Browse content similar to 02/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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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. | :00:00. | |
but the commission will announce its conclusions. Before we come to the | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
business question I remind the house that on Monday I indicated that | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
there would be an opportunity for members to pay their tributes to the | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
former father of the house, but Parliamentary giant Sir Gerald | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
Kaufmann. That opportunity for members comes today in the course of | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
business questions. I will exercise some latitude in terms of the normal | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
length of questions if colleagues wish to express their personal and | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
heartfelt tributes. I look forward to hearing what colleagues have to | :00:45. | :00:54. | |
see about a very remarkable man. Will the leader give the house the | :00:55. | :01:03. | |
forthcoming business? This is the first business question since the | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
death of the father of the house and there is this sense of another link | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
being broken with a former political age. His first political contest was | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
in 1955 where he stood against Harold Macmillan himself. I think | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
without too much expectation of a shock victory on that occasion. He | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
represented excessive Manchester constituencies for many years. -- | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
successor. He also served in Number 10 under Harold Wilson who carried | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
with him the memories of working alongside and debating against, in | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
those days the press and in his speech writing capacity, against his | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
opponents in my own party. Then he went on to serve as a minister and | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
for many years as a senior member of the Shadow Cabinet during the Labour | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Party's years in opposition. I can say from experience that I think his | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
book entitled how to be minister is one that is still worth reading. I | :02:15. | :02:25. | |
suspect the member is looking for ways to publicise that second | :02:26. | :02:33. | |
edition any time soon. I recall from my reading of Gerald's book the | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
importance that he gave to getting control of your diary and your | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
private office at the earliest possible date. Also his age warning | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
to ministers to avoid so far as they could the numerous invitations to | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
speak at banquets and formal burners which inevitably ended with a host | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
denouncing the guest of honour in the most strident possible terms. He | :03:00. | :03:11. | |
was perhaps most in his element as the chairman of the select committee | :03:12. | :03:19. | |
on one and then later the select committee on sport. Even those who | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
did not show his politics knew he was a man who was passionately | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
committed to his own party but passionately committed to the | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
importance of the arts and of cultural values as something that | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
mattered to people in all walks of life and in all parts of the UK. And | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
while those interests and his boozy as is in the field of the arts | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
ranged widely -- his enthusiasm in the arts ranged widely, I wonder | :03:52. | :04:03. | |
what we have missed in being able to hear his comments on the Oscars do | :04:04. | :04:12. | |
back week. I suspect they would have been fairly forceful and waspish | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
intone. We mourn his passing. We shall miss him in this house and I | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
am sure everyone would want to send their sympathy to his family and | :04:21. | :04:36. | |
friends. The business next week, Monday the 6th of March, second | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
reading of the vehicle and technology aviation bill, Tuesday, | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
remaining stages of children social work bill followed by a motion | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
relating to the appointment of the UK Statistics Authority followed by | :04:50. | :04:52. | |
a motion relating to standing orders, Wednesday, the Chancellor | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
will deliver his Budget Statement, Thursday, continuation of the budget | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
debate, Friday the house will not be sitting, provisional business for | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
the week commencing the 13th of March will be continuation of the | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
budget debate on Monday and conclusion of the debate on Tuesday. | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
Colleagues will wish to know that subject to the progress of business | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
the house will rise for the summer researcher at the laws of play on | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
boasting the 20th of July and return on Tuesday the 20th of September. | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
Can I thank the leader for the business? I would like to spend some | :05:34. | :05:42. | |
of the time talking about and to pay tribute to one of our great | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
parliamentarians, the father of the house, Sir Gerald Kaufman, who died | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
at the weekend, and to add to your brilliant tribute on Monday. His | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
family described it as the end of an era and it is for us in Parliament. | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
His great love is were ice cream and films and apparently went to see | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
singing in the rain 20 times in all of the cinemas in Leeds when it | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
first came out. He also worked on that was the week that was, the | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
forerunner of Saturday Night Live, and working with a great Rod Custer, | :06:17. | :06:26. | |
the future director-general. He was fearless in his support for | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
constituents. Down to his popularity and care for his constituents. On | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
today world book day he is remembered for his iconic book how | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
to be a minister. Before I came in to this place I bought that book | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
before I met him as a present for the member for Leicester East before | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
he became a minister in the government. Many members have said | :06:53. | :07:00. | |
how they use that. We have got some lovely anecdotes. The clerk of the | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
house reminded me that on your re-election Sir Gerald was keen to | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
get the whole process right and he proceeded with avuncular dignity and | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
I remember the day and it went off absolutely beautifully and you were | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
re-elected. On a select committee trip to the Isle of Man along his | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
birthday to cheer him up he loved marmalade so he was made orange | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
marmalade ice cream and on committee visit to Rome, some members had not | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
been to Rome so before he went to the ambassadors' dinner he took them | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
to the Trevi fountain and to have some gelato. When he was a minister | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
he always gave a lift to backbenchers when he was in his | :07:48. | :07:50. | |
ministerial car because he knew one day he would be a backbencher. We | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
talk about the greasy pole of politics, it is more like the | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
louche, you get battered as you go down. He dressed beautifully. I was | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
used to watch him in the tearoom. That is probably a tribute to his | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
father who was a tailor, a close friend of Harold Wilson, another | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
great Labour Prime Minister. He was loyal, clever and courageous and he | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
will be missed in this place. We send our condolences to his family | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
and friends. I thank the Leader of the House for the date and everyone | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
is rejoicing that we know when we can rise on the 20th of July but I | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
wondered if he can give an indication of the State Opening of | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
Parliament? I know the deputy Leader of the House of Commons get his | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
outfit ready! Perhaps in keeping with a tribute to Sir Gerald. I know | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
the leader of this as been busy tabling motions and one will be | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
tabled on Tuesday the 7th of March relating to standing order 83. Many | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
lawyers like those amendments were you substitute their fur and but I | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
might have to explain it. I wondered if he can publish a memorandum and | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
see why it has been hurried through the day before the budget because it | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
also relates to things happening in Scotland. | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
The leader of the house is keen on visiting the other place, and I | :09:22. | :09:30. | |
don't know if he's known that the Lord will send back an amendment to | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
the EU Bill, and can the leader of the house gives some indication of | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
when the bill is coming back to Parliament, the week commencing 13th | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
of March or the week commencing the 20th? I want to point out something | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
the leader of the house mentioned last week to remind him that the | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
government's claim of an additional ?10 billion for the NHS by 2021 has | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
been stated in a select committee report which is obviously | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
cross-party, does not accurately reflect, and they say, the impact of | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
the spending review on health expenditure. If the spending review | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
period is considered, 2015-16, down to 2020-21, the increases ?4.5 | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
billion, not the 10 billion. I would be grateful if the leader of the | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
house could quote that figure. I thank him for providing me with the | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
closing date for the consultation of the new funding formula which will | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
be on the 22nd of March and I appreciate he's also written to me. | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
The Prime Minister yesterday said that we have had free schools as | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
though it was the past but that it is continuing to create more good | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
places. She said no to grammar schools, is that a no to free | :10:38. | :10:39. | |
schools because the overall funding of new places through free schools | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
has put out ?7.9 billion out of a total of new places of 14.9 billion. | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
But the leader of the house comment on the latest National Audit Office | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
report which has found that some free schools were opening in areas | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
where there were already plenty of places, creating spare capacity that | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
could affect the future financial sustainability of other schools in | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
the area? Can we have a statement on whether funding for free schools | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
represents good value for money for the taxpayer and whether it will fix | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
the problem of school places? Mr Speaker, I'm trying to rush through | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
in the time because I'm aware that other honourable members want to | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
make contributions on Sir Gerald's life but given the debate on | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
international women Pozzo date straight after this -- International | :11:26. | :11:27. | |
Women's Day, straight after this, there have been cases of women | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
arrested and placed in a detention centre, Irene Clenell was married to | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
a British man to 27 years and her job and grandeur were born here and | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
she was removed without warning added 20 roll student about to | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
finish her degree is also in a detention centre with no warning. | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
Can the government clarify the policy on deportations of winning | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
who are no threat and have been caught unfairly by these are the two | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
decisions? It is now ten years, Mr Speaker, since the calls to report | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
on women in prison. Women entering prison are more likely to be in | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
prison for non-violent offences. Last year, 12 women were killed -- | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
killed themselves in prison in England and Wales and there were 22 | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
deaths of women in prison. The noble Baroness in the other place has | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
called for more government funding on women's centres. I know sitting | :12:20. | :12:21. | |
on the bill committee that the government had committed funding for | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
secure colleges but the government then performed a U-turn on that | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
decision. If the money is there, committed, could the leader of the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
house have discussions with the noble Baroness to look at committed | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
funding for secure colleges and for women's centres, so that committed | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
funding can be used to protect those existing centres and create a more | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
sustainable model? Lastly, Mr Speaker, I would like to welcome the | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
two new honourable members, the honourable member for Copeland, who | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
is the 456th woman in this place. And I welcome the honourable member | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
for Stoke Central, good to have another member on this side from the | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
West Midlands. I hope they will be inspired by the life and work of Sir | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
Gerald Kaufmann, a great parliamentarian. May he rest in | :13:09. | :13:17. | |
peace. Leader of the house. Mr Speaker, can I first apologise to | :13:18. | :13:19. | |
you in the house as I omitted to inform the house of the business at | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
Westminster all that is forthcoming. If I can briefly run through that | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
before replying to the honourable lady. On the 6th of March, we have | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
got as previously announced, a debate on the new petition relating | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
to high heels and workplace dress code. The 9th of March, a debate on | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
the second report of the Scottish affairs committee of the demography | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
of Scotland and the implications for devolution followed by a debate on | :13:42. | :13:44. | |
human rights and the political situation in Turkey. On Monday the | :13:45. | :13:55. | |
13th of March, a debate on eve petition relating to sentencing for | :13:56. | :13:57. | |
child abuse offences and Thursday the 16th of March, a debate on the | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
sixth report of the transport committee entitled the future of | :14:01. | :14:02. | |
rail, improving the rail passenger experience, followed by a debate on | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
Jobcentre Plus office closures. I happily join the honourable lady in | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
welcoming our two new colleagues. I can assure her, apropos the state | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
opening that my honourable friend the deputy leader has more than one | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
outfit available for such ceremonial occasions. I can't yet give her a | :14:20. | :14:27. | |
date that she is seeking. On the point about standing orders, yes, I | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
have already had a similar request from the SNP benches for an | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
explanatory memorandum and we will be providing that but what it | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
proposed change to standing orders is about is recognising the fact | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
that the recent Scotland act has devolved to the Scottish Parliament | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
the right to set the main rate of income tax and therefore, our own | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
standing orders, as regards English votes for English laws, need to be | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
adjusted to take account of the fact that in future, we may well have | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
situations in which we have a resolution or a piece of legislation | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
relating to main income tax rates which are specific to England, Wales | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
and Northern Ireland but not Scotland because those matters will | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
have been devolved to Holyrood. That is the purpose of that technical | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
change to standing orders. We will return to the EU Bill as rapidly as | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
possible after the House of Lords has finished debating it and given | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
it its third reading. The government certainly remains of the view that | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
the bill is straightforward. It does no more than confer authority on the | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
Prime Minister's required -- as required by the courts to initiate | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
negotiations by triggering Article 50 of the treaty and no, we will | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
therefore seek to resist changes that would make that negotiating | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
task more difficult. She asked questions about the NHS. A figure of | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
?10 billion is completely accurate. It represents the ?8 billion that | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
the head of NHS England said was needed in order to finance the NHS's | :16:14. | :16:24. | |
own reform plan, plus a further ?2 billion that represents money that | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
was allocated to the financial year before the period which NHS England | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
was intending to carry out its reform plan. Not only that but in | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
response to the request from the chief executive of NHS England, the | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
Department of Health has front-loaded that funding so that | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
the NHS is getting an initial ?4 billion this year in order to get | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
that reform plan off to the best possible start. She asked me about | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
free schools. I have to say to her that for me, the key test about free | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
schools is whether there is a demand for them by parents in the area in | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
which they are to be located because without that, those schools will not | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
be able to survive and the test for free schools like the test for any | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
other school, is whether they are able to provide the best possible | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
opportunities and life chances and improved achievements for the | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
children sent to those schools. They only get the one chance of | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
education. We should be looking for every opportunity to improve the | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
quality of educational opportunities offered to them. She asked me about | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
International Women's Day and two particular cases. Without going into | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
the detail of the cases, the principle here is that people are | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
only detained, whether it is men or women, if there is a reason to | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
believe, on the part of the Home Office and the immigration service, | :18:02. | :18:08. | |
that they might be at risk of disappearing and avoiding removal | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
from the country and that step is only taken once people have | :18:12. | :18:19. | |
exhausted their rights to appeal and it is clear that they have no | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
further legal right to remain here. Her point about prisons I thought | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
was a perfectly reasonable one but of course, that is one of a number | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
of important issues to do with prison reform and I think that my | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
right honourable friend the Secretary of State made very clear | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
in her recent white paper that she is committed to a programme of | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
prison reform that improves the chances are that both women and men | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
who served time in prison will both be treated decently while they are | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
there but also given the opportunities for the type of | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
courses and work and educational opportunities which means there will | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
be a better chance of them living law-abiding lives after release. And | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
can I associate myself with the remarks made by both front bench | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
spokesman in relation to the late Father of the house. He gave me one | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
piece of advice when I first arrived, he said an immigration | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
cases, young man, which was always good to get my attention, "My strong | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
advice is to ask anyone that comes to see you, have you got a lawyer | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
involved, and if they haven't, tell them to get one and if they have, | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
tell them to use the lawyer". That was quite helpful. On behalf of the | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
backbench business committee, I noticed Mr Speaker that the leader | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
of the house has not announced the business for a week on Thursday. We | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
have now a queue of debates which will feel Thursdays until | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
prorogation -- which will fill. The week on Thursdays not announced and | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
if we could have early sight that it would be appreciated. Finally, very | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
sadly on Monday, a constituent of mine was murdered at a cashpoint in | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
Wealdstone high Street. It appears to be a targeted murder. I'm pleased | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
to say the police have arrested an individual who they believe to be | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
responsible for that murder. But good we have a debate on the | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
increase in knife crime in London and the impact we can have to stop | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
people carrying knives and make sure that no one else suffers the kind of | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
fate that my constituents did? -- constituent. I will happily take on | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
board my honourable friend's request for the allocation of more slots for | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
the backbench business committee at an early opportunity. Can I pass on | :20:43. | :20:52. | |
to the family of his constituent my sympathy and very sincere | :20:53. | :20:54. | |
condolences? They must be going through the most appalling and | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
harrowing time. There will be an opportunity on Monday the 6th of | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
March at Home Office questions for my honourable friend to raise his | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
concerns about knife crime more generally and I am sure, Mr Speaker, | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
he may well wish to seek an adjournment debate on the subject. | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
Can I also thank the leader of the house... Can I add to the tribute to | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
Sir Gerald Kaufman? I think the leader of the houses absolutely | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
right that he was from a generation that is quickly passing way and I | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
think all of this house relied on people like Sir Gerald for advice | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
and guidance when it came to matters with his experience. So many of us | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
on these benches, you was a star grow. I remember those long scars | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
are used where and what they having to be rescued at the entrance to the | :21:42. | :21:44. | |
tube station because I got caught up in this and the great efforts to | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
make sure that Sir Gerald was separated from his scarf that day. | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
My condolences to his family and friends. Can we also welcome today, | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
and I think the gentleman would appreciate this too, the fact it is | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
International Book Day, and we should pay tribute to writers, I | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
have the great pleasure of sharing the all-party writers group and it | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
is worth recognising the wonderful pieces of work done by all our | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
writers and making sure they get rewarded for the wonderful works. | :22:14. | :22:16. | |
What about three cheers for the heroes in ermine? Maybe not so much | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
over there. The people's aristocrats have spoken and their voice must be | :22:23. | :22:32. | |
listened to. Every time I raised the issue of the House of Lords with the | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
leader of the house, he tells me there are absolutely no plans | :22:37. | :22:38. | |
whatsoever to have that house reformed, excepting therefore the | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
absolute legitimacy to raise issues such as this. So will he now listen | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
to the House of Lords on this issue? And will he said today that he has | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
absolutely no plans whatsoever to use the Parliament act if our | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
friends, our unelected friends, continue to show backbone on this | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
particular issue? Can I also thank the leader of the house for | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
announcing the recess dates but express our profound disappointment | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
that yet again, this government has singly conspired not to have a long | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
recess that will cover the school holiday periods of every nation in | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
the UK. Once again, my colleagues in Scotland will have to try to make | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
sure they have particular childcare arrangements in place, and struggle | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
to find an opportunity to have proper school holidays with their | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
children. Could they make this the last time that we have an issue such | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
of this -- as this and make sure all nations are covered in the summer | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
recess? And Mr Speaker, we need a debate about how the Scotland Act | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
operates. Schedule five of the Scotland Act, as the leader of the | :23:45. | :23:46. | |
house notes, lists all be reserved powers. If it's not on that list, it | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
is devolved. I looked at it again this morning and I can't find | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
agriculture or fisheries anywhere on the list. I'm presuming they are | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
going to be devolved after Brexit. Can the government confirmed that | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
today or is it intending to reserve other powers when it comes to the | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
Scotland Act? Lastly, Mr Speaker, next week of course there is a huge | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
Commons event. I'm not referring to the budget but the second reading of | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
the driverless cars built. There are similarities, believe it or not. One | :24:18. | :24:25. | |
is a journey with no... Heading for disaster, and the other is a | :24:26. | :24:26. | |
Driverless Cars Built. I am happy to join in celebrating | :24:27. | :24:40. | |
international book day and ensuring and paying tribute to the authors of | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
this country and I think it is a welcome trend to find that the | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
public's appetite for old-fashioned hard copy books seems to be | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
increasing in a way that defies many of the reductions that have been in | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
recent years. -- predictions. On the Scotland Act, the Secretary of State | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
for skull and could not have been more clear yesterday at Scottish | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
questions -- for Scotland -- that as powers are brought back from the | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
European Union following our exit there will be additional powers to | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
be exercised by the Scottish parliament and the Scottish | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
Government, but what we have to work out and what the UK Government is | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
doing in consultation with all three of the devolved administrations, in | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
ways in which that can be done which preserves the integrity of the | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
single market across the United Kingdom as a whole. It will not help | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
people like food and drink producers in Scotland who sell in large | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
quantities to customers in England if we are fined because we have not | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
got this through properly that there are trading obstacles in the way of | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
them being able to sell at the least possible cost to those English | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
customers -- if we find. He has they have regard with the interests of | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
Scottish producers. I cannot add much more to what I said response to | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
the shadow leader about the House of Lords debates on the European Union | :26:18. | :26:29. | |
withdrawal bill. I find that his new-found passionate affection for | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
the House of Lords makes me suggest that it is not just Nigel Farage who | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
has secret yearnings for the honours list! It is a great pleasure to | :26:41. | :26:53. | |
welcome members of Sir Gerald's family. You could not be more | :26:54. | :27:01. | |
welcome. Thank you for coming. Those of us who have had experience of Sir | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
Gerald's long life and Parliamentary career will choose those parts that | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
affect our areas of interest so I hope you will forgive me if I focus | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
on the crucial role that Sir Gerald played in shifting Labour Party | :27:18. | :27:25. | |
policy away from a stance in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament | :27:26. | :27:33. | |
between the years of 1888 and 1991. He started in 1988 by contributing | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
to our policy review which was called meet the challenge, make the | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
change, in which labour first aid knowledge did would be sensible to | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
get some reciprocation in return for giving up Britain's nuclear | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
deterrent. After a lively exchange of letters in the national press | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
with the then chairman of the Conservative Party, Chris Patten, | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
and others, he ended on the 10th of July 1991 with the all portable | :28:05. | :28:07. | |
statement that a future Labour government would continue to possess | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
nuclear weapons as long as other countries had them, and this mark | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
the end of a crucial policy realignment. When the player | :28:18. | :28:25. | |
government voted with the support of the Conservative opposition to | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
remove the nuclear deterrent in March 2007 he made a great speech | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
and he referred back to the fact that of course famously he described | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
Labour's 1983 antinuclear manifesto as the longest suicide note in | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
history and he will is seeking to urge his colleagues not to make the | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
mistakes of the 1980s and he ended his speech by pointing out in March | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
2007 what it would mean if Labour went back to that stance. He said | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
defeating the government tonight, Tony Blair's government, could | :29:04. | :29:09. | |
reduce our party's credibility to contribute to a Labour defeat at the | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
next election. A cartoon showed an army officer in a bunker saying to | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
his assembled troops, gentlemen, the time has arrived for us to make a | :29:19. | :29:26. | |
futile gesture. Sir Gerald said futile gestures can be personally | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
satisfying but where do they get us? I will tell the house what they get | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
us. 18 years in opposition. It is one thing, he concluded, to revisit | :29:36. | :29:42. | |
the scene of the crime, it is quite another to revisit the scene of the | :29:43. | :29:50. | |
suicide. Those of us who believe the nuclear deterrence have every reason | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
to be grateful to him for his crucial role in restoring bipartisan | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
ship between the Labour government of the day and the opposition of the | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
day that secured the renewal of the nuclear deterrent and I think the | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
country has reason to be grateful to him as well. As I ought to pay lip | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
service to the fact this is business questions as well, I will segue from | :30:15. | :30:21. | |
that issue of one form of unilateralism to another and ask the | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
leader of the weather we could have a statement from a Brexit minister | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
as to what assessment the government has made from the motives of those | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
people with whom we will be negotiating in the future in other | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
countries not to respond to the initiatives that we have been taking | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
and the indications that we have been giving that members of their | :30:44. | :30:50. | |
societies who have chosen to live in Britain will be able to continue | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
doing so so long as our citizens are able to continue living in their | :30:57. | :31:04. | |
countries. Unilateralism as the principal is sometimes high-minded | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
and sometimes a futile gesture. In the spirit of what Sir Gerald did to | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
the Labour Party we ought to think about whether we really want to | :31:13. | :31:20. | |
leave so many of our citizens exposed to poor treatment from other | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
countries when we are offering generous treatment of their citizens | :31:25. | :31:33. | |
who live here. The EU 27 governments have been clear they will on the | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
engage in negotiations once article 50 has been triggered. I am | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
optimistic that a reciprocal agreement on the status of each | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
other's citizens can indeed be achieved. That is in the rational | :31:46. | :31:54. | |
interests of the UK and all are 27 EU partners. I hope that can be an | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
early achievement of the negotiations once they start. And I | :32:00. | :32:08. | |
thank the Leader of the House of Lords giving us the dates of the | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
summer recess? It is rather a shame he was that able to do it earlier | :32:13. | :32:15. | |
but we appreciate we know where we stand now. Before turning to the | :32:16. | :32:22. | |
question of the late Sir Gerald. I think I am right in saying that it | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
is rarely, perhaps many decades, since we have been unfortunate | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
enough to lose a father of the house during his incumbency and I | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
personally, and I am sure this is shared, regret that the new Father | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
of the houses not able to be us today. One of Gerald's most gleeful | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
tales was how he had the forethought when he was first elected to the | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
house to make sure he took his oath before the member for Rushcliffe in | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
the member that both of them might be here for some considerable time | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
and they were among those who might be contenders for the post of Father | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
of the house. He took great glee in telling that story. I would like to | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
say I think he probably would not have begrudged the member for | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
Rushcliffe his opportunity but I am not absolutely certain! I would not | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
wish to do Gerald and injustice in any way. Certainly he was | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
desperately anxious to become father of the house and fully deserved to | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
hold that office. As everyone has said, and I am pleased his family | :33:36. | :33:41. | |
could be year, he was witty, brave, he could be extremely acerbic, but | :33:42. | :33:48. | |
he was a very skilled parliamentarian. I see some of the | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
obituaries have referred to his skill in committee and somebody who | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
was a whip when Gerald was a minister I can set they testify to | :33:59. | :34:08. | |
that. It might be worth someone to look back to that time. Gerald as a | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
Minister of State to try to get a bill through the house, bearing in | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
mind this was a stage when we did not really have a majority, even | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
notional majority we had, most of whom were too sick to be here, on | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
committee things were extremely tight. Gerald was an absolutely | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
brilliant committee minister. He flattered the opposition shamefully. | :34:32. | :34:39. | |
Quite disgustingly. He covered them with compliments and praise while | :34:40. | :34:47. | |
not being able to quite see his weekly to accepting brilliant | :34:48. | :34:56. | |
amendments. He was also very good value as a confident and adviser. I | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
happened to be in committee with General don a day when we had a | :35:03. | :35:11. | |
government vacancy which we had have -- had had for sometime and I had to | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
explain to a civil servant I cannot possibly, I am the whip on a | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
committee, do not be ridiculous, of course I cannot come now, I will | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
come at lunchtime. That gave me the opportunity to consult Gerald. I had | :35:27. | :35:29. | |
only been a member for just over a year. I was unenthusiastic about the | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
prospect that appear to lie before me. I said, do you think I can ask | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
for time to think about it? He liked me guessed what the summons might | :35:41. | :35:46. | |
mean and the first thing he said to me was, congratulations, that is | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
fantastic. I said, can I ask for time to think about it? He said, | :35:51. | :35:56. | |
when the Prime Minister sends for you you either say yes, Prime | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
Minister or no, Prime Minister, you do not ask for time to think about | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
it. Looking back I am stunned by how naive I was to ask the question. It | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
was certainly very helpful advice. He was an extremely kind man. I have | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
a close personal friend who worked with him in Number 10 and always | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
spoke about what hysterical and great company he was but also what a | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
kind person he was. Despite the advice he gave to the member who | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
spoke earlier he was a ferocious advocate on behalf of his | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
constituents and I think the Leader of the House should probably think | :36:36. | :36:37. | |
himself lucky he did not have the chance to hear Gerald's comments on | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
the cases raised by the shadow leader of people detained without | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
notice. Gerald would have had a lot to say about that and would not have | :36:46. | :36:57. | |
been very nice to hear. I am looking forward to more of her | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
reminiscences. What she has done is reminded us both of the length of | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
Sir Gerald's career and the depth of his experience at the wisdom that | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
comes with that experiences of operating in this house and in | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
government over such a long period of time. Like you, on separate | :37:18. | :37:27. | |
occasions I saw Gerald at his home only a few weeks ago. I know you | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
went and a good friend of mine, Claire Ward, the former member for | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
Watford. Even just a few weeks ago he was saying how keen he was to get | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
back to this place and we are all very sad that he did not. For those | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
who did not know him, who saw him as being ferociously vitriolic and he | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
was in this chamber, but outside he was a very different man. He had the | :37:59. | :38:07. | |
wasp a sense of humour and I had the privilege of joining him in 1993 on | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
the national heritage select committee and it was so good and the | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
trips were so marvellous and he was such a brilliant chairman I stayed | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
with him not only with that committee but also two parliaments, | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
apart from a brief excursion to the Home Affairs Select Committee, with | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
the culture media and sport committee. He hated pomposity and I | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
thought that was one of his most marvellous features. He loved | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
outrageous clothes. I do is to go with him to the theatre from time | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
and also to the cinema. His last recommendation to me was a brilliant | :38:49. | :39:00. | |
movie Hail Caesar which I saw and loved. If the weather was cold he | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
would wear a red tea cosy on his head and when I talked about this he | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
said he wasn't half as embarrassed about what I'm wearing. | :39:09. | :39:15. | |
He also loved ice cream. I remember toddling off with him once when I | :39:16. | :39:23. | |
was on the culture, media and sport select committee and visiting Los | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
Angeles and the meeting was getting very boring, in fact, we were being | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
addressed by the chap from the Foreign Office and it had nothing to | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
do with our enquiry but I remember Gerald got up and said, "Thank you | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
very much for your speech", and the Foreign Office official rather | :39:48. | :39:50. | |
foolishly said, "But I haven't finished", and Gerald turned round | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
and said, in a way that only good, "Oh, yes, you have". Then we toddled | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
off to get the ice cream because ice cream, musicals which he could sing | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
along to, he knew all the words and Judy Garland were his great loves. | :40:06. | :40:14. | |
He was a brilliant chairman of the heritage and culture, media and | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
sport select committee, great fun, he was not party political. In fact, | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
I found myself and now I'm going to lose the support of all my friends | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
on this side of the house because I found myself always defending the | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
BBC whereas he wanted to abolish it! It was a strange juxtaposition of | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
roles. He told me not long ago, actually, that the present party | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
chairman, the Conservative Party chairman, when he was a junior whip, | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
back in 1993, asked Sir Gerald Kaufmann did take me under his wing | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
because I was rather wild. Maybe he could make me more like a sort of | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
conventional parliamentarian. So you can see that worked! In short, he | :41:01. | :41:07. | |
was a wonderful man. He brightened all our lives. He was a great | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
friend. He was nothing like the person that I think the public saw | :41:14. | :41:19. | |
him as. He was self-deprecating. He was kindly. And a great | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
parliamentarian. And I think we will all miss him. I'm grateful to my | :41:27. | :41:34. | |
honourable friend. Dame Rosie Winterton. Mr Speaker, thank you for | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
giving the house the opportunity to pay tribute to Sir Gerald, who, as | :41:41. | :41:49. | |
others have said, inspired so many parliamentarians and who certainly | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
gave me invaluable advice and support my time -- during my time as | :41:53. | :41:59. | |
a minister and also as Chief Whip. And as others have said, Gerald was | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
a stalwart member of the Labour Party and with a political career | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
stretching back over 50 years, he knew that principle without power | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
was not enough, as my right honourable friend said. He | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
campaigned tirelessly for a Labour government. Again, as others have | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
said, his book, How To Be A Minister, remains a classic guide to | :42:29. | :42:31. | |
new ministers wanting to make their mark. And he had an ability to sum | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
up his views with a witty turn of phrase that could be as colourful | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
and memorable as his suits. It was an honour for all of us went Gerald | :42:44. | :42:51. | |
became father of the house and we were very proud to see him take up | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
that role. He took that role extremely seriously. Gerald had | :42:57. | :43:03. | |
always been fiercely protective of the rights of parliamentarians. And | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
I remember him bellowing at the then leader of the house, William Hague, | :43:11. | :43:18. | |
when as I am sure many here we will recall, he felt Mr Hague had decided | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
to closely with the executive against the wishes of members of | :43:23. | :43:30. | |
this house. Gerald continued that upholding of members' right when he | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
became Father of the house. When I last saw Gerald, he was clearly very | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
ill. But he was still keen to talk politics and offer his advice. That | :43:42. | :43:50. | |
advice was as insightful as ever. And I was greatly comforted to see | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
him surrounded by his loving family who clearly adored Uncle Gerald. | :43:55. | :44:02. | |
Gerald made a distinctive mark on our national life and in particular, | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
as so many have said, in this place. He will be greatly missed and I can | :44:07. | :44:15. | |
think of nothing more fitting, given his ten years of chairing the | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
culture select committee, than for us to have a debate, Mr Speaker, on | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
the importance of the arts to our economy and society, and the | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
devastating effect of government cuts, particularly to funding of | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
arts in the regions will stop and I hope the leader of the house will | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
let us have that debate. -- in the regions. The honourable lady paid a | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
moving tribute to Sir Gerald. I will, I'll take on board her request | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
for a debate about the arts at some future date. It may also be | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
something the backbench business committee might wish to consider. I | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
join with others in paying tribute to the late Sir Gerald Kaufman. Now | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
Mr Speaker, I can't pretend that I got the impression that Sir Gerald | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
did not entirely approve of myself, which is quite understandable. I was | :45:13. | :45:20. | |
never sure whether that was because I was once the member of Parliament | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
for Basildon or was it because of my views on the state of Israel. But | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
what I can say without hesitation was that he was a commanding figure | :45:29. | :45:37. | |
in this house, a great orator, and I for one would not have wished to | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
have got on the wrong side of him. As a result of his death, and I'm | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
really glad that he did become father of the house, I am number 14 | :45:46. | :45:51. | |
on the list and as I look round the house, there are a number of | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
colleagues in front of me in the queue and I see that they are in | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
