14/06/2016 Tuesday in Parliament

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

of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

The row over allegations of anti-semitism in the Labour

party spills over into a Westminster committee.

It is no good giggling away. Describing me as a Nazi apologist is

a lie. An MP who was at the trouble-hit

England-Russia football match in Marseille speaks

about what he saw. There was a co-ordinated and violent

assault on the English fans by their Russians who were there.

And in that other European contest, peers wonder what a British exit

The Spanish Foreign Minister has said although he would like the UK

to stay in the EU in the event of Brexit he would close the frontier

with Gibraltar. It was back in April

that Labour suspended Ken Livingstone for bringing

the party into disrepute. MPs accused the former London Mayor

of anti-semitism and making comments At the time Ken Livingstone

was trying to defend the Bradford MP Naz Shah who'd been

suspended from Labour. The events followed months

of allegations about apparent rising anti-semitism among Labour party

members, following Jeremy Corbyn's Mr Livingstone has faced

the questions of the Commons Home I have read your pleading that

you helpfully provided It is two and a half

pages closely typed. It has 25 paragraphs and in that

you treat us to the views of a professor, a High Court judge,

President Obama, and you talk Nowhere in this document

is there an apology for causing I give you this opportunity now,

Mr Livingstone, will you apologise? If I had said something

that was untrue and caused What caused offence was a group

of embittered old Blairite MPs running around lying

about what I had said. Describing me as a Nazi

apologist is a lie. Mr Livingstone, it would be better

if we keep personalities out of this and just concentrate

on the questions that Anyone who has been upset

by what I say, I am sorry, Literally, Hitler

supported Zionism. One of my interviews I said

if anyone can prove what I said isn't true I'll take him out

to the best dinner of their lives. Oddly enough no one

has come up with that. Can any of you demonstrate

what I said isn't true? I came into politics

to tell the truth. It may be that nobody wants to have

dinner with you, Mr Livingstone. Your persistent and absolute refusal

to apologise for offence you caused to Jewish people compounds

the initial offence that Let's be absolutely

clear about this. I couldn't move, this last few

months, I can't get down the street without people

stopping me and saying, we I know what you said

is true, don't give in. Of course, a lot of Jewish people

are offended, because they They have been told that

I was a Nazi apologist. What appals me is that a handful

of Labour MPs used this issue, deliberately lied about what I had

said and smeared me because they were trying

to undermine the leader You did help reduce inequality,

you did improve the housing situation in our capital city,

but you are not a historian, And by needlessly and repeatedly

offending Jewish people in this way you have not only

betrayed our Labour values, but you have betrayed your legacy

as Mayor because all you are now going to be remembered

for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice

that our party was built That is a huge shame

and it is an embarrassment. You know what, I will get trolled

incessantly after this exchange. Please put your question

if you are putting it. This is not an opportunity

to issue statements. I am just making a comment

since he won't answer All I would say is if you would look

back at any of the things I have said that have been controversial -

when I defended lesbian and gay When we said we needed to negotiate

with the IRA we were denounced. Simple fact is show me what I got

wrong in those times. I was just prepared to challenge

the bigotry of the day. I am prepared to

challenge bigotry today. I challenge your

bigotry too. The Euro 2016 football

tournament has got off to a less than happy start,

with violent clashes between rival supporters,

most notably English and Russian, The Football governing body Uefa

says Russia will be removed from the tournament if their fans

cause further trouble. Their battle with England supporters

marred the end of the game between the two countries

in Marseilles on Saturday. Attention now focuses to the next

sequence of games, involving England and Russia,

in the towns of Lille and Lens. In the Commons, the Shadow Home

Secretary asked an urgent question. Will the Government today contact

Uefa to reinforce the FA Will she ask them to investigate

claims that Russian ultras have links to the official

Russian delegation? On policing it would appear

that some of the tactics were heavy-handed and indiscriminate

use of tear gas added We accept the sensitivity

of policing but will there be any discussion with the French

authorities about The police are meeting, I think

they are still meeting as we speak, to look at the extra action that

will be taken around Lille and Lens. My understanding is that there

is an expectation that there will be a greater police presence

in relation to the stadium, both security outside the stadium

and inside the stadium. The right honourable gentleman asked

how many police we have We don't talk about numbers

for operational reasons. In fact whatever the French have

asked for we are willing As I said that goes both for police

and for British Transport Police. I was at the match on the Saturday

in Marseilles and the scenes that we saw in the stadium

we thought we had left They were appalling

and there was a co-ordinated, violent assault on England fans

by the Russian fans that were there. It is very clear that the French

police were entirely focused on preventing terrorism and had no

real strategy in terms By taking on responsibility

for running this tournament they have a responsibility

to keep fans safe. In the 1970s we had a serious

problem with football We managed to address it and now

the Tartan Army wins awards for their good behaviour

and their charitable work. Scotland may not have

a world-class... Scotland might not have

a world-class football team yet but we do have world-class fans

who know how to behave themselves, as it appears do the Welsh

and Northern Irish. Does the Home Secretary

share my the conviction that football, the beautiful game,

can so often be a force for good as most football fans both

here and abroad are actually What will she be doing in the coming

days and months to spread that message and what conversations

will she be having with the FA and others in order to make sure

that those who come in peace are outnumbering and outvoicing

those who come to do violence? As someone who was in Bordeaux over

the weekend will she congratulate the Welsh fans on their fantastic

behaviour because she didn't in her previous question

in this debate? As a season supporter I am

concerned, like the member for Cardiff West, about what is

going to happen in next 48 hours when the Welsh find themselves

in the toxic company of a small minority of Russian

and English football hooligans. The Welsh FA has advised the fans

not to travel to Lens without a ticket and not to stay

in Lille as has the UK Government. Will she call on the English FA

to make a similar statement and to start taking responsibility

for the actions of a small minority I am very happy to join

the honourable gentleman and my right honourable friend

and others in appraising those Welsh fans who behaved perfectly properly

at the opening match Doping in sport has become

so widespread that amateurs are finding it very hard to excel

without medical help. That was the claim made

at a session of the Culture, Media and Sport committee,

which is looking into It heard from an amateur cyclist

Dan Stevens who was banned for 21 months two years ago for refusing

an out-of-competition drugs test. He said he was offered

performance-enhancing drugs by his doctor,

while being treated for What started with an understanding

that it was for a genuine medical And I felt very much that the doctor

was trying to manipulate me into using stronger substances

by telling me that other athletes were using it

and it was common practice. He compared your performance

to other athletes? He compared your performance

to what it could be if you took these

additional substances? Did you notice it had

an effect on you? That was in line with

what was predicted, was it? And he measured performance

improvements or you saw them I train with power so all of my

training files were based on power. And if you train with power

and you are measuring watts, power output in watts,

it is quite easy to see the gains. After being called

for a drugs test, Mr Stevens asked for a meeting

with UK Anti-doping. Providing them with valuable

information would have earned him But he said it wasn't easy

to pass his information on - and when he did, there wasn't

the interest he was expecting. I gave Graham Arthur,

head of legal, copies Human growth hormone,

for EPO, testosterone, that could have been

prescribed in any British And his respons was that is

of little or no use. Mr Stevens decided to approach

the Sunday Times. We decided to send a young athlete

under cover into Dr Bonar's surgery. By then he had moved

to a clinic in Kensington. He had previously had

a clinic on Harley Street, And we gave the athlete

a similar story to Dan, basically he was tired,

not recovering from his training, and it was probably

within about five minutes of the athlete being in there that

Dr Bonar started to talk about the fact that he could offer

performance enhancing drugs, and how he had used them on other athletes,

and there was a risk involved because you might get caught

by the testers but if you use micro doses then you probably wouldn't get

caught as long as you were doing where he believed drugs-cheating

would be taking place. But rather than turning up

unexpectedly, the organisation had tweeted about their intention to be

