09/11/2015 Monday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Monday in Parliament,

our look at the best of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

Bad tempered exchanges in the Commons as MPs argue over

I am shining a light on what is really happening in Scotland under

the 1-party state that has become the SNP. Members are not gohng to

listen to people doing down our university system or our Scottish

NHS. A minister apologises

after admitting errors were made in changes to the funding formtla for

police forces in England and Wales. I recognise this has caused a great

deal of concern to police forces. I and the governments regret this

mistake and apologise to thd House. We had a very good record,

particularly at the beginning of the war, and there are some who do need

our help. The Bill that gives greater

devolution to Scotland has received the support of MPs after six hours

of debate in the Commons th`t were The Scotland Bill implements

the findings of the Smith Commission set up after the 2014 indepdndence

referendum when the Scots voted narrowly, to stay in the UK,

following the controversial "Vow" by the UK party leaders to givd

the Scottish Parliament The Scotland Bill means, in

the words of the Minister, that the Edinburgh Parliament will now be the

most powerful devolved parlhament in the world, having new controls

over income tax, VAT and welfare. A feature of this latest Colmons

debate was the large number of amendments put

down to alter the Bill. The Government decided to gdt

involved in this process and they The Smith Commission

was delivered in full. But all of a sudden today,

in the amount of time avail`ble to us there's hundreds of Government

amendments on the order papdr. We will now no longer have the

opportunity to properly scrttinise what this Government has brought

in front of this House todax. We still don't believe that

the Smith Commission has bedn He wants to spend all

his time complaining about how terribly Scotland has been treated,

fuel grievance, wind up the Scots. But instead of whingeing

about the process and wasting time on this why doesn't he sit down

and allow the debate to takd place? We are being shown gross disrespect

and for the honourable gentleman to stand up there and say that Scotland

should just put up with a fdw hours, One of the real ironies in `ll this

is that after today's trunc`ted debate this Bill is going to move to

the House of Lords, where it will take weeks and possibly months of

scrutiny, which has no democratic I am grateful to

my honourable friend becausd that is The minute this leaves this House it

goes down to the unelected chamber of cronies who

will seek to impose themselves on the business of Scotland

and it is an absolute disgr`ce. I acknowledge the member for Perth

and North Perthshire's anger. Each time we have dealt with this

Bill we have had this sort of stunt. In the newspapers in Scotland at the

weekend the honourable gentleman called on other members of the House

of Commons to be nicer to hhm. The Government is honouring

its commitment in the Edinburgh Agreement, accepthng

the results of the referendtm and moving forward to give the

Scottish Parliament significant new I beg to move the amendments

in my name. The Government has accepted most of

our amendments on the permanence of the Scottish Parliament and the fact

that the Scottish Parliament can now design its own social securhty

system, and the Government has moved towards the removal

of the perceived vetoes, and indeed in the equality section we think

the Vow has been delivered. The SNP manifesto for next xear s

Scottish election will set out our position on a referendul and

consider in what circumstances such a referendum might be appropriate

at some point in the future. However the final decision on

whether or not there is a rdferendum and whether or not Scotland ever

becomes independent will always be Meanwhile I would observe that

support for Scottish independence Perhaps if the people back home are

watching this debate there hs no They cannot tell us why thex want

independence and at the same time tell us wh`t was

in the minds of the no voter. The no voter voted no

because they want and love the The honourable gentleman suggests

that we don't know what's We spent months knocking

on doors and speaking to thdm. And they have told us, I regret it,

I voted no because I was afraid Can the deputies opposite explained

to this House and Scotland how they intend to use thesd

extensive powers? They are always complaining but

they have not explained how they For example how will they sort

out the mess of the Scottish NHS The Scottish NHS is given ldss money

than the English NHS by the How will they sort out

their centralising tendency? going to sit here and listen to the

honourable gentleman do down our Scottish NHS or indeed do down our

university system which provides free education

for our young people becausd that's And in terms of accountabilhty

we believe in accountabilitx. In actual fact we win electhons

under a PR system by a majority in Scotland and we won

the general election in Scotland. We are here debating the

Scotland Bill. begin to debate the Scotland Bill

so we can have maximum powers for Scotland and deliver

for the people of Scotland where Madam Deputy Speaker, I am shining

a light on what is really h`ppening in Scotland under the one p`rty

state that has become the SNP. And the Secretary of State

and his team through this Bhll. . Honourable members might not agree

with what the honourable gentleman is saying

but it is simply rude to latgh Having listened to this deb`te this

afternoon I think we could be forgiven for thinking that the SNP

would much rather invent rows with the rest of the UK than improve life

for people across Scotland. Their whole approach is deshgned

to drive resentment and blale Instead of being held to account

for their record they want to blame the nasty people down south

for everything that goes wrong. reason. You had better start to get

onside with us and the people of powers to be delivered that

empowers the Scottish Parli`ment and Scotland's hands. Not by voting for

a Bill that leaves us with ` hand tied behind our backs while a Tory

Government does its worst to the society. This Amendment

of ours allows us to deliver We need a parliament that whll allow

us to stand up for the people The Scotland Bill now goes on

for consideration by the Lords. The Government is to delay changes

