Valedictory Debate

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

Forty-eight years ago, when I first joined the Labour party having been rather angry at the way in which a landlord had treated a neighbour of mine, little did I think that I would end up here. I thought about that when I gave my maiden speech on 6 May 1992. The 23 years between then and now have been extraordinary and I have a lot of people to thank for that, particularly from my local party, which contains some great stalwarts and wonderful people.

We have heard tributes being paid to great people in politics, some of whom work at the local level. Reg Chrimes and the late Fred Venables and Norman Angel—extraordinary people of great integrity—had something like 150 years of public service as councillors between them. If a little bit of their integrity has rubbed off on me, I will leave this place a proud man.

You were involved in one of my achievements here, Mr Speaker, namely my 10-year campaign to have Nelson Mandela’s appearance in the Great Hall recognised with a plaque there. It did take rather a long time. I remember the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Sir George Young), when he was the Leader of the House, pointing out that the wheels grind very slowly here. That is probably the only early-day motion I have signed that has had an effect.

I want to reflect on such things as the legislation on agency workers and the work done—on a cross-party basis, I have to say—to support Vauxhall Motors. We have transformed that company with the support of Ministers from all three political parties. More recently, there has been the acquisition of the Thornton research centre, which must be going in the right direction because it has attracted visits by four Cabinet Ministers within the past year. We hope to see more Cabinet Ministers—Labour ones, I hope—during the next Parliament.

In the past few years, I have concentrated my efforts on the science agenda and the work of the parliamentary and scientific committee, the first ever all-party group. It was formed 75 years ago, and last year it had its 75th birthday party, hosted by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh in Buckingham palace. There is also the work we have done on the Science and Technology Committee during the past five years. It is a great pleasure to see the right hon. Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) in his place, because he had to face me many times in enjoyable exchanges.

Some of those points are covered in the Select Committee’s legacy report. In the foreword to the report, I have commended the extraordinary staff we have in this House, and put on the record my thanks to the Committee for its collegiate approach. We have never had a political division in the Committee; yet we have published some reports that are quite blunt about failures within Government. That says a lot about the new process, and reflects well on the election of Chairs and the authority that that gives Chairs over their Committee. I refer hon. Members to the Chair’s foreword to the legacy report, because there is a wonderful picture of me in the Jubilee Room setting off a methane mamba in my hand. It could have set the Houses of Parliament on fire, but I assure everyone that it was a controlled experiment.

Just yesterday, a Bill was published. I do not know, Mr Speaker, whether from your deep reading of parliamentary literature you are aware of the publication of this fake Bill by the science community—you can guess who was behind it. It is called the Andrew Miller parliamentary farewell appreciation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill and was presented to me in all its glory, looking just like a parliamentary Bill, by the science community. I am immensely proud of that, but what I am really proud of is the work that the Committee has done to deserve the accolades it has received.

Finally, if I may, I want to thank the staff I have had over the years, and particularly, as several hon. Members have done, to thank my family, and nobody more than my wife Fran, who has stuck with me through thick and thin during this period. It has been an extraordinary 23 years, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.

[Mr Speaker]

I am looking to call Sir George, for the last two minutes of the debate, at 4.28 pm.

Infrastructure Bill [Lords]

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Miller]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I may be wrong, but I just have a slight sense that this might be a point not of order but of frustration. We will discover.

[Andrew Miller]

There is a lot of frustration in the debate, Mr Speaker. In Committee, the Government made an extraordinary statement that there were some issues around baseline monitoring that the Minister regards as commercial-in-confidence. That is why I have tabled the amendment. Would it not be helpful if the Minister answered that point now, while she is dealing with that measure, rather than simply moving on?

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Miller]

No, but it is on the record.

[Mr Speaker]

All sorts of things are helpful and all sorts of things are unhelpful, but they usually have one thing in common: that none of them is a point of order.

[Amber Rudd]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The hon. Gentleman is right and asks an interesting question. I reassure him that I have written to him and other members of the Committee about that point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

May I draw the Foreign Secretary’s attention to my point of order yesterday about the Government’s failure to brief me about the destruction of chemical weapons in my constituency? Will he undertake, first, to answer, as a matter of urgency, my five named day questions, and secondly to ensure the high-level ministerial briefing for me that was promised to the company—not to me—and thirdly will he put on the record his apology to my constituents for his failure?

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman’s appetite can be satisfied, at any rate for today. We shall see.

Points of Order

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Foreign Secretary made a statement to the House last Monday on chemical weapons from Syria. It now transpires that they are to be destroyed at the plant in Ellesmere Port in my constituency and that the Government and the company involved knew at the time. That has understandably raised a number of legitimate concerns and questions that need to be answered. Has the Foreign and Commonwealth Office approached you, Mr Speaker, to add to what was said last week?