extremely good health, so I'm not holding my breath about my becoming | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
Father of the house. Now, turning to my question to the leader of the | :46:05. | :46:11. | |
house, will my right honourable friend find time for a debate on | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
fake news? An increasing number of constituents are complaining to me | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
about what were once reliable websites giving full synth and -- | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
falls information and the number of scams. I have to tell my right | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
honourable friend the leader of the house that only this week it was | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
announced that Warren Baiji and Faye Dunaway opened an envelope | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
suggesting that I had won an Oscar for being the leading actor was the | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
-- Warren Beatty. I'm delighted to tell my right honourable friend that | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
they opened the wrong envelope and it has now been given the award to | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
the rightful recipient, Mr Tony Blair, for his performance at the | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
press conference following the publication of the Chilcot Report. | :46:57. | :47:04. | |
Mr Speaker, I understand that there is genuine concern about the wide | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
availability of misleading, sometimes very deliberately | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
misleading information on various websites. Now, inevitably, the | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
international character of the Internet means that it is not | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
straightforward to try to address this problem but my honourable | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
friend, the Minister for digital and culture, is convening a roundtable | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
with a broad range of people in the news industry on the 14th of March | :47:34. | :47:36. | |
where this will be one of the subject under discussion. Mr | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
Speaker, when I came to the house in 1979, I admit that Gerald Kaufman | :47:44. | :47:51. | |
was at part of a wonderful gang of John Smith, Roy Hattersley, and a | :47:52. | :47:54. | |
group of people who at that time were getting used to being in | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
opposition and of course, we had to get used to opposition because we | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
were in opposition for a very long time. But during that time, I used | :48:02. | :48:09. | |
to see Gerald Kaufman at all of us will say he was a great | :48:10. | :48:11. | |
parliamentarian but Mr Speaker, when I came into the house, when the wind | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
ups were taken much more seriously, when the house took Debaty more | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
seriously in terms of attendance, the one thing you could guarantee, | :48:23. | :48:25. | |
if Gerald was at the dispatch box, the house would be packed. He was | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
the funniest, he was the most incisive, he was the most brilliant | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
debater I ever saw in this house. And I have seen some very good | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
debaters in this house. But Gerald in his prime was peerless. I think | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
people should remember, you know, when I look here, where he sat for | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
so many years, and remember, when he was on the liaison committee with | :48:51. | :48:57. | |
me, as a chairman of the select committee, but I remember him | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
sitting just there, and as he got older, and of course, the wonderful | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
thing about Gerald, in his later years, he didn't lose any of his | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
brainpower, he'd lost none of his brainpower. His body let him down. | :49:11. | :49:17. | |
His brain certainly didn't. Some of you will remember last it was the | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
Centenary of the birth of Harold Wilson and Gerald gave me a | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
tremendous amount of information, about when he worked for Harold | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
Wilson in number ten. If I could just give the house one little | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
instance, he was in number ten one night and the phone rang and it was | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
president Lyndon Johnson of the USA asking to speak to Harold Wilson. | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
Gerald says, "I took the phone call and post it to Harold, and it was | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
Lyndon B. Johnson, begging Harold to send at least a token force to | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
Vietnam, a British force to Vietnam" . He described how Harold listened | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
patiently, he was a good friend of LBJ but at the end, he said, "I'm | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
sorry, old bean, not even a Scottish pipers banned". If you talk to | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
Gerald about where the party had been, and I have two reveal some | :50:10. | :50:12. | |
uncomfortable things that some people on our benches will remember, | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
when the Labour Party was in trouble, they always mention this, | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
Gerald was the brains behind Solidarity, the group within the | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
Labour Party that wanted to be very careful about a shift to the hard | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
left. That work with Roy Hattersley, John Smith and a bunch of others was | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
very important indeed in terms of how that Labour Party survived and | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
thrived and won the election in 1997. On these benches, we must pay | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
tribute to the man that kept the ship moving towards a decent target. | :50:45. | :50:51. | |
But can I also say that when I first met Gerald, he had a great friend, | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
Eric Varney. Many people don't remember Eric because he died very | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
young. But he and Gerald were very close friends. I think it right to | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
mention Eric's named today in terms of that period of Gerald's life when | :51:07. | :51:13. | |
he was a very happy man. Can I also just say one last thing? You never, | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
ever wanted to cross Gerald on things like films. I remember being | :51:20. | :51:26. | |
very foolish, going into the members tea room, being very enthusiastic | :51:27. | :51:35. | |
about seeing a new film and I think one particular... I had seen | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
Superman for the first time. Gerald had been to see it and he gave this | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
caustic review of everything that was wrong with American cinema at | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
that time, everything about the plot, the acting, and he said," but | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
you liked it, Barry, so it couldn't be all bad". Gerald has left a | :51:56. | :52:03. | |
legacy. He did not have any children but he has left a legacy both in | :52:04. | :52:09. | |
this house, in the country, and in his constituency. I used to tease | :52:10. | :52:12. | |
him because you remember, Harold Wilson was born in Huddersfield and | :52:13. | :52:15. | |
had to go to Lancashire to get a seat. Of course, Gerald was a real | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
Leeds man and had to go to Manchester to get a seat and be in | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
this house. The one interesting thing, some people talked about | :52:25. | :52:31. | |
Gerald's sense of style, and it did push the boundaries in some ways, | :52:32. | :52:34. | |
even in terms of the wonderful suits, and all his life, he kept | :52:35. | :52:44. | |
faithful to the same Leeds tailor and would specify which Huddersfield | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
mill the cost would be spun in and woven in. -- the cloth would be. A | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
man of great talent and common-sense, of brilliance in terms | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
of laboratory. We owe him so much. Not only as a party, not only as a | :52:59. | :53:04. | |
house, but as a country. I thank the honourable gentleman for his | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
heartfelt tribute, particularly, if I may say so, for his reminder of | :53:11. | :53:18. | |
the key political role that Gerald played at that particular time in | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
the Labour Party's history. I will take careful note of that request! | :53:25. | :53:32. | |
Mr Speaker, I'm afraid I'm unable to add any anecdotes about the life of | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
the late Father of the house but I do of course associate myself with | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
the expressions of sympathy to his family and friends. Mr Speaker, | :53:42. | :53:44. | |
earlier this week the all-party group on retail crime met and | :53:45. | :53:52. | |
reviewed a recent survey of the increasing levels of violence, both | :53:53. | :53:55. | |
verbal and physical, against people who work in the retail trade. Could | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
the leader of the house find time for an early debate on this serious | :54:01. | :54:01. | |
issue? I cannot offer an early debate in | :54:02. | :54:14. | |
government time, there may be other opportunities, but I am sure we | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
share his sense of revulsion at the threats that shop workers and others | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
that the retail trade face. This is something that should not be | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
tolerated in any decent society and I am sure everyone would agree on | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
the importance of not just the police but of citizens who might | :54:32. | :54:34. | |
have information about such attacks would like to make sure they are | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
deterred and perpetrators appropriately punished. Can I thank | :54:39. | :54:45. | |
you and the leader for the opportunity to pay tribute to Sir | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
Gerald? Since my selection of parliamentary candidate I was lucky | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
to attend many community meetings and events with my next-door | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
neighbour. Often these would reflect the causes he championed such as the | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
rights of the Palestinians or cashmere and I remember doing a | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
Bollywood dance routine with them! On an open-air stage in a market | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
years ago. His dance moves should up my own, even though at the time he | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
was well into his 80s. What was remarkable was the admiration and | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
the extraordinarily high esteem in which he was held by his | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
constituents. I genuinely do not think I have come across another MP | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
who was so widely admired by the constituents. That is largely | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
because he was such a fierce champion of their interests in | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
parliament and in Manchester. Also because he was so assiduous in his | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
dealings with them and his communication with them and | :55:46. | :55:47. | |
residents often used to tell me how they would write to Sir Gerald and | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
receive a handwritten reply by return. Sometimes these would | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
reflect his sharp tongue and a particular favourite of mine was I | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
agree with your concerns on this issue, unfortunately there is no | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
point me writing to the Chancellor because he is useless and he will | :56:05. | :56:11. | |
not listen to me! Perhaps the only thing sharper than Sir Gerald's | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
tongue and mind was his dress sense. In Parliament we will miss his | :56:16. | :56:19. | |
remarkable suits and shirts almost as much as the people of Manchester | :56:20. | :56:22. | |
will miss his quiet remarkable service. He made his point well. We | :56:23. | :56:32. | |
will be searching YouTube to see if a video of this dance routines are | :56:33. | :56:41. | |
five! Can I add my commiserations to the family of Sir Gerald? He was not | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
only a legend in this place but had a formidable career before he | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
arrived your working for the BBC on satirical programmes like that was | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
the week that was. I was too young but I have seen some of the stuff | :56:56. | :57:02. | |
going on there. In 2020 Plymouth under UK will be celebrating the | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship leaving Plymouth to find the | :57:08. | :57:17. | |
American colonies. Can we have a debate on the possibility of a | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
Mayflower national walking trail through the places that the pilgrims | :57:23. | :57:29. | |
travelled through? I think that sounds an excellent idea. I hope | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
that might perhaps be an adjournment debate opportunity to pursue this | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
further but it is something to which the government would be sympathetic | :57:41. | :57:43. | |
but would need a great deal of local work to try to make this happen. I | :57:44. | :57:53. | |
would like to add to the tributes to Sir Gerald Kaufman who was a good | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
friend of mine for many years. Was elected in 1970 at the same election | :57:59. | :58:02. | |
as the member for Bolsover and he was one of that generation of MPs | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
who did not quite get to the cabinet because he was really in the wrong | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
place at the wrong time. He was a Minister of State in 1979 when | :58:14. | :58:16. | |
Labour left authors, sadly for 18 years. For many of us, including | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
general. If things had been different I think Gerald would have | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
read the cabinet and would have been unimpressive minister. E was quick, | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
witty, and he had the rare ability to think on his feet, not something | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
many people are able to do. I used to see it on a regular basis | :58:40. | :58:46. | |
including in PLP meetings and other were moments in the middle, some of | :58:47. | :58:52. | |
you may know that PLP meetings have had their moments of interest... I | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
do not think I am breaking any confidence! They are virtually open | :58:59. | :59:09. | |
to the public at the moment. Gerald certainly lightened the tone. Were | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
times when I was chairman of PLP meetings when I would find myself | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
moment finally discombobulated by his sartorial magnificence. Just as | :59:21. | :59:23. | |
you are seeing something sensitive and female black walks in and he | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
always had something interesting to say -- and Sir Gerald Kaufman walks | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
in and he was had something interesting to say. He was never put | :59:33. | :59:38. | |
on hold. He often had views that seemed at odds compared to his | :59:39. | :59:47. | |
public reputation. In some ways he was rebellious but he was also a | :59:48. | :59:55. | |
natural. Every Labour leader recognise that, that he had very | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
loyal qualities. Privately when Tony Blair was Prime Minister if he had | :00:01. | :00:04. | |
any criticism they were not made public but he would say to me in | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
conversation, he would start any criticism with, as you know, I bow | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
to no man in my admonition of the Prime Minister, and then he would go | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
on to say something acerbic about something the government had just | :00:19. | :00:21. | |
done. He will be very deeply missed by many of us on all sides of the | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
house. Not an entirely unrelated issue because Gerald represented a | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
city that has a strong footballing tradition, one of the strongest, the | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
local footballing team in my constituency Leyton Orient has been | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
signed with the winding up order yesterday. This was not something I | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
was going to raise with you. The order was served because the order | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
has caused mayhem in two and half years and has taken the club down | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
from some of its highest point to some of its lowest has not paid the | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
HMRC for a number of years. No body knows exactly how much he owes HMRC | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
but it is rumoured to be about a quarter of ?1 million. We are seeing | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
this pattern and footballer and a fairly regular basis. We have had | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
debates and statements on the governance of football clubs and the | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
administration but I think we could do with another statement or a | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
debate on the governance of football clubs because we are seeing people | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
of increasingly dubious character buying up football teams in Britain | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
for whatever mendacious reasons they have, and I think a lot is going to | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
come out about the order of Leyton Orient. I am sure the house welcome | :01:35. | :01:46. | |
his tribute to Sir Gerald Kaufman. On Leyton Orient and football, we | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
had a debate about the governance of football about two weeks ago so I do | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
not think I can offer a further debate on government time in the | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
short-term but I will undertake to report his concerns about Leyton | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
Orient and the general issue that he raises to the Secretary of State. | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
May I associate myself with the tributes paid by members to the late | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
Father of that house? It speaks volumes of the depth of knowledge | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
and wisdom in this house that the late Sir Gerald was a member of this | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
house and the government before I and many other members were born and | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
although I only overlapped in service of this house for regular | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
and a half with Sir Gerald I think I am on safe ground in seeing his | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
wisdom, judgment, which and experience will all be sorely missed | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
from the deliberations of this house in the future. Today the Joe | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
Humphreys memorial trust, a trust set up in memory of John Humphrys, a | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
14-year-old boy from my constituency who drop dead suddenly while jogging | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
in 2012, are holding an important conference in the city of Leicester | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
to bring together professionals from the world of sport at the medical | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
profession to discuss sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, also | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
known as sudden adult death syndrome, what can be done to raise | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
awareness of it and prevent it. Will he join in paying tribute to Joe | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
Humphrys' family and those who work with the trust and can we have a | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
debate on sudden arrhythmic death syndrome? I would join him in paying | :03:29. | :03:40. | |
tribute to Joe's family and to the others working with them and so very | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
much welcome the initiative that he has described to encourage a | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
fruitful exchange of ideas about how we can do more to detect and treat | :03:51. | :03:59. | |
these very distressing conditions because the death in particular of | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
young person causes such devastation to their families and friends. We do | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
have some of the fastest improvements in hospital death rates | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
for stroke and heart attacks anywhere in Europe. I think there is | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
some evidence that is partly due to the creation of specialist stroke | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
and cardiac unit but there's agreed deal more to be done. I know the | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
Department of Health will want to report the work being happening in | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Leicestershire. And I associate myself with everything that has been | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
said about Sir Gerald Kaufman? In his role as father of the house, | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
kindness and wisdom have been outstanding characteristics. I | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
cannot help feeling listening to the warmth of these tributes that a | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
procedure in the Scottish parliament where the death of a sitting member | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
is followed by a motion of condolence led by the party leaders, | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
which provides a real opportunity to hear some of the warmth and the | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
humour and insight we have heard from so many members today, and | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
certainly someone of Gerald's stature, would have been worthy of | :05:09. | :05:16. | |
such a motion. The house could have done with Sir Gerald Kaufman here | :05:17. | :05:18. | |
today because he had been a member for most that years when the late | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
Donald Dewar brought forward the Scotland Bill and at the heart of | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
that and Donald Dewar's genius was to put forward the principle that | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
anything that was not specifically reserved to this parliament was | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
automatically devolved to Scotland, so when the Secretary of State for | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
Scotland was caught in the headlights yesterday and the Prime | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
Minister was seemingly unaware of that foundation principal of the | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
Parliament, it was not just in sensitivity towards goal and, not | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
just a betrayal of commitments made in the referendum campaign, it was | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
striking at the heart of the devolution statute itself. Perhaps | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
rather than resting on civil service gobbledygook the Leader of the House | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
would show some awareness of the seriousness of not agreeing that | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
everything that is not specifically devolved automatically goes to the | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
Scottish Parliament including fishing, farming and a range of | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
other issues? What happened with the Scotland Act... He is correct in | :06:22. | :06:29. | |
having described that acts, but what happened as it was taken through | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
Parliament in the context of the United Kingdom's continuing | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
membership of the European Union and with a clear knowledge on all sides | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
that other certain powers that were exercised at that level. We are now | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
in a very different situation and whichever side any of us took in the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
referendum there is an understanding that the decision that the UK | :06:58. | :07:05. | |
electorate made represents a profound change of course for the | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
United Kingdom. This is exactly why the UK Government is talking to the | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
Scottish Government at ministerial and official level about how exactly | :07:20. | :07:26. | |
to deal with the repatriation of powers from Brussels to ensure that | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
they are correctly allocated, and he does oversimplify the position | :07:36. | :07:37. | |
because to take the fisheries question that he cited, the powers | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
exercised by the European Union deal with matters both which might well | :07:44. | :07:52. | |
involve the devolved administrations exercising jurisdiction but also | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
involve the settling of matters between the European Union and third | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
countries that involve United Nations conventions which, under the | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
terms of the Scotland Act, would be reserved matters. It is that | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
conundrum that has to be addressed. May I also associate myself with the | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
very many comments made about the late Sir Gerald Kaufman? I cannot | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
claim to have known him very well but that does not diminish the | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
respect that myself and fellow Welsh members on the side of the house | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
have for him. I would like to send our sympathies to his family. Can I | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
inform him that there are several developments at Park homes in my | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
constituency, developments where the owners pay council tax, utility | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
bills and maintenance charges, but when it comes to selling their | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
properties in addition to the estate agents fees they have to pay 10% of | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
their sale price to the site owners. Can we have a debate on the iron | :09:00. | :09:00. | |
furnace of this additional charge? My honourable friend as always is | :09:01. | :09:11. | |
speaking up for his constituents. The situation we have is the site | :09:12. | :09:14. | |
owners entitlement to receive a commission an implied term in all | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
agreements and my understanding is that commission is an important | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
income strand for Park Home businesses which means they can | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
ensure that the sites are properly managed and maintained. This issue | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
was looked at in 2012 by the communities and local government | :09:32. | :09:33. | |
select committee which recommended that the 10% or less commission rule | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
should remain in place. The government then agreed the current | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
position should continue but we have a further review of the mobile homes | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
act 2013 this spring and that will provide a further opportunity to | :09:52. | :09:53. | |
listen to representations and consider how the present system is | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
operating. Gerald Kaufmann was justly proud that he was the longest | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
serving member of Parliament for Manchester ever and as he would tell | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
you from time to time, both continuously and by broken service, | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
he was particularly proud of that. When I became leader of the council | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
in 1984, I went to see Gerald because he had not always been | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
appreciative of the efforts of Manchester City Council offices to | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
deliver services to his constituents. I came to an agreement | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
with him that if, after he had contacted a department twice, that | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
he came to me, if I couldn't sort it out, he could be as critical as he | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
liked and we kept that. My phone went one morning, and this will not | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
be one of the most famous acidic comments that Gerald made, but it | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
reminds me of him and I think it's a bit he said, "Graham, do they employ | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
human beings in the housing department?" He was very | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
dissatisfied with the treatment of a family who were in severe housing | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
difficulty. But what was more remarkable about that comment and | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
that particular lunchtime phone call was that it was the day when he was | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
the centre of worldwide media attention because as the honourable | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
member referred to, he was the Shadow Foreign Secretary in charge | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
of changing Labour's policy of unilateralism to multilateralism and | :11:36. | :11:37. | |
he took time off in the middle of that media hubbub to take up the | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
cudgels on behalf of one of his -- of a family of his constituents. He | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
was a ferocious Tribune on behalf of, first of the people of our | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
quick, his first Manchester constituency, and secondly on behalf | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
of the people of Alton. He loved this place. -- golden. He intended | :12:02. | :12:09. | |
to stay here as long as he did. When he started drawing his pension, | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
there was obviously a lot of interest from the Young Turks in his | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
constituency who rather fancied that they would do a better job of | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
representing the people of Manchester Gorton and when they | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
sidled up to him and asked him, "Gerald, are you standing in the | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
next general election?" He would say, "Yes, and the one after". And | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
that was always his reply, even recently. His love of musicals has | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
been referred to. He was a personal friend of Stephen Sondheim, the | :12:43. | :12:50. | |
American lyricist and songwriter. He brought Stephen Sondheim to | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
Manchester with some of his plays which we put on, on stage, in | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
Manchester. Mr Speaker, I guess you have been never serenaded by Gerald | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
Kaufmann but I have had my office opposite is for the last 18 years. | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
If he'd been to a particularly good musical in the West End the night | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
before, you could hear him singing the songs from the musical, which is | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
not the image that most of the public would have had. -- would have | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
had of him. A number of colleagues have mentioned his book, Had To Be A | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
Minister Noble. I Went With Gerald And The Other Manchester Mps To See | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
A Labour Minister Of Health With. I went to see a Labour Minister of | :13:36. | :13:47. | |
health because there were health issues in Manchester. The Labour | :13:48. | :13:49. | |
Minister mentioned he had read the book and we went out not | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
particularly satisfied with the meeting and Gerald, in a very loud | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
whisper as we were leaving, said, "He might have read it but he didn't | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
understand it". The minister is no longer a member of this house. | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
Gerald loved his constituents. He cared passionately about his party | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
and we will miss him. The honourable gentleman reminds us that although | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
an adopted son of the city, Gerald Kaufman always felt his roots were | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
very much embedded in Manchester and he always strove to represent the | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
interests both of his own constituents but also the city more | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
widely. Thank you, Mr Speaker, can I also associate myself with a lovely | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
tribute we heard in relation to the late Father of the house. As a new | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
member, I did not have the opportunity to get to know him well | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
but what I have heard today as provided a tremendous insight from | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
which I can only conclude he will be a very sad and great loss to his | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
friends and family. Can we have a debate, Mr Speaker, on what it | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
actually means to be, "Committed to the best possible outcome for the | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union"? | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
Would the leader of the house not agree with me that we all want the | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
best possible deal following the referendum result in the | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
circumstances but we may disagree on what that deal might look like? To | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
this end, would he not agree with me that as for organisations bidding | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
for government contracts, subscribe themselves to the government's | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
political view on Brexit is not only wrong but would take us down a | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
dangerous path for the future. There will certainly be, I can assure the | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
honourable lady, many opportunities to have the sort of debate that she | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
seeks. When all views, including her own, can be expressed in full. The | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
allocation of government contracts takes place under a fair and | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
transparent process that is laid down by the Cabinet Office. Thank | :15:52. | :16:00. | |
you, Mr Speaker. We all feel a real sense of loss at the passing of Sir | :16:01. | :16:09. | |
Gerald Kaufmann. -- Gerald Kaufman. The reason why we remember his many | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
qualities, as members have done this morning, like his personality, his | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
humour and his powerful intellect, his dress, his individuality and | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
charm, but I think what we can say is in missing him, Mr Speaker, the | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
greatest tribute we can give is to ensure that his memory lives on and | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
the example he set us all, that we never forget that. I mean, looking | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
at his past, saying to the leader of the house, I saw he was shadow... A | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
former Shadow Home Secretary in the 80s I'm sure he would continue to | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
wish me to hold the government to account as he did in the 80s and can | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
I ask the leader of the house, can we have an urgent debate on | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
policing, given that astonishingly, the government has today failed to | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
come forward with a statement on policing and the crisis in policing | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
that we face? Forces including my own rationing their responses to the | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
public in the face of a 15% reduction in the number of police | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
officers between 2010 and 2020. It is not good enough. We need a | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
debate. It is a crisis. What does the leader say to that? I... First | :17:21. | :17:28. | |
of all, I salute the honourable gentleman's tribute to Gerald | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
Kaufman and I would say in response to his challenge about the police | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
that yes, the police is indeed like all parts of the public sector have | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
had to face up to the need for very difficult decisions about budget | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
priorities, decisions made necessary by the parlous state of the public | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
finances which the government inherited in 2010 but I think that | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
chief constables and police and crime commissioners have responded | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
extraordinarily well, and the Testament of that is the fact that | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
despite the reductions in police funding that he has described, there | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
has been a significant fall in crime in this country and I would want to | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
pay tribute to the work that the police are doing and the leadership | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
they have been showing, inserting those priorities and getting on with | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
the job successfully. -- in setting those priorities. I apologise to the | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
house and yourself Mr Speaker for not being here earlier. It was just | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
not possible to be here, as I indicated yesterday. I would also | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
like to say a few words about Gerald Kaufman. I pay tribute to him, as | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
are the honourable members have done on both sides, because if there ever | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
was a one-off, it was Gerald, in the way in which he approached his job, | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
the way in which he held his various enthusiasms, not least films, | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
Singing In The Rain, apparently, he saw 70 times. And then he was not | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
satisfied entirely with that, he made an appointment and wrote about | :19:08. | :19:15. | |
it, and when he saw Gene Kelly in Hollywood, it must have been one of | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
the high moments of his life. I first came across him, I knew of | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
Gerald before I came here in the mid-60s, because he was quite a | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
well-known journalist by then and wrote a regular column in the new | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
statesman. But when I came here, he was what we now call the spin doctor | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
for Harold Wilson. If you look at all the sort of diaries about the | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
kitchen cabinet, the rows that went on, the difficulties about Harold | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
Wilson's private secretary and the rest of it, all very interesting, | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
gossipy stuff, perhaps politically interesting as well. But you won't | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
find a single mention of any of that from Gerald. He never wrote about it | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
when he could easily have done so as a professional journalist, and he | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
might have kept a diary for we know. And the reason he did not write | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
about it was that he was so dedicated to Harold Wilson as his | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
employer, that he didn't gossip about what went on in private | :20:19. | :20:25. | |
proceedings and as I said, none of those exploits of the kitchen | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
cabinet which became so well known in political circles at ten Downing | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
St was written about by Gerald, and for that reason. I once went out, I | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
was in the members lobby once during various days when he was the spin | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
doctor, and he said, "Come here a moment", so I came. "Look At those | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
two", two of my labour colleagues. They were chatting together, simply | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
innocent as far as I was concerned. He said, "Do you know? Those two | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
were hardly on speaking terms until recently and look at them now". What | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
he was implying was that they were plotting against Harold. If Harold | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
had paranoia, then his spin doctor contributed to that. But he did so | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
out of a dedication to what he saw as the Labour government being led | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
by Gerald Kaufman. When he spoke in the house, when Harold Wilson died, | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
he said at that time, he was telling us about he was a junior minister in | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
environment, dealing with transport matters. He said," I received a memo | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
from the Prime Minister saying, would you make provision for former | :21:49. | :21:50. | |
Prime Minister is to have a car and a chauffeur?" He said, "At that | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
moment, I knew Harold Wilson was going to retire". He was probably | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
right. Two other points I would make, if I may before I sit down. He | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
was a dedicated, as has been mentioned by others including | :22:09. | :22:16. | |
Manchester colleagues of his, dedicated in casework. You know, as | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
you mentioned it yesterday, Mr Speaker, how he would rise in the | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
chamber and ask why he hasn't had a reply about so and so. It wasn't | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
just occasionally. He did it quite frequently and it showed his | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
dedication, despite the fact that he did 46 years, he was as dedicated as | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
a constituency member of Parliament from all accounts as he was on his | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
first week, or his first year here. That says a great deal and it also | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
says a great deal about members of parliament in general because there | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
are very few now who don't take great care of their constituents in | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
replying as promptly as possible and assiduously. The last point I want | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
to make is perhaps controversial. Gerald was born in 1930. If ever | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
there was a person of Jewish origin who understood the horrors of what | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
was to take place by the time he was 15, it was Gerald. He knew from the | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
very beginning, when the stories came out, and the statements made in | :23:25. | :23:25. | |
the House of Commons, how sharp-macros are being sorted | :23:26. | :23:42. | |
now hundreds of thousands and then in their millions for no other | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
reason than that they shared the same origin as Gerald and did it | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
myself. -- how Jews. He was an ardent supporter of Israel, before | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
he was a member of Parliament, during the 1967 war, I remember his | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
eagerness that Israel should survive, his great fear, shared by | :24:03. | :24:09. | |
many others who became critics, that if it was otherwise, the Jewish | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
population could be forced into the sea as the threats were made at the | :24:15. | :24:23. | |
time. But later, he became a harsh critic of Israel. And he became a | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
harsh critic of Israel, not because he ceased to be concerned about | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
Jews, that is a false accusation made against him and which was made | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
from time to time, but he believed that Israelis were showing a total | :24:36. | :24:44. | |
lack of consideration the Palestinians, that they were | :24:45. | :24:47. | |
treating Palestinians in many instances with contempt and he felt | :24:48. | :24:58. | |
as strong -- a strong urge to speak out as he did. I know he antagonised | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
a number of people in the Jewish community by doing that. But Gerald | :25:03. | :25:09. | |
was the sort of person who not the sort of person who would feel | :25:10. | :25:11. | |
intimidated because people didn't like what he said. I think he was | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
right and one would expect me to say that because I, too, have very | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
strong feelings about the way in which Palestinians have been | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
treated, the contempt for their human rights and the fact that as | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
far as I can see, the Israeli authorities, the leading people show | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
no desire to bring about a sovereign, independent Palestine | :25:36. | :25:35. | |
along with Israel. In conclusion, Gerald was not the | :25:36. | :25:48. | |
easiest person to get on with. I had my own occasional rows and we made | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
up and spoke about films. Was difficult in many instances but how | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
many people with such courage and determination and single-mindedness | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
are not really difficult when you assess their lives? He did good, he | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
wanted to do good, he was dedicated to the Labour Party and the labour | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
movement and to this country. We shall miss him a great deal. I thank | :26:11. | :26:21. | |
the gentleman for what he has said. I wish to add my tributes on behalf | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
of myself and my party to the late and much missed father of the house | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
Sir Gerald Kaufman. He was an extraordinary servant for Manchester | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
that he represented for such a remarkable number of years, but he | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
was actually originally a Leeds boy, born in Leeds. And someone who went | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
to schools in Leeds and developed a lot of his political thinking in | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
Leeds and Leeds is proud of him and paid tribute to him. He was also the | :27:02. | :27:09. | |
son of Jewish refugees who escaped in Poland and in these troubled | :27:10. | :27:18. | |
times for the son of foreign refugees fleeing persecution to end | :27:19. | :27:25. | |
up as leader of this house is not only an enormous tributes to him and | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
his family, it is also something that surely must send out a very | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
clear message today in these troubled times, and that is | :27:35. | :27:37. | |
something we should all reflect on and be proud of his achievement. He | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
was the huge parliamentarian, a real defender of this Parliament, and all | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
of us who regard ourselves as parliamentarians ahead of roles | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
government and in party have certainly lost one of her own. When | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
it comes to my party it has to be said that he was not always the | :28:00. | :28:08. | |
greatest fan of Liberal Democrats! With good reason. That is an | :28:09. | :28:17. | |
understatement. Largely because of Liberal Democrats snapping at his | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
heels for so many years but he was clearly not going to be shifted as | :28:21. | :28:28. | |
long as that continued. He has clearly a very large personal vote | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
mag as well as what was a safe Labour seat. He was someone who | :28:32. | :28:39. | |
spoke without fear or favour and he will be long remembered for that, | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
and I think some of that goes back to that leads origin and that famous | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
Yorkshire bluntness. He had the courage to disagree with his own | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
party leaders and colleagues, he had the courage to criticise | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
journalists. As a former journalist. He had the courage, whatever people | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
may feel about his views, as a proud Jewish man to speak out on the | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
situation in Israel and Palestine and the legacy from that is we must | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
get to a stage where we do not see that particular issue as having to | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
take one side or another but fight as Sir Gerald did for justice, for | :29:22. | :29:30. | |
peace and resolution. I am very pleased to say he supported | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
consistently the campaign for furnace when it comes to the | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
situation with pub companies and their landlords and I am very proud | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
to say he was one of those people as a parliamentarian who stood up for | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
Parliament in the vault in November 20 14th when Parliament and MPs | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
defeated the government on a three line whip when ministers had not | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
listened. I am very light, Prodi was involved in that. -- very proud he | :29:59. | :30:07. | |
was involved. Can we have on the situation regarding the way that we | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
tax hubs? 37% of pubs in this country are facing a rate rise. Many | :30:14. | :30:20. | |
facing rises of ?10,000 or more which will put many pubs in this | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
country out of business or for pubs in Manchester, Leeds and London and | :30:27. | :30:29. | |
around the country can we have a debate on government time about how | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
we can recognise the social value of pubs in the tax system which does | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
not happen at the moment. I cannot offer a specific government debate | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
on that subject but I can assure him that the debate on the forthcoming | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
Budget Statement will I am confident provide him with the opportunity to | :30:53. | :30:59. | |
raise all those questions. The last Father of the house to die in office | :31:00. | :31:07. | |
was in 19 29th of this is a very unusual moment for us and I support | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
the call that maybe we should have a formal means of making sure we pay | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
tribute to any member and it is not a decision left up to only the | :31:16. | :31:27. | |
Speaker and the chairman. Many LGBT people are grateful to general | :31:28. | :31:30. | |
because he campaigned for a very long time when it was very | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
unfashionable and long before equal marriage was introduced. He was had | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
an absolutely impeccable record on that. He loved musicals to a point | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
of distraction. Everybody has referred to singing in the rain and | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
that being his favourite musical. When the DC MS select committee I | :31:51. | :31:55. | |
was on when he was chairman were on tour and I use the term onto | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
advisedly, because every year he insisted the committee had to go to | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
the west Coast of America, so he had to find something we had to | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
investigate on the west Coast of America, he would welcome all of us | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
to breakfast by singing good morning, good morning. I remember | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
him being very angry once when the member for Litchfield said one | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
