut them a bit of slack because there are so few of them these days, | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
but my view is that there are pressing issues facing this country | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
and probably dealing with three people is not top of them. Can I ask | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
the Leader of the House if we can have a debate on the London licensed | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
taxi trade? My black cab drivers in my constituency offer a lots more to | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
London and their community than Uber does. Mr Speaker, my honourable | :27:54. | :28:02. | |
friend makes an important point and in the free market, London taxi | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
drivers do face challenges, but I believe they are the best in the | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
world. I believe they bring something of immense value to our | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
city and I don't believe anything that any of us in politics, either | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
at this level or at the London level, would wish to jeopardise | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
that. Because of statements made in the back page business debate a | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
couple of weeks ago in this House, I presume the Government will see for | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
security review the Chilcott report last week. Can the Leader of the | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
House are daters when we can expect a debate in the House? I am aware | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
that it is now going through what I hope are the final processes before | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
publication and I have said to this House before there is not a person | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
on our side of the House who would not wish to see that report out and | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
published. We were not in power at the time so the issues in their do | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
not affect us. We want to see the truth out there and we want to learn | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
lessons about the Chilcott process in the event of this other having to | :29:01. | :29:10. | |
happen again. Could we have a debate on making it easier for metropolitan | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
councils to switch to all-out elections or elections by halves, | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
said that councils like Dudley can cut the cost of local politics but | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
Mr Speaker, it is of course an important issue. They have the | :29:27. | :29:29. | |
bleeding to do that. It is a matter for local councils as to whether | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
they have elections in thirds, hard or individually and my personal view | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
is that it is a real hike for a local council to do elections every | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
year and I prefer all out elections by self but that is down to local | :29:44. | :29:52. | |
decision-making. Every year on the Sunday closest to St George's Day | :29:53. | :29:55. | |
Enfield Scouts and guides take part in St George 's date parades through | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
Enfield town and I am normally there with them. It is a fantastic day. I | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
want to pay to be to be Scouts and the guides but particularly to all | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
the volunteer leaders who enable Scouts and guides to happen for our | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
young people and what a good job they do. I am very concerned that | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
with the cuts that the Government is passing down to local authorities, | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
youth services are severely at risk and I would ask for a debate in | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
Government time to consider this problem that is affecting our young | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
people and their families. Mr Speaker, can I also pay tribute to | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
the honourable lady for what she had said about anti-Semitism in her | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
party. It brings credit to her as it does to the Shadow leader. Can I | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
also say to her that I absolutely at tree with her on the role of the | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
Scouts and guides but I would say that of course what they represent | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
is the best of our voluntary sector and I think that sometimes we look | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
to depend too much on the Government and public sector for the best work. | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
That work is happening without any involvement of the Government and | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
has done in the centuries since the Scouts and guides movement was | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
formed and long may it continue. The Jewish immunity has a history with | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
Scotland going beyond 200 years -- 's Jewish community, and I know | :31:18. | :31:25. | |
members of this House will want to send a message that we value the | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
contribution they have made not just in Scotland but across the United | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
Kingdom. With that in mind and given events this week, can we have a | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
debate on the valuable contribution that they have made to civil society | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
in this country and, equally important, how we retard | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
anti-Semitism in our political discourse in this country? The | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
honourable gentleman makes a clearly important point and we have heard | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
important contributions on that subject today. This is not just | :31:59. | :32:06. | |
about anti-Semitism. It is about as phobia and prejudices against other | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
groups in our society. There is no place in our society for racial | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
prejudice. It has no place and we should unreservedly condemn it | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
whenever we find it. I would like to ask if we could possibly in light of | :32:22. | :32:29. | |
changes to the railways have a debate about how community groups, | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
such as mining Berry, could lead to discuss how they can drive forward | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
local ownership of railway assets that are to be disposed of so that | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
local people get a say in what happens in their locality? This is | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
actually a very important point and we have to be very careful about | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
disposing of our assets for two reasons. One, as she has described, | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
and the other because local authorities often have a vision to | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
bring transport back into the locale and if that is sold off, that option | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
is taken away. One of the things I am proud of is the reopening of | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
railway lines and railway corridors of the last 15 years. You will be | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
aware, Mr Speaker, that recently a new service was opened from Oxford | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
to London Marylebone across lines which were previously disused and | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
have been brought into operation again and Chiltern Railways. She | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
makes an important point because had decisions being made to dispose of | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
those facilities, that route would not have been possible. We'll ready | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
see the reopening of the line from Cambridge, said she makes an | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
important point about heroin constituency but it is applicable | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
across the country. Last month in business questions I raised the | :33:47. | :33:54. | |
point of Mike constituent -- of my constituency who took a drug which | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
left her children with birth defects. I was advised to raise this | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
at health questions but unfortunately I wasn't successful | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
and I wonder if you have any advice for me on how I can raise the issue | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
of this drug? The health minister has just arrived in the House, so | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
that opportunity, and will probably have heard what she said, but I will | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
raise this with the Department of Health for her at the end of this | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
session and I will ask the appropriate minister to respond to | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
her. She makes a good point and it is one we must be clear of. Many | :34:32. | :34:38. | |
drugs make a difference to our society but when there are side | :34:39. | :34:41. | |
effects like that that she refers to, we must be very careful I am | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
most anxious that the Minister on the Treasury bench should have an | :34:48. | :34:57. | |
opportunity to regain his breath. He is a very welcome arrival. He has | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
just done the marathon. That might be why he is out of breath. Mr | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
Speaker, could we have a debate to discuss the crazy situation I faced | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
in Bexhill and Battle where our local authority has parking | :35:11. | :35:14. | |
enforcement matters the responsibility of the police, who | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
have stated that they can no log do this because they are required to | :35:21. | :35:23. | |
look after policing matters. The local authority refused to take it | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
on and this is driving our residents and business people absolutely mad. | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
Could we have a debate about whether the men should step in and end this | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
madness? Before I answer that, in relation to the arrival of my | :35:38. | :35:40. | |
honourable friend for North East Bedfordshire, can I pay tribute to | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
him but to all the members of the House he ran the marathon last | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
weekend and emerged with medals around their neck, and in the past, | :35:48. | :35:57. | |
but I'd like to focus on this year, please, and I commend all those who | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
raised funds for charity, raised awareness of charities and they | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
deserve a collective pat on the back from people of this House. What I | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
would say from my honourable friend is that he is right. I can | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
understand the frustration that local businesses have I would urge | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
him to be double the on local authorities. If they have enough | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
people coming behind him and what he wants to achieve, in the end, they | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
will have to give way. I am grateful to the Leader of the House and I | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
join him in congratulating the Minister on the front bench on | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
running the marathon again and all other participants in the marathon. | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
But the Leader of the House said is both right and greatly appreciated | :36:41. | :36:41. | |
by colleagues. | :36:42. | :36:43. |