13/03/2017 Monday in Parliament

The Commons and Lords thrash out the bill which paves the way for leaving

the European Union. The EU has been clear we cannot open these

discussions until the Prime Minister has given formal notification that

the UK wishes to withdraw from the EU. It is about whether we will

honour the unequivocal commitment made by the official vote to leave

campaigns that if the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, the rights of

all EU citizens in the UK would be guaranteed. Add a setback for the

government is Peers vote that international students shouldn't be

classed as economic migrants. You want our trade. You don't want our

children. Said by the Prime Minister of India. First, the Commons and the

Lords have returned to the bill which will pave the way from

Britain's exit to the union. Two amendments will put down by the

House of Lords last week, one requesting a meaningful vote on the

Brexit deal, the other to guarantee the status of EU migrants living in

the UK. David Davis said that couldn't be discussed after Article

50 had been triggered. We must pass the straightforward

bill without further delay so the prime in this can get to work on the

negotiations and we can secure a quick deal that secures the status

of both European Union and citizens of the UK and also UK nationals

living in the EU. Nick Clegg said that his family situation was echoed

by many other households in the household. My mother has lived here

for 50 years, she is great four years, she's been a teacher

bumptious pater taxes, my wife loves this country. Not the weather-bob at

the country. It's raising children here, pays taxes, works. It beggars

belief. It beggars belief that people like them and millions like

them have had a question placed over their status, their peace of mind,

their whale being in our great country because of the action or the

shameful in action of this government. Many of my constituents

in their 40s who never voted before because they thought until then

their voices and votes didn't count, they did so for the first time. And

contrary to what commentators on both the left and right may say,

these people are not simpletons, they are not children. They are

adults with as much right to vote as you and I. They knew the risks of

voting to leave and they did so anyway. We must respect that

decision and not seek to undermine it. Even if we thought the

international trade Secretary was right to say they were an important

card to play, even if that were acceptable language, it is not like

a nuclear deterrent. If you're not prepared to follow through with

deportation or to use people in that way, then it cannot be a bargaining

chip or a card to play. The Lords have in certain -- inserted this

amendment to give Parliament a meaningful vote and ministers are

asking them to venture it out of the bill, is disease-mac to delete it,

so that they should ask themselves today we want to actively go through

the lobbies and delete that from the text as the bill currently stands?

There has been no agreement about what to do with UK citizens. Now the

government on the three month mark, the EU commission knows full well

they are going to be dragged back to the house, now they must explain

regardless of what those discussions regardless of what those discussions

and negotiations are. I can think of nothing worse than to bind their

hands in the worst way and make sure hands in the worst way and make sure

that UK nationals don't get reciprocal arrangements. MPs voted

to overturn both amendments sending the bill back to the Lords again.

The United Kingdom's withdraw from the EU is obviously one of the most

momentous steps that our nation will take in our lifetime. I believe

significant opportunities do indeed lie before us. As someone who voted

to remain, I am not deaf to people's concerns, and I don't dismiss those

concerns as somehow betraying a lack of patriotism but that decision to

leave the EU has been made, and they spill, this very simple bill,

delivers on that decision. It's about whether we will honour the

unequivocal commitment made by the official leave campaigns that if the

UK voted to leave the EU, the rights of all citizens in the UK would be

guaranteed. Unlike most other issues arising from the referendum, there

is absolutely no dispute about what was promised to EU citizens. During

the campaign, the vote leave campaign, supported by a number of

noble Lords in this house, made the following categorical statement

"There will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident

in the UK." A post-Brexit deal could liberate the haggis. In a nod to the

announcement that Scotland's first Minister will be seeking a second

independence referendum, Boris Johnson said new trading agreements

could allow the delicacy to be sold in the United States. Currently,

it's banned there because it contains sheep 's lungs. It would be

in the interests of every part of this country because it is the case

at the moment, honourable members might not know this, the United

States not only has an embargo on British beef but on Scottish haggis

as well. I think it would be a fine thing, I didn't know whether members

of the Scottish parties agree with that, but there is no other way of

doing a free trade deal and liberating the haggis to transfer

and travel across the Atlantic unless we do a free-trade deal with

the United States. Let me remind our friends from the Scottish

Nationalists party, who seemed so determined to tear themselves, to

wrench themselves apart from the UK, even though they had a decisive

referendum... A decisive referendum on this matter, as members opposite

will recall, only a couple of years ago. Let me just remind them. Never

mind haggis. The Scotch whisky exports to India, a potentially huge

market, the Indian thirst for whisky is colossal, currently running at

only 4%. Scotch whisky sales only only 4%. Scotch whisky sales only

account for 4% of the Indian whisky market. That is because at the

moment, without a free-trade deal, the Indian government imposes a 150%

tariff on the Scotch whisky. As the government starts to think however

belatedly about the kind of future relationship at wants with Europe,

they should consider what kind of relationship they want with the rest

of the world and in doing so we need more than warm words from the

government. We need a plan. I believe our foreign office has been

at its very best and it has been allowed to give proper weight to the

values of Britain in its foreign policy as well as British interests,

and I had the Secretary of State will look to that legacy, embrace it

and build on it, not undermine it any further than he already has. The

government has defended its 2% Nato spending commitment after

suggestions from Labour it had been missed. The opposition also

criticised war pensions and the figure. The minister said the

spending was within Nato guidelines. One Conservative MP asked about the

Nato members missing the 2% target. Which of our Nato allies do not

currently spend 2% of GDP on defence and what reasons have they given for

doing so? Subject to the constraints of brevity! The 23 that don't spend

2% would take too long to list but I can reassure my honourable friend

that the five that meet the 2% target are the US, the UK, Poland,

Greece and Estonia, and I'm sure my honourable friend can did use the

absentees. Does the Minister appreciate that a free and Germany

would not only give concern perhaps to some of Germany's neighbours but

also to Russia... That would, in fact, potentially increase the

difficulty is that we face with tensions on the Russian border. I

disassociates myself from the honourable lady's remarks. That was

extraordinary. How many ministers come here to say exactly the same

thing? Some of our European partners take this whole thing for granted

and we and the Americans pick up the bill. What are we going to do about

it and make them pay what they should pay. Well, I'd like to

reassure my honourable friend there is progress. There are five

countries that meet the 2% target, up from three from 2014. There are

ten countries that meet the 20% pledge on major equipment and

research, and the cuts to defence spending have been halted. The

National Institute for strategic studies concluded the government had

missed the 2% Nato defence spending target and would have missed it by

even more if it hadn't included budgetary headings such as pensions

that don't contribute to defence capabilities not included when

Labour was in government. Isn't it time we went back to the criteria

used for defence spending went this party was in power so that we may

give our armed forces the resources they need? Well, mostly, Mr Speaker,

I wonder if he's read the report of our own select committee which says

they commend the UK government's commitment to UK defence and find

its accounting criteria for within Nato guidelines, as does Nato

itself. The defence Minister. This is Monday in Parliament. Still to

come, MPs ask how to deal with crumbling school buildings. Many

containing asbestos. First, five-year-old April Jones was

murdered by Mark Bridger in 2012. He kept images of child sex abuse on

his laptop. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He is never reveal the

whereabouts of her family has been campaigning for all of those guilty

of sex offences to have their names on the sex offenders register for

life. They also want to see the Internet better policed and for

harsher sentences to be imposed on people caught with indecent images

of children. A petition calling for these changes started by the family

gained so much support it prompted a debate in Westminster Hall. April's

parents, Paul and coral, and has is to Jasmine watched the proceedings.

