07/07/2017 The Week in Parliament

Hello and welcome to the Week In Parliament.

What should be done with the limit on pay rises

The low pay epidemic is a threat to our economic stability.

It is not fair to bankrupt our economy because

that leads to people losing their jobs and losing their homes.

The Government's new chums are the Democratic Unionist Party

But one observer warns them, watch out.

This is a great moment for them and nobody can take it away

but there are many snares and many responsibilities, particularly

they do have to make some concessions to bring back

power-sharing devolution, which is overwhelmingly in their interest.

And it's a hung Parliament with close votes expected.

But it's the other sort of ties that are most concerning

I won't be taking interventions from anyone who's not wearing a tie.

Do you think that there is a risk of a

slippery slope which might lead that member to refuse to take

interventions from members who are sartorially

But first, have we reached last orders?

Is the Government about to call time on austerity?

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his Cabinet colleague

Michael Gove let it be known they think the cap limiting public

sector pay rises to 1% should now be lifted.

But the Chancellor Philip Hammond said government policy had not

changed and it was vital to keep financial discipline in place.

At Prime Minister's Question Time, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said

the public sector pay cap was causing real hardship.

6 million workers already earn less than the living wage.

What does the Prime Minister think that tells

us about seven years of Conservative Government

and what it has done to the living

standards of those people on whom we all rely

to get our public services, our health services delivered to us?

Let me remind the right honourable gentleman of

what happens when you don't deal with the deficit.

Let's look at those countries that failed to deal

In Greece, where they haven't dealt with the deficit...

What did we see with failure to deal with the deficit?

Spending on the health service cut by 36%.

That doesn't help nurses or patients.

Can she take some tough choices and instead of offering platitudes,

offer some real help and real support for those in work, young

people who deserve better and deserve to be given more optimism,

We actually now see the proportion of people in absolute

I know that the right honourable gentleman

has taken to calling himself a government in waiting.

Waiting to put up taxes, waiting to destroy jobs,

waiting to bankrupt our country, we will never let it happen.

In a later debate, a former Tory Chancellor weighed in.

If she were to give way to this week's

lobbying on this subject, it would be a political disaster

because the Government would be accused of a

U-turn and a surrender and it would set off

a wave of pay claims across

the entire public sector, which the opposition obviously

looking forward to taking part in, if they can

It would also possibly be an economic disaster.

In the exceedingly fine city of Norwich, we

have three NHS Trust, two local authorities

and a teaching hospital, thousands of public sector workers,

who contribute to our economy and who, at present, are struggling to

Surely this Government must understand that

austerity is dying on its feet, invest in these people,

and you will invest in Norwich's local economy.

In many services, workers have received

additional pay to the 1% national increase.

Teachers had an average pay rise of 3.3% in 2015-2016.

More than half of nurses and other NHS

staff had an average increase of over 3% in 2016.

And incidentally, PMQs is now available as a podcast,

when you can listen to the whole of the session.

Just search for "BBC Prime Minister's Questions"

Talks have broken down over the future of Northern Ireland,

it's a sentence with a very familiar ring, but it's happened

The DUP leader Arlene Foster, here seen on one of her many recent

visits to Downing Street, declared that she was

"disappointed" that talks to get the Northern Ireland Assembly

Stormont was suspended in January following a row over the costs

of a heating scheme in Northern Ireland.

A new factor in the protracted talks to get devolution re-started has

been the deal struck at Westminster between the minority

Conservative Government and the group of ten DUP MPs.

The Democratic Unionist Party is also the biggest party at Stormont.

The Northern Ireland Secretary spoke to MPs

But I am clear that the return of inclusive

devolved government by a

power-sharing executive is what would be profoundly in the best

Does he think there is a role for a new independent, impartial

international perhaps, chairman of the talks, with

In the past that too has played an important

At some point, there has got to be a realisation that the pact could

possibly be dead. That it is deceased of life, it is no more.

Well, the "confidence" and "supply" agreement that allows the DUP

to prop up Theresa May's government continues to cause moments

of resentment in the Commons, chiefly from Labour MPs.

In particular there's anger at the ?1 billion cash

sum that's been given to Northern Ireland as part

Mr Speaker, I want to talk about the spending plans of 2017

where he can find a billion for Northern Ireland

The Prime Minister found ?1 billion to keep her own job, why

can't she find the same amount of money to keep the nurses and

teachers in their job, who, after all, serve all of us?

