17/03/2016 Thursday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Thursday in Parliament, our look at the best

of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

Labour keeps up its attack on the Chancellor's Budget.

He kicked the poor and made them cry.

Georgie delivered a tax giveaway.

A review finds no evidence that establishment figures were involved

in the historical abuse of children in care in North Wales.

The victims were torn to shreds in a merciless way and several

of them took their lives as a direct consequence of the abuse

being continued by our court system, and it is still continuing today.

Arguments over the European Union intensify in the Lords.

If the single market is such an economic miracle,

why does he think that the European Union is widely

recognised as being something close to an economic disaster zone?

As the debate on the Budget resumed in the Commons,

Labour claimed the reductions announced for disability benefits

represented a "new low" for the Government.

The Chancellor George Osborne is facing calls from opposition

parties, and some Tory backbenchers, to reverse a planned ?1.3 billion

cut to payments that help people with day-to-day living such

The Shadow Chancellor made an appeal to MPs.

Can I just say this across the house?

This is a very important issue, we will not make party

I say this sincerely, as someone who has campaigned

on disability issues in this house for

I urge you, and all members now, to press the Chancellor

It is cruel, and it is unfortunately, I believe,

dangerous for the well-being of disabled people.

Does he not agree with me that if the

Chancellor does not listen to us on this side about these Draconian

cuts to people who are receiving such

benefits, perhaps he will listen to Graham Ellis, the chair

of the Conservative disability group, who

is now, as a result of these pernicious cuts, cutting all links

In the six years that he's been in charge

of the nation's finances, the Chancellor has missed every

He said he would balance the books by 2015,

but a deficit this year is set to be over ?72 billion.

That Britain would pay its way around the world before it has

overseen the biggest current-account deficit since modern records began.

You know, I want to help the Labour Party in every way that

And I want them to be credible in the next selection.

But the Shadow Chancellor took to the airwaves this morning

and talked about borrowing more money.

Can he give an absolute commitment that if

he was to become Chancellor, he would not borrow more money

The present Chancellor has just borrowed...

?200 billion extra than what he promised.

Let us make it absolutely clear that like any company...

Like any company, UK PLC under us - we will invest.

We will invest in the plant and machinery to create the growth

which can afford our public services.

The Shadow Chancellor proved today that

he is incapable of answering any of the questions put to him

But he is able to tell us a few things.

He's told us he wants to transform capitalism.

He's told us that his heroes are Lenin and Trotsky.

He's told us that he wants to borrow more.

