Clause 15
Welfare Reform Bill
11:00 am
Jim Murphy (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
I am delighted to see you in your place again on this warm and sunny morning, Mr. Amess. The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey has already alluded to the weather; we seem to have a running commentary on London’s weather in this Committee. I am comfortable with that. If he ever wishes to move away from carrying the burden single-handedly of his whole party in this Committee, he may apply for the job of BBC weatherman. I note that on Thursday morning when talking about looking forward to going home to Inverness he said:
“I will be confronting storms, snow, ice and all sorts of other things when I return to my constituency this evening”—[Official Report, Standing Committee A, 26 October 2006; c. 233.]
Anyone who lives in the northern part of this kingdom and saw the TV coverage over the weekend will know that that was an understatement.
It is a bright and happy morning for another reason. The Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire), has reason to celebrate because she became a grandmother for the first time over the weekend. She is a very young grandmother to a baby girl called Orla. I congratulate her on that fantastic news.