Results 1-20 of 2,482 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Nick Harvey

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: RAF Search and Rescue (2 Nov 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: I welcome what the Minister said about the short-term measures that he is taking, but will he clarify the situation post-2012? Is it still his intention that three of the twelve bases will run on a 12-hour basis, not on a 24-hour basis? There is grave concern in the south-west, where people simply cannot understand why, if three bases are to run on a 12-hour basis, two of them—Portland...

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

Nick Harvey: Like many other Members, I have been travelling here through the day, so I was slightly taken by surprise when the Secretary of State referred to the election period as being over. Perhaps I have missed the lunch time news. [Hon. Members: "Yes, you have."] Mr. Speaker, we will all be very relieved that British troops' lives are not being risked to enable us to go through the absurdity of a...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Nimrod Review (28 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: I thank the Secretary of State for his necessarily very sombre statement to the House this morning. This is a tragic case of an accident that could have been avoided. The 40-year history of Nimrod has, as the Secretary of State just acknowledged, been very difficult. Many critics of procurement in the MOD have their own candidates as to which has been the most bungled procurement. The...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Territorial Army (26 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The financial problems of the Ministry of Defence are well known to us all, but of all the possible ways of trying to plug the gap, doing so through the Territorial Army must surely be the worst possible candidate. In financial terms, this amounts to a very small saving. The damage that could be done, however, is disproportionate to any saving that could be made. An increasing burden has been...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Defence Acquisition (Independent Review) (19 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: Listening to the silken prose of the Secretary of State as he read his statement, one could barely believe that what he was describing was the report that we have all seen, and that stands as a damning indictment of procurement processes. One would hardly recognise it. I congratulate his wordsmiths—I think that he has secured better value for money on that budget than he has on...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The Government have placed the contract and, to the best of my knowledge, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats backed them in that. When did any Minister guarantee that the future of the programme did not form part of the strategic defence review? The hon. Gentleman is wishing a policy on his party and his Front Benchers, and I cannot see any authority for it.

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: I start by paying tribute to all those servicemen and women who have been serving our country in Afghanistan and elsewhere and, in particular, by marking the debt of honour that we owe to all those who have been killed and injured in that service. I also express our sympathy and condolences to their friends, families and loved ones. We should all be very proud of the work that they have done...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: To the best of my knowledge, the Liberal Democrat policy on the two aircraft carriers is exactly the same as that of the Government and the Conservative party. We see the need for the carriers, and support their procurement, but it is perfectly clear that a strategic defence review will consider the entire range of our military activity, and obviously in doing so will consider the aircraft...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: I am very sorry to say that the hon. Gentleman is quite right. There can be no doubt that that is the case, which is why it is essential that this spiralling debt is caught hold of right away, and the strategic defence review will have to ask some very tough questions, because by no stretch of the imagination can we afford to continue as we are. In my view, too often we seek bespoke solutions...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, and deserves congratulations on the campaign that he fought. It will be appreciated in his locality. I believe that the strategic defence review must look at everything. There must be no no-go areas for a strategic defence review. We must ask very fundamental questions on a blank sheet of paper about what we want our armed forces to do, and what we need...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: I thank the Minister for his intervention and welcome what he says about 80 per cent. solutions, as he put it. I recognise that, in the case of some recent urgent operational requirements, that sort of logic and thinking has been more to the forefront. I welcome that, but such common sense has not always been present across the piece with our procurements. As for the contracts for...

Defence Policy (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, although one of the Afghan national army's strengths has been that it is drawn from all over and is not always deployed using people in their own areas. Indeed, that is one of its strengths over the Afghan police, which tend to be used in their own areas, which seems to account for some of the suggestions sometimes made that they seem to be corrupt, as...

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

Nick Harvey: Does the Secretary of State agree that the objective in Afghanistan is ultimately political, and that the military battle is a precondition for achieving that? Eight years in, the Taliban have been contained to a terrorist insurgency and no longer fight as a standing army. How does the Secretary of State believe that the international community can shift from a predominantly military battle...

British Troops (Helmand Province) (8 Jul 2009)

Nick Harvey: I begin where the hon. Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) finished. He reminded us of the ultimate price paid by so many of our soldiers in Afghanistan. I join him and others in paying tribute to those brave service people who did what they believed in and paid a terrible price for it. I pay tribute to everybody else who has fought in Afghanistan during the eight years that we have been...

British Troops (Helmand Province) (8 Jul 2009)

Nick Harvey: That is an interesting point. I do not think that anyone should say that no progress is being made or that nothing is being achieved, because that is not so. There are things to which we can point that are achievements, but whether, in principle, it would have been right to have committed British troops and put their lives in danger to achieve the objective of securing girls' education in...

British Troops (Helmand Province) (8 Jul 2009)

Nick Harvey: But the Russians' objective was completely different. They were trying to take over the country and run it. We are not trying to do that in any sense. The objective of the NATO presence in Afghanistan is to help the elected Government stabilise the country to the point where reconstruction can take place and Afghanistan can retake its place in the community of nations. That is a totally...

Parliamentary Standards Bill (29 Jun 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The hon. Lady attaches great value to giving the public an opportunity to talk to us and learn about what we do. Will she explain to whom the new authority will be accountable? It is being vested with a vast panoply of powers, and will handle huge sums of public money. If a member of the public is not confident that the money is being handled competently, or even thinks that the chairman of...

Oral Answers to Questions — House of Commons Commission: Demonstrations (Parliament Square) (18 Jun 2009)

Nick Harvey: There have been three recent questions to the House of Commons Commission relating to the demonstrations in Parliament square, and 13 hon. Members have made representations in writing.

Oral Answers to Questions — House of Commons Commission: Demonstrations (Parliament Square) (18 Jun 2009) has video

Nick Harvey: The Serjeant at Arms has made representations to the Metropolitan police to the effect that access to this House is essential for the working of the House. Beyond that, the policing of Parliament square is a matter for the Metropolitan police, and by extension the Mayor of London and the Home Office. I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, but he would do better to raise these matters in Home...