:00:12. > :00:12.Hello and welcome to Thursday in Parliament,
:00:13. > :00:19.Calls for a security review after MPs face intimidating
:00:20. > :00:23.behaviour following the debate on Syrian air strikes.
:00:24. > :00:26.Sadly, some of the abuse - I think we would all agree -
:00:27. > :00:29.for all members of this House, has been beyond the pale.
:00:30. > :00:31.Peers express concerns over the review into the powers
:00:32. > :00:35.of the House of Lords following the blocking of tax credit cuts.
:00:36. > :00:40.They were unprecedented. They did raise serious questions.
:00:41. > :00:45.And good news for those who are frustrated by poor or no broadband.
:00:46. > :00:49.By the end of this Parliament, people will have a legal right
:00:50. > :00:52.to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live.
:00:53. > :00:55.But first, the debate over Syria and the decision to give
:00:56. > :00:58.the go-ahead for air strikes against Islamic State miltiants has
:00:59. > :01:03.It has provoked passionate feelings on both sides of the argument, both
:01:04. > :01:10.Labour's Chris Bryant has called for a review of security for MPs
:01:11. > :01:15.and their staff as a result of abusive messages and intimidation.
:01:16. > :01:30.Several people have had their offices barricaded.
:01:31. > :01:39.Some have been called murderers, terrorist sympathisers, whatever. I
:01:40. > :01:43.hope the Leader would agree that whilst all members expect a degree
:01:44. > :01:49.of hurly-burly in political life, it is a fundamental principle that all
:01:50. > :01:52.members are sent not as delegates, but as representatives, with the
:01:53. > :01:57.full power to exercise their judgment and conscience, and to
:01:58. > :02:03.speak and vote without fear. No MP should ever be intimidated. Sadly,
:02:04. > :02:08.some of the abuse, for all members of the House, has been beyond the
:02:09. > :02:10.pale. Several members have had their offices barricaded.
:02:11. > :02:12.One member had her house surrounded, while many have had photos
:02:13. > :02:15.of dead babies pushed through their front door at home.
:02:16. > :02:17.Today I gather that some members have received photos
:02:18. > :02:21.MPs have broad shoulders - of course we do - but may I ask
:02:22. > :02:23.the Leader to review the arrangements regarding the security
:02:24. > :02:28.This is not just about members, it is about their families
:02:29. > :02:32.and indeed their staff, as several members have pointed out.
:02:33. > :02:34.Mr Bryant wondered whether the responsibility
:02:35. > :02:38.for funding security should be returned to officers of the House.
:02:39. > :02:41.The Leader of the House said he would not discuss security measures,
:02:42. > :02:45.but the authorities would continue to look at the situation.
:02:46. > :02:48.We are all subject to legitimate public scrutiny, but it will never
:02:49. > :02:53.be acceptable for members' personal safety to be put in jeopardy or for
:02:54. > :03:00.them to be the victims of activities that a court would judge illegal.
:03:01. > :03:03.But please, Leader of the House, let us never have another debate
:03:04. > :03:08.Such was the demand to speak in yesterday's debate that about
:03:09. > :03:12.50 members never got the opportunity to contribute, and many of those who
:03:13. > :03:17.did were confined to just a few minutes at the end of the day.
:03:18. > :03:20.We live in a new type of representative democracy,
:03:21. > :03:24.where MPs are lobbied and communicated with by means that were
:03:25. > :03:28.never anticipated, certainly when I was a new member of Parliament.
:03:29. > :03:32.Constituents expect to see their MPs in this House expressing their
:03:33. > :03:37.opinions, particularly on massively important issues of state such as
:03:38. > :03:40.yesterday's, and I am disappointed that the Leader of the House could
:03:41. > :03:43.not commit to the request from all around the House
:03:44. > :03:47.and the country to have a proper, structured debate that would have
:03:48. > :03:59.allowed everybody who needed to contribute to the debate to get in.