there a few days before. The chair of UK Anti-Doping said

it was all part of a strategy. We put out a tweet after the lists

had closed for that event. And we see who doesn't turn up

because that is giving us good intelligence as to

who might be doping. Rather than go in and do blind tests

because they are expensive. They have some use but I would far

rather be catching the people What we do is to wait

until the list closes, the tweet goes out that dopers

are likely to be there, and then we look and see

who actually dropped out. But the MPs were unimpressed,

saying there had been a failure You're watching our round-up of the

day in the Commons and the Lords. How would the people of Gibraltar

fare if Britain left the EU? What will be the state of employment

rights if the UK votes to leave Most Labour MPs are fearful that

a British exit could lead to less But the Justice Secretary Michael

Gove, a Leave campaigner, says there's nothing to fear

from an exit. At Question Time Labour's

Shadow Justice Minister Mr Slaughter then squared up

to the Justice Secretary. He is right to recognise human

rights and our membership of the EU are linked. But we think it is a

good thing and he thinks it is bad. Is the choice on Thursday week not

between working with neighbours to strengthen the rule of law and his

recipe for bleak isolation, which has him, in the words of Lord

Heseltine, marching to the drum of Nigel Farage, Donald Trump and Marie

Le Pen? I entirely understand why he makes the case in the way he does

and he does so with great force and fluency as always. One thing I would

say is whatever the decision of the British people on the 23rd of June,

I have confidence in them to make sure workers' rights and human

rights, friendly cooperation and the principle of decency and fair

treatment for all will be preserved come what may. I have ultimate

confidence in the British people and their elected representatives to

defend democracy and safeguard the decent values. I would not for one

moment suggest, not for one moment, that anybody advocating a Remain

vote or Ray Vote Leave vote is anyone other than somebody wanting

to uphold democracy and the rights we have all inherited.

Well, still with the referendum debate, a Commons committee has been

getting the views of business representatives, who are on either

The session first focussed on the pros and cons of the two

possibilities next Thursday, either victory for Leave

What are the costs and benefits to British businesses

I think the huge benefit is membership

of the single market, which they see as a British invention,

they see it is not just eliminating tariffs

across 28 countries, but eliminating rules

and regulations for one set right across goods, partly the

services, and now the prospect of extending it for all services.

It is a big prize which business has been

At the core of it it is about jobs, it is

about lower prices and when you see a company like EasyJet, which

literally says it would not exist if it were not for the membership of

the single market because of open skies,

there is no other area in the

world that has the open skies policy that the European Union has.

That is why they want to be part of it and

When you see a percentage of 75, that is part of

In my time with British Chambers, there was an

export outside the European Union and it was said to me that I believe

the EU less good for the world market

and I want to get rid of the

burden because it has no benefit for me.

One is net contribution, ?10 billion year which

could otherwise be used for stimulating economic growth.

Whether it is actually investing in goods and

services, infrastructure, directly, still

STUDIO: Then he talked about the silent majority.

And there would be a benefit for domestic business in

Traders, tradesmen and so on are facing, edition from

When you have got just over 1 million people with national

insurance numbers who are temporarily here, but operating and

sending money home, trading against a decorator or a plumber it

drives them out of business because they

STUDIO: He said the UK was moving to a low skill and low-wage economy.

We have actually looked at that and we

can't resolve that problem while we are members

of the European Union because we have no control over

The idea of having an Australian points

system, which people know has more migration per head

than we do here, it will just create another regulatory burden for

The MPs heard from exporters. First, those wanting to remain in the EU.

Airbuses in particular, the regular to regroup, we have

worked with a similar set of standards and a single set of

regulations and of the single market is fundamental to how we operate.

We make use of the free movement of labour,

of goods, resources and

capital and intellectual property of ideas.

We have a very integrated business between the Home Nations of

France, Germany, Spain and the UK in particular.

And so that is how we live and breathe.

