Browse content similar to 20/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello and welcome to Tuesday in Parliament. | :00:17. | :00:19. | |
Senior MPs quiz Theresa May over whether Parliament will get | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
It is my intention that Parliament had every opportunity to consider | :00:25. | :00:39. | |
these matters and we must ensure we deliver on the vote of the British | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
people which was a vote to leave the European Union. Again was that a yes | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
or no? I gave the answer I gave. Rupert Murdoch's bid for full | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
control of the broadcaster Sky - the former Labour leader wants it | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
to be stopped. This bid shows that the Murdochs | :00:53. | :01:04. | |
have learned nothing and think they can get away with anything. If it | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
was wrong for them to own 100% of sky in 2012 it is wrong today. | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
I reached my breaking point and grabbed her mobile and threw it | :01:13. | :01:22. | |
across the aisle. But first, the lorry attack | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
in Berlin was on the minds of Mps as they met for the last sitting day | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
before the Commons 12 people were killed and 48 injured | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
when a lorry ploughed into a Christmas market | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
in the German capital. The German police are calling it | :01:34. | :01:35. | |
"a probable terrorist attack". In the Commons - before the day's | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
business got underway - the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt | :01:40. | :01:41. | |
was the first to speak As we wish each other | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
a Merry Christmas, the whole House will this | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
morning remember the people of Berlin as they face up | :01:52. | :01:53. | |
to yesterday's horrific Germany and its capital, Berlin, | :01:54. | :01:55. | |
have been beacons of freedom All our thoughts and prayers | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
are with them today. I would just like to take a moment | :02:02. | :02:13. | |
to reflect on the appalling news that came in from Berlin | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
and Ankara yesterday. And we have seen very vivid images | :02:21. | :02:22. | |
in our newspapers and television and I think they have shocked us | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
all and I just wanted to express our condolences and I'm | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
sure the condolences of all of us It was Theresa May's | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
first appearance in front of the Liaison Committee - | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
which is made up of the chairmen No surprises that the main subject | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
up for discussion was Brexit. Among other things, they wanted | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
to know if MPs would be given a vote on the final deal | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
with the European Union. Is it your intention to ensure that | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
Parliament has a vote on the final The parliament is going to have | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
every opportunity to vote through the Great Repeal Bill | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
on the various aspects of the relationship that we will be | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
having with the European Union. The question is when the final deal | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
is negotiated with the 27, is it your intention to ensure that | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
Parliament has a chance to vote It is my intention to ensure that | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
Parliament has ample opportunity to comment on and discuss | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
the aspects of the arrangements I'm not sure I understand why | :03:24. | :03:25. | |
it is so difficult to answer a question as to whether Parliament | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
will have a vote or not, given that we know the European Parliament | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
will have a vote on the deal, why can't you say that the British | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
Parliament will also have a vote? What I am saying is that there | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
will be an opportunity for Parliament of course to consider | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
and as more details do become available, how this | :03:46. | :03:47. | |
is going to operate. There is a question | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
about the timetable in relation to the agreement of the deal | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
and the necessity, how that timetable will operate in relation | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
to the European Parliament as well. What I am also clear | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
about is ensuring that when we come to the point we are actually | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
delivering on the vote of the British people, | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
that we will be leaving The Prime Minister was unchallenged | :04:12. | :04:24. | |
over whether she would use Brexit to reduce immigration. | :04:25. | :04:26. | |
If you are to stand any chance of meeting your net migration | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
target, you would have to get EU net migration down to what, 50,000? | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
We will be putting into place the immigration arrangements | :04:33. | :04:34. | |
for people coming from within the European Union that we believe | :04:35. | :04:37. | |
are in the interests of the United Kingdom. | :04:38. | :04:39. | |
So does that mean that if you conclude that it is not in | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
the interests of the United Kingdom to get net migration | :04:43. | :04:44. | |
from the EU down to 50,000, you will ditch the net migration | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
target, or would you give the net migration target priority over | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
what is in Britain's best interests in the negotiations? | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
This government will retain its intention | :04:58. | :04:59. | |
We set out very clearly for some time now that we believe | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
it is sustainable levels and sustainable levels | :05:08. | :05:08. | |
