Results 1-20 of 7,244 for speaker:David Amess

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: The right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) wants speeches that will cheer him up, but I am afraid that I will disappoint him, because my speech will be along similar lines to that of my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood). However, I agree with the right hon. Gentleman about the quality of the mover and seconder of the Loyal Address.

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: In spite of that flattery, I will stick to the original tone of my speech, although I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his forgiveness. Any remarks that I make are not personal remarks about Government Members, whom I regard as splendid people by and large, but will be directed towards the Government, because this Government are absolutely awful. They have somehow managed to redefine the...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: I am not going to pretend to be clever enough to get into a tangle with someone who in another life used to prepare and react to parliamentary questions. I am sure that there is an element of truth in what the hon. Gentleman says, but the role of quangos has grown out of control, to the point where this House is greatly diminished. We have only to look at some of the responses that we get to...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. If I can catch the eye of the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay), I shall reflect on a matter concerning Scotland. It is 32 years this month since the West Lothian question was raised in the House, yet we still have no answer to the problem. Scottish MPs should have no say in exclusively English matters, when English Members of Parliament have...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: I might leave it to the hon. Gentleman to pick that up in his speech. English regional assemblies were a failed attempt to skirt around the problem. All we are left with is a swathe of unelected regional development agencies-in other words, more quangos. We need to address the issues of representation and accountability immediately, to restore power to those who have been elected to make...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: That opens up a huge debate that I would be happy to engage in, but I think that the Minister is wrong in the point that he has just made.

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: As my hon. Friend says, we should put the matter to the country. That is what we want and, if the Minister is right, no doubt a Labour Government will be re-elected. However, I doubt that the British people feel that the Government were not in any way culpable for the depth of the recession. Over the past year, employment among 16 to 24-year olds has fallen by 7.6 per cent. That is more than...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: I certainly will, and I shall lay out very clearly what I think that we should have done when faced with that problem. A total of £1.5 trillion of debt, largely caused by the huge liability of banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, has been added to the public balance sheet. That is a nightmare that whichever party forms the next Government will have to face...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: The procedure in those debates was so confusing that many hon. Members were rather confused about which debate meant that we signed up for the war. Whichever debate it was, I can remember the dossier that was presented, and I was very aware of what was going on in area of the House that we are not supposed to name. The then Prime Minister probably needed some Hansard books so that he could...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

David Amess: Not only do I pay tribute to them, but I am a member of the armed forces parliamentary scheme and in January I hope that some of us will go to Afghanistan to see at first hand what is happening. I absolutely pay tribute to the armed services. I am very disappointed that there is no proposal in the Gracious Speech to look at the criteria for holding public inquiries. The issue that is causing...