02/03/2017

:00:00. > :00:00.into the accuracy and completeness of campaigners' spending returns. It

:00:00. > :00:00.would not be appropriate at this stage to comment on ongoing cases

:00:00. > :00:10.but the commission will announce its conclusions. Before we come to the

:00:11. > :00:16.business question I remind the house that on Monday I indicated that

:00:17. > :00:23.there would be an opportunity for members to pay their tributes to the

:00:24. > :00:29.former father of the house, but Parliamentary giant Sir Gerald

:00:30. > :00:34.Kaufmann. That opportunity for members comes today in the course of

:00:35. > :00:38.business questions. I will exercise some latitude in terms of the normal

:00:39. > :00:44.length of questions if colleagues wish to express their personal and

:00:45. > :00:54.heartfelt tributes. I look forward to hearing what colleagues have to

:00:55. > :01:03.see about a very remarkable man. Will the leader give the house the

:01:04. > :01:10.forthcoming business? This is the first business question since the

:01:11. > :01:14.death of the father of the house and there is this sense of another link

:01:15. > :01:22.being broken with a former political age. His first political contest was

:01:23. > :01:27.in 1955 where he stood against Harold Macmillan himself. I think

:01:28. > :01:32.without too much expectation of a shock victory on that occasion. He

:01:33. > :01:38.represented excessive Manchester constituencies for many years. --

:01:39. > :01:43.successor. He also served in Number 10 under Harold Wilson who carried

:01:44. > :01:51.with him the memories of working alongside and debating against, in

:01:52. > :01:59.those days the press and in his speech writing capacity, against his

:02:00. > :02:06.opponents in my own party. Then he went on to serve as a minister and

:02:07. > :02:10.for many years as a senior member of the Shadow Cabinet during the Labour

:02:11. > :02:14.Party's years in opposition. I can say from experience that I think his

:02:15. > :02:25.book entitled how to be minister is one that is still worth reading. I

:02:26. > :02:33.suspect the member is looking for ways to publicise that second

:02:34. > :02:38.edition any time soon. I recall from my reading of Gerald's book the

:02:39. > :02:41.importance that he gave to getting control of your diary and your

:02:42. > :02:48.private office at the earliest possible date. Also his age warning

:02:49. > :02:52.to ministers to avoid so far as they could the numerous invitations to

:02:53. > :02:59.speak at banquets and formal burners which inevitably ended with a host

:03:00. > :03:11.denouncing the guest of honour in the most strident possible terms. He

:03:12. > :03:19.was perhaps most in his element as the chairman of the select committee

:03:20. > :03:22.on one and then later the select committee on sport. Even those who

:03:23. > :03:28.did not show his politics knew he was a man who was passionately

:03:29. > :03:33.committed to his own party but passionately committed to the

:03:34. > :03:38.importance of the arts and of cultural values as something that

:03:39. > :03:44.mattered to people in all walks of life and in all parts of the UK. And

:03:45. > :03:51.while those interests and his boozy as is in the field of the arts

:03:52. > :04:03.ranged widely -- his enthusiasm in the arts ranged widely, I wonder

:04:04. > :04:12.what we have missed in being able to hear his comments on the Oscars do

:04:13. > :04:16.back week. I suspect they would have been fairly forceful and waspish

:04:17. > :04:20.intone. We mourn his passing. We shall miss him in this house and I

:04:21. > :04:36.am sure everyone would want to send their sympathy to his family and

:04:37. > :04:41.friends. The business next week, Monday the 6th of March, second

:04:42. > :04:44.reading of the vehicle and technology aviation bill, Tuesday,

:04:45. > :04:49.remaining stages of children social work bill followed by a motion

:04:50. > :04:52.relating to the appointment of the UK Statistics Authority followed by

:04:53. > :04:57.a motion relating to standing orders, Wednesday, the Chancellor

:04:58. > :05:03.will deliver his Budget Statement, Thursday, continuation of the budget

:05:04. > :05:06.debate, Friday the house will not be sitting, provisional business for

:05:07. > :05:09.the week commencing the 13th of March will be continuation of the

:05:10. > :05:14.budget debate on Monday and conclusion of the debate on Tuesday.

:05:15. > :05:18.Colleagues will wish to know that subject to the progress of business

:05:19. > :05:24.the house will rise for the summer researcher at the laws of play on

:05:25. > :05:33.boasting the 20th of July and return on Tuesday the 20th of September.

:05:34. > :05:42.Can I thank the leader for the business? I would like to spend some

:05:43. > :05:49.of the time talking about and to pay tribute to one of our great

:05:50. > :05:53.parliamentarians, the father of the house, Sir Gerald Kaufman, who died

:05:54. > :05:57.at the weekend, and to add to your brilliant tribute on Monday. His

:05:58. > :06:04.family described it as the end of an era and it is for us in Parliament.

:06:05. > :06:07.His great love is were ice cream and films and apparently went to see

:06:08. > :06:11.singing in the rain 20 times in all of the cinemas in Leeds when it

:06:12. > :06:16.first came out. He also worked on that was the week that was, the

:06:17. > :06:26.forerunner of Saturday Night Live, and working with a great Rod Custer,

:06:27. > :06:31.the future director-general. He was fearless in his support for

:06:32. > :06:36.constituents. Down to his popularity and care for his constituents. On

:06:37. > :06:40.today world book day he is remembered for his iconic book how

:06:41. > :06:48.to be a minister. Before I came in to this place I bought that book

:06:49. > :06:52.before I met him as a present for the member for Leicester East before

:06:53. > :07:00.he became a minister in the government. Many members have said

:07:01. > :07:06.how they use that. We have got some lovely anecdotes. The clerk of the

:07:07. > :07:11.house reminded me that on your re-election Sir Gerald was keen to

:07:12. > :07:17.get the whole process right and he proceeded with avuncular dignity and

:07:18. > :07:21.I remember the day and it went off absolutely beautifully and you were

:07:22. > :07:26.re-elected. On a select committee trip to the Isle of Man along his

:07:27. > :07:30.birthday to cheer him up he loved marmalade so he was made orange

:07:31. > :07:35.marmalade ice cream and on committee visit to Rome, some members had not

:07:36. > :07:40.been to Rome so before he went to the ambassadors' dinner he took them

:07:41. > :07:47.to the Trevi fountain and to have some gelato. When he was a minister

:07:48. > :07:50.he always gave a lift to backbenchers when he was in his

:07:51. > :07:54.ministerial car because he knew one day he would be a backbencher. We

:07:55. > :08:00.talk about the greasy pole of politics, it is more like the

:08:01. > :08:07.louche, you get battered as you go down. He dressed beautifully. I was

:08:08. > :08:12.used to watch him in the tearoom. That is probably a tribute to his

:08:13. > :08:17.father who was a tailor, a close friend of Harold Wilson, another

:08:18. > :08:21.great Labour Prime Minister. He was loyal, clever and courageous and he

:08:22. > :08:28.will be missed in this place. We send our condolences to his family

:08:29. > :08:31.and friends. I thank the Leader of the House for the date and everyone

:08:32. > :08:36.is rejoicing that we know when we can rise on the 20th of July but I

:08:37. > :08:41.wondered if he can give an indication of the State Opening of

:08:42. > :08:48.Parliament? I know the deputy Leader of the House of Commons get his

:08:49. > :08:54.outfit ready! Perhaps in keeping with a tribute to Sir Gerald. I know

:08:55. > :08:58.the leader of this as been busy tabling motions and one will be

:08:59. > :09:05.tabled on Tuesday the 7th of March relating to standing order 83. Many

:09:06. > :09:08.lawyers like those amendments were you substitute their fur and but I

:09:09. > :09:14.might have to explain it. I wondered if he can publish a memorandum and

:09:15. > :09:17.see why it has been hurried through the day before the budget because it

:09:18. > :09:21.also relates to things happening in Scotland.

:09:22. > :09:30.The leader of the house is keen on visiting the other place, and I

:09:31. > :09:35.don't know if he's known that the Lord will send back an amendment to

:09:36. > :09:40.the EU Bill, and can the leader of the house gives some indication of

:09:41. > :09:43.when the bill is coming back to Parliament, the week commencing 13th

:09:44. > :09:46.of March or the week commencing the 20th? I want to point out something

:09:47. > :09:49.the leader of the house mentioned last week to remind him that the

:09:50. > :09:55.government's claim of an additional ?10 billion for the NHS by 2021 has

:09:56. > :09:58.been stated in a select committee report which is obviously

:09:59. > :10:01.cross-party, does not accurately reflect, and they say, the impact of

:10:02. > :10:09.the spending review on health expenditure. If the spending review

:10:10. > :10:13.period is considered, 2015-16, down to 2020-21, the increases ?4.5

:10:14. > :10:16.billion, not the 10 billion. I would be grateful if the leader of the

:10:17. > :10:19.house could quote that figure. I thank him for providing me with the

:10:20. > :10:22.closing date for the consultation of the new funding formula which will

:10:23. > :10:26.be on the 22nd of March and I appreciate he's also written to me.

:10:27. > :10:31.The Prime Minister yesterday said that we have had free schools as

:10:32. > :10:37.though it was the past but that it is continuing to create more good

:10:38. > :10:39.places. She said no to grammar schools, is that a no to free

:10:40. > :10:45.schools because the overall funding of new places through free schools

:10:46. > :10:49.has put out ?7.9 billion out of a total of new places of 14.9 billion.

:10:50. > :10:52.But the leader of the house comment on the latest National Audit Office

:10:53. > :10:57.report which has found that some free schools were opening in areas

:10:58. > :11:01.where there were already plenty of places, creating spare capacity that

:11:02. > :11:04.could affect the future financial sustainability of other schools in

:11:05. > :11:08.the area? Can we have a statement on whether funding for free schools

:11:09. > :11:13.represents good value for money for the taxpayer and whether it will fix

:11:14. > :11:16.the problem of school places? Mr Speaker, I'm trying to rush through

:11:17. > :11:20.in the time because I'm aware that other honourable members want to

:11:21. > :11:25.make contributions on Sir Gerald's life but given the debate on

:11:26. > :11:27.international women Pozzo date straight after this -- International

:11:28. > :11:35.Women's Day, straight after this, there have been cases of women

:11:36. > :11:38.arrested and placed in a detention centre, Irene Clenell was married to

:11:39. > :11:43.a British man to 27 years and her job and grandeur were born here and

:11:44. > :11:46.she was removed without warning added 20 roll student about to

:11:47. > :11:50.finish her degree is also in a detention centre with no warning.

:11:51. > :11:53.Can the government clarify the policy on deportations of winning

:11:54. > :11:59.who are no threat and have been caught unfairly by these are the two

:12:00. > :12:03.decisions? It is now ten years, Mr Speaker, since the calls to report

:12:04. > :12:07.on women in prison. Women entering prison are more likely to be in

:12:08. > :12:11.prison for non-violent offences. Last year, 12 women were killed --

:12:12. > :12:16.killed themselves in prison in England and Wales and there were 22

:12:17. > :12:19.deaths of women in prison. The noble Baroness in the other place has

:12:20. > :12:21.called for more government funding on women's centres. I know sitting

:12:22. > :12:25.on the bill committee that the government had committed funding for

:12:26. > :12:29.secure colleges but the government then performed a U-turn on that

:12:30. > :12:32.decision. If the money is there, committed, could the leader of the

:12:33. > :12:37.house have discussions with the noble Baroness to look at committed

:12:38. > :12:40.funding for secure colleges and for women's centres, so that committed

:12:41. > :12:46.funding can be used to protect those existing centres and create a more

:12:47. > :12:49.sustainable model? Lastly, Mr Speaker, I would like to welcome the

:12:50. > :12:56.two new honourable members, the honourable member for Copeland, who

:12:57. > :13:00.is the 456th woman in this place. And I welcome the honourable member

:13:01. > :13:03.for Stoke Central, good to have another member on this side from the

:13:04. > :13:08.West Midlands. I hope they will be inspired by the life and work of Sir

:13:09. > :13:17.Gerald Kaufmann, a great parliamentarian. May he rest in

:13:18. > :13:19.peace. Leader of the house. Mr Speaker, can I first apologise to

:13:20. > :13:23.you in the house as I omitted to inform the house of the business at

:13:24. > :13:27.Westminster all that is forthcoming. If I can briefly run through that

:13:28. > :13:31.before replying to the honourable lady. On the 6th of March, we have

:13:32. > :13:34.got as previously announced, a debate on the new petition relating

:13:35. > :13:38.to high heels and workplace dress code. The 9th of March, a debate on

:13:39. > :13:41.the second report of the Scottish affairs committee of the demography

:13:42. > :13:44.of Scotland and the implications for devolution followed by a debate on

:13:45. > :13:55.human rights and the political situation in Turkey. On Monday the

:13:56. > :13:57.13th of March, a debate on eve petition relating to sentencing for

:13:58. > :14:00.child abuse offences and Thursday the 16th of March, a debate on the

:14:01. > :14:02.sixth report of the transport committee entitled the future of

:14:03. > :14:06.rail, improving the rail passenger experience, followed by a debate on

:14:07. > :14:10.Jobcentre Plus office closures. I happily join the honourable lady in

:14:11. > :14:16.welcoming our two new colleagues. I can assure her, apropos the state

:14:17. > :14:19.opening that my honourable friend the deputy leader has more than one

:14:20. > :14:27.outfit available for such ceremonial occasions. I can't yet give her a

:14:28. > :14:31.date that she is seeking. On the point about standing orders, yes, I

:14:32. > :14:35.have already had a similar request from the SNP benches for an

:14:36. > :14:40.explanatory memorandum and we will be providing that but what it

:14:41. > :14:47.proposed change to standing orders is about is recognising the fact

:14:48. > :14:52.that the recent Scotland act has devolved to the Scottish Parliament

:14:53. > :14:57.the right to set the main rate of income tax and therefore, our own

:14:58. > :15:01.standing orders, as regards English votes for English laws, need to be

:15:02. > :15:05.adjusted to take account of the fact that in future, we may well have

:15:06. > :15:09.situations in which we have a resolution or a piece of legislation

:15:10. > :15:14.relating to main income tax rates which are specific to England, Wales

:15:15. > :15:17.and Northern Ireland but not Scotland because those matters will

:15:18. > :15:24.have been devolved to Holyrood. That is the purpose of that technical

:15:25. > :15:29.change to standing orders. We will return to the EU Bill as rapidly as

:15:30. > :15:35.possible after the House of Lords has finished debating it and given

:15:36. > :15:41.it its third reading. The government certainly remains of the view that

:15:42. > :15:45.the bill is straightforward. It does no more than confer authority on the

:15:46. > :15:49.Prime Minister's required -- as required by the courts to initiate

:15:50. > :15:55.negotiations by triggering Article 50 of the treaty and no, we will

:15:56. > :15:59.therefore seek to resist changes that would make that negotiating

:16:00. > :16:05.task more difficult. She asked questions about the NHS. A figure of

:16:06. > :16:13.?10 billion is completely accurate. It represents the ?8 billion that

:16:14. > :16:24.the head of NHS England said was needed in order to finance the NHS's

:16:25. > :16:27.own reform plan, plus a further ?2 billion that represents money that

:16:28. > :16:35.was allocated to the financial year before the period which NHS England

:16:36. > :16:39.was intending to carry out its reform plan. Not only that but in

:16:40. > :16:43.response to the request from the chief executive of NHS England, the

:16:44. > :16:47.Department of Health has front-loaded that funding so that

:16:48. > :16:54.the NHS is getting an initial ?4 billion this year in order to get

:16:55. > :16:58.that reform plan off to the best possible start. She asked me about

:16:59. > :17:01.free schools. I have to say to her that for me, the key test about free

:17:02. > :17:07.schools is whether there is a demand for them by parents in the area in

:17:08. > :17:14.which they are to be located because without that, those schools will not

:17:15. > :17:19.be able to survive and the test for free schools like the test for any

:17:20. > :17:26.other school, is whether they are able to provide the best possible

:17:27. > :17:29.opportunities and life chances and improved achievements for the

:17:30. > :17:33.children sent to those schools. They only get the one chance of

:17:34. > :17:36.education. We should be looking for every opportunity to improve the

:17:37. > :17:41.quality of educational opportunities offered to them. She asked me about

:17:42. > :17:46.International Women's Day and two particular cases. Without going into

:17:47. > :17:54.the detail of the cases, the principle here is that people are

:17:55. > :18:01.only detained, whether it is men or women, if there is a reason to

:18:02. > :18:08.believe, on the part of the Home Office and the immigration service,

:18:09. > :18:11.that they might be at risk of disappearing and avoiding removal

:18:12. > :18:19.from the country and that step is only taken once people have

:18:20. > :18:24.exhausted their rights to appeal and it is clear that they have no

:18:25. > :18:29.further legal right to remain here. Her point about prisons I thought

:18:30. > :18:35.was a perfectly reasonable one but of course, that is one of a number

:18:36. > :18:38.of important issues to do with prison reform and I think that my

:18:39. > :18:41.right honourable friend the Secretary of State made very clear

:18:42. > :18:48.in her recent white paper that she is committed to a programme of

:18:49. > :18:52.prison reform that improves the chances are that both women and men

:18:53. > :18:57.who served time in prison will both be treated decently while they are

:18:58. > :19:01.there but also given the opportunities for the type of

:19:02. > :19:04.courses and work and educational opportunities which means there will

:19:05. > :19:11.be a better chance of them living law-abiding lives after release. And

:19:12. > :19:14.can I associate myself with the remarks made by both front bench

:19:15. > :19:19.spokesman in relation to the late Father of the house. He gave me one

:19:20. > :19:22.piece of advice when I first arrived, he said an immigration

:19:23. > :19:26.cases, young man, which was always good to get my attention, "My strong

:19:27. > :19:32.advice is to ask anyone that comes to see you, have you got a lawyer

:19:33. > :19:37.involved, and if they haven't, tell them to get one and if they have,

:19:38. > :19:42.tell them to use the lawyer". That was quite helpful. On behalf of the

:19:43. > :19:45.backbench business committee, I noticed Mr Speaker that the leader

:19:46. > :19:48.of the house has not announced the business for a week on Thursday. We

:19:49. > :19:56.have now a queue of debates which will feel Thursdays until

:19:57. > :19:59.prorogation -- which will fill. The week on Thursdays not announced and

:20:00. > :20:03.if we could have early sight that it would be appreciated. Finally, very

:20:04. > :20:09.sadly on Monday, a constituent of mine was murdered at a cashpoint in

:20:10. > :20:15.Wealdstone high Street. It appears to be a targeted murder. I'm pleased

:20:16. > :20:18.to say the police have arrested an individual who they believe to be

:20:19. > :20:24.responsible for that murder. But good we have a debate on the

:20:25. > :20:28.increase in knife crime in London and the impact we can have to stop

:20:29. > :20:33.people carrying knives and make sure that no one else suffers the kind of

:20:34. > :20:39.fate that my constituents did? -- constituent. I will happily take on

:20:40. > :20:42.board my honourable friend's request for the allocation of more slots for

:20:43. > :20:52.the backbench business committee at an early opportunity. Can I pass on

:20:53. > :20:54.to the family of his constituent my sympathy and very sincere

:20:55. > :20:58.condolences? They must be going through the most appalling and

:20:59. > :21:02.harrowing time. There will be an opportunity on Monday the 6th of

:21:03. > :21:06.March at Home Office questions for my honourable friend to raise his

:21:07. > :21:10.concerns about knife crime more generally and I am sure, Mr Speaker,

:21:11. > :21:16.he may well wish to seek an adjournment debate on the subject.

:21:17. > :21:21.Can I also thank the leader of the house... Can I add to the tribute to

:21:22. > :21:24.Sir Gerald Kaufman? I think the leader of the houses absolutely

:21:25. > :21:27.right that he was from a generation that is quickly passing way and I

:21:28. > :21:31.think all of this house relied on people like Sir Gerald for advice

:21:32. > :21:37.and guidance when it came to matters with his experience. So many of us

:21:38. > :21:41.on these benches, you was a star grow. I remember those long scars

:21:42. > :21:44.are used where and what they having to be rescued at the entrance to the

:21:45. > :21:49.tube station because I got caught up in this and the great efforts to

:21:50. > :21:52.make sure that Sir Gerald was separated from his scarf that day.

:21:53. > :21:56.My condolences to his family and friends. Can we also welcome today,

:21:57. > :22:01.and I think the gentleman would appreciate this too, the fact it is

:22:02. > :22:06.International Book Day, and we should pay tribute to writers, I

:22:07. > :22:09.have the great pleasure of sharing the all-party writers group and it

:22:10. > :22:13.is worth recognising the wonderful pieces of work done by all our

:22:14. > :22:16.writers and making sure they get rewarded for the wonderful works.

:22:17. > :22:22.What about three cheers for the heroes in ermine? Maybe not so much

:22:23. > :22:32.over there. The people's aristocrats have spoken and their voice must be

:22:33. > :22:36.listened to. Every time I raised the issue of the House of Lords with the

:22:37. > :22:38.leader of the house, he tells me there are absolutely no plans

:22:39. > :22:44.whatsoever to have that house reformed, excepting therefore the

:22:45. > :22:48.absolute legitimacy to raise issues such as this. So will he now listen

:22:49. > :22:53.to the House of Lords on this issue? And will he said today that he has

:22:54. > :22:57.absolutely no plans whatsoever to use the Parliament act if our

:22:58. > :23:01.friends, our unelected friends, continue to show backbone on this

:23:02. > :23:05.particular issue? Can I also thank the leader of the house for

:23:06. > :23:10.announcing the recess dates but express our profound disappointment

:23:11. > :23:13.that yet again, this government has singly conspired not to have a long

:23:14. > :23:20.recess that will cover the school holiday periods of every nation in

:23:21. > :23:23.the UK. Once again, my colleagues in Scotland will have to try to make

:23:24. > :23:27.sure they have particular childcare arrangements in place, and struggle

:23:28. > :23:31.to find an opportunity to have proper school holidays with their

:23:32. > :23:35.children. Could they make this the last time that we have an issue such

:23:36. > :23:39.of this -- as this and make sure all nations are covered in the summer

:23:40. > :23:44.recess? And Mr Speaker, we need a debate about how the Scotland Act

:23:45. > :23:46.operates. Schedule five of the Scotland Act, as the leader of the

:23:47. > :23:50.house notes, lists all be reserved powers. If it's not on that list, it

:23:51. > :23:54.is devolved. I looked at it again this morning and I can't find

:23:55. > :23:58.agriculture or fisheries anywhere on the list. I'm presuming they are

:23:59. > :24:02.going to be devolved after Brexit. Can the government confirmed that

:24:03. > :24:06.today or is it intending to reserve other powers when it comes to the

:24:07. > :24:12.Scotland Act? Lastly, Mr Speaker, next week of course there is a huge

:24:13. > :24:17.Commons event. I'm not referring to the budget but the second reading of

:24:18. > :24:25.the driverless cars built. There are similarities, believe it or not. One

:24:26. > :24:26.is a journey with no... Heading for disaster, and the other is a

:24:27. > :24:40.Driverless Cars Built. I am happy to join in celebrating

:24:41. > :24:44.international book day and ensuring and paying tribute to the authors of

:24:45. > :24:49.this country and I think it is a welcome trend to find that the

:24:50. > :24:55.public's appetite for old-fashioned hard copy books seems to be

:24:56. > :25:01.increasing in a way that defies many of the reductions that have been in

:25:02. > :25:06.recent years. -- predictions. On the Scotland Act, the Secretary of State

:25:07. > :25:12.for skull and could not have been more clear yesterday at Scottish

:25:13. > :25:16.questions -- for Scotland -- that as powers are brought back from the

:25:17. > :25:21.European Union following our exit there will be additional powers to

:25:22. > :25:25.be exercised by the Scottish parliament and the Scottish

:25:26. > :25:31.Government, but what we have to work out and what the UK Government is

:25:32. > :25:36.doing in consultation with all three of the devolved administrations, in

:25:37. > :25:40.ways in which that can be done which preserves the integrity of the

:25:41. > :25:47.single market across the United Kingdom as a whole. It will not help

:25:48. > :25:51.people like food and drink producers in Scotland who sell in large

:25:52. > :25:56.quantities to customers in England if we are fined because we have not

:25:57. > :26:00.got this through properly that there are trading obstacles in the way of

:26:01. > :26:07.them being able to sell at the least possible cost to those English

:26:08. > :26:12.customers -- if we find. He has they have regard with the interests of

:26:13. > :26:17.Scottish producers. I cannot add much more to what I said response to

:26:18. > :26:29.the shadow leader about the House of Lords debates on the European Union

:26:30. > :26:35.withdrawal bill. I find that his new-found passionate affection for

:26:36. > :26:40.the House of Lords makes me suggest that it is not just Nigel Farage who

:26:41. > :26:53.has secret yearnings for the honours list! It is a great pleasure to

:26:54. > :27:01.welcome members of Sir Gerald's family. You could not be more

:27:02. > :27:06.welcome. Thank you for coming. Those of us who have had experience of Sir

:27:07. > :27:11.Gerald's long life and Parliamentary career will choose those parts that

:27:12. > :27:17.affect our areas of interest so I hope you will forgive me if I focus

:27:18. > :27:25.on the crucial role that Sir Gerald played in shifting Labour Party

:27:26. > :27:33.policy away from a stance in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament

:27:34. > :27:39.between the years of 1888 and 1991. He started in 1988 by contributing

:27:40. > :27:43.to our policy review which was called meet the challenge, make the

:27:44. > :27:49.change, in which labour first aid knowledge did would be sensible to

:27:50. > :27:53.get some reciprocation in return for giving up Britain's nuclear

:27:54. > :27:58.deterrent. After a lively exchange of letters in the national press

:27:59. > :28:04.with the then chairman of the Conservative Party, Chris Patten,

:28:05. > :28:07.and others, he ended on the 10th of July 1991 with the all portable

:28:08. > :28:12.statement that a future Labour government would continue to possess

:28:13. > :28:17.nuclear weapons as long as other countries had them, and this mark

:28:18. > :28:25.the end of a crucial policy realignment. When the player

:28:26. > :28:30.government voted with the support of the Conservative opposition to

:28:31. > :28:35.remove the nuclear deterrent in March 2007 he made a great speech

:28:36. > :28:41.and he referred back to the fact that of course famously he described

:28:42. > :28:45.Labour's 1983 antinuclear manifesto as the longest suicide note in

:28:46. > :28:51.history and he will is seeking to urge his colleagues not to make the

:28:52. > :28:58.mistakes of the 1980s and he ended his speech by pointing out in March

:28:59. > :29:03.2007 what it would mean if Labour went back to that stance. He said

:29:04. > :29:09.defeating the government tonight, Tony Blair's government, could

:29:10. > :29:14.reduce our party's credibility to contribute to a Labour defeat at the

:29:15. > :29:18.next election. A cartoon showed an army officer in a bunker saying to

:29:19. > :29:26.his assembled troops, gentlemen, the time has arrived for us to make a

:29:27. > :29:30.futile gesture. Sir Gerald said futile gestures can be personally

:29:31. > :29:35.satisfying but where do they get us? I will tell the house what they get

:29:36. > :29:42.us. 18 years in opposition. It is one thing, he concluded, to revisit

:29:43. > :29:50.the scene of the crime, it is quite another to revisit the scene of the

:29:51. > :29:53.suicide. Those of us who believe the nuclear deterrence have every reason

:29:54. > :29:58.to be grateful to him for his crucial role in restoring bipartisan

:29:59. > :30:03.ship between the Labour government of the day and the opposition of the

:30:04. > :30:08.day that secured the renewal of the nuclear deterrent and I think the

:30:09. > :30:14.country has reason to be grateful to him as well. As I ought to pay lip

:30:15. > :30:21.service to the fact this is business questions as well, I will segue from

:30:22. > :30:25.that issue of one form of unilateralism to another and ask the

:30:26. > :30:30.leader of the weather we could have a statement from a Brexit minister

:30:31. > :30:34.as to what assessment the government has made from the motives of those

:30:35. > :30:40.people with whom we will be negotiating in the future in other

:30:41. > :30:43.countries not to respond to the initiatives that we have been taking

:30:44. > :30:50.and the indications that we have been giving that members of their

:30:51. > :30:56.societies who have chosen to live in Britain will be able to continue

:30:57. > :31:04.doing so so long as our citizens are able to continue living in their

:31:05. > :31:07.countries. Unilateralism as the principal is sometimes high-minded

:31:08. > :31:12.and sometimes a futile gesture. In the spirit of what Sir Gerald did to

:31:13. > :31:20.the Labour Party we ought to think about whether we really want to

:31:21. > :31:24.leave so many of our citizens exposed to poor treatment from other

:31:25. > :31:33.countries when we are offering generous treatment of their citizens

:31:34. > :31:36.who live here. The EU 27 governments have been clear they will on the

:31:37. > :31:41.engage in negotiations once article 50 has been triggered. I am

:31:42. > :31:45.optimistic that a reciprocal agreement on the status of each

:31:46. > :31:54.other's citizens can indeed be achieved. That is in the rational

:31:55. > :31:59.interests of the UK and all are 27 EU partners. I hope that can be an

:32:00. > :32:08.early achievement of the negotiations once they start. And I

:32:09. > :32:12.thank the Leader of the House of Lords giving us the dates of the

:32:13. > :32:15.summer recess? It is rather a shame he was that able to do it earlier

:32:16. > :32:22.but we appreciate we know where we stand now. Before turning to the

:32:23. > :32:28.question of the late Sir Gerald. I think I am right in saying that it

:32:29. > :32:31.is rarely, perhaps many decades, since we have been unfortunate

:32:32. > :32:37.enough to lose a father of the house during his incumbency and I

:32:38. > :32:41.personally, and I am sure this is shared, regret that the new Father

:32:42. > :32:48.of the houses not able to be us today. One of Gerald's most gleeful

:32:49. > :32:52.tales was how he had the forethought when he was first elected to the

:32:53. > :32:58.house to make sure he took his oath before the member for Rushcliffe in

:32:59. > :33:03.the member that both of them might be here for some considerable time

:33:04. > :33:08.and they were among those who might be contenders for the post of Father

:33:09. > :33:15.of the house. He took great glee in telling that story. I would like to

:33:16. > :33:19.say I think he probably would not have begrudged the member for

:33:20. > :33:25.Rushcliffe his opportunity but I am not absolutely certain! I would not

:33:26. > :33:30.wish to do Gerald and injustice in any way. Certainly he was

:33:31. > :33:35.desperately anxious to become father of the house and fully deserved to

:33:36. > :33:41.hold that office. As everyone has said, and I am pleased his family

:33:42. > :33:48.could be year, he was witty, brave, he could be extremely acerbic, but

:33:49. > :33:51.he was a very skilled parliamentarian. I see some of the

:33:52. > :33:58.obituaries have referred to his skill in committee and somebody who

:33:59. > :34:08.was a whip when Gerald was a minister I can set they testify to

:34:09. > :34:12.that. It might be worth someone to look back to that time. Gerald as a

:34:13. > :34:15.Minister of State to try to get a bill through the house, bearing in

:34:16. > :34:20.mind this was a stage when we did not really have a majority, even

:34:21. > :34:25.notional majority we had, most of whom were too sick to be here, on

:34:26. > :34:31.committee things were extremely tight. Gerald was an absolutely

:34:32. > :34:39.brilliant committee minister. He flattered the opposition shamefully.

:34:40. > :34:47.Quite disgustingly. He covered them with compliments and praise while

:34:48. > :34:56.not being able to quite see his weekly to accepting brilliant

:34:57. > :35:02.amendments. He was also very good value as a confident and adviser. I

:35:03. > :35:11.happened to be in committee with General don a day when we had a

:35:12. > :35:15.government vacancy which we had have -- had had for sometime and I had to

:35:16. > :35:20.explain to a civil servant I cannot possibly, I am the whip on a

:35:21. > :35:26.committee, do not be ridiculous, of course I cannot come now, I will

:35:27. > :35:29.come at lunchtime. That gave me the opportunity to consult Gerald. I had

:35:30. > :35:34.only been a member for just over a year. I was unenthusiastic about the

:35:35. > :35:40.prospect that appear to lie before me. I said, do you think I can ask

:35:41. > :35:46.for time to think about it? He liked me guessed what the summons might

:35:47. > :35:50.mean and the first thing he said to me was, congratulations, that is

:35:51. > :35:56.fantastic. I said, can I ask for time to think about it? He said,

:35:57. > :36:00.when the Prime Minister sends for you you either say yes, Prime

:36:01. > :36:06.Minister or no, Prime Minister, you do not ask for time to think about

:36:07. > :36:12.it. Looking back I am stunned by how naive I was to ask the question. It

:36:13. > :36:16.was certainly very helpful advice. He was an extremely kind man. I have

:36:17. > :36:20.a close personal friend who worked with him in Number 10 and always

:36:21. > :36:25.spoke about what hysterical and great company he was but also what a

:36:26. > :36:30.kind person he was. Despite the advice he gave to the member who

:36:31. > :36:35.spoke earlier he was a ferocious advocate on behalf of his

:36:36. > :36:37.constituents and I think the Leader of the House should probably think

:36:38. > :36:42.himself lucky he did not have the chance to hear Gerald's comments on

:36:43. > :36:45.the cases raised by the shadow leader of people detained without

:36:46. > :36:57.notice. Gerald would have had a lot to say about that and would not have

:36:58. > :37:01.been very nice to hear. I am looking forward to more of her

:37:02. > :37:09.reminiscences. What she has done is reminded us both of the length of

:37:10. > :37:14.Sir Gerald's career and the depth of his experience at the wisdom that

:37:15. > :37:17.comes with that experiences of operating in this house and in

:37:18. > :37:27.government over such a long period of time. Like you, on separate

:37:28. > :37:34.occasions I saw Gerald at his home only a few weeks ago. I know you

:37:35. > :37:40.went and a good friend of mine, Claire Ward, the former member for

:37:41. > :37:45.Watford. Even just a few weeks ago he was saying how keen he was to get

:37:46. > :37:51.back to this place and we are all very sad that he did not. For those

:37:52. > :37:58.who did not know him, who saw him as being ferociously vitriolic and he

:37:59. > :38:07.was in this chamber, but outside he was a very different man. He had the

:38:08. > :38:12.wasp a sense of humour and I had the privilege of joining him in 1993 on

:38:13. > :38:15.the national heritage select committee and it was so good and the

:38:16. > :38:19.trips were so marvellous and he was such a brilliant chairman I stayed

:38:20. > :38:25.with him not only with that committee but also two parliaments,

:38:26. > :38:29.apart from a brief excursion to the Home Affairs Select Committee, with

:38:30. > :38:35.the culture media and sport committee. He hated pomposity and I

:38:36. > :38:42.thought that was one of his most marvellous features. He loved

:38:43. > :38:48.outrageous clothes. I do is to go with him to the theatre from time

:38:49. > :39:00.and also to the cinema. His last recommendation to me was a brilliant

:39:01. > :39:05.movie Hail Caesar which I saw and loved. If the weather was cold he

:39:06. > :39:08.would wear a red tea cosy on his head and when I talked about this he

:39:09. > :39:15.said he wasn't half as embarrassed about what I'm wearing.

:39:16. > :39:23.He also loved ice cream. I remember toddling off with him once when I

:39:24. > :39:28.was on the culture, media and sport select committee and visiting Los

:39:29. > :39:34.Angeles and the meeting was getting very boring, in fact, we were being

:39:35. > :39:40.addressed by the chap from the Foreign Office and it had nothing to

:39:41. > :39:47.do with our enquiry but I remember Gerald got up and said, "Thank you

:39:48. > :39:50.very much for your speech", and the Foreign Office official rather

:39:51. > :39:56.foolishly said, "But I haven't finished", and Gerald turned round

:39:57. > :40:02.and said, in a way that only good, "Oh, yes, you have". Then we toddled

:40:03. > :40:05.off to get the ice cream because ice cream, musicals which he could sing

:40:06. > :40:14.along to, he knew all the words and Judy Garland were his great loves.

:40:15. > :40:17.He was a brilliant chairman of the heritage and culture, media and

:40:18. > :40:22.sport select committee, great fun, he was not party political. In fact,

:40:23. > :40:26.I found myself and now I'm going to lose the support of all my friends

:40:27. > :40:31.on this side of the house because I found myself always defending the

:40:32. > :40:37.BBC whereas he wanted to abolish it! It was a strange juxtaposition of

:40:38. > :40:41.roles. He told me not long ago, actually, that the present party

:40:42. > :40:49.chairman, the Conservative Party chairman, when he was a junior whip,

:40:50. > :40:55.back in 1993, asked Sir Gerald Kaufmann did take me under his wing

:40:56. > :41:00.because I was rather wild. Maybe he could make me more like a sort of

:41:01. > :41:07.conventional parliamentarian. So you can see that worked! In short, he

:41:08. > :41:13.was a wonderful man. He brightened all our lives. He was a great

:41:14. > :41:19.friend. He was nothing like the person that I think the public saw

:41:20. > :41:26.him as. He was self-deprecating. He was kindly. And a great

:41:27. > :41:34.parliamentarian. And I think we will all miss him. I'm grateful to my

:41:35. > :41:40.honourable friend. Dame Rosie Winterton. Mr Speaker, thank you for

:41:41. > :41:49.giving the house the opportunity to pay tribute to Sir Gerald, who, as

:41:50. > :41:52.others have said, inspired so many parliamentarians and who certainly

:41:53. > :41:59.gave me invaluable advice and support my time -- during my time as

:42:00. > :42:06.a minister and also as Chief Whip. And as others have said, Gerald was

:42:07. > :42:11.a stalwart member of the Labour Party and with a political career

:42:12. > :42:15.stretching back over 50 years, he knew that principle without power

:42:16. > :42:21.was not enough, as my right honourable friend said. He

:42:22. > :42:28.campaigned tirelessly for a Labour government. Again, as others have

:42:29. > :42:31.said, his book, How To Be A Minister, remains a classic guide to

:42:32. > :42:37.new ministers wanting to make their mark. And he had an ability to sum

:42:38. > :42:43.up his views with a witty turn of phrase that could be as colourful

:42:44. > :42:51.and memorable as his suits. It was an honour for all of us went Gerald

:42:52. > :42:56.became father of the house and we were very proud to see him take up

:42:57. > :43:03.that role. He took that role extremely seriously. Gerald had

:43:04. > :43:10.always been fiercely protective of the rights of parliamentarians. And

:43:11. > :43:18.I remember him bellowing at the then leader of the house, William Hague,

:43:19. > :43:22.when as I am sure many here we will recall, he felt Mr Hague had decided

:43:23. > :43:30.to closely with the executive against the wishes of members of

:43:31. > :43:36.this house. Gerald continued that upholding of members' right when he

:43:37. > :43:41.became Father of the house. When I last saw Gerald, he was clearly very

:43:42. > :43:50.ill. But he was still keen to talk politics and offer his advice. That

:43:51. > :43:54.advice was as insightful as ever. And I was greatly comforted to see

:43:55. > :44:02.him surrounded by his loving family who clearly adored Uncle Gerald.

:44:03. > :44:06.Gerald made a distinctive mark on our national life and in particular,

:44:07. > :44:15.as so many have said, in this place. He will be greatly missed and I can

:44:16. > :44:19.think of nothing more fitting, given his ten years of chairing the

:44:20. > :44:24.culture select committee, than for us to have a debate, Mr Speaker, on

:44:25. > :44:31.the importance of the arts to our economy and society, and the

:44:32. > :44:37.devastating effect of government cuts, particularly to funding of

:44:38. > :44:42.arts in the regions will stop and I hope the leader of the house will

:44:43. > :44:47.let us have that debate. -- in the regions. The honourable lady paid a

:44:48. > :44:54.moving tribute to Sir Gerald. I will, I'll take on board her request

:44:55. > :44:57.for a debate about the arts at some future date. It may also be

:44:58. > :45:03.something the backbench business committee might wish to consider. I

:45:04. > :45:09.join with others in paying tribute to the late Sir Gerald Kaufman. Now

:45:10. > :45:12.Mr Speaker, I can't pretend that I got the impression that Sir Gerald

:45:13. > :45:20.did not entirely approve of myself, which is quite understandable. I was

:45:21. > :45:24.never sure whether that was because I was once the member of Parliament

:45:25. > :45:28.for Basildon or was it because of my views on the state of Israel. But

:45:29. > :45:37.what I can say without hesitation was that he was a commanding figure

:45:38. > :45:40.in this house, a great orator, and I for one would not have wished to

:45:41. > :45:45.have got on the wrong side of him. As a result of his death, and I'm

:45:46. > :45:51.really glad that he did become father of the house, I am number 14

:45:52. > :45:55.on the list and as I look round the house, there are a number of

:45:56. > :45:59.colleagues in front of me in the queue and I see that they are in

:46:00. > :46:04.extremely good health, so I'm not holding my breath about my becoming

:46:05. > :46:11.Father of the house. Now, turning to my question to the leader of the

:46:12. > :46:16.house, will my right honourable friend find time for a debate on

:46:17. > :46:20.fake news? An increasing number of constituents are complaining to me

:46:21. > :46:27.about what were once reliable websites giving full synth and --

:46:28. > :46:31.falls information and the number of scams. I have to tell my right

:46:32. > :46:34.honourable friend the leader of the house that only this week it was

:46:35. > :46:37.announced that Warren Baiji and Faye Dunaway opened an envelope

:46:38. > :46:43.suggesting that I had won an Oscar for being the leading actor was the

:46:44. > :46:46.-- Warren Beatty. I'm delighted to tell my right honourable friend that

:46:47. > :46:50.they opened the wrong envelope and it has now been given the award to

:46:51. > :46:56.the rightful recipient, Mr Tony Blair, for his performance at the

:46:57. > :47:04.press conference following the publication of the Chilcot Report.

:47:05. > :47:11.Mr Speaker, I understand that there is genuine concern about the wide

:47:12. > :47:15.availability of misleading, sometimes very deliberately

:47:16. > :47:18.misleading information on various websites. Now, inevitably, the

:47:19. > :47:23.international character of the Internet means that it is not

:47:24. > :47:29.straightforward to try to address this problem but my honourable

:47:30. > :47:33.friend, the Minister for digital and culture, is convening a roundtable

:47:34. > :47:36.with a broad range of people in the news industry on the 14th of March

:47:37. > :47:43.where this will be one of the subject under discussion. Mr

:47:44. > :47:51.Speaker, when I came to the house in 1979, I admit that Gerald Kaufman

:47:52. > :47:54.was at part of a wonderful gang of John Smith, Roy Hattersley, and a

:47:55. > :47:58.group of people who at that time were getting used to being in

:47:59. > :48:01.opposition and of course, we had to get used to opposition because we

:48:02. > :48:09.were in opposition for a very long time. But during that time, I used

:48:10. > :48:11.to see Gerald Kaufman at all of us will say he was a great

:48:12. > :48:16.parliamentarian but Mr Speaker, when I came into the house, when the wind

:48:17. > :48:22.ups were taken much more seriously, when the house took Debaty more

:48:23. > :48:25.seriously in terms of attendance, the one thing you could guarantee,

:48:26. > :48:31.if Gerald was at the dispatch box, the house would be packed. He was

:48:32. > :48:36.the funniest, he was the most incisive, he was the most brilliant

:48:37. > :48:40.debater I ever saw in this house. And I have seen some very good

:48:41. > :48:45.debaters in this house. But Gerald in his prime was peerless. I think

:48:46. > :48:50.people should remember, you know, when I look here, where he sat for

:48:51. > :48:57.so many years, and remember, when he was on the liaison committee with

:48:58. > :49:01.me, as a chairman of the select committee, but I remember him

:49:02. > :49:05.sitting just there, and as he got older, and of course, the wonderful

:49:06. > :49:10.thing about Gerald, in his later years, he didn't lose any of his

:49:11. > :49:17.brainpower, he'd lost none of his brainpower. His body let him down.

:49:18. > :49:20.His brain certainly didn't. Some of you will remember last it was the

:49:21. > :49:24.Centenary of the birth of Harold Wilson and Gerald gave me a

:49:25. > :49:28.tremendous amount of information, about when he worked for Harold

:49:29. > :49:32.Wilson in number ten. If I could just give the house one little

:49:33. > :49:38.instance, he was in number ten one night and the phone rang and it was

:49:39. > :49:42.president Lyndon Johnson of the USA asking to speak to Harold Wilson.

:49:43. > :49:46.Gerald says, "I took the phone call and post it to Harold, and it was

:49:47. > :49:51.Lyndon B. Johnson, begging Harold to send at least a token force to

:49:52. > :49:57.Vietnam, a British force to Vietnam" . He described how Harold listened

:49:58. > :50:02.patiently, he was a good friend of LBJ but at the end, he said, "I'm

:50:03. > :50:09.sorry, old bean, not even a Scottish pipers banned". If you talk to

:50:10. > :50:12.Gerald about where the party had been, and I have two reveal some

:50:13. > :50:16.uncomfortable things that some people on our benches will remember,

:50:17. > :50:21.when the Labour Party was in trouble, they always mention this,

:50:22. > :50:24.Gerald was the brains behind Solidarity, the group within the

:50:25. > :50:30.Labour Party that wanted to be very careful about a shift to the hard

:50:31. > :50:34.left. That work with Roy Hattersley, John Smith and a bunch of others was

:50:35. > :50:40.very important indeed in terms of how that Labour Party survived and

:50:41. > :50:44.thrived and won the election in 1997. On these benches, we must pay

:50:45. > :50:51.tribute to the man that kept the ship moving towards a decent target.

:50:52. > :50:57.But can I also say that when I first met Gerald, he had a great friend,

:50:58. > :51:02.Eric Varney. Many people don't remember Eric because he died very

:51:03. > :51:06.young. But he and Gerald were very close friends. I think it right to

:51:07. > :51:13.mention Eric's named today in terms of that period of Gerald's life when

:51:14. > :51:19.he was a very happy man. Can I also just say one last thing? You never,

:51:20. > :51:26.ever wanted to cross Gerald on things like films. I remember being

:51:27. > :51:35.very foolish, going into the members tea room, being very enthusiastic

:51:36. > :51:40.about seeing a new film and I think one particular... I had seen

:51:41. > :51:43.Superman for the first time. Gerald had been to see it and he gave this

:51:44. > :51:49.caustic review of everything that was wrong with American cinema at

:51:50. > :51:55.that time, everything about the plot, the acting, and he said," but

:51:56. > :52:03.you liked it, Barry, so it couldn't be all bad". Gerald has left a

:52:04. > :52:09.legacy. He did not have any children but he has left a legacy both in

:52:10. > :52:12.this house, in the country, and in his constituency. I used to tease

:52:13. > :52:15.him because you remember, Harold Wilson was born in Huddersfield and

:52:16. > :52:19.had to go to Lancashire to get a seat. Of course, Gerald was a real

:52:20. > :52:24.Leeds man and had to go to Manchester to get a seat and be in

:52:25. > :52:31.this house. The one interesting thing, some people talked about

:52:32. > :52:34.Gerald's sense of style, and it did push the boundaries in some ways,

:52:35. > :52:44.even in terms of the wonderful suits, and all his life, he kept

:52:45. > :52:49.faithful to the same Leeds tailor and would specify which Huddersfield

:52:50. > :52:54.mill the cost would be spun in and woven in. -- the cloth would be. A

:52:55. > :52:58.man of great talent and common-sense, of brilliance in terms

:52:59. > :53:04.of laboratory. We owe him so much. Not only as a party, not only as a

:53:05. > :53:10.house, but as a country. I thank the honourable gentleman for his

:53:11. > :53:18.heartfelt tribute, particularly, if I may say so, for his reminder of

:53:19. > :53:24.the key political role that Gerald played at that particular time in

:53:25. > :53:32.the Labour Party's history. I will take careful note of that request!

:53:33. > :53:36.Mr Speaker, I'm afraid I'm unable to add any anecdotes about the life of

:53:37. > :53:41.the late Father of the house but I do of course associate myself with

:53:42. > :53:44.the expressions of sympathy to his family and friends. Mr Speaker,

:53:45. > :53:52.earlier this week the all-party group on retail crime met and

:53:53. > :53:55.reviewed a recent survey of the increasing levels of violence, both

:53:56. > :54:00.verbal and physical, against people who work in the retail trade. Could

:54:01. > :54:01.the leader of the house find time for an early debate on this serious

:54:02. > :54:14.issue? I cannot offer an early debate in

:54:15. > :54:18.government time, there may be other opportunities, but I am sure we

:54:19. > :54:23.share his sense of revulsion at the threats that shop workers and others

:54:24. > :54:27.that the retail trade face. This is something that should not be

:54:28. > :54:31.tolerated in any decent society and I am sure everyone would agree on

:54:32. > :54:34.the importance of not just the police but of citizens who might

:54:35. > :54:38.have information about such attacks would like to make sure they are

:54:39. > :54:45.deterred and perpetrators appropriately punished. Can I thank

:54:46. > :54:50.you and the leader for the opportunity to pay tribute to Sir

:54:51. > :54:54.Gerald? Since my selection of parliamentary candidate I was lucky

:54:55. > :54:58.to attend many community meetings and events with my next-door

:54:59. > :55:02.neighbour. Often these would reflect the causes he championed such as the

:55:03. > :55:07.rights of the Palestinians or cashmere and I remember doing a

:55:08. > :55:13.Bollywood dance routine with them! On an open-air stage in a market

:55:14. > :55:17.years ago. His dance moves should up my own, even though at the time he

:55:18. > :55:22.was well into his 80s. What was remarkable was the admiration and

:55:23. > :55:27.the extraordinarily high esteem in which he was held by his

:55:28. > :55:32.constituents. I genuinely do not think I have come across another MP

:55:33. > :55:37.who was so widely admired by the constituents. That is largely

:55:38. > :55:41.because he was such a fierce champion of their interests in

:55:42. > :55:45.parliament and in Manchester. Also because he was so assiduous in his

:55:46. > :55:47.dealings with them and his communication with them and

:55:48. > :55:51.residents often used to tell me how they would write to Sir Gerald and

:55:52. > :55:56.receive a handwritten reply by return. Sometimes these would

:55:57. > :56:01.reflect his sharp tongue and a particular favourite of mine was I

:56:02. > :56:04.agree with your concerns on this issue, unfortunately there is no

:56:05. > :56:11.point me writing to the Chancellor because he is useless and he will

:56:12. > :56:15.not listen to me! Perhaps the only thing sharper than Sir Gerald's

:56:16. > :56:19.tongue and mind was his dress sense. In Parliament we will miss his

:56:20. > :56:22.remarkable suits and shirts almost as much as the people of Manchester

:56:23. > :56:32.will miss his quiet remarkable service. He made his point well. We

:56:33. > :56:41.will be searching YouTube to see if a video of this dance routines are

:56:42. > :56:45.five! Can I add my commiserations to the family of Sir Gerald? He was not

:56:46. > :56:49.only a legend in this place but had a formidable career before he

:56:50. > :56:55.arrived your working for the BBC on satirical programmes like that was

:56:56. > :57:02.the week that was. I was too young but I have seen some of the stuff

:57:03. > :57:07.going on there. In 2020 Plymouth under UK will be celebrating the

:57:08. > :57:17.400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship leaving Plymouth to find the

:57:18. > :57:22.American colonies. Can we have a debate on the possibility of a

:57:23. > :57:29.Mayflower national walking trail through the places that the pilgrims

:57:30. > :57:35.travelled through? I think that sounds an excellent idea. I hope

:57:36. > :57:40.that might perhaps be an adjournment debate opportunity to pursue this

:57:41. > :57:43.further but it is something to which the government would be sympathetic

:57:44. > :57:53.but would need a great deal of local work to try to make this happen. I

:57:54. > :57:58.would like to add to the tributes to Sir Gerald Kaufman who was a good

:57:59. > :58:02.friend of mine for many years. Was elected in 1970 at the same election

:58:03. > :58:08.as the member for Bolsover and he was one of that generation of MPs

:58:09. > :58:13.who did not quite get to the cabinet because he was really in the wrong

:58:14. > :58:16.place at the wrong time. He was a Minister of State in 1979 when

:58:17. > :58:23.Labour left authors, sadly for 18 years. For many of us, including

:58:24. > :58:28.general. If things had been different I think Gerald would have

:58:29. > :58:34.read the cabinet and would have been unimpressive minister. E was quick,

:58:35. > :58:39.witty, and he had the rare ability to think on his feet, not something

:58:40. > :58:46.many people are able to do. I used to see it on a regular basis

:58:47. > :58:52.including in PLP meetings and other were moments in the middle, some of

:58:53. > :58:58.you may know that PLP meetings have had their moments of interest... I

:58:59. > :59:09.do not think I am breaking any confidence! They are virtually open

:59:10. > :59:15.to the public at the moment. Gerald certainly lightened the tone. Were

:59:16. > :59:20.times when I was chairman of PLP meetings when I would find myself

:59:21. > :59:23.moment finally discombobulated by his sartorial magnificence. Just as

:59:24. > :59:27.you are seeing something sensitive and female black walks in and he

:59:28. > :59:32.always had something interesting to say -- and Sir Gerald Kaufman walks

:59:33. > :59:38.in and he was had something interesting to say. He was never put

:59:39. > :59:47.on hold. He often had views that seemed at odds compared to his

:59:48. > :59:55.public reputation. In some ways he was rebellious but he was also a

:59:56. > :00:00.natural. Every Labour leader recognise that, that he had very

:00:01. > :00:04.loyal qualities. Privately when Tony Blair was Prime Minister if he had

:00:05. > :00:09.any criticism they were not made public but he would say to me in

:00:10. > :00:14.conversation, he would start any criticism with, as you know, I bow

:00:15. > :00:18.to no man in my admonition of the Prime Minister, and then he would go

:00:19. > :00:21.on to say something acerbic about something the government had just

:00:22. > :00:28.done. He will be very deeply missed by many of us on all sides of the

:00:29. > :00:33.house. Not an entirely unrelated issue because Gerald represented a

:00:34. > :00:38.city that has a strong footballing tradition, one of the strongest, the

:00:39. > :00:42.local footballing team in my constituency Leyton Orient has been

:00:43. > :00:45.signed with the winding up order yesterday. This was not something I

:00:46. > :00:49.was going to raise with you. The order was served because the order

:00:50. > :00:53.has caused mayhem in two and half years and has taken the club down

:00:54. > :00:59.from some of its highest point to some of its lowest has not paid the

:01:00. > :01:05.HMRC for a number of years. No body knows exactly how much he owes HMRC

:01:06. > :01:09.but it is rumoured to be about a quarter of ?1 million. We are seeing

:01:10. > :01:12.this pattern and footballer and a fairly regular basis. We have had

:01:13. > :01:16.debates and statements on the governance of football clubs and the

:01:17. > :01:22.administration but I think we could do with another statement or a

:01:23. > :01:25.debate on the governance of football clubs because we are seeing people

:01:26. > :01:31.of increasingly dubious character buying up football teams in Britain

:01:32. > :01:34.for whatever mendacious reasons they have, and I think a lot is going to

:01:35. > :01:46.come out about the order of Leyton Orient. I am sure the house welcome

:01:47. > :01:50.his tribute to Sir Gerald Kaufman. On Leyton Orient and football, we

:01:51. > :01:55.had a debate about the governance of football about two weeks ago so I do

:01:56. > :02:02.not think I can offer a further debate on government time in the

:02:03. > :02:05.short-term but I will undertake to report his concerns about Leyton

:02:06. > :02:13.Orient and the general issue that he raises to the Secretary of State.