And we do that for very good reasons, because of the impact | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
that we believe immigration does have, that research has shown it | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
does have on people, particularly those at the lower end | :05:21. | :05:22. | |
I understand the reasons behind it, I understand the reason. | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
The question is what is your objective going forward? | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
You have a net migration target to get below the tens of thousands. | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
I'm asking you whether you are planning to meet that net migration | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
target through the Brexit negotiations and if so, | :05:39. | :05:40. | |
what are you aiming for on net EU migration? | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
If you've got to get it down from 189,000 | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
to at least below 100,000, who do you want not to come? | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
and I have been clear about the Brexit negotiations. | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
The vote on the 23rd of June from people was that they wanted us | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
to have control of immigration, to put in place controls | :06:04. | :06:05. | |
on immigration for people coming from the European union. | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
We also want to ensure we get the best possible deal | :06:09. | :06:10. | |
for trading with and operating within the European Union. | :06:11. | :06:19. | |
One MP was not sure she had given a clear answer on giving Parliament | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
vote. Is it your intention that Parliament | :06:24. | :06:25. | |
should vote on a final deal once it's been negotiated, | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
this was a question And what I have said | :06:29. | :06:29. | |
is it is my intention that Parliament should have every | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
opportunity to consider What I'm also clear | :06:36. | :06:37. | |
about is to ensure that we actually deliver on the vote of the British | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
people which was about to leave OK, I'll leave you | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
to decide that one. And questions on another pressing | :06:44. | :06:56. | |
issue, social care. There is now around 1 million people | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
who should be entitled to social care who are not receiving it, | :07:01. | :07:02. | |
putting great pressure The reason, real-term spending | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
on social care fell by 9% To use the form of words | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
with which you might be familiar, do you agree that for social care, | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
crisis means crisis? As I have said, previously, | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
I accept that there are That is why the government has made | :07:21. | :07:22. | |
available the opportunity for local authorities, | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
as was set out in the local government finance settlement last | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
week, the opportunity for extra money to be available to be | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
spent on social care. But there is also a question | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
not just about those short-term pressures, | :07:39. | :07:40. | |
but in the medium term, ensuring that we are seeing delivery | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
and best practice being introduced in terms of delivery of social | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
care across the country. You talk about fewer people | :07:52. | :07:53. | |
being able to access social care. Actually there are many local | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
authorities around the country where we are now seeing more people | :07:58. | :07:59. | |
accessing social care. Clive Betts told her | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
he would be very interested Four years ago Rupert Murdoch failed | :08:04. | :08:05. | |
in his ambition to take full control He abandoned his plan | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
because of the public outcry over phone-hacking at one | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
of his newspapers, But now Mr Murdoch is having another | :08:17. | :08:17. | |
go at taking 100% ownership of Sky, There has been no formal | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
notification of the takeover bid. When that happens, | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
the Culture Secretary Karen Bradley will have ten days to decide | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
whether to refer the proposal to Karen Bradley told MPs that | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
because of her "quasi-judicial" role she would not be able | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
to comment further. But Ed Miliband - | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
who's been very critical of Rupert Murdoch before - | :08:46. | :08:47. | |
told the Commons it We're going into recess | :08:48. | :08:49. | |
until January ninth. And the bid may be notified | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
to government at any time. And it is very important, | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
Mr Speaker, that the House understands the reality that in even | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
launching this bid for 100% of Sky, the Murdochs are seeking to turn | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
the judgment of this House, the regulator and indeed | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
the country, on its head. In 2011 this House unanimously urged | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
the withdrawal of the bid In 2012 Ofcom published a damning | :09:14. | :09:15. | |
assessment of James Murdoch's behaviour in the running of News | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
International. Mr Speaker, that report only stopped | :09:23. | :09:24. | |
short of declaring Sky as unfit and improper to hold a licence | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
on the basis that the Murdochs were And James Murdoch was no longer | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
playing an executive role at Sky. Today, James Murdoch is back | :09:32. | :09:41. | |
as chairman of Sky and chief This bid shows the Murdochs have | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
learnt nothing and think they can If it was wrong for the Murdochs | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
to own 100% of Sky in 2011 I do not for one second | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
underestimate the huge public and parliamentary interest | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
