14/12/2015 Monday in Parliament

Hello, this is Monday in Parliament, our look at the day at Westlinster.

The headlines: The delayed decision on airport expansion,

Labour claims it's all about one Conservative MP and would-bd London

We all know that this rather grubby little announcement,

if I may say so, is all abott trying to get the Conservative party

and my honourable friend thd Member for Richmond Park over next May

The government is accused of allowing southern England to be

a parasite upon its northern neighbours.

Will this Government stop patronising the north?

And after global agreement hn Paris, the government's challenged

on its own environmental credentials.

First an announcement to Colmons that the final word on incrdasing

airport capacity has been ptt back has been met with anger. Thd issue

of expanding airport capacity has been a thorny one for conservatives

opposed to Heathrow expansion. MPs from all sides said the current

pause was more about the forthcoming May oral elections. The Conservative

candidate has pledged to resign his seat if the expansion of He`throw

gets the green light. For some the argument is simple, oppose `ll

expansion anywhere or back ht but always somewhere else. And xes there

are opportunities in the network, other national airports with global

connections from cities such as Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow,

Manchester and Newcastle but growth you will come alongside growth in

the south-east, not instead of it which is why in September 2012 Sir

Howard Davies was asked to lead a commission into the issue. The final

report was commissioned less than six months ago and made a strong

case for expansion in the south-east. We have considered that

evidence. The government accepts the case for expansion. We are

continuing to consider all the schemes and we want to see `ction

but we must get the next stdps right. Both for those keen to push

ahead with expansion and for those who will be affected by it. So we

will undertake a package of further work, first we must deal with air

quality. I want to build confidence that expansion can take place within

the legal limits. So we will accept the environmental committee's

recommendation to test the work against the government's new quality

plan. Second we must deal whth concerns about noise, I want to get

the best possible outcome for this for local residents. No matter how

skilfully the Secretary of State -- state tries to pretend otherwise we

all know that this rather grubby little announcement if I might say

so is all about trying to gdt the Conservative Party and the, my

little friend the member for rent and park over the next May: that

particular line. That is thd way for the government to make decisions and

announcements. The government talks about the northern powerhouse as if

he really believes in it but I'm sure he does, he must know that

expanding Heathrow as -- is essential for the Northern

powerhouse and so will he please act in the national interest rather than

just making a grubby little in its bid to benefit London and otr

excellent meal candidate? Wdll Mr Speaker I am very glad that my

honourable friend is showing support to the Northern powerhouse. It is

like something straight frol yes Minister. What do we want? @irport

expansion! When do we want ht? At the appropriate juncture in the film

is of time after umpteen enpuiries, reports and working groups `nd the

cost of millions of pounds to the taxpayer, all for a by-election in

Richmond Park. He used to bd indecisive but now he is not so

sure. Will the government gdt on with it as the country expects?

Madam Deputy Speaker I am still waiting to hear as it is such a

simple, easy answer, what the SNP's position is on this matter, what

scheme do you support? They are silent on it, the what everxone else

to give the answers so once the decision is made they can attack it.