[Mr Speaker]

The short answer is no, I have not been approached by a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The hon. Gentleman is an assiduous parliamentarian of more than 20 years’ standing and I feel confident that he will be well aware of the parliamentary timetable for the week, which includes questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs tomorrow. I confidently predict that he will be in his seat and that he will leap up from it in a bid to catch my eye.

Business of the House

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Thursday 7th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is still heavy pressure on time. I am keen to accommodate remaining colleagues but I must reissue my appeal for extreme brevity, hopefully to be exemplified by Mr Andrew Miller.

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House organise an urgent debate on the use of English in the House, following the new euphemism that we heard yesterday, when the bedroom tax became the spare room subsidy? I remind the right hon. Gentleman that when the Conservative party changed the community charge to the poll tax, it cost them a leader.

Points of Order

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Tuesday 27th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Those on the Front Bench will have heard what the hon. Lady has to say. She will know—and the House can testify—that I attach great importance to Ministers making statements of new policy to the House, but statements arise when—[Interruption.] Order. I do not require any assistance. [Interruption.] Order. Such statements arise when, and only when, there is a new policy to announce. There is not a matter that engages the Chair today, but the hon. Lady has placed her concerns on the record, and I thank her for doing so.

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have given you and the Leader of the House notice of my point of order, which arises from a question I asked the Leader of the House last Thursday about the publication of a response to the Select Committee on Science and Technology report on alcohol guidelines. I raised the matter because of a leak from the Home Office. It now appears that the leak was correct, yet the Government chose, for whatever reasons, not to separate the publication of their strategy and their response to the Select Committee, which was delayed by over a month. That is not the right way to treat a Select Committee that is doing serious work on such matters. Although the Leader of the House clearly did not mislead me, he did not tell me the full story. Will you use your good offices, Mr Speaker, to ensure that this kind of incident does not happen again, because it undermines the work of Select Committees?

[Mr Speaker]

I note what the hon. Gentleman says. He should be encouraged by the presence on the Treasury Bench of the Deputy Leader of the House, who will have listened to him. The gravamen of his complaint appears to relate to the relationship between the Science and Technology Committee and, in this case, the Home Office, but perhaps the Government more generally. I can say only that these are not matters of order on which the Chair can rule. The Select Committee should pursue these questions with the Government, and if the Committee is dissatisfied with the response, it should in the first instance take the matter up with the Liaison Committee.

The Economy

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Tuesday 6th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The very simple answer to the hon. Lady is that the House has not been misled in any way. Nothing disorderly—[Interruption.] Order. I have just made the point, which brooks no contradiction, that the House has not been misled in any way. Nothing disorderly has taken place. The vote is what the vote is; it is not for me to interpret. Other hon. and right hon. Members and people outside the House are free to do so as they wish.

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope it is a different and unrelated point of order.

[Andrew Miller]

Mr Speaker, by a majority of 134, the House has determined that this House has not considered the matter of the economy. Have you heard from the Government Front Bench whether the Government intend to allocate more time to ensure that the House does consider the economy properly?

[Mr Speaker]

No.

Points of Order

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Monday 24th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I have received no such notification and the hon. Gentleman has put his point on the record. I know that he and the House will appreciate that I have a responsibility to protect the important business that will follow these points of order.

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that it is a different and unrelated point of order.

[Andrew Miller]

I said that it was—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman can raise a separate and unrelated point of order.

[Andrew Miller]

During two successive business questions, I have raised an issue with the Leader of the House relating to the failure of the Department for Transport to answer questions that have been properly laid in this Chamber. Last Wednesday, for the first time in my 19 years here, I used the device of an answer for today. It still has not been answered. Will you please use your good offices to ensure that the Department for Transport does its duty towards this House?

[Mr Speaker]

The pledge that appeared to have been made to the hon. Gentleman does not appear to have been fulfilled, as far as I can tell. At any rate, the hon. Gentleman has used a device to try to extract a reply and it has not been forthcoming. The dissatisfaction that he has expressed will have been heard. As of now, my best advice is that he should get over to the Table Office and pursue the issue further. If he needs to revert to this House again, I do not think, on the strength of his 19 years’ experience, that he will hesitate to do just that. That is perfectly proper.

Debate on the Address

Debate between Andrew Miller and John Bercow

Tuesday 25th May 2010 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

It might help the House, and particularly Members seeking to catch your eye this evening, if you instructed the Treasury Bench Members to make available an 82-page document, which is not in the Library and not in the Vote Office, but is available in the Press Gallery. I think you hold my view that this House should be the first to receive information. A great deal of detailed information is in the document, some of which is available on the Government website, but Members seeking to catch your eye in this Chamber cannot gain access to that website. It would therefore be incredibly useful if every Member could have access to this document.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, of which I had no detailed advance notice. I see no reason why the document should not be made readily available in the Vote Office. Representatives of the Treasury Bench are here and they have heard what the hon. Gentleman has said. I feel sure that he will be gratified sooner than he might have expected.