18/01/2018 Thursday in Parliament

Hello there and welcome to the

programme. Coming up in the next

half-hour. The Transport Secretary

insists that the collapse of

Correlli and will not been the end

of eight flagship rail scheme.

It

will not affect the HS2 project.

A

Labour MP says that the Royal Bank

of Scotland's treatment of small

businesses may be the largest theft

anywhere ever. And MPs debate the

plight of the range of people, who

fled from wormer for Bangladesh

plight of the range of people, who

fled from wormer for Bangladesh.

The

refugee camp is now equivalent to

the size of Bristol.

Carillion was

awarded work on the HS2 project a

week after a project warning. The

contractor collapsed this week with

debts of more than £1 billion. In

the Commons, a conservative critic

of the rail line called for a full

review of the project.

With the sad demise of Carillion,

could be Secretary of State confirm

that he is performing a full review

of the business case to make sure

that the remaining public sector, or

private sector companies are able to

deliver these rejects without

serious cost to the taxpayer?

I know

my right honourable friend will be

read to note that the demise of

Carillion, a tragic event for this

country and for corporate Britain

will nonetheless not affect the HS2

project. The contract that exist is

part of a free public consortium.

The other two companies are taking

over responsibility for the project.

The apprenticeships are being

transferred, the staff are being

transferred, the project will

continue uninterrupted.

The

electrification project had their

contract suspended this week. Can

the Minister clarify if all these

workers should only expect the job

centre phone numbers the Prime

Minister said yesterday, or can she

guarantee that these works and all

similar in structure undertakings

will continue to completion with the

current workforce, apprentices,

supply chain and project plan?

She

will be aware that the Government

has made clear anyone turning up the

work on those schemes through

subcontractors will continue to be

paid in the normal way. It is

important to get that message out

there and monkeys bred this

information. -- and not to spread

misinformation.

The vultures are

already circling over the Carillion

contract corpses. Other companies

have had profit warnings served in

the last six months. So what's due

diligence has he informed officials

to take over other contractors?

There is almost no exposure to the

rail sector through the companies

that she mentions. The fact of the

matter is that these contracts have

been in many cases reinforced and

improved on the roadside. You have

joint-venture partners who are

jointly obliged to pick up these

operations and will do so.

On

Monday, the Times newspaper said

that the secretary's decision to

award lucrative contracts to

Carillion is only the latest

worrying misjudgement to come to

light. It highlighted his trip to

Qatar on the day of the biggest rail

price hike in years, and his this

bunch in all dealings with trade

unions and the private sector. The

Prime Minister needs to consider

whether it is time that this

Transport Secretary left the

station. Hasn't The Times got it

absolutely right?

Mr Speaker, the

only station I'm going to be leaving

is used in station this morning on a

visit to the Midlands. What I would

say to him is there has been no

bailout of the Virgin Trains East

Coast, that the contracting with

Carillion was not with an two but

with a consortium of companies were

equally responsible for delivering

the contract. I'm happy to stand

here and defend the record of a

government that has done more for

the transport of this country than

the benches opposite did in

government, which was very devil.

The treatment of small businesses by

the Royal Bank of Scotland has been

described by an MP has the largest

theft anywhere, ever. That charge

came as the Commons debated the

bank's global restructuring group,

which has been accused of

mistreating its customers by the

city watchdog, the financial conduct

authority. The Royal Bank of

Scotland has apologised for Howard

treated customers who ended up in

that group. But MPs demanded an

enquiry and tougher action against

the banks. The MP who led the debate

described the experience of one

constituent.

He lost his business,

his home, his marriage and I think

it fair to say almost his sanity.

His crime? Nothing more than being

an entrepreneur who banked with RBS.

I will give way.

Could I thank my

honourable friend were giving way?

Does my honourable friend agree with

me that the RBS global restructuring

group had real cultural problems.

When their top tips include the

phrase, sometimes you have do let

customers hang themselves. There is

something clearly very wrong.

I

agree. Since 2008, we know that

16,000 small businesses were put

into geology and the vast majority

of them were liquidated. -- put into

the group. They were trying to get

back into a position as a viable

business will top it was more like

an abattoir than an intensive care

unit.

Customers had been carved up

like a Sunday roast, he said.

We

know that many of the business is

never made it back to mainstream

tanking. This is a very high

proportion. The cost of this is

immeasurable, but we believe it to

be in the tens of billions. Let's be

clear, this is the potential size of

the injustice that has taken place

in our country. If it is this big,

it may be the largest theft

anywhere, ever.

Many of our

constituents who suffered in their

business interests and personal

lives will need this enquiry and we

need justice for our constituents.

The Treasury committee is

investigating the claims against

RBS.

When I hear constituents say

that they will never trust a bank

again, they will never ask a bag

again Paul Money, this should be a

chilling moment for all banks

involved in working with SMEs.

They

forced one company into

receivership. They engineered the

form of the company by demanding

aggressive repayment plans, allowing

insufficient time for value is to be

assigned to assess the company's

assets. What does my constituent

have to do to get the money that was

stolen from him?

A builder and

property developer who was courted

for his business by Lloyds Bank into

thousands three, his accounts were

managed locally and regionally. The

fateful decision was made to

transfer his accounts to the Bristol

business support unit, and that's

when his troubles began. Review

periods were shortened, repayments

were doubled and at every single

stage, charges were added. He was

told to sell some properties and to

use a value is who undervalued his

properties systematically. When he

complained, his loans were called

in.

If they did know what they were

doing, it amounts to theft of assets

of people who were running, in many

cases, entirely viable businesses.

Asset stripping is one of The Times

used to describe it. People have had

their businesses destroyed by this

outrageous behaviour.

The front

bench of the Government should have

heard loud and clear the strength of

the link from all parts of this

chamber and beyond, because people

will be shocked and will be

disappointed that this has been

allowed to happen. It is

unacceptable that banks have

devastated firms, spreading misery

by making people bankrupt and

homeless will stop what happened at

RBS was nothing short of a scandal

and was a disaster for the victims.

Businesses were ruined, family

stormed a part and people took their

own lives and stop it is right to

say that we will wait for the

conclusion of the SCA's

investigation of the matter is

arriving before determining what

further action needs to be taken.

On

the broader issue of dispute

resolution, I remind the House of

the existing avenues open, but the

FCA's continuing work to look at

that, and it is right that we wait

for the next steps.

But MPs backed

for to call for an enquiry and there

will be won at the end of the month.

You are watching Thursday In

Parliament.

The anniversary of the inauguration

of Donald Trump as the US president

has been marked in the Lords with a

debate about how American foreign

policy has affected international

affairs. A former Liberal Democrat

leader seemed far from impressed by

the leadership of the latest

occupant of the White House.

Now if

painfully to say, under resident

Trump, the most powerful of our

number thinks that standing together

is less important than going it

alone. That the application of

leadership and responsibility is

preferable to getting engaged in the

international space. That collective

action takes second place to America

first.

These to radically changed

circumstances, how relationship with

the United States in entirely new

ways. It is still special, in that

we share many core values, but it is

quite different to the relationships

of the past. America is a partner in

the new wage, but it is not our

boss. We do not need to be and must

not become its obedient poodle, let

alone its guard dog.

One Labour peer

felt Donald Trump had actually done

something valuable.

When he attacks diplomacy and

slashes the budget of the American

foreign service and the UN we can

see that this complex and dangerous

world needs diplomacy. He may not

realise it, and he may never have

intended it, but Donald Trump may

yet have revived and reinforced

among thinking people globally that

there is a better alternative to the

incoherent ravings of a very

temporary American President.

We

will tolerate the foolishness. We

will tolerate the and predictability

sight of necessity, not least when

seeking a trade deal with the United

States. Who believes that the offer

of the presidents will be anything

other than an attempt to secure the

interests of his core support across

the United States? We will

inevitably lose influence with the

United States. I believe in our

efforts, which may be successful to

leave the European Union, we will be

losing influence with Europe, this

is an unhappy coincidence.

We do

look to the United States of America

to lead that that United Kingdom

should also look, look in the murder

at our own ability to discharge a

supporting role. For a better

definition of this rule forms the

context for our own national

ambition, our own place in the

world, and a clearer understanding

of the sort of Armed Forces we

actually need.

Whatever feelings we perceive in the

administrations of another country

it does not absolve us from our

responsibility to put forward ideas

and initiatives of our own in

foreign policy, as the United States

administration is undoubtedly doing,

whether or not we agree. We should

be less preoccupied with the tweets

and habits of the President of the

United States and more focused on

our own policies and strategies that

we wish to pursue with the US.

The

UK has done historically and will

continue to day to engage with the

US administration, issue by issue,

policy by policy. It is a strong and

productive and important

relationship and we will continue to

work as we have always done. We will

use every tool of friendly

cooperation to persuade the US

administration of the working of our

common interests and that allows us

to have those candid conversations

when we disagree.

In a report published earlier this

week MPs said it was clear that the

Behrami 's military are continuing

to use rape and sexual violence as

weapons of war against the Rohingya

people. -- it was clear that the

military of Burma are continuing to

use.

The cheer of the International

development committee gave the

Commons a graphic description of

what has been happening.

Girls as

young as five years of age have been

reported to have been raped by

multiple uniformed actors, often in

front of their relatives. There are

reports of rape being widespread,

violent, and accompanied by

mutilation.

He was sceptical of the

idea that the Rohingya should be

returned to Myanmar.

The idea that

the Rohingya could be returned to

live in internment camps controlled

by the military of Burma is not

acceptable. We welcome the

commitment of the UK Government and

the swiftness with which that was

pledged. The Government of

Bangladesh has told us however that

they expect the cost of effective

provision of basic services for the

displaced Rohingya to total

eventually more than £1 billion.

Particular attention must be made

for a clear and decisive plan with

regards to any repatriation, not

just on Security and safety, but

also the legal status of every

Rohingya who is taking a voluntary

option to go back to Burma, and the

international development agencies

need to have oversight at each

stage.

He is right to say that

effort is to be any process of

repatriation we need students about

the legal status that will be made

available to any refugees. There is

a particular issue with babies that

are born in refugee camps and the

status they might have if they are

returned, and as well as the

governments of these two mackerel

countries we need to listen to the

Rohingya themselves and we need --

we -- as well as the governments of

both countries we need to listen to

the Rohingya.

The largest camp,

which I visited with other MPs in

November, as now equivalent in size

to a city the size of Bristol. It

does not have a hospital, it does

not have adequate schools or roads,

it is one of the most densely

populated refugee camps in the

world. Whether the Rohingya are in

Burma or in Bangladesh the

fundamental problem is that they are

stateless and until that issue is

resolved their rights will never be

properly protected.

The committee

has put a spotlight on an issue and

I want to assure the House that it

is an issue of every single day

focus, not just the plight of the

Rohingya that is happening at the

moment, and I was in Geneva last

week to speak to international

organisations about that, but the

need for a solution for them, and

that remains a priority for the

Government.

In these have helped the

annual debate to mark Holocaust

memorial day. The debate was opened

by a Conservative MP.

This year the

theme is the power of words and it

is a reminder that the Holocaust did

not start with gas chambers, it

started with hateful words, and that

is perhaps of great resonance today,

as we consider the continuing blight

of anti-Semitism and intolerance in

our society and sadly in our

politics. I am proud as a Government

with strong cross-party support that

we adopted the international

recognition of anti-Semitism which

UK police forces are sadly having to

put to use more than they should

have two.

In my view the Holocaust

was the single greatest act of evil

in human history. I know historians

debate that, bit numbers dying at

the hands of the Stalin were as

great, and the atrocities in Ukraine

work of the unspeakable cruelty, but

the attempts by the natty regime to

wipe out an entire ethnic group and

harness 20th-century technology to

deliver murder on an industrial

steel seems without parallel. -- the

attempts by the Nazi regime to wipe

out an entire ethnic group.

Edgar was born in Budapest and in

1941 he lost his citizenship and was

classified as an alien Jew. He was

sent to the Budapest ghetto. He was

March halfway toward the real

waystation before he was told to

return to the ghetto. There he was

forced to sleep in... His story is

one small remembrance of the

barbarity of the Nazi regime. Edgar

lives in Britain today and is still

shaving his story at the age of 87.

I would like to pay tribute to his

courage and strength. It is

something to behold the impact that

he has on school students and we

must think about how we carry the

message forward when we no longer

have survivors with us to give that

powerful testimony.

In October, we

got this dossier. Lists of historic

crimes. Where have we heard that

before? The language of

extermination has power because the

ground has been prepared. The

propaganda of heat build suspicion

and prejudice until ordinarily

people believe a complete and utter

lie. The history of the Holocaust

teaches us that this kind of

propaganda is allowed to breed in

communities and States, but lie that

they create can be turned into

murder on an industrial scale. 6

million innocent men, women and

children, brutally, horrifically

murdered.

MPs have been told they must decide

whether they can afford to justify

repairers to Parliament. The

building is in a bad state of

repair. Several options have been

suggested by a committee which

included either partially or totally

moving out of the building while the

work is done. It is estimated that

restoration could cost between 3.5

and £7 billion.

The Government

approach to restoration has moved

from circus to farce. 18 months ago

there was clear recommendations. If

this is to be taken seriously will

she allocate a day? Make sure it is

substantial and amend the bowl?

It

is astonishing that the honourable

gentleman is not taking this

seriously. This is a matter for the

House. The House needs to decide

whether the balance of taxpayer's

fiscal issues can be outweighed by

the need to restore the Palace of

Westminster. It is properly a debate

for the House and there is

governments time being given to

that. Honourable members will

recognise that the Government has

moved the date to a wet and stay for

the convenience of members who were

very clear that they did not want

this debate to take place on

Thursday, the Government is

facilitating a discussion and a

decision by members of this House.

Other speakers said it was important

MPs thought about the costs

involved.

While people and organisations (

this country are having to make

tough decisions will the Leader of

the House make sure that we exercise

financial prudence in whatever

decision we make in relation to the

future of this House?

That debate on

the restoration of Westminster will

be held at the end of this month.

That is all for now. Join me on

Friday night at 11 for a round-up of

the week here at Westminster.

Goodbye.