17/11/2015 Tuesday in Parliament

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday In Parliament,

our look at the best of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

As MPs react once again to the terror attacks in Paris, David

Cameron promises a "comprehdnsive strategy" to win parliament`ry

backing for military action again ISIS terrorists in Syria.

We do not protect the British people by sitting back, wishing thhngs were

different. We have to act to keep our people safe, and that is what

this government will always do. There's defiance within Labour's

ranks about the position taken Police need full and necess`ry

powers, including proportionate use of lethal force if need be, to keep

communities safe. What will happen if the doctors go

on strike? A stark warning from the

Health Secretary. Delaying a cancer clinic, mdaning

summary might get a later rhght noses than they should, del`ying a

hip operation, so that people are in pain, these things will be very hard

to avoid. But first, 24 hours after the Home

Secretary spoke solemnly in the Commons about the weekend atrocities

in France, the Prime Ministdr talked about some of the political

implications of the events hn Paris Since the mass killings on Friday

night, President Hollande of France said his country was "at war with

Isis" and he pledged to increase the numbers of airstrikes by Frdnch jets

against Isis targets in the terror group's base in Syria in thd area

of Raqqa. The aerial campaign by French

forces has since intensified. Britain has been engaged

in air strikes against Isis only in Iraq following

the approval given by MPs in 20 4. As he reported back on the latest

meeting of the G20 summit, David Cameron told MPs the Paris

attacks had strengthened thd case for tackling Isis, sometimes called

Isil, across the Syria-Iraq border. It operates across the borddr

in Syria. The border is meaningless

because as far as Isil is It is in Syria, and Iraq th`t Isil

has its headquarters and it is from there some of the main

threats against this countrx are Raqqa, if you like,

is the head of the snake. It is important

the whole House understands the There is no government in Sxria we

can work with, particularly not There are no rigorous policd

investigations or independent We have no military

on the ground to detain those In this situation we do not protect

the British people by sitting back We have to act to keep

our people safe and that is what We cannot expect, should not expect

others to carry the burden `nd the I recognise that there are

concerns in this House. What difference would action

by the UK really make? How does the recent Russian

action affect the situation? Above all, how would a decision by

Britain and Syria fit into a

strategy for dealing with Isil and a diplomatic strategy to

bring the war in Syria to an end? I understand these concerns and I

know they must be answered. I will respond personally to

the report of the I will set out

a strategy for dealing with Isil, our vision for

a more stable, peaceful Middle East. This strategy in my view should

include taking the action in Syria I I hope

in setting up the arguments in this way I can help build support right

across this House for the action I Jeremy Corbyn said he agreed

consensus was need in countdring Isil.

While we welcome the sensible measures to make more funding

available for our security services, to gather intelligence, expose and

prevent plots, can he confirm that these will be balanced with the need

to protect our civil liberthes, which were so hard-won

in this country and so stoutly defended by many of us?

They are part of what distinguishes us from many

Indeed regimes from which people are fleeing.

There are over 2 million Muslims living in Britain and they `re

as utterly appalled by the violence in Paris as anybody else.

We have seen in the past after atrocities like this,

there can be a backlash agahnst the Muslim and other communhties.

Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, far right racism,

have no place whatsoever in our society, our thinking and I

hope there will be no incre`se in any of that intolerance as ` result

It is vital at a time of tr`gedy and outrage not to be drawn

into responses which would feed a cycle of violence and hatred.

President Obama has said th`t Isis grew out of our invasion of Iraq

and is one of its unintended consequences.

Jeremy Corbyn previously sahd he did not support a shoot to kill policy

by British police. An MP on his dentures disagreed. -- benches.

The Prime Minister is right the police and security service need

Should it not be immediatelx obvious to everybody, to everyone that the

police need the full and necessary powers, including the proportionate

use of lethal force if need be, to keep our communities safd?

Another Labour MP criticised those who said the atrocities in Paris

followed on from western actions in Iraq and Syria.

Does the Prime Minister agrde that the full responsibility for the

attacks in Paris lies solelx with the terrorists and that any attempt

by any organisation to somehow blame the West, or the French milhtary

intervention in Syria is not only wrong, disgraceful,

The response right across the House shows how right

It is worth remembering to those that somehow this is all

caused by Iraq, France did not take part in the Iraq war.

Can I ask the Prime Minister to reject the view

as always a reaction to what we in the West do?

Does he agree with me that such an approach risks infantilising

the terrorists and treating them as children, when the truth is that

they are adults entirely responsible for what they do?

Nobody forces them to kill hnnocent people in Paris or Beirut and

unless we are clear about that, we will fail even to be abld to

understand the threat faced, let alone confront it and ultim`tely

It is that sort of moral and intellectual clarhty that

is necessary in dealing with terrorists.

There has been bombing by Rtssia, France, and many other countries.

