Alan Johnson: It just so happens that that particular Member was trying to intervene on me. I gladly give way to him.
Alan Johnson: I think that could be described as a wildcat intervention. Let me tell the hon. Gentleman that the result of this legislation will be more wildcat strikes. Yes, there are other countries where people are not allowed to strike. Postal workers in America, for instance, are not allowed to strike. In this country, prison officers and the police are not allowed to strike. In every single system...
Alan Johnson: That is an extremely important point. Another important statistic is that one in five industrial action ballots does not lead to any industrial action being taken. That tells us, among other things, that trade unionists do not take industrial action when the support is lukewarm. What is interesting to me is that there is nothing in this or any other Government Bill that is designed to improve...
Alan Johnson: I have been generous to fellow members of the Johnson clan, but the hon. Gentleman must understand the difference. In those organisations and countries where a 75% threshold is set for industrial action, it is 75% of those voting. Perhaps there should be thresholds in some of the constitutional referendums that we have. Perhaps leaving the European Union should require a 75% yes vote because...
Alan Johnson: That is correct, and it should be something that we look at as part of a review of our democratic process, stretching from the other place to all the other aspects that Conservative Members have raised about the health of our democracy.
Alan Johnson: No, I will not give way. One thing that cannot be suggested is that the decision on the European Union is less important than the decision that union members take in industrial action ballots, but that is the only argument put forward for the introduction of this measure in the Bill. These are important issues, we are told, and the loss of important public services can have far-reaching...
Alan Johnson: No, I am not giving way to the hon. Gentleman. We have heard enough from him—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] I seem to have made a popular decision. Of course, the Government would make no such proposal, because it does not support democracy—indeed, it offends democracy. But we know nothing of the responses from all the institutions that may want us to take their views into account...
Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend raises the central point. I do not know about other trade union officials here, but I spent most of my time trying to stop strikes, trying to resolve them after they had happened and trying to find a formula to get people back to work. Try standing in front of 2,000 striking Liverpool postmen and telling them “I’ve got a deal.” There is a complete fallacy which is shared...
Alan Johnson: Will the Secretary of State explain why the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is pursuing auto-enrolment for contributions to pension funds?
Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans reductions in spending on education and training for 16 to 19 year olds in order to implement the decision announced on 4 June 2015 to reduce the funding of her Department.
Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children in each local authority were in a foster care placement on 31 March (a) 2013 and (b) 2014; how many such children in each local authority were in a foster care placement with a relative or friend (i) inside and (ii) outside the authority boundary on each date; how many such children in each local authority were under...
Alan Johnson: The excellent in-patient facility in Hull and East Yorkshire closed under this Government in 2013 with no consultation whatever. Despite an excellent report by the Health Committee, despite criticism by the CQC and despite NHS England identifying a problem, we have waited two years. Does the Minister believe that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has made him powerless to act in such cases?...
Alan Johnson: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will do my best to comply with your instructions. As the Secretary of State was talking, my mind went back to the “responsible opposition” of the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley). I remember the efforts that went on for more than 40 years around Manchester to tackle the appalling level of infant mortality by reconfiguring...
Alan Johnson: I do not understand the hon. Gentleman’s point about my role in trebling tuition fees. I certainly was the higher education Minister who introduced tuition fees, against fierce opposition. I supported them and made the arguments—all the arguments we now hear from Liberal Democrats—against the opposition of the Conservative party. In terms of privatisation, we did introduce independent...
Alan Johnson: The right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, because we have debated this before—I will come on to some of the history—that the big difference between what he and other Governments during the 1980s did and what we did is the single tariff. They competed on price. We had a single tariff that meant that, wherever that operation took place, it was paid for at the same rate. With that top-down...
Alan Johnson: It could not have been a CAMHS service, because we have no tier 4 service available in Hull. I have cited two long-standing cases from my average-sized constituency, but I have recently heard about another case—that of Jordan Hatfield, a 15-year-old who, last May, took 45 paracetamol tablets in an attempt to end her own life. She spent six days on a medical ward and has been in Cheadle for...
Alan Johnson: Will the Secretary of State give way?
Alan Johnson: Does the Secretary of State remember the words of Prime Minister when he stood at the Dispatch Box and presented the report from Stafford? He said that what happened at Stafford was not the fault of any previous Secretary of State, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham). The Prime Minister was a statesman on that occasion; it is a shame that the statesmanship has...
Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the A63 Castle Street Improvement Scheme.
Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend is making a very powerful case. Does she remember that we were told that the review of CAMHS services in Hull in 2013 that led to the closure of the tier 4 unit—the in-patient facility at West End—was designed so that more resources could be put into early assessment and early diagnosis? Does she believe that we now have the worst of all worlds, with no in-patient CAMHS...