Then came this attack on the DUP at equality questions on Thursday.

DUP representatives have described homosexuality as repulsive, wrong,

vile, immoral, offensive and obnoxious.

Does the Minister agree that it is these hateful remarks

themselves that are repulsive, wrong, vile, immoral, offensive and

obnoxious and they should have no place in politics, let alone in

The DUP once ran a campaign called Save Ulster From Sodomy.

Isn't it time to save Ulster from bigotry?

The views that she has set out are absolutely not ones that

I agree with or indeed I think are shared by this House.

So, some moments there from Commons questions on Thursday.

Well, with me in the studio now is Lord Bew, who

is professor of Irish politics at Queens University Belfast and an

author of many books and articles on the political history of Ireland

Firstly, talking about the DUP, bit of an unknown

Yes. Of the Irish Sea.

Why is it that the DUP have now largely superseded

the Ulster Unionists as the main party of unionism

Well, the DUP began in the Bible Belt to some

degree, fundamentalist religious areas of Northern Ireland and

Dr Paisley was the leading figure in the late 60s, 70s, 80s.

He'd struck many blows against the Ulster Unionist Party,

but you're quite right, it's only in recent years

that they have become the hegemonic force and got the Ulster Unionist

And is that because sort of soft unionism, shall

we say, maytriach unionism is largely just evaporated?

It's more complicated than that because

the DUP has adopted many of the policies,

effectively the policy of power-sharing with Sinn Fein,

originally pioneered by David Trimble.

And also the new DUP person, in the old days, the Free

Presbyterians of Dr Paisley's own church were the caders, who

organised elections and things like that.

Since the Good Friday Agreement, the

new Oxford University Press study of the DUP

shows only one in seven new members are actually Free Presbyterians.

So there is now a breakaway now from a

The DUP sort of proud of the fact that they are non-Liberal party on

social issues? They could defend themselves.

different from the German Chancellor, because they sit

in a parliament which has legislated for gay marriage

while they themselves are not in that place.

But it is true that the DUP has opinions in this area

which are different than that of the mainstream British parties.

It is also true that, to go back to the younger members,

Jeff Dudgeon, who is the great figure of gay rights

for Northern Ireland, the one who really

fought when there was really intense discrimination against gay people,

Jeff Dudgeon says we talk to the younger DUP people,

they're actually quite relaxed about gay marriage.

So even there, there is actually a transition going on.

Now, the DUP agreement with the Conservative Government,

I suppose, cuts both ways within Northern Ireland.

Irish nationalists, no doubt pleased that

a large sum of money is coming Northern Ireland's way, but not

happy that a British Government is siding so firmly with one side of

Yes, the point about that is, of course, even in the

last few days we've seen the Irish Government weighing

in on Sinn Fein's side on the Irish language issue

and the truth of the matter is that both governments, since the

agreement, indeed in winning the agreement, Tony Blair felt it

necessary to be very strongly pro-unionist, have had to take up

these different languages and that's part of the game.

So it's a difficult, fluid situation and on

both sides, really neither government, if you take the whole

matter in the round, actually could be,

in all honesty, could be in any circumstance

neutral in some grand sense, of course so.

Both have a responsibility to behave with a certain

basic fairness and both of them have tried to do that

Now, there's no doubt at all about it.

The DUP must've enjoyed their time in the sun in the

past two weeks in London and Belfast.

Yes, they have and I think this is a danger.

It is understandable, they have been through...

Politics these days, everything changes so quickly.

In the latter half of last year, they

are probably, in most people's eyes, to blame for the Irish language

question becoming so difficult in Northern Ireland because of the

Again, the whole question of the heating scandal,

these things were not well handled.

They had a very bad Assembly election, partly as a result.

Suddenly, a few months later, they have an astonishingly

successful general election and in which it's not

it's the fact that their vote went up so much and Sinn

election was only 1000 votes behind them.

It's 53,000 behind them in the general election,

So they suddenly find themselves having beeen down,

and the danger is when you are up, you think I'm

wonderful and you don't take a self-critical attitude

towards the way you operate politically.

And you don't realise the need for great care because

there are many snares now that face them.