In fact, had we carried on with the Labour Party's plans

when they were in government, from 2010,

we would have borrowed ?930 billion more in the course of the last six

The Education Secretary brought the focus of the debate round to

schools. For those who are

saying that we aren't addressing the critical issues,

they could not be further Our white paper published today

is a vision for raising standards in teaching,

and raise them higher than any

government has before. Teachers will be better

qualified and accredited, they will have access to the best

opportunities and command more respect than any generation

of teachers before them. Taking their rightful place among

the great professions. Let me thank the Secretary of State

very much for giving way. Didn't we go through years and years

under Labour where our standards We did our children

absolutely no favours, While most of us would agree

that the extension of the school day is most welcome,

there will be children And therefore finding

it most difficult to benefit from any of the reforms

that any of us may talk about. While one welcomes

the Chancellor's sugar tax, which will give more children

the abilities to start their school with food in their bellies,

might she break convention and lead a cross-party group to her colleague

sitting next to her so that we can lobby for some of that sugar tax

to feed the poorest children I thank the honourable

gentleman very much indeed, my right honourable friend

or I would be very happy to meet One of the announcements that has

not got the attention from yesterday, but I will come

onto it, is the funding, additional funding, significant

additional funding for breakfast We have, as a government,

also committed to continuing the pupil premium,

another way in which schools are able to use that money

to support those children In answer to my honourable

friend for Sheffield Healy showed that 100%

of the Treasury senior civil servants are based in Whitehall,

with 60% of the civil servants being men, apparently the Chancellor

really does think that the man He has a lot of men in Whitehall

making the decisions in this budget. Is that why they have

failed to come up with Let me say to the

honourable lady I had the pleasure of working

in the Treasury with my honourable friend the Chancellor

in the last parliament. You could not find somebody more

supportive of promoting women Let's deal with the issue

of the tampon tax. We hope very much that

we are going to make progress with the EU

in relation to the VAT rate. I think when we try to give people

educations, we also do it in a way that is easier to digest

and remember when people leave. I tend to think if I cannot explain

it to my seven-year-old son, I think that is the way I will pitch

it to my friends across the house Because, it is no more

complicated than this: Georgie Porgie spun a lie, he kicked

the poor and made them cry. And when the rich came out to play,

Georgie delivered a tax giveaway. It's really no more

complicated than that. Taking money from the poorest,

giving it to the richest. I must also stress, moving on,

my support for the sugar tax It is also bold, I believe,

a move that sends a message that will educate and encourage,

with consumers and parents, and children, and

the drinks industry. Given the two tiers,

it will also encourage the drinks industry to cut down

on the amount of sugar in drinks, My own grandmother died

when my father was very She had a complete and

utter addiction to soft Now, although that was a different

era, and we cannot be 100% it was the cause

of her diabetes, it is My family grew up in

a household that was very I often think if we had

that tax then, what Child sexual abuse was endemic

at residential homes in North Wales That was the conclusion

of a shocking report, published in 2000,

by Sir Ronald Waterhouse. That report didn't discover

whether prominent individuals, But in 2012, when allegations

about public figures were coming to light, the Government ordered

a review into the adequacy It was led by Lady Justice Macur,

who has now published her findings. She endorsed the first inquiry

and said she had found no evidence of involvement by

Establishment figures. Let's be clear, we are talking

about dark and shameful events that These were children

in the care of the state because they were vulnerable

and the state let them down. That is why our first thought

will always be with the victims, supporting them and bringing

the perpetrators to justice. Waterhouse's final report,

Lost In Care, published in 2000, concluded that widespread sexual

abuse of boys occurred in children's residential establishments

in Clwyd in 1974 and 1990, and that there was a paedophile ring

operating in the North Wales and Chester areas, but no reference

was made to any abuse being carried out by nationally

prominent individuals. Stephen Crabb said Lady Justice

Macur examined a huge Lady Justice Macur's

main finding is that, and I quote, "I have found no reason

to undermine the conclusions of Waterhouse in respect of

the nature and the scale of abuse." Lady Justice Macur looked closely

at the issue of nationally prominent figures and concluded

that there was, again I quote, "No evidence of the involvement

of nationally prominent individuals in the abuse of children

in care in North Wales Some named in the report

have been removed. Lady Justice Macur urged caution

in relation to releasing names of individuals accused of abuse

or speculated to be involved in abuse who have not been subject

to a police investigation, have not been convicted

of a criminal offence and/or whose name is not in the public domain

in the context of child abuse, whether establishment

figures or not. She argued that to do so would be,

and I quote, "Unfair in two respects The extent of the abuse

