Results 1-20 of 743 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Graham Stringer

[Mr. Clive Betts in the Chair] — Private Landlords (Local Regulation) (21 Oct 2009)

Graham Stringer: I am extremely grateful to the Minister for that response—indeed, that is what the Minister for Housing told me—but the advice I am getting from officers in Manchester city council is that such an extension is not possible without changes in primary legislation. Will my hon. Friend expand a little on the basis on which the time period could be extended? Again, I thank him for the...

[Mr. Clive Betts in the Chair] — Private Landlords (Local Regulation) (21 Oct 2009)

Graham Stringer: Private landlords have been a feature of big cities for as long as big cities have existed in this country and other countries. People such as Peter Rachman are part of the vocabulary and folk memory of urban working-class communities. Virtually all working-class people from the inner cities have tales to tell of bad landlords and of what has happened to their families. However, what happened...

[Mr. Clive Betts in the Chair] — Private Landlords (Local Regulation) (21 Oct 2009)

Graham Stringer: The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. When I started trying to persuade the Government to regulate private landlords, although I did not use quite those words, the then Housing Minister wrote to me to say that the Government were not prepared to regulate private housing, because that would damage the private rented sector in London and the south-east and lead to homelessness. I found...

[Mr. Clive Betts in the Chair] — Private Landlords (Local Regulation) (21 Oct 2009)

Graham Stringer: My hon. Friend's observation is accurate, but the annoying thing is that although the real destruction and cost, which are difficult to quantify, are inflicted on people, that happens at a cost to the taxpayer, which must be wrong. When the 2004 Act came into force the Government did not publish the statutory guidelines, so Manchester, which was one of the first authorities to try to...

[Mr. Clive Betts in the Chair] — Private Landlords (Local Regulation) (21 Oct 2009)

Graham Stringer: The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and the burden of most of what I am saying will be the time that the process takes: setting up and implementing selective licensing schemes, finding private landlords—whether they are good, bad or indifferent—getting them registered and monitoring the schemes. It is a complicated proposal. There are 10,708 properties in the area in my...

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

Graham Stringer: Thomas.

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

Graham Stringer: I wish to speak to new clauses 10 and 11. As we discussed in the previous debate, the Bill is in a very real sense a lost opportunity to deal with the relationship between local, regional and central Government and to allow local government to deal with many of the problems that it faces. It surprises me, given that the Bill deals with petitions and consultations, some of which I believe are...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 19 — Mutual insurance (13 Oct 2009) has video

Graham Stringer: I always listen carefully to my right hon. Friend's argument, but that is the nonsense of it, is it not? The natural extension of what she is saying is that local authorities would not be able to use exactly the same money to help exactly the same businesses and exactly the same people. That is not the case. Local authorities could use that money at least as effectively.

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 19 — Mutual insurance (13 Oct 2009) has video

Graham Stringer: That is precisely the point, is it not? The title of the Bill is a misnomer. It is yet another Bill that should be entitled "Interfering with local government", rather than having its title suggest that it is about local democracy. The hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) was right to ask what the difference is between leaving the determination of a policy on toilets to...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 19 — Mutual insurance (13 Oct 2009) has video

Graham Stringer: The right hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly valid and excellent point. Long ago, almost every large private company gave up trying to control everything from the centre, because such an approach is inefficient and ineffective. My second point—let me move on to new clause 15 —concerns my right hon. Friend the Minister's answer to my question about why non-elected people on RDAs...

Parliamentary Elections (Recall and Primaries): New Clause 19 — Mutual insurance (13 Oct 2009) has video

Graham Stringer: I may have had this discussion with my right hon. Friend and others before, but will she tell the House why non-elected people should have power over elected people?

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: I understand the environmental arguments that the hon. Gentleman is putting forward. However, can he tell us of any studies of which he is aware, or which the Conservative party has commissioned, that show the economic impact of proposals for a plane duty on regional airports and what a plane tax would do to the air cargo industry?

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 17 — Rates of air passenger duty (8 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: The studies carried out by Manchester airport and other parts of the industry show that it would be extremely difficult for the major regional airports to attract long-haul passenger flights if this were done on a per-plane basis. They also show—I am speaking from memory—that 80 per cent. of freight business in regional airports would go into deficit and would, in effect, be...

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: I want to address one of the key issues. If the integrated transport authority and the PTE decide not to invest extra money in the system, what do the Government intend to do with the trains? Will they go into the south-east system, or will they go into cold storage?

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: I agree with my hon. Friend's points. Does he agree that it will be a shocking disgrace if the train units on the Oldham line which are removed when it is converted for tram use do not stay within the north-west area, and preferably on the Bolton line? The Department for Transport has not made it clear whether those trains will be left in the north-west system, as was originally envisaged.

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: Public expenditure will go over a cliff at some time in the next 12 months to two years, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Ms Smith) on bringing to the attention of the House the disparities in investment in rail between the north and the south of England. When the inevitable happens and public expenditure falls, expenditure in the north of England...

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: I have mentioned Cumbria, so I am delighted to give way to my hon. Friend.

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Graham Stringer: I do accept that. It is a fact. I am talking about expenditure per head of population, which is a reasonable basis for comparison. My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough set out the state of the rail system in the north of England. Yesterday, a passenger survey highlighted the poor state of the train service there and showed that over the past six or nine months passengers have...

[David Taylor in the Chair] — Heathrow Airport Expansion (16 Jun 2009)

Graham Stringer: Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that Heathrow's position as a competitive international hub is already being damaged? The number of destinations that it can serve is decreasing, while competitor hubs such as Schiphol, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Madrid, which have built extra runways, are increasing the number of destinations that they serve. That is bad for the whole UK economy.

[David Taylor in the Chair] — Heathrow Airport Expansion (16 Jun 2009)

Graham Stringer: I know that the hon. Gentleman takes looking at the objective facts about aviation and the airport system in the south-east seriously. I suggest that he looks at international experience, and the experience of Glasgow where they have tried but failed to use more than one airport as a hub. In Toronto, Washington and Glasgow such airports eventually had to be consolidated.