Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 19th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry to disappoint the large number of colleagues remaining, but on the principle that one should encourage an up and coming young Member at the conclusion of proceedings, I call Mr Dennis Skinner.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Why should Jim Ratcliffe make millions creating misery for all the people affected by fracking? Coincidentally, there are not many jobs either.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 15th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I was going to call Mr Skinner, who I thought was perched a moment ago.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

He is perched again; in fact he is more than perched.

[Mr Skinner]

The Secretary of State has been very fond today of talking about the long-term plan. I am 86 years of age, and the reason I am able to ask this question is because under Labour—is he listening?—the money that went in was trebled from £33 billion to £100 billion, an increase of £67 billion. That is why I am still here: I had my operation for cancer, and it was successful; I had an operation for a bypass, and it was successful; and I had a hip replacement, and I can still walk backwards. That is the Labour story—just remember it!

Points of Order

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Wednesday 12th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. The answer is straightforward: it is a long-standing convention in this House that a Member visiting the constituency of another Member in a political or public capacity should notify the Member whose constituency is to be visited. If the visit is of a purely private character, for example, going to lunch or dinner at somebody’s house in that Member’s constituency, the obligation does not apply. I am bound to say to him, and I am sorry that he is obviously highly dissatisfied about this, that this is a recurrent complaint from Members on both sides of the House and I hope that, in the interests of the House as a whole, Members on both sides would honour the convention. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) says from a sedentary position, “Who was it?”. Well, the hon. Member for Solihull (Julian Knight) has not named the Member. I think that he is focused on the principle rather than the personality. It seems to me that the principle applies regardless of who the personality is. However, if the hon. Member for Bolsover is particularly keen to know the identity of the person concerned, he can always have a cup of tea with the hon. Gentleman, although he may think that that is a step too far.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

A big step too far.

[Mr Speaker]

Why is that response not a great surprise to me?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

If the hon. Gentleman is claiming that there were not enough flu jabs under Labour, I might agree with him, because there are now more flu jabs. More than 4 million flu jabs have already taken place. I am delighted that lots of people want flu jabs because everybody who needs one should get one. The arrival of the flu jab medicine is phased, because we have to ensure that we get the right flu jabs. If the hon. Gentleman could carry on promoting flu jabs for the elderly, I would be delighted.

[Mr Speaker]

Is the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) satisfied?

[Mr Skinner]

No.

[Mr Speaker]

Nevertheless, the hon. Gentleman has had his say, and I feel sure that he will say it again as often as is necessary.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 11th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is time the House heard from Mr Dennis Skinner.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

For the past hour, we have heard everyone on the Treasury Bench spouting about this wonderful situation that they are in, with money to burn. Why then has Tory-controlled Derbyshire County Council’s first decision been to close 20 libraries and cut the hours of every librarian in the county? What is the Chancellor doing to stop it?

Points of Order

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 11th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Chancellor is shaking his head. Fair enough. The right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) has registered his point. Knowing the hon. Member for Bolsover as I do, I very much doubt he will lose any sleep over it.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. The only thing I would say to the Chancellor is why doesn’t he answer the question? It is pretty clear that he knows the Tory county council has played a blinder by throwing people out of work. That tells you a lot about this economy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Thursday 28th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry that I did not spot the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner), but if he wants to shoehorn his question—

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

You look for your favourites.

[Mr Speaker]

I most certainly do not look for favourites, but I am always happy to hear from the hon. Gentleman, and if he wants to speak now, he can.

[Mr Skinner]

It was on the last question, and you know that.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman can always shoehorn in his concern on any question, and the Chair is accommodating of him. I hope that his mood will improve as the day proceeds.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear both the questions and the answers, and as the record shows—[Interruption.] Order. I do not require any assistance in this matter. As the record shows, that will always happen, however long it takes. There is a lot of noise and much gesticulation from Members on both sides of the House, but I want to hear the questions and I want to hear the answers.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Answer the questions—you’re in government.

Points of Order

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

1st reading: House of Commons
Wednesday 13th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I simply say to the right hon. Gentleman that there will have to be quite a lot of copies.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Of course I take a point of order from Mr Dennis Skinner.