morning, that great song sung by Debbie Reynolds and he pointed out | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
Debbie Reynolds danced in the routine but she was dubbed, you | :32:27. | :32:37. | |
should know that. He was a great friend of Stephen Sondheim and he | :32:38. | :32:48. | |
used every gal -- he used to tell me, lines from Sweeney Todd, stick | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
to priest, he said. His favourite lyric was Shepheard's pie leopard | :32:55. | :33:05. | |
with Leopard on top. I think he probably outlived his dealer from | :33:06. | :33:08. | |
Leeds because he was certainly wearing from a line in the end and | :33:09. | :33:14. | |
that was not enough to have a load suit, you had to have a loud shirt | :33:15. | :33:29. | |
as well. I remember he was called in Las Vegas airport and he wanted to | :33:30. | :33:32. | |
go and buy a jumper and so he went with Claire Ward and he's so a stall | :33:33. | :33:40. | |
and went straight in there and he and Claire could not decide between | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
two of the jumpers and asked me for advice. I said, Gerald, they are | :33:44. | :33:53. | |
hideous. He bought both! He was at university with Rupert Murdoch. | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
Rupert Murdoch had never given evidence to a select committee at | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
this time. We went to Fox Studios to as it were your time his then. There | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
was this great when Rupert arrived at the end of a very long avenue of | :34:09. | :34:15. | |
trees and we were at the other end and we marched towards each other | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
like the gunfight in the OK Corral and I told the story of the lunch we | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
had with Rupert Murdoch when the phone hacking scandal was happening | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
and how Gerald had teased Rupert about idea got him thrown out of the | :34:31. | :34:34. | |
Labour Party at university for corruptly organising the election of | :34:35. | :34:37. | |
the wrong person, I think they opened the wrong envelope! It feels | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
like that has been happening for six years in British politics! I told | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
this story about how Rupert Murdoch was so aggressive in the meeting and | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
he kept hitting is hand on the table with his rings. I thought it was so | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
funny we were doing this. I told the journalists we were doing all of | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
this at Fox Studios and the Judy Garland room. About three weeks | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
later Gerald came up to me in one of the divisional lobbies and he was | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
furious with me. Everybody has referred to his reputation for a | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
sharp dig. He said, you should know better. You told that story. We were | :35:18. | :35:25. | |
on tour. I thought he was going to say what goes on tour stays on tour. | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
He said it was not the Judy Garland room, it was the Shirley Temple run. | :35:32. | :35:39. | |
I hope it is all right for me to refer to something that has been | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
said in the PLP, but he once started a contribution in the PLP with the | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
words, as Lana Turner once said to me... Young Member of Parliament | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
said, what seats did she is that for? He was also a fan of Betty | :35:57. | :36:08. | |
Davis. Thinking about the last few years, Betty Davis said once, old | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
age is no place for sissies. I think Gerald would agree. It was a veil | :36:14. | :36:20. | |
for him sometimes the coming here. He was quite frail. He was | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
determined when he had to represent his constituents that there were | :36:26. | :36:28. | |
issues he cared about he would be here and make sure he was here. The | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
last year I think was tough for him. I know you visited and Clare Ward | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
visited regularly. He was still singing musicals last Tuesday. I do | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
not know whether it was Sweeney Todd or singing in the rain. I went last | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
night, I am moving on to the subject, he used to get very angry | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
about ticket touts because he thought that was very unfair that | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
people who contributed nothing to the performance, did not contribute | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
to the venue, did not enhance the performance for anybody, managed to | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
make in some cases thousands and tens of thousands of pounds on their | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
secondary ticket market. I hope the government is very soon going to do | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
something about this. We are still waiting for a review. Can we have a | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
Sir Gerald Kaufman memorial debate on ticket touts and the pernicious | :37:26. | :37:33. | |
scum they are? I cannot help remarking that if Sir Gerald Kaufman | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
is able to sing along with the numbers from Sweeney Todd he must've | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
had a very good musical year indeed, pretty challenging lines. In | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
response to his question about ticket touts, will I refer to the | :37:49. | :37:55. | |
Secretary of State for culture media and sport, his point about wanting | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
an review, and draw his attention to the efforts being made through the | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
Digital economy bill to try to limit what some of these ticket bought is | :38:05. | :38:15. | |
unable to pick up tickets and sell them at extortionate cost. First I | :38:16. | :38:23. | |
would like to pay tribute to late father of the house and Billy Mack. | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
Having arrived in the house in 2015I did. Get the opportunity to learn | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
from him but one of my observations was how stylish and dapper his sense | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
of dress was. One of the days he went through the lobby with a | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
fabulous panama hat on. He spent time with two of my parliamentary | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
colleagues on an overseas trip to Jordan and they spoke very highly of | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
him and spoke of how interesting all his Parliamentary stories were. I am | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
going to leave it to those parliamentarians that had the | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
pleasure and good fortune to serve along with Sir Gerald between 1970 | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
until 2017 to be longer tribute to him and I would like to offer my | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
condolences to his family who are here today. | :39:14. | :39:20. | |
The Hansard Society, widely respected, as an expert on | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
Parliament and democracy, has warned the current process of scrutiny is | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
not fit for purpose. The society's directors have warned that if | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
Parliament is to fulfil its responsibility to hold the | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
government to account, MPs need better procedures. Will the leader | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
please inform the house if he is taking these concerns seriously and | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
will he urgently review the Parliamentary scrutiny process now | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
so that any necessary changes can be made before the great repeal bill is | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
introduced? The Honourable lady makes a very serious and important | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
point and the government and I personally are indeed giving close | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
attention to this question of how, given the implications of the Brexit | :40:12. | :40:13. | |
process for both primary and secondary legislation, we can ensure | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
that there is proper, fully adequate Parliamentary scrutiny and | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
Parliamentary debate. In terms of one point arising out of the Hansard | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
Society in particular, I can give some reassurance to her, I hope, in | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
that any additional powers for secondary legislation that might be | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
sought in new primary legislation, such as the Gabi appeal Bill, will | :40:43. | :40:49. | |
of course themselves need to be approved by parliament through the | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
normal process. -- such as the Repeal Bill. So when a process that | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
comes elite Matt Gohdes any kind of enabling power comes through, | :41:03. | :41:04. | |
Parliament will be able to debate and decide properly on questions | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
concerning the scope, the definition and the duration of those powers. Mr | :41:09. | :41:16. | |
Speaker, it has been wonderful to hear from a long-standing colleagues | :41:17. | :41:19. | |
of Sir Gerald but I remember when I was first elected as a new MP in | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
2010, I distinctly remember taking an office on the second corridor | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
above Star chamber Court for my office on the basis that if it was | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
good enough for Sir Gerald, it was good enough for me. I remember to my | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
delight, the first week I was there, there was a knock on the door and it | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
was the man himself, Sir Gerald. I was a young MP, only 29 when first | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
elected, I did not know anyone down here and I was away from home. He | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
knocked on the door, our constituencies are quite close to | :41:48. | :41:49. | |
one another, and he invited me to his office for a drink which I | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
thought was a wonderful gesture, we talked for hours about how Lord | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
Wilson, Jim Callaghan, the Winter of discontent, the 83 manifesto about | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
the SDP. He was a living inside to be the of Labour and British | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
history. We talked about foreign policy, Kashmir, Israel and | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
Palestine. Many of the Labour Party's foreign policy positions are | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
for now one is that he set as Shadow Foreign Secretary in that time. He | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
also took very great delight when I expressed my admiration for his | :42:18. | :42:20. | |
rather more palatial office than mine. He told me he had been given | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
that over the express competing demands of Tony Benn on the basis he | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
had had longer continuous service would still mattered a great deal to | :42:31. | :42:33. | |
him. I believed for some of the distinguished and experience to take | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
so much time and interest in lots of new members, actually, is the mark | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
of someone who is not just a great and true parliamentarian but a great | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
colleague as well. We really will miss him a great deal. One piece of | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
advice he gave me that day was to never hesitate to raise on the floor | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
of the House of Commons a constituency problem that you hadn't | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
been able to resolve through paperwork alone. In that spirit and | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
in homage to Sir Gerald, can we have, Mr Speaker, a debate about | :43:00. | :43:02. | |
decent access to universal broadband in all parts of this country? My | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
constituent, Peter Edwards, runs a business from home and his business | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
is severely hampered by poor broadband speeds and BT have not | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
been able to resolve this satisfactorily for me with | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
correspondence. Surely Mr redwoods should not have to wait to get a | :43:19. | :43:21. | |
decent broadband connection and universal access to good broadband | :43:22. | :43:23. | |
speeds should be available to everyone? I'm grateful to the | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
honourable gentleman and I think all of us know from our constituency | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
experience how important it is for businesses, large and small, to have | :43:34. | :43:40. | |
fast broadband access in order to compete and to sell to customers. If | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
the honourable gentleman would like to let me have some details of the | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
particular case, I will refer to the minister responsible for digital | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
affairs. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I did not know the late Father of the | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
house but as a student of politics, I was aware of him for many years. | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
Lilly from the tributes today, he combined great intellect, a | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
principled and political acumen with warmth, humour and insight and I | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
would like to pass on my sincere condolences to his family, if they | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
are here, watching, and also to his friends, particularly those on both | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
sides of the house. I'm very grateful to the honourable member | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
for Rhondda of reminding us for the work Sir Gerald did campaigning for | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
LGBT rights, and as a gay woman, I'm very grateful for that and | :44:32. | :44:33. | |
particularly conscious of the fact that Sir Gerald did it at a time | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
when it was not fashionable to support LGBT rights and when sadly, | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
not all political parties in this house supported them but that has | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
now changed and is in great part due to the work of people like Sir | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
Gerald. Mr Speaker, earlier this week, I wrote to the Home Secretary, | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
expressing my concerns about the circumstances surrounding the | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
deportation of Irene Clenell, who has already been mentioned today by | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
the shadow leader of the house. Can we have a debate, Mr Speaker, about | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
flexibility and discretion in the immigration system, the need to | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
respect basic human dignity, family life, and also the need for due | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
process? Can I suggest that such a debate would be a fitting tribute to | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
the late Father of the house, who clearly believed in such principles? | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
Mr Speaker, I completely understand the strength of feeling, as | :45:29. | :45:30. | |
expressed by the honourable lady, about this particular case. But my | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
understanding is that Irene Clenell has spent the majority of her life, | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
including her married life, in Singapore, that a number of | :45:40. | :45:42. | |
applications in her case were refused between 2003 and 2008, and | :45:43. | :45:51. | |
that since July 2014, she has had no legal basis to remain in the UK. I | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
would stress that all applications for leave to remain are considered | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules and | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
subject to the various appeal mechanisms that exist under UK law. | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
Obviously, the honourable lady is welcome to raise that particular | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
case directly with the Home Secretary or the Immigration | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
Minister. But the facts are as I have outlined them. Like many people | :46:25. | :46:35. | |
here and thousands of people across the country, my life was impacted by | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
Sir Gerald Kaufman, not least because I was given a copy of his | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
book for my 21st birthday, How To Be A Minister and it probably had | :46:48. | :46:49. | |
something to do with the fact that 25 years later, I did government | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
minister and I have not forgotten brilliant advice that was written in | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
a book by Gerald about how to deal with one's Parliamentary ministerial | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
box and with civil servants and how to get things done rather than just | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
be a spectator in government. I'm eternally grateful for the advice | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
that he gave in that book. Those who have paid tribute are right to refer | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
to his assiduous miss with regard to his constituents. I learned, | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
entering the same entering the house at the same time as the honourable | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
member for Rhondda, that this session, business question, is the | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
most important of the week and is valued by MPs for that very reason, | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
in some ways more important than Prime Minister's Questions because | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
barring the rare occasions when Mr Speaker as to curtail our efforts on | :47:41. | :47:43. | |
Thursday morning, it is an opportunity for every member of the | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
house here on Thursday to raise a point and Sir Gerald often used this | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
session to raise a point and on almost all the occasions when he did | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
so it was a point that was related to a piece of constituency casework. | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
A government department that had failed to answer a letter, a | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
minister that hadn't been assiduous in coming back with a quick reply or | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
even some other institution that had failed to treat a piece of | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
correspondence from a member of Parliament, acting on behalf of | :48:13. | :48:15. | |
their constituent, with the appropriate respect and furnish an | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
appropriate reply. He was absolutely right about that. I think the | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
strongest thing about our democracy, whatever one thinks about the | :48:27. | :48:29. | |
electoral systems and so on, the strongest thing about our democracy | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
is that representative link between members of Parliament and their | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
constituents. And the way in which members of Parliament to use this | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
place and their title as a member of Parliament on behalf of their | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
constituents, to help them, not to enrich themselves in any way, not to | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
burnish their own reputation but simply to help the weak against the | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
strong, which is what democracy should really be about. Sir Gerald, | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
I think, more than anyone in this house, showed us all how that ought | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
to be done. And all of us would do well to remember, whatever heights | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
we get to in politics, whether it is just this backbench or the | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
ministerial office, should remember that is why we are here, and he was | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
an exemplar of how to do that. He was also extremely, as has been | :49:17. | :49:18. | |
mentioned earlier, politically brave. I think that my honourable | :49:19. | :49:26. | |
friend was right to mention, he said it was controversial at the end of | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
his remarks but it was right to mention Gerald's position on the | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
state of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinian people. It was | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
extremely brave of him to raise those issues in this house in the | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
way that he did. It is to his eternal credit that he did so. I | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
just want to mention one other thing about him. People have mentioned how | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
dedicated he was to his constituency. I was having tea in | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
the tearoom one morning, as I often do, probably with my honourable | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
friend, the member for the Rhondda, and as we were sat there, Gerald | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
came in, dressed, as usual, in a colourful fashion, and I think my | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
honourable friend and I had a brief debate about exactly what colour his | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
suit was and whether a word existed in the English language to describe | :50:14. | :50:20. | |
that,. But -- that colour. But he seemed to have a spring in his step | :50:21. | :50:22. | |
that particular morning, only about four years ago, I think, and he | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
looked absolutely delighted. We wonder if he had been to a musical | :50:27. | :50:29. | |
the night before because he was whistling and had a spring in his | :50:30. | :50:32. | |
step as he came into the tea room and then the penny dropped. The | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
boundary commission proposals had just been published and Manchester | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
Gorton was not to be dissected or split up in any way. Sir Gerald was | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
absolutely delighted that he could go on saying, "Yes, I will be | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
standing at the next election and the one after", as honourable | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
members referred to earlier. My friend from the Rhondda also | :50:55. | :50:57. | |
mentioned Rupert Murdoch and as this is a business question session, I | :50:58. | :51:00. | |
think Gerald would have wanted this issue to be raised. The leader of | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
the house will have read the press reports about the speech being made | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
today in relation to the takeover by 20th Century Fox, the proposed | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
takeover of Sky. I just wondered if he would like to tell the house how | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
the government intends to inform the house of its intentions in relation | :51:22. | :51:29. | |
to that announcement? Indeed, the honourable gentleman raises an | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
important issue about media ownership. He will know, that my | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
right honourable friend the Secretary of State has do act in a | :51:41. | :51:42. | |
quasi-judicial role in taking decisions about any proposed merger | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
and it would therefore be wrong for her to express any kind of you in | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
advance of any formal notification being made. -- kind of view. If | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
there is a formal notification, she will take whatever decisions fall to | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
her by law to do. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Anyone who shares | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
the love of musicals, Judy Garland, Betty Davis, and can begin a | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
sentence with the words, "As Lana Turner once said to me..." Is | :52:15. | :52:18. | |
positively sounded my book, although not knowing him well at all, it is | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
clear that there is much admiration for him, particularly amongst his | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
colleagues on the Labour benches so I which is family, friends and | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
colleagues on the Labour benches Mike is -- my sincere condolences. | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
Mr Speaker, on the 24th of this month, it will be exactly one year | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
since the shopkeeper Asad Shah was killed in my constituency, by a man | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
by the name Tanvir Ahmed. Members may know that in the newspapers | :52:49. | :52:56. | |
today, there is coverage of a celebration, I hate to call it that, | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
celebrating his death and treating his murder with veneration in | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
Pakistan. Mr Shah was one of the most gentle and kind people ever to | :53:08. | :53:14. | |
own a shop anywhere in the UK. He was loved by many people on the | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
south side of Glasgow. So will the leader of the house join me in | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
condemning that horrifying display that we can see in newspaper | :53:25. | :53:27. | |
coverage and online coverage, and will he also do something to make | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
sure that what we remember is the kindness of this wonderful man, his | :53:33. | :53:38. | |
wonderful family, and not the demagoguery of the man who took him | :53:39. | :53:39. | |
from us? honourable gentleman and I'm sure | :53:40. | :53:54. | |
with the entire house in expressing unreserved revulsion and | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
condemnation of the event that he has described. It is frankly | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
sickening to hear that human beings could be prepared to behave in such | :54:06. | :54:15. | |
a fashion. I remember just under a year ago, from reading and seeing | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
news reports of the sense of shock and genuine grief on the part of | :54:20. | :54:27. | |
people in the south side of Glasgow, people from very different | :54:28. | :54:28. | |
and religious heritage, in feeling and religious heritage, in feeling | :54:29. | :54:38. | |
that they had lost a friend and a devoted champion of community life | :54:39. | :54:48. | |
and that is how we should remember and I think in a sense the best | :54:49. | :54:54. | |
tribute would be for people in Glasgow in particular but for all of | :54:55. | :55:03. | |
us to redouble our resolve to eradicate from our society this | :55:04. | :55:13. | |
scourge of bigotry, whether based on racial or religious or any other | :55:14. | :55:22. | |
grounds. And I hope very much that the Pakistani High Commission in | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
London, which I think we'll have been equally appalled at these news | :55:28. | :55:34. | |
reports, will have taken note of the words honourable gentleman has | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
spoken. As a fellow greater Manchester MP it was my privilege to | :55:40. | :55:46. | |
visit Sir Gerald in his constituency and see the esteem his constituents | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
held him in and I know he will be greatly missed in that constituency | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
and by everybody in this House. I will miss his sartorial elegance. I | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
remember when he turned up in a particularly flamboyant number and | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
my friend commented that there must be several deckchairs in Blackpool | :56:08. | :56:13. | |
that are missing their seats. My last memory of Sir Gerald is of him | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
standing there at the Benjamin King in barnstorming speech about forced | :56:18. | :56:32. | |
academies status of schools. And the Government backtracked. As well as | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
education, the NHS was close to his heart. With that in mind I would | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
like to request that we have an urgent debate about the activities | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
of NHS shared business services. When I worked for Pennine acute | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
hospitals, NHS shared business services put in a bid to run our | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
payroll services and we as trade union reps did a quick search of the | :57:00. | :57:01. | |
Internet and found a catalogue of woeful errors that the group had | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
left in their wake with all the NHS contract to the already held and | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
therefore I would like to request an urgent debate into why they were | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
allowed to carry on performing NHS work. The issue now honourable lady | :57:16. | :57:29. | |
referred to with SBS was identified in March 2016 and he immediately | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
established an incident team which is still working to resolve the | :57:36. | :57:46. | |
issue and a team has now reviewed thousands of items of | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
correspondence. 2500 were identified as having potential risk of harm and | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
required further investigation. Local GPs have now identified nearly | :57:56. | :58:01. | |
2000 of those as having no patient harm. There remain 537 active cases | :58:02. | :58:09. | |
which are still being followed up so we can be absolutely certain that | :58:10. | :58:16. | |
patient. So far there is no evidence patient. So far there is no evidence | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
to suggest actual harm. Obviously when that investigation has been | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
completed I'm sure it would be reasonable for the relevant health | :58:27. | :58:33. | |
minister to report to the House. I would like to associate myself with | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
the many wonderful tributes today to Sir Gerald Kaufman and also share my | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
condolences with the family. Interesting to hear so many stories | :58:44. | :58:44. | |
because then you remember one of because then you remember one of | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
your own. As an very new member to the House, within the first month I | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
got my first opportunity to have a chat with him in the lobbies and I | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
remember quite clearly saying to him that I liked the look of his new | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
site to which I got a long, languishing look up and down slowly | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
to see you're not doing too bad either so I would just like to | :59:08. | :59:14. | |
assure the House that I will aspire to his sartorial condition in the | :59:15. | :59:18. | |
future. The UK Government claims to sport a world -- support a world | :59:19. | :59:28. | |
free of nuclear weapons through disarmament but boycotts | :59:29. | :59:29. | |
negotiations at the UN to ban them. The Government's position is very | :59:30. | :59:51. | |
clear that we are a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That gives | :59:52. | :00:02. | |
particular responsibilities to the acknowledged nuclear powers. We | :00:03. | :00:09. | |
remain an active supporter of the independent inspectorate and we are | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
a very active supporter of multilateral nuclear and disarmament | :00:16. | :00:24. | |
-- nuclear disarmament but that must take place in a way that is | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
genuinely multilateral. It is sometimes easy to come up with | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
suggestions for unilateral action or slogans that do not actually deliver | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
what is needed in the form of detailed treaties which help to | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
reduce the nuclear threat. It has been really good to remember Sir | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
Gerald Kaufman today. I used to talk to him in the members' Kieran | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
whenever I could and I got some great recommendations for films from | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
him. Could we have a debate on the rent to buy sector? Customers are | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
being ripped off across the country. In my constituency, young families | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
struggling to get by are being told they can buy a cot for their baby | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
for just ?5 per week but because of interest rates they end up paying | :01:22. | :01:33. | |
?780 for a ?283 cot. It is not on. I think it is very important that | :01:34. | :01:42. | |
people who are tempted by offers of apparently cheap finance really do | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
look hard at the underlying terms and conditions before they commit | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
themselves to what turned out to be quite extraordinary and extortionate | :01:53. | :02:01. | |
repayments. It is not always the right answer to try to use the law | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
to deal with these matters. Sometimes it has the effect of | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
driving this kind of activity underground, but this is the sort of | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
question the Government keeps under review the whole time. As a | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
relatively new member, I confess I never had the opportunity to get to | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
know Sir Gerald Kaufman personally but I can tell by the words in the | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
tributes paid to him today that I have seriously missed out but I | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
would like to extend my something to his friends and family. -- my | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
sympathy. My constituent was medically disqualified from driving | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
but with favourable reports from his but with favourable reports from his | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
doctor he reapplied for to the DVLA. Could we have a statement about the | :02:54. | :03:03. | |
time taken for DVLA reviews? Is still waiting for a conclusion. The | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
best advice I could give the honourable gentleman is to pursue | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
this directly with transport ministers and Chief Executive of the | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
DVLA. The right principle I think has to be that somebody who has | :03:21. | :03:31. | |
health grounds should be able to health grounds should be able to | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
reapply and have their case looked at fairly on the basis of evidence | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
but those assessing the evidence clearly do have to satisfy | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
themselves that other road users and pedestrians would not be put at risk | :03:43. | :03:52. | |
if the license were to be restored. May I associate myself with the | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
comments about Gerald Kaufman? I hope while I am the year I would | :03:59. | :04:00. | |
achieve a fraction of his stature in achieve a fraction of his stature in | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
the House. Following his passion for all things related to culture, and | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
given the recent by-election in my city of Stoke-on-Trent, and | :04:14. | :04:14. | |
appalling coverage that was written appalling coverage that was written | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
about it, can I call for a debate on government time about why my great | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
city should be worded the city of culture in 2021? The honourable lady | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
has launched the campaign this afternoon and I am sure she may have | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
opportunities whether in question to ministers or in debates of the | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
various kinds to make that case even more strongly. I think most of us | :04:42. | :04:52. | |
know that the terms that make up the modern city of Stoke-on-Trent have | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
an amazing history of cultural contributions to our country. Most | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
notably through our pottery industry but also in the role that Stoke has | :05:04. | :05:13. | |
played in the Industrial Revolution and in the development of British | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
industry and technology over so many years. We are seeing with Hull this | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
year the difference being designated city of culture can make to the | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
self-confidence of a city. I hope that without prejudice to any | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
decision in future that Stoke-on-Trent could be city of | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
culture one day as well. I would like to associate myself with the | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
remarks of the Leader of the House. Sorry, the father of the House. I | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
did not know Gerald as well as some of my colleagues but I always found | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
him immensely kind. I wish to raise my Private Members' Bill | :05:55. | :05:55. | |
boundaries. Last year over 140 boundaries. Last year over 140 | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
members of this House from every region and every single part of -- | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
every single party, stayed on a Friday to thought overwhelmingly for | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
this bill. It was the will of this House and yet instead of the | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
Government allowing it to progress to committee, and of the wish to | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
vote against it at the third reading, they chose to engage what I | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
can only describe as a series of dirty tricks to prevent this bill | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
getting into committee. I suspect it is because they feared I had the | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
support of the committee and it would have progressed to third | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
reading. I would remind the Leader of the House that we had a | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
referendum in this country in which the sovereignty of Parliament and | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
the will of this House was an important feature and yet this has | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
demonstrated that the will of this House counts for nothing if it | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
clashes with the will of the lady in Number Ten. I have worked with the | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
Leader of the House very well in the past and I found him to be a decent | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
man. This has not reflected well on them and I think it has not been | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
well done -- on him. There is no doubt in our commitment to her | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
Private Members' Bill but I think in fairness she must acknowledge that | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
the Government are government itself has a majority and it came to office | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
with a particular commitment of its own in regards to boundary changes | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
on which it had fought and won a general election. In respect to the | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
statement in regards to committee stage, I think it is possible for | :07:44. | :07:53. | |
her committee to meet and begin debating irrespective of whether a | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
resolution has been secured, and my advice would be for that committee | :08:01. | :08:10. | |
to convene and begin its work. In May 2005 I was in the tearoom and I | :08:11. | :08:18. | |
was rather chuffed to be sitting near Sir Gerald Kaufman, listening | :08:19. | :08:29. | |
to him talk to people and a Bacharach three came in and said the | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
Q2 join the others was short and anyone could do so. Gerald turned to | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
me and told me to go, he said one day it might help you to be Leader | :08:43. | :08:43. | |
of the House. I slightly glazed over of the House. I slightly glazed over | :08:44. | :08:50. | |
at the thought of my age and how long I would be here and the AJ | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
would be at two the Leader of the House, and I heard this voice saying | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
to go and I did and I have to say to go and I did and I have to say | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
yesterday, Mr Speaker, the women in this House were sent a list of where | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
they stood in the ranking of women elected to this House and I'm | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
ashamed to say, Mr Speaker, that I took an amount of pleasure in | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
noticing how many women who came in the same year of me -- as me that I | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
I am 264 and the member opposite who I am 264 and the member opposite who | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
was actually at school in Bridgend comes after me as 265. I cannot | :09:39. | :09:47. | |
begin to tell you the pleasure Sir Gerald will always give me in terms | :09:48. | :09:49. | |
of that little piece of advice. While sitting there, he spoke of the | :09:50. | :09:59. | |
importance of focusing on the people who send you hear. In doing so, can | :10:00. | :10:07. | |
I ask the leader of the House, is he aware that the automotive industry | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
has an economic value to the economy of this country of 71.6 billion per | :10:13. | :10:20. | |
year? With an additional 18.9 billion in added value? Some 169,000 | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
people are directly employed on over 184,000 are accessed employment in | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
the wider industry. 12% of the total value of UK exports and goods comes | :10:36. | :10:42. | |
from the 13 manufacturers building 70 models of cars and the 2000 | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
component providers working in that industry. Never mind the 4 billion | :10:47. | :10:56. | |
invested in automotive R and D. Given the events of Bridgend | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
yesterday, can we have automotive Summit composed of honourable | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
members, appropriate ministers, companies and trade unions involved | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
in this great British industry that we need to be working to ensure the | :11:12. | :11:21. | |
future of? Post Brexit. I completely understand the vital importance of | :11:22. | :11:33. | |
the automotive industry. There will be | :11:34. | :11:33. | |
questions to the Secretary of State for the song 14 March. I will | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
certainly ensure that he is aware before then of the honourable lady's | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
concerns. And I hope she will know that she is very committed | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
personally to doing all that is within the power of government to | :11:51. | :11:58. | |
ensure that the UK automotive industry is competitive, is able to | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
deal with the challenges posed by Brexit and with the wider issues of | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
global competition and digital technology, and that we are also | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
determined as a government to try to ensure that we have an industrial | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
strategy that works to deliver jobs and prosperity to every part of this | :12:14. | :12:24. | |
country. I would like to give me warm tributes to the recently passed | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
father of the House. The Tory led Coalition which currently leads | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
Stirling Council was forced to back down on one of their policies. Could | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
we have a debate here of the provision of public services more | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
generally, so we could educate councillors in sterling that | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
privatisation is not the answer for the services. Local authorities of | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
all political colours and national government has to consider what | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
outcome is going to be best for the people who we serve and the people | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
using particular services. It is the quality of the outcome for the | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
service user that seems to be more important than whether that happens | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
to be provided by directly managed service or one managed through a | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
contract of some kind. In paying tribute to Sir Gerald, I speak as | :13:28. | :13:39. | |
the newest member of the House. I never got the privilege to speak to | :13:40. | :13:48. | |
Sir Gerald. I received a note from him upon my election. Without | :13:49. | :14:05. | |
quoting verbatim, it said that I should be comfortable. He then gave | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
me a chequered history of my three immediate predecessors of whom he | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
had served with. I will never release the letter. Especially to my | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
immediate predecessor who is the assembly minister for my | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
constituency. It is something that will live with me for the rest of my | :14:27. | :14:35. | |
life. The key point of Sir Gerald's work was in camping things | :14:36. | :14:42. | |
constituency. Ford affects many hundreds of workers in my | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
constituency. Can I echo the calls for an automotive Summit, but also | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
not just to wait for questions for the Secretary of State for energy, | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
but to have a statement on the floor of the House to explain what the | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
Prime Minister meant yesterday by ongoing discussions with the | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
automotive industry and how it is exactly he will help the people of | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
Bridgend and ensure that Ford continues in the years I had. As I | :15:10. | :15:20. | |
said in response to his honourable friend, ahead of questions on the | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
14th, I will ensure that these concerns are expressed. I will ask | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
him to consider the request for a summit and a statement. Can I echo | :15:35. | :15:45. | |
the tributes to Sir Gerald? I offer my condolences to his friends and | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
family. Following the promises of neural federalism, too promising | :15:51. | :16:02. | |
agriculture and fisheries being devolved infill, can I ask the | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
leader of the House if a facility of debate on wrought? Referendum | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
promises made to the Scottish people? The promise I remember being | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
broken is that the referendum in Scotland would settle the issue for | :16:20. | :16:29. | |
a generation. Point of order. Can I thank the leader of the House and | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
all colleagues who over the last two hours have contributed so eloquently | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
and with feeling, based on their knowledge and appreciation of the | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
late Sir Gerald. These are very difficult, fraught and perhaps even | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
harrowing times. For members of Sir Gerald's family. I hope they will | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
derive some succour and comfort from knowledge of the affection and | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
esteem in which there are great family member was held in this | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
House. To conclude, reference was made to the fact that I myself and | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
others had visited Sir Gerald in recent months. I visited him twice | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
at his London home. Most recently in January. I shall always treasure my | :17:28. | :17:35. | |
very close memory of the conversations that we had. His | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
recollection of historical anecdotes was second to none. And often | :17:43. | :17:51. | |
extremely amusing. He was a very special person. He was certainly a | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
great parliamentarian. And I'm sure people will understand if I see that | :17:56. | :18:03. | |
alongside being an outstanding and indefatigable member of Parliament | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
in his constituency, Gerald was quintessentially a House of Commons | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
person. On behalf of colleagues, I can offer no greater tribute to Sir | :18:15. | :18:24. | |
Gerald than to say that. Point of order. I echo those elegant remarks. | :18:25. | :18:33. | |
I know you were in the chair when the unaccompanied children in Greece | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
and Italy occurred. You cut the time on it immediately before I spoke. At | :18:40. | :19:03. | |
the end, there was suddenly a bellowing of noes from the opposite | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
benches. There was deferred division. And behold, I can only | :19:11. | :19:20. | |
find one person who happened to be a conservative voting against a | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
motion. When this normally happens, there has to be two tellers put him | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
and somebody who is objecting. It entirely appears to me that this was | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
a totally tribal vote to waste the time of the House and cost the House | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
money. Perhaps I am misunderstanding it and I would like your advice. It | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
would not be for me to suggest that any division of the House was | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
contrived. I'm not in a position to make any such statement. There is a | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
very long-standing convention in this place that vote should follow | :19:57. | :20:04. | |
vortex. That is to say it is profoundly disorderly for somebody | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
to shout in one direction and then to vote in another. However, the | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
convention is quite strict and in my experience clear. A member must not | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
vote in opposition to the way in which he or she shouted. There is | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
however no obligation to vote at all. It is therefore conceivable | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
that somebody could shout in one direction and then subsequently not | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
be present in the division lobby. I am neither advocating or denouncing | :20:38. | :20:47. | |
such a practice. I am simply recognising the procedural and | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
constitutional reality for what it is. Nevertheless, the honourable | :20:51. | :21:00. | |
gentleman who is himself registering his point in his own inimitable way. | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
We come now to the presentation of Bill. Mr Keith Vaz. Senior judiciary | :21:07. | :21:17. | |
appointments this regard of candidates Bill. Friday 24 March. | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
Thank you. Order. We now come to the backbench motion on International | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
Women s Day. To move the motion, I call Jess Phillips. Thank you. I am | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
honoured to lead the debate today and I would like to pay special | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
thanks to the Member for Basingstoke, the Member for Lanark | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
and Hamilton East and the Member for Portsmouth South in supporting the | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
application to the Backbench Business Committee, a committee | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
where I remain the only one man. International Women s Day is an | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
opportunity for all of us to use our voices to celebrate the amazing | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
woman of the world. It is our opportunity to send a rallying cry | :22:05. | :22:12. | |
out to the world about hardships and injustices women everywhere face. | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
With each passing day, it seems the women out there need to hear the | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
women in Sir and how we support them. The thing I will speak about | :22:23. | :22:30. | |
today is violence against women and girls. I want to reflect on where we | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
are now and when we were last year. As I close my speech on | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
International Women s Day last year, I declared that the women in the UK | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
murdered deserved better than he got. I press this House to see their | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
names and feel the pain. I have been proud to be a member of this House | :22:53. | :23:01. | |
in the last year. Where parliamentarians, myself and others, | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
called on the government to overhaul our family justice system that | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
leaves International Women s Day and children -- which leaves women and | :23:13. | :23:23. | |
children damaged and unsafe. From this place, a message was sent to | :23:24. | :23:31. | |
women living in fear. Honda have contacted me with gratitude. Last | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
week, the Member for Banff and Buchan pushed her build to ratify | :23:38. | :23:48. | |
the Istanbul convention to its completion, regardless of those who | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
wanted to stop at. Every year, a minister will stand at the dispatch | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
box and lay out to us exactly how the are going to protect vulnerable | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
women and children. Yesterday, the government finally heard the calls | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
which have echoed around this place for over six years and made sex and | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
relationship education compulsory. While we waited too long for this, | :24:12. | :24:22. | |
the euphoria felt by myself and other members of the House made us | :24:23. | :24:36. | |
want to do cartwheels. Various other members' work means that corals are | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
going to be safer. Not exclusively but these changes in the past year | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
have been led and pushed through by the women in this place. With the | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
amazing support of women's organisations. | :24:50. | :25:00. | |
The issue she has rightly drawn attention to has international | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
implications. Will she agree that one of the most important things we | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
can do is provide the incentive is for girls to remain in school so | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
opportunity for early marriage, from opportunity for early marriage, from | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
which so many of the evils she has spoken of flow? I would agree and | :25:21. | :25:27. | |
for every girl that stays at school in every part of the world and every | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
girl that uses that education to stand up and speak for the other | :25:32. | :25:34. | |
woman in the world, the world would be a better place. Women with voices | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
matter. Women with voices change things. Women with voices in here | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
give hope and protection to women without a voice at all. I am proud | :25:46. | :25:52. | |
of our efforts and today I will lay down another marker and said there | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
is still much to do. Last year I stood and read the names of 125 | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
women who were murdered by men. I decided I would do this every year | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
while I still have the privilege to be in this place. While we have | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
achieved many things here I hope this list once again reminds us of | :26:11. | :26:19. | |
all the reasons we must keep going. This list is the femicide census. | :26:20. | :26:34. | |
While the majority of these deaths can be attributed to partner | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
violence there are not all in this category and include women also | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
murdered by men they did not know in the UK since last international | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
women's day. Their names are... Lindsay Smith, Robert Mercer, page | :26:48. | :27:03. | |
Doherty, carry an desert. Laura Marshall, Elizabeth Mackay, Marie | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
Johnston, Norma Bell, Tracey Cockerel, Helen Bailey, Jean Ryan, | :27:10. | :27:22. | |
Nazarene Khan, said Daniels, Louise or Brian, Natalie Heming, Becky | :27:23. | :27:35. | |
Morgan, Iris Owens, Julie Cook, Anne-Marie Neil, Sylvia Stewart, and | :27:36. | :27:58. | |
Drina Douglas, Jo Cox, Helen Fraser, Jean Irwin, Sarah Nash, Alison | :27:59. | :28:17. | |
Muncaster, Fiona South, Clare Hart, Charlotte Hart, Nicola Howard, | :28:18. | :28:28. | |
Hannah Pearson, Margaret Meyer, Darlene Horton, Donna Williamson, | :28:29. | :28:46. | |
Alison Davies, Hayley Dean, Zoe Morgan, Natasha Wake, Lucie Jones, | :28:47. | :29:19. | |
Sophie Smith, Julie Wilkinson, Natasha Wilde, Rebecca Johnson, | :29:20. | :29:35. | |
Holly Aleksandar, Andrea Webb, Angela Best, | :29:36. | :29:51. | |
Anita Downey, Chrissie Kendall, Tina Billingham, Katherine Kelly, Karina | :29:52. | :30:14. | |
Batista, Hazel Wilson Bryant, Margaret Stenning. Let these women | :30:15. | :30:25. | |
be our inspiration. Let these women be the ones who drive others. I | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
would ask each and every one of us to remember these women, one of whom | :30:30. | :30:38. | |
was one of us. We must remember them when we make our decisions, use our | :30:39. | :30:40. | |
votes and our voices. We have a votes and our voices. We have a | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
responsibility to be the voices of these women now they are gone. On | :30:46. | :30:51. | |
this international women's day let's remember why we are all here and | :30:52. | :31:00. | |
let's raise our voices. The question is as on the order paper. Can I just | :31:01. | :31:09. | |
say to members will be a time limit of five minutes on other backbench | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
contributions and if there are too many interventions that will have to | :31:15. | :31:22. | |
be dropped. Maria Miller. It is an enormous pleasure to follow my | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
honourable friend and she is right, we're to raise our voices. There is | :31:29. | :31:37. | |
another honourable member who is particular good at raising her | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
voice, and we should all pay of the tower for the way she works on the | :31:42. | :31:43. | |
half of women not only in her half of women not only in her | :31:44. | :31:45. | |
constituency but throughout the country. Can I see it is our | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
pleasure to see you in the chair for this debate and I would like to | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
start by also thanking the members of the Backbench Business Committee. | :31:55. | :32:03. | |
I hope it is firmly entrenched as a part of the Parliamentary calendar | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
from this point on. I would like to thank the numerous organisations | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
which are carefully preparing briefings. Without their experience | :32:16. | :32:23. | |
and front line work, our debate would not be as rich as it is. We | :32:24. | :32:29. | |
are here on a daily basis and we are reminded on a daily basis of the | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
challenge that we still face in achieving equality. The job is far | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
from done. When I tell people I was the 200 and 65th woman to ever be | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
elected in this country they cannot believe it. I was the first ever MP | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
in Northamptonshire who was female but I am now proud to say I am | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
joined by at least two other MPs for Hampshire who are female and I think | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
there was another in our midst earlier. Leading the way on women's | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
issues. I sat in the chamber yesterday to see the newest member | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
of Parliament sworn in, the member for Copeland, and it was heartening | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
to see that she is now the 456th woman MP to be elected to this | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
place. Things are changing but there is still a steep hill to climb. To | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
mark International women's Day I think it would be right to applaud | :33:29. | :33:44. | |
organisations for women, who are committed to making sure there are | :33:45. | :33:51. | |
more women in this place after the next general election. Women's lives | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
have changed for the better for the last 100 years. We have record | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
numbers of women here and in work, the right to flexible working, which | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
benefits thousands of women, and for younger women the gender pay gap is | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
all but eliminated and there are no more all-male boards in FTSE 100 | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
firms, something the Government felt was an important milestone to | :34:16. | :34:17. | |
demonstrate the importance of female demonstrate the importance of female | :34:18. | :34:19. | |
representation at the heart of decision-making. I am somewhat | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
surprised that one third of government departments, eight out of | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
25, have all-male ministerial teams. Perhaps we need some targets there | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
as well. The theme for this year's International women's Day is to be | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
bold and we must all do so and there is no hiding place. The women's | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
Institute ordinary search showed there are 70% of women who feel they | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
are not equal to men in this country and women are judged by different | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
standards, that women who stay home to raise children are not valued in | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
today's society and despite record numbers of women in work, the way | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
the places are structured means it is still difficult to balance work | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
and home life. These problems have not gone away. We must continue to | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
modernise our approach to reflect women's changed role and not | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
retrofit women into a workplace design for a different age. Men are | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
central to any change as well. The modern families index shows that men | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
want to change as well. With so many want to change as well. With so many | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
families now having two full-time working partners, one in three, 47% | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
of dads want to downshift to a job where they can balance better work | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
and home life, some would take a pay cut. The conditions women have been | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
forced into four generations are being forced on men now also. A | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
Select Committee is looking into the role of fathers in the workplace so | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
we can solve these problems for them as well. The establishment of the | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
women and equality is Select Committee has given members of this | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
House the opportunity to drive forward scrutiny about how policies | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
affect women. I hope we can take the opportunity of this debate to update | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
the House on making that Select Committee a permanent feature. The | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
value of the work of the committee is clear to see. In a report last | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
September on sexual or Asp and in schools we covered disturbing levels | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
of sexual violence against girls in schools. It was the third site | :36:45. | :36:51. | |
committee report to call for sex and relationship education to be | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
compulsory for all children in all schools. With the support of more | :36:55. | :37:03. | |
than 40 other members of Parliament I tabled an amendment to the | :37:04. | :37:05. | |
children in social work bill that was due to be amended next week, | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
also supported by the Select Committee chair for health and | :37:10. | :37:11. | |
education, to make a relationship education, to make a relationship | :37:12. | :37:13. | |
education compulsory in this country. I am delighted that my | :37:14. | :37:20. | |
honourable friend has done so much work on this and my right honourable | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
friend has been able to take forward this idea and put it into the bill | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
for the Government to press forward with next week. I think that is the | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
sort of change that cross-party working is can best achieve. I would | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
like to put on record my personal thanks to the honourable member for | :37:44. | :37:50. | |
Rotherham for her support in making sure this was truly cross-party. | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
Many organisations have worked hard to make sex and relationship | :37:57. | :38:03. | |
education a top priority for us as politicians and we should thank them | :38:04. | :38:06. | |
for that hard work and that assiduous campaigning. Other areas | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
where I think I am keen to highlight the Government's progress is the | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
work done by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in DC | :38:18. | :38:24. | |
MS, bringing forward the review on online abuse is something that would | :38:25. | :38:33. | |
disproportionately benefit women. Perhaps I could take this | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
opportunity to urge the Government to support a Law Commission review | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
of online law, particularly the need for anonymity for those adults that | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
sometimes known as revenge sometimes known as revenge | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
pornography. Is the Minister in a position to update house on the | :38:53. | :38:59. | |
revenge pornography helpline? Put in place by the Government and provides | :39:00. | :39:01. | |
invaluable help to victims. All others across Laos would | :39:02. | :39:10. | |
acknowledge the government has made great progress in this area. The | :39:11. | :39:20. | |
Prime Minister has taken a personal role -- all of us across the House. | :39:21. | :39:30. | |
I would like to pay tribute to the campaigning work of women's aid to | :39:31. | :39:40. | |
sure that domestic abuse is not simply physical violence. Perhaps | :39:41. | :39:47. | |
the Minister will be able to tell the House how many police officers | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
have received training on domestic abuse issues. Time is short today, | :39:54. | :40:02. | |
but there is one issue I hope to bring to mind in this debate. The | :40:03. | :40:11. | |
government is to be applauded for recognising an exception is needing. | :40:12. | :40:23. | |
The changes to child tax credits will take effect next month. We need | :40:24. | :40:35. | |
to ensure policies do not penalised women who are continuing to live in | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
an abusive relationship. These are one of the most vulnerable groups of | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
all. My closing comment today will be | :40:48. | :41:03. | |
around this country's rule on the world stage. We've done so much to | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
be champions for women's rights and we should be rightly proud of that. | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
We have an international reputation and I'm sure ministers and the Home | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
Office would have carefully followed the conference in London, for how we | :41:17. | :41:25. | |
can ensure that were men refugees are properly supported. -- women | :41:26. | :41:35. | |
refugees. In New York later this month, it hopes the Minister will be | :41:36. | :41:47. | |
able to speak on how the devolved administrations are compliant with | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
rule number five and whether there is a plan for the homogenisation of | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
women's rights across the UK. Universal access to reproductive | :41:59. | :42:06. | |
rights is central to this. The Right honourable member for Putney and | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
David Cameron fought hard for that sustainable development goal. We | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
must fight hard for these rights for women internationally. That is | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
right. We must also fight hard for every one man in this country in the | :42:22. | :42:29. | |
United Kingdom. Including Northern Ireland. And not hidebound the fact | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
that this is a devolved matter. Remote make the progress needed | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
unless we lead by example. We must address the lack of women in this | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
place. We need to address the need for a permanent scrutiny of quality | :42:45. | :42:52. | |
issues in this place. We need to be bowled for change and advocate that | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
change happens a strongly at home as it does a broad. I have spent much | :42:57. | :43:05. | |
of my time in this place encouraging women and celebrating women. I did a | :43:06. | :43:15. | |
study 17 years ago about how much of a difference the women elected in | :43:16. | :43:30. | |
1997 made. We focused on the families of service personnel. | :43:31. | :43:33. | |
Budgets started resourcing women's purses, rather than men's pockets. | :43:34. | :43:42. | |
It's very sad that that tradition has reversed since 2010. I hope the | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
Chancellor might go back again to recognising that it's time for women | :43:50. | :43:56. | |
to as least as much as men, if not more. After all, we put our money | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
into the pockets of children. Men use their own money for their own | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
pleasure. I'm generalising, but it's true. All of us have constituents | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
who have been groomed by pimps, beaten up by violent partners, some | :44:17. | :44:24. | |
forced into genital mutilation. It's important to think how you will help | :44:25. | :44:34. | |
them. In my case, supporting Women's Aid. At organisations who are not | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
sought expert realise their own failure is. There is one in Slough | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
that is good at promoting itself, but not very good at supporting | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
women. You cannot offer people a service and then let them down. We | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
need to increase resilience amongst women. Help them resist some of | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
these things and be aware of the risks of grooming and so on. I tried | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
to create a network of South Asian women in my constituency. The | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
awareness of how to help your son deal with pornography on the | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
internet and things like that. I want to use my last few minutes to | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
focus on some of the most vulnerable women in the world. Yesterday, I | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
hosted a meeting organised by a very flexible opportunist aid | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
organisation in Slough, led by deceit community. They have been | :45:40. | :45:54. | |
working with a CD community. Many of these women expired of thirst, | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
abandoned on a hill. What happens to them afterwards was more degrading | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
than most of us could imagine. They were bought and sold. Like radios or | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
books or something. They were raped. They were beaten up. They were | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
forced to watch their children being raped. Their sons were kidnapped in | :46:15. | :46:21. | |
order to be tried to be turned into terrorist jihadi fighters. Daesh | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
also developed a kind of bureaucracy around this. Rules for abuse of the | :46:29. | :46:37. | |
people you own. The owner of two sisters is not allowed to have | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
intercourse with both of them. Rather, he may only have intercourse | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
with just one. The other sister is to be had by if you were to | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
relinquish ownership of the first sister by selling her, giving her | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
away or releasing her. That is today. That is the reality of | :46:58. | :47:05. | |
slavery. This is ancient slavery. It is horrifying to look at the price | :47:06. | :47:17. | |
list for women. 840 woman is worth ?27. Daesh public these prices | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
because they want the money to buy the bonds to blow us up. Are called | :47:23. | :47:33. | |
of under nine is worth ?109. -- a 40-year-old woman. There is an | :47:34. | :47:41. | |
exhibition where these stories are told and photographs are taken. I | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
hope to bring that exhibition to this House. In the meantime, can I | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
encourage everybody to see it? There is one were man who managed to fight | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
off her rapists, who turned on her daughter. She doesn't know where her | :47:59. | :48:08. | |
daughter is now. She is terrified of her daughter still believing it is | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
her fault. That is the extremity of violence against women that we | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
should be working in solidarity with. It is an honour and privilege | :48:17. | :48:28. | |
to be speaking in this debate. May I congratulate our determined than | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
passionate colleague for securing this debate and securing her great | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
mission in this House? And proud to follow in the footsteps of my | :48:39. | :48:45. | |
predecessor, Mabel Philipson, the fourth woman to serve in this place. | :48:46. | :48:56. | |
I am the 378 woman to serve as house of a total of 476. I hope the | :48:57. | :49:10. | |
numbers greatly increase. I hope that women will help shape the | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
future of our society by standing for election in this place. | :49:15. | :49:28. | |
Today, I want to focus my remarks on the women who serve in our Armed | :49:29. | :49:37. | |
Forces, often in unsung role is. They work just as hard as male | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
counterparts, often harder. Many of us are not available of the huge | :49:42. | :49:51. | |
strides they have made. We now the great role women made in The Great | :49:52. | :50:04. | |
War and the Second World War water. The women's auxiliary Army Corps | :50:05. | :50:11. | |
formed 100 years ago provided women with jobs. The same year, the | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
women's Royal Mail service was created, which saw them taking on | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
domestic work in the Navy, freeing up men for other roles. Beyond the | :50:21. | :50:32. | |
uniform services, women took on a range of roles left vacant by men. | :50:33. | :50:42. | |
Women rose up and filled what were considered to be male roles. It | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
demonstrated to society what a valuable resource women or to our | :50:47. | :50:54. | |
society. The sex disqualification removal act of 1990 made it illegal | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
to exclude women from jobs because of their gender. Women have made an | :51:01. | :51:08. | |
integral part of our Armed Forces for 100 years. Today, 10% of the | :51:09. | :51:16. | |
total across that the three services are women. It represents an increase | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
of 3% over the last decade. There is very much more to do. Just as we | :51:22. | :51:29. | |
need more women serving in this place, the talent of women defending | :51:30. | :51:32. | |
our nation must be harnessed more effectively. The female of the | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
species brings a different perspective to the challenges of war | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
fighting and peacekeeping in the modern age. The presence of women | :51:44. | :51:55. | |
during peacekeeping talks is crucial. From Royal Navy officers, | :51:56. | :52:12. | |
who have taken control of one of our Royal Navy ships, our most senior | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
female army officer and the first woman to command a brigade of 5000 | :52:19. | :52:28. | |
soldiers. These women and the 15,000 serving across are three services | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
are an inspiration to girls and women today. They can be inspired by | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
the leadership these amazing women bring. The future of the Armed | :52:41. | :52:49. | |
Forces is safe in the future of its men and women. I encourage more | :52:50. | :52:57. | |
girls to study sciences and maths, then go on to become engineers and | :52:58. | :53:06. | |
have the extra military skill set of commitment and passion for their | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
chosen trade. This time next year, I hope to report the statistics will | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
continue to grow. I hope that my recent application to join the Royal | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
Navy reserves myself may be accepted. I encourage other | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
colleagues to consider this. I wanted to use my time to focus on | :53:26. | :53:40. | |
one of my constituents, a British citizen, charity worker, mother, | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
daughter and sister, a wife, who has been imprisoned in Iran for almost | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
one year. She lived down the road from me and her life was not very | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
different to mine until she went on holiday to visit her parents with | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
her two-year-old daughter, another British citizen, and was detained at | :53:59. | :54:08. | |
the airport on trumped up charges and was handed a five-year sentence. | :54:09. | :54:17. | |
Large periods of her detention have been in a notorious prison in | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
solitary confinement. Her health has been going down further and further | :54:22. | :54:24. | |
and her mental health has also been affected. Last week as she went to | :54:25. | :54:31. | |
the prison clinic she could not physically make it there, she | :54:32. | :54:34. | |
collapsed and when she came round many hours later she could not speak | :54:35. | :54:36. | |
for hours on end. Doctors at the for hours on end. Doctors at the | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
hospital in Iran have said that she needs treatment immediately in order | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
to prevent long-term damage. Her to prevent long-term damage. Her | :54:46. | :54:57. | |
detention shows that a lack of legal access fit in with the UN's | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
description of torture and it is not a surprise the UN have said her | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
detention is unlawful and arbitrate. It hundreds thousand people have | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
called for her release and I took a petition to the Foreign Office with | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
200 signatures of MPs, cross-party, from this House. I know that we are | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
not perfect in this country when it comes to treating women in prisons | :55:23. | :55:30. | |
million men, women and girls who are million men, women and girls who are | :55:31. | :55:35. | |
in prisons across the world in appalling conditions. An excuse that | :55:36. | :55:46. | |
is given is that the small proportion of women are so tiny that | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
circumstances have not been changed. It is not a good excuse so we need | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
to make sure that conditions for female prisoners are met. It is not | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
a surprise that the UN General Assembly unanimously in 2010 voted | :56:01. | :56:08. | |
for the Bangkok rules, the first international incident to look at | :56:09. | :56:11. | |
conditions appropriate for female prisoners across the world and | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
looked for safeguards for children of female prisoners. Iran has signed | :56:16. | :56:24. | |
up to the Bangkok rules but from my constituents they have flouted the | :56:25. | :56:26. | |
rules at every stage of her detention. Bear with me. I will read | :56:27. | :56:35. | |
out how her case has flouted these rules. Rule 23 states that | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
discipline sanctions for women prisoners shall not include | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
prohibition of family contact especially with children. Try saying | :56:45. | :56:50. | |
that to two-year-old Gabriela who spent her second birthday without | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
her parents and for the best part of this year has not seen her mother. | :56:54. | :57:00. | |
Rule 26 adds that woman prisoner contact with families shall be | :57:01. | :57:06. | |
facilitated by all reasonable means, especially those detained in prisons | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
located far from their homes. Try saying that to my constituent's | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
husband who has barely had any phone calls with his wife and when they | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
have there have been monitored by the Iran Revolutionary guards. Iran | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
signed up to the Bangkok rules in the same way we did and of course | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
our record is not 100%, we need to look at our prisons as well and our | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
female prisoners as well, but that does not mean that we should be | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
shutting our eyes to the abuse that goes on in other countries. We | :57:40. | :57:42. | |
should be shouting loudly to make sure that my constituent is united | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
with her family and brought back to this country. I went to the Foreign | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
Office along with a member from the opposite benches, and the Foreign | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
Secretary did not come down to receive the petition and has | :58:00. | :58:02. | |
repeatedly declined my requests for a meeting with him. I will end on | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
one note. I am a female MP and I am asking another female MP, the Prime | :58:09. | :58:15. | |
Minister, to do something, to release my constituent and bring her | :58:16. | :58:19. | |
back to West Hampstead to be reunited with her family. The Prime | :58:20. | :58:23. | |
Minister said she wanted to be a compassionate leader. If there was | :58:24. | :58:24. | |
ever a time to show compassion, this ever a time to show compassion, this | :58:25. | :58:32. | |
is it. It is an honour to follow the member and her very passionate | :58:33. | :58:39. | |
speech. The theme for this year's International women's Day is to be | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
bowled for change. In Medieval times a woman who killed her husband was | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
not guilty of just murder, she was guilty of petty treason because she | :58:49. | :58:51. | |
had betrayed someone superior to her. Her punishment was to be drawn | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
and burnt alive. In comparison, a husband to murdered his wife was | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
hanged. The crime was worse because she threatened with established | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
social order in which each person knew their place. He by killing his | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
wife did not threaten that order. The law was changed in 1828 and four | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
years later the reform act of 1832 gave the boat to 300,000 more | :59:18. | :59:24. | |
people, none of them women. -- the vote. When women's suffrage was | :59:25. | :59:36. | |
debated in this House, the majority of MPs were in favour of women | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
getting the vote but we did not get it until 1918. Some of the arguments | :59:42. | :59:44. | |
put forward for women not getting the vote are as follows. Women are | :59:45. | :59:54. | |
by nature subordinate to men. Men are made for public life, women for | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
private. Allowing women to vote, heaven forbid, allowed them to think | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
one day they could become MPs. An idea that was self-evidently absurd. | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
Only men should legislate for women because only men know what is good | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
for women. We have no grievances, but if so they can easily be put | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
right by men. X would get women overexcited and lead to nervous | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
breakdowns. If they had the vote they would be pestered on polling | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
day. Political parties had the wrong reason. For the Conservatives, women | :00:32. | :00:38. | |
voting with the two socialism and for the Liberals women were too | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
conservative by nature. The Liberals would lose elections. Not everything | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
has changed but some things have changed and I just wanted to put on | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
record woman that we must acknowledge who have been in this | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
place before us. The first female MP was elected in 1919 and we got our | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
first female cabinet minister in 1929, our first female Prime | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
Minister in 1979 and our first female speaker in 1992. Yesterday, | :01:10. | :01:16. | |
2017, my honourable friend the member for Copeland was sworn in, we | :01:17. | :01:25. | |
got our 456th female MP, finally surpassing the number of male MPs in | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
this House, and it has taken us 700 years. We are at 30% of the chamber | :01:29. | :01:35. | |
female, behind Italy, Germany and Norway, and Rolando Aarons. -- | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
Rwanda. For anyone who wants to enter politics, everyone from this | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
House will welcome them. We are now in the technical age, the first | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
generation of parliamentarians who have to deal with modern technology | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
and access it gives the public to their politicians. Those of us who | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
know social media know what it is like to occasionally go on to | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
Twitter and see a barrage of abuse from trolls, faceless and nameless | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
cowards who needs to be pulled out and challenged. I would ask the | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
Minister when she reaches the dispatch box, what more can be done | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
to put pressure on social media companies in encouraging them to | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
take down Haight and abuse focused on women just because of their | :02:26. | :02:27. | |
gender, faith or heritage? I want to finish by thanking some of | :02:28. | :02:45. | |
the female leaders in and around my constituency. In East Sussex, five | :02:46. | :02:56. | |
of our eight MPs are women. We also had a female chief executive of the | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
county counsel and a funeral policing crime commission. And | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
dozens of fantastic female councillors. They're the ones who | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
sure each and every day that politics is very much the business | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
of women. It is a pleasure to follow in this debate behind the honourable | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
member, and all of the female members who have spoken so far. It | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
is a great shame, notwithstanding the honourable member for Shipley, | :03:35. | :03:36. | |
that there aren't more men that there aren't more men | :03:37. | :03:46. | |
participating in this debate. The theme of this year's debate is be | :03:47. | :03:57. | |
bowled for change. To think outside the box, Invision and be more | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
inclusive and ensure a more gender equal and fair society and | :04:03. | :04:04. | |
ultimately to be the change we want to see in the world. Today, despite | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
all of the progress we have made, there are still too many women at | :04:10. | :04:17. | |
firstly impacted by cuts, wage disparity -- pay disparity, rape, | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
assault, female genital mutilation. I could continue but the list on the | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
serves to remind us how far we still have to go. Last week, my honourable | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
friend made history in this House by ensuring that the ratification of | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
the Istanbul convention would recede and I am grateful to all the | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
organisations who helped to deliver the services that women rely on | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
every day. Turning to the gender pay gap, while I welcome the | :04:53. | :04:53. | |
Government's moves on this, and Government's moves on this, and | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
there has been some progress and I was proud to sit on the committee | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
overseeing this bill, it does not go far enough. If a baby girl born | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
today has to wait until 2041 to achieve gender parity, that is not | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
good enough. I am pleased the Government is taking action but I | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
will always push for more. I want to do to highlight some of the bold and | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
courageous woman from my constituency who have acted for | :05:21. | :05:22. | |
change and who have made a difference. Women who have shaped my | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
worldview and my own view of politics, one of the reasons I stand | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
here today. This is not the institution I aimed to be in but | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
nonetheless we are here. I recently went to see the film Hidden Figures, | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
which showed the story of African-American women working at | :05:44. | :05:45. | |
Nasa. There are too many women Nasa. There are too many women | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
hidden in our society who do hidden in our society who do | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
ordinary and fantastic jobs every day and we should recognise them, | :05:53. | :06:00. | |
although there are no films made about an ordinary woman who works | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
hard but doesn't earn the same as a man. This year marks the 40th | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
anniversary of the election of Winnie Ewing in Hamilton, a lawyer | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
who became the second ever SNP MP in this House and so growing up in | :06:14. | :06:16. | |
Hamilton meant blowing strong passionate woman who, as a young | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
girl growing up, believed you could change things in politics and I hope | :06:22. | :06:28. | |
that is why I am here. She later went on to be known as Madam Ecosse | :06:29. | :06:38. | |
in Europe. We must make sure that Brexit does not mean removal of the | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
equalities protections we enjoy. Winnie Ewing was bold and acted for | :06:44. | :06:58. | |
change. Turning to Hamilton, it is also the home of the late and great | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
Margo MacDonald. She challenge the established political order in 1973 | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
in the by-election in Govan and went on to a long successful career in | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
journalism and politics. She lost the battle with Parkinson's disease | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
but never lost the courage to fight for what she believed in. She was | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
bold and brave and strident per change and that is something she | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
independence, something I hope I see independence, something I hope I see | :07:31. | :07:32. | |
in my lifetime. Turning finally to in my lifetime. Turning finally to | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
one more great woman who inspired me from a young age. It was Horse | :07:38. | :07:58. | |
McDonald. These are some of the inspirational women from Lanark and | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
Hamilton is. There are many more doing ordinary jobs who deserve to | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
be recognised. Turning to one final matter that I would like to change, | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
the Prime Minister has committed to reviewing domestic violence | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
legislation. I ask the Government considers cross-party calls for a | :08:20. | :08:30. | |
review on child maintenance. There is still much work to do and while | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
we celebrate women worldwide, my Angelo Ogbonna is said -- Meyer | :08:36. | :08:44. | |
Angelo once said if you don't like something, change it. It is a | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
pleasure to follow the honourable lady opposite. There have been many | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
excellent speeches so far and I am pleased there are so many women | :08:56. | :08:57. | |
being bold and bringing about change. | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
I am deeply proud to be Telford's first Conservative MP. I am far | :09:04. | :09:21. | |
prouder to be Shropshire's first female MP since 1929. That was the | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
greater challenge. No one should underestimate the difficulties and | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
roadblocks that are inevitably still they are for women who want to come | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
into Parliament and to want to get the voices of women heard. It might | :09:38. | :09:45. | |
not be as difficult as it was in 1929. Or in the days of my family | :09:46. | :09:52. | |
member, the militant socialist suffragette who was arrested for | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
smashing windows in Downing Street and was imprisoned in 1912 she | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
force-fed. I have no doubt that she would be proud and probably amazed | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
that I am here and I can go to Downing Street and make my voice | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
heard. Without the need to smash any Windows. When I do this in Number | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
Ten, the Prime Minister is a woman. I pay tribute to her for the daring | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
she had. And for the women who came after her and enabled us to be here | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
today. Sometimes, we minimise the difficulties women face in getting | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
into Parliament and staying there are. It does no favours to the women | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
still to come to this place, if we pretend there is not a problem. The | :10:42. | :10:49. | |
increase in MPs coming to this House since 2005 when there were only 17 | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
female Conservative MPs has created a transformational change in the | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
make-up of the House of Commons and has transformed the things we talk | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
about and the debates we hold. It is something to be welcomed. We must | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
pay tribute to the noble lady Baroness Jenkin, our Prime Minister | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
and the organisations who have helped many women over the years. | :11:14. | :11:28. | |
The work is not yet done. For more women to stay in Parliament, we need | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
to speak out about some of the obstacles in order to make it easier | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
for those who come after us. I am concerned about the tendency to | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
treat certain crimes where women are predominantly the victims and men | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
are predominantly the perpetrators as gender neutral crimes. I'm sorry | :11:51. | :12:07. | |
the honourable member is not here to listen to this. The perpetrators are | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
men regarding child locks by Titian. The victims are almost always women. | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
But because there have been some male victims, we are told it is a | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
gender neutral crime. Some crimes are predominantly carried out by men | :12:26. | :12:34. | |
against women. Child sexual exploitation is about the | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
exploitation of power. It is when men groom and trade young girls for | :12:42. | :12:49. | |
sex with other men. If we don't see in these terms and say it is a form | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
child abuse and gender is irrelevant, it doesn't take us any | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
further forward. This is a crime perpetrated by men against women, | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
and let's not pretend that it isn't. I don't have much time left. I shall | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
cut to the chase. As I began my speech talking about the | :13:14. | :13:21. | |
difficulties that still exist, most women do not want many special | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
favours and no one wants to be perceived as complaining. I didn't | :13:27. | :13:40. | |
want to be labelled as a woman who will only speak up for other women. | :13:41. | :13:52. | |
But now I am proud to serve as that. I want to talk about the match women | :13:53. | :14:02. | |
of London who set ablaze a fire of trade unionism. Who inspired an era | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
of labour organisation that would see workers' rights entrenched and a | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
political party of labour founded. These courageous women worked in | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
appalling circumstances in a factory in east London. In 1888, they came | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
out on strike to secure safe working conditions. Story has been | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
misrepresented. The impact on the early days of the labour movement | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
has been underestimated. Their victory is attributed to Annie | :14:34. | :14:42. | |
Besson. Let's give her her do. She has done much to highlight the | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
horrific conditions of the factory. But she was opposed to the strike | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
and feared for those who went on strike. But the version of history, | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
where defenceless waves of London's underclass wrestled with | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
middle-class champions has been comprehensively debunked by the | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
amazing and remarkable author Louise Rohr. In her book, she meticulously | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
details just how the match women led by five workers including Janeway | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
Clinton and Eliza Martin, they knew their own minds, they are the true | :15:26. | :15:37. | |
leaders. Witnesses at the time were in no doubt of the significance of | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
the events. The Star newspaper reported the victory of the girls is | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
complete. It was one without preparation, without organisation | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
and without funds. It is a turning point in the history of our | :15:52. | :16:01. | |
industrial development. These women are integral to our national story. | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
History records it was the heroic London dockers who spurred the | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
labour movement. It was London's working-class women a year earlier | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
who were the vital spark. The men learned from the women. John Burns, | :16:23. | :16:30. | |
a leading trade unionists at the time told the striking dockers men | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
stand shoulder to shoulder. Remember the match girls who won their fight | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
and formed a union. Today, the claims have echoed in the chamber. | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
But it ain't enough. We have no memorial to them. I have asked the | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
government before and I will ask again, please put pressure on | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
English Heritage. We need to have this changed. I have tried and I | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
have been unsuccessful. English Heritage don't seem to be | :17:04. | :17:11. | |
interested. I want a blue plaque. On the site, recognising the true | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
leaders of the match women's strike and the 1400 were men who came | :17:15. | :17:23. | |
together to withdraw their labour to demand safer and fairer working | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
conditions. A plaque to remember the women who organised and fought | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
against massive odds. Women who were instrumental in the founding of a | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
political labour movement and that continues to fight for fair pay and | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
conditions for all of Britain's workers. I am delighted to speak in | :17:44. | :17:51. | |
this important debate. I'm please to follow such a powerful speech. | :17:52. | :17:59. | |
Please count me in in Europe support of that campaign. The theme today is | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
women in the changing world. The global theme is being bowled for | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
change. There is much to be done in the next 13 years. The Prime | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
Minister has called the gender pay gap are burning injustice. I could | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
not agree more. We still have some way to go. British women still have | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
71% of the economic opportunity that men have. Other countries are doing | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
much worse, but the UK should be a leader in this area and sadly we are | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
not. The UN sustainable goal five talks about this as a world issue. | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
It is a sad statistic that between 1995 and 2015, statistics decreased. | :18:50. | :19:03. | |
69% of women are employed in the UK. 78% of men. The global gender pay | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
gap is 20%. The UK gender pay gap is 19%. Not something to be proud of. | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
We cannot lecture other countries around the world we have it better. | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
At current trends, it will take 70 years to close the gender wage gap. | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
The government has vowed to registered within a generation. We | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
must look hard and we can make a difference. One way to address this | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
is by looking at Alder women in the workplace. I want to talk about | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
older women returning to work. One finding from the select committee is | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
that women who have been out of the workplace for more than six months | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
find it difficult to get back into employment. The longer they are out | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
of work, the harder it is. I set up the all-party group was my | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
honourable friend to look at the barriers to work. We have standing | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
room only and most are meetings. I wish it was not so. Our first | :20:06. | :20:13. | |
enquiry was about women returning to work. We published our report in | :20:14. | :20:21. | |
January. There are some good examples of companies already doing | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
it. We need to do much more to get people on board and see the wisdom | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
of tacking into older women employees. Full of work-related | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
experience. Companies that cannot see the potential are in my view | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
missing a big trick. To put it simply, there is a huge pool of | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
talent out there. People take time out of the workplace for all sorts | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
of reasons. Some people took time out because we think parenting is | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
the most important job in the world and want to take responsibility for | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
bringing up the next generation. There is nothing wrong with that | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
few. For others, childcare costs are an enormous barrier to women who | :21:05. | :21:13. | |
want to return to work. 30 hours of free childcare will help, but I fear | :21:14. | :21:22. | |
that too many men and women will not take time out of work for fear of | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
struggling to get back into work afterwards. The more measures the | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
government can put in place to balance work and life commitments | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
for men and women will help look after children. We need to take this | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
further. In our report, we found few people were taking up shared | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
parental leave. Just 1% of men are taking it up. It is considered | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
complicated and unwieldy. There is little recognition of the women done | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
at home. We have to stop this idea that just because you've taken time | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
out of the workplace you are any less capable. My heart sinks when | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
people dismiss mothers and fathers who stay at home. What is more | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
important than bringing up the next-generation? Many women who have | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
been out of the workplace for some time have lost confidence. Several | :22:23. | :22:32. | |
organisations address this. Companies need to be flexible in | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
their approach and their conditions. We must not see a gap in a CV as a | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
barrier and show our reluctance to employing somebody. Employing older | :22:42. | :22:50. | |
men and women is a huge benefit. I challenge companies, be bold for | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
change and lead the way. Obviously none of us should simply | :22:54. | :23:05. | |
be a number but being only the 440 women to be elected to this place is | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
astonishing to me in this day and age when we would all like to | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
believe we are beyond all of that, but we are not. Both at home and | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
further afield the life chances of women and girls are too often | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
hindered by barriers, sometimes insurmountable ones which should not | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
be there. We all know of exceptional awe-inspiring women in the public | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
eye who have against all -- against all odds overcomes these barrier. | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
But there are the result of the public eye who are just as | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
mother-in-law who spent her young mother-in-law who spent her young | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
life in rural India where she taught young woman herself before moving to | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
Scotland where she raised her own family with all her girls taught to | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
be strong and independent woman as she was. There are individual women | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
all over the world fishing against the barriers and today we must | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
applaud them. I saw an advert recently, an Indian TV advert about | :24:12. | :24:20. | |
a man running a sweet shop. The message behind the advert was that | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
his store was called Gertie Singh and daughters and that girls can do | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
anything by scan, which is true. It is a shame that still in 2017 we | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
even need to say that but we do and it holds true here just as much as | :24:39. | :24:45. | |
it does in India. Too often we are still not any renewal where we | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
should be. Last year the median average earnings for full-time | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
female employees were ?12.82 as opposed to over ?14 for men. In this | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
House, it has a long way to go as well. I am pleased that the Scottish | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
Government is very focused on action to make a difference to these and | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
other areas of women's lives and we need action, and action here as | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
well, like the brilliant work of my honourable friend from Banff and | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
Buchan who did a good job with her Istanbul convention bill. We need | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
Scottish Government's committee as Scottish Government's committee as | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
influential. Role models like our First Minister make a significant | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
difference to women's lives and their aspirations and beliefs of our | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
girls, and also our boys. As the mother of boys, I am doing them a | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
huge disservice if I don't spend time making sure that my fantastic | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
boys understand that girls and boys, men and women, are equal in value, | :25:54. | :26:03. | |
ability and in every way. The fact that equality for women is at the | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
heart of our vision for an equal Scotland, and seeing that commitment | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
in action in those who influence us, does make a huge difference. It is | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
important for all our children to see these principles of equality and | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
well as in their own daily lives. We well as in their own daily lives. We | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
all now someone whose commitment to women's issues and equality has | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
inspired others. We must amplify that in this place. We need to live | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
it everyday and sure it so that all of our young people have every | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
prospect of success will their identity. When I was a little girl I | :26:40. | :26:46. | |
can't say I was inspired much by the most famous female politician of the | :26:47. | :26:47. | |
day. Even then I knew that she did day. Even then I knew that she did | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
not speak for me. But I also knew perfectly well that I could do | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
whatever I wanted with my life and be whatever I wanted. Because I was | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
inspired by another politician and much closer to home, my own mum, who | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
lived a life very far from ordinary and believed in her girls in a way | :27:09. | :27:17. | |
that every child deserves. Someone being the change she wanted to see | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
in the world, and that is what we all need to do in this place. Here | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
in our Westminster ivory tower we are in the most privileged position | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
and if we do not use it to push the rights of girls and women we are | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
letting ourselves down, we're letting our girls down and our boys. | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
Let's rise to this occasion, not just coming year every year and | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
agree that the rights of women really do merit some attention. | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
Let's all commit this year to making a concerted effort to do the big | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
things and the small things, makes the decisions and change the | :27:56. | :27:58. | |
policies that really will make a difference. International women's | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
Day is an opportunity to celebrate the amazing achievements of women | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
across the world so I want to begin by marking some of the great | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
competition and is -- accomplishments of women from my | :28:15. | :28:25. | |
constituency. On offer's accolades include the first female headteacher | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
of a Welsh school and establishing the first-ever Welsh drama | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
department. Sian Lloyd is one of the UK's longest serving weather | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
forecasters. Aside from her meteorological work she is also | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
known for her charitable efforts, including support for the Prince's | :28:44. | :28:44. | |
Trust. The achievements of women Trust. The achievements of women | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
have built our world to where it is today but so many women are still | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
suppressed and limited by a world which still favours men. I want to | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
encourage each and every male MP to use the platforms we have been given | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
to highlight this injustice. It is our duty in parliament to highlight | :29:05. | :29:07. | |
injustices and one of the greatest that remains in the world today is | :29:08. | :29:10. | |
barriers preventing women from succeeding. The situation for women | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
in the UK should embarrass us all. In the workplace, for every ?1 a man | :29:17. | :29:25. | |
earns, a woman and 81p. One in ten people have experienced -- women | :29:26. | :29:27. | |
have experienced sexual harassment and work. There are an feral | :29:28. | :29:33. | |
pressures on women which men simply do not face in day-to-day life. One | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
in five women are carers and there can be more significant difficulties | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
in balancing work life with other responsibilities. Globally, only | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
five countries have gender pay gap below 10%. Internationally, only 1% | :29:50. | :29:59. | |
of land is owned by women. Progress is being made but the speed is too | :30:00. | :30:08. | |
slow. I believe men must be more vocal on these injustices. The fight | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
for gender equality should be led by women but as allies of the fight | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
male MPs must use the platforms we have been given to highlight | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
injustices faced by women. I want to focus for a moment on the scale of | :30:21. | :30:31. | |
femicide in the UK. The report details the case of nearly 1000 | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
women in England and Wales killed by men since 2009. It demonstrates the | :30:36. | :30:43. | |
worst products of sexism in the UK. The report showed that the majority | :30:44. | :30:44. | |
of women killed by men arm killed by of women killed by men arm killed by | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
their former or current partner, in what is described as the final act | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
of control. In an abusive relationship, women said as cold -- | :30:56. | :31:06. | |
women's aid has called for... The partnership also called for a | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
specific recognition that post separation is a heightened risk | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
period for women leaving abusive relationships. The report and | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
recommendations were published on Wednesday 7th of December. On the | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
following day I called on the Government to make a statement on | :31:25. | :31:27. | |
what they would be doing to put a stop to any more women being killed | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
at the hands of men through domestic violence. 12 weeks later I am | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
public response from the Government public response from the Government | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
to the recommendations that I am aware of. In Cardiff Bay I am | :31:39. | :31:46. | |
pleased at the action being taken by the Welsh government. The act of | :31:47. | :31:54. | |
2015 improved the consistency, quality and joined up service | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
provision and introduced a needs -based post ton approach which show | :32:00. | :32:13. | |
and -- showed a strong... Since the act the Welsh government has | :32:14. | :32:15. | |
consistently led for new ways of tackling the issue of domestic | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
violence. I started my speech by naming two famous women because of | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
their various field of expertise and Dzhokhar session 's -- | :32:25. | :32:34. | |
accomplishments. Despite those women having success in their professions | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
I want to pay tribute to all the women who are the lifeblood of our | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
communities. The women who run football clubs, youth clubs, scouts, | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
guides, public servants, entrepreneurs, all the women who | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
hold public office in the land, their leadership is vital and their | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
achievements are many and they do a downside better job often than many | :33:04. | :33:12. | |
of the men I know. I am pleased to represent the Liberal Democrats at | :33:13. | :33:15. | |
this debate on International women's Day is number 454 but I am also | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
proud to say in contrast to some of the previous members' and beacons, I | :33:21. | :33:27. | |
am the third Web Den woman to represent my seat -- Lib Dem women. | :33:28. | :33:37. | |
I get to go home to my family every evening and spent time with them | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
every morning. It is a blessing to me but it means I live a life of | :33:42. | :33:44. | |
contrasts. Yesterday I spent the first part of the morning trying to | :33:45. | :33:47. | |
get my son to clean his teeth and might daughter to brush her hair and | :33:48. | :33:54. | |
then I challenged the Prime Minister about her spending on education. Of | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
the two things the latter was more remarked upon. But in many ways, | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
getting my son to clean his chief was -- clean his teeth was the | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
greater achievement. But nobody noticed, cared or uploaded me for | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
it. It often sounds ironic herself deprecating to refer to the tasks of | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
motherhood is more taxing. We are so used to underplaying the work we do | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
in the home that we don't think anyone will take us seriously if we | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
talk seriously about it. Today, in the spirit of the motion to | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
recognise the achievements of women I want to celebrate the an | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
acknowledged, unrewarded achievements. Childbirth, the | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
ultimate feminine achievement. Women are often told not to make a fuss. | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
Millions of women have done it through history without access to | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
pain relief and so on. For me, the births of my babies continue to be | :35:01. | :35:04. | |
the most profound experience of my life. We don't actually talk all | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
that much about childbirth. We discuss the timing and order of | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
events, how long or Labour took, but we haven't developed a language for | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
how it makes us feel. Although the experience leaves a lasting imprint | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
it is never fully acknowledged. The memory of childbirth remains with | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
us, but never fully expressed. I want to say what a huge achievement | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
it is to give birth and how proud we should be of our capacity to do | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
that. I so want to acknowledge the first weeks and months of a baby's | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
life when a woman gives herself entirely to looking after a child. | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
Whether our children are now fully grown adults or still small children | :35:53. | :35:55. | |
they are only here because their mothers kept them alive in those | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
early weeks and months. Their effort and sacrifice this takes is often | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
dismissed or overlooked so I want to say today to mothers everywhere to | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
be proud of what you did and your be proud of what you did and your | :36:08. | :36:10. | |
without you. The long days and short without you. The long days and short | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
years of childhood that follow are full of minor successes, getting | :36:15. | :36:21. | |
hard work of persuading resisting hard work of persuading resisting | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
children to do what is best for them. Each triumph is a building | :36:27. | :36:29. | |
reward is a very long way away and reward is a very long way away and | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
nobody will remember the battles he fought to make it happen. To every | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
mother who managed to get their children to the school gates on time | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
this morning, particularly in their world book Day costumes, be proud, | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
don't underestimate yourself, it is a great achievement to raise | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
children. I am conscious people will think I am stereotyping women by | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
referring only to their achievements as mothers. But I want to focus on | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
the things that only women can do. I am just as proud of women who | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
achieve great things in other fields, especially if they do it | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
against a background of gender bias. I don't want to ignore the role of | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
men in child rearing. Older fathers I know are equally involved in the | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
difficult bits of parenting as the mothers are but this debate is about | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
International women's Day and we should acknowledge that globally the | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
vast majority of child-rearing and domestic work is done by women. That | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
is why our achievements are so often until it and underestimated. I am as | :37:36. | :37:46. | |
grateful as any other women my age that social progress has enabled me | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
to have a broader life than just a wife and mother and I am grateful | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
other women are making the most of opportunities to leave their homes | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
and go to work. It makes a positive difference not just of them and | :37:58. | :38:04. | |
families but to our society. But it means... We have found ways to | :38:05. | :38:11. | |
outsource the task of child-rearing from our own pocket. The job of | :38:12. | :38:21. | |
looking after sick and elderly relatives is increasingly being done | :38:22. | :38:29. | |
by the state. I have been inspired by what I have heard this afternoon. | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
I have rewritten this speech so often as I was sitting here. I am | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
going to do the one I originally started with! When I was asked if I | :38:39. | :38:45. | |
would take part in this debate I was also asked if I could get a | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
perspective from in older woman. I resisted all of about ten seconds | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
because I have now fully embraced my age. | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
A mother gives her child the best future she possibly can. She teaches | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
her children what her mother taught her also. My mother was born in 1919 | :39:13. | :39:21. | |
and was an intelligent caring woman and only wanted what was best for | :39:22. | :39:33. | |
her daughters. She used to say, don't argue with your father, just | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
know that you are right. I could never take that advice and I | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
frequently argued with him. But I could only do it when it was only | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
him and me there are. He still had to be seen as the man of the House | :39:49. | :39:57. | |
and untouchable and unarguable. My husband was raised by his mother and | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
his four older sisters. Women are still a complete mystery to him. His | :40:04. | :40:10. | |
mother insisted that George didn't have to do any housework, why should | :40:11. | :40:18. | |
he? He had four sisters. I have frequently heard how they felt about | :40:19. | :40:27. | |
that. Many years later, he said to our daughter, why haven't you tidied | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
up? She said to him, why haven't you asked my brother is that? He said, | :40:33. | :40:41. | |
because you are out girl. I am not denigrating my husband. I asked him | :40:42. | :40:44. | |
if it was all right if I told the stories. He knew I was going to do | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
it anyway, but I just want to point out how much progress has been made | :40:52. | :40:59. | |
in this regard. My husband would be horrified if his granddaughters | :41:00. | :41:07. | |
didn't receive equal opportunities and equal pay and equality | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
across-the-board. He would be absolutely heartbroken. This is how | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
progress has been made. It's not been easy and it is an ongoing work. | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
But in my household, we have made progress. I have been discriminated | :41:26. | :41:32. | |
against personally in my lifetime. I secured an exciting new job, setting | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
up job centres across the East coast of Scotland in 1974. When I phoned | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
to confirm the final arrangements for starting, I mentioned I was | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
pregnant. I was told, goodbye. I never started that job. It is | :41:50. | :41:58. | |
absolutely vital that the kind of results I had to take our never | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
revisited. Although there are laws to protect us, it's attitudes that | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
matter. Attitudes have to change. When I started working, I actually | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
got equal pay with the men I worked alongside in Midlothian county | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
council. However, when I was a counsellor before I entered this | :42:20. | :42:26. | |
place, in 2012, I found myself on a working group on equal pay. The | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
women of North Lanarkshire counsel, some of them, the ones who did the | :42:32. | :42:39. | |
best and worst jobs, lollipop woman and support assistance, they had | :42:40. | :42:46. | |
fought for a ten year and only when they went to a woman lawyer, Carol | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
Fox, was their claim finally made. This should not happen. I don't want | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
this to be about me, my family or the UK, I went to a website last | :42:58. | :43:08. | |
night. I fully support the in poverty is sexist campaign. It is | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
vital we educate women across the world. To call an African proverb, | :43:13. | :43:22. | |
if you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you educate a woman, | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
you educate a family and a nation. Let's do that and make sure there is | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
no cut in what we give to women internationally. I congratulate the | :43:36. | :43:47. | |
Member for Birmingham for securing this debate. I would like to address | :43:48. | :43:56. | |
the need for an ambitious change in attitudes and culture, as well as | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
legislation to protect the victims of rape and sexual violence. There | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
were 35,000 complaints of rape between 2015 and 2016 in this | :44:09. | :44:18. | |
country. Just 2700, 7.5%, resulted in convictions. 90% of rape victims | :44:19. | :44:26. | |
are female. 10% are male. Last week, I was fortunate to visit Argentina | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
with Westminster foundation for democracy and I spoke with a deputy | :44:33. | :44:40. | |
about the huge protests in the streets last October, following the | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
drugging, rape and brutal murder of a 16-year-old. According to the | :44:45. | :44:57. | |
popular movements, one woman is killed every 30 hours in Argentina. | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
There are still protests on the streets today. This is despite the | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
fact there was a lot passed in 2012 against so-called female homicide. | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
Legislation without enforcement, without cultural change is not worth | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
the paper it is written on. As the model today reminds us, we must be | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
bold. Old enough to engender change on all levels. From police | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
attitudes, to the process of the justice system, and most importantly | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
the outcomes and experiences of the victims. I attended the police | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
parliamentary scheme last summer and it was interesting to see the work | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
done by the police in addressing attitudes. Legislation alone will | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
not make a difference. We must address culture in all stages of the | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
criminal justice system. Following my Private Members' Bill last month, | :45:56. | :46:03. | |
the UK Government has contributed to a review into section 41 of the | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
youth justice and criminal evidence act of 1999. A move which I | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
wholeheartedly welcome. The act sought to stop rape complainants | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
being questioned about their previous sexual history by a | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
third-party. This act came into effect in 1999. This is the case. | :46:25. | :46:32. | |
This is not what people are experiencing in court. 36% of rape | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
trials overseen by the North Sea number eight -- the Northumbrian | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
panel last year included questioning about the prior sexual conduct of | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
the complainant with the third party. The numbering -- number of | :46:46. | :46:53. | |
harrowing cases I have heard shall this tactic is deployed by many | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
defence lawyers across the country. The brutal cross-examination of rape | :46:59. | :47:07. | |
victims is traumatising when the system should be protecting these | :47:08. | :47:15. | |
victims. They seek to portray people as promiscuous, so they are less | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
credible to the jury. Harm is done to victims under the noses of judges | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
in our courts. The procedure is from the 1999 act are being disregarded. | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
This victim blaming attitude must be stamped out in the justice process | :47:33. | :47:39. | |
and in our society as a whole. We are being reminded to be bold for a | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
change. At home and abroad, we have an obligation not just to change | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
legislation but also to change perceptions of rape and sexual | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
violence to ensure that all victims, regardless of gender, have the | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
confidence to come forward and report these serious crimes. I hope | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
all members across this House join with me as we continue to battle to | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
change the laws and the attitudes which real victims in this society | :48:07. | :48:13. | |
and abroad. Thank you. It's a pleasure to follow that inspiring | :48:14. | :48:22. | |
speech. Yesterday, Labour made a short film for International Women's | :48:23. | :48:25. | |
Day. One of the things we were asked to do was to complete the sentence, | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
I want to live in a world where... I said that I wanted to live a world | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
where violence against women was eradicated and rape was no longer | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
used as a weapon of war. What I wanted to go one to say was that I | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
wanted the statistic of two women murdered every week by their partner | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
or ex-partner to also be eradicated. This figure remains stubbornly the | :48:52. | :49:03. | |
same. Nor mind of passing laws appears to make a dent in that | :49:04. | :49:14. | |
figure. As we have heard, those two women per week are not statistics. | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
They are real people, colleagues, friends, mothers, sisters and | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
daughters. Leading up to their deaths is usually a catalogue of | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
assaults not reported, partners pleading they will change and a | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
repeat of the cycle of violence. Imagine the trauma of being a child | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
growing up in that situation, seeing the two most significant adults in | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
that child's life fighting. Going to bed at night, wondering if the night | :49:46. | :49:48. | |
will be broken by yet another argument. Worrying all the time. | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
Sadly in many cases thinking all this is normal. Because that is all | :49:56. | :49:58. | |
that child has experienced, living in a state of permanent high | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
anxiety. The fallout from domestic abuse is white. Get that figure of | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
two deaths per week sticks stubbornly. I was pleased to hear | :50:09. | :50:16. | |
our honorary sister, the Member for Ogmore, talking about this earlier. | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
We need to do something about the funding of women's refuges. Too many | :50:22. | :50:31. | |
women are turned away. It is a statutory not funded provision by | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
councils. I want to talk about the plight of women around the world. In | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
any kind of conflict, women often have fewer resources to protect | :50:42. | :50:44. | |
themselves and with children frequently make up the majority of | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
displaced and refugee populations. War tactics such as sexual violence | :50:50. | :50:58. | |
specifically targets women. But women are almost completely missing | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
from peace negotiations following conflict. The international | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
community have recognised that the contribution of women is vital in | :51:10. | :51:16. | |
securing peace. A historic resolution on women, peace and | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
security was passed. It calls for women to participate in peace | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
building. And have access to justice and services to eliminate | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
discrimination. Yet almost 17 years on, more than half of peace | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
agreements make no mention of women. Conflict are facing new threats, | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
including climate shocks, global health in derricks and violent | :51:43. | :51:45. | |
extremism, directly targeting women's rights. No more than ever, | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
we need the peace and security agenda. I want to finish with these | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
words. When you have warfare, things happen. People suffer. The | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
nonconfidence sufferer, as well as the competence. And so it happens in | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
civil war. Is a good deal of warfare for which men take a great deal of | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
glorification which has involved more practical sacrifice on women | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
than it has on any man. These are not the words of our sisters from | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
Nigeria, Iran, Sri Lanka or any sisters from around the world. These | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
words of Emmeline in 1913. Yet still these words ring true and have | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
relevance to the international community of women today. This week, | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
it was my pleasure to vote on the design of a statue of Emmeline | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
Pankhurst to be erected in Manchester, as are welcome relief to | :52:49. | :52:55. | |
the many statues of men. Gracie Fields now has a statue. And | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
Victoria Wood will stop we have a statue. I go back to where I | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
started. I want to live in a world where it is no longer unusual to put | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
up a statue to a prominent woman. Not just in greater Manchester, but | :53:11. | :53:12. | |
the world over. It is a pleasure to sum up on the | :53:13. | :53:21. | |
half of the SNP in this debate. The chamber always feels like a | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
different place when it is mainly women in it. Not least we don't hear | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
funny noises or unrecognisable signs to most of us. It feels like a | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
period of reflection. I would like to pay tribute to many women who | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
have spoken out in the past year with great bravery, not least my | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
colleague from Edinburgh West when she spoke a while ago and many have | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
spoken about domestic violence or assault. I salute them all and I'm | :53:51. | :53:58. | |
sure everyone watching knows it takes tremendous courage to speak on | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
such personal issues in public. I would like to contribute to my | :54:04. | :54:13. | |
colleague who spoke about mothers, that we should remember those who | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
have lost mothers and also how much mothers offer society. Our levels of | :54:20. | :54:27. | |
tolerance often have to be increased depending on who is speaking image | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
and what they're saying that I would like to pay particular tribute to my | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
Tory colleagues across the the way who I feel on certain occasions have | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
to have such higher levels of tolerance and the rest of us but you | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
do it with such grace. I am grateful to many of the brilliant | :54:47. | :54:48. | |
contributions you have made in the chamber today and in religion to | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
their contributions, the member for Birmingham Yardley who speaks | :54:53. | :55:00. | |
eloquently with such passion, starting proceedings with another | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
for Slough who spoke about the woman for Slough who spoke about the woman | :55:05. | :55:15. | |
who injure a terrible plight. The member for Berwick-upon-Tweed spoke | :55:16. | :55:18. | |
about women in the Armed Forces to whom we pay continues tribute. The | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
member who spoke about social media and I have the pleasure of being on | :55:24. | :55:31. | |
a programme with two members about how social media abuse can affect | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
women disproportionally. Another member reminded us about those jobs | :55:38. | :55:45. | |
which are the most important, men and women bringing up their | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
families. And what seems like a small child, getting children to do | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
minor things, they are major triumphs and we should never forget | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
those. I pay tribute to the member for Motherwell and Wishaw who spoke | :55:59. | :56:09. | |
about her husband, who if not a feminist through choice then | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
certainly one through submission. The main themes of international | :56:13. | :56:26. | |
women's day, excellent themes which we support. I would like to reflect | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
on the achievements of women in the past year. In May 2016 tie on | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
elected the first ever female president. -- Taiwan. In Kaboul, the | :56:37. | :56:52. | |
first-ever woman on the University. And then the appointment of the | :56:53. | :57:02. | |
Prime Minister. Women are underrepresented when compared to | :57:03. | :57:11. | |
the percentage of the population. We have more female lawyers than ever | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
before but that does not mean that our legal system has real gender | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
balance. We have seen many female journalists and can I pay tribute to | :57:20. | :57:25. | |
Sophie Reg, her new programme, and Emma Byrne on radio five. I have no | :57:26. | :57:35. | |
doubt the face a different level of scrutiny than their male | :57:36. | :57:44. | |
counterparts. They produce excellent programmes. Having more women in | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
journalism doesn't necessarily mean that reporting of politics is more | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
balanced. I'd like to speak about some experiences in the chamber. My | :57:54. | :58:00. | |
honourable friend made an excellent speech about equality and mentioned | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
Winnie Ewing. The first female SNP MP came down to Westminster and | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
talked about being stocked at night. She said she noticed the problem in | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
the Select Committee on Scottish affairs. She said she noticed one MP | :58:18. | :58:28. | |
started to follow her around without saying anything. She went to ring | :58:29. | :58:35. | |
for a taxi. She saw the public doors swinging in front of her and felt | :58:36. | :58:39. | |
afraid but went on through the door and through the steps. As she turned | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
on the stairs, there was her stalker in front of her looking sinister. I | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
tried to humour him as I wanted to reach the cloakroom where there was | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
an attendant, without anything happening. He kept staring and | :58:55. | :58:56. | |
following me that I made it and told following me that I made it and told | :58:57. | :58:59. | |
the cloakroom attendant what was going on. That was in 1970 and this | :59:00. | :59:09. | |
is in 2017 but in 2017 you also get barked that in the chamber and I | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
want to say today that I'm sure I see... Speak for all women in the | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
chamber when I say we have had more than enough of this nonsense. While | :59:22. | :59:28. | |
previous female MPs were isolated I feel that if we work in our numbers | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
we can make positive change. It is not about fighting for equality for | :59:33. | :59:34. | |
the sake of it, but it is making the sake of it, but it is making | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
sure this Parliament, this place is more representative of democracy. A | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
female Prime Minister doesn't mean female Prime Minister doesn't mean | :59:44. | :59:46. | |
we have a parliament built on equality because in 2017 we only | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
have 30% of sitting MPs who are women. But we have made progress and | :59:52. | :59:57. | |
we should celebrate it where it occurs. I would like to speak | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
briefly about violence against women and congratulate my colleague on her | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
excellent work on the ratification of the Istanbul convention. It | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
demonstrates working across the chamber can make a difference. It | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
was one of them are brighter days of my time here at Westminster. More | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
than 35% of women around the world have experienced either physical or | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
sexual violence. Intimate partners are responsible for 38% of women's | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
murderers. The honours based violence network believes there are | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
5000 honour killings per year, of those, 12 are thought to be in the | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
UK each year. Unicef claim at least 200 million women today have | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
undergone female genital mutilation and the World Health Organisation | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
estimates around 3 million gross per year, risk of this procedure. 2016 | :00:57. | :01:07. | |
was indeed a difficult year with our solidarity being put to the test in | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
Donald John's election and it is more -- Donald Trump. I see on the | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
agenda next week we have a debate to which I am looking forward, a | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
petition relating to high heels and workplace dress codes. I am | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
interested in if there can't possibly be a contrary opinion to | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
women being able to wear what they want when they want, whatever that | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
may be but I have no doubt one will undoubtedly surface from somewhere. | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
We must continue our work in achieving a gender balance. In | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
Parliament, journalism and civil society. We need women in all parts | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
good for women but because it is good for women but because it is | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
good for all of society. While we do not agree on everything and there is | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
not a singular female view, there are opportunities for those of us | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
across the political spectrum, who belong to all parties and those are | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
belong to none, to come together about the things that matter most. | :02:19. | :02:27. | |
It is a real pleasure to speak in such an important debate and I want | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
honourable friend for Birmingham and honourable friend for Birmingham and | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
Yardley for securing this debate today and also thanking her for her | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
ongoing commitment to women's equality, our passion and dedication | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
to women and particularly to ending domestic violence. It is second to | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
none. This House is definitely a better place having her in it. When | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
I first came here I was blessed, my career before was in the arts and | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
then health care, professions dominated by women, so it was a | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
shock to come into this place. It wasn't just the low numbers of women | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
I found here but the fact that our voices were very rarely heard. I | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
came into Parliament to give people who do not have a voice a voice in | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
this place so I was surprised when even in here our voices either | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
shouted over, belittled, called hysterical or not engaged with at | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
all. It is something we must change and it is why I am so grateful for | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
debates like these. Because of that I think it is important that I give | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
most of my time to reinforcing the sisters in this place and give their | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
voices and extra platform. I would like to start with the right | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
honourable member for Basingstoke who proposed quarters on ministerial | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
appointments. And grateful she raised the revenge pornography | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
helpline. It is good government has brought legislation around us but we | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
have to see the money following the policies. Domestic violence is not | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
just physical violence. The honourable member for Slough gave an | :04:15. | :04:24. | |
incredibly upsetting, powerful and very appropriate speech for this | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
chamber and I hope we can debate this issue more. She championed | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
women who are being persecuted, bought, sold, raped, exploited, | :04:37. | :04:47. | |
commodified by Daesh. It is a barbaric form of slavery and | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
something we have to stop and I urge the Government to do all it can to | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
prevent this. It was right that Honourable member for | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
Berwick-upon-Tweed gave us the history of women in the Armed Forces | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
and how far we have come and I am grateful to other members who raised | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
their impact on families as well. The Honourable member from Hampstead | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
and Kilburn spoke of her constituent who is imprisoned in Iran and | :05:13. | :05:22. | |
Iranian government are breaching the Iranian government are breaching the | :05:23. | :05:23. | |
Bangkok convention they have signed Bangkok convention they have signed | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
up to. Half a million women in prisons around the world and I also | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
want to raise the fact that the Holloway prison is being sold off | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
and the pressure this is likely to put on women. Personally I do not | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
think prisons are the right place for women and the number of women in | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
are imprisoned for evading TV are imprisoned for evading TV | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
licences or stealing nappies because they can't afford them, there is | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
something wrong with our system at the moment. And the Honourable | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
member for Weldon who was so good at giving the history of women's rights | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
and interventions that brought her to this place and I am grateful to | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
her words welcoming all women and girls to go into politics that come | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
them. The Honourable member from them. The Honourable member | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
Lanark and Hamilton highlighted the Lanark and Hamilton highlighted the | :06:17. | :06:18. | |
think it is right that we pay our think it is right that we pay our | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
respects to those women who give us the power to keep going, the | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
inspiration that we can do this. And move to the Honourable member from | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
Telford two has been doing some superb campaigning around child | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
exploitation and again you are right, in this place we often talk | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
about violence being gender neutral and a lot of it is not and we must | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
name it for a gender violence whenever it is. The Honourable | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
member for West Ham, another powerful speech. It frustrates me it | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
is down to us to correct history and rightfully draw attention to the | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
fact that in 1888 to the match-winning lead by just -- match | :07:00. | :07:08. | |
women led by five women changed history and effectively created the | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
trade union movement. There is no movement for them. Anguish heritage | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
needs to listen and I would support her. I want a statue, it is only | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
right. The Honourable member from right. The Honourable member | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
Portsmouth South, it is so Portsmouth South, it is so | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
frustrating we have to keep going back to the gender pay gap and the | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
obstacles that are preventing us closing that gap as quickly as all | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
others in this would like. I am grateful to her raising the issues | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
that prevent women returning to work and make it more difficult for them | :07:46. | :07:47. | |
to reach their full economic potential. The Honourable member | :07:48. | :07:55. | |
from East Renfrewshire, how lovely to talk about mothers and boys in | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
that relationship and how important for her to say that we must | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
demonstrate to them equality in public life so we can inspire them. | :08:05. | :08:14. | |
The Honourable, honorary sister, I am just so grateful to have the | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
Honourable member's voice here and I do a lot of speeches around gender | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
violence, gender inequality, and I tend to be speaking to a of women. I | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
am looking forward to the day when this chamber, when we have debates | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
about women, is 50-50 men and women in here. He was right to highlight | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
great local women and that men have a duty to be championing these | :08:41. | :08:48. | |
abuses against women. He is also right to highlight the fact that he | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
is still 12 weeks on waiting for a response to his questions. The | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
Honourable member from Richmond Park, we welcome her, and it was | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
interesting for you to put a very personal spin on that conflict | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
balance between parenting and working, one which is not helped by | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
this chamber but which this chamber has a duty, legally, to help for | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
other women. The Honourable member from Motherwell and Wishaw, I loved | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
the line, don't argue with your father, but you are right. | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
Unfortunately some of us didn't get the following line so I am grateful | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
to her mother. Also to her for giving examples on how progress is | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
being made. Sometimes it feels it is achingly slow the progress we made | :09:40. | :09:41. | |
so thank you for showing as it happens. | :09:42. | :09:49. | |
. The next honourable member, highlighting rape statistics, | :09:50. | :10:16. | |
campaigning for the processes of justice. I would like to turn to the | :10:17. | :10:30. | |
next honourable member who is a great campaigner around the fact | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
that two women per week are murdered by their partners. I was grateful | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
she drew attention to the impact on the children, on the broader family. | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
So often, their voices are not heard and there is no support usually for | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
those people who need it the most. I was grateful that the honourable | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
member raised the fact that funding for refugees is decreasing all the | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
time. It is very concerning that because of funding cuts local | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
authorities are going to a generic provider, rather than the specialist | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
support so vital. Like her, there should be -- I agree that there | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
should be statutory funding, not at the discretion of local authorities. | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
Finally, I want to echo the voice of the Member for South Perthshire, who | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
salutes all the women over the last year, particularly those in the | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
chamber who have come forward and use the horrors they have been | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
through to try to change legislation and attitudes. International Women's | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
the start of the 20th century. It roots traced back to 1908 when | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
15,000 women marched through Newark city, demanding voting rights, | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
better pay and shorter working hours. I can only see it as a sign | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
that this year's International Women's Day falls on the same day as | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
the Spring Budget. I urge the Minister to ensure that this budget | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
works for women. Thank you. I would like to start by congratulating the | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
honourable member for Birmingham Yardley and others who secured this | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
important debate today. And all the inspiring female MPs and the one | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
brave male MP who have taken part in the significant debate. | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
International Women's Day is significant. It is an inspiring | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
annual event to celebrate the achievements of women past and | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
present. It is a great opportunity to take stock of how far we have | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
come and to keep fighting for what we believe in. And to look at how | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
far we still have to go. I'm grateful for the thoughtful | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
contributions across the House today. I'm proud we have our second | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
female Prime Minister and our Parliament is getting more diverse. | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
It has been 700 years in the making. By anybody's standards, that is | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
painfully slow. She is right to call on any women watching us here today | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
to come and join us. It is the presence of women in this chamber | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
today that have changed what we have talks about. This is the reason | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
having this debate today, because there are so many more female MPs. | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
The theme for this year's International Women's Day is be | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
bowled for change. The government wants to be bowled for change. It is | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
only through being bold and courageous that we can create the | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
lasting change we all want to see. No country can cruelly succeed past | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
half the population is left behind. Despite the conscious efforts of men | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
and women across the years, barriers exist and the government is | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
committed to tackling those barriers to equality wherever they present | :14:13. | :14:14. | |
themselves. International Women's Day is for everyone. Gender equality | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
is not a 0-sum game. True equality enables men and women to be who they | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
want to be come a unconstrained by outdated stereotypes. Members across | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
the House sure the government's commitment to driving the agenda | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
forward. It is hard to believe that the select committee was only | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
started in June 2015, given the breadth and range of the enquiries | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
they have brought forward so far. Their work is rightly recognised and | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
respected. I'm pleased to announce that the House of Commons intends to | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
make the select committee permanent. This is a fitting testament to the | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
commitment of the members of the committee. Special tribute to the | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
very dynamic leadership of my right honourable friend, the Member for | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
Basingstoke. I pay tribute to her and the whole committee further | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
amazing achievements and their work in this important space. Gender | :15:22. | :15:23. | |
equality is the right thing to do and is good for society, good for | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
the economy and essential to unlock the potential of women in the | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
workplace. We need to build a stronger economy that fully utilises | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
the talents women had to offer. I'm proud there are more women in work | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
than ever before. Gender pay gap is lower than it has ever been. But we | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
must go further and the government is committed to eliminating that | :15:46. | :15:54. | |
gender gap entirely. Ground-breaking legislation next month will require | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
the pay and bonus gaps to be published. This will shine a light | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
on the difference in pay between men and women. We are setting the | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
standard for highly productive agile working practices by having brought | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
in shared parental leave and extending the right to flexible | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
working and providing 33 hours of childcare -- 30 three hours. -- 30 | :16:23. | :16:39. | |
hours for free. The government published the partnership approach | :16:40. | :16:42. | |
document which sets out key actions the government is seeking to support | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
older workers to remain in the labour market. I was struck by the | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
words of one woman I met who had gone back into the workplace after | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
many years of care and responsibility, she said it was the | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
first thing in her life she had ever done for herself. Those words stayed | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
with me. We want to sport women and girls throughout their life. To get | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
the whole picture, we must look from the classroom to the boardroom and | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
beyond. We are supporting girls and boys in school by giving them the | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
tools they need to be safe and confident, to develop healthy and | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
respectful relationships. Yesterday, Secretary of State for Education | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
announced our plans for 21st-century relationship and sex education. We | :17:32. | :17:39. | |
will ensure that all children have the possibility to learn what | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
healthy relationships should look like. It should begin in primary | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
school and extend into secondary school. In business, female | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
representation has gone from strength to strength. Is society can | :17:55. | :18:06. | |
be better represented. To ensure women and girls succeed, they have | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
to be free from all forms of violence. The key to this is a | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
strategy to prevent violence against women and girls. Sadly, many members | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
of this House have had their lives invaded by the threat of online | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
violence. There should be no public or private space where violence | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
should be allowed to continue. That means eradicating violence and abuse | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
of any kind anywhere. My right honourable friend for Basingstoke | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
rightly asked about the future of the revenge pornography helpline. We | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
are looking closely at how we can continue to support this moving | :18:53. | :19:01. | |
forward. The Prime Minister recently committed to review legislation. | :19:02. | :19:12. | |
Were determined to ensure the law is working to protect women and girls | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
so intervention and prevention, not crisis response, is the norm. Once | :19:19. | :19:28. | |
again, the list of women killed at the hands of violent men was read | :19:29. | :19:42. | |
out. Every name is one too many. No girl should grow up in fear of the | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
threat of violence. The honourable lady for Kilborn spoke about her | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
constituent and drew attention to the plight of women and girls | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
overseas in prison. I will personally take this case up with | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
Number Ten. The honourable lady from Slough was right to outline the pain | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
and suffering endured by the Jazz CD woman. Something we should never | :20:15. | :20:26. | |
forget. We heard how important it was to support girls in the most | :20:27. | :20:35. | |
marginalised communities. We have helped women get access to financial | :20:36. | :20:42. | |
services. These examples underline our commitment to promoting gender | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
equality at home and overseas. I am proud we are a world leader in this | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
work. The honourable lady from Basingstoke asked about the number | :20:51. | :21:02. | |
of police regarding domestic abuse. New training focuses on recognising | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
coercive behaviour. It has been rolled out in five police forces. | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
Many more are in the pipeline. The honourable lady from | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
Berwick-upon-Tweed made an excellent speech on the half of women in the | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
Armed Forces. She is a feisty champion on behalf of the Armed | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
Forces. Despite excellent initiatives, there remains more to | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
do. We have raised our target to 15% in the next three years. The | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
honourable lady from West Ham spoke about the match girls and match | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
ladies. I saw a play about this when I was at school. It was inspiring. I | :21:41. | :21:50. | |
would back her calls to have those ladies recognise. Finally, | :21:51. | :21:52. | |
International Women's Day is a fantastic opportunity to take stock, | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
to recognise the progress made, to celebrate the amazing women past and | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
present who have fought the battles, who continue to fight every day in | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
the name of equality. An opportunity to discuss how much further we have | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
to go. A time to remember there is more to do. A time to remind | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
ourselves to be bold in the pursuit of change. I shall be incredibly | :22:19. | :22:26. | |
brief. I would like to say thank you to the committee. I'm thanking | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
myself. Thank you to everybody who spoke in the debate today. With much | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
passion and consensus. One of the names I had to read out today was | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
the name of Jo Cox, my friend and colleague. Her voice should always | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
be heard in this place, so I shall let her have the last word. When she | :22:53. | :23:00. | |
was asked what sort of feminist she was, the idea that we are all | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
terribly divided, her answer was a massive one. The question is on the | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
order paper. Point of order. This week, the | :23:12. | :23:28. | |
Member for North East Somerset was in my constituency. I offered to go | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
with him to the fundraiser but he rejected my advances. Today, I | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
opened the local paper to read he had described the pygmy nature of | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
the opposition. Does he think that term is appropriate when standing in | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
the constituency of the shortest member of Parliament? In terms it | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
was used, he is normally a very courteous member and he gave notice, | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
I'm sure it wasn't with intent. And certainly the member who has raised | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
the point of order I know will be personally having a quiet word in | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
his ear. I'm sure there was no intent. If there was intent, you | :24:16. | :24:23. | |
will have to come back to me. We now come to the backbench debate on | :24:24. | :24:31. | |
Welsh affairs. We are oversubscribed. Five minutes. | :24:32. | :24:41. | |
I beg to move that the house has considered Welsh affairs. I would | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
like to thank the backbench committee for selecting this debate | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
and the co-sponsors. I want to pay special tribute for the member for | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
Cardiff North, for joining myself and others in putting the case | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
forward for this debate. I am proud to be a Welsh MP and proud to serve | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
in the House of Commons. Proud to be Welsh and British, and to be an | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
internationalist. I say that because of the enormous contributions Wales | :25:13. | :25:14. | |
has made to Britain and to the globe. I was hoping to make these | :25:15. | :25:22. | |
opening remarks as the Welsh team were on their way to winning the six | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
Nations Championships and by now the triple Crown winners. That is not so | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
but we still are a very united country! That is the theme of my | :25:31. | :25:39. | |
brief speech today. That of unity. Yesterday, we celebrated, as Welsh | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
people with patriotism, and we had an excellent service within the | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
House of Commons, where the speaker 's chaplain, I want to put it on | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
record, Mr Deputy Speaker, officiated in the service in English | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
and Welsh. It is now on record that we are allowed to use the Welsh | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
language in future Welsh grand committee debates. I think that it | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
is important and I would say to Deputy speakers that they should | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
take a leaf out the book of the speaker 's chaplain and attend one | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
of those debates and speaking Welsh and English. Because, I know that he | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
is a great visitor to my constituency and to many parts of | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
Wales. Before I move onto some of the issues that we have had shaping | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
the last 12 months, I wanted to say that in the last 12 months there has | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
been some good news. I remind members of the excellent performance | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
of the Welsh football team in the year rose 2016, when we led the way | :26:35. | :26:42. | |
for the UK. -- Euro 2016. And Labour was returned to government in the | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
Welsh assembly, and we have a Welsh First Minister. Simpson David Stone | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
2016, there has been some issues which have divided the country and | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
the world -- since Saint David's day. Issues which have divided Wales | :27:01. | :27:13. | |
and the UK, and we have seen Bush be elected as president... I mean | :27:14. | :27:21. | |
Trump, he is worst than -- worse than Bush, Deputy Speaker. But there | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
is talk about building walls. When suddenly talks about building walls, | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
asks which side do you go? That is divisiveness that we need to put an | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
end to. Of course, we need political debate and critical thinking. And, | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
broad opinion to shape our future. I think we also need to stop talking | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
about Brexiteers and remain as man talk about the 100% we elected to | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
represent. In Scotland, they still talk of the 45% but if we are to | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
move forward, we must move away from tribalism and move to unite us all. | :27:57. | :28:05. | |
Welsh MPs, as you know, have played a pivotal role in this House of | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
Commons. They have brought forward policies and concepts which have | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
united the UK. I talk about the National health, something we all | :28:16. | :28:23. | |
support. It helps all our people. And the member who brought in the | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
national insurance act to get social protection to everybody in the UK. | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
It has shaped our politics and the politics of the UK. I believe we | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
should unite in consensus across the parties on big themes, that will | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
unite Wales and the UK. I talk about social care for one. Looking | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
forward, we must make sure that we have social care for all of our | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
people and have that debate here in this house, as Welsh MPs. Because, | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
over the last few years I've been saddened to see the divisions in | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
health be used politically by parties, to divide us when it should | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
be there to unite us and social care to unite and help the most | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
honourable in our society. I also feel that we need to look at the | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
digital revolution as something that can unite us as well. We need to | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
find 21st-century solutions and superfast broadband is something, a | :29:22. | :29:28. | |
theme, I would like to move on to. It liberates our communities. It | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
liberates families. I know of Welsh families who now have their sons, | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
daughters and relatives around the world who speak to them on a regular | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
basis because of the Digital IT facilities they have. But, many | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
people, and many people in rural areas and periphery areas of Wales, | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
do not have the same facilities when it comes to digital IT facilities | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
that they have in some larger towns and cities. We'll be honourable | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
member give way? Thank you. Yet heading the effort to get this | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
debate. It is not just a matter of householders and rights and | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
opportunities, but being serious about developing the economy in this | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
peripheral areas that we need to get right in terms of broadband. | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
Absolutely right, I was going to come onto businesses. I welcome the | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
digital economy Bill, for some time I've been arguing that we need to | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
have universal coverage in the UK and it's been resisted for too long. | :30:30. | :30:36. | |
Now, it is in the bill. United as Welsh MPs, we can take the lead and | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
have the digital build universal service obligation which rolls out | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
in Wales first. I say to the secretary of state, who I know is | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
paying attention on the front bench, this is pivotal to take up and | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
Cabinet. The Welsh government is a single body working with BT, rolling | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
this out and like in England, where there are a number of roll-up | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
bodies. -- unlike in England. We could be ahead of the game. I hope | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
the secretary of state will listen and respond in a positive way, | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
because I have worked, as many members have, with BT open breach | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
and with the Welsh government, and worked to get individual businesses | :31:18. | :31:26. | |
connected -- open breach. According to the library, there are many | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
constituencies in Wales behind the UK average when it comes to | :31:30. | :31:39. | |
superfast broadband roll-out of the minimum. We need to move forward on | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
that and I would say to the secretary of state that we need a | :31:44. | :31:46. | |
cross-party group on this to work for it. We can be pioneers, we can | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
lead the way, because Wales represents, with periphery areas and | :31:52. | :32:00. | |
sparse populations, we could be a microcosm of the rest of the UK and | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
I would urge him to work with me and others on that. I also wanted to | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
talk about those rural areas. Many of those rural areas which do not | :32:11. | :32:13. | |
have superfast broadband at this moment do not have gas mains, pay | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
more for their fuel, and are very much at a disadvantage, and | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
excluded. It's an issue I raised when I talk about broadband being | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
one step to those areas. I would hope that the members would work | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
with me on their campaign to do that. And we need a transport system | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
which works for the whole of the UK. I know the government has been | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
pushing the case, with the Welsh government and others, to get better | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
cross-border facilities, particularly in South and North | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
Wales. It is important that we are an integral part of the UK network. | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
I say to the secretary of state, he will get backing this side of the | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
house a few pushes for electrification of the North Wales | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
line but also better facilities between North Wales and Manchester | :33:04. | :33:06. | |
and Liverpool airports, because it is essential many of my | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
constituents, like the honourable member for other Conway, they do not | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
come down to Heathrow and Gatwick if they can get to Liverpool and | :33:17. | :33:19. | |
Manchester, making that easier for them would Negredo for the people of | :33:20. | :33:21. | |
North Wells. -- would mean a great deal for the | :33:22. | :33:34. | |
members of North Wales. I was very moved by my colleague who mentioned | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
Jo Cox, I want to say that her maiden speech will go down in | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
history. Not for how she left us so sadly but the fact that she talked | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
about uniting people, and that more unites us than divides us. We must | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
take that forward as an emblem. On Saint Davids Day, one of the first | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
Saint Davids Day debates was one of my predecessors, Lady Megan Lloyd | :33:58. | :34:05. | |
George was one of the pioneers who stood up for the women of the UK and | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
Wales, as an integral part of the UK. She was not afraid to talk about | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
high unemployment, she had good sense to move from the Liberal party | :34:17. | :34:19. | |
to the Labour Party, but she pioneered those very exotic. I think | :34:20. | :34:29. | |
Wales can be proud in the House of Commons that, throughout the year, | :34:30. | :34:30. | |
we are pioneering members, we worked best | :34:31. | :34:41. | |
for our constituents and for Wales in a UK, as outward looking | :34:42. | :34:43. | |
internationalists and I am proud to open this debate. In fact, I am sure | :34:44. | :34:52. | |
that you said something earlier! I would be grateful for the honourable | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
gentleman... Albert! How long have you been here! I am grateful for my | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
honourable friend allowing me to intervene. He brought up issues for | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
government and I would like to ask if he would put the impact of | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
re-evaluation on business rates on businesses throughout England and | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
Wales, it is helping some businesses considerably but only today, Deputy | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
Speaker, I received notice from one business that business rates are | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
rising from ?22,000 per year to ?66,000 per year from the 1st of | :35:29. | :35:31. | |
April. The government should address this in the budget next week, would | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
you agree? I do, it is an issue I would have raised. We did have | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
re-evaluation earlier in Wales and had a transitional period. Many of | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
our friends in England, they are looking to Wales to see what | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
happened. We are working together to help rural businesses be evaluated | :35:51. | :35:58. | |
on the size of their premises, as many horse riding schools in my | :35:59. | :36:01. | |
constituency, one I visited, I did not ride a horse, but I've visited | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
and they are suffering from that. Regarding Brexit, I feel the UK | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
Government must take the Welsh dimension to Brexit far more | :36:13. | :36:15. | |
seriously and I am sure, and I hope, that they will. The joint | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
ministerial committee is an important one in areas which are | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
highly devolved to Wales. The voice of Welsh MPs and the Welsh people | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
needs to be filtered through to government level. The prime and | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
estate is the Prime Minister of the UK and she represents Welsh | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
interests -- the Prime Minister. It is important they have a firm voice | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
in those negotiations going forward. With that, I beg to move and I will | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
listen to and respond to the debate. Can I just say the honourable member | :36:47. | :36:54. | |
mentioned I go to Wales and I do like it is one of the best areas. | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
The Welsh Rugby league came in this week to profile, I want to make sure | :36:59. | :37:06. | |
that everybody is aware of how important rugby league is as well as | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
rugby union. The house considered Welsh affairs, and I now call David | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
TC Davies with a five-minute limit. Members will be well aware that Mr | :37:17. | :37:26. | |
Carrick has persuaded the Welsh government of the ?9 million into | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
his company to develop this, but has so far been unable to get the | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
private sector to back it without assurance from the Welsh cup meant | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
they will provide over ?200 million as a loan guarantee. Mr Carrick | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
claims to be an expert at building infrastructure, he's been involved | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
in attempts to build areas in the Shetland Islands, to biomass | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
projects in Africa, a river barrage scheme would. None of these have | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
been successful, many say that they've been let down and owed money | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
in more than one case. I could give examples but I do not have the time | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
that Mr Bob Long from Fleetwood tried to set a river barrage. Mr | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
Carrick told me he had the funds to develop it but the money never | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
arrived. Mr Long claims the project has almost been ruined as a result. | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
The website, which members can look at here if they wish to, implies it | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
is responsible for managing a fund worth ?350 million to build UK | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
infrastructure but the company houses records, that they can also | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
look at, suggesting it only has ?500 in the bank. With ?9 million of | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
public money, he decided to buy a specialist motorcycle company based | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
in Buckinghamshire, which was shown as being a dormant company until | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
August 2012, then it sprang to life and, by August 2013, it showed | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
liabilities of ?350,000. Losses grew but when I met him in July last | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
year, told me he would turn it around and it would be an anchor | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
business for the site and lead to a Welsh rider winning a world Grand | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
Prix, then it was in administration. If you cannot make success of a | :39:08. | :39:10. | |
small company, should be tax payer be backing him in a venture worth | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
several hundred million pounds? He bought the rights to hold the MotoGP | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
championships as a stone but has so far made a loss of over ?1 million. | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
Local companies which have done work for the project and not been paid, | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
they have done it at risk. But there is one supplier who's been paid in | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
full, again using public funds. Mr Carrick decided to appoint a | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
financial consultant to give advice to the scheme and the company he | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
appointed was a company which he 100% owns and controls. | :39:43. | :40:00. | |
Civil Service rayed concerns and were overruled. He spent ?35,000 on | :40:01. | :40:11. | |
landscape gardening: They also spent thousands of pounds on political | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
events for the Labour Party and the Conservative Party as well, although | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
I don't have those invoices. When I raised all this, he told me he was | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
entitled to spend the money as he pleased and that it had other | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
sources of income, other than public money from the heads of the valleys. | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
I asked him, he cited GE. I said General electric. I contacted them | :40:37. | :40:38. | |
and they told me, he asked for money but didn't get any from him. One of | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
his associates told me BMW were planning to buildal world theme park | :40:43. | :40:45. | |
at the site. I checked and they said it was ludicrous and they had no | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
plans to do so. Again I have all of this in writing. Mr Carrick's | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
lawyers, who were in touch with me frequently claimed I made all this | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
up or they did do, but fortunately for all concerned I have a | :40:57. | :40:59. | |
high-quality recording of the meeting and they have had to accept | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
all comments were made. I can share the transcript of the meeting of | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
anyone who is interested but of course the recording without | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
permission which you doesn't seem willing to give. I asked him about | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
the business plan and he said he could rent out the track for up to | :41:17. | :41:25. | |
?20,000 a day. But even if he did manage to do this, members would see | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
be would be able to pull in ?13 million of revenue on a project | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
that's going to cost ?430 million to build. I'm intrigued why this | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
project is increasing in costs, up to ?380 million when I met him in | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
July and seven months later it is risen again at ?430 million. I have | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
two other interesting documents. One a quote from the construction | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
company, SBC for ?180 million for building a project we are told is | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
worth ?430. So with a few hotels chucked in, it takes explaining and | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
the second is a business plan showing a developer profit of ?13 | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
million. I'm grateful to the honourable gentleman giving wane I | :42:09. | :42:10. | |
commend him on the investigations into the episode. What does my | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
honourable friend think of the broader lessons that should be drawn | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
about this, about Welsh Government ministers attitude towards public | :42:20. | :42:21. | |
money? The first is that nobody should be able to make ?13 million | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
on a project before it is built. The second I is that is it is an | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
outrage. It is a pipe dream. Those who are asking difficult questions | :42:34. | :42:35. | |
are being threat enwhied with legal advice by an expensive group of City | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
lawyers. 9 million of tax payers' money has been wasted. The only | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
infrastructure we have seen is the you work done to his Manchester | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
Granchester. And the only sports car is the Aston Martin he drives around | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
in. The honourable gentleman aware that the Wales audit office is | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
looking into the affairs of this company and has he be be contributed | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
this valuable information to the Wales you had a ut office? I'm | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
grateful. Yes I have contributed to quite a bit to the Wales' audit | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
office and I'm looking forward with great anticipation with there. Are | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
you I believe it is time to pull the plug on this and if the Welsh | :43:17. | :43:19. | |
Government want to put ?200 million of our money at risk there are | :43:20. | :43:22. | |
better ways of doing it and better people to be doing it W It is a | :43:23. | :43:30. | |
pleasure to follow my neighbour, I hope where he and I would agree son | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
the principle of the response of investing into the heads of the | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
valleys, and the creation of jobs in the valleys, something I would come | :43:40. | :43:42. | |
to in a moment. It is economic development, Mr Deputy Speaker, and | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
I want to focus my remarks on today. In recent days we have seen the good | :43:47. | :43:54. | |
news. We saw yesterday on St David's Day, for example, the signing of | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
Cardiff capital region city deal. Good news for the South West Wales | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
region but we have seen concerns there are about Ford workers in | :44:05. | :44:07. | |
Bridgend which underline, if there were any need top underline, the | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
need for a coherent strategy from the UK Government in the years | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
ahead. Whether people voted Remain or Leave in last year's referendum, | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
nobody voted to become poorer. We have to ensure that the structural | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
funding that is in place continues beyond to 20. That the foreign | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
direct investment that the Welsh Government deserves great credit. We | :44:35. | :44:36. | |
tonne attract to Wales, particularly last year it was a 30 of had year | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
high, continues into the future and also that we put steel, which | :44:41. | :44:46. | |
afterall is a foundation industry, as central to Wales' economic | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
future. Mr Deputy Speaker there are immediate priorities and long-term | :44:50. | :44:56. | |
priorities. Immediately we have to secure tariff-free access to the | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
single market and indeed the Welsh Government securing Wales' future | :45:03. | :45:05. | |
document, produced together with Plaid Cymru, sets out quite clearly | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
that importance of participation in the single market alongside a | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
balanced migration policy, given that over two-thirds of Welsh | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
exports go to the single market. But in the longer term, we need a vision | :45:17. | :45:23. | |
of what a post-Brexit Wales should look like. There are currently in | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
place over 50 free trade arrangements that the European Union | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
has in place. Those will clearly now need to be replaced going forward. I | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
have to say, I have before me the white paper that was produced by the | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
UK Government. And there is a chapter on securing new trade | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
agreements with other countries. 19 numbered paragraphs, no mention | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
wasever in it of Wales' position and the Welsh perspective on those trade | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
agreements. Yet, that same document sets out between 2005 and 2014 some | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
of the fastest-growing export markets in r in places like China, | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and it will be about - if I may say so - | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
the UK Government working with the Welch Government. The Welch | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
Government already has 14 overseas offices in place, ready to assist | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
with the creation of these new trade agreements. And whilst it is welcome | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
that the joint ministerial council has been in place since last | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
November, nonetheless, the actual - I will give way. I'm grateful to the | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
honourable gentleman. My eared pricked up when he mentioned the | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
Welsh Government furntly funds 14 overseas offices to assist with | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
international trade. Given the very extensive network of embassies and | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
High Commissions that the UK Government from Westminster fund | :46:47. | :46:48. | |
around the world, precisely to assist with international | :46:49. | :46:51. | |
development, why does the taxpayer need to be funding these duplicate | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
offices? Well, in a sense, the right honourable gentleman gives me | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
precisely my point, because we need a Welsh perspective in these trade | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
deals that are going to be constructed post-Brexit. And may I | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
also say as well, how important it was that the Welsh Labour Government | :47:12. | :47:21. | |
nationalised Cardiff airport, from the Opposition from Conservative | :47:22. | :47:24. | |
Assembly Members because that airport is absolutely crucial from | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
Wales' economic future. In addition, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would say this | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
- the constitutional arrangements of Wales in 2017 are very, very | :47:35. | :47:40. | |
different from those that existed in 1972, when Wales entered the then | :47:41. | :47:43. | |
European economic community. And what we have to ensure, too, is when | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
those rules, over certain matters, whether it is agriculture, certain | :47:50. | :47:52. | |
parts of transport, environmental matters, that are currently being | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
set in Brussels, when they are repatriated to the UK, that they do | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
not exclusively come back to this Parliament, when actually they are | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
more appropriately and should be more appropriately based with the | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
Welsh Government in Cardiff and it is absolutely vital that we bear | :48:10. | :48:16. | |
that in mind as we go ahead in the debates to come. But there is, I | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
think a broader here, Mr Deputy Speaker, I thought the honourable | :48:23. | :48:25. | |
member, from Ynys Mon, who I congrated late on leading this | :48:26. | :48:28. | |
debate and he put it very well, talking about dealing for the 100%, | :48:29. | :48:31. | |
what is in the best interests of people going forward. Because, of | :48:32. | :48:37. | |
course it is be a slutedly vital that the workers' rights, | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
environmental protections, and the consumer protections, that we retain | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
those as we move into a post-Brexit Wales. But let's not just have the | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
ambition of retaining them. Let's have the ambition offing Mr upon | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
them, of making our consumers better-protected of stronger | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
environmental protections and building on the workers' rights, | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
2459 membership of the European Union has established and indeed | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
deepened over the years past. But vital, Mr Deputy Speaker is our | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
focus on Wales' economic well-being and it is ensuring that the voice of | :49:13. | :49:43. | |
Wales is heard loud and clear in the negotiation, ahead and being able to | :49:44. | :49:45. | |
produce a prosperous post-Brexit Wales we all want to see. I'm | :49:46. | :49:48. | |
delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the debate and I want to | :49:49. | :49:51. | |
focus on a number of key areas. One thing we can agree is Wales' place | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
in history. As part of this the importance of infrastructure in | :49:56. | :49:56. | |
creating economic growth cannot be understated. If we do not have the | :49:57. | :49:59. | |
right road, rail freight and air network, Wales will not fulfil the | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
potential it has. We cannot rely on the UK Government whilst the Welsh | :50:03. | :50:04. | |
Government sits back. Wales be grinds to a halt every morning and | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
evening and noe a dozenling array of brake lights at Newport. Haulage | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
companies, workers trying to commute and families going about their every | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
day lives, all bonded by that most Welsh of experiences, sitting in | :50:16. | :50:21. | |
your car with the hand brake up as high as it can go around the tunnels | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
or Port Talbot bypass. Whilst opportunities disappear to other | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
opportunities of the UK. The Welsh Government continues to delay | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
traffic relief for the M4, with reviews and endless committees. I | :50:35. | :50:37. | |
would be a rich man indeed if I had a pound for every time I heard the | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
phrase -- task and finish group, whilst a member of the Assembly much | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
it was certainly more times than I heard of an undertaking of the vital | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
work. The overcrowded two-train carriage service that is arrive | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
every hour or so that slow an ageing road network and lack of bus network | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
means many are unbe able to travel for work or create the businesses | :51:00. | :51:02. | |
and commerce they are capable of because the infrastructure is not | :51:03. | :51:05. | |
adequate. We need to be bolder and more daring in our thinking. Will my | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
honourable friend give way I will. My honourable friend has been | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
focussing on transport fra. But another key part of the | :51:15. | :51:17. | |
infrastructure that Wales needs is energy infrastructure. He has been a | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
great champ yovent Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, as have I, would he agree it | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
is vitally important we press on this and see the project moved | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
forward? -- champion. I'm grateful and if you bear with me I will come | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
on to thatch there are positive points the Department for Transport | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
has invested into the Great Western line and a city express rolling | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
stock to be introduced in services to Cardiff and Swansea will provide | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
passengers on the line with a more comfortable journey and ge ceased | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
journey times. I have spoken with the department of ministers on this | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
matter and others to ensure we look at new solutions to transport | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
problems, by greater services to West Wales or a complete | :52:03. | :52:05. | |
reconfiguration of services with a Swansea pathway station and another | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
solution is to unlock the vast potential we have in South Wales and | :52:11. | :52:20. | |
implore everyone on both sides to work together in lobby to make the | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
positive changes for the people who we present. Move on to perhaps the | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
slightly brighter note, I want to briefly talk about the Swansea Bay | :52:27. | :52:28. | |
tidal lagoon. I've spoken at length of the benefits of the project but | :52:29. | :52:32. | |
it is a huge proort for Gower, South wefted Wales and our nation. -- a | :52:33. | :52:35. | |
huge opportunity. This will put Wales on the map as a world leader | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
in renewable energy and its be associated skills' base, this is | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
exactly the sort of game-changing infrastructure project that Wales | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
needs and I know through many meetings across Government with | :52:47. | :52:49. | |
ministers it is being looked at closely. It is on the topic relating | :52:50. | :52:57. | |
to the lagoon I want to broach post-Brexit much it is vital we | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
encourage skills development. The colleges in Wales are doing | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
excellent work providing skills and education for a wide age range, not | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
just to individuals but can make a difference to the families and | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
country. The lagoon could be the catalyst that unlocks a greater | :53:14. | :53:16. | |
level of skill training and development that can encourage jobs, | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
investment in engineering and this could then enable companies to | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
invest in other projects in Wales to benefit all of our consits. So, I | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
want to bring up, before I finny, Deputy Speaker a local issue that | :53:30. | :53:31. | |
has cross-party support work. I want to speak of the loss of the cockle | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
industry and the loss tot economy in South West Wales of about ?23 | :53:38. | :53:40. | |
million over the last ten years much that was once an extremely | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
successful industry in Gower, supporting the community and with | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
the livelihood of many people, and now there is a 95% mo tarility of | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
the cockles when they get to one-year-old. -- mortality. The | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
cockle beds has never recovered since 2005. In 2000 this area had | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
the best cockles in Europe and exported to France and Spain. The | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
cockles are no longer suitable for the high end market and there is a | :54:09. | :54:14. | |
limit to how many can be sold. Local cocklers are unable to guarantee a | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
regular supply. The season starts in May but is finished by July, where | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
it used to be year round and local cocklers believe they are being | :54:25. | :54:26. | |
killed by discharges of sewage, I have so say the science arounds it | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
remains a mystery and national resources Wales I believe, together | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
with Bev radio should be working to the as this is a problem that | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
affects other parts of the UK. We need to work together to help save | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
the industry in Gower and going forward we can look to the future of | :54:44. | :54:51. | |
the lagoon but we mustn't forget the great artisan shape of the | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
industries. I want it finish on the note, although we face challenges I | :54:56. | :54:58. | |
believe that challenging our institutions to do more top bind | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
fold projects to drive Wales forward and with us as elective | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
representatives, fighting the corn core of our constituents in common | :55:06. | :55:10. | |
cause we can forge a better and more prosperous Wales that stands ready | :55:11. | :55:11. | |
to embrace the future. Central, I want to focus my remarks | :55:12. | :55:41. | |
today on the importance of the higher education sector to Wales. | :55:42. | :55:43. | |
People in Wales have long understood the value of a good education from | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
the late 19th century, when working men pooled their wages to find early | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
universities, to seven universities where they are thriving like never | :55:54. | :56:04. | |
before. 77% of research was put in the top tiers of wild research, | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
Cardiff research was judged to be the fifth best research university | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
in the whole of the UK. Walsh universities are at the cutting edge | :56:15. | :56:15. | |
of research into renewable energy, agricultural methods and | :56:16. | :56:30. | |
health research. We have the Cardiff University brain imaging Centre | :56:31. | :56:31. | |
which brings together world expertise in brain mapping and the | :56:32. | :56:34. | |
latest in brain imaging and brain stimulation. The centre, known as | :56:35. | :56:36. | |
Kubrick, plays a pivotal role across the world to understand neurological | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
conditions like schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis, to provide vital | :56:43. | :56:49. | |
clues in developing treatments. Higher education accounts for 5% of | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
our national GBA and generates 1.83 billion itself, powering 1.14 | :56:54. | :56:57. | |
billion in other industries every year. Although our universities are | :56:58. | :57:01. | |
often portrayed as being other than in Wales, they are based in diverse | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
areas and benefit the entire nation. Of the nilly 50,000 jobs created by | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
the higher Education Secretary in Wales, there are many without a | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
university based in their boundaries -- nearly. It highlights that | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
success in higher education delivers success doctors for local | :57:23. | :57:24. | |
communities but every community across Wales. We know success is not | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
inevitable. It has taken an incredible amount of work from | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
teaching and research staff, students, administrators, university | :57:34. | :57:36. | |
managers and leaders, to make our universities what they are. It has | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
also taken a lot of hard cash and a major source of it has been the EU, | :57:41. | :57:46. | |
both through programmes like Horizon 2020, and the European region | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
develop and funding. I am reminded every time I drive past Kubrick. | :57:52. | :57:56. | |
Without ?4.5 million of EU funding that Cardiff University had for | :57:57. | :57:59. | |
that, the land where the centre stands would have remained as | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
wasteland. A home for rats rather than researchers. Its examples such | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
as this and why, during the referendum, the Welsh Conservative | :58:10. | :58:11. | |
leader pledged that they would not get a penny less funding when they | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
left the EU. The secretary of state has repeatedly refused to replace | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
the current level of EU funding available to Wales and by extension, | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
to Walsh universities. Even the quips about cheques bouncing, it | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
