Results 1-20 of 11,566 for speaker:Simon Hughes

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

Simon Hughes: Despite our difference of view on this matter, does the right hon. and learned Gentleman accept that the flaw in his argument is that when he was born more than 90 per cent. of the country voted either Labour or Conservative, whereas nowadays only about two thirds of the country vote for his party or the Labour party, and Governments are sometimes elected with only 22 or 23 per cent. of the...

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

Simon Hughes: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Labour party has failed abysmally to reform the second Chamber, which is the largest entirely unelected second Chamber in Europe, if not the world? Rather than a draft Bill to tinker with it, if the Government really wanted to be seen as reformers, they ought to get rid of the hereditary principle and have an elected Chamber on the statute book...

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

Simon Hughes: There were, of course, some good measures in the Queen's Speech, but there was not a single word about housing. May I ask the Prime Minister why, after 10 years during which wages have risen by a third and house prices by 150 per cent., and when the number of people waiting for social housing is higher than it has been in any decade since the 1940s, there was nothing to show the sort of the...

Written Answers — Justice: Departmental Air Travel (12 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many domestic flights within Great Britain officials from his Department made in 2008-09; and at what cost.

Written Answers — Home Department: Entry Clearances: China (12 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many student visa applications were received by the visa application centre in Beijing between January and September 2009; and how many entry clearance (a) officers and (b) managers are employed at the British Embassy in Beijing to work on such applications.

Written Answers — Children, Schools and Families: Departmental Air Travel (12 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many flights within Great Britain officials of his Department took in 2008-09; and at what cost to the public purse.

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: I hope that the Minister will mention the fundamental benefit of having direct access between the parts of London where King's and Maudsley hospitals are based and Guy's hospital campus.

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: I am grateful to Mr. Speaker for having chosen this debate for this afternoon. I am conscious that, in comparison with the subject of the last debate, this issue might be regarded as parochial. I accept that it is not in the same league as ending the nuclear arms race, but for people who live and work in or visit this great capital city of ours, the future of the South London line is very...

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: I absolutely agree; that has certainly been the case. My constituency has many roads that have railway lines going over them, and in the old days, there were many more local stations. This morning at the Armistice day service in Bermondsey, someone who had heard that I would be having this debate asked me, "Are you also campaigning to make sure that the Spa Road station is reopened?" There...

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: The hon. Gentleman and I share a common interest in ensuring that that really good idea is taken through to completion, and I endorse his intervention completely. Our fourth battle was over the Thameslink line, but that was another example of the interests of the locals being bluntly overridden in the end. The options were whether the Thameslink service, which in itself is a good...

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Simon Hughes: The hon. Gentleman makes an absolutely clear point. The options study is now on the table. People have accepted that we need to consider the options. There is equivocation about whether we should accept that we cannot get trains all the way around the loop to London Bridge. We need to be absolutely clear that we start with a service that keeps the line running all the way around the loop, for...