Points of Order

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Monday 10th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

We haven’t started.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. That was an exceptionally ignorant observation from a sedentary position by the hon. Member for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke). If he would sit quietly and listen, instead of pontificating from ignorance, he might one of these days learn something.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

Mr Speaker, with permission I will take questions 1 and 10 together.

At the time of the last general election, there was no monitoring of taxpayer-funded trade union facility time in the civil service. We now have controls in place that saved £19 million last year, and we have already reduced the number of taxpayer-funded full-time union officials from 200 in May 2010 down to around a dozen this month.

[Mr Speaker]

I allowed the right hon. Gentleman to continue his answer, but my office advises me that it has not been notified of the grouping to which he refers. It might have been the intention, but my office indicates that it has not been notified of it, which obviously it should have been.

[Alec Shelbrooke]

In the past, Departments gave paid time off for union conferences. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that this Government will not be spending taxpayers’ money packing civil servants off to the seaside?

Cost of Living

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Member for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke) cannot opportunistically spring up in that way. He is showing a considerable discourtesy to the House. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) should proceed unhindered with his speech.

Point of Order

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Thursday 25th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Yesterday it was reported that the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds) has been taken seriously ill. Is there a mechanism by which the House can send its best wishes to his family, and wish our fellow parliamentarian a speedy recovery?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, and the answer is that he has found his own mechanism. The sentiments that he has expressed towards the right hon. Gentleman and his family will be reflected in the feelings of the whole House.

Sittings of the House (Wednesday 17 April)

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 16th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The short answer is that what has just been said was distasteful, but was not disorderly. It does not seem to have evoked any great display of misery on the part of the hon. Member for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke), but I know that when the hon. Member for Bradford West rises to speak again, he will do so with the degree of calm and measurement of his words for which I know, in future years, he will want to be renowned.

[Alec Shelbrooke]

There was I under the impression that the hon. Member for Bradford West (George Galloway) was a great orator. In the context of his last comments, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would wish to congratulate this Prime Minister on ensuring that Parliament is not absent for four months, and on bringing the House back in September for those two sessions of Prime Minister’s questions that, until recently, did not happen.

Equal Marriage Consultation

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman has perambulated around the Chamber. If he assures me that he has at all times remained within it, we must hear him. It is a very curious approach, but it is not of itself a breach of the Standing Orders of the House. [Hon. Members: “He has been hiding.”] He has been hiding! Let us now hear from Mr Alec Shelbrooke.

[Alec Shelbrooke]

I am most grateful to you, Mr. Speaker. I have indeed moved around. I was not going to get involved, but I just want to say this to the Minister. The fact is that the vast majority of my constituents simply do not believe that the European Court of Human Rights will not take this further. I think that a great many Members on this side of the House would support the Bill if we withdrew from the European convention on human rights and introduced a British Bill of Rights. That, by the way, was in the Conservative manifesto.

Point of Order

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 4th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your advice on a matter that a constituent brought to me during the summer recess. The long-running, Government-funded small firms loan guarantee scheme was designed to support companies that have not traded for more than five years and that have exhausted all forms of security to get a cash injection. Evidence has been passed to me that Barclays bank used the scheme to underwrite its own bad loans for companies that did not meet the original loan criteria. It appears that it was underwriting small firms—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I hope that he will understand that I have heard enough to know that this is certainly not a matter for the Chair. If he was concerned to put the matter on the record, he has achieved his objective. There are other ways in which he can pursue it, and I trust that he will. We are grateful.

Points of Order

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

No, but, knowing the hon. Gentleman as I have for the last 15 years, since we entered the House together, I have just a hunch that this is a matter to which he will return, possibly with notable frequelarity. Regularity? Frequency? I am getting there. [Hon. Members: “A lot.”] A lot: indeed.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It would appear that this afternoon the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), the leader of the Labour party, accused the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) of perjuring himself yesterday. Is it in order, Mr Speaker, for members of the Privy Council who sit in this House to make such accusations without explaining themselves to you or to the House?

[Mr Speaker]

I am not aware of any such accusation having being made. Immediately after the hon. Gentleman had raised his point of order, he sat down with a very bright grin on his face, so I shall take his remarks as having been made in a spirit of levity on which no further comment is required.

Foreign Affairs and International Development

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Tuesday 15th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke]

My right hon. Friend has done a huge amount in his time as Foreign Secretary to go to countries throughout the world and to reinvigorate the Foreign Office, which was sidelined by the previous Government. Indeed, under the Blair Government the Foreign Office was seen more as a nuisance than as a help. Will my right hon. Friend outline to the House some of the countries that he has been to which have not been visited by a Foreign Secretary in a great many years?

[Mr Speaker]

We look forward to the Foreign Secretary’s Cook’s tour.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

The press have a proud and historic role in British politics and it is right that political parties communicate their policy to the nation, but does my right hon. Friend agree that that is in stark contrast to a political party that thinks that national politics should be directed by the highest union bidder?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Most questions have focused on the terms of the urgent question. I have sadly to tell the hon. Gentleman that that was a million miles away from it and does not require an answer. It was completely out of order. We will take another Member who, I am sure, will be in order—[Interruption.] Order. I do not require any sedentary chuntering in the background.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. I was prepared to give him some latitude, but the question must be purely on Warrington rather than allied to Warrington. We are grateful to him for his industrious efforts.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

2. What steps the Environment Agency is taking that will contribute to growth and employment in the recycling sector.

European Council

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Monday 27th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

With the Greece situation showing what happens if a country does not control its deficit, does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agree that the actions of Labour’s paymasters this Thursday show that they and the Opposition are more interested in dogmatic cobblers than harsh reality?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I have explained the point on innumerable occasions to Members that questions are to be about the policy of the Government, not that of the Opposition, so we will now move on.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Monday 20th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Nigel Adams. Not here.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend visit my constituency so that I can show him at first hand the greenfield land that is being developed, while thousands of units neighbouring my constituency, which have been approved by Leeds city council for building on, are being completely ignored by housing developers, thereby totally undermining any regeneration the city would like to achieve?

Speaker’s Statement

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and John Bercow

Wednesday 30th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think that the hon. Gentleman is seeking to continue the debate. What I have said on this matter is very explicit. Today’s exchanges speak for themselves, but again, as a committed constitutionalist, he has put his concerns on the record, as he was perfectly entitled to do.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Could you advise the House on how we can stop the danger of Prime Minister’s Question Time slipping into Opposition statement time?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman will accept that that is a matter for the Chair, and I hope that he will be comfortable that I will discharge my obligations to the House appropriately.