I was on my iPad, when I read that a girl had disappeared in

Montgomeryshire. There was something about that tweet because it wasn't

an unusual tweet. You get tweets like that but there was something

about it that made me feel a sense this was something serious. The

family's MP recalled the intensive search for April Jones. Six days

later, we now know that a local man Mark Bridger was arrested and

charged with abduction and murder and perverting the course of

justice. In May 20 13th, he was found guilty and sentenced to life

imprisonment. The sentencing judge rightly, in my opinion, pronounced

he should never be released from prison again. The loss of April

Jones hit rural Welsh communities hard. It shattered our comfortable

belief such horrors could never happen here in Wales, said speak,

such monsters could not live among us. I want to pay tribute to April's

family. In the midst of the unfathomable horror of their

experience, they've succeeded in ensuring that while her murderer

will seek out his life -- live out his life in obscurity, April will be

cherished and her legacy should be that children are better protected.

A member of the Petitions Committee said it was one of the most

difficult issues she's had to talk about. The petition April's family

established calls for all sex offenders to remain on the sex

offenders register for life, for service providers and search engines

better policed, and for harsher sentences for those caught with

indecent images of children. I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure those

following this debate, if the Minister would clarify the

circumstances which would allow someone to be taken off the

register, and whether any monitoring of activity is undertaken for those

no longer subject to the notification requirements. She

raised another campaign supported by April's family to force murderers to

state where their victims remains are located. Coral Jones has said,

"As her mum, I'd love to know where she is, we'd all love to know. No

mother or family would like their child's remains elsewhere. They'd

like to put them at rest." The minister spoke to the Jones family.

I simper cannot imagine the horror of what you've had to experience.

And you are an inspiration to us all, how you have managed to take

such there are, and the worst imaginable situation, and to use

those feelings so constructively to campaign for changes to make sure

that no other family has to experience what you've had to

experience, and no other community has to suffer what you've suffered.

