02/02/2018 The Week in Parliament

Hello, and welcome to

The Week In Parliament.

Coming up in the next half hour:

The Bill putting EU law on the UK

statue book clears its first hurdle

in the Lords.

But there's a hint of

the battles to come.

At this pivotal moment in our

history.

We cannot, we must not

indulge in that very British habit

of just muddling through.

MPs vote to move out

of Parliament for a mutli billion

pound repair programme,

after warnings there's

a risk of it burning down!

We must recognise that as time

passes without competence of action,

those risks only increase.

Also on this programme:

It's stand-in day at

Prime Minister's Questions,

where Emily Thornberry attacks

the Government and the DUP for not

backing votes at 16.

They are not the coalition of chaos,

Mr Speaker, there are the coalition

of cavemen!

But David Lidington says that Labour

put up the age for doing

all sorts of things.

Raise the age to 18, and raise the

age for using a sunbed to 18.

But first: After two days

of debate and 190 speakers,

the EU Withdrawal Bill

cleared its first Parliamentary

hurdle in the House of Lords.

The Bill transfers EU law into UK

domestic law to avoid a legal black

hole opening up after brexit.

It's already been through

the Commons, so now it was down

to Peers to have their say,

and the Government could have

been left in no doubt

it was going to have a fight

on its hands.

A Labour former Transport

Secretary Lord Adonis,

proposed a rare vote to regret

the Bill, in effect calling

for a second referendum.

The interest of the public as a

whole do not lie in making written

partner. They do not lie in

undermining the Good Friday

agreements. They do not lie in

diminishing trade and our people's

right to live and work across

Europe.

There was strong criticism too

from a former brexit minister.

All we hear day after day are

conflicting, confusing voices. If

this continues and Ministers cannot

agree amongst themselves on the

future relationship the Government

wants, how can this Prime Minister

possibly negotiate a clear, precise

set of terms with the future

relationship of the EU? My fear is

that we will get meaningless waffle

in a political decoration in

October. The implementation period

will not be a bridge to a clear

destination, but a gang plank into

thin air. At this pivotal moment in

our history, we cannot, we must not

indulge in that very British habit

of just muddling through.

A former Ukip leader said

he supported the Bill,

but thought the Government needed

to change tack on the

Brexit negotiations.

They should sit the Eurocrats down

and tell them we have done our best

to make clauses to defy the Article

50 work. They have abused our trust,

and we see no future in going on

like this. So we are unilaterally

taking back our law, our borders,

fisheries, agriculture is and so on,

but we will also be generous. We

will give them wide mutual

residence. We will allow them to

continue in free trade with us. We

will go on helping them with

security, and then we will decide,

but might not -- my lord, how much

cash will give them, which may be

nothing after March 29 next year if

they do not behave themselves and

fall into the above.

It remains

government policy to Brexit, we will

strengthen our democracy, protecting

all those in its process. In its

current process -- form, this build

will fail on all those aims, and

sadly the gaps in the Bill will

leave the environment is the biggest

casualty.

As things stand, both

government and opposition parties

are finding it hard to agree on a

Way forward. So a referendum on a

new question about the future

relationship may become unavoidable.

Although this is not something we

should be voting at this stage.

I

know it my duty is, and it is to

bring to the attention of the other

house the manifest defects which

exist in this legislation. We may

not make them any wiser, my lords,

but if we do it properly with this

bill, we will make them better

informed. Heavens knows they need

it.

The door to the studio of your

lordships House is very clear. That

duty, I submit, is to assert our

rights to scrutinise, to amend, and

if needs be, to reject unacceptable

parts of this bill, and to use the

entire arsenal of our powers and

prerogatives to limit the damage

that threatens the sovereignty of

Parliament and the national

interest.

I cannot believe it is in

the national interest to get onto

such a referendum merry-go-round.

Whatever point of view we fought for

in the referendum campaign, we could

have made a success of the United

Kingdom in the European Union. And

we can make a success with sunk

costs and a people of being outside

the European Union, but we cannot

possibly make a success at being in

a national state of bewilderment

about when we're going to have

another referendum, and which

direction we're going in.

Well at the end of that, Lord Adonis

didn't press his motion to the vote,

and the Bill passed its second

reading, it will begin

detailed scrutiny in

the Lords later this month.

MPs have backed a call

for Parliament to move out

of the Palace of Westminster,

while billions of pounds

of repairs are carried out.

The building is part

of a World Heritage site,

but there are problems

with asbestos, wiring,

pipes, and plumbing.

The thorny problem of how to carry

out the repairs has been

looked out over the years,

with three options being put

forward, moving out altogether,

moving one chamber out at a time

and staying put for the work to be

carried out around Mps and peers.

The three options

carry correspondingly

increasing price tags!

Opening a debate the Leader

of the Commons presented Mps

with two two motions,

one of which suggested a further

review delaying any decision

for a further four years,

and a second suggesting the setting

up of a delivery authority as soon

as possible to look at the options

again and fully cost them.

Andrea Leadsom said she'd approach

the question of restoration

with a healthy degree of scepticism.

I, like many, felt that the case for

a major restoration programme had

probably been overstated, and that

the powers look fine to me, and we

would be able to continue to patch

and mend as we went a long, as we

have done for many, many decades.

However, Mr Speaker, during my seven

months in the job, I have, as they

say, gone on a journey. I have lived

and breathed this topic. I have

visited the basement and seen for

myself what our engineers are up

against. We must recognise that as

time passes without comprehensive

action, those risks only increase.

Lu this work is necessary for

safety, that has been agreed by

everyone.

We cannot delay, any delay

increases the costs.

A Lib Dem dismissed the idea

of moving one chamber out at a time.

Because the services do provide for

the whole of the House, and

therefore you cannot decant half the

building.

When I look at his

building and the stunning

architecture, I see it as some sort

of sad metaphor for Brexit Britain,

dilapidated, falling to bits around

our ears, generally unloved, and in

need of a lot of attention and

support. Doesn't that just sum up

where this nation is? Mr Speaker...

My honourable cousin from Scotland,

it would take a crowbar and a root

of our through to wrestle this

place. He wasn't here!

Recovering from that, Pete Wishart

said he favoured turning the palace

into a tourist attraction.

A group of mps had put down

an amendment to the motion,

propososing that all Mps and Peers

moving out altogether

while the work was carried out,

and calling for the proposed

delivery agency to oversee

the project to be set up

as soon as possible.

One of the Mps behind that amendment

said trying to move out one chamber

at a time would double the cost

and risk of fire.

The thought of cutting a sewer

system in half, or the electrics or

any other works does not make sense.

Because of the nature of the

building.

Well there then followed

a series of votes.

Unusually this was what's

known as a free vote,

meaning that Mps didn't have

to follow a party line

but could vote however they wanted.

Mps backed the amendment calling

for both houses to move out

of the Palace while work was carried

out by 236 votes to 220.

There's no date set for when that

will happen, but during the debate,

Andrea Leadsom said MPs and peers

would not leave the Houses

of Parliament until

2025 at the earliest.

Peers will have their say

in the next few days.

It was all change at

Prime Ministers questions.

Theresa May in China

pix The Prime Minister,

Theresa May was on a trip to China,

attempting to boost

trade and relations.

As well as formal talks,

there was time for Mrs May

and her husband to pay a visit

to a Peking Opera performance,

for a little music and drama.

Well, back in Westminster the lead

role at prime minster's

questions had been delegated

to the Cabinet Office Minister,

David Lidington, who faced

the Shadow Foreign Secretary,

Emily Thornberry.

The exchanges began with a little

bit of banter about the last time

the two had faced each other

across the despatch box.

Let me start by welcoming the

Minister back to his role,

deputizing for the Prime Minister.

Last time he did so was in December,

2016, when his party with 17 points

ahead in the polls, and he told the

House that the Labour Party was

correlated like the film mutiny on

the bounty, reshot by the team who

made carry-on. Well, what a

difference a year makes!

It's a

delight to me to see the right

honourable Lady still in her place,

when no fewer than 97 members of her

front bench have either been sacked

or resigned since the opposition

took office.

Emily Thornberry asked

about the number of women

in Parliament.

I am pleased my party has made

considerable progress, but I accept

that there is more to be done. I

hope that she will accept that we

have now had two women leaders and

prime Ministers, so they have a bit

of catching up to do.

I have to say,

Mr Speaker, that if the party

opposite of so route of having a

female leader, why are so many of

them trying to get rid of her? And

why has she had to run away to China

to get away from them?

She then

turned to the hundredth anniversary

of women winning the right to vote.

90 years ago, he was extended to all

women over 21, and almost 15 years

ago, it was extended to all men and

women over the age of 18. So can I

ask the Minister a simple question.

How many more years do we have to

wait until the vote is extended to

everyone over 16?

I have to say, I

am slightly baffled by the

honourable Lady's comments, when

compared to what her party did in

office. Because it was the last

labour government that raised the

legal age for buying cigarettes to

18, raised the age for selling

knives to 18, raised the age

divide... And raise the age for

using a sunbed for 18!

There is no

logical objection to the vote, that

is why the Welsh Government

supported, that is why every single

political party in this House

supports it, except of course the

Conservative Party and the DUP. Once

again, joined in opposition to

change, they are not the coalition

of chaos, Mr Speaker, there are the

coalition of cavemen!

The situation

we have here, Mr Speaker, with the

national voting age at 18, is one

that is followed by 26 out of the 27

other members of the European Union.

By the United States, Canada, New

Zealand, and Australia. Unless she

is going to denounce all of those

countries as somehow inadequate to

her own particular standards, then

quite honestly, Mr Speaker, she

ought to grow up and try to treat

this subject with a great deal of

seriousness.

Let me read you this

from one of the residents affected.

This is an eyewitness statement.

Stranger standing and other ends of

the Street firing fireworks as if

they were guns. Pointing at each

other. I saw one young child being

hit in the head by fireworks,

fortunately it did not explode it

had it exploded it would've resulted

in some serious burns.

In the debate

in the comments, MP 's call for an

end to car park charges and

hospitals in England. It's estimated

that its cost visitors hundreds of

thousands of pounds each are.

No one

goes to the hospital by choice, no

one chooses to be ill, we rely on

doctors and nurses to look after us

and we urge the Minister who is here

today to take urgent action to end

this social injustice once and for

all.

The Government has rejected

claims that there are calls to

fluoride to be added to water

The Government has rejected

claims that dental care

Mps held a debate on the next

phase of high speed rail,

extending the route

from the West Midlands to Crewe.

But a Conservative rejected the idea

that the line would provide

an alternative to flying to Europe.

and patients pay more and more.

I'm

afraid I do not recognise the

picture didn't honourable lady has

painted. That figure is increasing

over the last ten years. I should

also point out that there are more

dentists practising in the NHS than

ever.

Michael Fabricant said his

constituents would still have

to trek across birmingham

to change trains.

A local councillor had timed

how long it would take.

in England is in crisis.

It it took him...

A Government Minister dramatically

resigned in the House

Lord Bates apologised

to for what he described

of Lords after arriving late

for question time.

as his 'discourtesy'.

We should always rise to the highest

standards of courtesy and respect. I

am thoroughly ashamed that not being

in my place and therefore I shall be

offering my resignation to the Prime

Minister. With immediate effect.

Lord Bates immediately

walked out of the chamber.

Downing Street later said

the Prime Minster had refused

to accept his resignation.

Well, while we're on the subject

of apologies, a Brexit Minister

apologised to the Mps

following comments he made

at question time on Thursday.

A Conservative Mp suggested

to Steve Baker that Treasury

officials were trying to influence

policy with negative

economic projections.

Will my right honourable friend

confirmed that he heard said from

Central European research that

officials in treasury deliberately

developed a model to share that all

options and status remaining in view

commissions were banned...

I am

sorry to say to my honourable

colleague is essentially correct.

Civil service are extraordinarily

careful to uphold the impartiality

of the civil service.

Well, overnight audio

of what Charles Grant,

the director of the Centre

for European Research

had said was released,

and first thing Friday,

Steve Baker came to the Commons

to accept he'd got it wrong.

Yesterday I answered the question to

the best of my recollection. I'm the

audio of that conversation is now

available and I am glad the record

stands corrected. In the context of

that audio, I accept that I

should've corrected or dismissed the

premise of by honourable friend's

question. I have apologised to Mr

Charles Grant who is an honest and

trustworthy man.

CLIP HOC FRIDAY And he repeated

he had the highest regard for hard

working civil servants.

Now let's go back to

Prime Minister's Questions,

where the SNP's Westminster leader

turned his attention to Brexit.

This is a government in crisis, I'd

international embarrassment.

Chancellor the Scottish circuit

Drake, Scottish Conservatives, are

all supporters of the SIngle Market.

Despite this, the Government is

still prepared to make everyone...

Where is the leadership?

The most

important SIngle Market to the

people of Scotland is the SIngle

Market of the United Kingdom. It is

worth nearly £50 million to the

Scottish economy, four times more

than trade with the EU. It is our

deep and special partnership with

the EU, that will help deliver

prosperity to Scotland, now the

separatist agenda pursued by

Scottish...

The BBC's Carrie Gracie has told MPs

she is 'very angry' at the way

that the response to her grievance

was insulting, but women further

the Corporation has treated some

female members of staff.

Carrie Gracie resigned

as China Editor,

citing pay inequalities

with male colleagues.

The BBC said there was 'no systemic

discrimination against women'.

She told the Culture

and Media Committee

admitted she was the victim

of pay discrimination.

down the organisation

were suffering more.

If the BBC cannot sort it out for

me, a single person to 55 and a

powerful position, how can it sorted

out for more vulnerable people

without a public profile, that is my

concern. Being in conflict, the

delays, the opacity and the

belittling of the work, that is what

has to happen if you are not willing

to concede, the are going to have to

crush your self-esteem about your

work. That is very painful. I found

all of that really hard and I really

did, getting upset now, I felt very

angry, I really feel about some of

the things I've seen and heard, and

some of the women's's suffering that

has come through.

As regards her own case,

Carrie Gracie said the BBC had not

To me it sounds like a tacit

admission that it is pay

discrimination, and want to pay

£100,000 in back pay. But what is

unacceptable to me, I just don't

know why they do this. They

basically said, if these three

previous years that I was in

development. It is an insult to add

to the original injury. It is

unacceptable to talk to your senior

women like that.

And the next witness

was the Director General, Tony Hall.

Finally, Mps were all

of a on Wednesday

The ad services that's wrong. What

we are doing going forward, we want

to make sure that we keep these

things regularly under review, so we

don't get to the point between the

gap top paid editor and is

unjustifiable.

Do you agree with me

that the BBC has paid less to women

who work on equal... ?

The answer is

that might be individual cases,

where if that is the case we will

solve them. I don't believe that the

BBC is an organisation, that we will

pay a woman less to do that job.

To

go back to the case of Carrie, she

was being paid less, I have said

already that the grievance and the

mistakes procedure, I accept were

wrong and I am sorry about that.

That was a big failure of

management, there was no system in

place.

There is no failure of

management, management is always

about learning and listening, things

are never right, you have to report

-- reform terms and could dishes two

years ago, at the same time we

looked at the same issue, paying top

talent because we knew we had to get

things right. It has taken a long

time and this committee has heard

today, it's a very complicated

issue. Don't underestimate our

desire to get this right.

Finally, Mps were all

of a on Wednesday

A robin had found its way

into the chamber and swooped

across the ceiling during Welsh

questions at the start of the day.

It was still roosting in the chamber

during Prime Minister's Questions,

the SNP's Westminster leader saw

an opportunity to make a quick joke

joke about David Lidington's

possible leadership ambitions.

I wonder if he's...

Or perhaps he could

put it on Twitter.

And that's it from me for now but do

join Keith Macdougall on BBC

Parliament on Monday night

at 11pm for a full round up

of the day in Westminster.

But for now, from me,

Alicia McCarthy, goodbye!