:04:00. > :04:05.Hearing speeches from all sides of the house, some really impassioned
:04:06. > :04:07.and powerful speeches. Some speeches that will be memorable in the
:04:08. > :04:11.history of this place. I think the debate we had yesterday
:04:12. > :04:14.showed this House at its best. We heard from 104 members
:04:15. > :04:16.after what had been, over a period of a week and a bit,
:04:17. > :04:20.about 20 hours of debate, discussion I think yesterday, this
:04:21. > :04:23.House got it right. The debate on Syria,
:04:24. > :04:26.as MPs mentioned, lasted over 11 hours and Mr Speaker
:04:27. > :04:30.chaired every single minute. Some of us are wondering whether,
:04:31. > :04:37.like Davros in Doctor Who, you have secretly had some kind of feeding
:04:38. > :04:40.and filtration system fitted into the chair, or some hidden tubes.
:04:41. > :04:49.Or perhaps it is down to drugs. May I also congratulate you,
:04:50. > :04:51.Mr Speaker, It is not for nothing that you have
:04:52. > :04:55.the title of Golden Bladder for the way you chaired
:04:56. > :04:57.yesterday's debate. And there was acknowledgement for
:04:58. > :05:00.the feat from someone in the know. May I pay tribute to you,
:05:01. > :05:03.Mr Speaker, for your Olympic When I was Deputy Speaker,
:05:04. > :05:09.I once had to sit in the chair for six hours, and halfway through I had
:05:10. > :05:13.to put out a call of emergency to the Chairman of Ways and Means to
:05:14. > :05:16.replace me for a couple of minutes. How you did it, I will never know,
:05:17. > :05:20.and I pay tribute to you. Peers have made
:05:21. > :05:26.a pre-emptive strike against any moves to strip them of the power to
:05:27. > :05:30.oppose some Government measures. There have been reports ministers
:05:31. > :05:32.want to prevent the House of Lords vetoing secondary legislation
:05:33. > :05:36.after it rejected the Chancellor's Peers were accused
:05:37. > :05:41.of triggering a constitutional crisis by ignoring a convention that
:05:42. > :05:45.says financial measures approved The former Conservative leader
:05:46. > :05:52.of the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, has been given the task of reviewing
:05:53. > :05:57.the powers of the Lords. In view of the 1994 resolution
:05:58. > :06:00.of this House that we have an unfettered right to vote
:06:01. > :06:05.on secondary legislation, which was confirmed by the Joint
:06:06. > :06:09.Select Committee on Conventions, if the noble Lord proposes reducing
:06:10. > :06:14.the powers of this House, she will ensure that a further
:06:15. > :06:18.Joint Select Committee of both Houses is established to
:06:19. > :06:21.consider the consequences both I certainly do not want to pre-empt
:06:22. > :06:30.my noble friend's conclusions when he comes forward with his response
:06:31. > :06:36.to the Prime Minister, but it is worth me reminding the House that he
:06:37. > :06:41.is looking into the constitutional issues that were raised
:06:42. > :06:43.by the proceedings in this House They were unprecedented -
:06:44. > :06:51.they did raise serious questions. My noble friend is looking
:06:52. > :06:59.at them while consulting widely - both members of the other place
:07:00. > :07:04.as well as here. When he reaches his conclusions,
:07:05. > :07:07.I am confident that we will have an opportunity to consider them
:07:08. > :07:09.carefully and decide next steps My Lords,
:07:10. > :07:15.does my noble friend accept that, had this House passed the secondary
:07:16. > :07:21.legislation on tax credits, it would have had the immediate force
:07:22. > :07:25.of law and prevented the Chancellor of the Exchequer abandoning his
:07:26. > :07:32.proposals in his Autumn Statement? My noble friend raises
:07:33. > :07:37.an interesting point. It is interesting because it
:07:38. > :07:42.allows me to say two things. It demonstrates what this House did
:07:43. > :07:48.- it withheld its approval from a motion that had already been
:07:49. > :07:53.voted on three times and decided The key thing
:07:54. > :08:02.about the review that my noble friend is doing is not what the
:08:03. > :08:06.views of this House were, but how it decided to express them and the
:08:07. > :08:12.route by which it chose to do so. My Lords, will Her Majesty's
:08:13. > :08:14.Government heed the serious concerns expressed by the Constitution
:08:15. > :08:19.Committee and the Delegated Powers Committee of your Lordships' House,
