Jim Fitzpatrick: I hope that the House will allow me to express my appreciation at being called to make my maiden speech in this debate. My constituency is situated in east London, as is betrayed by my classic cockney accent. The River Thames forms its southern boundary, and it is bounded by Shadwell in the west and north Woolwich in the east. It is surrounded by the constituencies of East Ham, West Ham—of...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I congratulate the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on securing time for this important debate. I am grateful to him and to my hon. Friend the Minister for allowing me the opportunity to contribute. I should say immediately that I was a member of the London fire brigade for some 23 years and an elected official of the Fire Brigades Union. I am now an out-of-trade member of that trade...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I add my congratulations to those who made maiden speeches: the hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Randall), my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr. Casale) and, especially, my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Pound), whose speech, according to his own description of what previously emanated from that constituency, will soon be regarded as forgettable. I am grateful to the hon....
Jim Fitzpatrick: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for asking that question, which reinforces the point that I was making—the referendum and the directly elected mayor and assembly will provide an opportunity for us to reinvigorate and reinforce democracy. Contrary to the jibes that we have heard from the official Opposition that this measure is about weakening our democracy, Labour Members believe that it...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing that fact to my attention. I was not aware that that was the experience in the United States of America. Labour Members are certainly trying to reinvigorate our democracy by bringing new ideas and politics to the public's attention. We believe that having the referendum on the same day as people elect the 32 London local authorities will lead to an...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point. It is clear that the attitude of the previous Government to local government was to reduce the resources offered to local government for providing decent services. Electoral registration has been one of the casualties over the years. If local authorities had been given the necessary resources to do the job, areas of deficit, where...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful question. The matter of quangos has been effectively addressed in the debate. The case has been strongly made that democracy was weakened by the initiation of so many quangos to take the place of the GLC and the Inner London education authority. To return London to democratic control and government will address the deficit and improve the situation.
Jim Fitzpatrick: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing those matters to the attention of the House. I recognise his expertise in the field. I am sure that those matters will be addressed. My last point concerns the home for the elected mayor and strategic authority. I suggest that east London would be an appropriate venue.
Jim Fitzpatrick: The case for Ealing, North has been effectively made but we would be flying in the face of history were we to do something about Ealing, North now. The Anglo-French summit that took place at Canary Wharf last week clearly signalled the symbolism that the Government attach to the east end. I have spoken of the need to reinforce our democracy, and one should remember that the east end has...
Jim Fitzpatrick: Too long.
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Opposition parties are portraying the Greater London Labour party's consultative conference on our proposals for an elected mayor and assembly somewhat inconsistently. It is claimed that an overwhelming majority at the conference were against the proposals, but the hon. Gentleman can take my word for it that only 16 respondents out of more than 300 people there were against the proposals....
Jim Fitzpatrick: I want first to address the misrepresentation of the position of the Greater London Labour party by Conservative Members. As has been reported, we have had within the Greater London Labour party a full debate on the Green Paper and Labour's proposals for an elected mayor and an elected assembly. We have more than 65,000 party members in Greater London, nine of the 10 Members of the European...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I said that claims that I manipulated the meeting were quoted by Conservative Members. That is not my recollection of the conference, and it is not the recollection of many who were there. The results of the consultative conference were discussed by the executive of the Greater London Labour party, which wholly supported the way forward being proposed by the Government—that is, an elected...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have never been a local authority representative, but I am sure that local authorities will be more than able to defend their corner when the new strategic authority is created. Siting the home of the new centre of regional government in the east end would be wholly consistent with the Government's objective of demonstrating that this is a new beginning. The Prime Minister clearly...
Jim Fitzpatrick: I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that the reports are a gross exaggeration. The only figure quoted is something like 8:1, but there were more than 300 delegates at the meeting. The vast majority of the people at that consultative seminar were wholly in agreement with the Government's policy, and the formal submission put forward by the Labour party in London was fully in support of the proposals.
Jim Fitzpatrick: If he will make a statement on the Government's plans to increase recuritment of ethnic minorities into the United Kingdom's armed forces. [20201]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister for his response. I am sure that the House welcomes the Government's aim to have modern forces that better reflect the society that they protect. With that in mind, and with reference to the Newham initiative, what arrangements will my hon. Friend put in place to monitor the success, or otherwise, of those initiatives?
Jim Fitzpatrick: Does not the hon. Gentleman agree that the judgment also contains the following passage? In the public hearing which followed the provisional findings there was, as it seems to us, ample and fair opportunity given for the appellants to make their case to the auditor. Although each chose not to give evidence, each made representations, DSP, E and P by counsel. Numerous contemporaneous...
Jim Fitzpatrick: What measures he plans to implement to ensure that there is a framework for local action to tackle youth offending. [24624]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I thank the Secretary of State for his response. I am sure that he knows that his proposals have been widely welcomed. However, it is also accepted that we need to be tough on the causes of offending. With that in mind, does he agree that, as part of the framework, we must have adequate resourcing of youth services, as well as promotion of education, training and employment opportunities for...