revealed by the Waterhouse It found evidence of widespread

and persistent physical and sexual abuse, including multiple rapes

carried out against young This abuse was allowed to take

place over many years, sometimes decades, in the very homes

where vulnerable children should The scale of the abuse is shocking

but what is also shocking is that many of the enquiries into this

abuse have encountered a reluctance to cooperate with them and a refusal

to publish their conclusions. In short, cover-ups

and missed opportunities. She welcomed the publication

of the Macur review. There may be cases where reductions

are needed, not least to ensure that no ongoing police investigation

is compromised, but these reductions must be as few as possible and they

must be justified to survivors. One MP was concerned

about the removal of names I feel that this will be a matter

that will cause the most concern I fully understand the reasons my

right honourable friend has given, which were made by Lady Justice

Macur, but can he confirm, can he confirm that

Justice Lowell Goddard will have the right to pursue

in her own inquiry the names of those whose names have been

redacted, the identities of those whose names have been redacted

in the report that he has given? A full un-redacted copy has gone

to the Goddard inquiry. He asks whether Goddard will be able

to pursue those names Just bear in mind that one

of the specific recommendations of this Macur review today is that

actually it's the police and the judicial process

that is best placed to go after, in his words, names of people

who might be... where there are specific

allegations, and public or private enquiries aren't the best forum

for doing that. Page 300 of the Waterhouse report

lists the names of 13 young men who couldn't give evidence

to the new report because they Most of them took their lives

following the case where they went before those who were accused,

who were all used to giving evidence in court, some of them

because of their police background. The victims were torn to shreds

in a merciless way and several of them took their lives as a direct

consequence of the abuse being continued by our court system,

and it's still continuing today. The Welsh Secretary said heinous,

horrific acts of abuse took place, and he recognised that the report

would not bring closure to everyone. With 97 days to go in the EU

referendum campaign, Euro-sceptic peers have been

stepping up their arguments over why a British exit, or

Brexit, makes sense. The veteran Ukip peer Lord Pearson

raised in the Lords a recent document from the Civitas

think-tank entitled "How The Trade Benefits Of EU

Membership Have Been Mis-sold". He said he was disappointed

at the way the Government had Which shows that four

smaller non-EU countries, Chile, Korea, Singapore

and Switzerland, have been able to make vastly more free trade deals

than has the EU with its pretended My Lords, can the Government tell us

why, as the world's fifth-largest economy, we couldn't do as well

or better if we left the EU? And second, does the Government

accept that the single market would want to continue

its free trade with us He must recognise the fact that

while half the goods we exported went to the EU, when you look at it

from the EU's point of view, 7% of EU goods came to the UK,

so I hardly think that's a strong negotiating stance to get all 27

countries to agree unanimously Would my noble friend

the Minister please...? My noble friend the Minister

referred to reform of And indeed the European Union has

proved itself to be unreformable. If the single market was such

an economic miracle, why does he think that

the European Union is widely recognised as being something close

to an economic disaster zone Why does he think that in the latest

opinion poll in France, published in Le Monde a few days

ago, 53% of the French people said they would like a referendum

so they could leave My Lords, when he says

that the EU isn't reformed, he ignores the fact we are out

of the parts of Europe which don't work for us, so we won't have

to join the euro, that is agreed, we won't have to be part

of Eurozone bailouts, that is agreed, we won't be

part of a European army, that is agreed, and importantly we

won't be part of an EU superstate. So we have the best of both worlds

and the one thing we do have is a market of 500 million people

on our doorstep without any trade We were told earlier

that it was a remarkable, ground-breaking document but,

my Lords, even the author of the Civitas paper says,

and I quote, "Nonmember countries pay nothing for exporting

to the single market other than the tariffs and trade costs

of individual exporters." Would the Minister not agree,

that is the very reason that the UK needs to be in the single market,

precisely so that our individual exporters are not subject

to the tariffs that members of third The noble Lord spoke of lower prices

in the single market but since this organisation is a protectionist

organisation, isn't it clearly the case that consumers

within the EU are paying higher prices than they would

otherwise be paying? Can I just give the example

of flights, which have come down A former Cabinet Minister asked

about a recent pro-EU letter My Lords, as we are on the subject,

could my noble friend clear up Were those letters which were

published over the names of distinguished former military

personnel and leading industrialists drafted by people who were being

paid by Her Majesty's government who subsequently importuned those

gentlemen for their signatures, My Lords, my briefing

didn't cover that, But what I can do is commend

to the House the speech in the debate on the 2nd of March

from the noble Lord Stirrup, who gave a very clear speech on why

it was preferable to remain You're watching our round-up

of the day in the Commons Still to come: have coffee cups

become an environmental hazard? MPs have called for a proper

investigation into the potential health threats from contaminated air

on passenger planes. Concerns have been raised

in particular about so-called aerotoxic syndrome, the name given

to illnesses caused by exposure A debate in Westminster Hall was led

by Labour's Jonathan Reynolds, The key factor here is the use

of bleed air to provide a pressurised air supply

in the cabin during flights. It is compressed air from the jet

engines and is used by the vast majority of passenger

aircraft in operation today. The problem arises when faults

with engine seals cause seepage into the cockpit and cabin,

which in turn can lead to contaminated fumes containing

toxins being digested by people Aerotoxic syndrome is something

which affects the peripheral central Symptoms include migraines, fatigue,

difficulty thinking, numbness, aches and pains, breathing

problems and digestive problems. Furthermore, there has been

a significant rise in the number of cases, which simply

cannot be ignored. I think it is very significant

that the Unite trade union have been able to tell me they are

currently acting on behalf There is evidence here pointing

to this being an illness cabin crew may be exposed to, not

to mention passengers also, and I think that must

be treated seriously. It seems to me, in the research

I have done on this issue, it is highly likely that aerotoxic

syndrome is a real result, a health outcome of prolonged

exposure to toxic air and therefore this issue deserves the attention

of Parliament and deserves the attention of the

Department for Transport. Does the honourable member agree

with me that some of the symptoms could be confused with other

illnesses and therefore Worryingly, for short exposures

effects are usually reversible, but for cabin crew who may be

exposed on a more regular basis, permanent neurological

damage could occur and, Yes, I think that is indeed

a distinct possibility. The industry, including regulators,

are relying on a system of denial rather than fitting detection

systems required to collect the evidence on the true number

and concentration of fume events. I don't believe the industry,

or the Government for that matter, would deny the existence of fume

events, and again the Minister can correct me if I'm wrong

but I believe they would also accept fume events are detrimental

to health and, while possibly disagreeing on the extent

of the impact, I would like to ask the Minister to support calls

for an independent inquiry. This issue is taken seriously

by all parties involved but also it is a complex issue with little

evidence to show that change is needed, but it will take time

to find new and innovative solutions We certainly need to coordinate

international research and I will certainly raise this

with the CAA at my next I'll also discuss it with Balpa

when I meet with them. Although I have to say this has not

necessarily been very high on their agenda at some

of the meetings I have heard, but maybe debates like this

will further raise awareness amongst Last year's introduction of a 5p

charge on shopping bags in England and Wales, in the interests

of tidying up the environment, has been a success, in the view

of the Environment Minister, Fewer bags are

cluttering the streets. Because they're a combination

of plastic and paper, they can't be recycled,

and too many are being discarded. A Labour MP believes

it's time for action. Could the Government have a look

at the problem with the wretched number of plastic lined paper

takeaway coffee cups? The overwhelming majority

of which never get recycled because of the difficulties

of ripping out the plastic lining It is a huge problem

and there are tens of millions of these things being produced

and thrown away and, as the honourable member pointed

out, many of these things cannot be recycled either by the way

they are disposed of or because of Having tackled plastic bags,

which I hope everybody in the House would agree the plastic bag

tax has been a success, coffee cups seems to be a very good

thing to look at next. Another Labour MP thought credit

for recycling lay with Europe. Would he not accept that if it

hadn't been for the European Union we would be nowhere in terms

of dealing with the waste, we would still be throwing

all our waste in holes in the ground in this country if it hadn't

been for the stimulation The honourable member tempts me

into a much bigger political conversation, but it is true that EU

has played a constructive role in this, has shown real leadership

on recycling and there are certainly things we can learn from other

European countries, particularly Denmark on the success

they have had on landfill. I was litter picking over

the Clean For The Queen weekend, outside a local primary school,

and I was dismayed to find that most What could the Government do

to encourage the next generation to recycle more and not miss

the opportunity to forge If half her colleagues

are as virtuous as the right honourable lady, she's set a very

high and exacting standard. Mr Speaker, if I could join

with you in paying tribute to the virtue of the

right honourable lady. The answer is, of course,

that we need to work on educating people, and this is a German model,

right the way from school upwards on the importance of protecting

resources and recycling, but I believe we could also do more

to harmonise the system so it's more straightforward wherever you live

in the country to know exactly what needs to be recycled

and where to put your recycling. Do join me for the Week

In Parliament, when we not only look back over the last few days

at Westminster but also try to assess whether we're entering

a new era of personality politics. Until then, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye.