Results 1-20 of 2,045 for speaker:Jeremy Browne

Pcsos (Somerset) (3 Nov 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: Before I get on to the main substance of the debate, this is a fitting opportunity to pay tribute to a police officer, Sandy Padgett, who died only last month. She was a thoughtful, intelligent police officer who was the senior officer responsible for the half of Somerset within which my constituency lies, covering Taunton Deane, Sedgemoor and west Somerset. She died very unexpectedly at the...

Pcsos (Somerset) (3 Nov 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Perhaps I can break down the role of PCSOs as part of the neighbourhood teams into three categories. The first role is visibility. How many times have we heard—not only in towns, but in small villages and more remote populated areas—how much people value having a visible police presence on the street? People often complain that they do not...

Pcsos (Somerset) (3 Nov 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: It is very much a concern for me. I would not want anyone to think that this claim had been invented by me or other Liberal Democrats. As my hon. Friend rightly says, it is a concrete plan put forward by the Conservative administration of Somerset county council. Further confirmation is provided by the fact that, in an expensive local newspaper advertisement, the prospective Conservative...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: This has been a high-quality and important debate and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on kicking it off and setting exactly the right tone for the subsequent deliberations. All hon. Members who had the opportunity to participate—my hon. Friends the Members for Solihull (Lorely Burt) and for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson) among them—spoke...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: I strongly agree, and that is why it is especially important that we consider seriously all the contributions made during the debate. In summary, I want to speak about three matters—the motion before us, the Government's pattern of behaviour over recent months and years, and how we might go forward. First, hon. Members who have not had the opportunity to study the motion in detail will...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: Those questions have been deliberated at length over the past three and a half hours, and I shall come to them in the third part of my speech, but I am currently dealing with the motion. My point is that it is a straightforward motion, tabled by the Liberal Democrats on one of our Supply days. I am delighted that every Conservative Treasury spokesman, and the party's Chief Whip, have put...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: The hon. Gentleman is right that there is a cost beyond the financial cost, but in his opening remarks the Chief Secretary to the Treasury—

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: I do not think that the hon. Lady was present to hear the Chief Secretary's opening remarks. She may have been, but she certainly missed large portions of the debate. He coined an unintentionally laughable word that reminded me slightly of when Hillary Clinton said that she "misspoke" when she was caught out saying something fundamentally untrue, or of when Janet Jackson suffered a "wardrobe...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Jeremy Browne: I would love to be able to comment on Sir John Chadwick in greater detail, but I have not had the opportunity to meet him. I suppose that was the point being made by the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham. Sir John should meet Members of Parliament. We were elected to represent our constituents and that would aid the process. I have no reason to doubt that he is an honourable person. In...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Equitable Life (21 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: After the ombudsman published the report with the damning title, "Equitable Life: a decade of regulatory failure", the Government's response has been characterised by foot dragging. They missed the deadline to respond by the end of 2008, as initially promised. Sir John Chadwick has been non-communicative with Members and others, but meanwhile policyholders are dying every day while the...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Schedule 56 — Penalty for failure to make payments on time (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: The Finance Bill is an inevitably enormous piece of legislation that is rightly subjected to many months of scrutiny both in Committee and on the Floor of the House. It has been a privilege to get to know the other hon. Members who have scrutinised the Bill with a degree of detail and to come to understand better their qualities—and occasionally, as in my own case, limitations. We have...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: I entirely agree. I think it is safe to say that online bingo, for example, is more likely to be undertaken by younger and more affluent people than those who visit bingo clubs. It does seem extraordinary that that form of bingo should be taxed at 15 per cent. while people going to clubs will be taxed at 22 per cent.

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: I understand that it is. Moreover, there are no controls in the case of online bingo. Although it may be in the immediate financial interests of a bingo hall to allow a particular customer to gamble beyond his or her means, I suspect that in the vast majority of cases the owners demonstrate a degree of paternalism. They have a fair sense of how much money the regular visitors have and of what...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: Absolutely, and I should like to refer to the very subject of revenue. During yesterday's debate, we talked about beer duty. The problem in that regard is that because more and more pubs are going out of business on account of beer duty going up, the base from which the Government are collecting revenue is therefore falling. That is the case with bingo as well. If there is only one bingo club...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: Let me return to that theme in my concluding remarks, because that is an interesting observation. As I have said, not only will the Government lose revenue when clubs close, but we should remember just how small the sums involved are. It has rightly been said that the total sums of money gambled on bingo are not great, so in the grand scheme of things the percentage tax take is not very...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: This has been an interesting debate. The right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) told us that we had entered a new era in politics, in which the Conservatives were the champions of the poor and downtrodden and the Labour party had abandoned those people. It now transpires that when it comes to deciding whether they are in favour of people who are poor and downtrodden, the...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: Is the right hon. Gentleman suggesting that Lord Mandelson and other key figures in the Government do not enjoy going to bingo clubs in their spare time?

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

Jeremy Browne: Before the hon. Lady finishes her speech, will she engage with my entirely constructive proposal, which is not to abandon her proposal—I understand that she might not wish to do that—but to modify it in a way that addresses the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) and...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Clause 20 — Bingo duty (8 Jul 2009)

Jeremy Browne: I visited Mecca bingo in Taunton on Friday and met many people who, in the past, may have considered voting Labour, although I suspect that they will not do so in future. The hon. Gentleman mentioned revenue. I am told that Mecca bingo will pay some £10 million a year more as a result of being taxed at 22 per cent. rather than 15 per cent. To put that in context, £10 million is the...

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

Jeremy Browne: I acknowledge that long-haul flights cause more emissions than short-haul flights. My point was that short-haul flights cause more emissions per mile, and that is why we need to try to create alternatives to short-haul flights. I recognise, however, that a system in which the tax is greater for long-haul flights is reasonable because, overall, they cause greater emissions than short-haul flights.