What do you think it will look like for your business

I am concerned because we will have higher

Do we pass that on to our buyers in Europe or do we

absorb it, hitting us or increase the costs for the buyers

and therefore become less competitive, again hitting the

I am convinced of the net effect is going to be negative.

One person described how the high-tech waste reclamation firm she

was part of lost millions of pounds. The Netherlands interpreted the same

directive to a lower standard and allows their process

to undercut ours. We have just written off

a ?2 million investment in the past We have made nine

skilled jobs redundant. In one hand it drowns us in

regulation and in the other nobody pays any attention to

the regulation apart from us. I beg the question,

what is the point in having the We know there is big

opportunities in But the deals that

exist or do not at the moment, there is round about 80%

duty on products which make us The idea of having a trade

deal with South America, along with many other countries

outside the European Union would be If you want to improve

and reach targets, knock down the Hadrian's Wall

which is protecting inward looking You step out with us

and support us by getting us those trade deals and we

will deliver for you. directly with you rather than having

to collaborate with an anonymous EU For Airbus, a British exit increased

uncertainty. The risk of the

investment not coming here goes up and it is my job

and certainly I look government to help us make the UK

and operation as attractive as possible to attract inward

investment, attract that global capital which is mobile,

which can go anywhere, The EU helps to make UK operations

a more attractive place to invest. Now, what would happen to Britain's

territories overseas, such as Gibraltar and the Falklands,

if the UK left the EU? Since Spain joined the European

Community in 1986, Gibraltarians have had the right

to move freely to Spain. So would the border be closed again

if Britain was no longer in the EU? One of the issues raised

at Lords Question Time. The Falklands representative in

the United Kingdom said leaving the European Union would fuel

Argentinian aggression towards us. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar said

a vote to leave the EU would be There are similar

expressions of support for our membership from the Prime

Ministers of Australia, Canada, Given this, why hasn't

the Government not trumpeted this clear and apparently

unambiguous view by Commonwealth countries and allowed Nigel Farage,

for example, to get away with claiming that he is

a Commonwealth man? The government has noted that

on each occasion when these people how important it is for their

country that the UK remains within the EU, they have

based their views on facts. Would my noble friend agree that

whatever happens on the 23rd of June, the EU

and the Commonwealth are completely different structures

and organisations from each other? The EU is basically a hierarchy

of governments, whereas the Commonwealth is

a network of peoples. Would she agree that probably

the most sensible and clever thing we should try and do in this nation

is ride both horses? I declare my interest as a former

Gibraltar governor. May I ask this, does

she not agree that Gibraltar has gained enormously

from the economic point of view, as have the Spanish from unfettered

access to the single market over

the last few decades? Secondly, would she bear in mind

the current Spanish Foreign Minister has said that

although they would like the United Kingdom to stay in the EU,

in the event of Brexit, close the frontier with Gibraltar

and revive the original proposal to join sovereignty over Gibraltar,

which was overwhelmingly opposed by Can she say in what way

the British government will support Gibraltar

in the event of Brexit? The UK has made a commitment

to defend and support The UK has made a commitment

to defend and support Gibraltar's interest, including

upholding sovereignty. The men and women of

the British Armed Forces have worked tirelessly to do so before

the Referendum and we will But the noble lord

rings a warning bell. Given the EU's uselessness

at signing free trade agreements on our behalf,

would not one obvious advantage of Brexit be that as the world's

fifth biggest economy, we could sign our own

free-trade deals with the Commonwealth and the

markets of the future? How many more jobs would that create

for us and them? Is it not clear that it is in

the interest of Commonwealth countries that they have direct

access to the senior member of the Commonwealth who are

part of the European Union, from a trade body view, from the point

of view of those people from the Commonwealth coming here to work

at it is in the interest of the Commonwealth themselves we remain

part of the European Union? One more day to go before both MPs

and peers leave Westminster for a week's work on the EU

Referendum campaign trail. Some of them campaigning for Leave,

plenty campaigning for Remain. So do join me for the

next daily round-up. Until then, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye.