06/06/2014 The Week in Parliament

won the tour once more. Now it's time for The Week In

Parliament. Hello, and welcome back to The Week

In Parliament. And to a new session here at Westminster. A few political

appeal falls while we have been away but some things remain the same. ``

upheavals. The Queens speech set out the lineup

for the coalition 's fifth and final year of government. Bursting with

new ideas, or lacking in imagination? Take your pick. This is

a packed programme of a busy and radical government! The first thing

the Queens speech needed to have done is signal a new direction in

the jobs we created this country and whether hard work powers. When a

backbench MP rose to thank Her Majesty for the speech, she summed

up the dilemmas faced by the modern man. Does he risk insulting me? If

he he failed to mention that I am also a softly spoken charmer? If you

were to compliment me, does he risk the wrath of the Labour Party 's

women's Caucus? Learn what that was about later on. A week is a long

time in politics, and three weeks turned out to be an eternity. At

least for the mainstream parties. The political landscape was turned

on its head, with UKIP enjoying a major breakthrough in the local

elections, and storming to victory in the European poll. UKIP are of

course not in the Commons. So Westminster remains the domain of

the established parties and indeed the establishment. With full pomp

and ceremony, the Queen on Wednesday presided over the annual State

opening of Parliament. Parts of the ceremony expressing the historic

link between the monarchy and the two Houses of Parliament can be

traced back as far as the 14th century. This year there was

something very new, or sort of. For the first time, the Queen travelled

to Westminster in her diamond jubilee coach. It has taken a decade

to construct. For a horse`drawn carriage, it is pretty up`to`date,

with electric windows and heaters. It also contains fragments from

dozens of historical artefacts. Such as Henry VIII warship and the Mary

Rose. From the code breaking centre, Bletchley Park, and, a

Spitfire. In the House of Lords, peers dressed in their traditional

attire, took their seats. Familiar faces could be glimpsed, such as the

Archbishop of York. And to Conservative peers. ``two. A quick

blast of the trumpets... And the Queen, wearing her robes of state

and Crown, walked through the Royal Gallery to the House of Lords.

There, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took their places on the

thrones. The Queens messenger went to summon BMPs from the Commons to

hear the speech. ``the MPs. The bit that people always remember, the

slamming of the doors in the face of Black Rod, a sign of the supremacy

of the MPs. He knocked three times and was M. `` and was let in.

Mr Speaker, Her Majesty the Queen commands this honourable house. As

usual, and audible comment from Labour 's Dennis Skinner. Coalition

's last stand. Then, that walk`through from the Commons to the

Lords with the rival politicians engaging in ever so jolly breezy

banter. Finally, the Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling handed Her Majesty a

copy of the speech to read out. To strengthen the economy and provide

stability and security, my ministers will continue to reduce the country

's deficit. Helping to ensure that mortgage and interest rates remain

low. An updated chance `` Charter for budget responsibility

future governments spend taxpayers money responsibly. My government

will also continue to cut taxes in order to increase people 's

financial security. Legislation will impose higher penalties on employers

who fail to pay their staff the minimum wage. Measures will be

brought forward to limit excessive redundancy payments across the

public sector. My government will continue to implement major reforms

to the electricity market and reduce the use of plastic carrier bags to

help protect the environment. A key priority for my ministers will be to

continue to build an economy that rewards those who work hard.

Legislation will be brought forward to give those who have saved

discretion over the use of their retirement funds. My government 's

pension reforms will also allow for innovation in the private pensions

market, to give greater control to employees. Extend the ice and

premium bond schemes, and abolish the town p tax rate on savers ``

``ISA. My government will ensure that all infants will receive a free

school meals. ``10p. Childcare will be extended to the most

disadvantaged two years old `` two `year`olds. My government will

continue its programme of political reform. My ministers will introduce

legislation on the recall of members of Parliament. My government will

continue to implement new financial powers for the Scottish parliament.

And, make the case for Scotland to remain a part of the United Kingdom.

In all, 11 bills made up this year 's Queen 's speech, the morning

ceremonial events gave way to debate in the Commons in the afternoon,

including speeches by opposition leader and prime minister. Labour

leader Ed Miliband focused on lessons that could and should be

learned from last month 's Council and European elections. The custom

of these debates is to address our opponents across the dispatch books

in our house. Today, on its own, that would be inadequate to the

challenge we face. There is a bigger opponent to address in this Queen 's

speech debate. The belief among many members of the public that this

house cannot achieve anything at all. Any party in it. About 10% of

those entitled to vote at the recent elections voted for UKIP. As

significant, over 60% did not vote at all. Whatever side we sit on in

this house, we have all heard it on the doorstep. You are all the same.

In it for yourself. It doesn't matter who I vote for. Of course, Mr

Speaker, that is not new, but there is a depth of and scale of

disenchantment that we ignore at our peril. This is what the Queens

speech would have looked like. A banking bill to support small

businesses, a community built to dissolve power. An immigration bill

to stop workers from being undercut. Consumers build to freeze

energy bills, and NHS bill to make it easier to see your GP and stop

privatisation. To make that happen, we need a different government, we

need a Labour government. I listen to the Leader of the Opposition

speech, and I had to say there was a complete absence of anything

approaching a coherent plan. Nothing on the deficit, nothing on taking

long`term difficult decisions, nothing on growth, and frankly, I

believe that is his problem. Not that he went to campaign in some

target council seat and didn't know the name of the labour `` leader of

the council. Nor any campaigns on the cost of living, but he doesn't

know the cost of his own groceries. He has no coherent plan for

Aberconwy and has nothing to say about how genuinely to improve our

public services `` our economy. And nothing to say about strengthening

Britain's place in the world. That was not enough in the Queens speech,

but we should be clear about this, the fifth year of this Parliament.

For the first time ever, we are introducing tax`free childcare to

help hard`working families and creating new laws on producing shale

gas to give us energy security. New laws to build a high`speed rail link

to modernise infrastructure, we can build more homes and help young

people, outlawing modern slavery, confiscating assets from criminals

and protecting people who volunteer. Cutting red tape, curbing

the abuse of zero hour contracts, this is a packed programme of a busy

and radical government. Should the right honourable member bring

forward a private members bill? Will he give them the same wholehearted

support he showed me in the past year? I can certainly give my

honourable friend that undertaking, he did a brilliant job in bringing

that bill before the House of Commons. The Leader of the

Opposition was talking about one of the things, some of the things that

turned people away from politics. I think one of the ways to turn people

back into politics would be to say that Britain should be a member of a

reformed European Union, or not? It is the British people who need to

have that say. David Cameron, but it is not all serious this ``

seriousness. The Commons can be light`hearted, when the backbencher

gave an address. It is the time for humourous observations, and there

were certainly plenty this year. The Conservative MP noted that she was

the first MP to make the vote of thanks since Lady Tweedsmuir back in

1957, a speech she had been taking a look at. She discusses the cost of

living, reform of the upper house and finished by advocating the

advantages of having more women parliamentarians. It is a shame that

the response she received from the then Leader of the Opposition was

less able to stand up to contemporary scrutiny. Mr Gaitskell,

with gallant intent I am sure, replied to a nodding Commons that

Lady Tweedsmuir had probably made some good points but that he was

unable to respond to any of them. Such was the destruction of her soft

and attractive boys. `` distraction of her soft and attractive voice.

Despite being a grandmother, she was rather easy on the eyes. He found it

quite impossible to concentrate on anything she had to say. In

recounting this, I realise that I may have left the current Leader of

the Opposition with a very modern man's dilemma. Does he now risk

insulting me? If he fails to mention that I am also a softly spoken

charmer? Or, if he were to compliment me, does he risk the

wrath of the Labour Party 's women's Caucus? Potentially losing the newly

introduced power of recall? These are perilous times! And, the MP had

a shocking revelation to make. There must be no compromise of

standards, but we must recognise we cannot set women up to fail. It must

be tailored to enable us to be our best. I have benefited from some

excellent training by the Royal Navy. But on one occasion I felt it

was not as desperate as it might have been. Fascinating though it

was, I felt that the lecture and practical demonstration on how to

keep your penis and testicles in the field fails to appreciate that some

of us had been issued with the incorrect kit. Give us the

opportunity, give us the training and women will embrace the

challenge. That has been Portsmouth's experience. Ed Miliband

was a proper gentleman in his reply. I can certainly say, Mr Speaker,

that it can take guts to dive off the high board. She should try

wrestling a bacon sandwich live on national television. Mr Speaker, it

is clear that the day she deserved a place on the podium.

Ed Miliband, will be debate carries on for five days after that. And the

backbench Speaker was the chair of the Commons home affairs committee.

I think we need to confront UKIP on their immigration agenda. All three

party leaders were right to condemn the statement of Nigel Farage, that

he felt uncomfortable if Romanians were going to move in. They have

turned it into to stay neighbour and eight by neighbour. I think it is

important we should confront this. This is what they said about my

parents. That they did not want to live near Asians and by people. He

is making a very fair point. I draw attention to the members of the

house who have not read the community Select Committee from the

last government that looked into community cohesion and integration.

Even from second and third generations, it was the pace of

change that they object to, not necessarily the colour or ethnicity

of the people coming in. It was that that was so unplanned.

And he's talking about the effect of the UK Independence Party.