And I thank you sincerely for your bravery and your persistence in

bringing this matter to the attention of the people of Great

Britain, and us here today. She said ministers had

to comply with a court ruling in 2010 enabling people to

apply to have their names removed. We were told there must be

reasons... Opportunities for them to be

considered and it was this objection about human rights,

not to be denied a family life. At the time, the

Government was worried and disappointed by the ruling

and we remain disappointed today. Say she said she was very

sympathetic to the demands of the petition and the concerns

of the Jones family. Senior education officials have been

pressed by MPs over a report that found nearly ?7 billion needs to be

spent to bring England's school buildings up to a

satisfactory standard. The financial watchdog,

the National Audit Office, warned the deteriorating school

buildings were a significant The Government said it

will spend ?23 billion between now and 2021

on school buildings, many

of which are more than 40 years old. The Public Accounts

Committee first heard from the former headteacher of a school

which was recently moved a new building after

problems with asbestos. On windy days, literally,

the wind got through the building, We had two or three cases

where we had to close of schools and in fact students had to go

into the defumigation van, emergency van,

to make sure they were de-dusted

and hosed down and cleaned. parents would call emergency

services and so on but that was not a building that was fit to have

children in for several years, really, prior to its closure

and moving to the new building. They were first challenged over

asbestos in schools. The only way to address the asbestos

is to rebuild the building. The cost of rebuilding the estate

is roughly ?100 billion. Roughly 85% of schools

in the sruvey have asbestos in them. The advice of the Health

and Safety Executive is to leave asbestos

where it is and manage it,

because it is difficult asbestos in situ,

not damaged, but... It sounds like a reasonably

unique situation, I hope. Like that, you would

attempt to remove it or do something better with it,

but the majority of asbestos is within the building

and best left alone. When it becomes dangerous, yes,

of course you have to do that. The questioning and then turned

to the Government's drive to open hundreds more free schools

at a cost of nearly ?10 billion. Are you confident that

what is designated on the scheme are sufficient to ensure

not to that the 6.7 billion gets addressed, but that schools don't

fall further behind and that figure, So, we will be able

to give you a much better answer to that question when

we have the results of the condition You will know there is enough money

in the pot to stop it getting We will know how much schools have

depreciated over the five years At the moment, all we can

rely upon is what local About three fifths of

local authorities tell them their estate has got better

in the last five years and a quarter The free schools programme will be

9.7 billion by 2021. How do we reconcile that fund

for not just a novelty, the novelty of opening schools

and parents having a choice with findings all schools in a way that

satisfies the needs of local parents It is vital to achieve three

things. We need to be able to tackle

the condition of existing schools, it is vital that we provide

additional 500,000 or so places every parliament

because that's what the population demonstrates is required

and we are required to achieve the manifesto agreement

of increasing choice. We have to do all those three things

and to those with spending, that's why I referred to as ?14 billion

we would have spent by the end of this Parliament on tackling

the ?6.7 The novelty of 500 targets

to the detriment of funding mainstream regular funding

going into all schools makes it difficult for those schools that

aren't free schools to boost themselves up if the funding

that they receiving I'm working just on the basis that

you expect me as the accounting and delivering a manifesto

commitment and that is what I am You could have a debate in another

place about the balance between competing

political priorities. Women who order abortion pills

online without seeking a doctor should not face criminal

prosecution, a Labour MP Diana Johnson has

described the current law on termination of

pregnancy and Victorian. But in reply, she was told

the proposals were unsafe, and unusually, the bill under the ten

minute rule was pushed to a vote. Ms Johnson said her bill addressed

a fundamental question. members will, like me,

conclude that the criminalisation Women are poorly served by laws that

state that even early-term abortions are inherently criminal,

and doctors are poorly served by a criminal framework that does

not apply to other areas We should create an environment

in which the stigma of the criminal law is removed and in which women

can come forward for advice and high-quality, woman-centred

health care as early as possible Proportion is still a major

and often risky procedure If abortion pills can be so easily

bought over the internet-perhaps by an abusive boyfriend

or husband-that should lead us to take steps to protect young

and vulnerable women from those Take the young teenager,

terrified to discover that she is pregnant,

who googles proportion What she needs are not

fewer legal safeguards but support and information,

which the Bill would take away. Ten minute rules bills are a way

of airing views and have no chance of becoming law,

so often they are allowed to pass without a vote in the knowledge

they will not get But given the controversial

subject, there was a vote. MPs voted by 172 to 142

in favour of the bill. There was a setback for

the Government in the Lords tonight, when peers supported a move to stop

classifying overseas students as The proposal attracted

support from all sides of The House of Lords voted

with a majority of 94 to I of the job these words to add to

all of the comments made by noble lord I full heartedly agree with.

Quote, you want our trade, you don't want our children. Set by the Prime

Minister of India. If that is the impression which is being received

in India and other nations around the world, how can we possibly

expect to attract the brightest and the best?

My conversations provide clear evidence that even those people

who are anxious about immigration welcome foreign students and do not

think they should be included in the migration figures.

They do not want immigration rules that are any more restrictive

than the current ones placed on undergraduate and postgraduate

students and academics - not now, nor in future,

when our immigration policy is revised to deal with Brexit.

To use somewhat unparliamentary language, it is a no-brainer.

lost their licence to bring in foreign students.

This has been a scandal that has gone on for years and I very much

regret that from the academic lobby, which should be powerful,

accurate and on the case, hardly a word have we heard.

There are accusations that international students overstay.

Can the Minister confirm that a Home Office report has shown

that only 1% to 1.5% of international students overstay?

If he will not answer that question, will he say why the Government

continually refuse to put in visible exit checks at our borders?

While, of course, there is no room for complacency,

the United Kingdom continues to be the world's second most popular

destination for international students and we have welcomed more

than 170,000 international students to the UK for

The higher education minister, Lord Younger of Leckie.

Alicia McCarthy's here for the rest of the week.