:08:20. > :08:22.to the effect that the threshold between primary and secondary
:08:23. > :08:26.legislation continues to move upwards, with secondary legislation
:08:27. > :08:31.used increasingly for matters of policy and principle which should be
:08:32. > :08:38.the subject of primary legislation? My noble friend is examining how to
:08:39. > :08:41.secure the decisive role of the elected House on matters associated
:08:42. > :08:48.with secondary legislation. Clearly, it is important that all
:08:49. > :08:53.Governments use the right vehicle to secure Parliament's decision
:08:54. > :08:59.on their business. That is what all Governments seek
:09:00. > :09:02.to do, and it is what we have been My Lords, given that the Leader
:09:03. > :09:16.of the House has indicated that the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde,
:09:17. > :09:19.and his review team will take into account the views of members of your
:09:20. > :09:22.Lordships' House, will she take this opportunity to commend the view
:09:23. > :09:25.of one noble Lord who said in oral evidence to the
:09:26. > :09:27.Joint Committee on Conventions: "I think we can spend a great deal
:09:28. > :09:30.of time thinking "about how one could improve the
:09:31. > :09:32.convention on secondary legislation, They were the words of
:09:33. > :09:36.the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde. Another noble
:09:37. > :09:38.and learned Lord gave evidence to the same Joint Committee - the noble
:09:39. > :09:41.and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. He said this
:09:42. > :09:44.about secondary legislation: "The question is not is the power
:09:45. > :09:48.there to vote against it? "is there a convention that
:09:49. > :09:53.says constitutionally we The answer to the question must be,
:09:54. > :09:59.and is, no. Now, how fast is
:10:00. > :10:03.your internet connection? Or are you one of the many people
:10:04. > :10:08.living in a broadband black hole? Slow connection speeds
:10:09. > :10:11.for computer users in rural parts of the UK is one
:10:12. > :10:14.of the most regular complaints made to MPs, and one of the things those
:10:15. > :10:20.MPs raise most often in Parliament. So the Culture Secretary had
:10:21. > :10:28.some good new By the end of 2017,
:10:29. > :10:33.95% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom will have
:10:34. > :10:35.access to superfast broadband. As my right honourable friend the
:10:36. > :10:38.Prime Minister announced last month, by the end of this Parliament,
:10:39. > :10:41.people will have a legal right to request a broadband connection,
:10:42. > :10:43.no matter where they live. We will be consulting
:10:44. > :10:45.on these plans, which will put access to broadband
:10:46. > :10:47.on a similar footing with other Those of us who are long
:10:48. > :10:51.and strong advocates of universal service welcome the
:10:52. > :10:54.Government's U-turn on this matter. Only a few weeks ago,
:10:55. > :10:57.I was told by the Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy
:10:58. > :10:59.that this was not possible, I will be taking part
:11:00. > :11:03.in the consultation, but will there be any new Government
:11:04. > :11:09.money from the UK, the Welsh I would be extremely surprised
:11:10. > :11:17.if that was what my honourable friend said, as he has been
:11:18. > :11:20.a leading advocate of the universal service obligation policy, which
:11:21. > :11:25.will benefit all the honourable gentleman's constituents,
:11:26. > :11:27.just as it will every other Given the report that was published
:11:28. > :11:34.this week by Ofcom, which illustrated the differences in
:11:35. > :11:40.broadband speed in Northern Ireland and the fact that Northern Ireland
:11:41. > :11:45.has 73% coverage compared with 88% in the rest of the United Kingdom,
:11:46. > :11:49.what action will the Secretary of State and his officials take to
:11:50. > :11:56.address this matter? I believe that the Ofcom report
:11:57. > :12:00.showed different possible causes for slower broadband, including,
:12:01. > :12:05.I am told, Christmas fairy lights. That is why it is making available
:12:06. > :12:08.an app to measure I can tell the honourable lady that
:12:09. > :12:12.in Northern Ireland, we expect that by the end of the superfast
:12:13. > :12:16.broadband project, 87% of homes There won't be many successful
:12:17. > :12:21.business parks where the highway stops short of the park
:12:22. > :12:24.and people have to get out of their Can we apply
:12:25. > :12:32.the same logic to another important highway - broadband -
:12:33. > :12:36.and make sure that business parks are properly connected so that small
:12:37. > :12:41.businesses can thrive and prosper? Telford residents in the Trench Lock
:12:42. > :12:45.and Lightmoor new-build areas, and of historic Ironbridge,
:12:46. > :12:50.tell me that struggle daily with inadequate When can they expect
:12:51. > :12:56.the same, connectivity -- they struggle daily with
:12:57. > :13:10.broadband. Point-to-point wireless can provide
:13:11. > :13:12.a solution today - up to 30 megabits - but the organisations
:13:13. > :13:15.behind those facilities will not invest because state aid will one
:13:16. > :13:19.day bring fibre to those communities Five years after abandoning Labour's
:13:20. > :13:27.universal service commitment and having delayed his own super-slow
:13:28. > :13:31.crawl-out at least three times without proper consultation with
:13:32. > :13:35.either Ofcom or the industry, the Prime Minister magics a universal
:13:36. > :13:39.service obligation out of thin air. The Minister for Culture
:13:40. > :13:43.and the Digital Economy, with whom I have the deepest sympathy,
:13:44. > :13:46.is forced to pretend that it is part of some strategy that has not been
:13:47. > :13:49.published or even consulted on. The Chancellor, however,
:13:50. > :13:52.is not in on the trick. The comprehensive spending review
:13:53. > :13:56.does not mention the issue once. Does the Minister have any idea of
:13:57. > :14:01.how much the obligation is going to cost - or it just a sop to his Back
:14:02. > :14:23.Benchers, whose mailbags are bulging That was a good try
:14:24. > :14:30.by the honourable lady. But in actual fact, we are making extremely
:14:31. > :14:37.good progress. We will achieve 95% by the end of 2017. The universal
:14:38. > :14:43.service obligation is to allow those few remaining homes that do not
:14:44. > :14:48.benefit to have a legal right to require broadband. As to the costing
:14:49. > :14:53.of it, we are in discussion with the industry about it and will be
:14:54. > :14:54.consulting. We welcome all input including those from the honourable
:14:55. > :14:55.lady. You're watching Thursday
:14:56. > :14:58.in Parliament on BBC Parliament. tracking the tax evaders
:14:59. > :15:03.in Britain's overseas territories. But first - measures to toughen up
:15:04. > :15:06.charity regulations have had The Charities Bill
:15:07. > :15:12.will give the Charity Commission And there'll be a new system
:15:13. > :15:17.of self-regulation to ensure that vulnerable people
:15:18. > :15:19.in particular are not put under It follows the death of pensioner
:15:20. > :15:28.Olive Cooke, who received numerous For all that, the Minister dealing
:15:29. > :15:34.with the Bill emphasised that Nevertheless, he said, there
:15:35. > :15:38.were challenges for charities. I myself have dressed up
:15:39. > :15:40.as a sumo wrestler. I have carried a pedometer
:15:41. > :15:42.for a week. I have even lost two stone to race
:15:43. > :15:45.a charger Charities channel the best
:15:46. > :15:50.of our instincts against
:15:51. > :15:52.the worst that life can inflict. Sickness of mind and body entrenched
:15:53. > :16:01.poverty, national disaster, in any other kind of enterprise charities
:16:02. > :16:03.trade upon their reputation. Scandals
:16:04. > :16:05.of poor governance or unscrupulous Tarnishing the vast majority
:16:06. > :16:10.of charities that are well run Earlier this year we saw
:16:11. > :16:18.the tragic case of Olive Cooke. Britain's longest
:16:19. > :16:20.serving poppy seller. For years,
:16:21. > :16:22.she was targeted with hundreds of Over 70 charities had bought
:16:23. > :16:29.her details or swapped them In one month alone, she apparently
:16:30. > :16:37.received 267 charity letters. Sadly, since then, more cases
:16:38. > :16:41.of unscrupulous fundraising This is a good and important bill
:16:42. > :16:53.and we on these benches welcome it. There is some room for improvement,
:16:54. > :16:56.of course, and I will come to that in my speech but
:16:57. > :16:59.its objectives are to be welcomed. We all know the vital role that
:17:00. > :17:02.charities play in building a strong Thousands of people around
:17:03. > :17:07.the country give up their time every day as trustees and volunteers
:17:08. > :17:10.and thousands more depend on vital But she said Labour would try
:17:11. > :17:14.to stop the Government removing measures on housing associations
:17:15. > :17:16.added by the House of Lords. The clause sets out that the Charity
:17:17. > :17:20.Commission should ensure that independent charities are not
:17:21. > :17:22.compelled to dispose of their assets in a way that is inconsistent
:17:23. > :17:25.with their charitable purposes. We will continue to defend this
:17:26. > :17:29.clause to give housing associations the statutory backing to ensure they
:17:30. > :17:32.can make their decisions in the best interests of their tenants, not be
:17:33. > :17:35.bullied by a government determined to sell off and run down affordable
:17:36. > :17:37.housing. We think it's absolutely right
:17:38. > :17:39.that charities have the freedom to dispose of their
:17:40. > :17:41.assets One MP focussed
:17:42. > :17:45.on the possible impact of the I'm concerned that the wording
:17:46. > :17:54.of the bill says that the Charity Commission shall issue a warning to
:17:55. > :17:59.a charity trustee or just trustee for a charity that
:18:00. > :18:02.it considers guilty of some form of I note also within subsection two,
:18:03. > :18:13.sub clause two of clause one that the Charity commission simply
:18:14. > :18:18.on that point may issue A Labour MP was also worried about
:18:19. > :18:28.the impact of extra regulations. Across England and Wales there
:18:29. > :18:32.are 943,000 trustees. I think we in this house bear some
:18:33. > :18:37.responsibility to make sure we don't The bulk of charities
:18:38. > :18:46.in this country, they are not like kids company who appeared to have
:18:47. > :18:50.got away with a remarkable amount. We are talking about people who
:18:51. > :18:53.give up their time on management committees, often when they don't
:18:54. > :18:58.have very much time to give up. We don't always do that well
:18:59. > :19:02.in terms of diversity of trustees. I think it is only about one in
:19:03. > :19:12.200 between the ages of 16 and 24. So I am rather reluctant, if we do
:19:13. > :19:17.anything that scares too many off. MPs have called for faster progress
:19:18. > :19:21.by Britain's overseas territories in improving the transparency
:19:22. > :19:24.of their banking and tax systems. The territories,
:19:25. > :19:27.which include the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands,
:19:28. > :19:29.have agreed to central registers, disclosing information on who owns
:19:30. > :19:32.and profits from a company. Two years ago, David Cameron urged
:19:33. > :19:37.British overseas territories to get their house in order, and there'll
:19:38. > :19:42.be a summit next year to focus on How satisfied is he that there
:19:43. > :19:57.really was significant progress in relation to the signal stance
:19:58. > :20:01.that the Prime Minister has taken The strong indications that were
:20:02. > :20:04.made in terms of the criteria that were sent out
:20:05. > :20:08.by the Treasury, in terms of the requirements for real transparency,
:20:09. > :20:10.for proper registers, of beneficial In these overseas Territories,
:20:11. > :20:17.because these are the locations, they are the roots of shelter
:20:18. > :20:20.for all the scams and shams An enormous amount of progress has
:20:21. > :20:24.been made in the last few years in relation to financial services
:20:25. > :20:26.transparency, particularly I think the I think all members
:20:27. > :20:33.of the overseas territories signed up by all members and agreed to
:20:34. > :20:37.by the UK Government. They agreed to hold beneficial
:20:38. > :20:40.ownership information on respective jurisdictions
:20:41. > :20:44.by settlement registers. There's a lot more text
:20:45. > :20:48.but I'll end with a final sentence. We agree that addressing this issue
:20:49. > :20:51.will be given the highest priority and that progress on implementation
:20:52. > :20:54.will be kept under continuous Labour's Catherine West told MPs
:20:55. > :21:01.that the Financial Times has reported the Cayman Islands have
:21:02. > :21:04.refused the UK's request to give law The Prime Minister has been calling
:21:05. > :21:11.on Surely it's clear now that
:21:12. > :21:17.his government must redouble its efforts to bring
:21:18. > :21:19.the standards of to scratch. In fiscally difficult times at home,
:21:20. > :21:21.the overseas Territories being leaders in international finance,
:21:22. > :21:24.should have world leading standards, not world leaders in enabling
:21:25. > :21:29.corruption and tax evasion. My party made a manifesto commitment
:21:30. > :21:31.to require the overseas territories to produce a publicly available
:21:32. > :21:34.registers of the real owners When will the government match
:21:35. > :21:41.our and indeed the general public's I have much more to say for BBI,
:21:42. > :21:48.Caymans and Bermuda. It is wholly untrue to say that
:21:49. > :21:55.the position at the end of the joint mysterious conference
:21:56. > :21:57.was one of obstruction from Cayman, Now was George Osborne just a
:21:58. > :22:06."lucky Chancellor" - as some of his critics said - at the time
:22:07. > :22:10.of last month's Autumn Statement? The independent Office for
:22:11. > :22:12.Budget Responsibility, the OBR, said public finances were set to be ?27bn
:22:13. > :22:22.better off by 2020 than forecast. This was mainly
:22:23. > :22:27.down to better tax receipts During a debate in the Lords
:22:28. > :22:30.on the economy, Peers discussed whether Mr Osborne
:22:31. > :22:33.had been lucky, or clever, or both. As we know, to paraphrase
:22:34. > :22:37.Napoleon Bonaparte, it's not enough to be a good Chancellor of the
:22:38. > :22:40.Exchequer, it's important to be a Although Chancellors
:22:41. > :22:49.on the whole create their own luck, as somebody, a golfer, I think,
:22:50. > :22:52.once said, "it's funny how the My lord, I do congratulate
:22:53. > :23:11.my noble friend Lord Carrington of Fulham for his excellent
:23:12. > :23:14.introduction to this short debate. If I could supply one small
:23:15. > :23:17.addition, it was Gary Player who was "the more I practice,
:23:18. > :23:20.the luckier I get." He was commenting on the supposed
:23:21. > :23:23.luck for the ?27 million extra which the Office for Budget Responsibility
:23:24. > :23:26.discovered in the last few months. First of all, the Chancellor created
:23:27. > :23:30.the Office for Budget Responsibility so it's an entirely independent body
:23:31. > :23:33.that came up with this new figure. Secondly, he has created
:23:34. > :23:35.the conditions in which the Office for Budget Responsibility could come
:23:36. > :23:38.up with such a figure. So he did, as my noble friend
:23:39. > :23:41.pointed out, deserve his luck. The Autumn Statement gave
:23:42. > :23:43.the Chancellor and early Christmas In the guise of the Office
:23:44. > :23:46.for Budget Responsibility. The figures in the last three months
:23:47. > :23:49.alone improved by ?27 million and like a nervous gambler, the
:23:50. > :23:52.Chancellor has cashed in all his chips on this issue, despite the
:23:53. > :23:55.issue that the OBR said there is more than a 50% chance
:23:56. > :23:57.of the government achieving This, my lord, from
:23:58. > :24:04.a Chancellor who has consistently Peers debated many of the
:24:05. > :24:15.Chancellor's announcements. Including
:24:16. > :24:17.the 3% extra on stamp duty or buy-to-let properties
:24:18. > :24:22.from next April. Empty properties for people when
:24:23. > :24:30.people are inadequately housed, or However, these proposals are
:24:31. > :24:37.not without complexity. And apologising, my lords,
:24:38. > :24:42.if I have missed further detail, I asked the government in
:24:43. > :24:46.the promised consultation on policy First,
:24:47. > :24:53.we need to encourage older people to move at the right time from
:24:54. > :24:57.a family home to something smaller. That transition could be difficult
:24:58. > :25:01.enough for people who are ill or vulnerable or recently widowed, for
:25:02. > :25:06.instance, without the threat of a stamp duty penalty if their sale and
:25:07. > :25:14.purchase do not precisely coincide. Secondly and finally not without
:25:15. > :25:19.interest for the clergy of my diocese, I refer to those who occupy
:25:20. > :25:24.tied accommodation during employment or service, as a condition of
:25:25. > :25:28.employment, often on low or modest incomes,
:25:29. > :25:33.they seek what may technically be a second home in order to provide for
:25:34. > :25:41.their housing needs in retirement. I'll be back with the weekly
:25:42. > :25:46.round up, looking at what's been going on
:25:47. > :25:50.in the Commons and Lords this week. Until then, from me,
:25:51. > :26:00.Georgina Pattinson, goodbye.