Results 1-20 of 1,202 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:John Maples

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: UK Low Carbon Transition Plan (15 Jul 2009)

John Maples: In developing these policies, what account has the Secretary of State taken of two recent but rather unexpected pieces of scientific evidence? One is the Hadley Centre's series of global temperatures, which is one of the four series used by the IPCC, and which shows cooling since 1998. More recently, the American series developed by NASA, which uses measurements from satellites in space and...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (15 Jul 2009) has video

John Maples: If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 15 July.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (15 Jul 2009) has video

John Maples: In 2006, we sent 3,000 troops into Afghanistan as part of a reconstruction mission. Now, our objectives are to defeat terrorism and to make Afghanistan a stable and effective state. Many of my constituents are not convinced that we have a credible strategy for achieving those objectives. Will the Prime Minister look again at those objectives in the context of what is achievable, so that I can...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Elderly People (Long-term Care) (8 Jul 2009) has video

John Maples: The seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan, whose names the right hon. and learned Lady gave us at the start of Prime Minister's Question Time, bring to exactly 170 the tragic total of those killed in Afghanistan since 2006. Many people in my constituency are starting to doubt the wisdom of this war and I wonder whether she could remind the House of precisely what our military objective in...

Air Quality (Aircraft) (1 Jul 2009)

John Maples: Has the Minister moved on from the toxicity study? If so, will he tell us when it is expected to report? People are anxious to know. They are grateful that the study is taking place, but they want to know when they will receive the answers.

Air Quality (Aircraft) (1 Jul 2009)

John Maples: My hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood) has laid out most of the case that, had I been in his position, I would have laid out. I am grateful to him for instituting this debate. I wish to add a couple of points. I got involved with this subject two or three years ago because a constituent of mine, John Hoyte, one of the founders of the Aerotoxic Association, came to see...

Royal Assent: G20 Summit (2 Apr 2009) has video

John Maples: I hope that I am not reading too much into the Chancellor's desire to remove the stigma of going to the International Monetary Fund. If he has been checking the IMF's phone number, perhaps he should let us know. The Chancellor said that the communiqué dealt with bank regulation. May I make a suggestion to him? I think that what is needed is not heavier or lighter or more expensive...

Council Tax Rebate: The Economy (31 Mar 2009) has video

John Maples: The right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson) had a good go at bankers, who are a pretty easy target, but there is nothing new in the behaviour of banks creating financial crises, which is why they need regulating. I think it was Warren Buffett who observed of this crisis that banks have spent the past 10 years inventing a whole load of new ways of losing money, which was...

Council Tax Rebate: The Economy (31 Mar 2009) has video

John Maples: Yes, although other things were going on, too. Monetary policy was too loose during that period, and the problems were pretty obvious from monetary statistics, without analysing the banks' balance sheets. Adair Turner has basically got his prescription right. I disagree with him about only one thing, which is the Glass-Steagall Act and the splitting of the casino from the utility—of the...

Council Tax Rebate: The Economy (31 Mar 2009) has video

John Maples: Does not the Chancellor think that all the things he is doing, and wants to do, would be much easier to do if the Government had run a responsible fiscal policy over the past six years, and had run surpluses in the good years?

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Spring European Council (23 Mar 2009) has video

John Maples: Did the Prime Minister have a chance to discuss with his colleagues at the Council the five European Union directives that are in the pipeline, all of which could impose considerable costs on employers? I am sure he agrees that at a time of high and rising unemployment, the last thing that we ought to be doing is imposing additional costs on employers, whether they are in the public or the...

Olympics: Financial Markets (19 Jan 2009) has video

John Maples: The situation is obviously vastly worse than the Chancellor or anyone else thought a few months ago. In the pre-Budget report less than two months ago, his forecast was based on the economy recovering in the second half of this year, and the maximum fall in gross domestic product being 1 per cent. On that basis, he forecast a Government borrowing requirement of 8 per cent. of GDP. Surely,...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Gaza (12 Jan 2009) has video

John Maples: Would the Foreign Secretary not agree that those who so vigorously criticise Israel would carry greater credibility if they had made similar criticisms over the years of the suicide bombings and rocket attacks deliberately aimed at civilians in Israel? I completely agree with him that we need to see a two-state solution, but may I urge him to recognise that if we are to achieve such a...

Business of the House: Government Information (Unauthorised Release) (4 Dec 2008) has video

John Maples: Prior to 1989, the Government could have used the Official Secrets Act in this case. The Home Secretary is sitting next to one of the world experts on the Official Secrets Act, who will be able to remind her that in 1989, almost exactly 20 years ago to this day, the then Conservative Government amended the Official Secrets Act to restrict the application of the criminal law to a very narrow...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Local Government Finance Settlement (26 Nov 2008) has video

John Maples: The VAT reduction of 2.5 per cent. is worth about £200 a year for somebody on £20,000 a year. A 5 per cent. increase in council tax will absorb about a third of that, so I urge the Minister to use the capping powers that he threatened to use, and to do so in a draconian way, hopefully keeping council tax increases below 3 per cent., rather than below 5 per cent. He specifically...

Business of the House (20 Nov 2008) has video

John Maples: May I support the request for an early debate on the state of the economy? I should personally like the opportunity to explain, and apologise for, a phrase that I used on Monday, when I said that the recession must run its course. I realise that that may have caused deep offence to victims of the recession. I meant that the economy cannot recover until levels of private sector debt have been...

Cafcass: G20 Summit (17 Nov 2008) has video

John Maples: The Chancellor, I mean the Prime Minister—he is doing both jobs, I think—is talking as though the economy is not already receiving a huge fiscal boost. The Government will run a deficit this year of £50 billion or £60 billion. If we add all those American banks that went wrong, such as Northern Rock and Halifax Bank of Scotland, it must come to well over £100...

Orders of the Day: Banking Bill (14 Oct 2008) has video

John Maples: The hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) makes some interesting points about international institutions. We have the Bank for International Settlements and the IMF. I hope that whatever additional role is needed can be found through them, rather than by inventing new institutions. It is a matter not of institutions but of political will to solve these problems. That is...

Orders of the Day: Banking Bill (14 Oct 2008) has video

John Maples: The right hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. The only point that I am making is that if in future the taxpayer or all of us collectively through a deposit insurance scheme are to pick up the costs, people cannot be left free of the consequences of choosing the more risky investment. Whether it is triple A or double A, most would recognise that depositing money with Lloyds bank—at least...

Orders of the Day: Banking Bill (14 Oct 2008) has video

John Maples: No, I have made my point on that and I want to move on to bank regulation, which is really what the Bill is about and where the failures have been. The fact that the Government have had to underwrite the system in the way that they have and put in unprecedented sums of public money will, I am sure, lead to much tougher regulation. I hope that that regulation will be really intelligent, but I...