[Mr Skinner]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As a bit of an expert on being thrown out, may I just explain to you that there are various ways of throwing people out? Obviously, one is where everybody follows, but that has never happened in my case. Secondly, it has been possible for somebody to be sent by the Speaker’s Office to the room upstairs that I inhabited and for them to say to me, “On reflection, the Speaker said you can stay.” That is a different way. Another way is where people are sometimes barred from the House but not from the building. These variations have something to do with the Speaker at the time. So all I want you to explain to me is: just which one is this, because it is different?

[Mr Speaker]

I am always open to discussing these matters with the hon. Gentleman. I did not discuss this matter with him at 7.30 am, because, obviously, the eruption had not happened by then. However, as I toddled my way back from the health club this morning, we did discuss the question of last night’s points of order. He volunteered his opinions to me about that matter with his customary forthrightness, of which I was duly appreciative. He asks what type of exclusion today’s was. The answer is that the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber was excluded from the Chamber and from the precincts of the Palace of Westminster for the remainder of the day. I think that is now clear. If there are no further points of order, and I hope there are not, as we have a long way to go and many hours of Chamber debate to come, we will now come to the presentation of Bills.



Bills Presented

Employment Guarantee Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Frank Field, supported by Sir Nicholas Soames, Jack Brereton, Margaret Beckett, Stephen Timms, Jeremy Lefroy, Sir Roger Gale, Kate Hoey, Ruth Smeeth, Sammy Wilson, Jim Shannon and Diana Johnson, presented a Bill to require the Secretary of State to guarantee paid employment for six months for claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance, or the jobseeker’s component of Universal Credit, who have been unemployed for six months or longer; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 6 July, and to be printed (Bill 224).

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Thursday 24th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Well, the hon. Gentleman can always table a question asking when the meeting will be. That is a hint.

[Mr Skinner]

It was a fortnight ago when he agreed.

[Mr Speaker]

I note that, and I think that it will be on the record.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I know that the hon. Lady will accept that he was not merely a Minister in the Department but the Secretary of State and a right hon. Gentleman of notable industry and distinction.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

The previous speaker said a lot of things about the possibility of getting extra money spent in Derbyshire. What he failed to do—this is very important—is say that when the electrification of the midland main line was put forward in this House, it was decided that it would go only as far as Kettering and Corby. Should not the question now be about the wholesale electrification of the midland main line, which would result in people in Derbyshire being better off?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Wednesday 7th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

In offering him best wishes for his birthday on Sunday, I call Mr Dennis Skinner.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Q6. I didn’t know about that. I don’t celebrate things like that—I don’t think you should celebrate age.Anyway, there is another group of people who need help, and they are the people who work in the national health service. What they told me last week was that the best period they ever experienced was under a Labour Government when they had the money increased from £33 billion in 1997 to £100 billion in 2010. That was a golden period. Why did that Government do it? How did they do it? The then Chancellor of the Exchequer put 1% on national insurance and, in hypothecation terms, that went directly to the health service. It is called long-term stability. Under this Government, people do not know whether they are coming or going. It is high time that this Government did the same as we did between 1997 and 2010—get weaving!

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I appreciate the commitment of colleagues. The session has overrun, but I feel that colleagues will go home for Christmas content only if they have asked their questions and they have been answered. I am extremely grateful to the Front-Bench teams on both sides of the House.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Secretary of State aware that in the course of this hour there have been more questions about hospital closures than about almost anything else, covering East Yorkshire, Berwick on his own side, Warwickshire on our side, and High Peak in Derbyshire, including Bolsover and Bakewell Hospitals? There is a growing suspicion that what this Secretary of State is up to is leaving those hospitals and losing all the beds in them forever so that the private sector can move in and take the lot. That is what is going to happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Bolsover is right to say that if somebody who uses an unparliamentary word refuses to withdraw it, that Member has only one place to go—and that is out. That applies across the piece, but to be fair, the right hon. Gentleman did withdraw the word, so the crisis has been averted. [Interruption.] Order. Anyway, it is on the record and I hope the hon. Gentleman is now content. He has a beatific smile on his face, and I think this should be canned.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

I read “Erskine May” every day.

[Mr Speaker]

Indeed.

Student Loans Company

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Monday 20th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Skinner]

That is not very good electioneering—and your name’s Johnson!