in this proposed merger. As well as the importance of this | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
issue to the parties concerned. But the important thing | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
is that I must ensure, given my quasi-judicial role, | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
that I protect the integrity of the process and ensure that | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
as and when, if the formal notification is given, | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
that that is properly considered. I will be making no further | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
comments on the merit While there may well be a case | :10:29. | :10:30. | |
for asking the regulator to look at this bid, | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
will she also recognise that this represents a ?12 billion investment | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
into a British company and is a vote of confidence that Britain | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
will remain a centre of international broadcasting | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
after Britain leaves I know Christmas is a time for TV | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
repeats, but this one was not hit the first time around and it is no | :10:50. | :10:59. | |
more popular now. Mr Speaker, last week | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
the Minister of State told the House categorically | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
that the Prime Minister had not discussed this bid in her recent | :11:08. | :11:09. | |
New York meeting with Rupert Will the Secretary of State | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
repeat that assurance? How does she know, can she tell | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
us what was discussed? Because after all, Leveson | :11:16. | :11:17. | |
recommended that those Yesterday, Mr Speaker, | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
Rupert Murdoch wrote I have made it a principal | :11:20. | :11:27. | |
or my life never to ask for anything We will just pause to take that | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
in a moment, Mr Speaker. You will recall John Major's | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
testimony to the Leveson Inquiry in which he recalled Rupert Murdoch | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
asking him to change his And warning that, if we couldn't | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
change our European policies, his papers could not and would not | :11:50. | :11:59. | |
support the Conservative government. Does the Secretary of State | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
believe Rupert Murdoch, or the former Conservative Prime | :12:03. | :12:04. | |
Minister? He has asked specifically | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
about the meeting that the Prime She had a prearranged meeting | :12:08. | :12:09. | |
with Wall Street Journal editors. Mr Murdoch dropped into that meeting | :12:10. | :12:17. | |
and I can assure him that the proposed takeover | :12:18. | :12:19. | |
was not discussed. I'm not entirely sure that a company | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
controlled by Rupert Murdoch trying to buy another company largely | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
controlled by Rupert Murdoch is of the great public interest | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
that the Secretary of State seems This really is all about the party | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
opposite not liking Rupert Murdoch. If this was Richard Branson | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
in the same situation, they wouldn't be saying | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
a word about it. A substantial number | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
of my constituents have contacted me over the last week | :12:51. | :12:52. | |
regarding this bid. And they are all of the same | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
opinion, but Mr Murdoch has too much Many would like to see his bid | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
being referred to Ofcom Karen Bradley apologised, | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
saying she could not make comment on the process or the merits | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
of the bid. You're watching Tuesday | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
in Parliament, with me, The Foreign Affairs Committee | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
is investigating the UK's With events in Ukraine and Syria - | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
as well as Russia's engagement in cyber-warfare - | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
there's much to discuss. But at the start of the session, | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
the Europe Minister, Sir Alan Duncan, gave his reaction | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
to the murder of Russia's With fully condemn this, it is a | :13:34. | :13:47. | |
heinous attack and you can be assured the Foreign Office in the | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
proper way has been in contact with our Turkish and Russian counterparts | :13:53. | :13:53. | |
to express our condolences. The committee moved | :13:54. | :13:55. | |
on to Russia's interference There's a strong suggestion being | :13:56. | :14:07. | |
investigated by the CIA that the US election was interfered with by | :14:08. | :14:21. | |
Russia. And for example today the bar a memorandum of agreement signed | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
by the President Putin party with an Austrian party. There is an | :14:29. | :14:37. | |
undermining here of the values of liberal open-minded Western models | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
whether in the US or the European Union. And Russia is pursuing | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
asymmetric warfare to undermine solidarity of Nato and the European | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
Union. I think there is no doubt that using modern technology, they | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
are interfering in many parts of the world. We saw that in Montenegro as | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
well weather was a serious interference. Undeniably I think | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
Russian inspired in the democratic process in Montenegro. Quite what | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
the effect was, what exactly they did in the United States, it is | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
unclear. But I think there is no doubt and we have got to accept that | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
as a fact, that cyber warfare is now a part of modern life and the | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
Russians are using it as best they can in the political dimension. Not | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
just in the commercial one but there is political interference. We had | :15:36. | :15:43. | |
