Results 1-20 of 68 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Jon Cruddas

Housing Subsidy (Barking and Dagenham) (27 Mar 2009) has video

Jon Cruddas: It is fair to say that the subject of this short debate is quite different from that of the debate that preceded it. However, we Catholics have always had quite an interest in housing policy, so there is a certain continuity. This afternoon I want to talk about the operation of the housing revenue account, and the so-called negative subsidy system, with regard to its effect on my borough, the...

Low Pay (Migrant Workers) (3 Jun 2008)

Jon Cruddas: I know it is customary as part of the protocol on these occasions to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Elmet (Colin Burgon) on securing the debate, but I also wish to do so because of the content of his contribution. He touched on some profoundly difficult territory in terms of race, class and demographic change in this country, but he navigated through those issues creatively and...

Low Pay (Migrant Workers) (3 Jun 2008)

Jon Cruddas: I tentatively suggest that it would be naive to assume otherwise, especially given the whole supply chain involved in public procurement. I would not be shocked to the core by the possibility that the House, through its contract regime, was employing unregularised migrants, or paying migrants and indigenous employees below what was set out in statutory terms and conditions of employment. My...

Low Pay (Migrant Workers) (3 Jun 2008)

Jon Cruddas: That is right. My hon. Friend the Member for Elmet referred to the fact that there might be a different combination of forces in London, as opposed to other parts of the country, and it is worth dwelling on the situation in London, which I touched on earlier. There are compound abuses. There is the Home Office's systemic failure and the fact that people are often provided with appalling legal...

Points of Order: Treaty of Lisbon (No. 3) — (3rd allotted day) (5 Feb 2008)

Jon Cruddas: Like the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory), I shall focus on the charter of fundamental rights, pose some questions about how effective the protocol will be and highlight key labour market issues that a number of Members on both sides of the House have raised in the debate. Four key issues appear to be relevant to a discussion of the labour market elements of the charter....

Points of Order: Treaty of Lisbon (No. 3) — (3rd allotted day) (5 Feb 2008)

Jon Cruddas: On the issue of title IV rights versus title II rights, is it not the case, given the protocol, that the European Court could interpret the economic rights under the latter as having precedence in this country over employment rights in the former?

Points of Order: Treaty of Lisbon (No. 3) — (3rd allotted day) (5 Feb 2008)

Jon Cruddas: My right hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) mentioned that, where robust legal frameworks are in place, some of this case law can be circumvented. The problem is that in our country these matters are premised on the history of autonomous collective bargaining where the state has minimal legal regulations, so the dangers my hon. Friend has outlined are even more acute for us.

Points of Order: Treaty of Lisbon (No. 3) — (3rd allotted day) (5 Feb 2008)

Jon Cruddas: Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the charter has already had a role in interpreting European law in this country recently? For example, BECTU—the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union—used it in recent litigation, while the Advocate-General referred to it when he granted holiday rights to those with less than 13 weeks' service.

Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty) (28 Jan 2008)

Jon Cruddas: Has my hon. Friend seen the rulings of the European Court of Justice on the Laval and Viking cases, the implications of which split labour lawyers throughout Europe? We need to discuss that thoroughly, especially in the context of title IV and our opt-out of the charter of fundamental rights. The consequences could drive a coach and horses through workers' protections throughout Europe,...

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Christmas Adjournment (18 Dec 2007)

Jon Cruddas: I will try to follow that. In fact, I want to discuss the issue of financial irregularities, which the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) touched on, too, but in a slightly different way. I want to use this debate to make a number of points regarding the apparent illegal activity and financial irregularities in the internal operations of the British National party. The BNP claims to...

[John Bercow in the Chair] — Asylum Seekers (13 Dec 2007)

Jon Cruddas: I am pleased to follow what I thought was a thoughtful and nuanced approach by the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson). More specifically, I am pleased also to follow the contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) and for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), who covered most of the issues that I wanted to cover, and from a position of professional rigor and deep...

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Car Manufacturing (12 Dec 2007)

Jon Cruddas: I do not want to prevent my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland (Dr. Kumar) from getting in before the 10.30 shutdown, so I shall simply make a few comments echoing points that have already been made. I agree with every word of the previous speech, but I find it quite strange to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden),...

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Car Manufacturing (12 Dec 2007)

Jon Cruddas: I appreciate that intervention, because that is my understanding as well. I made the point to give the Minister an opportunity to comment on it. That is why this debate, initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley, is timely. The objective of any sale should be to provide Jaguar Land Rover with the ownership, technology and investment structure that it needs to allow it to reach its...

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Car Manufacturing (12 Dec 2007)

Jon Cruddas: Funnily enough, that is exactly the point that I was about to make, as there is a direct interest for my east London constituency. The changes would ricochet throughout other parts of the British economy as well, which is the primary reason for having this debate today. As the largest employer in the UK auto industry, Ford has responsibilities not only to its employees but to its local...

Sea Bass (22 Nov 2007)

Jon Cruddas: My hon. Friend is making a fantastic contribution. As an angler and a member of the all-party angling group, I do not underestimate the significance of the issue throughout the country. I have been contacted by many people about it. Angling is the biggest participant sport in the country, with approaching 1 million sea anglers. With another hat on, my hon. Friend is chair of the all-party...

[Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Migrant Workers (Regularisation) (20 Jun 2007)

Jon Cruddas: Just to clarify any confusion about the title of the debate, initially it was put down as the Registration of Migrant Workers, but it has been clarified to focus on the regularisation of unregularised migrants. The two titles mean very different things, so I just wanted to make clear my focus in this debate from the outset. By one of those coincidences, I was made aware that our request for a...

[Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Migrant Workers (Regularisation) (20 Jun 2007)

Jon Cruddas: The picture is much more mixed than that. Most migration experts assert that economic factors—not the chance of citizenship—are the primary pull factors in the migration process. Rather than seeing the regularisation process as the key driver behind patterns of migration, if we compare and contrast the situation in Spain with the experience of other countries, the picture appears...

[Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Migrant Workers (Regularisation) (20 Jun 2007)

Jon Cruddas: That is a big debate, but I agree with my hon. Friend and have some suspicions about the TUC report. It argued that, apart from a number of anecdotal examples, there was no negative effect, in terms of employers abusing migrant workers, of deregulating labour markets. In my constituency recently, for example, a Lithuanian gang was employed on £15 a day—barely half the minimum...

[Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Migrant Workers (Regularisation) (20 Jun 2007)

Jon Cruddas: That is absolutely right. The state has a key role in that, as well as in the health economy, for example. Some of the most widespread abuses of migrant workers that I have witnessed have been through the supply chain in cleaning or security contracts and the like. The state has a key role. This is a different policy agenda again, but if we introduce a system of contract compliance, so that...

[Mrs. Janet Dean in the Chair] — Migrant Workers (Regularisation) (20 Jun 2007)

Jon Cruddas: I totally agree. The debate about regularisation is not a panacea for anything, but an attempt to stimulate a series of consequential debates about the international treaty and how to manage extraordinary global demographic movements. There is the refugee issue; my right hon. Friend alluded to Iraqi refugees, and there are 2.2 million of them. Domestic policy initiatives over and above...