Results 1-20 of 1,469 for speaker:Michael Connarty

Business of the House (9 Jul 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: Will the Leader of the House arrange for the Business Secretary to make a statement on the operation of the guidelines on the recently passed amendment to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998? That amendment forbids the use of tips, gratuities, service charges and cover charges to pay the minimum wage. She will know, because I gave her a copy, that it is almost the sixth anniversary of my...

Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland: Lending (Small Businesses) (17 Jun 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: Is my hon. Friend aware that many company owners who come to me complain that the terms and conditions of the enterprise finance guarantee are horrendous, as has been said? Furthermore, they are being asked to put up their family homes as a guarantee for the loans, although they have substantial equity in their own companies. Is it not unacceptable that people should be asked to put forward...

Public Bill Committee: Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Bill: Schedule 1 (17 Jun 2009)

Michael Connarty: I do not wish to delay the Committee, but I am drawing on experiences from when I was representing people in a profession; they had complaints against them, some upheld and some not. I am well aware that the General Teaching Council for Scotland strikes people off and then allows them to reapply. The hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby cited cases of people who had paedophile images on...

Public Bill Committee: Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Bill (17 Jun 2009)

Michael Connarty: The amendments are useful. Having come from the teaching profession, and having held the elected position of president of a region in Scotland, it is clear that, in that profession, there are such things as malicious accusations that can run for a considerable time and disrupt a teacher’s career. What safeguards are there to ensure that the suspension process will not lead to such...

Public Bill Committee: Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Bill (17 Jun 2009)

Michael Connarty: We are all gathered here today to support and pay tribute to the work of the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife in promoting the Bill. I agree with the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby that this is an excellent example of a case that was raised at a local level turning into legislation in Parliament that Members on all sides can support. A instructor or teacher—I spent 14...

Business of the House (11 Jun 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: I am grateful to the Leader of the House for organising a general debate on European affairs. Can she arrange for the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy), who has been working very hard in the European Councils to try to get an amendment on the extension of copyright for recording artists, to be at that debate? Is she aware that a meeting of COREPER takes place today and that the...

Written Answers — Work and Pensions: Pensioners (11 Jun 2009)

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many UK pensioners formerly resident overseas have returned to live in the UK in each of the last five years.

Opposition Day: [Un-alloted half-day] — Dissolution of Parliament (10 Jun 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: It might be useful to look at what the Government did to save the Scottish economy at the same time. More than £60 billion went into saving the two Scottish banks that basically caused the crisis. As Lord Myners said last week in his evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee, we must not forget that the cause of the collapse of the economy lies with the banks, particularly the Scottish...

Opposition Day: [Un-alloted half-day] — Dissolution of Parliament (10 Jun 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: I have heard this a few times. People say that things are going to change and be structurally different, and that we are waiting for it to happen. My understanding is that a document was sent to every single Member saying that the House has decided—led, I believe, by the Prime Minister—that there will be no more allowances for anyone to purchase any furniture, so even Members who...

Opposition Day: [Un-alloted half-day] — Dissolution of Parliament (10 Jun 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (6 May 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: The Prime Minister— [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (6 May 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: I have always recommended that the Prime Minister treats everything from the Opposition as a joke. The Prime Minister will recall meeting me and my hon. Friends the Members for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan) and for East Lothian (Anne Moffat) to hear our arguments against the use of service charges and tips to pay the minimum wage. What are the Government going to do to end...

Written Answers — Scotland: Road Bridge: River Forth (18 Mar 2009)

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Executive on Government funding for the second road bridge over the River Forth.

Industry and Exports (Financial Support) Bill: Use of the Chamber (United Kingdom Youth Parliament) (16 Mar 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: As my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, East (Kerry McCarthy) would tell the hon. Gentleman, most young people know the difference between twitter and twaddle. When they look at some of the contributions to this debate, they will well understand that it is mainly twaddle that we are listening to now. When people are trying to get engaged in politics—whether it be a woman, a person...

Opposition Day — [7th Allotted Day]: European Working Time Directive (10 Mar 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: Apart from mentioning the Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament who voted against the interests that the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid) has set out, may we return to a point made by the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb)? He said that the Royal College of Surgeons should be listened to and that it had a point. However, what it called for was a limit of 65...

Opposition Day — [7th Allotted Day]: European Working Time Directive (10 Mar 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: The hon. Gentleman should be clear, because if he is arguing for a sectoral opt-out, he is arguing for a compulsory 56 hours. He seems now to be arguing against an individual opt-out, but he was previously arguing for a sectoral opt-out.

Opposition Day — [7th Allotted Day]: European Working Time Directive (10 Mar 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: My right hon. Friend well illustrates the fact that the Opposition motion is false and a posture. The intervention of the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne) showed that they do not understand. What would threaten retained firefighters has nothing to do with the opt-out; it is the fact that they are on call, that their on-call time would be counted and that they would therefore have no time...

Opposition Day — [5th Allotted Day]: Royal Mail (11 Feb 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. If he had heard the opening speech by the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke), he would know that the right hon. and learned Gentleman pointed out that although he was a big beast supported by Tarzan, Mrs. Thatcher would not privatise the Post Office because she knew that that would be a death blow—a suicide note—for the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland: Claimant Count (4 Feb 2009) has video

Michael Connarty: As people begin to get worried about the rising claimant count, does my right hon. Friend accept that there are concerns in the oil and gas industry and energy companies such as INEOS, which he visited recently with me? However, those concerns are covered in Scotland by the national agreement for the engineering construction industry, or NAECI—made by the companies and Unite—under...

Written Answers — Scotland: European Social Fund (4 Feb 2009)

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with Scottish Executive Ministers on the use of the European social fund in Scotland.