Results 1-20 of 2,954 for speaker:David Curry

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): Schedule 7 — Repeals (13 Oct 2009) has video

David Curry: The Bill faces in absolutely the wrong direction. The core of the Bill is to give more powers to the regional development agencies, which are unaccountable bodies. It sets up leaders panels, heavily chaperoned by the Secretary of State, as was said in Committee, to manage the consultation process. The situation should be exactly the other way round—those powers should go to local...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 2 — Parish polls (13 Oct 2009) has video

David Curry: The proposal from the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) does not require any single council to return to a committee system. It merely gives councils a choice. If the Minister is right and the trend is in the opposite direction, what harm would be done by the hon. Gentleman's measure? He would be proved wrong and the Minister would be proved right. This is not about prescription;...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 2 — Parish polls (13 Oct 2009) has video

David Curry: The hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins) should be thankful for small mercies: at least the freemen of the city of Newcastle are not dependent on the Rural Payments Agency to support the cattle grazing on the common. If he had ever dealt with the paperwork necessary to sort out such payments, he would settle for what he has. I note that his football team is top of the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Care and Support (Reform) (14 Jul 2009)

David Curry: Care of the elderly is sometimes the hidden and often the unrecognised industry in my constituency and hundreds of others, but it cannot be delivered without a vigorous private care home sector. Will the Secretary of State recognise that the Government have their role to play in ensuring that they do not load costs on to that sector—for example, through the minimum wage or holiday...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 21 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: The mastodons done good!

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 16 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I am leaving voluntarily, I assure you.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 16 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: It is possible for both parties to be right in an argument. The right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich makes a good point in saying that we need to drive up standards. It is also the case that many of us will know extremely good councillors who have been subject to what are quite frankly malicious complaints and have had cases drag on for months, destabilising their work and causing...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: New Clause 2 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: My hon. Friend will recall that referendums have been held with built-in criteria on turnout. Those failed. If one does not have criteria, one could have a referendum, but not a legitimate outcome.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 146 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: This is an historic moment; I think an amendment is actually going to be accepted. Perhaps we ought to have a hallelujah chorus at this stage in the proceedings. However, I am intrigued by the amendment, which would delete a subsection that states: “Nothing in this Act shall impose any charge on the people or on public funds, or vary the amount or incidence of or otherwise alter any such...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 146 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: We learn something every day, Mr. Illsley.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 121 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: On a point of order, Mr. Amess. I just wish to point out that neither Whip was present in the room until very recently and that we have made astonishing progress in their absence. Perhaps the Government Whip might consider withdrawing to facilitate our continued progress.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 121 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I am afraid that I am going to start to sound like an old Stalinist—

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 121 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: Perhaps I used to be a young Stalinist. In terms of aspiration, what the Liberal Democrats are doing is remarkable. In terms of practicality, I do not think a great deal of it. Frankly, multi-area agreements are often brokered by Government offices, which play a huge part in their development. The powers of the Secretary of State often give a sort of back-stop to the agreements for local...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 119 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I do not know whether it is the case in the hon. Gentleman’s part of the world, but in my part of the world a significant number of the elected members of the bigger parish councils also sit on the district council or even the county council.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 85 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I am delighted that we have all arrived in good order, at the right time and in the right place. Some of our constituents would no doubt find that a signal achievement. We are now coming to provisions in the Bill that are, on the whole, helpful and sensible. The measures envisaged are not compulsory for local authorities, and their design is significantly left to those authorities, so we are...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 85 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: There is just one point of detail that I would like clarified. I read carefully the policy document on the options for sub-regional co-operation, which is pretty clear. The only area about which I had some doubt was that although the local authorities concerned have got to apply to join, non-unitary district councils do not have to subscribe, and I got the impression that they could be...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 85 (18 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I merely observe that when their lordships come from local government, by and large they come almost exclusively from the upper tier.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: Clause 73 (16 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I am slightly puzzled because I recall a group of amendments that the Liberal Democrats tabled that sought to replace the word “must” with the word “may”, and amendment 116 seeks to replace the word “may” with the word “must”. I am confused about where we are heading.

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: None - Clause 72 (16 Jun 2009)

David Curry: I get slightly squeamish when I see the words “parish councils”. Some parish councils cover cities of 15,000 people. The town councils of Ripon and  Skipton are both parish councils in constitutional terms. The village of 300 people in which I live has a parish council. I had better not say what I think of it, but I would not entrust it with cutting the grass along the river. I...

Public Bill Committee: Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]: None - Clause 72 (16 Jun 2009)

David Curry: Following the hon. Gentleman’s point about the lowest level of democracy, is he aware of the lengths to which parish councillors go to ensure that they do not have to have an election because doing so costs money? Little village parish councils go to huge lengths to ensure that the number of people standing corresponds exactly to the number of vacancies. The idea of having an election is...