Results 1-20 of 1,359 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Diane Abbott

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009)

Diane Abbott: I respect the hon. Gentleman and his party's position on no sanctions of any kind. However, is not the case against sanctions for women with children under five that such sanctions affect not only the adult, who is arguably conscious of making their own decisions, but children who are already living on the breadline? Those are the people whom my hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench want to sanction.

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009)

Diane Abbott: I rise to speak in support of Lords amendment 2, but let me first nail the idea, which seems to emanate from my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench, that single mothers as a group do not want to work and that they have to be coerced and threatened into doing so. The majority in my circle of friends are or were single mothers—some had children as early as 15—but they...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009)

Diane Abbott: No. Given the right support and help with child care, the majority of single mothers will go back to work. However, we are talking about a residual group of women who, in practice, go back at the very bottom of the work pyramid, to do jobs that none of us would want to leave our three-year-old children to do. The second point is that the Government's proposal is based on fantasy figures about...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009)

Diane Abbott: Given that the staff working at the sharp end do not want to be involved in mandatory sanctions for women with children up to the age of three, why does my hon. Friend think that Ministers are so wedded to those mandatory sanctions? They have not explained themselves and my hon. Friend might be able to shed some light on this issue.

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

Diane Abbott: Where is he?

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

Diane Abbott: I do not want to sound cynical, but affirmative resolution procedures are invariably not worth the paper that they are written on. By the time the matters in question come back to the House, people have forgotten the details of the original debate and the votes are whipped, so they are worthless undertakings. They should not be allowed to deflect Members from the issue at stake today, which...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

Diane Abbott: My right hon. Friend talks about making things uncomfortable for people who will not do the right thing. Do not most Members find that the real problem is that it is the children of that mother who are made uncomfortable? However feckless or undeserving the mother is in his terms, it is the children who will suffer when he imposes his financial sanctions.

[Ann Winterton in the Chair] — Abortion Law (Northern Ireland) (15 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: Like all hon. Members in this Chamber—I think—I believe that any abortion is a tragedy. However, let me press a point on some of my male colleagues: they talk as though women take abortions lightly and that they do it for social convenience and without thought. I urge my male colleagues to have a little more respect for the women of Northern Ireland. Every woman whom I have known...

[Ann Winterton in the Chair] — Abortion Law (Northern Ireland) (15 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: I am afraid that time is against me. In July last year, I tabled an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 that would have extended the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland. I did not do that because I wanted to override the will of the Assembly. We should bear in mind that that is permissive legislation. If it applied to Northern Ireland, it would not force a single woman there...

[Ann Winterton in the Chair] — Abortion Law (Northern Ireland) (15 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: Is my hon. Friend aware that, in addition to tabling an early-day motion, I tabled an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill on abortion rights in Northern Ireland, in response to which I received hundreds of letters from men and women in Northern Ireland, saying that, on this matter, the four major parties did not represent them and that they looked to the Westminster...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Afghanistan (13 Jul 2009) has video

Diane Abbott: I was in Afghanistan earlier this year and, talking to ordinary soldiers who have been on several tours of duty, I was struck by the fact that they were forming the view that we were losing the battle of hearts and minds, and that we had gone from being seen as a force liberating the Afghan people from the Taliban to being seen as an occupying force. Does the Secretary of State agree that...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: One of the arguments that the Minister made against doing anything about the zones was that to do so would reduce the revenue. I am genuinely committed to taking action on the environment and to green taxes. The Government must make up their mind about whether the measure is designed to reduce carbon emissions or to produce revenue. Leaving aside the broader question on the Caribbean, which...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: On the incentive to use an interconnecting flight rather than a direct one, people going to the Caribbean—I am thinking, in particular, of families and Caribbean diaspora nationals—will find it tempting to break their flight in Miami. The Minister may not be aware that there is a large Caribbean community there. If it could be done more cheaply, it would make perfect sense to...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: Will my hon. Friend give way?

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: My hon. Friend said that the Government rejected the idea of a per-plane tax. We know, because it is on the record, that they considered it very seriously, and my hon. Friend has not explained why they rejected it.

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: The hon. Gentleman may think it is an anomalous system, but a Jamaican nurse who has saved for two years to fly home and finds that she has to pay substantially more in air passenger duty than someone who is flying all the way to Los Angeles would think the system looked pretty arbitrary.

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: I entirely agree. The system that the Government propose does not bear examination. I repeat that the sums may be relatively small for those travelling club class to a top resort on the north coast of Jamaica, but they are large sums for my constituents, who perhaps save for a year or two out of tiny incomes. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Government would want to penalise...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: We have to look at the incomes that people are earning. We are largely talking about people who are in low-paid public sector jobs or other low-paid sectors of the economy, and for them £300 is a lot of money. Having to find £300 extra to see their aunties or grandparents at Christmas or attend a wedding or funeral will cause real pain for families in my constituency, as well as...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: Absolutely. As someone who flies to Jamaica most years, I can tell Ministers that travel agents will recommend, particularly to families visiting relatives, that the cheapest way would be to take a cheap flight to Miami and then take another flight onwards. That will not help with emissions; in fact, it will make things worse. That is another indication that Ministers need to look at the...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Diane Abbott: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that if so-called green taxes are to have public acceptability, they must be clearly based on environmental arguments rather than being crude revenue-raising devices?