Bombs have been dropped frol jets and missiles fired from nav`l

vessels. The US president h`s reiterated his opposition to

providing boots on the ground. Given the fact is, does the prime Minister

agree that intervention in Syria is an end to the Civil War and

supporting the Kurds on the ground? On Saturday, at a Parliamentary

group visit, I was with the Kurds in the Kurdistan region of Hraq in

the front line, south of Kirkuk Those Kurdish forces are br`ve,

putting their lives on the line every day, they did so in Shnjar,

along with the Syrian Kurds, but can we do more to provide the m`terial

support for the Peshmerga of Iraqi Kurdistan and also pending

a decision on whether we go into Syria, give more support from

the air to the Kurds in Irap now? We discussed yesterday with

President Obama and French, German and Italian leaders what more

we can do. Germany is doing a lot in that area,

we are doing a lot and there is more, certainlx,

we can do. One day after the Commons c`me back,

the House of Lords returned Peers also reflected

on the implications Remembering the baleful

effects that ensued when George Bush Junior used the word

"crusade" Gulf War, will the Minister agree

the language we choose to use at In this context, would she `gree

the use of the word "war" is at best unhelpful and perhaps even

unwise, given it will only reinforce Would that not also apply to the

Prime Minister's favourite phrase, In fact, we are fighting

for universal values which tnderpin all the great religions

and philosophies, including Islam. It is proper that we should be

engaged in trying to find a political solution to somd

of the problems in Syria. But we would be operating under

a delusion and deceiving the people of this country hf we

implied that even should a political solution with Assad, or

without him, be achieved tolorrow, It is part of a long-running

generational attempt to est`blish an Islamic-Fascist empire, other

people who will stop at nothing and therefore it is to the people of

this country to say that opposing Isil is somehow redundant

if we achieve a political solution. There are verses in the Kor`n

written for particular circumstances 50

years ago, when the infant community They are words like,

"kill them wherever you find them." Now, they were written

for different circumstances, but they are being used today bx those

people who want to radicalise, disadvantaged youth in general to

move towards this extremism. The promised commitments to

shut down any educational institutions which are teaching

Islamist intolerance could I ask the lady to confirm

this policy will include all our mosques, where so much of the

poison is spread? My Lords, it will include any

establishment where this kind of extremism, non-violent

and violent is being pursued. The latest thoughts on the `trocity

in Paris. The government wants to rendgotiate

the terms of the UK's membership of the European Union ahead

of a referendum. That process has started

and MPs on the European Scrttiny Committee were keen to find out how

the government's demands ard being received by European politicians

and what say the UK parliamdnt was We are deeply concerned

about the level of engagement with the Government and Parliament

on the renegotiation so far and we agree with the concltsion of

a House of Lords committee that it The Minister

for Europe told us that Parliament would only be able to debatd, and I

quote, the final offer, at the Yet the Government has been obliged

to publish the Prime Minster's letter to Donald Tusk,

and make a statement in the House. As Foreign Secretary, how do you

intend to provide meaningful Parliamentary involvement in the

next stages of the renegoti`tion? Bits of the process are conducted

in the public domain. We will obviously make sure that

Parliament is informed first, where there are initiatives

which are UK initiatives. There will be other bits

which we have to do privately. We will keep Parliament upd`ted

on the process, but I would ask Parliament to understand thhs is

a negotiation and clearly wd cannot conduct a negotiation with `ll

of our cards turned face up for inspection by those people we

are negotiating with. What in your assessment would you

be the impact on Britain and other All the focus has been

on renegotiation but have you done any assessment

on what would happen if you left? I have already said I think

the impact on the entire European In the EU right now, having faced

this year now facing a crisis

of confidence around the Schengen agreement and how external ligration

is managed, the European Unhon is The exit of a major country,

the second largest economy in the European Union,

would have potentially very significant ramifications

for the European Union and for its A British exit would also h`ve

very significant impact on the UK. It would require us to undo decades

of thinking about how we drhve and power the UK economy, how

we ensure the standard of living for British peopld, how we

protect our national security. It would require a radical rethink

and I am sure, certainly in the short-term, it would have some

very negative impact on the UK. One key area is restricting access

to in work and out of work hn a fit to be you migrants. Ministers want

to stop those coming to the UK from claiming certain benefits until they

have been resident for four years. of into EU migrants are in receipt

of UK benefits. I would say it is a vibrant economy, increasing living

wage and lower tax in the ftture will be equally attractive but just

on the institute of the whole fact benefits, what is the view of other

member states last far and now the manse for this four-year rule? This

will be the most difficult hssue. All of the other areas, there are

people across Europe willing to engage with us, I'm not sayhng

everyone is positive about dvery aspect but there are people willing

to engage with as, people recognising the validity of the

concerns that we are raising, people coming up with ideas and suggestions

about how we might tackle them and very few issues of principld being

raised against, so is a pragmatic discussion. There are peopld rating

objections of principle agahnst what we are proposing in relation to

access to welfare benefits. You're watching our round up of the

day in the Commons and the Lords. Should the voting age be

lowered from 18 to 16? The Health Secretary has lahd

the blame for a proposed walkout by junior doctors squarely at the feet

of the British Medical Association. The BMA is balloting members for

three days of strike action which The dispute is over

a revised contract, which would reduce the numbdr

of hours classed as unsociable and Junior doctors are the backbone

of the NHS and it is highly regrettabld that

their union has let them down by refusing to negotiate a new contract

that will be better for doctors safer for patients and the truly

seven-day services we all w`nt. The person who has let

the junior doctors down is none Does he recognise how insulting it

is to those doctors to implx first of all that they are not already

working seven days and cruchally will he listen to the professionals,

both the junior doctors and their senior counterparts who support

them, and drop his threat of imposing the contract

so meaningful talks can takd place? What exactly would she say to her

constituents who are not getting the standard of care they need to get

seven days a week and is shd going to stand side-by-side with them or

with a union that has misrepresented We have been very clear,

there are no preconditions to any talks except that, if we fahl to

make progress on the crucial issue of seven-day reform, then

of course we reserve the right to I am deeply concerned about the

impact on patient care of the three days of proposed industrial action

including two days of full walk out. Would the Secretary

of State set out what advanced preperations are taking place to

ensure patient safety and also could he reassure the House that there are

no preconditions that can act as barriers that

the BMA have to agree to We are willing to talk

about absolutely everything and I would say how strongly I agree with

her that it is going to be a very difficult to avoid h`rm to

patients during these three days Something like delaying a c`ncer

clinic which might mean somdone gets a later diagnosis, delaying a hip

operation when someone is in a great deal of pain, these are things that

will be very hard to avoid `n impact on patients and I would urgd the BMA

to listen to the royal colldges Now, in 1970, it came down

from 21 to 18. Plenty of people were shockdd

at the idea of giving the rhght to 45 years on, the same argumdnts are

being made, this time over whether the voting age should fall

by another two years to 16. In the Scottish independencd

referendum, young people agdd 1 and 17 were allowed to vote

and played a large part in one reason why

the Lords recently backed the idea of 16 and 17-year-olds being given

the vote for local elections. So the issue came back to

the Commons. I think it is undeniable th`t there

is a debate There are views on both sidds

of the argument. It is the view

of nearly all honourable melbers that we would like to see greater

participation and involvement Whether this is the right w`y

of going about it, I think that is rather less clearly

agreed across the House and indeed it is an area in which I

have serious reservations. The 16-year-olds that I know and

speak to are keen on the idda of greater political involvement and,

we keep going back to the Scottish referendum, but it was amazhng to

see so many young people taking part It was a once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity for them. It was something that was

going to affect them. I do feel that we have 16-ydar-olds

who are engaged in the political process and yet we

deliberately exclude them from it. My election campaign,

I spoke to hundreds of young people that not only were enthused by the

political process but also `ctively Does she agree with me that it's

an absolute myth that young people are not interested in polithcs,

not capable of holding publhc office and not capable of voting

and does she agree with me that .. The leader of the Scottish

Conservatives Ruth Davidson has said, I am happy to hold my hands

up and say I've changed my lind I'm a fully paid-up member

of the votes for 16 club now I thought some of the 16

and 17-year-olds were fantastic I cannot tell you the number of

hustings and public meetings I went to and some younger members of the

audience were the most informed That tells you everything

about how young people ought to be engaged and why they need to be

engaged in this way. Ruth Davidson has changed hdr view

on votes for 16 but she comds to the conclusion that it ought to be

done for all elections I think it does a disservicd to this

important reform not to givd it Would the honourable member accept

that, in the absence of any other bill or strategy or

proposal for bringing about votes at 16 and 17, that this is the best we

can do in the meantime and we should I do think we run a risk

of creating a patchwork and I don't feel particularly

comfortable that 16-year-olds in one part of the country can do

something that 16-year-olds in other I'm not comfortable with

the inconsistency there. I would prefer us to take this

debate in the round and, as I say, And, at the end of that deb`te,

MPs voted to reject the verdict of the Lords, keeping the voting age at

18 in all elections for the moment. Questions continue to be asked

in Parliament about the collapse Set up to help deprived youngsters

in Britain's inner-cities, Kids Company, together with

its distinctive founder Camhla Batmanghelidjh, initially enjoyed

much favourable support frol the But it folded in the summer

amid a row about funding. When a former Deputy Childrdn's

Commissioner came before a committee of MPs, she was asked for hdr views

of how Camila Batmanghelidjh had run My perspective was

and the impression I came away with was that she was very much

in control of what went on. The ethos, the way in

which things were run, the general It was very much my view th`t this

was an organisation with Maybe you should have gone to

the government and said, thdre is It didn't occur to me at thd time,

it occurred to me subsequent to that, and I thought about why it

didn't occur to me at the thme and I go back to the issue that w`s raised

about, in a sense, the powerful alliances that the Chief Exdcutive

of Kids Company had and, I'l a fairly robust and resilient person

and I was in a prominent position, and I acknowledge that, even for me,

it would have been very challenging to have gone to Number 10 and said,

I am concerned, because to take a stand against somebody who was

constantly telling you about celebrities or relationships

with people in the very highest Not in her presence,

I'm fairly robust, but in tdrms Yes,

it gave me great pause for thought. My concern was that

the money was not being well spent but I was acutely aware that she

occupied a very powerful position and it would be difficult to make

those kinds of representations. Quite frankly,

I don't think my voice would have Until then, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye.