09/03/2018 The Week in Parliament

Hello and Welcome to

the Week In Parliament.....

Where the government

promises "robust" action

following the poisoning of a former

Russian spy in the UK.

The investigation is moving apace

and this government will act without

hesitation as the facts become

clear.

As the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

arrives for a three day visit -

the Prime Minister hails

the historic links

between the two nations.

But Jeremy Corbyn condemns

the country's record

on human rights --

and argues the UK shouldn't be

selling arms there.

They cannot be right that her

government is colluding in what the

United Nations says is evidence of

war crimes.

We have a very tight

arms export regime in this country

and when there are allegations of

arms not being used within the lot

dummy expect that to be

investigated.

Also on this programme: Parliament

marks international women's day --

but is it time for a statue

to the 18th Century author

and activist Mary Wollstonecraft?

And: Ever signed an online

petition to Parliament?

We find out if they really

make a difference:

We have seen that some petitions to

change the Government's mind. Maybe

not on gate to the Mac day one but

as we go through.

But first....

The Home Secretary told Mps

that the poisoning of a Russian

double agent and his daughter

in Salisbury was a "brazen

and reckless act."

Sergei Skripal was living in the UK

following a spy swap .

He was found slumped on a bench

in Salisbury in Wiltshire,

along with his daughter Yulia.

The couple had been poisoned

with a rare nerve agent.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey

from Wiltshire police -

who went to help them -

was also taken to hospital.

At prime minister's questions

on Wednesday Theresa May told

the Commons she'd held a meeting

of the national security council.

And the next day the

Home Secretary came

to the Commons to update Mps.

The use of a nerve agent on UK soil

is a brazen and reckless act. This

was attempted murder and the most

cruel and public way. The

investigation is moving at a pace.

This government will act without

hesitation as the facts become

clearer. As my right honourable

friend the Foreign Secretary made

clear on Tuesday, we will respond in

a robust and appropriate manner once

we ascertain who was responsible.

We

on this side of the House are

appalled that the idea that anyone

might be poisoned on the streets of

our towns and cities. We share with

the Government a determination that

this case be brought to a speedy and

just conclusion and that similar

incidents are prevented in the

future.

I have written to her to ask

that there could be a review of 14

other cases and she will know there

are many ways in which lack it

happen and precedents for doing so.

Can I also asked her, in terms of

this initiate the leader-mac

immediate investigation has she

considered going to the UN Security

Council to ask for a statement

calling on all nations to provide

assistance including willingness to

extradite suspects should not be

needed.

She makes a suggestion

regarding international activity and

I can say to the right honourable

lady that at some stage we will be

coming back to the House with our

proposals but for now we are merely

preparing and concentrating on the

incident.

Isn't it time we,

realistic and Russia and Canada Home

Secretary confirm whether that

memorandum of understanding between

UK and the Russian nuclear power

company that was so strongly

championed by the former Prime

Minister Mr Cameron has formally

ended. Event has been ended, can she

make it's ended so the previous love

in with Russia that we saw a few

years ago is completely finished.

Does the Home Secretary share my my

constituents anger of the cruel

nature of this crime which could've

resulted in considerably more

collateral damage. Will she assured

that eventually the full force of

the law will be brought down on the

perpetrators?

My honourable friend

is exactly right. Just because you

want to approach this with a cool

tide in order to collect the

evidence doesn't mean that we do not

share the outrage that his

constituents and he himself clearly

feels about this.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd.

Now let's take a look at some other

news from Westminster in brief.

There was a call for misogyny to be

treated as a hate crime.

MPs argued the definition should be

extended to include the abuse

of women, if they are targeted

simply because of their gender.

Misogyny is everywhere in our

society. To the point where we often

miss it because it's been so

normalised by being continually

unchallenged.

She went on to detail,

in very explicit language,

some of the insults she'd received.

Now all of these insults have been

put to me because I am a woman. We

can kid ourselves that these are a

few bad and ominous depot on twitter

but it's not. This is every day

common language.

I think we need to

be careful about creating laws which

would an inverted leak conflict with

the principles of equality.

MPs held their first big debate

on a bill to cap gas

and electricity prices.

The aim is to provide some

protection to customers who don't

shop around for the cheapest

possible energy deals.

Those paying the terrorists are much

more likely to be in reduced

circumstances. 80% of households

with an income of less than £18,000,

ten not switch supplier in the last

three years.

I welcome the

governments foray into a policy

which are previously denounced as

Marxist. But it remains a case that

as a result of this government in

action, millions of households have

been left to scrape through this

winter facing a choice between cold

homes or astronomical bills.

If the

average saving between the cheapest

tariff for the big six and a

standard tariff is £300 per annum,

then somebody else apart from he can

do the math to assess that the sums

that we sought to recover from this

company...