The Secretary of State has come here to read because all into thhnking

that he is the most incompetent and indecisive minister, Secret`ry of

State there has ever been btt no one is fooled by his attempt to take a

hit on behalf of the honour`ble member for Richmond Park. This is a

fix for next year's mural election and nothing else and not th`t

anything that is in the nathonal interest. I am going to do ht again,

the Shadow Chancellor has jtst said that was a covenant, I think what I

would say to the honourable member and he has been here for all of the

exchanges, is it is not my honourable friend for Richmond who

changed his position on whether the -- on whether Heathrow should be or

not it is the rate moral melber for tooting who when he was transport

Minister supported Heathrow and said he was firmly in favour of

Heathrow's expansion. Sports Direct is a bad advert

for British business - a former Labour frontbencher

has told the Commons. Chuka Umunna has a branch

of the sportswear chain in his constituency

and asked an urgent question Media reports at the weekend

suggest staff are subject to 15 minute searches at the end

of a shift which are not included I share the honourable Gentleman s

concern that working people are paid the full amount that the law

requires for every hour that they work, and I welcole

his urgent question. We take the enforcement of linimum

wage laws very seriously. That is why we have increasdd

the enforcement budget from ?8. million in 2010 to ?13.2

million in 2015-16. While I am not able to commdnt

on enforcement action in relation to individual employers,

I can assure the House that Her Majesty s Revenue

and Customs follows up everx complaint it receives

in relation to breaches I encourage any employer or worker

who is concerned that these laws are not being complied

with in their workplace to contact HMRC or ACAS, through its

confidential hotline. As a Government, our messagd

to employers is straightforward We will work to reduce burddns

on business by cutting regulation In return, we expect employdrs

to pay working people at le`st a decent legal minimum`the

national minimum wage and, from next April, the nation`l living

wage for workers aged 25 and over. I can assure the House

that we will not hesitate to crack down hard on employers,

large and small, who break this social contract by failing to pay

the wage that the law requires. We know enough about the pr`ctices

at Sports Direct plc, which has a branch in my

constituency, to conclude that this company is a bad advert for British

business and one with a culture of fear in the workplace,

which we would not wish As the Institute of Directors

has said, it is "a scar Finally, I have no doubt

that the reaction of the employer concerned will be to say,

"We comply with the law," btt surely what it needs to understand

is that the British public dxpect We often do not do things

that the law allows us to do, because we do not think that

that is the right way Surely that should apply

to the company in this case. Even when great social reforms

become part of the political consensus, they still

have to be fought for. The battle to sustain and enforce

the minimum wage must be continuous and, frankly, requires more

than just warm words from Mhnisters. The TUC estimates that at ldast

250,000 workers are not being paid In the last Parliament,

it was revealed that just nhne firms had been charged for non-colpliance

with the minimum wage. I am happy to acknowledge

that the national minimum w`ge was one of the great achievdments

of the Government led by Tony Blair. I note simply that there ard more

supporters of that Government s achievements on this side

of the House than on the hon. I look forward to receiving

the same acknowledgement from Opposition Members when,

next April, we introduce the national living wage,

which is significantly highdr than any increase in the national

minimum wage he and his colleagues proposed during the last

election campaign. Does the Minister recognise that

what is so disturbing about the newspaper report

is the fear among many In some instances, women

are apparently not willing to stay away from work, even if thehr child

is sick for a day, simply My constituents have approached me

with concerns about Sports Direct on several occasions

since the election. It appears that Sports Direct can

sometimes make somewhat aggressive use of and have a somewhat

aggressive attitude Flexible working can suit some

people, but does not When it comes to such

employment laws, has my hon. Friend given any thought

to a general anti-avoidance rule, such as the one we are

considering in the tax sphere? The minister replied

that he hadn't considered it - but the idea had now been ahred

and he was happy to talk The government was accused

of "patronising" the north of England in communities qtestions

with its northern powerhousd The veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman

said southerners "live parasitically" on the

efforts of the north. But the government insisted

the powerhouse could make This year, the Government

invested over ?113 million in high-performance computing in my

constituency at the Hartree Centre, a joint venture between the Science

and Technology Facilities Council and IBM bringing high skill,

high wage jobs to Weaver Vale. Does my honourable Friend agree that

investment in technology and science is key to the growth

of the northern powerhouse? Friend s important and signhficant

work in this area. He is a passionate advocate

for his constituency This is just one more example

of Government investment in the north to build

the northern powerhouse Will this Government stop

patronising the north? Give us the investment

in infrastructure. We are the people who still make

things in this country. Many people in this part

of the world`London and the south`live

parasitically on our efforts. I welcome the honourable

Gentleman s enthusiasm The Government recognise

the potential of the north The north can make a differdnce

if it is invested in, and, crucially, if the people

of the north are given real control That is what the devolution agenda

is about and what some of the investments

I spoke of are about. It will make a real difference

to his constituents and to line The Minister will be aware

that the Scottish Government procure 46% from small and medium-shzed

enterprises compared to the UK Will he look at the Glasgow

and Clyde Valley city deal, which has a supplier development

programme to encourage SMEs? City deals can be key

drivers for growth. I welcome those that have already

been agreed and we continue to have talks, including with some

of the great cities and citx regions in Scotland, on where we can go

further and what more we can do On behalf of the whole Housd,

we thank all hard-pressed and often low-paid council staff and others

who even now are helping those areas of the north so badly affected

by the recent flooding. In contrast to the rhetoric

about the northern powerhouse, the Office for National Statistics

recently reported that the north is falling further behind

as a result of under-investlent The average Londoner now produces

?42,000 a year added value, while in the north-east

the average is only ?18,000. In the place of more cuts,

will the Minister now include specific, substantial and urgent

northern investment in his local government settlement

later this week? The honourable Gentleman rahses

the important point that our economy The whole point of the northern

powerhouse project is to address that imbalance, ensuring we unlock

the significant growth potential that exists across the north

and the contribution the northern We can see, from a number

of the announcements, that that investment is going in,

but more importantly it is going in hand-in-hand

with local control, giving control to the people who know best how

to grow the economies of thd north because they live in them

and are part of them. The communities minister,

James Wharton. You're watching

Monday in Parliament. Still to come: the House of Lords

concedes over the latest attempt The Government has hailed

the 'historic' agreement to tackle climate change reached by 200

countries at the weekend in Paris. But in the Commons,

opposition MPs were puzzled, saying it clashed with

the Government's record The Paris agreement truly m`rks

an historic turning-point. It builds on the Kyoto protocol

and for the first time ever provides the comprehensive framework

in which not just developed countries, but nearly every country

of the world has committed to take the global action needed

to solve a global problem. Of course, it was hard fought

and of course it required compromise Of course, too, it has not solved

every problem in one go. Now we have to set about

implementing the commitments made, but we should not underestilate

the significance of All parties have recognised that

economic and global securitx requires us to tackle

climate change. All have come together to commit

to a single goal`net zero c`rbon All have agreed to set out plans

to curb emissions and to be held This is a moment to celebrate,

not because the agreement is sufficient - we must be honest

about the fact that the pledges made by each country do not add tp

to a commitment that will kdep temperature rises well

below two degrees - but because it gives us

enough to take us much, much closer to climate safety,

and sends a clear signal to global financial markets that the dra

of unchecked fossil fuel usd But she said the Chancellor George

Osborne has just cut a fund for carbon capture

and storage or CCS. In Yorkshire and Scotland,

communities, scientists and engineers are reeling

from the Chancellor s decishon Can the Secretary of State tell us

today that that decision The Government have wasted no time

in blocking new wind farms dven where they enjoy strong loc`l

support, and have made severe and short-sighted cuts in energy

efficiency and solar power schemes. Thousands have lost their jobs,

and thousands more could It was a tight spending revhew with

the Treasury. We made a dechsion not to proceed with it. I believe that

CSS is going to play an important part in the carbonate in future and

we will work internationallx to make progress on that.

who made her eloquent statelent extolling the virtues

of the low-carbon economy, and the one who answered qudstions

and reiterated some of the `ppalling betrayals that the green economy has

suffered at the hands of this Government.

She said in her statement that there are no excuses,

but for the past six months I have heard excuse after excuse.

On the solar feed-in tariffs ` excuses.

On carbon capture and storage ` excuses.

On the Green Investment Bank ` yet more excuses.

Will she rethink those policies and reinvest in them,

In all the acres of media coverage of the Paris agreement,

George Monbiot sums it up bdst: By comparison to what it could have

By comparison to what it should have been, it s a disaster. I wdlcome

the inclusion of the 1.5 degrees goal, but it is meaningless

without policies to deliver it`in particular, keeping the vast

majority of fossil fuels in the ground.

Will the Secretary of State tell us how the Government s recently agreed

duty to "maximise" the economic recovery of oil and gas is `nything

other than completely incompatible with what she has just signdd up

I am going to interpret that as a cautious

There is an element of this deal that she must agree is rathdr

extraordinary: having 200 countries participate.

The answer to her question is that we cannot take any risks

Maximum economic recovery is absolutely a commitment

We have to make sure that wd protect energy security while growing our

The Parliamentary ping pong over lowering the voting age to 06

in the EU referendum has come to an end.

After some feisty exchanges, the House of Lords rejected another

attempt to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote.

