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Chris Bryant: I will move on a little if the hon. Gentleman does not mind. We in the Labour party need to address those issues. Many Government Members criticise Labour’s relationship with the trade unions, but I make absolutely no apology for it. Many of the working class people who have come to the House have done so through the trade union route. They learned in the trade union movement how to do...
Nick Gibb: I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Mr Doran) on securing this important debate. I know that he is a strong advocate for dance and for the promotion of dance for its health and social benefits and educational value. He pointed to the creativity and physical discipline involved in learning to dance, and, for some dancers, teamwork. Dance is important to the cultural...
Ed Vaizey: I am not sure that I agree with my hon. Friend’s interpretation of what I said. All I am saying is that for the television licensing organisation to approach an individual and ask them to pay the licence fee may not be an unnecessary exercise in every case. The National Audit Office was mentioned. I want to bring hon. Members up to date with where we are on that. In September 2010 we...
Baroness Quin: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the entertaining and knowledgeable contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Kerr. In response to the exhortation by the noble Baroness a minute ago for brevity, I was tempted to say that I agree strongly with my noble friends Lord Dubs and Lord Anderson, the noble Lords, Lord Taverne and Lord Kerr, and others, and then just sit down. I hoped that I would...
Sir David Amess: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on securing this debate, and particularly on how she has raised concerns on behalf of her constituents. Witham is very fortunate to have her as its representative. I served on the Health Committee for a decade; in fact, I was on it for so long that towards the end of that time we were repeating inquiries. We travelled to a...
Tom Brake: It gives me great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe), because it gives me an opportunity to express some concern about the fact that I listen to the same statements and participate in the same debates as him, yet I hear different things being said. If he looks carefully at what the Secretary of State for Justice said yesterday about prison sentences,...
Pól Callaghan: I support the Bill, and I appreciate the presence of the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. I appreciate the contributions from the Chairperson of the Committee for Education and from the Chairperson of the Committee for Employment and Learning, because, as many Members have said, this is not a provision for a single Department. One of the Bill’s main purposes is to try...
Lord McFall of Alcluith: My Lords, I support the proposition of my noble friend Lord Rooker. When I came into this House a couple of months ago, I was told very quietly that this is a reflective Chamber, and we take our time here and mop up the mistakes made in the House of Commons by looking at Bills in a detailed way. If there ever is an opportunity to caw canny, as they say in Scotland, I think it is this...
Lord Bradshaw: My Lords, I should declare my background. I was a member of the Thames Valley Police Authority for 10 or 12 years, and I saw some of the changes to which the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, referred. The make-up of a police authority is now quite good. It has members from an independent background, representatives of political parties and some magistrates, although their number has been...
Steve Pound: It is a delight and pleasure to serve under you, Miss Begg. This evening has been an extraordinarily educative process. We have looked very far back into the past and I should like to imagine some time in the future. I imagine a group of fresh-faced young students in some constitutional history class at some as-yet-unbuilt school-perhaps the Tony Blair faith academy, the Ann Widdecombe...
Baroness McDonagh: I want to join in heaping praise on my noble friend Lord Puttnam. He has continuously brought to our attention the importance of our creative industry. It is what defines us as a nation and gives a shared identity. It glues us together as a society and as citizens, for which of us here has not heard people talk about Ann Widdecombe's paso doble on Saturday night-or at least that's what I...
David Rutley: Thank you for giving me the chance to speak in this important debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend and neighbour, the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), on her excellent maiden speech. I can assure the House that she has replaced Lady Ann Winterton-not Ann Widdecombe, as was asserted earlier-who is a real legend in this party. I would also like to join my hon....
Guy Opperman: Like many people in this debate, I have specific experience of the problems, having served as a prosecution barrister on behalf of the Attorney-General for many years and, more specifically, having run a free representation unit that provided criminal injuries compensation assistance, and having worked with Victim Support. In fact, the previous Government gave me an award for the work that we...
Helen Grant: Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. Paying tribute to my predecessor is a task that I find very easy. Ann Widdecombe was a high-profile and eminent MP who worked very hard for the people of Maidstone and The Weald. She is a woman of great integrity, honesty and sincerity, and a lady I am very proud to call my friend. Ann has been one...
Peter Bottomley: I congratulate the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) on his speech. Anyone who looks at Parliament and thinks that we do not get quality people has not spent time listening to today's maiden speeches and, I am sure, those that we look forward to hearing later. He will be able to look back on today as the time when he first impressed the House of Commons. I hope that he will do...
Martin Salter: I have drafted an e-mail to send to the many people who are prepared to stand up for Parliament and for representative democracy, and unless I receive a satisfactory answer, the button will be pushed. I want to talk a little about the unsung work that takes place here by Members across the political divide. I single out the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), who is leaving under a cloud...
Phil Woolas: I should like to offer more than the traditional congratulations to the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) on securing this debate; she has now had two in two weeks. I would like to quote briefly from this week's House magazine, in which she has the quote of the week. She says: "I always imagined that when I was making my last speech and about to depart, I would...
Lynne Jones: Thank you, Mr. Weir. The candidate who most shares my values and whom I respect the most will be the one who I think will put up the greatest fight for a more equal society. That candidate will make a much better job of it than I have managed. During my time here I have fought hard for disadvantaged groups, starting in the 1992 to 1997 Parliament when I fought the dreadful discrimination...
Liam Byrne: I am grateful for your guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was about start on a note of consensus, by agreeing with the shadow Chief Secretary that we have had four days of full and frank debate about the Budget. I should like to begin my words of congratulation with a tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (John McFall). He is not in his place at the moment, but he...
Ann Widdecombe: I am sure that this lady would have been hugely grateful to have got anywhere near an entry clearance officer. The family was habitually turned away, and only on the production of 50,000 rand would they have made any progress at all.