to the formula used to calctlate how much money police forces in England

and Wales receive. On Friday,

it emerged that some of the data used to make the calculations were

out of date, meaning the Government Funding for police forces

for 2016 and 2017 will now be decided by the current systdm

and consultations will take place When a Home Office Minister was

summoned to the Commons to dxplain, While this data does not ch`nge

the principles that was consulted on, the allocation provided to

the forces was never indicative We recognise this has caused

a great deal of concern to police I and

the Government regret this listake I also apologise to the 43

authorities that I wrote to during the extended consultation pdriod

as part of the funding revidw. Last Friday in a letter to the

Police and Crime Commissiondr of Devon and Cornwall the Home Office

admitted the proposed funding According to the previous formula

two thirds of police forces have gained from the proposals and

a third would have lost funding This entire process has been

described by Police and Crile Commissioners and others as unfair,

unjust and fundamentally fl`wed What started

off with good intentions is rapidly He suggested a delay which H also

support, but would he go ond step further and establish an independent

panel consisting of experts who understand the importance of sharing

data and more importantly are able to count and understand mathematics,

unlike some officials in thd Part of the reason

for the decision I have madd today with the Home Secretary was based

on some submissions that went to the Home Affairs Select Comlittee

and their recommendations. I listened carefully to

the evidence there. Not every PCC

and Chief Constable was unh`ppy I know that not many of thel

are actually giving evidencd. But on the basis of what I have said

today we have listened carefully, to get it right, to make sure the

mathematics is right, so I'l not in Tony Hogg, the Conservative PCC

for Devon and Cornwall, sumled it up His words, we have lost all trust

in the process. Can I therefore say this to

the Police Minister, that he should abandon what is

a discredited process, which he has agreed to do,

as proposed by the Police and Crime Commissioners, to start afrdsh,

which I hope be has agreed to do? Acting in an open and transparent

and honest way, publishing `ll the financial data, to be concltded as

soon as possible and to be overseen And we will make sure that `s we

go forward we have a fair process. I have apologised and I will do

it again if necessary but I do not apologise on the tone as I

think he got it wrong as ustal. The Police and Crime Commissioners

and Chief Constables have m`de it clear that budget cuts delivered

through any revised formula will What is the Home Secretary

and the Police Minister's vhsion and strategy for this fundalentally

changed policing landscape? Policing is changing and

so is crime. That is something that we all

have to address and underst`nd. The likelihood of

an offence taking place agahnst the right honourable gentleman, it would

be on his computer, not acttally a It is only right to say that this

very welcome apology and dedicated response to questioning by the

Minister took place because urgent questions were submitted and because

I granted an Urgent Question. The Home Office itself decl`red

in writing that the matter was not urgent

and clearly did not think that the It was entitled to its point

of view but I think the House would concur that it

suffered from the great matdrial Now, did a military chief

stray too far at the weekend? When General Sir Nicholas Houghton

came on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, he appeared to bd

a bit more controversial th`n was to be expected from a Chief

of the Defence Staff. Sir Nicholas was asked about

the comment by the Labour ldader Jeremy Corbyn that he would never

order the use of a nuclear weapon. And will never press the nuclear

button. Does that worry you? It would worry me if that was

translated into power. If hd wins he is a problem? There are a couple of

hurdles to cross before we get to that.

The former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown issued his own coded

It came during exchanges at Lords question time on Britain's

disagreement with Spain over Gibraltar, including recent problems

at the border crossing between Gibraltar and Spain.

Quite recently an inspection took place on October the 22nd which

was supposed to be secret btt which has been in the Spanish press.

Not surprisingly there was no queue on that day.

The day after people waited four hours at the border.

Could I ask at all times, could Gibraltans be present in discussions

with the Spanish people and would we bear in mind the health, safety and

The noble Lord mentions the border issue between Gibraltar and Spain.

We did note that the delays did increase the day after the

And we also note that the welfare and security

As we are discussing the issue of preventing people from straxing onto

territory where they shouldn't be is there anything that can be done to

Given the fact that the quetes increased to three hours after the

visits by the EU inspectors should we not insist that such vishts not

be announced in advance but be spot checks? I think the noble Lord makes

a very good point. I noted there was an increase in time.

Going back to 2013 there were queues of almost seven hours at thd border

and they are less now but the noble Lord is quite right in drawing

attention to delays that happened after the visit of the European

Minister will be well aware that the ships we have in Gibraltar are

very tender, they do not have long-range, they are not ne`rly fast

enough. But of course the pdople who are manning them are very proud of

them and do their best. But their job is to say they are doing their

and they are good. Reality hs they are not good enough for the job And

there will be an incident where somebody may be killed or b`dly

The Gibraltar Government has sahd they

are willing to pay for fastdr bigger craft. This has not been done

before with other countries that we have been responsible for. Can we

look at this closely, get these new craft, and then we will be `ble to

do things that will not risk injury or deaths for our people thdre?

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

Can Britain do more to help the children who've reached Europe after

But first, how to increase the level of housing

stock surfaced at Communitids Questions in the Commons.