Last week, the Commons rejected a proposal for votes at 16 ,

added by the Lords to the ET Referendum Ways and Means.

The Home Office Minister urged peers to accept the Commons' view.

And he pointed to a ruling by Commons clerks asserting

"financial privilege" over the Lords.

By convention, the Upper Hotse does not pursue measures that

We do not believe that it is appropriate to lower the voting age

to 16 and, even if it were, this Ways and Means would not be

It should come as no surprise that the original amendment

that we sent to the House of Commons, lowering the voting age,

was deemed to engage the Hotse of Commons s financial privhlege.

The Government estimate that extending the franchise to 06

and 17-year-olds for the referendum would cost at least ?6 millhon.

He said there was a real danger in changing the franchise

Rightly or wrongly, a changd to the franchise may be seen

as an attempt to engineer the result, and that perception

would damage the public's confidence in the result of the vote.

Labour explained its latest plan to lower the voting age.

We have determined to submit a new amendment that will address

First of all, we dispute thd amount that the Government have suggested

this amendment would cost: ?6 million.

In the context of Government expenditure of ?760 billion,

We are talking about one 1,000th of 1% of the budget.

The reality is that the House of Commons has decided to invoke

financial privilege ` not that it is this or that amotnt.

It has the right to invoke financial privilege and the actual amount

I do not think that the amotnt is irrelevant.

One of the points that I will come on to is the threshold

It is like a dark art - no one has any idea

what it is and there is nothing written down anywhere.

But if it is the Commons Cldrks who are unelected and unaccountable,

who decide what is subject to financial privilege,

at the very minimum we need extremely clear and transparent

procedures for determining this as they have such a major ilpact

on the ability of this Chamber to influence policy decisions.

It is of course the Speaker who decides, advised by the Clerks.

In 2012, we were told by thd noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde,

that the Speaker, as the Minister says, is advised by the Clerks,

but the Clerks are not expert in the financial

Therefore, they consult the Government and so the Government

I thank the noble Lord for enlightening us on that point.

The Liberal Democrats also want to lower the voting agd.

One of the oldest tricks in the Whips' trade ` I used to be

a Whip ` when you are losing an argument is to change

That is, effectively, what the Government are now doing.

They have moved from trying to defend the inconsistency

of the franchise for the Scottish independence referendum compared

to that for the forthcoming European referendum to insisting that a clear

majority of your Lordships' House should be ignored on the grounds

that we voted in a way that will cost money.

Whether it was a trick or not, the Government got its way!

The House of Lords voted against lowering the voting age

MPs are considering whether to force the naming of staff at a former City

regulator who decided to lilit investigations into top

Their names have been kept out of a report into the work

Written by Andrew Green QC as he explained to

You've made clear view disappointment at the remov`l of a

number of names. We're talkhng about individual responsibility.

Individuals have to be named if they are responsible. Perhaps yot could

explain to the committee and those listening what your concerns were.

The view I took was that evdrybody I identify in my report, their names

should appear in the final version of the report is of the view I took

was there ought to be full transparency. The view that the

regulators took was that thdy did not want to identify any further FSA

employees below the level of director so that would incltde heads

of department and managers `nd anybody below as well. I made it

very clear that I took the view there should be full transp`rency.

The regulators obviously disagreed. The reason I raise it is thd

committee has the authority if it wants to exercise it to reqtire the

provision of these names. Wd all have to take a view ourselvds in

private session about this `nd therefore any guidance about this

you have, we have no intenthon of wanting to go on any witchhtnt. We

want to do this in the publhc interest, spending 7 million or

whatever it is making their support, we want to improve regulations in

this country. People want gtidance from you and the specialist advisers

we appointed to help us comd to a decision. I think it is verx

difficult for me to say mord than I have said already. I regard it as an

unsatisfactory situation and take the view there should be full

transparency. As far as I'm concerned, regulators' reason were

not sufficiently compelling to remove the names and in the

circumstances I remain of the view... You are saying a public

interest override the concerns expressed? Indeed.

The Financial Services Authority was scrapped in 2013 and replaced

I'm back at the same time tomorrow, but until then, goodbye.