Counter-Terrorism: Conflict Zones

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Monday 2nd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I will come to the right hon. Gentleman’s point of order, but, to be fair, the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) has been present in the Chamber, although he has only just started standing—but that is perfectly proper. Let us hear from him.

Point of Order

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Monday 2nd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

I seek your help, Mr Speaker. I received an e-mail from the Chancellor of the Exchequer engagingly entitled “Constituency courtesy”, which told me that he was proposing to visit my constituency on the following day—Friday—as indeed he duly did. However, this e-mail was sent at 9.17 pm on Thursday night, when I received it. That seems to stretch the concept of courtesy rather a long way. Could we not introduce some sort of training course or refresher course that we can send Ministers and their advisers on so that they have a full understanding of what these courtesies are?

[Mr Speaker]

I am bound to say that I think Members would benefit from such a course. I have known the right hon. Gentleman long enough to know that, perhaps unlike a number of colleagues in all parties, his own included, he himself would never be guilty of a discourtesy because he is among the most courteous Members of the House. I think that people ought to observe the spirit and not just the letter of the convention. Many people will feel that it is a discourtesy for him to be notified at such a late stage. I leave colleagues to consider whether that is worthy of somebody who occupies any ministerial office—notably, in this case, the occupant of the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. I think that people ought to rise to the level of events, if I can put it that way.

Points of Order

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. He asks what is the status of such an arrangement. The short answer is that it is a convention; it is not a requirement of parliamentary procedure or of our Standing Orders. That said, I think it is very much to be preferred that the convention should be observed, as it is for the most part by Members on both sides of the House. Notification, by definition, must take place before the visit, but in order to comply with the spirit of the convention, it seems to me reasonable that Members should have adequate notice of, in particular, official visits, so that if they wish to be present, they have the chance to be so. I do not in any way diminish the significance of the hon. Gentleman’s point or of what I just said when I note that the honouring of that arrangement has frequently been as much in the breach as in the observance, and that, I think, is regrettable. It is not a point applied to one side rather than the other.

I know that in the past, long before I was elected to the Chair, visits were made to institutions within my own constituency of which I did not have what I regarded as anything like adequate notice in order to be able to decide whether I wished to be present. I appeal to colleagues to be considerate and solicitous in these matters, because a colleague who does not observe the convention is not only doing the wrong thing, but wholly disabling himself or herself from subsequently complaining if the convention is not honoured when his or her own constituency is affected. I think that deals with the matter.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. When the Justice Committee, as was mentioned earlier, held an appointment hearing for the chief inspector of probation, some information was not given to it, although the Cabinet Office guidelines did not require that to be done. Subsequently, the position changed quite significantly when the wife of Paul McDowell was promoted to a much more senior post in an organisation which had in the meantime obtained contracts for probation. I think it right to say by way of a point of order not only that in my view has Mr McDowell correctly resigned, but that I endorse what the Lord Chancellor has said about his integrity, I repeat what the Committee said about his suitability for the job and his abilities, and I dissociate myself from any attack on his integrity from any part of the House today.

[Mr Speaker]

What the right hon. Gentleman has said is interesting, both for its content and for the vantage point from which he speaks. Members will make their own assessment. I thank him for what he said, and we will leave it there.

Annual Energy Statement

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Thursday 6th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

In two days’ time, the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) will celebrate 41 years since his election in a by-election. I call Sir Alan Beith.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

Thank you for your kind comment, Mr Speaker.

My right hon. Friend has given welcome support in the European state aid negotiations for the Lynemouth power station’s conversion to biomass. May I stress that it is now becoming urgent to get a favourable decision, because the permission to continue to burn coal expires in June next year? May I ask for the Secretary of State’s continued help?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. In the week in which he celebrates 40 years’ uninterrupted service in the House of Commons, I call Sir Alan Beith.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

9. What recent discussions he has had with Ministers of the Scottish Government on cross-border strategic roads.

Voting Eligibility (Prisoners)

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is much interest in the statement, and I am keen to accommodate it, but I remind the House that there is a further piece of business within the hands of the Government to follow, and then three pieces of business under the auspices of the Backbench Business Committee, the last of which, in particular, is very heavily subscribed. I am keen to accommodate the interest, but I appeal to colleagues to help me to help them, and that is done through brevity.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

If the House agrees to the establishment of a Joint Committee, should not that Committee consider other options, such as restoring voting rights only in the last stages of a sentence? What makes me feel sick is the thought either of criminals cashing in from compensation because we have not sorted this out, or of Britain using the same arguments against international human rights jurisdictions as states with truly appalling human rights records.

Reforming Civil Justice

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Tuesday 29th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I emphasised yesterday and I repeat today that, in accordance with long-established convention, Members who came into the Chamber after the Secretary of State started his statement should not expect to be called.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

Given the Lord Chancellor’s characteristic willingness to take what in “Yes, Minister” would have been called “courageous decisions” about success fees, insurance fees, after-the-event insurance and the scope of the small claims courts, will he tell us what he thinks about referral fees and claims farming, which are probably major contributors to the compensation and litigation culture?

Rehabilitation and Sentencing

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Thirty-seven years of service in the House should make the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) an exemplar of brevity.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

I remind the Lord Chancellor that Members from all three parties on the Justice Committee unanimously recommended a shift from expanding prison places to rehabilitation, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health provision and early intervention to stop young people from getting into crime. Would he not be failing to keep the public safe if he did not follow that recommendation?

Education Funding

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Monday 5th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

Is the Secretary of State aware—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do apologise for interrupting the right hon. Gentleman, but I am hearing from a sedentary position, “Point of order”. May I say gently to the House that points of order follow statements? I have an almost insatiable appetite for hearing—[Interruption.] Order. I have an almost insatiable appetite for hearing and responding to points of order, but everything in its time. The House will want to hear Sir Alan Beith.

[Sir Alan Beith]

Does the Secretary of State realise that the arbitrary rules of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme excluded schools in desperate need of replacement in counties such as Northumberland? Will the mechanism that he proposes to use allow for some of those urgent cases to be considered?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Beith and John Bercow

Wednesday 2nd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Alan Beith.

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

rose—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I know that the House wishes to hear Sir Alan Beith.

[Sir Alan Beith]

May I associate my right hon. and hon. Friends with the tributes that the Prime Minister paid to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan and in the dreadful events in Cumbria?

What means does the Prime Minister hope to use to achieve his stated and very necessary objective of allowing the private sector to expand in the parts of the country, such as the north-east, that depend heavily on public sector jobs?