This is a great moment for them and nobody can take it away but

there are many snares and many responsibilities, particularly they

do have to make some concessions to bring back

which is overwhelmingly in their interest.

There didn't seem to be a lot of progress made in the talks

to get the Stormont Assembly restarted, despite all the parties

claiming that they want to see the Stormont Assembly restarted.

Are we heading for direct rule from Westminster?

In the very short-term, we have a form of indirect

direct rule and we've already had it with certain key

pieces of housekeeping carried out by Westminster.

But you're not really going to know until the autumn

and there are so many imponderables there.

For example, the whole question of what is going

on in Irish politics and Sinn Fein's role there,

and how it perceives what it does in Northern Ireland and it is

very hard to calculate, but how they perceive, how their actions

in Northern Ireland will play on their fortunes

Both parties don't...are in a place they didn't expect to be.

Sinn Fein did not expect the DUP huge vote,

which just characterised the general election, which means

calling for a border poll, a big Sinn Fein policy,

So they're in a place where some of their

And the DUP also in a place where they didn't

expect to be because of the outcome of the Westminster

They need to think it through, both of them.

Do you think Sinn Fein genuinely wants to see the

But I would say that on most days, you would assume that for the public

opinion, the Irish public opinion have

It's better for them to be operating Stormont.

The caveat to that is that Brexit, because it so threatens

the Irish economy and tens and tens of thousands

of jobs are at risk as a function of Brexit and also,

by the way, the position of the European Union

The combination of these positions is such that there

is more hostility towards Britain in general, not just the DUP

and therefore Sinn Fein can get away with a more

anti-British stance than they could have before Brexit.

That's a simple fact of the matter, that

it has definitely increased the anti-British sentiment.

It has not at all reduced pro-British sentiment

in the unionist community, but it has definitely increased

anti-British sentiment among even the softest type of Catholic

Some thoughts on the politics of Northern Ireland.

Now, a look at one or two of the other stories around

A Minister has faced shouts of "Shame on you!"

in Westminster Hall from campaigners for the Waspi movement,

that is, Women Against State Pension Inequality -

those who say that women coming up to age 60 were given too little

notice of the change in their official pension age.

The 2011 Pensions Act meant that no woman affected by the 2011 Act

would have to wait more than 18 months, from the date

that they might have been expecting their pension,

and for some, the changes are much less.

The Government must do all we can to assist everyone affected

in retraining and employment, and provide support...

That commitment to provide support is clear, unequivocal and ongoing.

The emotional aftermath of the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower.

In the Commons, a Housing Minister is close to tears as he talks

about his meetings with residents in North Kensington.

Hearing the harrowing accounts of survivors has been the most

humbling and moving experience of my life.

This is a tragedy that should never have happened.

The Government says it is pulling out of

the London Fisheries Convention, a first step towards UK withdrawal

Clearly, we need to negotiate now with our partners and friends

in Europe so that we have, as I say, a sustainable fishing

industry, and also for the first time, we will have the ability

to decide who can fish in our waters.

And fish shoals can sometimes move for hundreds of miles, and indeed,

our own fishermen sometimes fish up towards the north of Russia,

There is no point in making just a unilateral declaration on this,

there has to be really thoughtful, detailed discussions on the future.

The bottom line is, we have very, very few vessels involved in this.

They are not properly centrally coordinated.

We have seen a number of countries involved saying, well,

the hell with what you're saying, we're coming anyway.

We will be made a laughing stock if we apply some rules

First, the wigs worn by the Commons clerks were abolished.

Now, could another long-standing custom be ditched?

Deep controversy has been stirred by the announcement

of the Speaker, John Bercow, that he has no problem with a male

Member of Parliament not wearing a tie in the chamber.

The stakes were raised considerably when a Minister made these remarks

Let me just, before I go any further, say something I should

have said at the outset, Madam Deputy Speaker.

There has been some debate over recent days in this chamber

about sartorial standards, as you will know,

I ought to say, as a matter of courtesy, I will not be taking

interventions from anyone who is not wearing a tie...

Um, on whatever side of the House they sit.

But as well as courtesy, I believe in generosity,

and anyone that is sartorially challenged, or inadequate,

I do have a tie here, which I'm prepared to...