:02:14. > :02:18.May I associate myself with the tributes paid by members to the late

:02:19. > :02:23.Father of that house? It speaks volumes of the depth of knowledge

:02:24. > :02:25.and wisdom in this house that the late Sir Gerald was a member of this

:02:26. > :02:31.house and the government before I and many other members were born and

:02:32. > :02:35.although I only overlapped in service of this house for regular

:02:36. > :02:40.and a half with Sir Gerald I think I am on safe ground in seeing his

:02:41. > :02:43.wisdom, judgment, which and experience will all be sorely missed

:02:44. > :02:49.from the deliberations of this house in the future. Today the Joe

:02:50. > :02:56.Humphreys memorial trust, a trust set up in memory of John Humphrys, a

:02:57. > :03:02.14-year-old boy from my constituency who drop dead suddenly while jogging

:03:03. > :03:05.in 2012, are holding an important conference in the city of Leicester

:03:06. > :03:09.to bring together professionals from the world of sport at the medical

:03:10. > :03:15.profession to discuss sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, also

:03:16. > :03:19.known as sudden adult death syndrome, what can be done to raise

:03:20. > :03:23.awareness of it and prevent it. Will he join in paying tribute to Joe

:03:24. > :03:28.Humphrys' family and those who work with the trust and can we have a

:03:29. > :03:40.debate on sudden arrhythmic death syndrome? I would join him in paying

:03:41. > :03:43.tribute to Joe's family and to the others working with them and so very

:03:44. > :03:50.much welcome the initiative that he has described to encourage a

:03:51. > :03:59.fruitful exchange of ideas about how we can do more to detect and treat

:04:00. > :04:03.these very distressing conditions because the death in particular of

:04:04. > :04:11.young person causes such devastation to their families and friends. We do

:04:12. > :04:14.have some of the fastest improvements in hospital death rates

:04:15. > :04:19.for stroke and heart attacks anywhere in Europe. I think there is

:04:20. > :04:22.some evidence that is partly due to the creation of specialist stroke

:04:23. > :04:27.and cardiac unit but there's agreed deal more to be done. I know the

:04:28. > :04:31.Department of Health will want to report the work being happening in

:04:32. > :04:36.Leicestershire. And I associate myself with everything that has been

:04:37. > :04:40.said about Sir Gerald Kaufman? In his role as father of the house,

:04:41. > :04:45.kindness and wisdom have been outstanding characteristics. I

:04:46. > :04:50.cannot help feeling listening to the warmth of these tributes that a

:04:51. > :04:53.procedure in the Scottish parliament where the death of a sitting member

:04:54. > :04:57.is followed by a motion of condolence led by the party leaders,

:04:58. > :05:02.which provides a real opportunity to hear some of the warmth and the

:05:03. > :05:08.humour and insight we have heard from so many members today, and

:05:09. > :05:16.certainly someone of Gerald's stature, would have been worthy of

:05:17. > :05:18.such a motion. The house could have done with Sir Gerald Kaufman here

:05:19. > :05:21.today because he had been a member for most that years when the late

:05:22. > :05:28.Donald Dewar brought forward the Scotland Bill and at the heart of

:05:29. > :05:32.that and Donald Dewar's genius was to put forward the principle that

:05:33. > :05:36.anything that was not specifically reserved to this parliament was

:05:37. > :05:39.automatically devolved to Scotland, so when the Secretary of State for

:05:40. > :05:42.Scotland was caught in the headlights yesterday and the Prime

:05:43. > :05:45.Minister was seemingly unaware of that foundation principal of the

:05:46. > :05:51.Parliament, it was not just in sensitivity towards goal and, not

:05:52. > :05:54.just a betrayal of commitments made in the referendum campaign, it was

:05:55. > :06:00.striking at the heart of the devolution statute itself. Perhaps

:06:01. > :06:03.rather than resting on civil service gobbledygook the Leader of the House

:06:04. > :06:10.would show some awareness of the seriousness of not agreeing that

:06:11. > :06:13.everything that is not specifically devolved automatically goes to the

:06:14. > :06:21.Scottish Parliament including fishing, farming and a range of

:06:22. > :06:29.other issues? What happened with the Scotland Act... He is correct in

:06:30. > :06:34.having described that acts, but what happened as it was taken through

:06:35. > :06:38.Parliament in the context of the United Kingdom's continuing

:06:39. > :06:45.membership of the European Union and with a clear knowledge on all sides

:06:46. > :06:52.that other certain powers that were exercised at that level. We are now

:06:53. > :06:57.in a very different situation and whichever side any of us took in the

:06:58. > :07:05.referendum there is an understanding that the decision that the UK

:07:06. > :07:12.electorate made represents a profound change of course for the

:07:13. > :07:19.United Kingdom. This is exactly why the UK Government is talking to the

:07:20. > :07:26.Scottish Government at ministerial and official level about how exactly

:07:27. > :07:35.to deal with the repatriation of powers from Brussels to ensure that

:07:36. > :07:37.they are correctly allocated, and he does oversimplify the position

:07:38. > :07:43.because to take the fisheries question that he cited, the powers

:07:44. > :07:52.exercised by the European Union deal with matters both which might well

:07:53. > :07:56.involve the devolved administrations exercising jurisdiction but also

:07:57. > :08:02.involve the settling of matters between the European Union and third

:08:03. > :08:07.countries that involve United Nations conventions which, under the

:08:08. > :08:15.terms of the Scotland Act, would be reserved matters. It is that

:08:16. > :08:18.conundrum that has to be addressed. May I also associate myself with the

:08:19. > :08:24.very many comments made about the late Sir Gerald Kaufman? I cannot

:08:25. > :08:29.claim to have known him very well but that does not diminish the

:08:30. > :08:33.respect that myself and fellow Welsh members on the side of the house

:08:34. > :08:41.have for him. I would like to send our sympathies to his family. Can I

:08:42. > :08:44.inform him that there are several developments at Park homes in my

:08:45. > :08:49.constituency, developments where the owners pay council tax, utility

:08:50. > :08:54.bills and maintenance charges, but when it comes to selling their

:08:55. > :08:59.properties in addition to the estate agents fees they have to pay 10% of

:09:00. > :09:00.their sale price to the site owners. Can we have a debate on the iron

:09:01. > :09:11.furnace of this additional charge? My honourable friend as always is

:09:12. > :09:14.speaking up for his constituents. The situation we have is the site

:09:15. > :09:17.owners entitlement to receive a commission an implied term in all

:09:18. > :09:23.agreements and my understanding is that commission is an important

:09:24. > :09:27.income strand for Park Home businesses which means they can

:09:28. > :09:31.ensure that the sites are properly managed and maintained. This issue

:09:32. > :09:33.was looked at in 2012 by the communities and local government

:09:34. > :09:40.select committee which recommended that the 10% or less commission rule

:09:41. > :09:45.should remain in place. The government then agreed the current

:09:46. > :09:51.position should continue but we have a further review of the mobile homes

:09:52. > :09:53.act 2013 this spring and that will provide a further opportunity to

:09:54. > :10:00.listen to representations and consider how the present system is

:10:01. > :10:05.operating. Gerald Kaufmann was justly proud that he was the longest

:10:06. > :10:11.serving member of Parliament for Manchester ever and as he would tell

:10:12. > :10:16.you from time to time, both continuously and by broken service,

:10:17. > :10:22.he was particularly proud of that. When I became leader of the council

:10:23. > :10:27.in 1984, I went to see Gerald because he had not always been

:10:28. > :10:32.appreciative of the efforts of Manchester City Council offices to

:10:33. > :10:38.deliver services to his constituents. I came to an agreement

:10:39. > :10:43.with him that if, after he had contacted a department twice, that

:10:44. > :10:47.he came to me, if I couldn't sort it out, he could be as critical as he

:10:48. > :10:52.liked and we kept that. My phone went one morning, and this will not

:10:53. > :10:59.be one of the most famous acidic comments that Gerald made, but it

:11:00. > :11:03.reminds me of him and I think it's a bit he said, "Graham, do they employ

:11:04. > :11:08.human beings in the housing department?" He was very

:11:09. > :11:12.dissatisfied with the treatment of a family who were in severe housing

:11:13. > :11:17.difficulty. But what was more remarkable about that comment and

:11:18. > :11:25.that particular lunchtime phone call was that it was the day when he was

:11:26. > :11:29.the centre of worldwide media attention because as the honourable

:11:30. > :11:35.member referred to, he was the Shadow Foreign Secretary in charge

:11:36. > :11:37.of changing Labour's policy of unilateralism to multilateralism and

:11:38. > :11:45.he took time off in the middle of that media hubbub to take up the

:11:46. > :11:52.cudgels on behalf of one of his -- of a family of his constituents. He

:11:53. > :11:56.was a ferocious Tribune on behalf of, first of the people of our

:11:57. > :12:01.quick, his first Manchester constituency, and secondly on behalf

:12:02. > :12:09.of the people of Alton. He loved this place. -- golden. He intended

:12:10. > :12:12.to stay here as long as he did. When he started drawing his pension,

:12:13. > :12:16.there was obviously a lot of interest from the Young Turks in his

:12:17. > :12:19.constituency who rather fancied that they would do a better job of

:12:20. > :12:26.representing the people of Manchester Gorton and when they

:12:27. > :12:32.sidled up to him and asked him, "Gerald, are you standing in the

:12:33. > :12:38.next general election?" He would say, "Yes, and the one after". And

:12:39. > :12:42.that was always his reply, even recently. His love of musicals has

:12:43. > :12:50.been referred to. He was a personal friend of Stephen Sondheim, the

:12:51. > :12:53.American lyricist and songwriter. He brought Stephen Sondheim to

:12:54. > :12:59.Manchester with some of his plays which we put on, on stage, in

:13:00. > :13:05.Manchester. Mr Speaker, I guess you have been never serenaded by Gerald

:13:06. > :13:10.Kaufmann but I have had my office opposite is for the last 18 years.

:13:11. > :13:13.If he'd been to a particularly good musical in the West End the night

:13:14. > :13:19.before, you could hear him singing the songs from the musical, which is

:13:20. > :13:28.not the image that most of the public would have had. -- would have

:13:29. > :13:32.had of him. A number of colleagues have mentioned his book, Had To Be A

:13:33. > :13:35.Minister Noble. I Went With Gerald And The Other Manchester Mps To See

:13:36. > :13:47.A Labour Minister Of Health With. I went to see a Labour Minister of

:13:48. > :13:49.health because there were health issues in Manchester. The Labour

:13:50. > :13:53.Minister mentioned he had read the book and we went out not

:13:54. > :13:57.particularly satisfied with the meeting and Gerald, in a very loud

:13:58. > :14:03.whisper as we were leaving, said, "He might have read it but he didn't

:14:04. > :14:08.understand it". The minister is no longer a member of this house.

:14:09. > :14:16.Gerald loved his constituents. He cared passionately about his party

:14:17. > :14:19.and we will miss him. The honourable gentleman reminds us that although

:14:20. > :14:24.an adopted son of the city, Gerald Kaufman always felt his roots were

:14:25. > :14:27.very much embedded in Manchester and he always strove to represent the

:14:28. > :14:33.interests both of his own constituents but also the city more

:14:34. > :14:36.widely. Thank you, Mr Speaker, can I also associate myself with a lovely

:14:37. > :14:40.tribute we heard in relation to the late Father of the house. As a new

:14:41. > :14:43.member, I did not have the opportunity to get to know him well

:14:44. > :14:46.but what I have heard today as provided a tremendous insight from

:14:47. > :14:51.which I can only conclude he will be a very sad and great loss to his

:14:52. > :14:56.friends and family. Can we have a debate, Mr Speaker, on what it

:14:57. > :14:59.actually means to be, "Committed to the best possible outcome for the

:15:00. > :15:03.United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union"?

:15:04. > :15:06.Would the leader of the house not agree with me that we all want the

:15:07. > :15:09.best possible deal following the referendum result in the

:15:10. > :15:16.circumstances but we may disagree on what that deal might look like? To

:15:17. > :15:19.this end, would he not agree with me that as for organisations bidding

:15:20. > :15:24.for government contracts, subscribe themselves to the government's

:15:25. > :15:30.political view on Brexit is not only wrong but would take us down a

:15:31. > :15:33.dangerous path for the future. There will certainly be, I can assure the

:15:34. > :15:40.honourable lady, many opportunities to have the sort of debate that she

:15:41. > :15:44.seeks. When all views, including her own, can be expressed in full. The

:15:45. > :15:51.allocation of government contracts takes place under a fair and

:15:52. > :16:00.transparent process that is laid down by the Cabinet Office. Thank

:16:01. > :16:09.you, Mr Speaker. We all feel a real sense of loss at the passing of Sir

:16:10. > :16:13.Gerald Kaufmann. -- Gerald Kaufman. The reason why we remember his many

:16:14. > :16:16.qualities, as members have done this morning, like his personality, his

:16:17. > :16:22.humour and his powerful intellect, his dress, his individuality and

:16:23. > :16:27.charm, but I think what we can say is in missing him, Mr Speaker, the

:16:28. > :16:31.greatest tribute we can give is to ensure that his memory lives on and

:16:32. > :16:36.the example he set us all, that we never forget that. I mean, looking

:16:37. > :16:42.at his past, saying to the leader of the house, I saw he was shadow... A

:16:43. > :16:47.former Shadow Home Secretary in the 80s I'm sure he would continue to

:16:48. > :16:51.wish me to hold the government to account as he did in the 80s and can

:16:52. > :16:54.I ask the leader of the house, can we have an urgent debate on

:16:55. > :16:57.policing, given that astonishingly, the government has today failed to

:16:58. > :17:03.come forward with a statement on policing and the crisis in policing

:17:04. > :17:09.that we face? Forces including my own rationing their responses to the

:17:10. > :17:16.public in the face of a 15% reduction in the number of police

:17:17. > :17:20.officers between 2010 and 2020. It is not good enough. We need a

:17:21. > :17:28.debate. It is a crisis. What does the leader say to that? I... First

:17:29. > :17:31.of all, I salute the honourable gentleman's tribute to Gerald

:17:32. > :17:35.Kaufman and I would say in response to his challenge about the police

:17:36. > :17:40.that yes, the police is indeed like all parts of the public sector have

:17:41. > :17:45.had to face up to the need for very difficult decisions about budget

:17:46. > :17:48.priorities, decisions made necessary by the parlous state of the public

:17:49. > :17:53.finances which the government inherited in 2010 but I think that

:17:54. > :17:58.chief constables and police and crime commissioners have responded

:17:59. > :18:04.extraordinarily well, and the Testament of that is the fact that

:18:05. > :18:08.despite the reductions in police funding that he has described, there

:18:09. > :18:14.has been a significant fall in crime in this country and I would want to

:18:15. > :18:19.pay tribute to the work that the police are doing and the leadership

:18:20. > :18:25.they have been showing, inserting those priorities and getting on with

:18:26. > :18:29.the job successfully. -- in setting those priorities. I apologise to the

:18:30. > :18:33.house and yourself Mr Speaker for not being here earlier. It was just

:18:34. > :18:38.not possible to be here, as I indicated yesterday. I would also

:18:39. > :18:43.like to say a few words about Gerald Kaufman. I pay tribute to him, as

:18:44. > :18:50.are the honourable members have done on both sides, because if there ever

:18:51. > :18:55.was a one-off, it was Gerald, in the way in which he approached his job,

:18:56. > :19:01.the way in which he held his various enthusiasms, not least films,

:19:02. > :19:07.Singing In The Rain, apparently, he saw 70 times. And then he was not

:19:08. > :19:15.satisfied entirely with that, he made an appointment and wrote about

:19:16. > :19:18.it, and when he saw Gene Kelly in Hollywood, it must have been one of

:19:19. > :19:22.the high moments of his life. I first came across him, I knew of

:19:23. > :19:28.Gerald before I came here in the mid-60s, because he was quite a

:19:29. > :19:33.well-known journalist by then and wrote a regular column in the new

:19:34. > :19:39.statesman. But when I came here, he was what we now call the spin doctor

:19:40. > :19:42.for Harold Wilson. If you look at all the sort of diaries about the

:19:43. > :19:49.kitchen cabinet, the rows that went on, the difficulties about Harold

:19:50. > :19:56.Wilson's private secretary and the rest of it, all very interesting,

:19:57. > :20:00.gossipy stuff, perhaps politically interesting as well. But you won't

:20:01. > :20:07.find a single mention of any of that from Gerald. He never wrote about it

:20:08. > :20:11.when he could easily have done so as a professional journalist, and he

:20:12. > :20:14.might have kept a diary for we know. And the reason he did not write

:20:15. > :20:18.about it was that he was so dedicated to Harold Wilson as his

:20:19. > :20:25.employer, that he didn't gossip about what went on in private

:20:26. > :20:31.proceedings and as I said, none of those exploits of the kitchen

:20:32. > :20:37.cabinet which became so well known in political circles at ten Downing

:20:38. > :20:42.St was written about by Gerald, and for that reason. I once went out, I

:20:43. > :20:48.was in the members lobby once during various days when he was the spin

:20:49. > :20:52.doctor, and he said, "Come here a moment", so I came. "Look At those

:20:53. > :20:57.two", two of my labour colleagues. They were chatting together, simply

:20:58. > :21:02.innocent as far as I was concerned. He said, "Do you know? Those two

:21:03. > :21:07.were hardly on speaking terms until recently and look at them now". What

:21:08. > :21:12.he was implying was that they were plotting against Harold. If Harold

:21:13. > :21:19.had paranoia, then his spin doctor contributed to that. But he did so

:21:20. > :21:26.out of a dedication to what he saw as the Labour government being led

:21:27. > :21:34.by Gerald Kaufman. When he spoke in the house, when Harold Wilson died,

:21:35. > :21:40.he said at that time, he was telling us about he was a junior minister in

:21:41. > :21:48.environment, dealing with transport matters. He said," I received a memo

:21:49. > :21:50.from the Prime Minister saying, would you make provision for former

:21:51. > :21:57.Prime Minister is to have a car and a chauffeur?" He said, "At that

:21:58. > :22:03.moment, I knew Harold Wilson was going to retire". He was probably

:22:04. > :22:08.right. Two other points I would make, if I may before I sit down. He

:22:09. > :22:16.was a dedicated, as has been mentioned by others including

:22:17. > :22:20.Manchester colleagues of his, dedicated in casework. You know, as

:22:21. > :22:23.you mentioned it yesterday, Mr Speaker, how he would rise in the

:22:24. > :22:29.chamber and ask why he hasn't had a reply about so and so. It wasn't

:22:30. > :22:35.just occasionally. He did it quite frequently and it showed his

:22:36. > :22:39.dedication, despite the fact that he did 46 years, he was as dedicated as

:22:40. > :22:45.a constituency member of Parliament from all accounts as he was on his

:22:46. > :22:49.first week, or his first year here. That says a great deal and it also

:22:50. > :22:55.says a great deal about members of parliament in general because there

:22:56. > :23:01.are very few now who don't take great care of their constituents in

:23:02. > :23:06.replying as promptly as possible and assiduously. The last point I want

:23:07. > :23:10.to make is perhaps controversial. Gerald was born in 1930. If ever

:23:11. > :23:16.there was a person of Jewish origin who understood the horrors of what

:23:17. > :23:24.was to take place by the time he was 15, it was Gerald. He knew from the

:23:25. > :23:25.very beginning, when the stories came out, and the statements made in

:23:26. > :23:42.the House of Commons, how sharp-macros are being sorted

:23:43. > :23:46.now hundreds of thousands and then in their millions for no other

:23:47. > :23:54.reason than that they shared the same origin as Gerald and did it

:23:55. > :23:57.myself. -- how Jews. He was an ardent supporter of Israel, before

:23:58. > :24:02.he was a member of Parliament, during the 1967 war, I remember his

:24:03. > :24:09.eagerness that Israel should survive, his great fear, shared by

:24:10. > :24:14.many others who became critics, that if it was otherwise, the Jewish

:24:15. > :24:23.population could be forced into the sea as the threats were made at the

:24:24. > :24:26.time. But later, he became a harsh critic of Israel. And he became a

:24:27. > :24:31.harsh critic of Israel, not because he ceased to be concerned about

:24:32. > :24:35.Jews, that is a false accusation made against him and which was made

:24:36. > :24:44.from time to time, but he believed that Israelis were showing a total

:24:45. > :24:47.lack of consideration the Palestinians, that they were

:24:48. > :24:58.treating Palestinians in many instances with contempt and he felt

:24:59. > :25:02.as strong -- a strong urge to speak out as he did. I know he antagonised

:25:03. > :25:09.a number of people in the Jewish community by doing that. But Gerald

:25:10. > :25:11.was the sort of person who not the sort of person who would feel

:25:12. > :25:17.intimidated because people didn't like what he said. I think he was

:25:18. > :25:21.right and one would expect me to say that because I, too, have very

:25:22. > :25:24.strong feelings about the way in which Palestinians have been

:25:25. > :25:30.treated, the contempt for their human rights and the fact that as

:25:31. > :25:35.far as I can see, the Israeli authorities, the leading people show

:25:36. > :25:35.no desire to bring about a sovereign, independent Palestine

:25:36. > :25:48.along with Israel. In conclusion, Gerald was not the

:25:49. > :25:52.easiest person to get on with. I had my own occasional rows and we made

:25:53. > :25:57.up and spoke about films. Was difficult in many instances but how

:25:58. > :26:00.many people with such courage and determination and single-mindedness

:26:01. > :26:07.are not really difficult when you assess their lives? He did good, he

:26:08. > :26:10.wanted to do good, he was dedicated to the Labour Party and the labour

:26:11. > :26:21.movement and to this country. We shall miss him a great deal. I thank

:26:22. > :26:28.the gentleman for what he has said. I wish to add my tributes on behalf

:26:29. > :26:32.of myself and my party to the late and much missed father of the house

:26:33. > :26:39.Sir Gerald Kaufman. He was an extraordinary servant for Manchester

:26:40. > :26:47.that he represented for such a remarkable number of years, but he

:26:48. > :26:55.was actually originally a Leeds boy, born in Leeds. And someone who went

:26:56. > :27:01.to schools in Leeds and developed a lot of his political thinking in

:27:02. > :27:09.Leeds and Leeds is proud of him and paid tribute to him. He was also the

:27:10. > :27:18.son of Jewish refugees who escaped in Poland and in these troubled

:27:19. > :27:25.times for the son of foreign refugees fleeing persecution to end

:27:26. > :27:30.up as leader of this house is not only an enormous tributes to him and

:27:31. > :27:34.his family, it is also something that surely must send out a very

:27:35. > :27:37.clear message today in these troubled times, and that is

:27:38. > :27:44.something we should all reflect on and be proud of his achievement. He

:27:45. > :27:49.was the huge parliamentarian, a real defender of this Parliament, and all

:27:50. > :27:53.of us who regard ourselves as parliamentarians ahead of roles

:27:54. > :27:59.government and in party have certainly lost one of her own. When

:28:00. > :28:08.it comes to my party it has to be said that he was not always the

:28:09. > :28:17.greatest fan of Liberal Democrats! With good reason. That is an

:28:18. > :28:20.understatement. Largely because of Liberal Democrats snapping at his

:28:21. > :28:28.heels for so many years but he was clearly not going to be shifted as

:28:29. > :28:31.long as that continued. He has clearly a very large personal vote

:28:32. > :28:39.mag as well as what was a safe Labour seat. He was someone who

:28:40. > :28:44.spoke without fear or favour and he will be long remembered for that,

:28:45. > :28:50.and I think some of that goes back to that leads origin and that famous

:28:51. > :28:55.Yorkshire bluntness. He had the courage to disagree with his own

:28:56. > :29:01.party leaders and colleagues, he had the courage to criticise

:29:02. > :29:05.journalists. As a former journalist. He had the courage, whatever people

:29:06. > :29:11.may feel about his views, as a proud Jewish man to speak out on the

:29:12. > :29:15.situation in Israel and Palestine and the legacy from that is we must

:29:16. > :29:21.get to a stage where we do not see that particular issue as having to

:29:22. > :29:30.take one side or another but fight as Sir Gerald did for justice, for

:29:31. > :29:33.peace and resolution. I am very pleased to say he supported

:29:34. > :29:38.consistently the campaign for furnace when it comes to the

:29:39. > :29:43.situation with pub companies and their landlords and I am very proud

:29:44. > :29:49.to say he was one of those people as a parliamentarian who stood up for

:29:50. > :29:54.Parliament in the vault in November 20 14th when Parliament and MPs

:29:55. > :29:58.defeated the government on a three line whip when ministers had not

:29:59. > :30:07.listened. I am very light, Prodi was involved in that. -- very proud he

:30:08. > :30:13.was involved. Can we have on the situation regarding the way that we

:30:14. > :30:20.tax hubs? 37% of pubs in this country are facing a rate rise. Many

:30:21. > :30:26.facing rises of ?10,000 or more which will put many pubs in this

:30:27. > :30:29.country out of business or for pubs in Manchester, Leeds and London and

:30:30. > :30:34.around the country can we have a debate on government time about how

:30:35. > :30:42.we can recognise the social value of pubs in the tax system which does

:30:43. > :30:47.not happen at the moment. I cannot offer a specific government debate

:30:48. > :30:52.on that subject but I can assure him that the debate on the forthcoming

:30:53. > :30:59.Budget Statement will I am confident provide him with the opportunity to

:31:00. > :31:07.raise all those questions. The last Father of the house to die in office

:31:08. > :31:11.was in 19 29th of this is a very unusual moment for us and I support

:31:12. > :31:15.the call that maybe we should have a formal means of making sure we pay

:31:16. > :31:27.tribute to any member and it is not a decision left up to only the

:31:28. > :31:30.Speaker and the chairman. Many LGBT people are grateful to general

:31:31. > :31:35.because he campaigned for a very long time when it was very

:31:36. > :31:38.unfashionable and long before equal marriage was introduced. He was had

:31:39. > :31:44.an absolutely impeccable record on that. He loved musicals to a point

:31:45. > :31:50.of distraction. Everybody has referred to singing in the rain and

:31:51. > :31:55.that being his favourite musical. When the DC MS select committee I

:31:56. > :31:59.was on when he was chairman were on tour and I use the term onto

:32:00. > :32:03.advisedly, because every year he insisted the committee had to go to

:32:04. > :32:09.the west Coast of America, so he had to find something we had to

:32:10. > :32:12.investigate on the west Coast of America, he would welcome all of us

:32:13. > :32:18.to breakfast by singing good morning, good morning. I remember

:32:19. > :32:22.him being very angry once when the member for Litchfield said one

:32:23. > :32:26.morning, that great song sung by Debbie Reynolds and he pointed out

:32:27. > :32:37.Debbie Reynolds danced in the routine but she was dubbed, you

:32:38. > :32:48.should know that. He was a great friend of Stephen Sondheim and he

:32:49. > :32:54.used every gal -- he used to tell me, lines from Sweeney Todd, stick

:32:55. > :33:05.to priest, he said. His favourite lyric was Shepheard's pie leopard

:33:06. > :33:08.with Leopard on top. I think he probably outlived his dealer from

:33:09. > :33:14.Leeds because he was certainly wearing from a line in the end and

:33:15. > :33:29.that was not enough to have a load suit, you had to have a loud shirt

:33:30. > :33:32.as well. I remember he was called in Las Vegas airport and he wanted to

:33:33. > :33:40.go and buy a jumper and so he went with Claire Ward and he's so a stall

:33:41. > :33:43.and went straight in there and he and Claire could not decide between

:33:44. > :33:53.two of the jumpers and asked me for advice. I said, Gerald, they are

:33:54. > :33:58.hideous. He bought both! He was at university with Rupert Murdoch.

:33:59. > :34:02.Rupert Murdoch had never given evidence to a select committee at

:34:03. > :34:08.this time. We went to Fox Studios to as it were your time his then. There

:34:09. > :34:15.was this great when Rupert arrived at the end of a very long avenue of

:34:16. > :34:21.trees and we were at the other end and we marched towards each other

:34:22. > :34:25.like the gunfight in the OK Corral and I told the story of the lunch we

:34:26. > :34:30.had with Rupert Murdoch when the phone hacking scandal was happening

:34:31. > :34:34.and how Gerald had teased Rupert about idea got him thrown out of the

:34:35. > :34:37.Labour Party at university for corruptly organising the election of

:34:38. > :34:42.the wrong person, I think they opened the wrong envelope! It feels

:34:43. > :34:50.like that has been happening for six years in British politics! I told

:34:51. > :34:53.this story about how Rupert Murdoch was so aggressive in the meeting and

:34:54. > :34:59.he kept hitting is hand on the table with his rings. I thought it was so

:35:00. > :35:03.funny we were doing this. I told the journalists we were doing all of

:35:04. > :35:08.this at Fox Studios and the Judy Garland room. About three weeks

:35:09. > :35:13.later Gerald came up to me in one of the divisional lobbies and he was

:35:14. > :35:17.furious with me. Everybody has referred to his reputation for a

:35:18. > :35:25.sharp dig. He said, you should know better. You told that story. We were

:35:26. > :35:31.on tour. I thought he was going to say what goes on tour stays on tour.

:35:32. > :35:39.He said it was not the Judy Garland room, it was the Shirley Temple run.

:35:40. > :35:44.I hope it is all right for me to refer to something that has been

:35:45. > :35:49.said in the PLP, but he once started a contribution in the PLP with the

:35:50. > :35:56.words, as Lana Turner once said to me... Young Member of Parliament

:35:57. > :36:08.said, what seats did she is that for? He was also a fan of Betty

:36:09. > :36:13.Davis. Thinking about the last few years, Betty Davis said once, old

:36:14. > :36:20.age is no place for sissies. I think Gerald would agree. It was a veil

:36:21. > :36:25.for him sometimes the coming here. He was quite frail. He was

:36:26. > :36:28.determined when he had to represent his constituents that there were

:36:29. > :36:33.issues he cared about he would be here and make sure he was here. The

:36:34. > :36:38.last year I think was tough for him. I know you visited and Clare Ward

:36:39. > :36:44.visited regularly. He was still singing musicals last Tuesday. I do

:36:45. > :36:50.not know whether it was Sweeney Todd or singing in the rain. I went last

:36:51. > :36:56.night, I am moving on to the subject, he used to get very angry

:36:57. > :37:01.about ticket touts because he thought that was very unfair that

:37:02. > :37:07.people who contributed nothing to the performance, did not contribute

:37:08. > :37:11.to the venue, did not enhance the performance for anybody, managed to

:37:12. > :37:16.make in some cases thousands and tens of thousands of pounds on their

:37:17. > :37:20.secondary ticket market. I hope the government is very soon going to do

:37:21. > :37:25.something about this. We are still waiting for a review. Can we have a

:37:26. > :37:33.Sir Gerald Kaufman memorial debate on ticket touts and the pernicious

:37:34. > :37:37.scum they are? I cannot help remarking that if Sir Gerald Kaufman

:37:38. > :37:42.is able to sing along with the numbers from Sweeney Todd he must've

:37:43. > :37:48.had a very good musical year indeed, pretty challenging lines. In

:37:49. > :37:55.response to his question about ticket touts, will I refer to the

:37:56. > :38:00.Secretary of State for culture media and sport, his point about wanting

:38:01. > :38:04.an review, and draw his attention to the efforts being made through the

:38:05. > :38:15.Digital economy bill to try to limit what some of these ticket bought is

:38:16. > :38:23.unable to pick up tickets and sell them at extortionate cost. First I

:38:24. > :38:29.would like to pay tribute to late father of the house and Billy Mack.

:38:30. > :38:35.Having arrived in the house in 2015I did. Get the opportunity to learn

:38:36. > :38:39.from him but one of my observations was how stylish and dapper his sense

:38:40. > :38:45.of dress was. One of the days he went through the lobby with a

:38:46. > :38:49.fabulous panama hat on. He spent time with two of my parliamentary

:38:50. > :38:54.colleagues on an overseas trip to Jordan and they spoke very highly of

:38:55. > :38:58.him and spoke of how interesting all his Parliamentary stories were. I am

:38:59. > :39:03.going to leave it to those parliamentarians that had the

:39:04. > :39:09.pleasure and good fortune to serve along with Sir Gerald between 1970

:39:10. > :39:13.until 2017 to be longer tribute to him and I would like to offer my

:39:14. > :39:20.condolences to his family who are here today.

:39:21. > :39:26.The Hansard Society, widely respected, as an expert on

:39:27. > :39:34.Parliament and democracy, has warned the current process of scrutiny is

:39:35. > :39:37.not fit for purpose. The society's directors have warned that if

:39:38. > :39:40.Parliament is to fulfil its responsibility to hold the

:39:41. > :39:45.government to account, MPs need better procedures. Will the leader

:39:46. > :39:50.please inform the house if he is taking these concerns seriously and

:39:51. > :39:54.will he urgently review the Parliamentary scrutiny process now

:39:55. > :40:01.so that any necessary changes can be made before the great repeal bill is

:40:02. > :40:05.introduced? The Honourable lady makes a very serious and important

:40:06. > :40:11.point and the government and I personally are indeed giving close

:40:12. > :40:13.attention to this question of how, given the implications of the Brexit

:40:14. > :40:20.process for both primary and secondary legislation, we can ensure

:40:21. > :40:26.that there is proper, fully adequate Parliamentary scrutiny and

:40:27. > :40:30.Parliamentary debate. In terms of one point arising out of the Hansard

:40:31. > :40:37.Society in particular, I can give some reassurance to her, I hope, in

:40:38. > :40:42.that any additional powers for secondary legislation that might be

:40:43. > :40:49.sought in new primary legislation, such as the Gabi appeal Bill, will

:40:50. > :40:55.of course themselves need to be approved by parliament through the

:40:56. > :41:02.normal process. -- such as the Repeal Bill. So when a process that

:41:03. > :41:04.comes elite Matt Gohdes any kind of enabling power comes through,

:41:05. > :41:08.Parliament will be able to debate and decide properly on questions

:41:09. > :41:16.concerning the scope, the definition and the duration of those powers. Mr

:41:17. > :41:19.Speaker, it has been wonderful to hear from a long-standing colleagues

:41:20. > :41:23.of Sir Gerald but I remember when I was first elected as a new MP in

:41:24. > :41:27.2010, I distinctly remember taking an office on the second corridor

:41:28. > :41:31.above Star chamber Court for my office on the basis that if it was

:41:32. > :41:35.good enough for Sir Gerald, it was good enough for me. I remember to my

:41:36. > :41:39.delight, the first week I was there, there was a knock on the door and it

:41:40. > :41:43.was the man himself, Sir Gerald. I was a young MP, only 29 when first

:41:44. > :41:47.elected, I did not know anyone down here and I was away from home. He

:41:48. > :41:49.knocked on the door, our constituencies are quite close to

:41:50. > :41:52.one another, and he invited me to his office for a drink which I

:41:53. > :41:57.thought was a wonderful gesture, we talked for hours about how Lord

:41:58. > :42:02.Wilson, Jim Callaghan, the Winter of discontent, the 83 manifesto about

:42:03. > :42:06.the SDP. He was a living inside to be the of Labour and British

:42:07. > :42:10.history. We talked about foreign policy, Kashmir, Israel and

:42:11. > :42:13.Palestine. Many of the Labour Party's foreign policy positions are

:42:14. > :42:17.for now one is that he set as Shadow Foreign Secretary in that time. He

:42:18. > :42:20.also took very great delight when I expressed my admiration for his

:42:21. > :42:24.rather more palatial office than mine. He told me he had been given

:42:25. > :42:30.that over the express competing demands of Tony Benn on the basis he

:42:31. > :42:33.had had longer continuous service would still mattered a great deal to

:42:34. > :42:37.him. I believed for some of the distinguished and experience to take

:42:38. > :42:40.so much time and interest in lots of new members, actually, is the mark

:42:41. > :42:43.of someone who is not just a great and true parliamentarian but a great

:42:44. > :42:47.colleague as well. We really will miss him a great deal. One piece of

:42:48. > :42:50.advice he gave me that day was to never hesitate to raise on the floor

:42:51. > :42:53.of the House of Commons a constituency problem that you hadn't

:42:54. > :42:59.been able to resolve through paperwork alone. In that spirit and

:43:00. > :43:02.in homage to Sir Gerald, can we have, Mr Speaker, a debate about

:43:03. > :43:07.decent access to universal broadband in all parts of this country? My

:43:08. > :43:11.constituent, Peter Edwards, runs a business from home and his business

:43:12. > :43:15.is severely hampered by poor broadband speeds and BT have not

:43:16. > :43:18.been able to resolve this satisfactorily for me with

:43:19. > :43:21.correspondence. Surely Mr redwoods should not have to wait to get a

:43:22. > :43:23.decent broadband connection and universal access to good broadband

:43:24. > :43:29.speeds should be available to everyone? I'm grateful to the

:43:30. > :43:33.honourable gentleman and I think all of us know from our constituency

:43:34. > :43:40.experience how important it is for businesses, large and small, to have

:43:41. > :43:44.fast broadband access in order to compete and to sell to customers. If

:43:45. > :43:48.the honourable gentleman would like to let me have some details of the

:43:49. > :43:54.particular case, I will refer to the minister responsible for digital

:43:55. > :43:59.affairs. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I did not know the late Father of the

:44:00. > :44:03.house but as a student of politics, I was aware of him for many years.

:44:04. > :44:09.Lilly from the tributes today, he combined great intellect, a

:44:10. > :44:13.principled and political acumen with warmth, humour and insight and I

:44:14. > :44:18.would like to pass on my sincere condolences to his family, if they

:44:19. > :44:22.are here, watching, and also to his friends, particularly those on both

:44:23. > :44:26.sides of the house. I'm very grateful to the honourable member

:44:27. > :44:31.for Rhondda of reminding us for the work Sir Gerald did campaigning for

:44:32. > :44:33.LGBT rights, and as a gay woman, I'm very grateful for that and

:44:34. > :44:37.particularly conscious of the fact that Sir Gerald did it at a time

:44:38. > :44:41.when it was not fashionable to support LGBT rights and when sadly,

:44:42. > :44:44.not all political parties in this house supported them but that has

:44:45. > :44:49.now changed and is in great part due to the work of people like Sir

:44:50. > :44:53.Gerald. Mr Speaker, earlier this week, I wrote to the Home Secretary,

:44:54. > :44:59.expressing my concerns about the circumstances surrounding the

:45:00. > :45:03.deportation of Irene Clenell, who has already been mentioned today by

:45:04. > :45:07.the shadow leader of the house. Can we have a debate, Mr Speaker, about

:45:08. > :45:13.flexibility and discretion in the immigration system, the need to

:45:14. > :45:17.respect basic human dignity, family life, and also the need for due

:45:18. > :45:21.process? Can I suggest that such a debate would be a fitting tribute to

:45:22. > :45:28.the late Father of the house, who clearly believed in such principles?

:45:29. > :45:30.Mr Speaker, I completely understand the strength of feeling, as

:45:31. > :45:35.expressed by the honourable lady, about this particular case. But my

:45:36. > :45:39.understanding is that Irene Clenell has spent the majority of her life,

:45:40. > :45:42.including her married life, in Singapore, that a number of

:45:43. > :45:51.applications in her case were refused between 2003 and 2008, and

:45:52. > :45:57.that since July 2014, she has had no legal basis to remain in the UK. I

:45:58. > :46:01.would stress that all applications for leave to remain are considered

:46:02. > :46:07.on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules and

:46:08. > :46:14.subject to the various appeal mechanisms that exist under UK law.

:46:15. > :46:20.Obviously, the honourable lady is welcome to raise that particular

:46:21. > :46:24.case directly with the Home Secretary or the Immigration

:46:25. > :46:35.Minister. But the facts are as I have outlined them. Like many people

:46:36. > :46:40.here and thousands of people across the country, my life was impacted by

:46:41. > :46:47.Sir Gerald Kaufman, not least because I was given a copy of his

:46:48. > :46:49.book for my 21st birthday, How To Be A Minister and it probably had

:46:50. > :46:53.something to do with the fact that 25 years later, I did government

:46:54. > :46:58.minister and I have not forgotten brilliant advice that was written in

:46:59. > :47:04.a book by Gerald about how to deal with one's Parliamentary ministerial

:47:05. > :47:07.box and with civil servants and how to get things done rather than just

:47:08. > :47:13.be a spectator in government. I'm eternally grateful for the advice

:47:14. > :47:16.that he gave in that book. Those who have paid tribute are right to refer

:47:17. > :47:24.to his assiduous miss with regard to his constituents. I learned,

:47:25. > :47:29.entering the same entering the house at the same time as the honourable

:47:30. > :47:32.member for Rhondda, that this session, business question, is the

:47:33. > :47:36.most important of the week and is valued by MPs for that very reason,

:47:37. > :47:40.in some ways more important than Prime Minister's Questions because

:47:41. > :47:43.barring the rare occasions when Mr Speaker as to curtail our efforts on

:47:44. > :47:46.Thursday morning, it is an opportunity for every member of the

:47:47. > :47:51.house here on Thursday to raise a point and Sir Gerald often used this

:47:52. > :47:57.session to raise a point and on almost all the occasions when he did

:47:58. > :48:01.so it was a point that was related to a piece of constituency casework.

:48:02. > :48:04.A government department that had failed to answer a letter, a

:48:05. > :48:07.minister that hadn't been assiduous in coming back with a quick reply or

:48:08. > :48:12.even some other institution that had failed to treat a piece of

:48:13. > :48:15.correspondence from a member of Parliament, acting on behalf of

:48:16. > :48:22.their constituent, with the appropriate respect and furnish an

:48:23. > :48:26.appropriate reply. He was absolutely right about that. I think the

:48:27. > :48:29.strongest thing about our democracy, whatever one thinks about the

:48:30. > :48:32.electoral systems and so on, the strongest thing about our democracy

:48:33. > :48:36.is that representative link between members of Parliament and their

:48:37. > :48:40.constituents. And the way in which members of Parliament to use this

:48:41. > :48:45.place and their title as a member of Parliament on behalf of their

:48:46. > :48:49.constituents, to help them, not to enrich themselves in any way, not to

:48:50. > :48:53.burnish their own reputation but simply to help the weak against the

:48:54. > :48:58.strong, which is what democracy should really be about. Sir Gerald,

:48:59. > :49:03.I think, more than anyone in this house, showed us all how that ought

:49:04. > :49:07.to be done. And all of us would do well to remember, whatever heights

:49:08. > :49:11.we get to in politics, whether it is just this backbench or the

:49:12. > :49:16.ministerial office, should remember that is why we are here, and he was

:49:17. > :49:18.an exemplar of how to do that. He was also extremely, as has been

:49:19. > :49:26.mentioned earlier, politically brave. I think that my honourable

:49:27. > :49:30.friend was right to mention, he said it was controversial at the end of

:49:31. > :49:35.his remarks but it was right to mention Gerald's position on the

:49:36. > :49:38.state of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinian people. It was

:49:39. > :49:43.extremely brave of him to raise those issues in this house in the

:49:44. > :49:48.way that he did. It is to his eternal credit that he did so. I

:49:49. > :49:53.just want to mention one other thing about him. People have mentioned how

:49:54. > :49:56.dedicated he was to his constituency. I was having tea in

:49:57. > :50:00.the tearoom one morning, as I often do, probably with my honourable

:50:01. > :50:04.friend, the member for the Rhondda, and as we were sat there, Gerald

:50:05. > :50:09.came in, dressed, as usual, in a colourful fashion, and I think my

:50:10. > :50:13.honourable friend and I had a brief debate about exactly what colour his

:50:14. > :50:20.suit was and whether a word existed in the English language to describe

:50:21. > :50:22.that,. But -- that colour. But he seemed to have a spring in his step

:50:23. > :50:26.that particular morning, only about four years ago, I think, and he

:50:27. > :50:29.looked absolutely delighted. We wonder if he had been to a musical

:50:30. > :50:32.the night before because he was whistling and had a spring in his

:50:33. > :50:36.step as he came into the tea room and then the penny dropped. The

:50:37. > :50:41.boundary commission proposals had just been published and Manchester

:50:42. > :50:47.Gorton was not to be dissected or split up in any way. Sir Gerald was

:50:48. > :50:50.absolutely delighted that he could go on saying, "Yes, I will be

:50:51. > :50:54.standing at the next election and the one after", as honourable

:50:55. > :50:57.members referred to earlier. My friend from the Rhondda also

:50:58. > :51:00.mentioned Rupert Murdoch and as this is a business question session, I

:51:01. > :51:05.think Gerald would have wanted this issue to be raised. The leader of

:51:06. > :51:10.the house will have read the press reports about the speech being made

:51:11. > :51:17.today in relation to the takeover by 20th Century Fox, the proposed

:51:18. > :51:21.takeover of Sky. I just wondered if he would like to tell the house how

:51:22. > :51:29.the government intends to inform the house of its intentions in relation

:51:30. > :51:33.to that announcement? Indeed, the honourable gentleman raises an

:51:34. > :51:40.important issue about media ownership. He will know, that my

:51:41. > :51:42.right honourable friend the Secretary of State has do act in a

:51:43. > :51:47.quasi-judicial role in taking decisions about any proposed merger

:51:48. > :51:53.and it would therefore be wrong for her to express any kind of you in

:51:54. > :51:57.advance of any formal notification being made. -- kind of view. If

:51:58. > :52:04.there is a formal notification, she will take whatever decisions fall to

:52:05. > :52:10.her by law to do. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Anyone who shares

:52:11. > :52:14.the love of musicals, Judy Garland, Betty Davis, and can begin a

:52:15. > :52:18.sentence with the words, "As Lana Turner once said to me..." Is

:52:19. > :52:22.positively sounded my book, although not knowing him well at all, it is

:52:23. > :52:29.clear that there is much admiration for him, particularly amongst his

:52:30. > :52:34.colleagues on the Labour benches so I which is family, friends and

:52:35. > :52:38.colleagues on the Labour benches Mike is -- my sincere condolences.

:52:39. > :52:42.Mr Speaker, on the 24th of this month, it will be exactly one year

:52:43. > :52:48.since the shopkeeper Asad Shah was killed in my constituency, by a man

:52:49. > :52:56.by the name Tanvir Ahmed. Members may know that in the newspapers

:52:57. > :53:01.today, there is coverage of a celebration, I hate to call it that,

:53:02. > :53:07.celebrating his death and treating his murder with veneration in

:53:08. > :53:14.Pakistan. Mr Shah was one of the most gentle and kind people ever to

:53:15. > :53:19.own a shop anywhere in the UK. He was loved by many people on the

:53:20. > :53:24.south side of Glasgow. So will the leader of the house join me in

:53:25. > :53:27.condemning that horrifying display that we can see in newspaper

:53:28. > :53:32.coverage and online coverage, and will he also do something to make

:53:33. > :53:38.sure that what we remember is the kindness of this wonderful man, his

:53:39. > :53:39.wonderful family, and not the demagoguery of the man who took him

:53:40. > :53:54.from us? honourable gentleman and I'm sure

:53:55. > :54:00.with the entire house in expressing unreserved revulsion and

:54:01. > :54:05.condemnation of the event that he has described. It is frankly

:54:06. > :54:15.sickening to hear that human beings could be prepared to behave in such

:54:16. > :54:19.a fashion. I remember just under a year ago, from reading and seeing

:54:20. > :54:27.news reports of the sense of shock and genuine grief on the part of

:54:28. > :54:28.people in the south side of Glasgow, people from very different

:54:29. > :54:38.and religious heritage, in feeling and religious heritage, in feeling

:54:39. > :54:48.that they had lost a friend and a devoted champion of community life

:54:49. > :54:54.and that is how we should remember and I think in a sense the best

:54:55. > :55:03.tribute would be for people in Glasgow in particular but for all of

:55:04. > :55:13.us to redouble our resolve to eradicate from our society this

:55:14. > :55:22.scourge of bigotry, whether based on racial or religious or any other

:55:23. > :55:27.grounds. And I hope very much that the Pakistani High Commission in

:55:28. > :55:34.London, which I think we'll have been equally appalled at these news

:55:35. > :55:39.reports, will have taken note of the words honourable gentleman has

:55:40. > :55:46.spoken. As a fellow greater Manchester MP it was my privilege to

:55:47. > :55:50.visit Sir Gerald in his constituency and see the esteem his constituents

:55:51. > :55:56.held him in and I know he will be greatly missed in that constituency

:55:57. > :56:03.and by everybody in this House. I will miss his sartorial elegance. I

:56:04. > :56:07.remember when he turned up in a particularly flamboyant number and

:56:08. > :56:13.my friend commented that there must be several deckchairs in Blackpool

:56:14. > :56:17.that are missing their seats. My last memory of Sir Gerald is of him

:56:18. > :56:32.standing there at the Benjamin King in barnstorming speech about forced

:56:33. > :56:38.academies status of schools. And the Government backtracked. As well as

:56:39. > :56:43.education, the NHS was close to his heart. With that in mind I would

:56:44. > :56:49.like to request that we have an urgent debate about the activities

:56:50. > :56:54.of NHS shared business services. When I worked for Pennine acute

:56:55. > :56:59.hospitals, NHS shared business services put in a bid to run our

:57:00. > :57:01.payroll services and we as trade union reps did a quick search of the

:57:02. > :57:08.Internet and found a catalogue of woeful errors that the group had

:57:09. > :57:11.left in their wake with all the NHS contract to the already held and

:57:12. > :57:15.therefore I would like to request an urgent debate into why they were

:57:16. > :57:29.allowed to carry on performing NHS work. The issue now honourable lady

:57:30. > :57:35.referred to with SBS was identified in March 2016 and he immediately

:57:36. > :57:46.established an incident team which is still working to resolve the

:57:47. > :57:51.issue and a team has now reviewed thousands of items of

:57:52. > :57:55.correspondence. 2500 were identified as having potential risk of harm and

:57:56. > :58:01.required further investigation. Local GPs have now identified nearly

:58:02. > :58:09.2000 of those as having no patient harm. There remain 537 active cases

:58:10. > :58:16.which are still being followed up so we can be absolutely certain that

:58:17. > :58:22.patient. So far there is no evidence patient. So far there is no evidence

:58:23. > :58:26.to suggest actual harm. Obviously when that investigation has been

:58:27. > :58:33.completed I'm sure it would be reasonable for the relevant health

:58:34. > :58:37.minister to report to the House. I would like to associate myself with

:58:38. > :58:43.the many wonderful tributes today to Sir Gerald Kaufman and also share my

:58:44. > :58:44.condolences with the family. Interesting to hear so many stories

:58:45. > :58:49.because then you remember one of because then you remember one of

:58:50. > :58:54.your own. As an very new member to the House, within the first month I

:58:55. > :58:57.got my first opportunity to have a chat with him in the lobbies and I

:58:58. > :59:01.remember quite clearly saying to him that I liked the look of his new

:59:02. > :59:07.site to which I got a long, languishing look up and down slowly

:59:08. > :59:14.to see you're not doing too bad either so I would just like to

:59:15. > :59:18.assure the House that I will aspire to his sartorial condition in the

:59:19. > :59:28.future. The UK Government claims to sport a world -- support a world

:59:29. > :59:29.free of nuclear weapons through disarmament but boycotts

:59:30. > :59:51.negotiations at the UN to ban them. The Government's position is very

:59:52. > :00:02.clear that we are a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That gives

:00:03. > :00:09.particular responsibilities to the acknowledged nuclear powers. We

:00:10. > :00:15.remain an active supporter of the independent inspectorate and we are

:00:16. > :00:24.a very active supporter of multilateral nuclear and disarmament

:00:25. > :00:28.-- nuclear disarmament but that must take place in a way that is

:00:29. > :00:32.genuinely multilateral. It is sometimes easy to come up with

:00:33. > :00:38.suggestions for unilateral action or slogans that do not actually deliver

:00:39. > :00:45.what is needed in the form of detailed treaties which help to

:00:46. > :00:51.reduce the nuclear threat. It has been really good to remember Sir

:00:52. > :00:56.Gerald Kaufman today. I used to talk to him in the members' Kieran

:00:57. > :01:04.whenever I could and I got some great recommendations for films from

:01:05. > :01:08.him. Could we have a debate on the rent to buy sector? Customers are

:01:09. > :01:14.being ripped off across the country. In my constituency, young families

:01:15. > :01:21.struggling to get by are being told they can buy a cot for their baby

:01:22. > :01:33.for just ?5 per week but because of interest rates they end up paying

:01:34. > :01:42.?780 for a ?283 cot. It is not on. I think it is very important that

:01:43. > :01:48.people who are tempted by offers of apparently cheap finance really do

:01:49. > :01:52.look hard at the underlying terms and conditions before they commit

:01:53. > :02:01.themselves to what turned out to be quite extraordinary and extortionate

:02:02. > :02:08.repayments. It is not always the right answer to try to use the law

:02:09. > :02:12.to deal with these matters. Sometimes it has the effect of

:02:13. > :02:16.driving this kind of activity underground, but this is the sort of

:02:17. > :02:23.question the Government keeps under review the whole time. As a

:02:24. > :02:26.relatively new member, I confess I never had the opportunity to get to

:02:27. > :02:31.know Sir Gerald Kaufman personally but I can tell by the words in the

:02:32. > :02:34.tributes paid to him today that I have seriously missed out but I

:02:35. > :02:42.would like to extend my something to his friends and family. -- my

:02:43. > :02:47.sympathy. My constituent was medically disqualified from driving

:02:48. > :02:53.but with favourable reports from his but with favourable reports from his

:02:54. > :03:03.doctor he reapplied for to the DVLA. Could we have a statement about the

:03:04. > :03:10.time taken for DVLA reviews? Is still waiting for a conclusion. The

:03:11. > :03:14.best advice I could give the honourable gentleman is to pursue

:03:15. > :03:20.this directly with transport ministers and Chief Executive of the

:03:21. > :03:31.DVLA. The right principle I think has to be that somebody who has

:03:32. > :03:34.health grounds should be able to health grounds should be able to

:03:35. > :03:39.reapply and have their case looked at fairly on the basis of evidence

:03:40. > :03:42.but those assessing the evidence clearly do have to satisfy

:03:43. > :03:52.themselves that other road users and pedestrians would not be put at risk

:03:53. > :03:58.if the license were to be restored. May I associate myself with the

:03:59. > :04:00.comments about Gerald Kaufman? I hope while I am the year I would

:04:01. > :04:06.achieve a fraction of his stature in achieve a fraction of his stature in

:04:07. > :04:13.the House. Following his passion for all things related to culture, and

:04:14. > :04:14.given the recent by-election in my city of Stoke-on-Trent, and

:04:15. > :04:19.appalling coverage that was written appalling coverage that was written

:04:20. > :04:25.about it, can I call for a debate on government time about why my great

:04:26. > :04:33.city should be worded the city of culture in 2021? The honourable lady

:04:34. > :04:37.has launched the campaign this afternoon and I am sure she may have

:04:38. > :04:41.opportunities whether in question to ministers or in debates of the

:04:42. > :04:52.various kinds to make that case even more strongly. I think most of us

:04:53. > :04:58.know that the terms that make up the modern city of Stoke-on-Trent have

:04:59. > :05:03.an amazing history of cultural contributions to our country. Most

:05:04. > :05:13.notably through our pottery industry but also in the role that Stoke has

:05:14. > :05:18.played in the Industrial Revolution and in the development of British

:05:19. > :05:25.industry and technology over so many years. We are seeing with Hull this

:05:26. > :05:30.year the difference being designated city of culture can make to the

:05:31. > :05:36.self-confidence of a city. I hope that without prejudice to any

:05:37. > :05:41.decision in future that Stoke-on-Trent could be city of

:05:42. > :05:44.culture one day as well. I would like to associate myself with the

:05:45. > :05:49.remarks of the Leader of the House. Sorry, the father of the House. I

:05:50. > :05:54.did not know Gerald as well as some of my colleagues but I always found

:05:55. > :05:55.him immensely kind. I wish to raise my Private Members' Bill

:05:56. > :06:02.boundaries. Last year over 140 boundaries. Last year over 140

:06:03. > :06:08.members of this House from every region and every single part of --

:06:09. > :06:14.every single party, stayed on a Friday to thought overwhelmingly for

:06:15. > :06:19.this bill. It was the will of this House and yet instead of the

:06:20. > :06:24.Government allowing it to progress to committee, and of the wish to

:06:25. > :06:29.vote against it at the third reading, they chose to engage what I

:06:30. > :06:32.can only describe as a series of dirty tricks to prevent this bill

:06:33. > :06:37.getting into committee. I suspect it is because they feared I had the

:06:38. > :06:40.support of the committee and it would have progressed to third

:06:41. > :06:44.reading. I would remind the Leader of the House that we had a

:06:45. > :06:48.referendum in this country in which the sovereignty of Parliament and

:06:49. > :06:51.the will of this House was an important feature and yet this has

:06:52. > :06:56.demonstrated that the will of this House counts for nothing if it

:06:57. > :07:03.clashes with the will of the lady in Number Ten. I have worked with the

:07:04. > :07:10.Leader of the House very well in the past and I found him to be a decent

:07:11. > :07:17.man. This has not reflected well on them and I think it has not been

:07:18. > :07:21.well done -- on him. There is no doubt in our commitment to her

:07:22. > :07:28.Private Members' Bill but I think in fairness she must acknowledge that

:07:29. > :07:35.the Government are government itself has a majority and it came to office

:07:36. > :07:38.with a particular commitment of its own in regards to boundary changes

:07:39. > :07:43.on which it had fought and won a general election. In respect to the

:07:44. > :07:53.statement in regards to committee stage, I think it is possible for

:07:54. > :08:00.her committee to meet and begin debating irrespective of whether a

:08:01. > :08:10.resolution has been secured, and my advice would be for that committee

:08:11. > :08:18.to convene and begin its work. In May 2005 I was in the tearoom and I

:08:19. > :08:29.was rather chuffed to be sitting near Sir Gerald Kaufman, listening

:08:30. > :08:34.to him talk to people and a Bacharach three came in and said the

:08:35. > :08:42.Q2 join the others was short and anyone could do so. Gerald turned to

:08:43. > :08:43.me and told me to go, he said one day it might help you to be Leader

:08:44. > :08:50.of the House. I slightly glazed over of the House. I slightly glazed over

:08:51. > :08:58.at the thought of my age and how long I would be here and the AJ

:08:59. > :09:02.would be at two the Leader of the House, and I heard this voice saying

:09:03. > :09:05.to go and I did and I have to say to go and I did and I have to say

:09:06. > :09:11.yesterday, Mr Speaker, the women in this House were sent a list of where

:09:12. > :09:17.they stood in the ranking of women elected to this House and I'm

:09:18. > :09:22.ashamed to say, Mr Speaker, that I took an amount of pleasure in

:09:23. > :09:31.noticing how many women who came in the same year of me -- as me that I

:09:32. > :09:38.I am 264 and the member opposite who I am 264 and the member opposite who

:09:39. > :09:47.was actually at school in Bridgend comes after me as 265. I cannot

:09:48. > :09:49.begin to tell you the pleasure Sir Gerald will always give me in terms

:09:50. > :09:59.of that little piece of advice. While sitting there, he spoke of the

:10:00. > :10:07.importance of focusing on the people who send you hear. In doing so, can

:10:08. > :10:12.I ask the leader of the House, is he aware that the automotive industry

:10:13. > :10:20.has an economic value to the economy of this country of 71.6 billion per

:10:21. > :10:29.year? With an additional 18.9 billion in added value? Some 169,000

:10:30. > :10:35.people are directly employed on over 184,000 are accessed employment in

:10:36. > :10:42.the wider industry. 12% of the total value of UK exports and goods comes

:10:43. > :10:46.from the 13 manufacturers building 70 models of cars and the 2000

:10:47. > :10:56.component providers working in that industry. Never mind the 4 billion

:10:57. > :11:01.invested in automotive R and D. Given the events of Bridgend

:11:02. > :11:08.yesterday, can we have automotive Summit composed of honourable

:11:09. > :11:11.members, appropriate ministers, companies and trade unions involved

:11:12. > :11:21.in this great British industry that we need to be working to ensure the

:11:22. > :11:33.future of? Post Brexit. I completely understand the vital importance of

:11:34. > :11:33.the automotive industry. There will be

:11:34. > :11:40.questions to the Secretary of State for the song 14 March. I will

:11:41. > :11:47.certainly ensure that he is aware before then of the honourable lady's

:11:48. > :11:50.concerns. And I hope she will know that she is very committed

:11:51. > :11:58.personally to doing all that is within the power of government to

:11:59. > :12:01.ensure that the UK automotive industry is competitive, is able to

:12:02. > :12:06.deal with the challenges posed by Brexit and with the wider issues of

:12:07. > :12:09.global competition and digital technology, and that we are also

:12:10. > :12:13.determined as a government to try to ensure that we have an industrial

:12:14. > :12:24.strategy that works to deliver jobs and prosperity to every part of this

:12:25. > :12:31.country. I would like to give me warm tributes to the recently passed

:12:32. > :12:38.father of the House. The Tory led Coalition which currently leads

:12:39. > :12:44.Stirling Council was forced to back down on one of their policies. Could

:12:45. > :12:51.we have a debate here of the provision of public services more

:12:52. > :12:55.generally, so we could educate councillors in sterling that

:12:56. > :13:02.privatisation is not the answer for the services. Local authorities of

:13:03. > :13:05.all political colours and national government has to consider what

:13:06. > :13:13.outcome is going to be best for the people who we serve and the people

:13:14. > :13:16.using particular services. It is the quality of the outcome for the

:13:17. > :13:20.service user that seems to be more important than whether that happens

:13:21. > :13:27.to be provided by directly managed service or one managed through a

:13:28. > :13:39.contract of some kind. In paying tribute to Sir Gerald, I speak as

:13:40. > :13:48.the newest member of the House. I never got the privilege to speak to

:13:49. > :14:05.Sir Gerald. I received a note from him upon my election. Without

:14:06. > :14:09.quoting verbatim, it said that I should be comfortable. He then gave

:14:10. > :14:14.me a chequered history of my three immediate predecessors of whom he

:14:15. > :14:21.had served with. I will never release the letter. Especially to my

:14:22. > :14:26.immediate predecessor who is the assembly minister for my

:14:27. > :14:35.constituency. It is something that will live with me for the rest of my

:14:36. > :14:42.life. The key point of Sir Gerald's work was in camping things

:14:43. > :14:46.constituency. Ford affects many hundreds of workers in my

:14:47. > :14:52.constituency. Can I echo the calls for an automotive Summit, but also

:14:53. > :14:58.not just to wait for questions for the Secretary of State for energy,

:14:59. > :15:02.but to have a statement on the floor of the House to explain what the

:15:03. > :15:05.Prime Minister meant yesterday by ongoing discussions with the

:15:06. > :15:09.automotive industry and how it is exactly he will help the people of

:15:10. > :15:20.Bridgend and ensure that Ford continues in the years I had. As I

:15:21. > :15:27.said in response to his honourable friend, ahead of questions on the

:15:28. > :15:34.14th, I will ensure that these concerns are expressed. I will ask

:15:35. > :15:45.him to consider the request for a summit and a statement. Can I echo

:15:46. > :15:50.the tributes to Sir Gerald? I offer my condolences to his friends and

:15:51. > :16:02.family. Following the promises of neural federalism, too promising

:16:03. > :16:09.agriculture and fisheries being devolved infill, can I ask the

:16:10. > :16:15.leader of the House if a facility of debate on wrought? Referendum

:16:16. > :16:19.promises made to the Scottish people? The promise I remember being

:16:20. > :16:29.broken is that the referendum in Scotland would settle the issue for

:16:30. > :16:35.a generation. Point of order. Can I thank the leader of the House and

:16:36. > :16:41.all colleagues who over the last two hours have contributed so eloquently

:16:42. > :16:48.and with feeling, based on their knowledge and appreciation of the

:16:49. > :16:55.late Sir Gerald. These are very difficult, fraught and perhaps even

:16:56. > :17:02.harrowing times. For members of Sir Gerald's family. I hope they will

:17:03. > :17:09.derive some succour and comfort from knowledge of the affection and

:17:10. > :17:17.esteem in which there are great family member was held in this

:17:18. > :17:22.House. To conclude, reference was made to the fact that I myself and

:17:23. > :17:27.others had visited Sir Gerald in recent months. I visited him twice

:17:28. > :17:35.at his London home. Most recently in January. I shall always treasure my

:17:36. > :17:42.very close memory of the conversations that we had. His

:17:43. > :17:51.recollection of historical anecdotes was second to none. And often

:17:52. > :17:55.extremely amusing. He was a very special person. He was certainly a

:17:56. > :18:03.great parliamentarian. And I'm sure people will understand if I see that

:18:04. > :18:11.alongside being an outstanding and indefatigable member of Parliament

:18:12. > :18:14.in his constituency, Gerald was quintessentially a House of Commons

:18:15. > :18:24.person. On behalf of colleagues, I can offer no greater tribute to Sir

:18:25. > :18:33.Gerald than to say that. Point of order. I echo those elegant remarks.

:18:34. > :18:39.I know you were in the chair when the unaccompanied children in Greece

:18:40. > :19:03.and Italy occurred. You cut the time on it immediately before I spoke. At

:19:04. > :19:10.the end, there was suddenly a bellowing of noes from the opposite

:19:11. > :19:20.benches. There was deferred division. And behold, I can only

:19:21. > :19:24.find one person who happened to be a conservative voting against a

:19:25. > :19:29.motion. When this normally happens, there has to be two tellers put him

:19:30. > :19:34.and somebody who is objecting. It entirely appears to me that this was

:19:35. > :19:40.a totally tribal vote to waste the time of the House and cost the House

:19:41. > :19:47.money. Perhaps I am misunderstanding it and I would like your advice. It

:19:48. > :19:52.would not be for me to suggest that any division of the House was

:19:53. > :19:56.contrived. I'm not in a position to make any such statement. There is a

:19:57. > :20:04.very long-standing convention in this place that vote should follow

:20:05. > :20:09.vortex. That is to say it is profoundly disorderly for somebody

:20:10. > :20:15.to shout in one direction and then to vote in another. However, the

:20:16. > :20:22.convention is quite strict and in my experience clear. A member must not

:20:23. > :20:28.vote in opposition to the way in which he or she shouted. There is

:20:29. > :20:33.however no obligation to vote at all. It is therefore conceivable

:20:34. > :20:37.that somebody could shout in one direction and then subsequently not

:20:38. > :20:47.be present in the division lobby. I am neither advocating or denouncing

:20:48. > :20:50.such a practice. I am simply recognising the procedural and

:20:51. > :21:00.constitutional reality for what it is. Nevertheless, the honourable

:21:01. > :21:06.gentleman who is himself registering his point in his own inimitable way.

:21:07. > :21:17.We come now to the presentation of Bill. Mr Keith Vaz. Senior judiciary

:21:18. > :21:25.appointments this regard of candidates Bill. Friday 24 March.

:21:26. > :21:30.Thank you. Order. We now come to the backbench motion on International

:21:31. > :21:37.Women s Day. To move the motion, I call Jess Phillips. Thank you. I am

:21:38. > :21:42.honoured to lead the debate today and I would like to pay special

:21:43. > :21:46.thanks to the Member for Basingstoke, the Member for Lanark

:21:47. > :21:49.and Hamilton East and the Member for Portsmouth South in supporting the

:21:50. > :21:55.application to the Backbench Business Committee, a committee

:21:56. > :21:59.where I remain the only one man. International Women s Day is an

:22:00. > :22:04.opportunity for all of us to use our voices to celebrate the amazing

:22:05. > :22:12.woman of the world. It is our opportunity to send a rallying cry

:22:13. > :22:17.out to the world about hardships and injustices women everywhere face.

:22:18. > :22:22.With each passing day, it seems the women out there need to hear the

:22:23. > :22:30.women in Sir and how we support them. The thing I will speak about

:22:31. > :22:35.today is violence against women and girls. I want to reflect on where we

:22:36. > :22:40.are now and when we were last year. As I close my speech on

:22:41. > :22:47.International Women s Day last year, I declared that the women in the UK

:22:48. > :22:52.murdered deserved better than he got. I press this House to see their

:22:53. > :23:01.names and feel the pain. I have been proud to be a member of this House

:23:02. > :23:06.in the last year. Where parliamentarians, myself and others,

:23:07. > :23:12.called on the government to overhaul our family justice system that

:23:13. > :23:23.leaves International Women s Day and children -- which leaves women and

:23:24. > :23:31.children damaged and unsafe. From this place, a message was sent to

:23:32. > :23:37.women living in fear. Honda have contacted me with gratitude. Last

:23:38. > :23:48.week, the Member for Banff and Buchan pushed her build to ratify

:23:49. > :23:52.the Istanbul convention to its completion, regardless of those who

:23:53. > :23:56.wanted to stop at. Every year, a minister will stand at the dispatch

:23:57. > :24:01.box and lay out to us exactly how the are going to protect vulnerable

:24:02. > :24:05.women and children. Yesterday, the government finally heard the calls

:24:06. > :24:11.which have echoed around this place for over six years and made sex and

:24:12. > :24:22.relationship education compulsory. While we waited too long for this,

:24:23. > :24:36.the euphoria felt by myself and other members of the House made us

:24:37. > :24:40.want to do cartwheels. Various other members' work means that corals are

:24:41. > :24:44.going to be safer. Not exclusively but these changes in the past year

:24:45. > :24:49.have been led and pushed through by the women in this place. With the

:24:50. > :25:00.amazing support of women's organisations.

:25:01. > :25:05.The issue she has rightly drawn attention to has international

:25:06. > :25:10.implications. Will she agree that one of the most important things we

:25:11. > :25:16.can do is provide the incentive is for girls to remain in school so

:25:17. > :25:20.opportunity for early marriage, from opportunity for early marriage, from

:25:21. > :25:27.which so many of the evils she has spoken of flow? I would agree and

:25:28. > :25:31.for every girl that stays at school in every part of the world and every

:25:32. > :25:34.girl that uses that education to stand up and speak for the other

:25:35. > :25:40.woman in the world, the world would be a better place. Women with voices

:25:41. > :25:45.matter. Women with voices change things. Women with voices in here

:25:46. > :25:52.give hope and protection to women without a voice at all. I am proud

:25:53. > :25:56.of our efforts and today I will lay down another marker and said there

:25:57. > :26:02.is still much to do. Last year I stood and read the names of 125

:26:03. > :26:06.women who were murdered by men. I decided I would do this every year

:26:07. > :26:10.while I still have the privilege to be in this place. While we have

:26:11. > :26:19.achieved many things here I hope this list once again reminds us of

:26:20. > :26:34.all the reasons we must keep going. This list is the femicide census.

:26:35. > :26:38.While the majority of these deaths can be attributed to partner

:26:39. > :26:41.violence there are not all in this category and include women also

:26:42. > :26:47.murdered by men they did not know in the UK since last international

:26:48. > :27:03.women's day. Their names are... Lindsay Smith, Robert Mercer, page

:27:04. > :27:09.Doherty, carry an desert. Laura Marshall, Elizabeth Mackay, Marie

:27:10. > :27:22.Johnston, Norma Bell, Tracey Cockerel, Helen Bailey, Jean Ryan,

:27:23. > :27:35.Nazarene Khan, said Daniels, Louise or Brian, Natalie Heming, Becky

:27:36. > :27:58.Morgan, Iris Owens, Julie Cook, Anne-Marie Neil, Sylvia Stewart, and

:27:59. > :28:17.Drina Douglas, Jo Cox, Helen Fraser, Jean Irwin, Sarah Nash, Alison

:28:18. > :28:28.Muncaster, Fiona South, Clare Hart, Charlotte Hart, Nicola Howard,

:28:29. > :28:46.Hannah Pearson, Margaret Meyer, Darlene Horton, Donna Williamson,

:28:47. > :29:19.Alison Davies, Hayley Dean, Zoe Morgan, Natasha Wake, Lucie Jones,

:29:20. > :29:35.Sophie Smith, Julie Wilkinson, Natasha Wilde, Rebecca Johnson,

:29:36. > :29:51.Holly Aleksandar, Andrea Webb, Angela Best,

:29:52. > :30:14.Anita Downey, Chrissie Kendall, Tina Billingham, Katherine Kelly, Karina

:30:15. > :30:25.Batista, Hazel Wilson Bryant, Margaret Stenning. Let these women

:30:26. > :30:29.be our inspiration. Let these women be the ones who drive others. I

:30:30. > :30:38.would ask each and every one of us to remember these women, one of whom

:30:39. > :30:40.was one of us. We must remember them when we make our decisions, use our

:30:41. > :30:45.votes and our voices. We have a votes and our voices. We have a

:30:46. > :30:51.responsibility to be the voices of these women now they are gone. On

:30:52. > :31:00.this international women's day let's remember why we are all here and

:31:01. > :31:09.let's raise our voices. The question is as on the order paper. Can I just

:31:10. > :31:14.say to members will be a time limit of five minutes on other backbench

:31:15. > :31:22.contributions and if there are too many interventions that will have to

:31:23. > :31:28.be dropped. Maria Miller. It is an enormous pleasure to follow my

:31:29. > :31:37.honourable friend and she is right, we're to raise our voices. There is

:31:38. > :31:41.another honourable member who is particular good at raising her

:31:42. > :31:43.voice, and we should all pay of the tower for the way she works on the

:31:44. > :31:45.half of women not only in her half of women not only in her

:31:46. > :31:49.constituency but throughout the country. Can I see it is our

:31:50. > :31:54.pleasure to see you in the chair for this debate and I would like to

:31:55. > :32:03.start by also thanking the members of the Backbench Business Committee.

:32:04. > :32:08.I hope it is firmly entrenched as a part of the Parliamentary calendar

:32:09. > :32:15.from this point on. I would like to thank the numerous organisations

:32:16. > :32:23.which are carefully preparing briefings. Without their experience

:32:24. > :32:29.and front line work, our debate would not be as rich as it is. We

:32:30. > :32:34.are here on a daily basis and we are reminded on a daily basis of the

:32:35. > :32:40.challenge that we still face in achieving equality. The job is far

:32:41. > :32:45.from done. When I tell people I was the 200 and 65th woman to ever be

:32:46. > :32:50.elected in this country they cannot believe it. I was the first ever MP

:32:51. > :32:57.in Northamptonshire who was female but I am now proud to say I am

:32:58. > :33:01.joined by at least two other MPs for Hampshire who are female and I think

:33:02. > :33:09.there was another in our midst earlier. Leading the way on women's

:33:10. > :33:13.issues. I sat in the chamber yesterday to see the newest member

:33:14. > :33:18.of Parliament sworn in, the member for Copeland, and it was heartening

:33:19. > :33:23.to see that she is now the 456th woman MP to be elected to this

:33:24. > :33:28.place. Things are changing but there is still a steep hill to climb. To

:33:29. > :33:44.mark International women's Day I think it would be right to applaud

:33:45. > :33:51.organisations for women, who are committed to making sure there are

:33:52. > :33:55.more women in this place after the next general election. Women's lives

:33:56. > :34:01.have changed for the better for the last 100 years. We have record

:34:02. > :34:05.numbers of women here and in work, the right to flexible working, which

:34:06. > :34:10.benefits thousands of women, and for younger women the gender pay gap is

:34:11. > :34:15.all but eliminated and there are no more all-male boards in FTSE 100

:34:16. > :34:17.firms, something the Government felt was an important milestone to

:34:18. > :34:19.demonstrate the importance of female demonstrate the importance of female

:34:20. > :34:25.representation at the heart of decision-making. I am somewhat

:34:26. > :34:32.surprised that one third of government departments, eight out of

:34:33. > :34:38.25, have all-male ministerial teams. Perhaps we need some targets there

:34:39. > :34:43.as well. The theme for this year's International women's Day is to be

:34:44. > :34:50.bold and we must all do so and there is no hiding place. The women's

:34:51. > :34:55.Institute ordinary search showed there are 70% of women who feel they

:34:56. > :34:59.are not equal to men in this country and women are judged by different

:35:00. > :35:04.standards, that women who stay home to raise children are not valued in

:35:05. > :35:08.today's society and despite record numbers of women in work, the way

:35:09. > :35:12.the places are structured means it is still difficult to balance work

:35:13. > :35:19.and home life. These problems have not gone away. We must continue to

:35:20. > :35:24.modernise our approach to reflect women's changed role and not

:35:25. > :35:28.retrofit women into a workplace design for a different age. Men are

:35:29. > :35:32.central to any change as well. The modern families index shows that men

:35:33. > :35:37.want to change as well. With so many want to change as well. With so many

:35:38. > :35:42.families now having two full-time working partners, one in three, 47%

:35:43. > :35:49.of dads want to downshift to a job where they can balance better work

:35:50. > :35:56.and home life, some would take a pay cut. The conditions women have been

:35:57. > :36:03.forced into four generations are being forced on men now also. A

:36:04. > :36:07.Select Committee is looking into the role of fathers in the workplace so

:36:08. > :36:11.we can solve these problems for them as well. The establishment of the

:36:12. > :36:16.women and equality is Select Committee has given members of this

:36:17. > :36:24.House the opportunity to drive forward scrutiny about how policies

:36:25. > :36:29.affect women. I hope we can take the opportunity of this debate to update

:36:30. > :36:34.the House on making that Select Committee a permanent feature. The

:36:35. > :36:40.value of the work of the committee is clear to see. In a report last

:36:41. > :36:44.September on sexual or Asp and in schools we covered disturbing levels

:36:45. > :36:51.of sexual violence against girls in schools. It was the third site

:36:52. > :36:54.committee report to call for sex and relationship education to be

:36:55. > :37:03.compulsory for all children in all schools. With the support of more

:37:04. > :37:05.than 40 other members of Parliament I tabled an amendment to the

:37:06. > :37:09.children in social work bill that was due to be amended next week,

:37:10. > :37:11.also supported by the Select Committee chair for health and

:37:12. > :37:13.education, to make a relationship education, to make a relationship

:37:14. > :37:20.education compulsory in this country. I am delighted that my

:37:21. > :37:27.honourable friend has done so much work on this and my right honourable

:37:28. > :37:31.friend has been able to take forward this idea and put it into the bill

:37:32. > :37:37.for the Government to press forward with next week. I think that is the

:37:38. > :37:43.sort of change that cross-party working is can best achieve. I would

:37:44. > :37:50.like to put on record my personal thanks to the honourable member for

:37:51. > :37:56.Rotherham for her support in making sure this was truly cross-party.

:37:57. > :38:03.Many organisations have worked hard to make sex and relationship

:38:04. > :38:06.education a top priority for us as politicians and we should thank them

:38:07. > :38:12.for that hard work and that assiduous campaigning. Other areas

:38:13. > :38:17.where I think I am keen to highlight the Government's progress is the

:38:18. > :38:24.work done by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in DC

:38:25. > :38:33.MS, bringing forward the review on online abuse is something that would

:38:34. > :38:36.disproportionately benefit women. Perhaps I could take this

:38:37. > :38:41.opportunity to urge the Government to support a Law Commission review

:38:42. > :38:48.of online law, particularly the need for anonymity for those adults that

:38:49. > :38:52.sometimes known as revenge sometimes known as revenge

:38:53. > :38:59.pornography. Is the Minister in a position to update house on the

:39:00. > :39:01.revenge pornography helpline? Put in place by the Government and provides

:39:02. > :39:10.invaluable help to victims. All others across Laos would

:39:11. > :39:20.acknowledge the government has made great progress in this area. The

:39:21. > :39:30.Prime Minister has taken a personal role -- all of us across the House.

:39:31. > :39:40.I would like to pay tribute to the campaigning work of women's aid to

:39:41. > :39:47.sure that domestic abuse is not simply physical violence. Perhaps

:39:48. > :39:53.the Minister will be able to tell the House how many police officers

:39:54. > :40:02.have received training on domestic abuse issues. Time is short today,

:40:03. > :40:11.but there is one issue I hope to bring to mind in this debate. The

:40:12. > :40:23.government is to be applauded for recognising an exception is needing.

:40:24. > :40:35.The changes to child tax credits will take effect next month. We need

:40:36. > :40:43.to ensure policies do not penalised women who are continuing to live in

:40:44. > :40:47.an abusive relationship. These are one of the most vulnerable groups of

:40:48. > :41:03.all. My closing comment today will be

:41:04. > :41:08.around this country's rule on the world stage. We've done so much to

:41:09. > :41:12.be champions for women's rights and we should be rightly proud of that.

:41:13. > :41:16.We have an international reputation and I'm sure ministers and the Home

:41:17. > :41:25.Office would have carefully followed the conference in London, for how we

:41:26. > :41:35.can ensure that were men refugees are properly supported. -- women

:41:36. > :41:47.refugees. In New York later this month, it hopes the Minister will be

:41:48. > :41:53.able to speak on how the devolved administrations are compliant with

:41:54. > :41:58.rule number five and whether there is a plan for the homogenisation of

:41:59. > :42:06.women's rights across the UK. Universal access to reproductive

:42:07. > :42:11.rights is central to this. The Right honourable member for Putney and

:42:12. > :42:17.David Cameron fought hard for that sustainable development goal. We

:42:18. > :42:21.must fight hard for these rights for women internationally. That is

:42:22. > :42:29.right. We must also fight hard for every one man in this country in the

:42:30. > :42:33.United Kingdom. Including Northern Ireland. And not hidebound the fact

:42:34. > :42:39.that this is a devolved matter. Remote make the progress needed

:42:40. > :42:44.unless we lead by example. We must address the lack of women in this

:42:45. > :42:52.place. We need to address the need for a permanent scrutiny of quality

:42:53. > :42:56.issues in this place. We need to be bowled for change and advocate that

:42:57. > :43:05.change happens a strongly at home as it does a broad. I have spent much

:43:06. > :43:15.of my time in this place encouraging women and celebrating women. I did a

:43:16. > :43:30.study 17 years ago about how much of a difference the women elected in

:43:31. > :43:33.1997 made. We focused on the families of service personnel.

:43:34. > :43:42.Budgets started resourcing women's purses, rather than men's pockets.

:43:43. > :43:49.It's very sad that that tradition has reversed since 2010. I hope the

:43:50. > :43:56.Chancellor might go back again to recognising that it's time for women

:43:57. > :44:02.to as least as much as men, if not more. After all, we put our money

:44:03. > :44:08.into the pockets of children. Men use their own money for their own

:44:09. > :44:16.pleasure. I'm generalising, but it's true. All of us have constituents

:44:17. > :44:24.who have been groomed by pimps, beaten up by violent partners, some

:44:25. > :44:34.forced into genital mutilation. It's important to think how you will help

:44:35. > :44:39.them. In my case, supporting Women's Aid. At organisations who are not

:44:40. > :44:44.sought expert realise their own failure is. There is one in Slough

:44:45. > :44:51.that is good at promoting itself, but not very good at supporting

:44:52. > :44:57.women. You cannot offer people a service and then let them down. We

:44:58. > :45:01.need to increase resilience amongst women. Help them resist some of

:45:02. > :45:08.these things and be aware of the risks of grooming and so on. I tried

:45:09. > :45:14.to create a network of South Asian women in my constituency. The

:45:15. > :45:21.awareness of how to help your son deal with pornography on the

:45:22. > :45:27.internet and things like that. I want to use my last few minutes to

:45:28. > :45:33.focus on some of the most vulnerable women in the world. Yesterday, I

:45:34. > :45:39.hosted a meeting organised by a very flexible opportunist aid

:45:40. > :45:54.organisation in Slough, led by deceit community. They have been

:45:55. > :45:58.working with a CD community. Many of these women expired of thirst,

:45:59. > :46:02.abandoned on a hill. What happens to them afterwards was more degrading

:46:03. > :46:09.than most of us could imagine. They were bought and sold. Like radios or

:46:10. > :46:14.books or something. They were raped. They were beaten up. They were

:46:15. > :46:21.forced to watch their children being raped. Their sons were kidnapped in

:46:22. > :46:28.order to be tried to be turned into terrorist jihadi fighters. Daesh

:46:29. > :46:37.also developed a kind of bureaucracy around this. Rules for abuse of the

:46:38. > :46:41.people you own. The owner of two sisters is not allowed to have

:46:42. > :46:46.intercourse with both of them. Rather, he may only have intercourse

:46:47. > :46:52.with just one. The other sister is to be had by if you were to

:46:53. > :46:57.relinquish ownership of the first sister by selling her, giving her

:46:58. > :47:05.away or releasing her. That is today. That is the reality of

:47:06. > :47:17.slavery. This is ancient slavery. It is horrifying to look at the price

:47:18. > :47:22.list for women. 840 woman is worth ?27. Daesh public these prices

:47:23. > :47:33.because they want the money to buy the bonds to blow us up. Are called

:47:34. > :47:41.of under nine is worth ?109. -- a 40-year-old woman. There is an

:47:42. > :47:45.exhibition where these stories are told and photographs are taken. I

:47:46. > :47:52.hope to bring that exhibition to this House. In the meantime, can I

:47:53. > :47:58.encourage everybody to see it? There is one were man who managed to fight

:47:59. > :48:08.off her rapists, who turned on her daughter. She doesn't know where her

:48:09. > :48:13.daughter is now. She is terrified of her daughter still believing it is

:48:14. > :48:16.her fault. That is the extremity of violence against women that we

:48:17. > :48:28.should be working in solidarity with. It is an honour and privilege

:48:29. > :48:34.to be speaking in this debate. May I congratulate our determined than

:48:35. > :48:38.passionate colleague for securing this debate and securing her great

:48:39. > :48:45.mission in this House? And proud to follow in the footsteps of my

:48:46. > :48:56.predecessor, Mabel Philipson, the fourth woman to serve in this place.

:48:57. > :49:10.I am the 378 woman to serve as house of a total of 476. I hope the

:49:11. > :49:14.numbers greatly increase. I hope that women will help shape the

:49:15. > :49:28.future of our society by standing for election in this place.

:49:29. > :49:37.Today, I want to focus my remarks on the women who serve in our Armed

:49:38. > :49:41.Forces, often in unsung role is. They work just as hard as male

:49:42. > :49:51.counterparts, often harder. Many of us are not available of the huge

:49:52. > :50:04.strides they have made. We now the great role women made in The Great

:50:05. > :50:11.War and the Second World War water. The women's auxiliary Army Corps

:50:12. > :50:16.formed 100 years ago provided women with jobs. The same year, the

:50:17. > :50:20.women's Royal Mail service was created, which saw them taking on

:50:21. > :50:32.domestic work in the Navy, freeing up men for other roles. Beyond the

:50:33. > :50:42.uniform services, women took on a range of roles left vacant by men.

:50:43. > :50:46.Women rose up and filled what were considered to be male roles. It

:50:47. > :50:54.demonstrated to society what a valuable resource women or to our

:50:55. > :51:00.society. The sex disqualification removal act of 1990 made it illegal

:51:01. > :51:08.to exclude women from jobs because of their gender. Women have made an

:51:09. > :51:16.integral part of our Armed Forces for 100 years. Today, 10% of the

:51:17. > :51:21.total across that the three services are women. It represents an increase

:51:22. > :51:29.of 3% over the last decade. There is very much more to do. Just as we

:51:30. > :51:32.need more women serving in this place, the talent of women defending

:51:33. > :51:38.our nation must be harnessed more effectively. The female of the

:51:39. > :51:43.species brings a different perspective to the challenges of war

:51:44. > :51:55.fighting and peacekeeping in the modern age. The presence of women

:51:56. > :52:12.during peacekeeping talks is crucial. From Royal Navy officers,

:52:13. > :52:18.who have taken control of one of our Royal Navy ships, our most senior

:52:19. > :52:28.female army officer and the first woman to command a brigade of 5000

:52:29. > :52:33.soldiers. These women and the 15,000 serving across are three services

:52:34. > :52:40.are an inspiration to girls and women today. They can be inspired by

:52:41. > :52:49.the leadership these amazing women bring. The future of the Armed

:52:50. > :52:57.Forces is safe in the future of its men and women. I encourage more

:52:58. > :53:06.girls to study sciences and maths, then go on to become engineers and

:53:07. > :53:13.have the extra military skill set of commitment and passion for their

:53:14. > :53:17.chosen trade. This time next year, I hope to report the statistics will

:53:18. > :53:22.continue to grow. I hope that my recent application to join the Royal

:53:23. > :53:25.Navy reserves myself may be accepted. I encourage other

:53:26. > :53:40.colleagues to consider this. I wanted to use my time to focus on

:53:41. > :53:44.one of my constituents, a British citizen, charity worker, mother,

:53:45. > :53:49.daughter and sister, a wife, who has been imprisoned in Iran for almost

:53:50. > :53:54.one year. She lived down the road from me and her life was not very

:53:55. > :53:58.different to mine until she went on holiday to visit her parents with

:53:59. > :54:08.her two-year-old daughter, another British citizen, and was detained at

:54:09. > :54:17.the airport on trumped up charges and was handed a five-year sentence.

:54:18. > :54:21.Large periods of her detention have been in a notorious prison in

:54:22. > :54:24.solitary confinement. Her health has been going down further and further

:54:25. > :54:31.and her mental health has also been affected. Last week as she went to

:54:32. > :54:34.the prison clinic she could not physically make it there, she

:54:35. > :54:36.collapsed and when she came round many hours later she could not speak

:54:37. > :54:42.for hours on end. Doctors at the for hours on end. Doctors at the

:54:43. > :54:45.hospital in Iran have said that she needs treatment immediately in order

:54:46. > :54:57.to prevent long-term damage. Her to prevent long-term damage. Her

:54:58. > :55:04.detention shows that a lack of legal access fit in with the UN's

:55:05. > :55:08.description of torture and it is not a surprise the UN have said her

:55:09. > :55:13.detention is unlawful and arbitrate. It hundreds thousand people have

:55:14. > :55:17.called for her release and I took a petition to the Foreign Office with

:55:18. > :55:22.200 signatures of MPs, cross-party, from this House. I know that we are

:55:23. > :55:30.not perfect in this country when it comes to treating women in prisons

:55:31. > :55:35.million men, women and girls who are million men, women and girls who are

:55:36. > :55:46.in prisons across the world in appalling conditions. An excuse that

:55:47. > :55:50.is given is that the small proportion of women are so tiny that

:55:51. > :55:54.circumstances have not been changed. It is not a good excuse so we need

:55:55. > :56:00.to make sure that conditions for female prisoners are met. It is not

:56:01. > :56:08.a surprise that the UN General Assembly unanimously in 2010 voted

:56:09. > :56:11.for the Bangkok rules, the first international incident to look at

:56:12. > :56:15.conditions appropriate for female prisoners across the world and

:56:16. > :56:24.looked for safeguards for children of female prisoners. Iran has signed

:56:25. > :56:26.up to the Bangkok rules but from my constituents they have flouted the

:56:27. > :56:35.rules at every stage of her detention. Bear with me. I will read

:56:36. > :56:40.out how her case has flouted these rules. Rule 23 states that

:56:41. > :56:44.discipline sanctions for women prisoners shall not include

:56:45. > :56:50.prohibition of family contact especially with children. Try saying

:56:51. > :56:53.that to two-year-old Gabriela who spent her second birthday without

:56:54. > :57:00.her parents and for the best part of this year has not seen her mother.

:57:01. > :57:06.Rule 26 adds that woman prisoner contact with families shall be

:57:07. > :57:12.facilitated by all reasonable means, especially those detained in prisons

:57:13. > :57:16.located far from their homes. Try saying that to my constituent's

:57:17. > :57:20.husband who has barely had any phone calls with his wife and when they

:57:21. > :57:25.have there have been monitored by the Iran Revolutionary guards. Iran

:57:26. > :57:30.signed up to the Bangkok rules in the same way we did and of course

:57:31. > :57:35.our record is not 100%, we need to look at our prisons as well and our

:57:36. > :57:39.female prisoners as well, but that does not mean that we should be

:57:40. > :57:42.shutting our eyes to the abuse that goes on in other countries. We

:57:43. > :57:48.should be shouting loudly to make sure that my constituent is united

:57:49. > :57:53.with her family and brought back to this country. I went to the Foreign

:57:54. > :57:59.Office along with a member from the opposite benches, and the Foreign

:58:00. > :58:02.Secretary did not come down to receive the petition and has

:58:03. > :58:08.repeatedly declined my requests for a meeting with him. I will end on

:58:09. > :58:15.one note. I am a female MP and I am asking another female MP, the Prime

:58:16. > :58:19.Minister, to do something, to release my constituent and bring her

:58:20. > :58:23.back to West Hampstead to be reunited with her family. The Prime

:58:24. > :58:24.Minister said she wanted to be a compassionate leader. If there was

:58:25. > :58:32.ever a time to show compassion, this ever a time to show compassion, this

:58:33. > :58:39.is it. It is an honour to follow the member and her very passionate

:58:40. > :58:43.speech. The theme for this year's International women's Day is to be

:58:44. > :58:48.bowled for change. In Medieval times a woman who killed her husband was

:58:49. > :58:51.not guilty of just murder, she was guilty of petty treason because she

:58:52. > :58:57.had betrayed someone superior to her. Her punishment was to be drawn

:58:58. > :59:03.and burnt alive. In comparison, a husband to murdered his wife was

:59:04. > :59:07.hanged. The crime was worse because she threatened with established

:59:08. > :59:12.social order in which each person knew their place. He by killing his

:59:13. > :59:17.wife did not threaten that order. The law was changed in 1828 and four

:59:18. > :59:24.years later the reform act of 1832 gave the boat to 300,000 more

:59:25. > :59:36.people, none of them women. -- the vote. When women's suffrage was

:59:37. > :59:41.debated in this House, the majority of MPs were in favour of women

:59:42. > :59:44.getting the vote but we did not get it until 1918. Some of the arguments

:59:45. > :59:54.put forward for women not getting the vote are as follows. Women are

:59:55. > :00:00.by nature subordinate to men. Men are made for public life, women for

:00:01. > :00:05.private. Allowing women to vote, heaven forbid, allowed them to think

:00:06. > :00:09.one day they could become MPs. An idea that was self-evidently absurd.

:00:10. > :00:14.Only men should legislate for women because only men know what is good

:00:15. > :00:21.for women. We have no grievances, but if so they can easily be put

:00:22. > :00:25.right by men. X would get women overexcited and lead to nervous

:00:26. > :00:31.breakdowns. If they had the vote they would be pestered on polling

:00:32. > :00:38.day. Political parties had the wrong reason. For the Conservatives, women

:00:39. > :00:41.voting with the two socialism and for the Liberals women were too

:00:42. > :00:48.conservative by nature. The Liberals would lose elections. Not everything

:00:49. > :00:52.has changed but some things have changed and I just wanted to put on

:00:53. > :00:56.record woman that we must acknowledge who have been in this

:00:57. > :01:04.place before us. The first female MP was elected in 1919 and we got our

:01:05. > :01:09.first female cabinet minister in 1929, our first female Prime

:01:10. > :01:16.Minister in 1979 and our first female speaker in 1992. Yesterday,

:01:17. > :01:25.2017, my honourable friend the member for Copeland was sworn in, we

:01:26. > :01:28.got our 456th female MP, finally surpassing the number of male MPs in

:01:29. > :01:35.this House, and it has taken us 700 years. We are at 30% of the chamber

:01:36. > :01:46.female, behind Italy, Germany and Norway, and Rolando Aarons. --

:01:47. > :01:52.Rwanda. For anyone who wants to enter politics, everyone from this

:01:53. > :01:55.House will welcome them. We are now in the technical age, the first

:01:56. > :02:01.generation of parliamentarians who have to deal with modern technology

:02:02. > :02:04.and access it gives the public to their politicians. Those of us who

:02:05. > :02:07.know social media know what it is like to occasionally go on to

:02:08. > :02:13.Twitter and see a barrage of abuse from trolls, faceless and nameless

:02:14. > :02:18.cowards who needs to be pulled out and challenged. I would ask the

:02:19. > :02:23.Minister when she reaches the dispatch box, what more can be done

:02:24. > :02:25.to put pressure on social media companies in encouraging them to

:02:26. > :02:27.take down Haight and abuse focused on women just because of their

:02:28. > :02:45.gender, faith or heritage? I want to finish by thanking some of

:02:46. > :02:56.the female leaders in and around my constituency. In East Sussex, five

:02:57. > :03:01.of our eight MPs are women. We also had a female chief executive of the

:03:02. > :03:08.county counsel and a funeral policing crime commission. And

:03:09. > :03:15.dozens of fantastic female councillors. They're the ones who

:03:16. > :03:21.sure each and every day that politics is very much the business

:03:22. > :03:28.of women. It is a pleasure to follow in this debate behind the honourable

:03:29. > :03:34.member, and all of the female members who have spoken so far. It

:03:35. > :03:36.is a great shame, notwithstanding the honourable member for Shipley,

:03:37. > :03:46.that there aren't more men that there aren't more men

:03:47. > :03:57.participating in this debate. The theme of this year's debate is be

:03:58. > :04:02.bowled for change. To think outside the box, Invision and be more

:04:03. > :04:04.inclusive and ensure a more gender equal and fair society and

:04:05. > :04:09.ultimately to be the change we want to see in the world. Today, despite

:04:10. > :04:17.all of the progress we have made, there are still too many women at

:04:18. > :04:23.firstly impacted by cuts, wage disparity -- pay disparity, rape,

:04:24. > :04:29.assault, female genital mutilation. I could continue but the list on the

:04:30. > :04:34.serves to remind us how far we still have to go. Last week, my honourable

:04:35. > :04:40.friend made history in this House by ensuring that the ratification of

:04:41. > :04:45.the Istanbul convention would recede and I am grateful to all the

:04:46. > :04:52.organisations who helped to deliver the services that women rely on

:04:53. > :04:53.every day. Turning to the gender pay gap, while I welcome the

:04:54. > :04:56.Government's moves on this, and Government's moves on this, and

:04:57. > :05:00.there has been some progress and I was proud to sit on the committee

:05:01. > :05:06.overseeing this bill, it does not go far enough. If a baby girl born

:05:07. > :05:11.today has to wait until 2041 to achieve gender parity, that is not

:05:12. > :05:15.good enough. I am pleased the Government is taking action but I

:05:16. > :05:20.will always push for more. I want to do to highlight some of the bold and

:05:21. > :05:22.courageous woman from my constituency who have acted for

:05:23. > :05:27.change and who have made a difference. Women who have shaped my

:05:28. > :05:33.worldview and my own view of politics, one of the reasons I stand

:05:34. > :05:36.here today. This is not the institution I aimed to be in but

:05:37. > :05:43.nonetheless we are here. I recently went to see the film Hidden Figures,

:05:44. > :05:45.which showed the story of African-American women working at

:05:46. > :05:49.Nasa. There are too many women Nasa. There are too many women

:05:50. > :05:52.hidden in our society who do hidden in our society who do

:05:53. > :06:00.ordinary and fantastic jobs every day and we should recognise them,

:06:01. > :06:03.although there are no films made about an ordinary woman who works

:06:04. > :06:07.hard but doesn't earn the same as a man. This year marks the 40th

:06:08. > :06:13.anniversary of the election of Winnie Ewing in Hamilton, a lawyer

:06:14. > :06:16.who became the second ever SNP MP in this House and so growing up in

:06:17. > :06:21.Hamilton meant blowing strong passionate woman who, as a young

:06:22. > :06:28.girl growing up, believed you could change things in politics and I hope

:06:29. > :06:38.that is why I am here. She later went on to be known as Madam Ecosse

:06:39. > :06:43.in Europe. We must make sure that Brexit does not mean removal of the

:06:44. > :06:58.equalities protections we enjoy. Winnie Ewing was bold and acted for

:06:59. > :07:07.change. Turning to Hamilton, it is also the home of the late and great

:07:08. > :07:13.Margo MacDonald. She challenge the established political order in 1973

:07:14. > :07:19.in the by-election in Govan and went on to a long successful career in

:07:20. > :07:22.journalism and politics. She lost the battle with Parkinson's disease

:07:23. > :07:26.but never lost the courage to fight for what she believed in. She was

:07:27. > :07:30.bold and brave and strident per change and that is something she

:07:31. > :07:32.independence, something I hope I see independence, something I hope I see

:07:33. > :07:37.in my lifetime. Turning finally to in my lifetime. Turning finally to

:07:38. > :07:58.one more great woman who inspired me from a young age. It was Horse

:07:59. > :08:01.McDonald. These are some of the inspirational women from Lanark and

:08:02. > :08:07.Hamilton is. There are many more doing ordinary jobs who deserve to

:08:08. > :08:14.be recognised. Turning to one final matter that I would like to change,

:08:15. > :08:19.the Prime Minister has committed to reviewing domestic violence

:08:20. > :08:30.legislation. I ask the Government considers cross-party calls for a

:08:31. > :08:35.review on child maintenance. There is still much work to do and while

:08:36. > :08:44.we celebrate women worldwide, my Angelo Ogbonna is said -- Meyer

:08:45. > :08:49.Angelo once said if you don't like something, change it. It is a

:08:50. > :08:55.pleasure to follow the honourable lady opposite. There have been many

:08:56. > :08:57.excellent speeches so far and I am pleased there are so many women

:08:58. > :09:03.being bold and bringing about change.

:09:04. > :09:21.I am deeply proud to be Telford's first Conservative MP. I am far

:09:22. > :09:27.prouder to be Shropshire's first female MP since 1929. That was the

:09:28. > :09:31.greater challenge. No one should underestimate the difficulties and

:09:32. > :09:37.roadblocks that are inevitably still they are for women who want to come

:09:38. > :09:45.into Parliament and to want to get the voices of women heard. It might

:09:46. > :09:52.not be as difficult as it was in 1929. Or in the days of my family

:09:53. > :09:55.member, the militant socialist suffragette who was arrested for

:09:56. > :10:01.smashing windows in Downing Street and was imprisoned in 1912 she

:10:02. > :10:06.force-fed. I have no doubt that she would be proud and probably amazed

:10:07. > :10:11.that I am here and I can go to Downing Street and make my voice

:10:12. > :10:18.heard. Without the need to smash any Windows. When I do this in Number

:10:19. > :10:25.Ten, the Prime Minister is a woman. I pay tribute to her for the daring

:10:26. > :10:32.she had. And for the women who came after her and enabled us to be here

:10:33. > :10:35.today. Sometimes, we minimise the difficulties women face in getting

:10:36. > :10:41.into Parliament and staying there are. It does no favours to the women

:10:42. > :10:49.still to come to this place, if we pretend there is not a problem. The

:10:50. > :10:56.increase in MPs coming to this House since 2005 when there were only 17

:10:57. > :11:00.female Conservative MPs has created a transformational change in the

:11:01. > :11:04.make-up of the House of Commons and has transformed the things we talk

:11:05. > :11:10.about and the debates we hold. It is something to be welcomed. We must

:11:11. > :11:13.pay tribute to the noble lady Baroness Jenkin, our Prime Minister

:11:14. > :11:28.and the organisations who have helped many women over the years.

:11:29. > :11:33.The work is not yet done. For more women to stay in Parliament, we need

:11:34. > :11:38.to speak out about some of the obstacles in order to make it easier

:11:39. > :11:44.for those who come after us. I am concerned about the tendency to

:11:45. > :11:50.treat certain crimes where women are predominantly the victims and men

:11:51. > :12:07.are predominantly the perpetrators as gender neutral crimes. I'm sorry

:12:08. > :12:13.the honourable member is not here to listen to this. The perpetrators are

:12:14. > :12:17.men regarding child locks by Titian. The victims are almost always women.

:12:18. > :12:25.But because there have been some male victims, we are told it is a

:12:26. > :12:34.gender neutral crime. Some crimes are predominantly carried out by men

:12:35. > :12:41.against women. Child sexual exploitation is about the

:12:42. > :12:49.exploitation of power. It is when men groom and trade young girls for

:12:50. > :12:55.sex with other men. If we don't see in these terms and say it is a form

:12:56. > :13:01.child abuse and gender is irrelevant, it doesn't take us any

:13:02. > :13:06.further forward. This is a crime perpetrated by men against women,

:13:07. > :13:13.and let's not pretend that it isn't. I don't have much time left. I shall

:13:14. > :13:21.cut to the chase. As I began my speech talking about the

:13:22. > :13:26.difficulties that still exist, most women do not want many special

:13:27. > :13:40.favours and no one wants to be perceived as complaining. I didn't

:13:41. > :13:52.want to be labelled as a woman who will only speak up for other women.

:13:53. > :14:02.But now I am proud to serve as that. I want to talk about the match women

:14:03. > :14:06.of London who set ablaze a fire of trade unionism. Who inspired an era

:14:07. > :14:13.of labour organisation that would see workers' rights entrenched and a

:14:14. > :14:19.political party of labour founded. These courageous women worked in

:14:20. > :14:25.appalling circumstances in a factory in east London. In 1888, they came

:14:26. > :14:29.out on strike to secure safe working conditions. Story has been

:14:30. > :14:33.misrepresented. The impact on the early days of the labour movement

:14:34. > :14:42.has been underestimated. Their victory is attributed to Annie

:14:43. > :14:50.Besson. Let's give her her do. She has done much to highlight the

:14:51. > :14:54.horrific conditions of the factory. But she was opposed to the strike

:14:55. > :15:01.and feared for those who went on strike. But the version of history,

:15:02. > :15:05.where defenceless waves of London's underclass wrestled with

:15:06. > :15:12.middle-class champions has been comprehensively debunked by the

:15:13. > :15:18.amazing and remarkable author Louise Rohr. In her book, she meticulously

:15:19. > :15:25.details just how the match women led by five workers including Janeway

:15:26. > :15:37.Clinton and Eliza Martin, they knew their own minds, they are the true

:15:38. > :15:41.leaders. Witnesses at the time were in no doubt of the significance of

:15:42. > :15:46.the events. The Star newspaper reported the victory of the girls is

:15:47. > :15:51.complete. It was one without preparation, without organisation

:15:52. > :16:01.and without funds. It is a turning point in the history of our

:16:02. > :16:09.industrial development. These women are integral to our national story.

:16:10. > :16:17.History records it was the heroic London dockers who spurred the

:16:18. > :16:22.labour movement. It was London's working-class women a year earlier

:16:23. > :16:30.who were the vital spark. The men learned from the women. John Burns,

:16:31. > :16:35.a leading trade unionists at the time told the striking dockers men

:16:36. > :16:41.stand shoulder to shoulder. Remember the match girls who won their fight

:16:42. > :16:46.and formed a union. Today, the claims have echoed in the chamber.

:16:47. > :16:52.But it ain't enough. We have no memorial to them. I have asked the

:16:53. > :16:57.government before and I will ask again, please put pressure on

:16:58. > :17:03.English Heritage. We need to have this changed. I have tried and I

:17:04. > :17:11.have been unsuccessful. English Heritage don't seem to be

:17:12. > :17:14.interested. I want a blue plaque. On the site, recognising the true

:17:15. > :17:23.leaders of the match women's strike and the 1400 were men who came

:17:24. > :17:27.together to withdraw their labour to demand safer and fairer working

:17:28. > :17:34.conditions. A plaque to remember the women who organised and fought

:17:35. > :17:38.against massive odds. Women who were instrumental in the founding of a

:17:39. > :17:43.political labour movement and that continues to fight for fair pay and

:17:44. > :17:51.conditions for all of Britain's workers. I am delighted to speak in

:17:52. > :17:59.this important debate. I'm please to follow such a powerful speech.

:18:00. > :18:07.Please count me in in Europe support of that campaign. The theme today is

:18:08. > :18:13.women in the changing world. The global theme is being bowled for

:18:14. > :18:18.change. There is much to be done in the next 13 years. The Prime

:18:19. > :18:23.Minister has called the gender pay gap are burning injustice. I could

:18:24. > :18:32.not agree more. We still have some way to go. British women still have

:18:33. > :18:36.71% of the economic opportunity that men have. Other countries are doing

:18:37. > :18:43.much worse, but the UK should be a leader in this area and sadly we are

:18:44. > :18:49.not. The UN sustainable goal five talks about this as a world issue.

:18:50. > :19:03.It is a sad statistic that between 1995 and 2015, statistics decreased.

:19:04. > :19:10.69% of women are employed in the UK. 78% of men. The global gender pay

:19:11. > :19:14.gap is 20%. The UK gender pay gap is 19%. Not something to be proud of.

:19:15. > :19:19.We cannot lecture other countries around the world we have it better.

:19:20. > :19:24.At current trends, it will take 70 years to close the gender wage gap.

:19:25. > :19:27.The government has vowed to registered within a generation. We

:19:28. > :19:34.must look hard and we can make a difference. One way to address this

:19:35. > :19:42.is by looking at Alder women in the workplace. I want to talk about

:19:43. > :19:46.older women returning to work. One finding from the select committee is

:19:47. > :19:50.that women who have been out of the workplace for more than six months

:19:51. > :19:55.find it difficult to get back into employment. The longer they are out

:19:56. > :19:58.of work, the harder it is. I set up the all-party group was my

:19:59. > :20:05.honourable friend to look at the barriers to work. We have standing

:20:06. > :20:13.room only and most are meetings. I wish it was not so. Our first

:20:14. > :20:21.enquiry was about women returning to work. We published our report in

:20:22. > :20:24.January. There are some good examples of companies already doing

:20:25. > :20:30.it. We need to do much more to get people on board and see the wisdom

:20:31. > :20:35.of tacking into older women employees. Full of work-related

:20:36. > :20:40.experience. Companies that cannot see the potential are in my view

:20:41. > :20:45.missing a big trick. To put it simply, there is a huge pool of

:20:46. > :20:51.talent out there. People take time out of the workplace for all sorts

:20:52. > :20:55.of reasons. Some people took time out because we think parenting is

:20:56. > :20:59.the most important job in the world and want to take responsibility for

:21:00. > :21:04.bringing up the next generation. There is nothing wrong with that

:21:05. > :21:13.few. For others, childcare costs are an enormous barrier to women who

:21:14. > :21:22.want to return to work. 30 hours of free childcare will help, but I fear

:21:23. > :21:27.that too many men and women will not take time out of work for fear of

:21:28. > :21:34.struggling to get back into work afterwards. The more measures the

:21:35. > :21:39.government can put in place to balance work and life commitments

:21:40. > :21:44.for men and women will help look after children. We need to take this

:21:45. > :21:50.further. In our report, we found few people were taking up shared

:21:51. > :21:55.parental leave. Just 1% of men are taking it up. It is considered

:21:56. > :21:59.complicated and unwieldy. There is little recognition of the women done

:22:00. > :22:05.at home. We have to stop this idea that just because you've taken time

:22:06. > :22:11.out of the workplace you are any less capable. My heart sinks when

:22:12. > :22:17.people dismiss mothers and fathers who stay at home. What is more

:22:18. > :22:22.important than bringing up the next-generation? Many women who have

:22:23. > :22:32.been out of the workplace for some time have lost confidence. Several

:22:33. > :22:35.organisations address this. Companies need to be flexible in

:22:36. > :22:41.their approach and their conditions. We must not see a gap in a CV as a

:22:42. > :22:50.barrier and show our reluctance to employing somebody. Employing older

:22:51. > :22:53.men and women is a huge benefit. I challenge companies, be bold for

:22:54. > :23:05.change and lead the way. Obviously none of us should simply

:23:06. > :23:09.be a number but being only the 440 women to be elected to this place is

:23:10. > :23:14.astonishing to me in this day and age when we would all like to

:23:15. > :23:18.believe we are beyond all of that, but we are not. Both at home and

:23:19. > :23:23.further afield the life chances of women and girls are too often

:23:24. > :23:29.hindered by barriers, sometimes insurmountable ones which should not

:23:30. > :23:35.be there. We all know of exceptional awe-inspiring women in the public

:23:36. > :23:41.eye who have against all -- against all odds overcomes these barrier.

:23:42. > :23:45.But there are the result of the public eye who are just as

:23:46. > :23:51.mother-in-law who spent her young mother-in-law who spent her young

:23:52. > :23:55.life in rural India where she taught young woman herself before moving to

:23:56. > :23:59.Scotland where she raised her own family with all her girls taught to

:24:00. > :24:05.be strong and independent woman as she was. There are individual women

:24:06. > :24:11.all over the world fishing against the barriers and today we must

:24:12. > :24:20.applaud them. I saw an advert recently, an Indian TV advert about

:24:21. > :24:27.a man running a sweet shop. The message behind the advert was that

:24:28. > :24:33.his store was called Gertie Singh and daughters and that girls can do

:24:34. > :24:38.anything by scan, which is true. It is a shame that still in 2017 we

:24:39. > :24:45.even need to say that but we do and it holds true here just as much as

:24:46. > :24:49.it does in India. Too often we are still not any renewal where we

:24:50. > :24:56.should be. Last year the median average earnings for full-time

:24:57. > :25:04.female employees were ?12.82 as opposed to over ?14 for men. In this

:25:05. > :25:08.House, it has a long way to go as well. I am pleased that the Scottish

:25:09. > :25:13.Government is very focused on action to make a difference to these and

:25:14. > :25:16.other areas of women's lives and we need action, and action here as

:25:17. > :25:22.well, like the brilliant work of my honourable friend from Banff and

:25:23. > :25:27.Buchan who did a good job with her Istanbul convention bill. We need

:25:28. > :25:34.Scottish Government's committee as Scottish Government's committee as

:25:35. > :25:40.influential. Role models like our First Minister make a significant

:25:41. > :25:45.difference to women's lives and their aspirations and beliefs of our

:25:46. > :25:48.girls, and also our boys. As the mother of boys, I am doing them a

:25:49. > :25:53.huge disservice if I don't spend time making sure that my fantastic

:25:54. > :26:03.boys understand that girls and boys, men and women, are equal in value,

:26:04. > :26:07.ability and in every way. The fact that equality for women is at the

:26:08. > :26:11.heart of our vision for an equal Scotland, and seeing that commitment

:26:12. > :26:15.in action in those who influence us, does make a huge difference. It is

:26:16. > :26:20.important for all our children to see these principles of equality and

:26:21. > :26:26.well as in their own daily lives. We well as in their own daily lives. We

:26:27. > :26:30.all now someone whose commitment to women's issues and equality has

:26:31. > :26:36.inspired others. We must amplify that in this place. We need to live

:26:37. > :26:39.it everyday and sure it so that all of our young people have every

:26:40. > :26:46.prospect of success will their identity. When I was a little girl I

:26:47. > :26:47.can't say I was inspired much by the most famous female politician of the

:26:48. > :26:53.day. Even then I knew that she did day. Even then I knew that she did

:26:54. > :26:57.not speak for me. But I also knew perfectly well that I could do

:26:58. > :27:02.whatever I wanted with my life and be whatever I wanted. Because I was

:27:03. > :27:08.inspired by another politician and much closer to home, my own mum, who

:27:09. > :27:17.lived a life very far from ordinary and believed in her girls in a way

:27:18. > :27:20.that every child deserves. Someone being the change she wanted to see

:27:21. > :27:26.in the world, and that is what we all need to do in this place. Here

:27:27. > :27:30.in our Westminster ivory tower we are in the most privileged position

:27:31. > :27:34.and if we do not use it to push the rights of girls and women we are

:27:35. > :27:40.letting ourselves down, we're letting our girls down and our boys.

:27:41. > :27:45.Let's rise to this occasion, not just coming year every year and

:27:46. > :27:50.agree that the rights of women really do merit some attention.

:27:51. > :27:55.Let's all commit this year to making a concerted effort to do the big

:27:56. > :27:58.things and the small things, makes the decisions and change the

:27:59. > :28:05.policies that really will make a difference. International women's

:28:06. > :28:08.Day is an opportunity to celebrate the amazing achievements of women

:28:09. > :28:14.across the world so I want to begin by marking some of the great

:28:15. > :28:25.competition and is -- accomplishments of women from my

:28:26. > :28:28.constituency. On offer's accolades include the first female headteacher

:28:29. > :28:34.of a Welsh school and establishing the first-ever Welsh drama

:28:35. > :28:39.department. Sian Lloyd is one of the UK's longest serving weather

:28:40. > :28:43.forecasters. Aside from her meteorological work she is also

:28:44. > :28:44.known for her charitable efforts, including support for the Prince's

:28:45. > :28:50.Trust. The achievements of women Trust. The achievements of women

:28:51. > :28:54.have built our world to where it is today but so many women are still

:28:55. > :28:59.suppressed and limited by a world which still favours men. I want to

:29:00. > :29:04.encourage each and every male MP to use the platforms we have been given

:29:05. > :29:07.to highlight this injustice. It is our duty in parliament to highlight

:29:08. > :29:10.injustices and one of the greatest that remains in the world today is

:29:11. > :29:16.barriers preventing women from succeeding. The situation for women

:29:17. > :29:25.in the UK should embarrass us all. In the workplace, for every ?1 a man

:29:26. > :29:27.earns, a woman and 81p. One in ten people have experienced -- women

:29:28. > :29:33.have experienced sexual harassment and work. There are an feral

:29:34. > :29:39.pressures on women which men simply do not face in day-to-day life. One

:29:40. > :29:43.in five women are carers and there can be more significant difficulties

:29:44. > :29:49.in balancing work life with other responsibilities. Globally, only

:29:50. > :29:59.five countries have gender pay gap below 10%. Internationally, only 1%

:30:00. > :30:08.of land is owned by women. Progress is being made but the speed is too

:30:09. > :30:12.slow. I believe men must be more vocal on these injustices. The fight

:30:13. > :30:17.for gender equality should be led by women but as allies of the fight

:30:18. > :30:20.male MPs must use the platforms we have been given to highlight

:30:21. > :30:31.injustices faced by women. I want to focus for a moment on the scale of

:30:32. > :30:35.femicide in the UK. The report details the case of nearly 1000

:30:36. > :30:43.women in England and Wales killed by men since 2009. It demonstrates the

:30:44. > :30:44.worst products of sexism in the UK. The report showed that the majority

:30:45. > :30:51.of women killed by men arm killed by of women killed by men arm killed by

:30:52. > :30:55.their former or current partner, in what is described as the final act

:30:56. > :31:06.of control. In an abusive relationship, women said as cold --

:31:07. > :31:12.women's aid has called for... The partnership also called for a

:31:13. > :31:15.specific recognition that post separation is a heightened risk

:31:16. > :31:20.period for women leaving abusive relationships. The report and

:31:21. > :31:24.recommendations were published on Wednesday 7th of December. On the

:31:25. > :31:27.following day I called on the Government to make a statement on

:31:28. > :31:31.what they would be doing to put a stop to any more women being killed

:31:32. > :31:34.at the hands of men through domestic violence. 12 weeks later I am

:31:35. > :31:38.public response from the Government public response from the Government

:31:39. > :31:46.to the recommendations that I am aware of. In Cardiff Bay I am

:31:47. > :31:54.pleased at the action being taken by the Welsh government. The act of

:31:55. > :31:59.2015 improved the consistency, quality and joined up service

:32:00. > :32:13.provision and introduced a needs -based post ton approach which show

:32:14. > :32:15.and -- showed a strong... Since the act the Welsh government has

:32:16. > :32:20.consistently led for new ways of tackling the issue of domestic

:32:21. > :32:24.violence. I started my speech by naming two famous women because of

:32:25. > :32:34.their various field of expertise and Dzhokhar session 's --

:32:35. > :32:40.accomplishments. Despite those women having success in their professions

:32:41. > :32:45.I want to pay tribute to all the women who are the lifeblood of our

:32:46. > :32:50.communities. The women who run football clubs, youth clubs, scouts,

:32:51. > :32:57.guides, public servants, entrepreneurs, all the women who

:32:58. > :33:03.hold public office in the land, their leadership is vital and their

:33:04. > :33:12.achievements are many and they do a downside better job often than many

:33:13. > :33:15.of the men I know. I am pleased to represent the Liberal Democrats at

:33:16. > :33:20.this debate on International women's Day is number 454 but I am also

:33:21. > :33:27.proud to say in contrast to some of the previous members' and beacons, I

:33:28. > :33:37.am the third Web Den woman to represent my seat -- Lib Dem women.

:33:38. > :33:41.I get to go home to my family every evening and spent time with them

:33:42. > :33:44.every morning. It is a blessing to me but it means I live a life of

:33:45. > :33:47.contrasts. Yesterday I spent the first part of the morning trying to

:33:48. > :33:54.get my son to clean his teeth and might daughter to brush her hair and

:33:55. > :33:59.then I challenged the Prime Minister about her spending on education. Of

:34:00. > :34:07.the two things the latter was more remarked upon. But in many ways,

:34:08. > :34:13.getting my son to clean his chief was -- clean his teeth was the

:34:14. > :34:19.greater achievement. But nobody noticed, cared or uploaded me for

:34:20. > :34:26.it. It often sounds ironic herself deprecating to refer to the tasks of

:34:27. > :34:30.motherhood is more taxing. We are so used to underplaying the work we do

:34:31. > :34:35.in the home that we don't think anyone will take us seriously if we

:34:36. > :34:39.talk seriously about it. Today, in the spirit of the motion to

:34:40. > :34:44.recognise the achievements of women I want to celebrate the an

:34:45. > :34:49.acknowledged, unrewarded achievements. Childbirth, the

:34:50. > :34:54.ultimate feminine achievement. Women are often told not to make a fuss.

:34:55. > :35:00.Millions of women have done it through history without access to

:35:01. > :35:04.pain relief and so on. For me, the births of my babies continue to be

:35:05. > :35:09.the most profound experience of my life. We don't actually talk all

:35:10. > :35:15.that much about childbirth. We discuss the timing and order of

:35:16. > :35:21.events, how long or Labour took, but we haven't developed a language for

:35:22. > :35:26.how it makes us feel. Although the experience leaves a lasting imprint

:35:27. > :35:32.it is never fully acknowledged. The memory of childbirth remains with

:35:33. > :35:37.us, but never fully expressed. I want to say what a huge achievement

:35:38. > :35:42.it is to give birth and how proud we should be of our capacity to do

:35:43. > :35:46.that. I so want to acknowledge the first weeks and months of a baby's

:35:47. > :35:52.life when a woman gives herself entirely to looking after a child.

:35:53. > :35:55.Whether our children are now fully grown adults or still small children

:35:56. > :36:00.they are only here because their mothers kept them alive in those

:36:01. > :36:04.early weeks and months. Their effort and sacrifice this takes is often

:36:05. > :36:07.dismissed or overlooked so I want to say today to mothers everywhere to

:36:08. > :36:10.be proud of what you did and your be proud of what you did and your

:36:11. > :36:14.without you. The long days and short without you. The long days and short

:36:15. > :36:21.years of childhood that follow are full of minor successes, getting

:36:22. > :36:26.hard work of persuading resisting hard work of persuading resisting

:36:27. > :36:29.children to do what is best for them. Each triumph is a building

:36:30. > :36:33.reward is a very long way away and reward is a very long way away and

:36:34. > :36:38.nobody will remember the battles he fought to make it happen. To every

:36:39. > :36:42.mother who managed to get their children to the school gates on time

:36:43. > :36:49.this morning, particularly in their world book Day costumes, be proud,

:36:50. > :36:53.don't underestimate yourself, it is a great achievement to raise

:36:54. > :36:56.children. I am conscious people will think I am stereotyping women by

:36:57. > :37:01.referring only to their achievements as mothers. But I want to focus on

:37:02. > :37:08.the things that only women can do. I am just as proud of women who

:37:09. > :37:12.achieve great things in other fields, especially if they do it

:37:13. > :37:16.against a background of gender bias. I don't want to ignore the role of

:37:17. > :37:21.men in child rearing. Older fathers I know are equally involved in the

:37:22. > :37:26.difficult bits of parenting as the mothers are but this debate is about

:37:27. > :37:30.International women's Day and we should acknowledge that globally the

:37:31. > :37:35.vast majority of child-rearing and domestic work is done by women. That

:37:36. > :37:46.is why our achievements are so often until it and underestimated. I am as

:37:47. > :37:49.grateful as any other women my age that social progress has enabled me

:37:50. > :37:54.to have a broader life than just a wife and mother and I am grateful

:37:55. > :37:57.other women are making the most of opportunities to leave their homes

:37:58. > :38:04.and go to work. It makes a positive difference not just of them and

:38:05. > :38:11.families but to our society. But it means... We have found ways to

:38:12. > :38:21.outsource the task of child-rearing from our own pocket. The job of

:38:22. > :38:29.looking after sick and elderly relatives is increasingly being done

:38:30. > :38:33.by the state. I have been inspired by what I have heard this afternoon.

:38:34. > :38:38.I have rewritten this speech so often as I was sitting here. I am

:38:39. > :38:45.going to do the one I originally started with! When I was asked if I

:38:46. > :38:52.would take part in this debate I was also asked if I could get a

:38:53. > :38:56.perspective from in older woman. I resisted all of about ten seconds

:38:57. > :39:04.because I have now fully embraced my age.

:39:05. > :39:12.A mother gives her child the best future she possibly can. She teaches

:39:13. > :39:21.her children what her mother taught her also. My mother was born in 1919

:39:22. > :39:33.and was an intelligent caring woman and only wanted what was best for

:39:34. > :39:38.her daughters. She used to say, don't argue with your father, just

:39:39. > :39:42.know that you are right. I could never take that advice and I

:39:43. > :39:48.frequently argued with him. But I could only do it when it was only

:39:49. > :39:57.him and me there are. He still had to be seen as the man of the House

:39:58. > :40:03.and untouchable and unarguable. My husband was raised by his mother and

:40:04. > :40:10.his four older sisters. Women are still a complete mystery to him. His

:40:11. > :40:18.mother insisted that George didn't have to do any housework, why should

:40:19. > :40:27.he? He had four sisters. I have frequently heard how they felt about

:40:28. > :40:32.that. Many years later, he said to our daughter, why haven't you tidied

:40:33. > :40:41.up? She said to him, why haven't you asked my brother is that? He said,

:40:42. > :40:44.because you are out girl. I am not denigrating my husband. I asked him

:40:45. > :40:51.if it was all right if I told the stories. He knew I was going to do

:40:52. > :40:59.it anyway, but I just want to point out how much progress has been made

:41:00. > :41:07.in this regard. My husband would be horrified if his granddaughters

:41:08. > :41:12.didn't receive equal opportunities and equal pay and equality

:41:13. > :41:18.across-the-board. He would be absolutely heartbroken. This is how

:41:19. > :41:25.progress has been made. It's not been easy and it is an ongoing work.

:41:26. > :41:32.But in my household, we have made progress. I have been discriminated

:41:33. > :41:37.against personally in my lifetime. I secured an exciting new job, setting

:41:38. > :41:43.up job centres across the East coast of Scotland in 1974. When I phoned

:41:44. > :41:49.to confirm the final arrangements for starting, I mentioned I was

:41:50. > :41:58.pregnant. I was told, goodbye. I never started that job. It is

:41:59. > :42:03.absolutely vital that the kind of results I had to take our never

:42:04. > :42:10.revisited. Although there are laws to protect us, it's attitudes that

:42:11. > :42:14.matter. Attitudes have to change. When I started working, I actually

:42:15. > :42:19.got equal pay with the men I worked alongside in Midlothian county

:42:20. > :42:26.council. However, when I was a counsellor before I entered this

:42:27. > :42:31.place, in 2012, I found myself on a working group on equal pay. The

:42:32. > :42:39.women of North Lanarkshire counsel, some of them, the ones who did the

:42:40. > :42:46.best and worst jobs, lollipop woman and support assistance, they had

:42:47. > :42:52.fought for a ten year and only when they went to a woman lawyer, Carol

:42:53. > :42:57.Fox, was their claim finally made. This should not happen. I don't want

:42:58. > :43:08.this to be about me, my family or the UK, I went to a website last

:43:09. > :43:12.night. I fully support the in poverty is sexist campaign. It is

:43:13. > :43:22.vital we educate women across the world. To call an African proverb,

:43:23. > :43:28.if you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you educate a woman,

:43:29. > :43:35.you educate a family and a nation. Let's do that and make sure there is

:43:36. > :43:47.no cut in what we give to women internationally. I congratulate the

:43:48. > :43:56.Member for Birmingham for securing this debate. I would like to address

:43:57. > :44:00.the need for an ambitious change in attitudes and culture, as well as

:44:01. > :44:08.legislation to protect the victims of rape and sexual violence. There

:44:09. > :44:18.were 35,000 complaints of rape between 2015 and 2016 in this

:44:19. > :44:26.country. Just 2700, 7.5%, resulted in convictions. 90% of rape victims

:44:27. > :44:32.are female. 10% are male. Last week, I was fortunate to visit Argentina

:44:33. > :44:40.with Westminster foundation for democracy and I spoke with a deputy

:44:41. > :44:44.about the huge protests in the streets last October, following the

:44:45. > :44:57.drugging, rape and brutal murder of a 16-year-old. According to the

:44:58. > :45:01.popular movements, one woman is killed every 30 hours in Argentina.

:45:02. > :45:08.There are still protests on the streets today. This is despite the

:45:09. > :45:15.fact there was a lot passed in 2012 against so-called female homicide.

:45:16. > :45:21.Legislation without enforcement, without cultural change is not worth

:45:22. > :45:27.the paper it is written on. As the model today reminds us, we must be

:45:28. > :45:31.bold. Old enough to engender change on all levels. From police

:45:32. > :45:36.attitudes, to the process of the justice system, and most importantly

:45:37. > :45:41.the outcomes and experiences of the victims. I attended the police

:45:42. > :45:46.parliamentary scheme last summer and it was interesting to see the work

:45:47. > :45:50.done by the police in addressing attitudes. Legislation alone will

:45:51. > :45:55.not make a difference. We must address culture in all stages of the

:45:56. > :46:03.criminal justice system. Following my Private Members' Bill last month,

:46:04. > :46:08.the UK Government has contributed to a review into section 41 of the

:46:09. > :46:15.youth justice and criminal evidence act of 1999. A move which I

:46:16. > :46:20.wholeheartedly welcome. The act sought to stop rape complainants

:46:21. > :46:24.being questioned about their previous sexual history by a

:46:25. > :46:32.third-party. This act came into effect in 1999. This is the case.

:46:33. > :46:37.This is not what people are experiencing in court. 36% of rape

:46:38. > :46:41.trials overseen by the North Sea number eight -- the Northumbrian

:46:42. > :46:45.panel last year included questioning about the prior sexual conduct of

:46:46. > :46:53.the complainant with the third party. The numbering -- number of

:46:54. > :46:58.harrowing cases I have heard shall this tactic is deployed by many

:46:59. > :47:07.defence lawyers across the country. The brutal cross-examination of rape

:47:08. > :47:15.victims is traumatising when the system should be protecting these

:47:16. > :47:20.victims. They seek to portray people as promiscuous, so they are less

:47:21. > :47:27.credible to the jury. Harm is done to victims under the noses of judges

:47:28. > :47:32.in our courts. The procedure is from the 1999 act are being disregarded.

:47:33. > :47:39.This victim blaming attitude must be stamped out in the justice process

:47:40. > :47:43.and in our society as a whole. We are being reminded to be bold for a

:47:44. > :47:47.change. At home and abroad, we have an obligation not just to change

:47:48. > :47:52.legislation but also to change perceptions of rape and sexual

:47:53. > :47:57.violence to ensure that all victims, regardless of gender, have the

:47:58. > :48:02.confidence to come forward and report these serious crimes. I hope

:48:03. > :48:06.all members across this House join with me as we continue to battle to

:48:07. > :48:13.change the laws and the attitudes which real victims in this society

:48:14. > :48:22.and abroad. Thank you. It's a pleasure to follow that inspiring

:48:23. > :48:25.speech. Yesterday, Labour made a short film for International Women's

:48:26. > :48:30.Day. One of the things we were asked to do was to complete the sentence,

:48:31. > :48:37.I want to live in a world where... I said that I wanted to live a world

:48:38. > :48:41.where violence against women was eradicated and rape was no longer

:48:42. > :48:46.used as a weapon of war. What I wanted to go one to say was that I

:48:47. > :48:51.wanted the statistic of two women murdered every week by their partner

:48:52. > :49:03.or ex-partner to also be eradicated. This figure remains stubbornly the

:49:04. > :49:14.same. Nor mind of passing laws appears to make a dent in that

:49:15. > :49:19.figure. As we have heard, those two women per week are not statistics.

:49:20. > :49:24.They are real people, colleagues, friends, mothers, sisters and

:49:25. > :49:30.daughters. Leading up to their deaths is usually a catalogue of

:49:31. > :49:34.assaults not reported, partners pleading they will change and a

:49:35. > :49:39.repeat of the cycle of violence. Imagine the trauma of being a child

:49:40. > :49:45.growing up in that situation, seeing the two most significant adults in

:49:46. > :49:48.that child's life fighting. Going to bed at night, wondering if the night

:49:49. > :49:55.will be broken by yet another argument. Worrying all the time.

:49:56. > :49:58.Sadly in many cases thinking all this is normal. Because that is all

:49:59. > :50:04.that child has experienced, living in a state of permanent high

:50:05. > :50:08.anxiety. The fallout from domestic abuse is white. Get that figure of

:50:09. > :50:16.two deaths per week sticks stubbornly. I was pleased to hear

:50:17. > :50:21.our honorary sister, the Member for Ogmore, talking about this earlier.

:50:22. > :50:31.We need to do something about the funding of women's refuges. Too many

:50:32. > :50:35.women are turned away. It is a statutory not funded provision by

:50:36. > :50:41.councils. I want to talk about the plight of women around the world. In

:50:42. > :50:44.any kind of conflict, women often have fewer resources to protect

:50:45. > :50:49.themselves and with children frequently make up the majority of

:50:50. > :50:58.displaced and refugee populations. War tactics such as sexual violence

:50:59. > :51:02.specifically targets women. But women are almost completely missing

:51:03. > :51:09.from peace negotiations following conflict. The international

:51:10. > :51:16.community have recognised that the contribution of women is vital in

:51:17. > :51:22.securing peace. A historic resolution on women, peace and

:51:23. > :51:26.security was passed. It calls for women to participate in peace

:51:27. > :51:31.building. And have access to justice and services to eliminate

:51:32. > :51:37.discrimination. Yet almost 17 years on, more than half of peace

:51:38. > :51:42.agreements make no mention of women. Conflict are facing new threats,

:51:43. > :51:45.including climate shocks, global health in derricks and violent

:51:46. > :51:52.extremism, directly targeting women's rights. No more than ever,

:51:53. > :51:57.we need the peace and security agenda. I want to finish with these

:51:58. > :52:02.words. When you have warfare, things happen. People suffer. The

:52:03. > :52:06.nonconfidence sufferer, as well as the competence. And so it happens in

:52:07. > :52:13.civil war. Is a good deal of warfare for which men take a great deal of

:52:14. > :52:17.glorification which has involved more practical sacrifice on women

:52:18. > :52:23.than it has on any man. These are not the words of our sisters from

:52:24. > :52:30.Nigeria, Iran, Sri Lanka or any sisters from around the world. These

:52:31. > :52:36.words of Emmeline in 1913. Yet still these words ring true and have

:52:37. > :52:41.relevance to the international community of women today. This week,

:52:42. > :52:48.it was my pleasure to vote on the design of a statue of Emmeline

:52:49. > :52:55.Pankhurst to be erected in Manchester, as are welcome relief to

:52:56. > :53:00.the many statues of men. Gracie Fields now has a statue. And

:53:01. > :53:04.Victoria Wood will stop we have a statue. I go back to where I

:53:05. > :53:10.started. I want to live in a world where it is no longer unusual to put

:53:11. > :53:12.up a statue to a prominent woman. Not just in greater Manchester, but

:53:13. > :53:21.the world over. It is a pleasure to sum up on the

:53:22. > :53:25.half of the SNP in this debate. The chamber always feels like a

:53:26. > :53:29.different place when it is mainly women in it. Not least we don't hear

:53:30. > :53:35.funny noises or unrecognisable signs to most of us. It feels like a

:53:36. > :53:40.period of reflection. I would like to pay tribute to many women who

:53:41. > :53:45.have spoken out in the past year with great bravery, not least my

:53:46. > :53:50.colleague from Edinburgh West when she spoke a while ago and many have

:53:51. > :53:58.spoken about domestic violence or assault. I salute them all and I'm

:53:59. > :54:03.sure everyone watching knows it takes tremendous courage to speak on

:54:04. > :54:13.such personal issues in public. I would like to contribute to my

:54:14. > :54:19.colleague who spoke about mothers, that we should remember those who

:54:20. > :54:27.have lost mothers and also how much mothers offer society. Our levels of

:54:28. > :54:30.tolerance often have to be increased depending on who is speaking image

:54:31. > :54:35.and what they're saying that I would like to pay particular tribute to my

:54:36. > :54:42.Tory colleagues across the the way who I feel on certain occasions have

:54:43. > :54:46.to have such higher levels of tolerance and the rest of us but you

:54:47. > :54:48.do it with such grace. I am grateful to many of the brilliant

:54:49. > :54:52.contributions you have made in the chamber today and in religion to

:54:53. > :55:00.their contributions, the member for Birmingham Yardley who speaks

:55:01. > :55:04.eloquently with such passion, starting proceedings with another

:55:05. > :55:15.for Slough who spoke about the woman for Slough who spoke about the woman

:55:16. > :55:18.who injure a terrible plight. The member for Berwick-upon-Tweed spoke

:55:19. > :55:23.about women in the Armed Forces to whom we pay continues tribute. The

:55:24. > :55:31.member who spoke about social media and I have the pleasure of being on

:55:32. > :55:37.a programme with two members about how social media abuse can affect

:55:38. > :55:45.women disproportionally. Another member reminded us about those jobs

:55:46. > :55:50.which are the most important, men and women bringing up their

:55:51. > :55:54.families. And what seems like a small child, getting children to do

:55:55. > :55:58.minor things, they are major triumphs and we should never forget

:55:59. > :56:09.those. I pay tribute to the member for Motherwell and Wishaw who spoke

:56:10. > :56:12.about her husband, who if not a feminist through choice then

:56:13. > :56:26.certainly one through submission. The main themes of international

:56:27. > :56:32.women's day, excellent themes which we support. I would like to reflect

:56:33. > :56:36.on the achievements of women in the past year. In May 2016 tie on

:56:37. > :56:52.elected the first ever female president. -- Taiwan. In Kaboul, the

:56:53. > :57:02.first-ever woman on the University. And then the appointment of the

:57:03. > :57:11.Prime Minister. Women are underrepresented when compared to

:57:12. > :57:15.the percentage of the population. We have more female lawyers than ever

:57:16. > :57:19.before but that does not mean that our legal system has real gender

:57:20. > :57:25.balance. We have seen many female journalists and can I pay tribute to

:57:26. > :57:35.Sophie Reg, her new programme, and Emma Byrne on radio five. I have no

:57:36. > :57:44.doubt the face a different level of scrutiny than their male

:57:45. > :57:48.counterparts. They produce excellent programmes. Having more women in

:57:49. > :57:53.journalism doesn't necessarily mean that reporting of politics is more

:57:54. > :58:00.balanced. I'd like to speak about some experiences in the chamber. My

:58:01. > :58:06.honourable friend made an excellent speech about equality and mentioned

:58:07. > :58:11.Winnie Ewing. The first female SNP MP came down to Westminster and

:58:12. > :58:17.talked about being stocked at night. She said she noticed the problem in

:58:18. > :58:28.the Select Committee on Scottish affairs. She said she noticed one MP

:58:29. > :58:35.started to follow her around without saying anything. She went to ring

:58:36. > :58:39.for a taxi. She saw the public doors swinging in front of her and felt

:58:40. > :58:44.afraid but went on through the door and through the steps. As she turned

:58:45. > :58:50.on the stairs, there was her stalker in front of her looking sinister. I

:58:51. > :58:54.tried to humour him as I wanted to reach the cloakroom where there was

:58:55. > :58:56.an attendant, without anything happening. He kept staring and

:58:57. > :58:59.following me that I made it and told following me that I made it and told

:59:00. > :59:09.the cloakroom attendant what was going on. That was in 1970 and this

:59:10. > :59:15.is in 2017 but in 2017 you also get barked that in the chamber and I

:59:16. > :59:21.want to say today that I'm sure I see... Speak for all women in the

:59:22. > :59:28.chamber when I say we have had more than enough of this nonsense. While

:59:29. > :59:32.previous female MPs were isolated I feel that if we work in our numbers

:59:33. > :59:34.we can make positive change. It is not about fighting for equality for

:59:35. > :59:38.the sake of it, but it is making the sake of it, but it is making

:59:39. > :59:43.sure this Parliament, this place is more representative of democracy. A

:59:44. > :59:46.female Prime Minister doesn't mean female Prime Minister doesn't mean

:59:47. > :59:51.we have a parliament built on equality because in 2017 we only

:59:52. > :59:57.have 30% of sitting MPs who are women. But we have made progress and

:59:58. > :00:03.we should celebrate it where it occurs. I would like to speak

:00:04. > :00:09.briefly about violence against women and congratulate my colleague on her

:00:10. > :00:13.excellent work on the ratification of the Istanbul convention. It

:00:14. > :00:17.demonstrates working across the chamber can make a difference. It

:00:18. > :00:23.was one of them are brighter days of my time here at Westminster. More

:00:24. > :00:27.than 35% of women around the world have experienced either physical or

:00:28. > :00:34.sexual violence. Intimate partners are responsible for 38% of women's

:00:35. > :00:40.murderers. The honours based violence network believes there are

:00:41. > :00:47.5000 honour killings per year, of those, 12 are thought to be in the

:00:48. > :00:53.UK each year. Unicef claim at least 200 million women today have

:00:54. > :00:56.undergone female genital mutilation and the World Health Organisation

:00:57. > :01:07.estimates around 3 million gross per year, risk of this procedure. 2016

:01:08. > :01:12.was indeed a difficult year with our solidarity being put to the test in

:01:13. > :01:21.Donald John's election and it is more -- Donald Trump. I see on the

:01:22. > :01:27.agenda next week we have a debate to which I am looking forward, a

:01:28. > :01:32.petition relating to high heels and workplace dress codes. I am

:01:33. > :01:36.interested in if there can't possibly be a contrary opinion to

:01:37. > :01:41.women being able to wear what they want when they want, whatever that

:01:42. > :01:48.may be but I have no doubt one will undoubtedly surface from somewhere.

:01:49. > :01:54.We must continue our work in achieving a gender balance. In

:01:55. > :01:58.Parliament, journalism and civil society. We need women in all parts

:01:59. > :02:02.good for women but because it is good for women but because it is

:02:03. > :02:09.good for all of society. While we do not agree on everything and there is

:02:10. > :02:14.not a singular female view, there are opportunities for those of us

:02:15. > :02:18.across the political spectrum, who belong to all parties and those are

:02:19. > :02:27.belong to none, to come together about the things that matter most.

:02:28. > :02:30.It is a real pleasure to speak in such an important debate and I want

:02:31. > :02:35.honourable friend for Birmingham and honourable friend for Birmingham and

:02:36. > :02:40.Yardley for securing this debate today and also thanking her for her

:02:41. > :02:43.ongoing commitment to women's equality, our passion and dedication

:02:44. > :02:48.to women and particularly to ending domestic violence. It is second to

:02:49. > :02:56.none. This House is definitely a better place having her in it. When

:02:57. > :03:03.I first came here I was blessed, my career before was in the arts and

:03:04. > :03:06.then health care, professions dominated by women, so it was a

:03:07. > :03:10.shock to come into this place. It wasn't just the low numbers of women

:03:11. > :03:16.I found here but the fact that our voices were very rarely heard. I

:03:17. > :03:20.came into Parliament to give people who do not have a voice a voice in

:03:21. > :03:27.this place so I was surprised when even in here our voices either

:03:28. > :03:31.shouted over, belittled, called hysterical or not engaged with at

:03:32. > :03:37.all. It is something we must change and it is why I am so grateful for

:03:38. > :03:41.debates like these. Because of that I think it is important that I give

:03:42. > :03:46.most of my time to reinforcing the sisters in this place and give their

:03:47. > :03:53.voices and extra platform. I would like to start with the right

:03:54. > :03:59.honourable member for Basingstoke who proposed quarters on ministerial

:04:00. > :04:04.appointments. And grateful she raised the revenge pornography

:04:05. > :04:07.helpline. It is good government has brought legislation around us but we

:04:08. > :04:14.have to see the money following the policies. Domestic violence is not

:04:15. > :04:24.just physical violence. The honourable member for Slough gave an

:04:25. > :04:28.incredibly upsetting, powerful and very appropriate speech for this

:04:29. > :04:36.chamber and I hope we can debate this issue more. She championed

:04:37. > :04:47.women who are being persecuted, bought, sold, raped, exploited,

:04:48. > :04:50.commodified by Daesh. It is a barbaric form of slavery and

:04:51. > :04:54.something we have to stop and I urge the Government to do all it can to

:04:55. > :04:59.prevent this. It was right that Honourable member for

:05:00. > :05:04.Berwick-upon-Tweed gave us the history of women in the Armed Forces

:05:05. > :05:08.and how far we have come and I am grateful to other members who raised

:05:09. > :05:12.their impact on families as well. The Honourable member from Hampstead

:05:13. > :05:22.and Kilburn spoke of her constituent who is imprisoned in Iran and

:05:23. > :05:23.Iranian government are breaching the Iranian government are breaching the

:05:24. > :05:27.Bangkok convention they have signed Bangkok convention they have signed

:05:28. > :05:30.up to. Half a million women in prisons around the world and I also

:05:31. > :05:35.want to raise the fact that the Holloway prison is being sold off

:05:36. > :05:40.and the pressure this is likely to put on women. Personally I do not

:05:41. > :05:45.think prisons are the right place for women and the number of women in

:05:46. > :05:49.are imprisoned for evading TV are imprisoned for evading TV

:05:50. > :05:54.licences or stealing nappies because they can't afford them, there is

:05:55. > :06:00.something wrong with our system at the moment. And the Honourable

:06:01. > :06:03.member for Weldon who was so good at giving the history of women's rights

:06:04. > :06:08.and interventions that brought her to this place and I am grateful to

:06:09. > :06:12.her words welcoming all women and girls to go into politics that come

:06:13. > :06:16.them. The Honourable member from them. The Honourable member

:06:17. > :06:18.Lanark and Hamilton highlighted the Lanark and Hamilton highlighted the

:06:19. > :06:22.think it is right that we pay our think it is right that we pay our

:06:23. > :06:26.respects to those women who give us the power to keep going, the

:06:27. > :06:32.inspiration that we can do this. And move to the Honourable member from

:06:33. > :06:35.Telford two has been doing some superb campaigning around child

:06:36. > :06:40.exploitation and again you are right, in this place we often talk

:06:41. > :06:45.about violence being gender neutral and a lot of it is not and we must

:06:46. > :06:50.name it for a gender violence whenever it is. The Honourable

:06:51. > :06:55.member for West Ham, another powerful speech. It frustrates me it

:06:56. > :06:59.is down to us to correct history and rightfully draw attention to the

:07:00. > :07:08.fact that in 1888 to the match-winning lead by just -- match

:07:09. > :07:15.women led by five women changed history and effectively created the

:07:16. > :07:19.trade union movement. There is no movement for them. Anguish heritage

:07:20. > :07:24.needs to listen and I would support her. I want a statue, it is only

:07:25. > :07:29.right. The Honourable member from right. The Honourable member

:07:30. > :07:32.Portsmouth South, it is so Portsmouth South, it is so

:07:33. > :07:36.frustrating we have to keep going back to the gender pay gap and the

:07:37. > :07:41.obstacles that are preventing us closing that gap as quickly as all

:07:42. > :07:45.others in this would like. I am grateful to her raising the issues

:07:46. > :07:47.that prevent women returning to work and make it more difficult for them

:07:48. > :07:55.to reach their full economic potential. The Honourable member

:07:56. > :08:00.from East Renfrewshire, how lovely to talk about mothers and boys in

:08:01. > :08:04.that relationship and how important for her to say that we must

:08:05. > :08:14.demonstrate to them equality in public life so we can inspire them.

:08:15. > :08:19.The Honourable, honorary sister, I am just so grateful to have the

:08:20. > :08:25.Honourable member's voice here and I do a lot of speeches around gender

:08:26. > :08:30.violence, gender inequality, and I tend to be speaking to a of women. I

:08:31. > :08:35.am looking forward to the day when this chamber, when we have debates

:08:36. > :08:40.about women, is 50-50 men and women in here. He was right to highlight

:08:41. > :08:48.great local women and that men have a duty to be championing these

:08:49. > :08:52.abuses against women. He is also right to highlight the fact that he

:08:53. > :08:59.is still 12 weeks on waiting for a response to his questions. The

:09:00. > :09:04.Honourable member from Richmond Park, we welcome her, and it was

:09:05. > :09:09.interesting for you to put a very personal spin on that conflict

:09:10. > :09:13.balance between parenting and working, one which is not helped by

:09:14. > :09:17.this chamber but which this chamber has a duty, legally, to help for

:09:18. > :09:22.other women. The Honourable member from Motherwell and Wishaw, I loved

:09:23. > :09:29.the line, don't argue with your father, but you are right.

:09:30. > :09:35.Unfortunately some of us didn't get the following line so I am grateful

:09:36. > :09:39.to her mother. Also to her for giving examples on how progress is

:09:40. > :09:41.being made. Sometimes it feels it is achingly slow the progress we made

:09:42. > :09:49.so thank you for showing as it happens.

:09:50. > :10:16.. The next honourable member, highlighting rape statistics,

:10:17. > :10:30.campaigning for the processes of justice. I would like to turn to the

:10:31. > :10:36.next honourable member who is a great campaigner around the fact

:10:37. > :10:42.that two women per week are murdered by their partners. I was grateful

:10:43. > :10:48.she drew attention to the impact on the children, on the broader family.

:10:49. > :10:53.So often, their voices are not heard and there is no support usually for

:10:54. > :10:57.those people who need it the most. I was grateful that the honourable

:10:58. > :11:02.member raised the fact that funding for refugees is decreasing all the

:11:03. > :11:06.time. It is very concerning that because of funding cuts local

:11:07. > :11:15.authorities are going to a generic provider, rather than the specialist

:11:16. > :11:20.support so vital. Like her, there should be -- I agree that there

:11:21. > :11:26.should be statutory funding, not at the discretion of local authorities.

:11:27. > :11:34.Finally, I want to echo the voice of the Member for South Perthshire, who

:11:35. > :11:38.salutes all the women over the last year, particularly those in the

:11:39. > :11:42.chamber who have come forward and use the horrors they have been

:11:43. > :11:49.through to try to change legislation and attitudes. International Women's

:11:50. > :11:54.Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at

:11:55. > :12:00.the start of the 20th century. It roots traced back to 1908 when

:12:01. > :12:04.15,000 women marched through Newark city, demanding voting rights,

:12:05. > :12:09.better pay and shorter working hours. I can only see it as a sign

:12:10. > :12:14.that this year's International Women's Day falls on the same day as

:12:15. > :12:20.the Spring Budget. I urge the Minister to ensure that this budget

:12:21. > :12:24.works for women. Thank you. I would like to start by congratulating the

:12:25. > :12:28.honourable member for Birmingham Yardley and others who secured this