our difficulties with Alexander Litvinenko, there have been | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
impediments and also issues which we feel strongly about such as Ukraine | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
and subsequently Aleppo. We need to balance the respect they deserve | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
with firm talk about the things on which we thoroughly, of which we | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
thoroughly disapprove. So I hope that the balance of language and | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
action is finding its feet perhaps more than it has done in the past | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
and our attitude and it is in the paper I gave the committee, is one | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
of very firm views were we think they are behaving improperly such as | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
challenging other countries with their territorial integrity and | :16:22. | :16:23. | |
showing them the proper respect which are great nation is due. That | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
is the balance that perhaps we could strike better but that is the | :16:29. | :16:29. | |
balance we have got to strike. Labour's Ann Clwyd described | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
a meeting between the committee and the Russian ambassador to London | :16:34. | :16:35. | |
when the bombardment He was asked about the bombing of | :16:36. | :16:46. | |
hospitals and his answer to that was that there are no hospitals in | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
Aleppo. So we asked him, what are they then? You said they were | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
jihadists training camps. Now, how do you develop a dialogue when | :16:58. | :17:09. | |
people are dealing with so-called fair facts as opposed to our facts? | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
Yes, I like to think we and our politics live in a rational world | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
and we value the truth and one of the things that we set store by is | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
knowing when someone is not telling the truth. In this conflict, there | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
are clear and obvious occasions when people are not telling the truth and | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
saying black is white when it isn't. I think with the issue of Aleppo, | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
there are many such examples and they are very distressing. That is | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
where we have two show the courage and leadership to have clear views | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
and point out truth from fiction, and stand our ground. That, I hope, | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
is what the UK is doing. And we are having to do so, let's be absolutely | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
frank, with Russia in a number of areas. Aleppo and the Ukraine are | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
two examples. We will not be pushed around and told what we believe to | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
be the truth is not. We will advertise the truth and make it | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
clear. That is what we will do and that is one of our main weapons of | :18:15. | :18:16. | |
diplomacy. The Europe Minister, | :18:17. | :18:18. | |
Sir Alan Duncan. The government has admitted | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
that there are serious problems in the way the leasehold system | :18:22. | :18:23. | |
works in England and Wales. Conservative and Labour MPs | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
told the Commons some of their constituents had seen | :18:27. | :18:28. | |
ground rent charges rocket - in some cases to levels where their | :18:29. | :18:30. | |
houses became unsellable. What we are discussing today is | :18:31. | :18:41. | |
nothing short of a national scandal. It is the PPI of the house-building | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
industry. Every now and then, a sharp practice comes to light which | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
is totally unconscionable and which every reasonable person looking at | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
it would say, we cannot allow this to continue. Parliament must act. | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
This is one such occasion. The practice that has developed is to | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
sell new homes on a long-term lease with a misleading low grounds learnt | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
rent and buyout price. This practice has become, in my constituency over | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
the last few years and contrary to what is asserted by some developers, | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
it is not a tradition in my constituency. It now seems to be | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
part of the business model for a great many developers. It's a very | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
clever way of selling more units, dropping the asking price a little | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
to reflect the fact it is a leasehold but failed to make it | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
clear that in the long run, the homeowner will pay far, far more | :19:34. | :19:36. | |
than they would have done if the property had been freehold. My | :19:37. | :19:45. | |
calculation as if a ?250,000 house with a ground rent the doubles | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
over... Over 60 years, the successive leaseholders will have | :19:52. | :19:59. | |
paid.... That's in the first 60 years of release. Sadly, there are | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
too many bullies, cowboys and crooks and for the government to feel | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
comfortable with the legislation as it stands is unacceptable. We need | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
not only better regulation, we need not only better protection and | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
advice, we need legislation. There are millions of citizens out there | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
looking to their politicians, of whichever party, to remedy their | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
distress. With my right honourable friend agree that many people | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
entering these are the souls are entirely unaware that the landlords | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
have the power to make huge increases in ground rents and that | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
if this practice is deemed acceptable, at the very least, | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
tenants going into these agreements should have very clear information | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
about what the landlords can do, what their rights are and how they | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
can challenge them? When one has worked hard to save up to buy a | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
home, budgeted to be able to pay the costs needed to service any loan and | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
the other costs one reasonably accepts -- expects, when should then | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
expect security. For hard-working people, those who are doing the | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
right thing by investing their hard earned cash into buying a home, are | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
being ripped off, left right and centre. The government must act | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
urgently to stop this gross explication of hard-working | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
homeowners who are finding they cannot sell their homes. It seems to | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
me and to the Secretary of State to be one of those cases where there is | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
a gulf between the letter of the law and our sense of what is right. Some | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
of the cases we've seen in the media is heard about in today's debate | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
have highlighted some truly appalling behaviour. The secretary | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
of State and I have been looking closely at the issues raised in | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
recent weeks and I can tell the house that we are both absolutely | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
determined to stamp out unfair, unjust and unacceptable abuse of the | :21:52. | :21:52. | |
leasehold system. To the House of Lords now | :21:53. | :21:54. | |
where the day started The Leader of Lords, Lord Fowler, | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
announced a new inquiry into ways of reducing the size of the upper | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
chamber. On December five, the house debated | :22:02. | :22:11. | |
a motion on the size of the house. The motion sought agreement that the | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
house believes that its size should be reduced and methods should be | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
explored by which this could be achieved. 61 members spoke during | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
the debate and the motion was carried unanimously. If each of many | :22:26. | :22:28. | |
of the speeches that day was that we should not delay in such an | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
examination. Accordingly, and setting up a 6-member Lord's | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
speakers committee drawn entirely from the backbenches to examine the | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
possible methods by which the house could be reduced in size. I'm | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
pleased to announce that Lord Burns has agreed to chair the committee. | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
Other members of the committee will be Lord Spieth, Baroness Browning, | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
Baroness Crawley, Baroness Taylor of Bolton and Lord Wakeham. The | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
committee would get to work as soon as the house resumes after the | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
Christmas recess. I would just add that this is not an easy task but | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
hopefully, if this issue can be settled, the public will be better | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
able to recognise the true value of this size. | :23:14. | :23:14. | |
One of the roles that the Lords takes very seriously is debating | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
They're the means by which the Government can amend the law | :23:18. | :23:20. | |
Peers have been discussing a measure to increase the number of penalty | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
points imposed when a driver is caught using a mobile phone. | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
One peer said using a mobile phone was a "breach of good manners" | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
If the house will just indulge me, I will give my own experience with my | :23:33. | :23:45. | |
god daughter aged 21, who I took with her parents to the theatre in | :23:46. | :23:54. | |
Paris actually. Just about that time, it was a well-known singer in | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
France he was giving us an evening, and just as the star came on and the | :23:59. | :24:05. | |
lights went down, I'd goddaughter saw fit to send a text to somebody | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
which created a light on the machine. I quickly reminded her, you | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
may upset a few people here with a light, please put it off. She | :24:16. | :24:24. | |
ignored me and went on doing it. Despite his requests, she continued | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
using the phone. I reached my breaking point so I grabbed my bow | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
bile and I threw it into the audience, across the aisle. I saw it | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
bouncing off the head of maybe a Frenchman but it could have been | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
anyone, back into the aisle. She was totally astonished by my behaviour | :24:43. | :24:51. | |
and her aunt, who was also with us, said well done, well done. I've been | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
longing to do that for a long time. I can tell the noble Lords that my | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
god daughter the other day who is now 25, she was 21 at the time, | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
said, because I remarked she'd had a mobile with her, I said is that the | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
same one I threw into the audience? She said, yes it is, actually. That | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
was a salutary lesson. I've never forgotten it. | :25:15. | :25:16. | |
Lord Falkland on throwing mobile phones and the need | :25:17. | :25:18. | |
Well that's it from Tuesday in Parliament. | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
The Lords is sitting for one more day but the Commons has broken up | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
Although there won't be a daily round-up until the New Year it's | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
only good manners to point out that Alicia McCarthy will be | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
here on Wednesday night with a review of the last few months | :25:32. | :25:34. | |
But from me, Kristiina Cooper, it's goodbye - for now - | :25:35. | :25:39. |