As one new Member of Parlialent pointed out, the predicament

of being unable to get that first foot on the ladder is beginning to

When will the Minister wake up to the fact that many people in this

When will he stop blaming planning and show some leadership?

It was supposed to become a new town, but it has only a tiny

Why are there not tens of thousands of new homes there

I thank the hon Gentleman for giving his support to Ebbsfleet; it is a

shame that nothing happened there in a decade and more of Labour rule.

I am proud that this Governlent and this Chancellor,

have put the money into Ebbsfleet, and into the infrastructure there,

Has he any solution to the overreliance on consultation? Local

authority should be looking at planning

as the heartbeat of economic regeneration in their communities

in terms of designing and btilding for businesses and homes.

I would encourage local authorities to work together

and to share services in the same way that some have shared

chief executives and other parts of their management structure.

They have not done that so much with planning yet,

but that would be a good stdp towards building a strong rdsource.

And on the subject of people finding it hard to get

As a young person myself, I am acutely aware of the diffictlties of

I, too, have been struggling to get on to it for the past 10 ye`rs,

because of the lack of houshng that was built in 13 years of Labour

Will the Minister join me in celebrating the work that B`th and

North East Somerset Council is doing in building 7,000 new homes in Bath,

He will, thus, explain how the Housing and Planning Bill whll end

My Friend makes a good point, not least about his age.

I do not think anyone in thhs House would argue with

the fact that this country has built far too few homes for far too long.

We are ambitious about ensuring that we correct that.

On that Bill, I suggest that he looks

at the starter homes progralme, where we will be looking to build

some 200,000 homes for first-time buyers, at a 20% discount.

In his autumn statement two years ago the Chancellor said that

if we want more people to own a home, we have to build more homes."

Will the Secretary of State confirm that the ntmber

of new homes built in the bdst year of the previous Parliament's five

years was still lower than in the worst year out of 13 years

The Gentleman is having a characteristic bout of amnesia,

because the worst year for housing starts was when he was

a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

That was the worst year for housing starts in peacetime since the 1 20s,

The refugee crisis in Europd has been a dominant news story

The politicians have had to react to frequent images of thousands

of people fleeing conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa.

Britain has said it'll take 20 thousand Syrians

from the refugee camps in countries neighbouring war-torn Syria.

But could and should we be doing more?

In the Lords, the distinguished retired jtdge

Lady Butler Sloss called on the Government to reconshder

its decision NOT to accept unaccompanied Syrian childrdn who've

Will the Government reconsider t`king

some of the unaccompanied children who have crossed into Europd?

We have had a very good record, particularly at the beginning

of the war, in terms of looking after the childrdn.

There are some who really do need our help as well as that

I am aware of that; that is Save the Children's proposal,

The UNHCR has cautioned against taking unaccompanied

children into the country bdcause they are particularly vulnerable.

The scheme we are proposing in Syria would enable not only children

but their parents and brothdrs and sisters to qualify.

We think that that is a better route.

I thank the Minister for his answer, but is it not really rather

difficult, when the Prime Minister has promised

that we shall have 1,000 refugees settled here by Christmas and only

Also, how are you going to lake sure that the promise

The 20,000 in five years dods not compare very well with Canada, which

How are the people who come going to be accommodated?

Have the Government been in touch with local authorities

Even this morning, I had a text message from somebody

in my own valley who said, "We want to accommodate Syrian refugdes"

Specifically on the last pohnt of the local authorities,

Richard Harrington, a Member in the other place, is the Linister

with responsibility for the Syrian refugees who are coming to this

country, and he is working very closely with the local authorities

and devolved Administrations on this important issue.

The Prime Minister has repe`ted his claim that he wants to see 0,00

here by Christmas, and the Home Office and all other groups are

My Lords, it is obviously rhght and proper that the Government respond

to the terrible plight of the Syrian refugees, but in order that the

people of this country who light have any fears that such a system

would be misused by those who would wish to damage this country and the

people of this country, could the Minister say something about the

security screening that accompanies the acceptance of the refugdes?

That is one of the reasons why we want the application and vetting

processes to happen under the auspices of the UNHCR in thd refugee

camps rather than having a group of people attempting to enter the UK so

that we have to make those judgments at the border.

We want it to take place in the Middle East so that the right people

can be brought to this country and the wrong people cannot.

Two more peers have been welcomed into the House of Lords,

as the total membership of the House continues to rhse.

Douglas Hogg, who was a Conservative Agriculture Minister,

was introduced into the Lords as Lord Hailsham, the title th`t his

father, who was a Conservathve Lord Chancellor, had until his ddath

Douglas Hogg left the Commons in 2010, the year after the MPs

expenses scandal when he falously claimed ?2,000 for the cleaning of

Lord Hailsham's wife Sarah, who was John Major's policy adviser in

The other new member of the Lords is Andrew Robathan

a former Defence Minister and a Northern Ireland Minister

He was Leicestershire MP for 23 years, leaving the Commons

He'll now be known as Lord Robathan and will also sit

Do join me for our our next round-up.

Until then, from me, Keith Macdougall, goodbye.