Results 1-20 of 2,340 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Nigel Griffiths

Olympics: FOI Request (Immigration) (9 Nov 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: May I welcome the Minister's statement? At a time when visa and entry clearance officers are under criticism, often unfairly, may I ask him to convey to his staff my deep gratitude for their compassionate handling of the case of Kenny Chan in my constituency, whose funeral I am attending tomorrow? His Chinese girlfriend, and main carer, Bo Ji, has been allowed through discretion to come into...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Afghanistan (2 Nov 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: What steps the Government have taken to respond to requests from military commanders for additional troops in Afghanistan made in 2009.

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Afghanistan (2 Nov 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Does that increase mean that the Government are now complying fully with military advice on the correct level of troops to tackle the current tasks in Afghanistan?

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Climate Change (Political Response) (21 Oct 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: I am not a Johnny-come-lately to the environmental cause, having joined Friends of the Earth shortly after it was formed and having campaigned with it throughout the course of three decades. I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister and the Government for giving Friends of the Earth £30,000 to go around Europe to campaign to ensure that in Copenhagen we realise its goals,...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Climate Change (Political Response) (21 Oct 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: No, there is not time. The Liberal Democrats are the party whose policy statements say it wants to see hundreds of new trains and a massive investment in rail, but in Edinburgh it could not find the £38 million last year that consultants recommended in order to reopen the south suburban line stations and to ensure that up to 1.4 million commuting passengers were taken off our roads. The...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Climate Change (Political Response) (21 Oct 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: There is not time, I am afraid.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Climate Change (Political Response) (21 Oct 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: There is not time in four minutes.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Climate Change (Political Response) (21 Oct 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Let me give the hon. Gentleman an example to put in his pipe and smoke. In the western isles, where the principled Labour Member of Parliament Calum MacDonald supported the independent local council's bid to grant a wind farm, and where the Member of the Scottish Parliament, Alasdair Morrison, did the same, it was the hon. Gentleman's party, along with the Scottish National party and the...

Women and Equality: Welfare Reform Bill (27 Jan 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: What the hon. Gentleman fails to see is that there are 100,000 drug addicts who are not on any programmes. Many of them have children. There is no compulsion on them. Their lives are often chaotic, and there is no order that requires them to take responsibility. One of the reasons why people in Edinburgh who work in the field—I will name them if I catch Mr. Deputy Speaker's...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Businesses (Financial Support) (14 Jan 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: When I was the Minister responsible for small businesses, I successfully resisted attempts within Whitehall to wind up the small firms loan guarantee scheme, but I deplore the lack of basic understanding of how the scheme works shown by both Opposition Front-Bench spokespersons today. Will my hon. Friend point out to business and the public that while the extension will be welcome, and will...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (14 Jan 2009) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Will the Prime Minister send best wishes to President-elect Obama for his inauguration next Tuesday, and will he work with him to secure lasting peace in the middle east?

Business of the House (8 Dec 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Unlike the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), I want to proceed quickly and not talk this matter out. I wish to make two brief points. First, if we went straight to the debate now, and even if the Front Benchers took up an hour, there would be time for at least 14 Back-Bench Members to make a contribution and to reflect every shade of opinion in this...

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: The right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) was right to identify a prime source of the crisis that so many economies are suffering as the banks and banking malpractices. As a Member for Edinburgh, which is of course a major banking centre, I am acutely aware not only of the role of the banks, but of the consequences on jobs, general lending and people's lives. As a former...

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Well, he is shaking his head, but he does not seem to want me to give way. His Front-Bench team believes that his account detracts from attacks on the Government for being the source of crisis. That is patently ridiculous—

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Of course.

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: And nor do I believe that the right hon. and learned Gentleman can compare in any way the scale of what has happened in Britain or elsewhere to what has happened with Fannie Mae or Bear Stearns, or to the collapse of Lehman's or the present crisis at Citibank. Those institutions' power and financial clout are bigger than major economies such as the UK's. The Conservatives seem reluctant to...

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: Manufacturing output has of course increased dramatically in the past decade, as we have gone from being a relatively inefficient manufacturing country to a highly efficient one. There has been a marked cut in the numbers of jobs in every major industrial country, but this Government have done more to obviate that than any other Government would, or could, have done.

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: No, as I am afraid that I am constrained for time. I hope, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that my right hon. Friend manages to catch your eye later. I turn now to the national debt. Again, at 42.5 per cent., it was higher under the Conservatives, as was pointed out in the earlier helpful intervention. Now, at 37.7 per cent., it is lower than the figure for the US, Japan or the euro area. In the 1990s,...

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: I will.

Points of Order: Emergency Debate — Pre-Budget Report (26 Nov 2008) has video

Nigel Griffiths: That has obviously been made clear in the account: we had the statement and we are having this debate because we recognise the severity of the problem, but we are not going to take lessons from a party that plunged us into two recessions, caused 76,000 people to lose their homes and oversaw a crisis in manufacturing the like of which this country had not seen in history. On business...