Speaker’s Statement

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 16th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

In a moment—I am saving the hon. Lady up.

The results under the single transferable vote system will be made available as soon as possible in the Vote Office and published on both the intranet and the internet for public viewing. Let us hear first from the hon. Lady.

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear.

[Mrs Laing]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I welcome the announcement you have just made? I thank the Clerks and Officers of the House for the way they conducted today’s election, and for doing it so swiftly. I would like, on behalf of all the candidates who took part, to thank each of the other candidates for the demure and pleasant way the election was conducted. I thank the House for placing its confidence in me to let me become part of your team. Thank you.

[Mr Speaker]

I appreciate the hon. Lady’s typically gracious words. What she said by way of tribute to the staff of the House, who are always exemplary in professionalism, discretion and efficiency, will have been noted, in particular.

Tributes to Baroness Thatcher

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 10th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not know why Members think the hon. Lady has finished. She has finished that paragraph.

[Mrs Laing]

I was pausing for effect, Mr Speaker, but I will conclude. As a result of Margaret Thatcher’s brilliance, resolve, determination, courage and example, no woman can ever be told that she cannot rise to any challenge. Margaret Thatcher made the world a better place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I entirely understand, but I would like greater brevity from now on, to be exemplified by the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing).

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that almost every economic analysis shows beyond doubt that employment prospects in Scotland would be significantly reduced if Scotland were separate from the UK?

Falkland Islands Referendum

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The geographical dexterity of my colleagues never ceases to amaze me. In deference to the right hon. Gentleman’s seniority and distinction, I did not interrupt him, but I think we can probably leave it there.

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Ten years ago I had the honour of accompanying the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) as an observer of the referendum that took place in Gibraltar, which has been very important to its subsequent development. May I endorse the request made by my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) that steps should be taken to ensure that observers are available from many countries of the world so that the result of the democratically organised referendum in the Falklands can be spread far and wide and no one can argue with its result?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 22nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There are far too many noisy private conversations taking place in the Chamber. I know that the House will want to hear Mrs Eleanor Laing.

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Does the Minister agree with me and my constituents that in matters of disability payments for severely disabled children, and of all other payments from taxpayers’ money for the people who are most in need throughout our entire country, we are better off raising money together and working together as one United Kingdom?

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister should answer with reference to the disability premium.

House of Lords Reform (Draft Bill)

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. A great many hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye. Brevity is therefore of the essence.

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Does the Deputy Prime Minister appreciate that there will be a warm welcome for the fact that he is introducing a draft Bill? We look forward to its being thoroughly scrutinised by the Joint Committee. Will he please explain how the balance of power between the two Houses of Parliament will change when an elected second Chamber competes with this House and its Members for democratic legitimacy?

Individual Electoral Registration

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 15th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. A great many right hon. and hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye, so I appeal for short questions and short answers.

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

I thank the shadow Lord Chancellor for his courtesy in telling me a short while ago that he was going to mention what I had said on this matter. As this might really be his very last appearance at the Dispatch Box—we hope for a Frank Sinatra-style comeback, of course—I should like to pay tribute to him and wish him well on behalf of Members on both sides of the House. He will recall that we have argued over this matter for more than five years. The previous Government delayed and delayed, but at the eleventh hour they at last brought in individual voter registration. However, they still built in delays. Of course I have said in the past that I do not want anything to undermine the integrity of the democratic system, and I stick to that, but nothing that the Minister has said today appears to undermine that integrity. On the contrary, he has said that he will proceed carefully, step by step, and he has assured us that he has learned from the Northern Ireland experience. Also, the new system that he has devised will save money as well as time.

Points of Order

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Wednesday 15th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Gentleman has made his point, but we cannot have an oration on the matter. We have had a point of order—we are grateful for that—to which I will respond after I have heard from the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing).

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I had no idea that the right hon. Gentleman was going to raise it and I have not read the report in The Guardian, but I am a member of that Committee and was at its sitting yesterday morning. What the report describes is not what the chairman of the Electoral Commission said; in fact, it is quite close to a point that I raised in that Committee sitting with the chairman of the Electoral Commission about the significance of the date of 5 November being six months before a proposed referendum. What the right hon. Gentleman has just read from The Guardian is not my recollection of what occurred yesterday, and I thought it was as well to raise that.

[Mr Speaker]

Not for the first time, and I am sure not for the last, there is a disagreement on what the evidence is. What I would say to the right hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr MacShane) and to the hon. Member for Epping Forest is that I am not responsible for what is or, alternatively, is not said by people outside this House. There is, of course, a system for the House to consult external parties, and there is a chance for Members to move amendments on which the views of others have been given. The Bill to which reference is being made is, of course, a Bill that has been committed to a Committee of the whole House, and the situation is that people are free to volunteer their views to the Committee on the Bill. The Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform is also conducting an inquiry into the implications of the Bill and, doubtless, it will report any views in due course. I see nothing amiss in what has occurred, but in the course of these brief exchanges the right hon. Gentleman and the hon. Lady have placed their views fairly and squarely on the record.

Bill Presented

Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, supported by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, Mr Secretary Lansley, Secretary Michael Gove, Danny Alexander, Mr Mark Hoban, Mr David Gauke and Justine Greening, presented a Bill to make provision about eligibility for a child trust fund; to repeal the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009; to make provision about entitlement to health in pregnancy grant; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 73) with explanatory notes (Bill 73-EN).

Political and Constitutional Reform

Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and John Bercow

Monday 5th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. A great many right hon. and hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye, and accommodating most, let alone all, of them will require economy in questions and answers.

[Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that if a referendum on a major constitutional issue such as voting reform is to be seen as fair, it should not be the case that a mere 50% of those voting on the day should make the decision? Ought there not to be a threshold of, say, 40% of those entitled to vote, as was the case in 1978 in Scotland?