would be bitterly ironic for Wales if we discovered the Welsh | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
Conservative leader has been writing checks his boss cannot cash. The | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
refusal to guarantee future students and pan-European student programmes | :58:40. | :58:48. | |
like Erasmus, it echoes Barbie and our shores, and Wales is already | :58:49. | :58:54. | |
paying the price for stop applications were down 8.45% on the | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
prior year. Those students put over ?130 million into our universities | :59:02. | :59:04. | |
and local economy, the reduction in applications mean some of the | :59:05. | :59:08. | |
brightest people in the world are not now choosing Wales, and this is | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
our loss. The government could take a simple step to seek to halt the | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
decline and reduced the widespread and growing perception EU students | :59:18. | :59:20. | |
are not welcome here. They could give a guarantee, like they've done | :59:21. | :59:32. | |
for 2016-17 and 2017-18 student cohorts from the EU. Students | :59:33. | :59:34. | |
starting courses next year will have identical tuition fee status and | :59:35. | :59:36. | |
access to financial support. Last week I heard from representatives of | :59:37. | :59:38. | |
University medical students concerned about NHS workforce | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
planning, which has already factored in current medical students, many of | :59:44. | :59:46. | |
whom are from the EU, and do not know whether they will be able to | :59:47. | :59:54. | |
stay and work here once they've finished their medical degrees. Our | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
ability to attract and retain the best academic talent is at risk. 17% | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
of Cardiff University's academic staff are EU nationals and that is | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
essential that the Prime Minister shows leadership now... I will give | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
way. Does the honourable lady believe that the amendment passed by | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
the House of Lords yesterday would be very useful if supported in here | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
to help the people that she has mentioned? The honourable member is | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
absolutely right. 17% of Cardiff University academic staff are EU | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
nationals. But universities across Wales and the UK are concerned that | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
not only will we use EU National teaching staff but we will lose UK | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
National teaching staff in our universities who have EU spouses | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
because they will leave the UK and go on to work abroad. The Welsh | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
higher education sector represents everything a global Britain should | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
aspire to. A world leader punching above our weight, ready to work with | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
friends in Europe and across the world. We must applaud this success | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
and recognise it is not an inevitable state. We have a | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
responsibility, a positive duty, to provide the environment in which | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
Welsh higher education does not just survive but brides. -- thrives. | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, water -- what a pleasure to follow | :01:14. | :01:22. | |
you and the members opposite and the members for securing this debate. | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, as I was thinking about the debate today, I | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
did a little digging into Saint David. His life, is achievements, | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
and I was amazed by how many aspects of his life I could crowbar into my | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
speech today... As we all know, Saint David was born in Wales but | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
travelled wildly, visiting Ireland and Jerusalem, as well as other | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
places. But the tourists returned to travel Wales more widely, preferring | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
it to any other place in the world. Why not? It is still the most | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
beautiful place to visit in the world, and my area is still the most | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
beautiful place to visit within Wales! This message is getting out | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
into the wider world too. Visits to Wales are increasing year-on-year, | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
with a 3% increase alone seen in the last year. Would he also agree, | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
thank you for taking the intervention, would he agree with me | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
that Gower is also worth visiting is the first area of outstanding | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
national beauty in the UK? I would strongly agree with my honourable | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
friend from the Gower, and when one stands on those beautiful mountains | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
of the Brecon Beacons, we look down on the South Wales to the Gower and | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
what a pleasure it is to see it from a distance, from the or far! The | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
Welsh tourism industry provides excellent employment prospects in my | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
constituency, and is a great boost to the local economy but is under | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
some threat at the moment. Business rate hikes, should they go ahead, | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
will harm small profit margins and a number of owners have expressed | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
concerns to me that they may have to close altogether as a result. | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
Therefore, I greatly look forward to hearing any measures the Chancellor | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
can put in place next week, in England, which I hope will be | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
replicated in Wales. It's not just the tourists suited well in my | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
speech, as many honourable members will know, Saint David also set up a | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
number of monitors around Wales. They were very few | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
-- frugal in their operations. One began to harm the Krakow farm the | :03:27. | :03:34. | |
land is. Farming practices have remained and farming produce from | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
Wales is finely recognised as one of the best in the world. Welsh lamb | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
has become a benchmark of quality, and our beef is second to none. All | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
of this is why I am pleased to see that this government is supporting | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
Welsh farmers by predicting Maka protecting farm payments. With | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
Brexit, we have an opportunity for our Welsh farmers and to free our | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
farmers from the shackles of the EU, to better compete with produce from | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
around the world. Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, Saint David was not just a | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
tourist or a farmer, but also an inspiration to the warriors of | :04:14. | :04:21. | |
Wales. As he was recognised as our patron saint against the Normans. | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
That military is so visible in Wales, for many years we've held a | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
number of training grounds and barracks for our military across the | :04:31. | :04:33. | |
nation and our communities take great pride in welcoming service men | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
and women to their towns. I know this from the infantry training | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
camps in Sony Bridge and in the Brecon Beacons, and the barracks in | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
Brecon in my constituency, which once housed soldiers who fought in | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
the battle of rock threat made famous by the film, Zulu. Community | :04:50. | :05:01. | |
is important and I'm disappointed the government are looking to close | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
the Brecon barracks. I hope they will look at the proposal again and | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
see how important the barracks are and keep them open for generations | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
to come. Finally, in my research, I felt I could not speak in this | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
debate without mentioning Saint David 's great miracle. For us, he | :05:18. | :05:26. | |
was preaching to the crowd and he raised the crowd beneath him into a | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
hill that the sermon could be heard upon. There are times that I, and | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
I'm sure the Secretary of State for Wales, would wish that we had such a | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
power. But, nonetheless, I was reminded of the beautiful rolling | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
countryside is of the area. I also thought about how the Labour run... | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
I would be delighted to give way. I am enjoying my honourable friend's | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
speech enormously. I fear he made a slight omission in that he's not yet | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
referred to the fact that Saint David was of course from | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
Pembrokeshire, the most beautiful part of our fabulous nation of | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
Wales! And, just like when our former right honourable member was | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
the Secretary of State for Wales, we were delighted to see Pembrokeshire | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
rolling over us and going back on occasions to. Ooh! But, you stopped | :06:16. | :06:28. | |
me right when I was about to mention our great institution we call the | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
Labour run Welsh assembly. They are proposing to litter not only our | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
area but the whole of Wales with wind and solar farms, by imposing | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
measures on the local developer and plan. Such a proposal would harm not | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
only the tourism industry I mentioned earlier but also the | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
attractiveness of Wales for locals and those thinking of relocating to | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
mid Wales. Madam Deputy Speaker, it looks as if we need one of those | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
great Saint David Miller recalls -- miracles to stop these plans going | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
through. What a pleasure it is to see this house focusing on issues | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
from Wales. I will give way. The honourable gentleman, like many | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
conservatives in mid Wales, do not want to see wind farms. What | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
alternatives for generating electricity would they like to see? | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
Opencast? Gas power? What source of energy to keep the lights on in mid | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
Wales? We would be delighted to see more hydro and certainly are | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
delighted for the tidal barrage lagoon in Swansea... The tidal | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
lagoon, as the honourable member opposite does not seem to | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
acknowledge, would fit the whole of Wales, not just Gower, Swansea, or | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
South Wales. But there we are, I'm delighted to have encouragement and | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
agreement from across the chamber, I will say, Madam Deputy Speaker, it's | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
a pleasure to see this debate come in front of the house today and I | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
look forward to working with the government to bring a stronger Wales | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
long into the future. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, a belated | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
happy Saint Davids Day to you, it's a pleasure to follow the honourable | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
member for Brecon and Radnorshire, and his speech about Saint David. He | :08:20. | :08:27. | |
forgot Saint David's mother went to live in Brittany! I hope the | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
government gives thought to this when it comes to reciprocal | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
arrangements for EU citizens! Now, as we know... Around whom Saint | :08:36. | :08:48. | |
David, of course, the crowd rose, so he could be heard by a crowd. He was | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
wanting to speak of, that there was another. The David who thought the | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
ground would always rise up around him! Such as he thought his great | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
political gifting to our country. And with an incredible plan, the | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
second David promised us a referendum on the EU, knowing that | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
his promises could never fail. Madam Deputy Speaker. I prefer the first | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
David, our patron saint! He was quintessentially Welsh and most | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
always supported by followers. And, of course, he had the support of the | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
great and good, yes, even in the sixth and seventh century, we had a | :09:28. | :09:29. | |
great and good in Wales. Let's thank the great work across | :09:30. | :09:58. | |
our border land areas from Wales for their promotion of a Welsh language | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
and culture. I cannot let saind day of the's day, in fact what is | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
becoming a week, pass -- St David's Day. Without my pleasure about the | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
introduction of the Welsh language in this House and the committee. An | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
historic stage. I am pleased, I don't think there can be any | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
understanding of Welsh political and cultural life that does not include | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
an understanding of Welsh cultural rie.s it goes to righting an | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
historical wrongs. But we hear so much nonsense on Welsh borders, a | :10:36. | :10:42. | |
Wales doesn't want create artificial Wales between the Welsh border and | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
ost westry. Communities that have been union nighted, there are | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
relations between those communities, not for decades but for Semple | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
Makris. Let us leave the insular wall building that separates people | :10:55. | :10:56. | |
to the likes of Donald Trump in the States because it is so alien to our | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
out-ward looking vision of Welshness. Now, I know every member | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
in this House, every Welsh member certain l have aspects of heritage | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
projects that should rightly be showcased and celebrated at this | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
time and across the glorious 240 square mile constituency of Clyde | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
South many such. But I will refer to one -- Clwyd but I want to refer to | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
the project of the heritage group in the industrial village of Brumble, | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
which had a steel works between 1796 and 1990, yes another of the great | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
Mrs Thatcher's achievements, closing that one, but beyond all that, what | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
we have seen today is the restoration of those buildings, how | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
jobs have been created. How it is involving the community of | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
volunteering, the growth of oral histories, of educational results, | :11:53. | :11:54. | |
educational resources and various events. And I am so delighted to see | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
the support that has been given to that project by the we willer | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
Government and the local council. I'm even more pleased to see | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
recently the floons convert the former steel works building into a | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
visitors centre and the grant to fund architectural designs to | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
convert a 1920s machine shop building on site into ambitious | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
plans to redevelop and regenerate that project further. I know | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
industrial bits of north-east Wales are not often what people think of | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
when they think of our Welsh heritage but let's remember when we | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
celebrate our Welshness, when we celebrate our culture and the two | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
great languages of our nation, let's remember the international | :12:40. | :12:41. | |
north-east of Wales, too. Let's celebrate it. Happy saind David's | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
Day to you all again, I like saying this. Happy St David's Day to you | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
all again. SHE SPEAKS WELSH. | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
Thank you. It was a great privilege to go to the backbench committee | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
with my honourable gentleman on this occasion from Ynys Mon and the | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
honourable member for Ceredigion to put the pitch for this annual | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
debate. I commend him for not leading the charge on this occasion | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
but for opening the debate. It won't be a greater surprise for me to | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
concentrate my remarks on the Cardiff City keel deal as a Member | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
of Parliament for Cardiff North and oir capital city it is a great | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
achievement. And I think it is an appropriate debate to talk about, | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
because it needs cross-party cooperation, it needs cross | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
governmental cooperation and we saw this very week ten local authorities | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
getting together to show their commitment of ?120 million within | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
the overall package of ?1.2 billion which is a great investment fund for | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
South Wales and for Wales because when our engine house of our capital | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
city, when our engine house, where the vast majority of the population | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
lives in Wales, in South east Wales, prospers, Wales pros per cent. We | :14:04. | :14:13. | |
have spoken at -- prospers. We have spoken about the tourest industry | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
and we have heard areas championed. But when tourists arrive in our | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
capital sticks the international gateway, either -- city, the | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
international gateway, either through the airport in the Vale of | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
Glamorgan or Cardiff Central situation, which I'll touch on in a | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
moment, they are coming through our great capital city a welcoming | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
capital city, one which prospers in terms of research with our three | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
universities and I pay tribute to the honourable member for Cardiff | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
Central for championing the universities that cross our city. I | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
was visiting that very department only a couple of weeks ago and I | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
would like to add my calls to continuation of programmes during | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
the negotiations, those are programmes that prosper in our | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
country and those are great collaborations for EU states, but | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
also non-EU states. So it is important to recognise that as we go | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
forward. Now, I mention the Cardiff City deal and that ?1.2 billion | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
commitment. That's very real. That is not talking about it, it is very | :15:16. | :15:17. | |
real investment going into our economy now. The local authorities | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
are getting together and agreeing a delivery framework but that word | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
"delivery" is something we need to hear in Wales a lot more of. Not | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
just committees or task and finish groups but very really delivery and | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
the M4 relief swrood a good xachl of where we need differently. -- is a | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
good example. But closing on the capital city deal in the greater | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
region, I do wanted to say at noint while I welcome the collaboration, | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
we do need to bring in the third and private sectors to leverage a lot | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
more money than ?1.2 billion to fix our infrastructure needs we have in | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
South Wales and that takes me on to Cardiff Central station, which, | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
again, is a gateway to Wales but an incredibly important hub for my | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
constituents that commute in and out and around Cardiff on a daily basis | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
and I was delighted toy join the Secretary of State for Wales and the | :16:13. | :16:25. | |
Secretary of State for Transport talking to operators and developers | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
about what we can be doing there. Again, we need to be working | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
together -- to be talking to operators and developers about what | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
we can do there. We need to work cross of had party. We are going to | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
get new rolling stock. I don't mean the great tornado, I visited | :16:40. | :16:41. | |
yesterday. Steam while it has had his time and it was great to see it | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
in Cardiff station in St #2k5i6d's day but rolling stock -- St David's | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
Day but rolling stock that will be built, for electrification and will | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
be #k078g down the railways, it is huge challenges and I think we | :16:54. | :16:56. | |
should recognise that rather than the tra igs doal bashing each other | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
on the head around projects like that. -- and will be rolling down | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
the railways. I want to talk about the achievements of working | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
together, securing Uefa, not just the Champions Cup final Uefa fa but | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
the women's Champions Cup, the fist time a city has ever managed to have | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
both in the same City. We'll have one in our magnificent in the | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
Principality Stadium but Cardiff City stadium. The main Champions' | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
League, which is the biggest sporting function in the world and | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
the women's Champions Cup as well down the road. That underlines our | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
potential as a nation, that underlines the incredible pull of | :17:37. | :17:39. | |
Cardiff and that underlines, when we work together, what we can secure | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
and what we can pay back to the economic development of our great | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
country. Happy St David's Day. I would like to thank the honourable | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
members for Ynys Mon and Ceredigion and Gower for securing this, just | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
about spot-on debate, of course it follow on from today's St #2k5i6d's | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
Day celebrations and last week's very welcome announcement that we | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
will be allowed under circumstances to address Parliament in Welsh. -- | :18:10. | :18:19. | |
ST DAVID'S DAY. SHE SPEAKS WELSH There is nothing | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
terrifying about that. It is talking about allowing to speak Welsh in the | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
grand committee a spontaneous translation. There is merit in | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
embracing small strikes in Parliament and while there is cause | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
for celebration, afterall we are talking here about doing little | :18:37. | :18:44. | |
things which St David advised us to do but I can't help that in big and | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
bold political decisions Wales needs more than little things. By voting | :18:50. | :18:58. | |
to leave the EU, people in Wales have voted to uproot what we have | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
rested on for so wrong. Contrary to the small c belief that people want | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
to change, change with a capital C and on the UK's withdrawal from the | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
EU, powers will be repatriated to the UK. A determination will need to | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
be made about those powers which are to be in devolved areas. At the | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
there is little experience of shared confidence as practiced in the EU. A | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
St David's Day poll revealed that more and more people in Wales demand | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
that power lies closer to them with 44% wanting a National Assembley | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
with more powers. Brexit offers a unique opportunity for the #we8 | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
shall National Assembley to satisfy that demand. Let us take this | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
opportunity to rethink drastically the UK constitution in a I think | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
Chooing Europe. It is essential that the great repeal bill and measures | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
taken under it at central UK level give appropriate ascension to the | :19:53. | :19:53. | |
devolution settle. It'll recognise the continuation of | :19:54. | :20:11. | |
laws in Wales and the Bill may significantly impact, intentionally | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
or not, theling gistic and legislative competence of the | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
National Assembley for Wales. The UK exit from the EU must not result in | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
devolved powers being clawed back to the UK Government. Any attempt to do | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
so will be firmly resisted by us. Managing these newly repatriated | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
areas will require much more serious and intense inter-governmental | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
member Mitches and Government structures than currently in place. | :20:39. | :20:54. | |
. UK frap spend on energy projects is neither serving rural | :20:55. | :20:56. | |
opportunities nor the Welsh economy well. We need to realise the | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
opportunities that wait in such enterprises of tidal lagoons and new | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
nuclear energy and ensure that the people of Wales are equipped of the | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
skills to make the best ofp such opportunities. Our spokesmen for | :21:10. | :21:20. | |
external affairs has been an advocate of a UK Council of | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
Ministers, covering the various aspect of policy for which | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
agraements between all four UK administrations is required. We are | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
pleased the Welsh Labour Government has adopted our position and in the | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
paper that we worked on together, securing Wales' future. To finish, | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
like many already today I will return tonne St David. I urge the UK | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
Government shall I will return to St David. #7 | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
-- I urge them to rise above populistp politics such as St David | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
did on the ground he caused to rise on when people struggled to hear him | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
preach. I urge them to rise to empower the Welsh people. | :22:01. | :22:10. | |
Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker on 8th February, my Bridgend College | :22:11. | :22:19. | |
received an award for the development of transferral skills, | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
in recognition of their, be all that you can be, initiative. I also think | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
it should be almost a motto of people who live and around the | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
Bridgend constituency because Bridgend is a beautiful place. It is | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
beautiful countryside. Excellent schools, thriving communities, it is | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
a creative business community and wonderful people it is a privilege | :22:45. | :22:46. | |
to live amongst and represent. I want to talk about some of them | :22:47. | :22:55. | |
today. I live on a coast protected by a coast watch lookout tower and | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
coastguards watching the visitors who don't know how dangerous the sea | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
can be and who don't know its tides, moods and strengths, including | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
31,000 visitors alone who come for the Porthcall Elvis festival which | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
brings in an estimated ?6.7 million to our local economy over a weekend. | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
I was never a great Elvis fan but I have to say I'm converted. I urge | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
ministers to visit the jazz festival in April and come and see the museum | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
which is thriving thanks to a partnership between the Bridgend | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
council, the #3450u zeal and arts society to quote from the local | :23:39. | :23:50. | |
source, a regulanews -- the museum, "The carnival and swim committee and | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
the town council have all contributed money to make sure that | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
the museum is a huge success." I know the Secretary of State of state | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
for Wales knows the museum well. Drive out of town and come and meet | :24:01. | :24:09. | |
another character the secretary of state knows well, when the poacher, | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
this determined and dynamic woman brings learned, compassion and care | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
and hope into the lives of people who are seriously ill and terminally | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
ill -- Gwynneth Poacher. She takes no money from the state making life | :24:27. | :24:35. | |
in an impossible world worth living. They are chocolate box but go to | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
their luncheon clubs in the community centres, go to the | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
churches and the community youth to see how strong and self-reliant | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
these communities are. I have to say, come to Bridgend and see the | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
local market. Meet the very wicked stallholders like Martin Neagle and | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
Tim Wood, see the quality of their goods. Come and meet the fantastic | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
youngsters who, thanks to First Great Western, have tickets to come | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
and see this place. Visit my amazing local schools from the education | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
that they get, they are absolutely inspiring. Come to Bridgend because | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
of our low crime. We have the lowest crime across South Wales. And South | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
Wales Police were today rated as good as a force, and you can come at | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
the end of May, where we are expected to bring 90,000 visitors. | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, unemployment is low in my constituency. I have, | :25:36. | :25:50. | |
in January 20 985 claimants I have a fantastic prison, Parc prison, rated | :25:51. | :25:59. | |
by everyone as turning around reoffending, reoffending rates among | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
80 high risk families have been cut to 10% -- Park Prison. All of these | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
things, you would think, would be central to people's view of | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
Bridgend. Instead of which, most people have talked about the Ford | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
plant in Bridgend in the last 24 hours. There are problems with my | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
agenda Ford plant and I do not underestimate that. The fear of job | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
losses there are huge. But, there are issues that need tackling in | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
relation to this plant here. In Westminster. In particular, in | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
relation to the value of the pound. The exchange rate has cost Ford 600 | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
million in lost revenue. Tariffs are essential for Ford. The vital nature | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
of making sure that there is free tariff access into Europe is | :26:54. | :26:54. | |
critical. I am very grateful, making is a very important speech, you will | :26:55. | :27:05. | |
understand the prospect of losing 1100 jobs would impact. Would you | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
join with me in urging the secretary of state to offer Ford whatever | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
assistance he can, including the sorts of deals that appeared to be | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
offered to Nissan, and further urge him to make sure that we never see | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
World Trade Organisation tariffs imposed on cars coming out the UK, | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
which would cripple the competitiveness of the car industry? | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
I have had assurances that Ford will have the same deal as Nissan. I've | :27:33. | :27:45. | |
asked, today, involving manufacturers, the ministers here in | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
Westminster, the trades unions and local members, to see if we can move | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
that forward. I hope the secretary of state would support that. There | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
are productivity issues in Bridgend that we must deal with. I know the | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
GMB union and Unite are working with the workforce there. I am sorry I do | :28:03. | :28:09. | |
not have time to list... All the honourable lady give way? We have | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
had these comprehensive invitations to Bridgend but she has not | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
mentioned the only one in Wales, the only centre. I could spend hours | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
telling you 101 reasons to visit Bridgend. The centre is changing | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
lives and offering people who thought they had nothing a chance to | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
get back on their feet and have dignity, and, to start giving back | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
to society. It's an amazing opportunity and I'm so proud it is | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
based in Bridgend. There has been discussion about alternative sources | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
of heat coming into Wales. Can I say that Bridgend is one of three local | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
authority selected to deliver renewable energy projects, involving | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
the piloting of the latest technology so the smart system and | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
heap rococo heat programmes. It is valued at ?5.2 million. There is so | :29:07. | :29:14. | |
much in Bridgend to be proud of, come and visit. It exemplifies the | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
best of Wales and why 1's people and companies get a Wales, they do not | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
want to leave. Our quality-of-life is amazing, the environment is | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
fantastic, but mostly, it is our people that we should be proud of. | :29:29. | :29:36. | |
In the spirit of brotherly and sisterly love of this debate, I will | :29:37. | :29:46. | |
advance my main career task of adding to the glittering career of | :29:47. | :29:48. | |
the Secretary of State for Wales, who has the good sense to marry into | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
a family who live in my constituency! He is a man of | :29:53. | :30:00. | |
ambition. But I would urge him to challenge his cabinet, who seem to | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
use Wales as an Aunt Sally, for making comparisons. He could, in | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
fact, advance his career by promoting some of the great | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
achievements of Wales, particularly of the Welsh government. And, he | :30:16. | :30:22. | |
could start with the presumed consent bill which went through the | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
Welsh government already saving lives, approved advantage and is a | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
bill before this house. I would urge him to persuade his people in the | :30:33. | :30:39. | |
Cabinet to get the same system for England, and it would be a great | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
advantage. I would like to ask him about one of the other great | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
successes of the Welsh assembly, buying the Wales airport at Cardiff, | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
at a bargain price of ?52 million, which was derided by some of his | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
friends in Wales. Since it has been bought, the airport has already paid | :31:02. | :31:08. | |
more than ?52 million in airport passenger duty back to the | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
government, and I would say to his honourable friend, who took a great | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
deal of time in the debate we had on the Wales Bill, he gave more support | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
to Bristol Airport than Cardiff Wales airport. This is another | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
shining success. I think the honourable gentleman, I asked him at | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
a select committee, did he have an ambition, as he was born four years | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
after Wales started paying double tax for the national road system and | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
the Severn Bridge tolls, was at his ambition to make sure they continued | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
until after he retired? That is the way it is going. The position at the | :31:52. | :31:54. | |
moment is, by next year, the tolls will be all paid for. How did he | :31:55. | :32:03. | |
calculate that a tour which he proposed that the time at ?3.70 was | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
50% of ?6.70, but they went back to the Wales Office and recalculate it, | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
the next figure I saw was ?3. Last week, a question was asked here, how | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
do they calculate the ?3? The strange answer was given that this | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
was something equivalent to the Humber Bridge. We are happy to be | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
treated in the same way as the Humber Bridge, where 150 million of | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
their debt was wiped off! It would give us ten years, at least. We are | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
now in a position where the only justification for the tolls is | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
because of cash cows and the government and the Treasury is | :32:45. | :32:47. | |
refusing to give them up. There was a brief time when the Severn Bridge | :32:48. | :32:57. | |
was first opened, Harry wrote a poem which said two lands at last | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
connected, across the seven wide, but all the tolls collected, upon | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
the English side. -- hurry web. If his ghost was about now, I think he | :33:10. | :33:12. | |
would write something along the lines of, now all the tolls are | :33:13. | :33:20. | |
collected, the debt is paid in full, but Tory salesmen still rob us with | :33:21. | :33:28. | |
their bowl! -- Harry Webb. The honourable gentleman for Monmouth | :33:29. | :33:30. | |
made interesting observations, and I would like to hear how they will be | :33:31. | :33:37. | |
followed up. Can I say, in his brief contribution, what a great pleasure | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
it is... 50% is better than nothing. I wonder if he might agree that Mr | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
Webb, we think no less of him because 50% is better than them, as | :33:49. | :33:58. | |
they would say in Welsh! There's a delightful picture I reproduce on my | :33:59. | :34:08. | |
website, with the Secretary of State lined up, and a tree of salesmen, | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
against the background of the bridge, saying it used to be ?6.70, | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
now we will make it ?3.02. No! It is ?3. And, we will charge you each | :34:20. | :34:28. | |
way. These are the techniques of where the child should be nothing. | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
We've already paid for the bill. How many were here in 1992 when the | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
Severn Bridge was built. This is the end of it. We paid ?1 billion | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
already, of public money. We have to pay our taxes to every road within | :34:44. | :34:50. | |
the British Isles, and pay a share of that. And pay extra tax to get | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
into Wales. It is a barrier to Welsh life. It should be gone. I am | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
looking forward to hearing how they came to this idea of charging ?3. | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
There is no justification for it. The largest element would be | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
collecting the tolls themselves! This is a totally unfair tax on | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
Wales. The secretary of state, I'm sure, will announce when it is over | :35:16. | :35:23. | |
and will crusade and built himself as the new symbolic figure, | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
legendary figure, of Welsh life, when he comes to lay down his | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
political role and join the quite invisible where he can discuss with | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
Harry Webb the verses on the Severn Bridge and contemplate the | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
opportunities he has had in life. I'm sure the ones he will take up | :35:46. | :35:53. | |
after today. Steven can it? I would like to thank the right honourable | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
member for securing this debate. Madam Deputy Speaker, on 23rd of | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
June, UK, Wales, and my constituency voted to leave the EU. I accept and | :36:06. | :36:12. | |
respect the result but not unconditional. Brexit must be made | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
to work for Wales. That means fighting tooth and nail against a | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
crippling Brexit on WTO terms. Tariff barriers alone would cost ?6 | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
billion per year, destroying the automotive sector and crippling the | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
steel industry. Indeed, only yesterday, as we heard from my right | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
honourable friend, we heard about the job threats at Ford in my | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
neighbouring constituency of Bridgend. It also means the UK | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
Government must protect funding for Wales. So, I call on the government | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
today to commit to securing funds through to 2030, on a pound for | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
pound matching basis, based on current EU structural funding. The | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
current guarantee up to 2020 is just one year after we are due to have | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
left the EU, and is simply not good enough. Madam Deputy Speaker, the | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
challenges facing my constituency serve to demonstrate why the stakes | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
could not be higher. And, how desperately the United Kingdom needs | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
a project of national renewal. That project must be rooted in the steel | :37:19. | :37:25. | |
industry. Each steel job supports three others in the local community, | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
and the country. Each steel job supports a family. And a community. | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
Because, each steel job supports a way of life, and a way of being. | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
That is why, two weeks ago, the men and women of Tata Steel swallowed a | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
bitter pill to secure the future of their industry, guaranteeing steel | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
production and across Tartar's operations for the foreseeable | :37:51. | :37:59. | |
future. Transferring it to a different scheme was a hard decision | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
but it was one for the workforce themselves, and alone. That is why | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
the crude attempt by Plaid Cymru to score cheap political points and | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
manufacturing conflict between the workforce and the unions with a view | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
to securing votes in the May local elections was such a shameful | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
spectacle. There can be no excuse for such political opportunism. And, | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
I deeply regret Plaid Cymru's attempts to play politics with | :38:28. | :38:30. | |
steelworker's livelihoods. Thankfully, Madam Deputy Speaker, | :38:31. | :38:38. | |
they are too smart to fall for Plaid Cymru's mind games, and chose to | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
ignore that ill founded advice. The workforce have shown no willingness | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
to make real sacrifices to save their industry. Tartar made their | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
commitment to secure the industry. The Welsh assembly government has | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
offered ?60 million in support -- Tata Steel. Creating an enterprise | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
zone to help with business rates. The Westminster government has done | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
nothing. Nothing on Chinese dumping, on energy prices, on procurement, | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
nothing on skills retention or training, and nothing to help secure | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
the Tata Steel's unions deal. I asked to commit unequivocally to | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
heed the cross-party steel 2020 report, and amazingly I have a | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
copyright here, committing to a sector deal for steel. | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
I thank my honourable friend for giving way. He talks about the | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
inaction of the Government. Isn't it worse in that when they were called | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
to reform the duty rule, far from doing nothing, they were head of a | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
block minority, preventing its reform. My honourable friend is | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
right. The British Government is notorious for having been the | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
ringleader in a group of Member States that were consistently | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
blocking the European Commission's attempt to give anti-dumping regime | :39:57. | :40:04. | |
more teeth. And that is an issue of great regret, unfortunatedly | :40:05. | :40:06. | |
reflecting thep China Fist policy, rather than the Wales First policy | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
this Government has been pursuing. But a thriving steel industry must | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
also be a catalyst for regeneration and development that will come if | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
the Government gets on and approve a city deal for the Swansea Bay area, | :40:23. | :40:29. | |
which will help regenerate and manage the impact of the | :40:30. | :40:30. | |
industrialisation. And it makes sense to give the green light to the | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. It would cre and the sustain thousands of | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
jobs and meet 11% of Welsh energy needs with a clean, green, reliable | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
source of sustainable energy but something that has rather less | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
support in Wales is the Government's parliamentary boundary review, a | :40:51. | :40:52. | |
review that disrespects local communities. It proposes to slice | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
Port Talbot town centre in two, leaving the high street and adjacent | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
shopping centre in different constituencies, its absurd. A review | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
that disregards the 2 million people who registered to vote in the rev | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
campaign A review that seeks it stifle the voice of Wales by | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
removing more than one-quarter of Welsh seats. And all this taking | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
place whilst we face a UK Government that seems intent on using Brexit to | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
turn the UK into a European version of the Kamen islands. With all the | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
constitutional problems we have now, with a grossly bloated House of | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
Lords, with not enough members in the Welsh Assembly, all the konces | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
stugsal chaos that will come from Brexit, isn't it astonishing - | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
constitutional chaos. Isn't it astonishing the Government will have | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
interest in only one reform, which will give them more members here? My | :41:47. | :41:53. | |
honourable friend is right, it is a bear faced gerrymander that we will | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
regret. I urge the Government to take action on steel and action on | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
economic regeneration and to rethink on boundary reviews and I wish all | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
honourable members a happy St David's Day. | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. I'm going to talk today about two | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
issues that I have raised since I came to this place. I have raised | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
them in Wales and the reaction there has been to those two campaigns and | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
it is about children. Today I call on this Government to stop burying | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
their head in the sand by all waspy women, many waspy women and today | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
I'm specifically talking about Welsh waspy women, are currently in work, | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
not because they want to be, but because they have to be. Whilst I | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
would agree that working is the ideal situation, the ability to work | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
and the be availability of work is not an option for all Welsh women | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
who find themselves in this predicament and as a result, many | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
are having to rely on the benefits system. Tens of thousands of women | :43:00. | :43:07. | |
across Wales, including over 3,000 in my own constituency of Swansea | :43:08. | :43:27. | |
East have been unfairly treated by the changes in the state pension. | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
The changes that led to the birth of the Waspy movement. We on these | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
benches are a voice for Welsh Waspy women and indeed Welsh Labour local | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
authorities are stepping up to the plate and calling on this Government | :43:39. | :43:40. | |