And the spectre of UKIP was also looming in the House of Lords. The

leader of the Labour peers reflected on the their democratic right to

vote for UKIP. I do not respect that party's simplistic policies which

offer little more than a return to some rose`tinted past which did not

exist. William E Simon was perhaps wise when he said bad politicians

are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote. The fact that

64% of our electors did not see the point in voting and some of those

who did voted for a plague on all your houses shows that we as

national politicians have failed in many ways. We have failed to listen,

to take action, to address the concerns. We have overpromised and

underdelivered and the parties have failed to respond to the myriad

changes that we face. And there were some reflections on the reality of

Coalition Government. I am proud that my party did not shirk its

responsibilities. At a time when the country 's finances were in jeopardy

and the eurozone faced collapse and the economic crisis continued to

unfold, to do so would have been irresponsible. My party has paid a

heavy place, but in hindsight I do not think it was the wrong thing to

do. The irony is all governments are coalitions. Compromises between

different wings of the party, or even between number ten and number

11. Nobody ever gets everything they want. In the end, it is about

balance. While the Queen was delivering her

speech on Wednesday, there was some bad behaviour in the school

playground. Home Secretary Theresa May and Education Secretary Michael

Gove got into a bit of a punch`up over how to deal with extremism in

schools. A letter from Mrs May blamed the Education Department for

failing to tackle allegations of Islamic influence in schools in

Birmingham. Mr Gove's team believes the Home Office hasn't done enough

to confront extremism before it develops into terrorism. On Thursday

the Shadow Leader of the the unedifying war between the Home

Secretary and the Education Secretary on the Government strategy

combat extremism. It seems that there are separate approaches being

pursued in different Government departments, while the community

secretary is nowhere to be seen. The Prime Minister is said to be

furious. The Government should be protecting our young people from

coming under the influence of extremist ideas. Instead it appears

to be deeply occupied with conducting a proxy leadership battle

within the Conservative Party. Does the reader of the house agree with

me that this is too important to be treated in this contemptuous way? We

are well used to this Coalition fighting, but things have now got so

bad that both parties are turning on themselves. The Education Secretary

is disparaging the Home Secretary. She is fighting against him. I know

that he is classically trained, the he should beware of the ides of May.

I am grateful for the response to the statement. Quite a good joke

about May, unfortunately we in June. Absolutely, they are working

together. They are working to take measures that will be effective.

Actually, as she has seen, the extremism task force has already

given rise to a range of measures that we have been taking in order to

deal with that. Well paid bankers have come in for

plenty of adverse comment in recent years. But what about the levels of

pay of some top council officials? Earlier this year it was learnt that

the chief executive of Wandsworth Council in London, Paul Martin, was

receiving more than ?3230,000 in annual pay and bonuses, far beyond

the Prime Minister's salary of ?142,000. `` 232 pals in pounds. ``

230 ?2000. So, in the words of the advertisement, is he worth it? What

attracted you to the job? Wandsworth is renowned as being one of the most

remarkable councils in the country. The basis for that is that over

decades it has achieved a reputation for providing the highest possible

services and the law was spent in tax. `` lowest spent. The current

band E council tax is ?3388. `` ?388. If the council was to double

that, and it has no intention of doing that, it would be the third

lowest council tax in the country. I say that to give a sense of the

difference between Wandsworth in its generally commercial approach. The

salary does not interest you. The salary reflects the standard of the

council. How is that? The salary reflects the demands that the

council makes upon its senior officers The arguments over pay and

bonuses. Now a quick look back at the State

Opening. It was a landmark day for one person at Westminster, the Clerk

of the Commons, Sir Robert Rodgers. It marked his 42nd State Opening

and, more to the point, his final one as he's retiring in the summer.

Sir Robert told Eleanor Griffiths`Jones about the work of

the Clerk of the Commons. The Clerk acts as number one port of

call for MPs and the Speaker for advice on the constitution and

parliamentary procedure. We give our advice. It's always rigidly

politically impartial and the other thing is you do give advice in

confidence because it may be a very good indication, to the other side

of tactics that are going to be employed, or ideas that people may

have in mind. In the Commons chamber he sits on the right`hand chair at

the table of the House. We are always ready to advise the chair on

a point of order. Without warning you need to act quickly. I thought

the honourable gentleman was the man in the mustard suit, but the Clerk,

who is the fount of all wisdom, advises me that its colour is

tangerine. He also has an important role in lawmaking. If it's a Bill

that started here a week past I write on the title page of the Bill

in Norman French, which has been used for centuries. Then I or one of

my colleagues does actually carry the Bill physically from the House

of Commons to the House of Lords. At the same time the text of the Bill

is on the shared dry between the two public Bill offices using some of

the most advanced text handling software in the world. So it's a

perfect example of a quite picturesque survival living with

something which is the cutting edge of technology. You're watching the

Week in Parliament, after a week when David Cameron hailed the

Queen's Speech as a packed programme. And Ed Miliband warned

that Parliament was facing a battle for relevance and legitimacy in the

eyes of the public.