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

Exiting the EU: Sectoral Impact Assessments

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Wednesday 1st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Well, I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. The Government do have to respond. He is quite right that I was not in the Chair, though of course the Chair is seamless—there was a distinguished occupant of the Chair at the time—and I have received advice on what took place when I was not in the Chair. I think, from an earlier point of order, there was some exchange about what constituted, and what did not constitute, ignoring a motion. Suffice it to say that enough has been said tonight. Points of order have been raised. I think that I have given a clear indication of what the general practice has been and what I would do if I were approached in writing, and it is right and proper, as the right hon. Gentleman implies, that we leave it there for tonight.

[Mr Skinner]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker—

[Mr Speaker]

But who can refuse the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner)? Of course I will hear his point of order.

[Mr Skinner]

I know that Mr Speaker likes to reply to points of order, so I will just throw him one. He and I have been here a long time, so, like me, does he feel that the Government are dying on their feet?

[Mr Speaker]

It is not for me to make any such assertion. I have done my bit in allowing the hon. Gentleman to indulge his appetite and I should leave it there. I honestly think that I have said enough for tonight. Members know that what I have said so far is clear, at least in terms of the intended sequence of events. I thank the hon. Gentleman and note that he made his point with a smile.

Points of Order

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 31st October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Ordinarily I find that if one is sufficiently persistent and demonstrates by one’s behaviour—entirely lawfully, I hasten to add—that there is no question of one’s going away, an institution will, in the end, tend to think that it is best to respond. I have had some modest experience of these matters in the past when seeking to secure a refund for a very elderly constituent in relation, I think, to a satellite dish. In the first instance, the company thought it proper simply to ignore my representations, but I made approaches with notable and perhaps spectacular regularity, as a consequence of which, in the end—this was probably 15 years ago—my constituent was able to seek redress. I never secured anything remotely approximating an apology from the company, but in a sense that mattered not. My constituent got his refund, and I rather doubt that the company would have tried to play the same game, at any rate in relation to any of my constituents, again. If I was able to succeed, I am confident that the hon. Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds), with due persistence, will also be able to do so.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Ah yes, I remember it well.

[Mr Speaker]

I am always grateful to the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) for his encouragement from a sedentary position.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Wednesday 18th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but never forgotten: Mr Dennis Skinner.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Q14. Is the Prime Minister aware that INEOS, the fracking company, has been accused of creating a massive deterioration in the water supply, run by Severn Trent, on the Oxcroft estate in the Bolsover area? Will she, as Prime Minister, investigate this matter, and call on INEOS to halt the process while the investigation takes place?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Lady should take it as a compliment that seven Ministers are required to cope with her.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

I said that first!

Points of Order

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Monday 17th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. As you know, because you have already allocated an Adjournment debate to two colleagues—my right hon. Friends the Members for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) and for Rother Valley (Sir Kevin Barron)—and because you have heard us, and me in particular, say it, this possibly £80 billion scheme means that a lot of houses in my constituency are going to be demolished; that roads are going to go straight through a development that has only just taken place; and that in Derbyshire there will be a slow track, dawdling its way to Sheffield and beyond, and then a fast track going to Meadowhall. This is a very important matter, and it should be debated at length, because it is going to cost the taxpayer a small fortune. As you know, Mr Speaker, the Sheffield line could be electrified all the way to London, and the trains could get to London a lot more quickly for a lot less money.

This is an outrage, and that is why I have raised the matter today, along with my right hon. and hon. Friends.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to right hon. and hon. Members for their points of order. What I will say in response is this.

First, my understanding is that the written ministerial statement has now been issued. There was some speculation on when it would be issued, and I am advised that it has been. Secondly, I am not in a position to require a Minister to come to the House today to make a statement; however, it is comparatively unusual for Members on both sides of the House, in unison, to raise such a concern, and to make, to all intents and purposes, exactly similar requests for a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and John Bercow

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Now that the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) has reached the midpoint of his parliamentary career, I had intended to call him if he was standing, but he is not and so I will not—but if he does, I will.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

I have listened to the questions and answers for the past hour, and I hear about the city deals and all the rest of it, but why does the Secretary of State not answer the specific questions about the trade unions? If he wants to give the impression that he is on the side of working-class people, why do not the Government drop the trade union Bill and all the rest of it?

[Mr Skinner]

Answer the question!

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Mr Skinner]

I did not get an answer.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I must say to the hon. Gentleman that on the strength of his 47 years’ experience of this place he knows that not receiving an answer is not an altogether novel phenomenon in the House of Commons, irrespective of who is in power at the time.