The big thaw following the big

freeze led to thousands of homes

being left without water

as engineers battled to deal

with leaks and burst pipes.

Some areas were without supplies

for several days, relying

on emergency stocks

of bottled water.

There is absolutely no excuse for

water companies making huge profits

not being able to provide the

resilience by what a protected

businesses and indeed residents

around the country.

Thames water

made pre-tax profits of £638 million

last year. Or is simply no excuse

for not having robust emergency

plans in place.

Thames water are

very much under the spotlight. I'm

angry with them too. This is

returning. They recognise there's

been a change of ownership and

leadership. I'm determined that

Thames water customers receive a far

better service than they have today.

Ministers have been urged

to introduce a licensing

regime for air weapons.

In the Lords, peers heard

that there had been thousands

of attacks on pets involving airguns

in the last five years.

The charity recorded 164 attacks and

cats within airgun last year while

they received nearly 900 calls to

their cruelty hotline to report in

air weapon attacks on animals making

4.5 thousand attacks in the last

five years. Is it time to licence

these weapons to ensure they are

possessed only for legitimate

purposes by responsible owners and

not by those who would truly inflict

pain and suffering and often death

and defenseless domestic animals.

The Government does take animal

welfare seriously. With causing

unnecessary suffering. We are

increasingly the maximum penalty for

this offence from six months

imprisonment and or in unlimited

fine to five years imprisonment and

or in unlimited fine.

Does the fake fur bobble

on your winter hat contain real fur?

The Environment Committee has been

gathering evidence after a spate

of cases where garments trimmed

with fake fur contained

the real thing.

Samples sent to a laboratory

were found to contain a variety

of different animal furs,

which were often cheaper

than synthetic fibres.

To the naked eye into the field you

wouldn't necessarily tell the

difference would you?

No,

absolutely. The use of Friday of

completely unreliable cues including

price. 50% of people used cheap

price as an indicator of fake fur.

Colour. If it's bright pink then you

know there is no bright pink

animals.

We've come a long way from

the 1930s.

were used in circuses -

with lion tamers as

the star attraction.

Even into the 1960s elephants

were performing gravity defying

tricks to the amazement of children

crowded into the big top.

Now one MP wants a total ban on wild

animals in circuses.

According to the department

for the environment there

are currently 18 wild animals

licensed for travelling shows

in England, including six reindeer,

three camels, three zebra,

three raccoons, one fox,

a macaw and a zebu.

Is it right I question that we allow

wild animals to travel around the

country from temporary enclosures to

circus tent and back to a lorry for

a journey onto the town? What sort

of a life is bad for animals such as

zebras and camels? Without space to

forage and interact with other

animals of their own kind in the way

that they would naturally. These

wild animals cannot truly be said to

be wild.

Emboldened by her latest speech

on Brexit , Theresa May told

the Commons she's confident Britain

can reach an agreement

with the European Union.

She said she wants trade

across borders which is

as frictionless as possible,

and that while the UK

will leave the single market,

and the jurisdiction

of the European Court of Justice,

some regulations will remain

in step with the EU.

A short time later the chancellor

appeared in front of a committee

of MPs and told them the UK needed

a free-flowing border between Dover

and Calais and that he was setting

aside £3 billion over the next two

years to prepare for Brexit.

The next day it was the turn

of the Brexit Secretary

to answer questions.

In a lively session he was asked

whether the UK would stay in the EU

if Parliament voted down the final

Brexit deal in what's called

a "meaningful vote."

With respect that is been dealt with

at length. I don't want to retract.

I recommend you go back. When he was

a Minister your colleague on the

committees comments on this

matter...

I think we have a right to

ask these questions. There's no with

respect. Will there be an

opportunity to suspend Article 50

the event that there isn't time to

have a meaningful vote?

I don't

think a meaningful vote is

overruling the referendum.

And after a request

from the Committee Chair

for the government to tell the EU

it can't dictate terms,

David Davis gave his top tips

on how to negotiate.

At the beginning of this process I

said to the House one of the debates

that they would be astonished how to

play I was going to be in the next

two years. I take the view that when

public aggression in negotiations

generally doesn't work very well. It

creates an attitude on the other

side and I avoid it. What anyone

else does is up to them. We've give

me different advise?

Now, two prime

Ministers questions were Theresa May

defended the UK's relationship with

Saudi Arabia the start of a

three-day visit by the crown prince.

His schedule included talks with

Theresa May and once with the queen.

The ground and is credited with

kick-starting economic forms in the

kingdom such as the the ban on women

driving.

Despite much talk of

reform, there has been a sharp

increase in the arrest and detention

of dissidents, torture of prisoners

is common, human rights defenders

routinely sentenced to lengthy

prison terms. Unfair trials and

executions are widespread as Amnesty

International confirms. As if she

makes her arms sales pitch will she

also call on the crown prince to

halt this shocking abuse of human

rights in Saudi Arabia?

I look

forward to welcoming the crown

prince from Saudi Arabia to this...

Labour backbenchers from sedentary

preventions are shouting shame. Can

I say to those backbenchers that the

point we have with Saudi Arabia is

historic, an important one, and it

has saved the lives of potentially

hundreds of people in this country.

Jeremy Corbyn moved on from Saudi

Arabia's human rights record to its

involvement in the war in Yemen,

where it is backing attempts to

restore the country's President.

Germany has suspended arms sales to

Saudi Arabia, but British arms sales

have sharply increased and British

military advisers are directing the

war. It cannot be right that her

government... Mr Speaker, it cannot

be right that her government is

colluding in what the United Nations

says is evidence of war crimes.

We

have a very tight arms export regime

in this country, and when there are

allegations of arms not being used

within the lob and we expect that to

be investigated and to be -- lessons

to be learned on that.

Theresa May.

Ever felt so annoyed -

or so concerned - about an issue

that you wanted to have it

aired in Parliament?

Two recent debates by MPs -

one on live animal exports

and the other calling

for British Sign Language to be

on the National Curriculum -

both stemmed from online

petitions to Parliament.

So how does the system work?

There's a website where you can

click on a link to set

up your own petition.

If you can attract 10,000

signatures, the government

has to give a response.

If 100,000 people sign up,

the petition might be

debated in Parliament.

Liz Twist is on the Commons

Petitions Committee and was involved

in that recent sign language debate.

On a rather windy day

at Westminster, I asked her why

petitions weren't automatically

debated once they reached that

magic 100,000 figure.

As the petitions committee,

we look at them quite carefully.

Sometimes they've been debated

very recently and it

will be repeated in debate.

Sometimes they are about things that

perhaps the Government cannot deal

with, so rejected from that

point of view.

So, we have a certain

criteria that we look at.

That's

a set of criteria.

And how you do you decide?

What kind of thing are

you looking for in a petition?

Well, we are looking to see that it

has a clear point to make,

that it's something that can be

debated and that we are able

to take that forward.

There is a threshold

for 100,000 signatures

for something to be debated,

but you do occasionally debate

things which don't reach

that 100,000 threshold.

Your debate on sign language

being an example of that.

Yeah.

OK, so there are two things.

First of all, once a petition

gets 10,000 signatures,

the Government has to produce

a response and publish that

on the petition's website.

Very often as a committee we ask

the Government to go back and look

at its response and improve it.

So, that is something

we take very seriously.

But beyond that, we do look

at issues like the sign language

one, where we felt it would be

really difficult for the petitioners

to get to that 100,000 threshold.

And yet it was still a matter

of great importance

in the public interest.

These debates are not

binding on the Government.

The Government doesn't have

to do anything once these

debates have been had.

Do you think that it perhaps gives

people a bit of false hope

because they think I've signed this

petition, it's been debated,

something has to change now.

I think everything has to start

somewhere, and for some people it

starts on the campaign

to raise awareness.

But we have seen that some petitions

do change the Government's mind.

Maybe not on day one,

but as we go through,

for example the debate that was held

on brain tumours a couple of years

ago, has actually seen

the Government responding

and putting some extra money in,

£45 million into research.

Let's take a look at some

of the other stories making

the political news this week.

Here's Ryan Brown

with this countdown.

The UK's first purple plaque

was unveiled at Cardiff Bay.

The plaque commemorates

notable women.

This one on their former

Welsh Assembly Member,

and equalities campaigner.

Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom

wishes resident rock star

Keith Richards a happy birthday.

I hear, Mr Speaker,

that he's 21 again.

But actually, I might be confusing

that with his majority.

Former first lady meets her biggest

fan after a photo of her enamoured

by Michelle Obama's

portrait goes viral.

Shake it off, shake it off.

Ministers questioned

the environmental audit

committee's proposed 25p charge

on disposable coffee cups.

They say voluntary discounts

are better for shops.

Caffeine addicts are safe for now.

At question time Jeremy Corbyn asked

Theresa May about human rights

abuses in Saudi Arabia

and reminds her of the importance

of International Women's Day.

I think that's what's

called mansplaining.

Women took to the streets to mark

International Women's Day,

including a march on Parliament

and mass strikes and

demonstrations in Spain.

In a speech in Westminster

the grandaughter of suffragette

Sylvia Pankhurst said 2018 could be

a turning point for women's rights.

Is it that one, two, three

generations down from that act we

have women who have been able to

occupy many more spaces through

education, through their work,

through political spaces, and they

are coming across all the continued

barriers and they are feeling that

maybe again another place, another

weight is required and it really

does feel that we are at one of

those moments that 2018 will be

remembered not because it's... That

because something else was

happening.

On international Women's day

itself the Commons held

a debate to celebrate that,

and to mark 100 years

since some women got the vote.

The Labour MP Jess Philips began

by reciting of women killed

by men in the last year.

As always the women are all ages and

were killed in violent episodes at

the hands of men. Violence against

women and girls is an epidemic. If

as many people died every week at a

sporting event or because they had a

specific job, there would be

national outcry. These women deserve

the same. We must all do better to

hear their stories and to end the

culture of male violence that killed

them.

Over the next nearly four minutes,

she read out the names

of all the women who had died

from domestic violence

in the UK since the last

International Women's Day.

Our test should always be did we do

everything we could to protect all

women? For too many women in this

country the answer to this is still

simply now. We must do better.

An SNP MP argued sexism was deeply

embedded in our culture.

Other MPs spoke of encouraging more

women into politics -

We see it in this House, a juvenile,

grinning idiocy that is so offensive

sometimes that the smugness of a

minority of men who think that

supposedly clever point scoring

proves something. An

anti-intellectual nonsense that

makes this continuing debate so

tiring. There are many in this House

who had a record of opposing

progressive politics without

substantive argument, but with

plenty of bluster and filibuster,

opposing equality is as a playground

joke. I command I'm sure others, are

tired of engaging with men with so

little, so very little to offer. And

I am pleased that they represent a

tiny percentage of the men I

encounter.

Other MPs spoke of

encouraging more women into politics

and Westminster.

The best thing that

we are doing at the moment to

encourage young women to be

interested in politics is having a

female prime Minister, because

suddenly for me it was when I saw

Margaret Thatcher become prime

Minister and in the leader of the

party and prime Minister of our

country, which may politics relevant

for me. It turned politics from

being frankly a lot of old men in

grey raincoats to something which

was a Technicolor relevant issue for

me to be involved in as a

14-year-old girl living in South

Wales where there weren't too many

Tories around and I could see an

amazing role model on the

television.

It is important that we

in this House take responsibility

for inspiring other women, our

daughters, but I think we should

also remember in this day that many

of us owe our inspiration to our

mothers and our grandmothers and

important women in our lives. My own

grandmother when she was born did

not have the right to vote, and I

wear her writing link to this

chamber every day and occasionally

it serves as a reminder of what we

owed to generations past -- I wear

her wedding ring.

And while we're on the subject

of groundbreaking women,

this year sees several new statues

of suffrage campaigners to mark

the centenary of votes for women.

This one in Leicester

is of Alice Hawkins, with others

planned for Emmeline Pankhurst

in Manchester and Millicent

Fawcett in London.

But women campaigners argue that

a statue to the pioneering

18th century feminist -

Mary Wollstonecraft -

is long overdue.

Now a group of male

Labour politicians has

joined that campaign.

Among them, Lord Adonis.

This is a statute to Emeline

Pankhurst, right by Parliament. She

was crucial in getting women to

vote, but Mary was it anything more

important. Her book, a vindication

of the rights of women published 225

years ago established the whole idea

that women were on a par with men

when it came to social, political

and economic rights. That was a

revolutionary idea. It is now a

century since women got the vote and

as we look at the great achievements

of women over that period and how it

was that the social campaigns got

going, in order to give them those

rights, it all was back to Mary

Wollstonecraft and her extraordinary

book, the vindication of the rights

of women, which started the modern

feminist movement. When you read it

today, I got a copy here, I tried to

get a first edition from the House

of Lords but it was revolutionary

for the House of Lords in seven to

92 as they haven't got one. Even as

you read it now you realise how

explosive it was -- 17 92. This is

what Mary Wollstonecraft said in

1792 when Louis XVI was being

executed in Paris: to render her a

really virtuous and useful she must

not, if she did -- discharge occurs

all duties one individual is he that

production of the lot, she must not

be dependent on her husband's bounty

for her subsistence during her life

or support after his death. For how

can a woman be generous who has

nothing of her own? Or virtue is who

is not free? Those are revolutionary

ideas in 1792. We now regard them as

of course absolutely commonplace.

The fact that they were

revolutionary then,, lace now is why

they should be a statute to Mary

Wollstonecraft in Parliament Square

-- revolutionary then and

commonplace now. The heart of our

democracy since she did so much to

liberate women.

Lord Adonis on the

revolutionary Mary Wollstonecraft.

And that's it from me for now,

but do join Lucy Grey on BBC

Parliament, on Monday night at 11

for a round up of the day

here at Westminster.

But for now from me, goodbye.