And of course, I exclude from that lady members of the House,

who I would hardly expect to dress in either my tie, one of

You were not in the chair on Monday, and may not have heard the Minister

of State for Transport, the member for South Holland

and the Deepings, who said that he was not going to take

interventions from anybody who is not wearing a tie.

Given your pronouncements on this matter, Mr Speaker,

do you think that there is a risk of a slippery slope which might

to refuse to take interventions from members who are sartorially

challenged in other ways, such as wearing a gaudy tie

If you ask me, I think that ties have it,

Celebrations were held on the Isle of Man this week

It is the annual open-air meeting of the Manx Parliament,

and this year, lawmakers were marking a 600th anniversary,

as Steve Rodan, President of the Tynwald,

explained to me on a rather bad line from the island's capital, Douglas.

It was in 1417 that the customary law was written down,

and that's the earliest Manx statute, and it sets out in great

detail how the Tynwald Day ceremony should be conducted.

And what is fascinating is that even in 1417,

it was being described as the Constitution of Old Time.

So, it was referring to the Viking establishment of Tynwald.

And it said where the Lord of Man should sit on the hill,

in open array with the squires round about, the barons

and the clergy, and the people round about to hear the laws

And constitutionally, we do exactly the same today.

The laws of the Isle of Man from the previous 12 months

are read out in summary, in English and in the Manx language.

If that isn't done, they cease to take effect.

Is there are a lot of interest from the population

of the Isle of Man in the Manx Parliament?

I mean, we have the same problem of apathy amongst younger people,

But we were one of the very first places to give

And we have got quite an interest in schools

in our Parliamentary system, as well as, I may say,

we were the very first Parliament to give women the vote back in 1881,

So, there is one of the key differences.

So, we are a blend, a happy blend, we think, of ancient

I mean, the Isle of Wight is part of England, quite happily,

what have you got to lose by becoming part of England?

Yes, we don't send a member to Westminster.

Instead, we have our own Tynwald, our own Parliament, 1000 years old,

Working very closely, of course, with the authorities in London,

with whom we have a very good, constant dialogue.

But we are left to do our own thing, every penny that is spent

in the Isle of Man is raised in the Isle of Man, we don't get any

grant assistance from London in any shape or form,

We go our own way and do our own thing, and we are very proud of it.

We've done it for 1000 years and I hope we will continue to

do so, whatever happens to the UK in respect of Europe.

Steve Rodan, thanks very much indeed for joining us

Election news now, because campaigning is well

under way in the latest by-election in the House of Lords.

It's by-election time in the House, following the retirement

of the crossbench hereditary peer Lord Walpole.

Although most of the hereditaries lost their seats in the Blair

reforms of 1999, some were permitted to stay.

Vacancies are filled by by-elections.

Ten candidates are standing in this contest.

According to Ladbrokes, this week, the early front runners are, at 2-1,

the businessman and charity worker Lord Darling, followed

at 3-1 by Lord Mostyn, who says he can bring some youth

to the House, being only 32 years old!

Rank outsider at this stage is Lord Cadman, at 100-1 -

the only candidate not to submit a supporting statement.

Here is a full list of those standing.

Only crossbench hereditaries can vote in this election.

There are about 30 of them eligible this time.

Voting takes place on July the 18th, with the result

Now, with a look at what's been happening in the wider world

of politics this week, here's Alex Partridge with our countdown.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Edinburgh this week

to receive an honorary doctorate, and even tried a Scottish accent.

Where we can be free and no man owns the fish.

It's football's transfer season, which allowed Labour's Angela Rayner

to have some fun at the expense of the Government

When Arlene Foster got the ?1 billion, she must be

the most expensive right-winger since Cristiano Ronaldo.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was a bit upset

at the low number of MEPs who turned out to hear

In a week dominated at Westminster by talk of ties, the best

of the week was surely the DUP's Jim Shannon and his stars

and stripes number, worn to mark the 4th of July.

And finally, congratulations to Conservative backbencher

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who welcomed his sixth child this week.

The baby boy is named Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher Rees-Mogg.

Over the next seven days, we should get to know who will be

chairing Westminster's all-important committees,

after some hard-fought internal election battles.

So, do join Alicia McCarthy for the next Week In Parliament.

it's now time to say a very final farewell.