Andy Burnham: I welcome the fact that HS2 has listened to residents in the Lowton and Golborne area and moved the depot off a site of special scientific interest to more appropriate location. Is it not the truth, however, that the investment in HS2 will make sense to the majority of people in the north only when it is combined with investment in new east-west, high-speed lines linking the great cities? Our...
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which files and documents she reviewed before making her decision not to proceed with an inquiry into the events at Orgreave in 1984.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the name is of each free museum or gallery sponsored by her Department in each region of England.
Andy Burnham: Will the Minister give way?
Andy Burnham: There were 864 assaults on police officers in Greater Manchester last year—a force that is seeing cuts to the frontline. To listen to the Minister this afternoon, one would think everything is rosy, but morale is very low. What does my hon. Friend think the Government need to do to lift morale, because I believe it is dangerously low?
Andy Burnham: I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s argument, but he will be aware of a case earlier this year in Telford where the footballer Dalian Atkinson was killed in an incident. We do not know all the circumstances, and generally I support the use of Tasers, but does the hon. Gentleman not think that that case should give us pause for thought before we go for a major roll-out?
Andy Burnham: The outstanding speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen (Tracy Brabin) was a truly memorable parliamentary occasion, as was the fine speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch). I do not often say this, but the other side of the Pennines has a lot to be proud of, including even the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies). To elicit from him an emotional...
Andy Burnham: I agree with the hon. Gentleman. We have always been too lenient on motoring offences, particularly death by dangerous driving. I was talking about police officers, and they need greater protection in law and in the sentencing guidelines. The Police Federation said today that the sentences that are handed out are often inadequate and inconsistent, and they simply do not provide the strong...
Andy Burnham: I do not doubt the Minister’s sincerity and fine words, but there is a gap between them and the reality. Today, I spoke to Bryn Hughes, the father of Nicola Hughes, who, as the Minister will know, was murdered in Greater Manchester a couple of years ago. I do not know if he has seen the Daily Mirror today, but the headline is “Cop killer’s life of luxury behind bars”. What message...
Andy Burnham: One common thread that runs between the injustices uncovered in recent years is an unhealthy, collusive relationship between police and the press. Part 2 of the Leveson inquiry was intended to examine that in detail. It is seen as essential by Hillsborough campaigners to bring a form of accountability, and yet the Secretary of State, if I heard her correctly, has effectively announced today...
Andy Burnham: (Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the process she went through and the papers she considered before reaching her decision not to proceed with an inquiry into the events at Orgreave in June 1984.
Andy Burnham: The now Prime Minister invited Orgreave campaigners to submit a bid for an inquiry and she entered Downing Street talking about fighting burning injustices, so the House will understand why so many people feel bitterly betrayed today. Orgreave is one of the most divisive events in British social history. Given that there is evidence of unlawful conduct by the police in relation to it, is it...
Andy Burnham: Given that the Independent Police Complaints Commission found evidence of perjury and perversion of the course of justice, and given that in the last month new evidence of orchestrated violence and the mass manufacture of police statements has emerged from former police officers who were at Orgreave, are we not right to conclude that the establishment stitch-up that the Home Secretary has...
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cyclists were (a) injured and (b) killed in road traffic accidents on public roads in (i) Leigh and (ii) Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the five most common causes of death among (a) women and (b) men in each age group in Greater Manchester were in the latest year for which figures are available.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in each age group in (a) Leigh constituency and (b) Greater Manchester are employed on a zero-hours contract.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in each age group in (a) Leigh constituency and (b) Greater Manchester are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many student nurses in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) England received NHS bursaries in each of the last five years.
Andy Burnham: Is not the biggest loser from the Tory civil war over Heathrow neither the Foreign Secretary nor the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) but transport everywhere else? For over five years, there has been an obsessive focus on London and the south-east. While welcoming this decision, may I ask the home counties-based Cabinet to listen to what William Hague has said today, and set...