to make appropriate provision for this women. Local authorities, such | :43:41. | :43:43. | |
at car felly, Port Talbot, Rhondda, Wrexham and Swansea, have all | :43:44. | :43:44. | |
pledged support for fair transitional arrangements for these | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
women and many, many more are working towards replicating that | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
pledge. The Welch Government gives free bus passes to individuals over | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
60, which puts Welsh waspy women at an advantage, in as much they are | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
able to travel for free and this is especially important in they're | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
expected to travel to benefit offices for work trial placements | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
that is a requirement of any benefits they may have to claim to | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
survive. And talking of that, next Wednesday, the M4 will hopefully be | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
aware with purple as Waspy women from Wales head to London top join | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
the skas Wasilewskipy demonstration, where women across the UK will vent | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
their frustration at the Government's reluctance to engage | :44:32. | :44:34. | |
constructively on this issue. And there will be many, many Welsh women | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
in that throng, including a coachful from my own city of Swansea. My last | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
subject is a very, very personal campaign to me and that is the | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
funding of children's funerals. And I'm very proud that since I first | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
spoke in this chamber about my own son's passing and the difficulties I | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
experienced in funding a funeral, almost all Welsh Labour local | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
authorities have responded by scrapping fees for children's | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
funerals. To name just a few whose reaction was extremely swift was my | :45:12. | :45:19. | |
own city of Swansea, mother their, and just this week, Bridgend, | :45:20. | :45:22. | |
amongst others. Will my honourable friend give way. I'm most grateful. | :45:23. | :45:31. | |
And Bridgend county council and in my party. But does she not agree it | :45:32. | :45:39. | |
is very Jo upsetting to those families that lose a child, that it | :45:40. | :45:42. | |
is up to individual councils rather than the British Government stepping | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
up to the plate, giving the money and then affording local councils to | :45:48. | :45:50. | |
do it immediately across the UK. I certainly do. As my honourable | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
friend will appreciate. It has been very painful for me to expose myself | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
in this way in order to get the right thing done. I believe these | :45:59. | :46:01. | |
commitments have been made with compassion. For many of these local | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
authorities, until I raised the issue they would have been unaware | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
that the cost of a child's funeral was indeed an issue for many | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
bereaved parents. I somewhat exposed the elephant in the room, in that | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
the privacy and incompetent Massey of that situation would have been a | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
social taboo. Very few people would open a conversation with an | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
undertaker with the words - we will have what we can afford. Instead, | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
they want to provide their loved one with a service and a funeral that | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
reflects their depth of love for the one that they've lost and when you | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
lose a child, there is no consideration of anything, cost, | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
nothing. Rational thought and basic common sense will have left you, as | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
you try to come to terms with your own grief and how you through every | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
day. So I am so grateful to those Welsh local authorities, as I am to | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
authorities right across the United Kingdom that have reacted. Will my | :47:04. | :47:05. | |
honourable friend give way. I will My honourable friend will be awhich | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
are that Bridgend not only discounts and removes all costs for children's | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
funerals but has actually built a dedicated children's area in the | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
crematorium, so that parents have have a private place to go. Does my | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
honourable friend think that that's the next step, perhaps, of her | :47:25. | :47:27. | |
campaign? Of course, I would want that to happen and I would certainly | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
be campaigning for that, but at this moment in time I just want these | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
costs to be covered. But what I'm saying today about these local | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
authorities across the country is that it doesn't mean that the | :47:41. | :47:43. | |
Government are off the hook on this and I urge the Secretary of State to | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
speak to the Chancellor. He has an opportunity next Wednesday to do the | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
right thing. Take the message back that Wales is leading on this. But | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
now the Government needs to act in the same spirit and establish a | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
specific fund that can be drawn on by local authorities to allow them | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
to wave fees for children's funerals. So Madame Deputy Speaker, | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
to conclude, on my contribution, there are many things in Wales from | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
which I deprive pleasure and pride because I believe we are a strong | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
nation with a good heart and we always want to do the right thing, | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
so I plead with the Secretary of State - please take these messages | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
back. Please ask your Cabinet colleagues to do the right thing on | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
children's funerals. Show compassion, show respect and show | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
understanding. Thank you, madam deputy speaker, can | :48:38. | :48:45. | |
I again thank the honourable member from Ynys Mon in spearheading this | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
debate, the time something important and more than that, I want to | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
congratulate the honourable member for Swansea East on her campaign and | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
what she has achieved so far. The work is unfinished. I hope the | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
Government are listening but no-one can doubt her determination, backed | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
on sad tragedy, and I salute her and I'm sure everybody across the House | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
does. Time is against me and you had a big long list of things that I | :49:10. | :49:16. | |
wanted to talk about. I will touch on them briefly and then move on I | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
will talk about my universities and in a European context. I was hoping | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
to talk about broadband in Mid Wales. I'm seemingly always talking | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
about broadband in Mid Wales as the honourable member for Ynys Mon is. I | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
think people have acknowledged there are huge achievement undertaken but | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
I leave the House with two statistics, according to Ofcom data, | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
four of the ten constituencies with the highest percentage of slow | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
connections and five of the constituencies with the lowest | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
broadband speeds are in Wales and they are in Mid Wales and Kerr dig. | :49:53. | :50:01. | |
There is work still to do. It is about reading an impediment to | :50:02. | :50:03. | |
businesses thriving in mid-and West Wales. That's why we need more | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
concerted action. I was going to talk about S4C. I have not 4 an | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
answer from DCMS or the Secretary of State or the minister about the | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
DCMS's contribution to S4C's budget moving forward. The former Secretary | :50:20. | :50:25. | |
of State had promised the DCMS contribution to S4C's budget would | :50:26. | :50:28. | |
be frozen, pepping the outcome of the review. We haven't had it yet. | :50:29. | :50:35. | |
So will the commitment be made to freeze S4C's budget from DCMS in the | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
year ahead. I was going to talk about transport connections, all I | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
need to say is there is a spirited campaign to reopen the railline line | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen. I was going to talk about business | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
rates as well but to endorse what the right honourable member said | :50:55. | :50:57. | |
about the way in which businesses there are going to be grievously | :50:58. | :51:00. | |
affected unless the Government steps in, in addition to the Assembly | :51:01. | :51:07. | |
Government. I give way. Would the honourable gentleman like to take | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
the opportunity in relation to business rates, ask about what is | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
going done on the VOA who are responsible for the how these | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
valuations are set and this is a Westminster responsibility | :51:19. | :51:19. | |
snienchts' sure if my honourable friend is alluding to the structures | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
in which they undertake their evaluations or the weird decisions | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
they are coming up with but a business in my communities whose | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
business rates have doubled in a year to ?25,000 in a seasonal | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
tourist area of Ceredigion, would be very sympathetic to the question she | :51:37. | :51:39. | |
alludes to. Highereducation is crucial to Ceredigion, we have the | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
Aberystwyth university and the campus of the University Wales, | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
Trinity, St David. Lots of geographical references have been | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
made to where the land rose in which he could speak in a great sermon. | :51:55. | :52:05. | |
Aberystwyth university is in the top 200 universities in the world for | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
agriculture, enlick, jog graphy, environmental science and | :52:12. | :52:14. | |
politician. 95% of our research is of internationally recognised | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
standed a or higher, it contributes ?250 million to our local economy. I | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
want to use this opportunity to celebrate the investment that we are | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
seeing now, largely from the European Union, the ?20 million from | :52:29. | :52:31. | |
the European Regional Development Fund, which is safe, because it'll | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
happen before 2020, but we'll see the build of an innovation and | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
enterprise campus at Aberystwyth university it'll provide world | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
leading opportunities and expertise to create solutions for the tech | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
industry and argi industries. Joining the link between academic | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
work and excellence and commercial opportunities. They are lofty words | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
but they are very valid. Often the accusation has been that academia | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
has worked in a silo, and has worked in a silo from business. This | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
initiative at Aberystwyth will certainly move away from that. And I | :53:09. | :53:11. | |
celebrate, particularly that European money that came in. It | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
couldn't v happened without Europe t couldn't have happened without the | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
?20 million from the regional development fund. That project is | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
going to happen. There is no scaremongering, it is going to | :53:25. | :53:27. | |
happen and I celebrate that good work will happen but as the | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
honourable member for Cardiff Central said, there are huge | :53:32. | :53:34. | |
concerns in the future, about future research grants, concerns about the | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
participation in EU projects and critically, the status of non-UK-EU | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
staff. I've chountless people doming my surgeries, generally fearful | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
about whether they should stay or apply for jobs in the future and it | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
is a real concern. We are missing a trick, a fundamental and humane | :53:54. | :53:56. | |
trick, if we do not allow people to come here in the numbers they have | :53:57. | :53:59. | |
come here in the past to contribute to Wales and to contribute to our | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
economy. Now, the other thing I need to say is more generally about | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
research funding. And there has been an historic concern that Wales has | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
not had its share of research funding in the past. I could say a | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
lot about this but I quote Professor Dillon Jones Evans, more known on | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
that side than this, but he has said if research was Barnaticed we would | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
see another -- Barnettised we would see more money into research in | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
Wales. It is very important. The last thing is to talk about the | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
great compassionate saint. I think he would be alarmed at the direction | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
of immigration policy in this country and not least what happened | :54:44. | :54:51. | |
to Lord Dubbes' amendment in the Lourdes House of Lords and I hope | :54:52. | :54:52. | |
people reflect on that. I am afraid I have to reduce the | :54:53. | :55:03. | |
time limit of four minutes. Chris Elmore. I congratulate my honourable | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
friend and Cardiff North, for securing this debate. The Welsh | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
continued to thrive, but we need continued investment in | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
infrastructure, the World Cup meant is investing in transport and I'm | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
glad to see a focus on plants in North and Central Wales -- the Welsh | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
government. They can provide a sustainable way of providing the | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
best. I hope with the implementation of the Metro we get much-needed | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
improvements to the level crossings and a half hourly service and | :55:40. | :55:42. | |
structural improvements around the town. I would like to focus my other | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
comments today on two National campaigns, that are often raised in | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
the house, and often not given Welsh context. The first is surrounding | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
scamming. I draw the attention of the house as to how much it affects | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
the people of Wales and beyond. This practice is on the rise and every | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
year 9000 incidents of fraud reported to the police, it impacts | :56:07. | :56:09. | |
the most vulnerable in society and not enough is being done to tackle | :56:10. | :56:17. | |
the problem. At present, not enough recognition is given to the most | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
vulnerable in our communities and awareness of the threat should be | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
made a priority at all levels of government. If people are aware of | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
the most common scams and tactics the criminals use, they will be more | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
able to protect themselves and less likely to be flustered by scammers. | :56:32. | :56:38. | |
I will be setting up a campaign to raise awareness of scams and | :56:39. | :56:40. | |
encourage all honourable and right honourable member 's to do the same. | :56:41. | :56:46. | |
When it comes to protecting people from scams, it is ultimately police | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
who do the most to protect people of Wales. Police officers face immense | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
danger in their line of duty and we must do more to keep them safe. | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
According to data from the Police Federation of England and Wales, | :56:59. | :57:01. | |
over 12 months, they could have been potentially more than 2 million on | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
and physical assaults on officers and a further 300,000 assaults using | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
a deadly weapon in the same period. Although the vast majority of | :57:12. | :57:14. | |
incidents are unreported, official figures show far fewer instances. We | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
must work together with the police in Wales to assure they are safer at | :57:19. | :57:21. | |
work and heed their campaigns for better protection. On the issue of | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
spit guards, forces across the UK have begun to use the items as a | :57:27. | :57:31. | |
defence against spitting suspects. I believe that forces in Wales choose | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
to use guards, we should defend them and show our support for it. | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
Spitting is a form of assault which leaves officers at risk of receiving | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
life-threatening diseases. If our police forces in Wales see a way of | :57:45. | :57:47. | |
preventing such assaults, we should stand by them. There are | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
opportunities and risks ahead for Wales in the coming years, our | :57:53. | :57:55. | |
departure from the EU would bring difficulties for each nation of the | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
UK but I am glad we have a strong Welsh Labour government in Cardiff | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
Bay to fight our corner. The Welsh government are right to focus on the | :58:05. | :58:08. | |
need of continued investment and infrastructure of public services | :58:09. | :58:11. | |
and I hope the UK Government, particularly the Secretary of State, | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
continue to champion Wales when it comes to issues of reserved matters. | :58:17. | :58:26. | |
This is a Saint Davids Day debate with a backdrop of Brexit and the | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
uncertainty it brings but I did, like other honourable members, want | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
to talk about some of the positive developments we've seen in the | :58:35. | :58:36. | |
corner of Wales I represent with my honourable friend, the member for | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
Newport West over the last year in the last debate. On the 14th of | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
March it would be 15 years since Newport achieved city status and | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
that is no exaggeration to say there is new life in our city centres, | :58:49. | :58:53. | |
thanks to the development which saw 8 million people walking through | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
that of element in the new complex in 2016. It brought 1300 new jobs | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
and 120 million attracted to the city centre. All credit to Newport | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
council and leaders for making it happen. We are seeing, Greg Blewett | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
to and work beginning in March on the | :59:13. | :59:20. | |
international Convention Centre. Last year, the University of Wales | :59:21. | :59:24. | |
launched the cyber Security Academy part funded by the Welsh government | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
and supported by Airbus and the General dynamic. I am proud the | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
cyber experts of the future are being produced in Newport, the | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
second-largest cyber Security Department after | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
Holloway Council. They are working to bring benefits | :59:41. | :59:48. | |
to our constituents. The other honourable members I mentioned, with | :59:49. | :59:54. | |
the capital region cities, among ten leaders signing yesterday, the key | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
element is the Metro, we had debate is asking the UK Government to | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
guarantee the funding post-Brexit. It is an ambitious project with huge | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
potential, improving economic activity. I will give way. The | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
leader for tour wine was signing that deal yesterday. Does my | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
honourable friend agree that there is a strategic approach to Wales | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
Critter Marko thank you for the intervention, that is exactly what | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
we look for -- to Wales? As the population grows in many areas it is | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
crucial we have the infrastructure for things like new stations, there | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
is a new station bid in there. And capacity for commuter services to | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
Bristol and Cardiff, and I hope the ministers pursue this would be D FT. | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
And we should be talking about the great Western cities partnership | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
which is another potential source of growth which I am keen to learn from | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
ministers what they can do to engage and support with it. These cities | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
are interdependent and there are key areas which apply to economic | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
growth. Initial work has shown greater economic benefits can be | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
generated by improving the activity between Bristol, Newport and Cardiff | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
and will be generated from similar investment in Leeds, Manchester and | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
Liverpool. It is a huge opportunity and I would like to see ministers | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
engaging with that. I was going to let the Severn Bridge tolls go on | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
this occasion... No! But the government has come some way after a | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
long campaign, it is not far enough. We will be continuing to campaign. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
May I finally highlight these areas on behalf of my constituents? Steal, | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
we spoke many times about its importance to my constituencies, the | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
investment by Liberty, Tata Steel has made a difficult decision inning | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
Greer -- in agreeing to the pension proposal but now it is up to the | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
government to ensure this is a sustainable future. Second, the | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
government announced about changes to Pips which are causing huge | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
anxiety to those struggling with the process. I cannot be alone in seeing | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
people in surgery is waiting to long for assessments. People are getting | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
turned down and that causes a lot of distress. Many people, disabled | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
people I know, feel they are in line for cuts and that there are no | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
guarantees that those facing reassessments will not see their | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
rewards card. Rather than making it more difficult, can ministers say we | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
need less delays, more consistency in decision-making and more | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
discussion with disabled people's organisations before bringing | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
forward regulations like this. Lastly, today's report by HMRC | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
highlights struggling with cuts and how the response to the public is | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
suffering. Gwent is rated good in the assessment today, and really | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
pleased they are in the top ten best performing regions against domestic | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
violence but they need to do much more with more complex cases, the | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
debates that we have had in this place have piloted this. And I would | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
like to see ministers fighting the corner for the Welsh police force | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
and the services they provide to ensure they are properly funded so | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
they can do this crucial job very well. Thank you Madam Deputy | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
Speaker, I congratulate my honourable friend, the member for | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
and is more, on securing this important Saint David stayed about. | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
He is not only a great ambassador for the constituency in North Wales | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
but an advocate for all things Welsh. I echo his calls for unity | :03:32. | :03:40. | |
and collectivity. Where I live, the signal falls like rain, but we have | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
so much rain we called the rain liquid gold! I would like to pay | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
tribute to the right honourable gentleman. I've got great memories | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
of Gerald when he came to stay at my house many years ago, with him | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
playing with my daughter. And I have the folders I showed him when I | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
became an MP. We will all miss him so much. I must also mention the | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
recent tragic death of a young Welsh born star, Elli Norkett, aged 20. | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
She was the youngest player in the women's Welsh rugby cup and gained | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
four senior caps by age 17. She started her career at the age of 15 | :04:20. | :04:27. | |
at Neath athletic RFC, and I met her and was inspired by her charm, wit, | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
and passion of a young woman who touched the lives of so many. Her | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
smile lit up the room. It is a privilege to be shadow Secretary of | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
State for Wales and hear about many Welsh issues, and causes raised by | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
the members today. I would like to thank my honourable friend, the | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
for all of the hard work you has done and his role as my right-hand | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
man, or left-hand man! It is great to see the Secretary of State in | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
this place today, famous for his sartorial elegance...! Matched only | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
by my honourable friend, the member for quayside. I must mention the | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
great outfits worn by Madam Deputy Speaker, however, if she needs some | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
fashion advice, she can call on our fashion guru, the member for Swansea | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
East! LAUGHTER Much has happened since last Saint | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
Davids Day and it is important we reflect on some today. The right | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
honourable member for Monmouth brought so much energy to his | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
speech, as he does as chairing the Welsh affairs select committee. And, | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
the energy he expends when I see him in the gym every morning! The | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
honourable member for tour fine, my great friend, talked about economic | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
development and that funding should stay in place before 2020. And, | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
steel is central to the future of Wales. The honourable member Falcao | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
spoke about the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, and the encouraging news | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
that members are looking at it closely -- the honourable member | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
Falcao. It is promising, we need that project. And the Coquelin | :06:15. | :06:16. | |
district. We must work together to save that | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
industry. -- and the cockerel industry. | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
They spoke about the importance of the higher education sector to | :06:25. | :06:35. | |
Wales, and she spoke about Horizon 2020 and the Iraqis must project, | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
and that 17% of Cardiff's staff are EU nationals -- your eyes | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
Erasmus project. Starting some sort of beauty contest | :06:50. | :06:59. | |
about who has the most beautiful constituency! Well, it's Neath! He | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
supports the tidal lagoon, but there is no see in Brecon! | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
I did not realise until the other day that same David was a | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
vegetarian. -- Saint David was a vegetarian. The honourable member | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
spoke about the fact that Saint David's mother lived in Brittany and | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
urged the government to think of the EU citizens. And spoke about the | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
Welsh language culture. I congratulate her on securing Welsh | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
language to be spoken in the Welsh grand committee. The honourable | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
member for Cardiff North spoke about the Cardiff city deal. Again! But, | :07:44. | :07:53. | |
also introduced the Cardiff Central train station into his contribution | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
today. And, also mentioned the Welsh and women's Champions League is | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
going to be held in Cardiff. But, did not mention the six Nations | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
women's rug the competition which is going to be hosted -- rugby | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
competition. We were spoken to in Welsh, she | :08:15. | :08:24. | |
assured us it contained nothing naughty, I do not speak Welsh, I | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
hope that is the case! She spoke of the importance of the devolved areas | :08:29. | :08:37. | |
of the UK and the Great Repeal Bill. My honourable friend, the member for | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
Bridgend, spoke in glowing terms about all of the festivals which I | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
have attended, all of them, because I used to live there and it is a | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
beautiful place to live. She mentioned where I was born, and the | :08:52. | :09:00. | |
benefits of the Bridgend Council and the benefits they bring to the area. | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
I was indeed a counsellor and not many people know that, and I can | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
assure you that he did not benefit in any way from me being his | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
counsellor! The honourable member for Newport | :09:14. | :09:24. | |
West spoke about the tolls and how they are calculated and quoted to us | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
from a poem by Harry Webb and he put his own words to that poem which | :09:31. | :09:39. | |
sounded really fine to me. The honourable member spoke that Brexit | :09:40. | :09:48. | |
must work for Wales. And that the UK Government must protect funding | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
until 2030. And he spoke about the steel industry which he has spoken | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
about so passionately in the past and the importance to his | :09:59. | :10:06. | |
constituency and, indeed the UK. And the cross-party 2020 report which I | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
have a copy of as well. It's a great report. My honourable friend, the | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
member for Swansea East spoke about the Waspy campaign which she has led | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
so well in Wales and the unfairness of the pension arrangements and we | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
need fair transitional arrangements and that most of the buses from | :10:29. | :10:36. | |
Wales will be filled with Waspy women coming to next Wednesday | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
march. She also spoke of the very personal matter, the loss of her son | :10:40. | :10:47. | |
and that four councils in Wales have already described fees for | :10:48. | :10:49. | |
children's funerals. The honourable member for Ceredigion spoke about | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
universities in Aberystwyth and St David's and superfast broadband. The | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
honourable member for Ogmore spoke about the North Wales and South | :11:01. | :11:07. | |
Wales Metro and his level crossing. He also spoke about scamming | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
problems on the vulnerable and that we should support our police | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
officers who do a fine job in our communities. My honourable friend, | :11:17. | :11:34. | |
the member for Newport East spoke positively. 15 years since it became | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
a city and the great work of the council leaders and the great vision | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
that they have together with the Welsh Government in making the city | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
of Newport a really fine place. I would like to thank all the | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
interventions as well and I would like to say that I look forward to | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
working with the Secretary of State for Wales, in making Wales a superb | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
place to live and to work and that I am truly passionately Welsh and I | :11:57. | :11:57. | |
always will be. THE SPEAKER: Secretary of State. | :11:58. | :12:09. | |
! Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker, I'm grateful to the backbench | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
business committee for recognising the importance of holding this | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
debate on Wales around St David's Day and for allocating the time. I | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
pay tribute to the honourable member for Ynys Mon, and the member for | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
Ceredigion and Gower for proposing today's motion on behalf of members | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
on all sides of the House I'm grateful for the commitment and | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
drive that has delivered this debate. Can I welcome the honourable | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
lady from Neath to the despatch box and I look forward to working | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
closingly with her in the interests of -- closely with her in the | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
interests of Wales and all of the people of Wales and also thank her | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
predecessor for the robust scrutiny she showed when she was in that | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
post. I would like to first highlight, Madame Deputy Speaker, if | :12:59. | :13:00. | |
you will allow, the importance of the union to Wales. I will come to | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
cover as many points as I can, but I think we need to underline at this | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
time that the union of the United Kingdom is the most successful | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
political union of all nations that has never existed. It is important | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
that we recognise the precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
Northern Ireland and as we leave the European Union, the union of the UK | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
is more important than ever and we will seek to strengthen that union | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
as the negotiations progress. We want the United Kingdom to emerge | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
from this period of change stronger, fairer, more united and more outward | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
looking than ever before We will make sure that no new barriers to | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
living and doing business within our nation, nations are created and I | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
think, I hope that that was the spirit of the way in which the | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
honourable member for Ynys Mon introduced the debant I would hope | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
that that -- the debant I would hope that that spirit was underlined | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
throughout the healthy debate I think we've had this afternoon. By | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
being part of that union, Wales has prospered and developed and in turn | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
the UK has benefited from the flow of ideas, innovation, of our proud | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
nation. Some of these issues were talked about in reference to | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
universities, the honourable member for Ceredigion, for Cardiff Central | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
and others, talked about the great inowe veining expertise that existed | :14:24. | :14:25. | |
within our universities. -- innovation. And the union of the UK | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
benefits from that and organisations such as Innovate UK have a key part | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
in playing and driving that innovation and captivating the | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
expertise that exist. So both North and South Wales form single economic | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
regions with north-west and north-west of England because, | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
afterall, 50% of Wales' population and 10% of England's live within 25 | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
miles of the Wales-England border. Much is focussed on funding within | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
the debate. I will come to furtherp points later but I would hope this | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
is also an opportunity recognise the funding settlement that was | :15:06. | :15:07. | |
negotiated before Christmas that puts Wales in a very strong | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
financial position as we look forward, where Wales will receive | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
around ?120 for every equivalent ?100 spent in England and that will | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
fall over a long period of time to ?115 to the funding floor. And I | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
hope that that demonstrates the positive, open relationship that we | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
want to work with the Welsh Government in order to secure and | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
bind the union in the best possible way, where we can benefit from the | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
assets and culture and diversity that all of the nations of the union | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
of the United king do. There is no denying that the -- United king do. | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
There is no denying, we are inextricably linked. #k7s in Wales | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
have access to help from both governments and we're keen to work | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
with the Welsh Government to securing further developments and | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
the business strategy that my right honourable friend, the Secretary of | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
State today is driving forward and will be in Wales shortly north to | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
ensure that Welsh businesses are playing a full part in the | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
consultation of that green paper. So there are challenges ahead, as we | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
exit the European Union but there are some great opportunities as | :16:24. | :16:25. | |
well. We are working closely with the Welsh Government in discussions, | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
in discussing the process and progress of negotiations in exiting | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
the European Union. The referses were made to the joint ministerial | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
committee on EU negotiations. This brings together the EU Government | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
and devolved administerings to seek to develop a UK-wide approach to the | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
challenges that we face and the opportunities that we can grasp as | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
we leave the European Union. At the last meeting of that committee, the | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
Welsh Government presented its white paper setting out its priorities for | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
our exit from the European Union, and we are discussing the proposals | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
in it with the Welsh Government and as part of these discussions my | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Exiting the | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
European Union, met with the Welsh government financial minister | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
yesterday and with officials and with the Wales Office and from my | :17:13. | :17:21. | |
office and the Cabinet Office and we are having parallel discussions on a | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
whole range of issues, ensuring that Wales is at the heart of | :17:28. | :17:29. | |
discussions. We will intensify our work with the Welsh Government on | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
all aspects of the European Union ahead of and following the | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
triggering of Article 50 and it is important to remember that despite | :17:36. | :17:37. | |
political differences, there are many objectives that we share and | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
the white paper from the Welsh Government was a welcome | :17:42. | :17:43. | |
contribution and there are significant common ground that I | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
believe that we can work from. We all want the freest-possible access | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
to the single market and in this context reference has been made in | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
the debate to Ford in Bridgend. Raised not only by the honourable | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
member from Bridgend but also by other members, the honourable member | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
from for vine and similarly other honourable members talked about | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
steel, including the honourable member for new port East. We need to | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
recognise in relation to Ford to begin with, there is the natural | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
life cycle of products and I think we need to be realistic in terms of | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
where we were expected to be at this stage of development. The honourable | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
member for Bridgend said that there were challenges in efficiency and | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
productivity that the unionsp want to face as well as the Government as | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
well as the plant want to meet but when I met Ford just two days ago | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
there was a recognition that the sustainable future is optimistic but | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
there is the opportunity and the need to win further business for | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
when the natural life cycle of the existing engines end and it is on | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
that basis that I look positively at the challenges that we face in order | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
to make those jobs sustainable over the longer term. Some of the | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
information that is out there has been highly selective and I don't | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
necessarily subscribe to the way in which it has been presented. And my | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
right honourable friend and I, the Secretary of State, have already | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
discussed this and I know that ongoing engagement with Ford is | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
something that we want to pursue. I will say, also, Madame Deputy | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
Speaker, the points that were made in relation to steel, I don't accept | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
the criticism that the honourable member for Aberavon made. He talked | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
about trade defence measures. And I can highlight and I can send them | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
time and time again and I can the honourable member failed to | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
recognise, the 41 measures introduced have had an affect. | :19:45. | :19:53. | |
Inputs into the European Union are down 99% as a result of my right | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
honourable friend and his predecessor, driving that Ford in | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
order to ensure we have a fair and level playing field for the | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
industry. Organic coated steel are similarly | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
down by 90%. I think the honourable member will recognise, as a result | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
of the actions by the workforce, by the unions, the responsible approach | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
taken by the community union, as well as the Government, as well as | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
the Welsh Government, that the steel industry in Wales and across the | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
United Kingdom is in a much, much stronger position now than it | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
certainly was just about a year or so ago. So I'm optimistic that there | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
are challenges to overcome but there is a sustainable future that we need | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
to find for steel-making in Wales. There are millions of people across | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
the world looking for skills, expertise, goods and services that | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
we have in Wales. Through my office, through the department for | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
international trade, I absolutely believe that we can use the | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
opportunity of exiting the European Union, to exploit those | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
opportunities that are there. We've landed significant yesterday. The | :21:02. | :21:10. | |
F35, global repair hub and there are other examples where in recent weeks | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
we have made significant progress. I'm sorry I haven't been able to | :21:15. | :21:21. | |
cover all the issues, the points from tourively that my honourable | :21:22. | :21:23. | |
friends have highlighted, the value it brings -- were tourism. And I | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
recognise the points they make about the Cardiff City deal. My honourable | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
friend from Cardiff North, with the he enthusiasm in which he drives it | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
and the honourable member for Gower who is pressing the point on the | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
tidal lagoon, as many other people made that, and it is only right that | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
we give it the time it deserves in terms of pressing and examining the | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
numbers and looking fairly at this, so it is right, not only for energy | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
production but also for the taxpayer. Thank you. Thank you, very | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
much, Madame Deputy Speaker, as a Scott representing an English scone | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
constituencicy, everseeing Welsh affairs you are most suited to that | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
ro. You have seen today the eloquence. Welsh members here today, | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
passionate and proud of the Welsh dimension of rib brish politics. I | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
was hoping the Secretary of State would respond to my request that | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
Wales be the first part of the UK to have universal service obligation | :22:19. | :22:20. | |
broadband, that we can be the pioneers and it is good to see the | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
for Wales sitting on the front bench. I hope he has been able it | :22:28. | :22:30. | |
put pressure on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to announce next week | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
that the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon will be given the go-ahead because | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
that will bring cheers from right across Wales because we are the | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
pioneers of energy production in this country and we want to be so, | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
going forward. Whether it be new nuclear, whether it be wind, tieding | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
a or renewable, we want to be the pioneers in the lead. So Madame | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
Deputy Speaker, I want to say on behalf of the Welsh members, to | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
thank you for the way in which you have overseen proceedings, to that | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
thank each and every member from across the House from each and every | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
party, it is good to see the Liberal Democrats having 100% turnout here | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
today from Wales because we are, we do work together, as a team, Team | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
Wales and closest we can get to St David's Day, we will shout from the | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
rooftops that we are Welsh and proud and the rest of the United Kingdom | :23:19. | :23:26. | |
will sit and listen. THE SPEAKER: The question is that this House has | :23:27. | :23:36. | |
considered Welsh affairs. As many as is of that opinion say aye. . Aye. | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
On the contrary say no. The ayes have it, the ayes have it. | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
Competition, Valerie Vaz. Thank you, madam deputy speaker, the | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
petition is of residents of the United Kingdom, and declares that | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
the Government consultation paper, early years funding changes founding | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
for three and four-year-olds, 1 #19 August 2016, outlines proposals that | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
will leave nursery schools financially non-viable, forcing them | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
to close. Notes that this funding will not cover basic costs, let | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
alone staffing, with qualified teachers and further note that state | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
nursery schools have very good outcomes, with regard to closing the | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
achievement gap and supporting children with special needs. And | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
that state nursery schools are legally required to employ | :24:30. | :24:31. | |
high-qualified teaching staff who are proven to give young children | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
the best opportunities for academic achievement and enabling social | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
mobility. The po Titianers therefore question the House of Commons to | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
urge the Government to recognise the schools status of state nursery | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
schools and fund them accordingly. A petition, in similar terms has been | :24:47. | :24:47. | |
signed by 304 people. Petition, changes founding for three | :24:48. | :25:10. | |
and four-year-olds. I beg to move that this House do now adjourn. The | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
question is that this House do now adjourn. | :25:16. | :25:34. | |
Subtitles will resume at 11.00pm in Thursday in Parliament. | :25:35. | :25:36. |