Business of the House

Angela Eagle Excerpts

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The business for next week is as follows:

Monday 22 April—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Public Service Pensions Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill [Lords], followed by remaining stages of the Partnerships (Prosecution) (Scotland) Bill [Lords], followed by a motion relating to section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993.

Tuesday 23 April—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by Opposition day [unallotted half day]. There will be a debate on Northern Ireland. The debate will arise on an Opposition motion, followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords amendments.



Wednesday 24 April—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by Opposition day [unallotted half day]. There will be a debate on the Agriculture Wages Board. The debate will arise on an Opposition motion, followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords amendments.

Thursday 25 April—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by a motion to approve a statutory instrument relating to banks and banking, followed by a motion to approve a European document relating to railways, followed by, if necessary, consideration of Lords amendments.

The date and time for the prorogation of Parliament will be set once the progress of business is certain.

[Ms Eagle]

I thank the Leader of the House for announcing next week’s possibly full business timetable.

Yesterday we marked the end of an era with the funeral of Margaret Thatcher and our thoughts are with those who knew and loved her. I rarely agreed with her, but she did break the existing political and economic consensus and I think it is time that we did so again.

We are now entering the final hectic days of this parliamentary Session—if necessary. Next Wednesday it will be five weeks since the Prime Minister was last held to account in this House. Given the likely timing of Prorogation and the state opening on 8 May, it is possible that he will have to be answerable here again only twice before June. Does the Leader of the House agree that this is a completely unacceptable state of affairs? What will he do to ensure that this House stops conveniently going into recess on Tuesdays, thereby letting the Prime Minister off the PMQ hook?

On Tuesday the Communities and Local Government Secretary got himself into a right old pickle with his chaotic plans for a free market free-for-all in conservatory construction. With Labour, Liberal Democrats and Tories uniting against him, he was forced to hint at an unspecified concession, but in the damning words of the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), his colleague around the Cabinet table for two years,

“we will not believe what”

the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government says

“until we see the proposals in black and white.”—[Official Report, 16 April 2013; Vol. 561, c. 196.]

Will the Leader of the House clarify what this mysterious concession might be, or cannot this incompetent Government even organise a concession in a conservatory?

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

George will like that.

[Ms Eagle]

I suspect that the Patronage Secretary has got a few conservatories of his own.

For 60 years, the Agricultural Wages Board has protected vulnerable rural workers from exploitation at the hands of rich landowners, but on Tuesday, without so much as a hint of debate or a vote on the Floor of the House, the Government abolished it. This transfers £240 million from workers in some of the toughest and lowest-paid jobs in rural England directly into the back pockets of their employers. It is a disgrace that such a crucial protection can be removed without so much as a vote or even debate in the democratically elected House. It will take our Opposition day debate for the arguments to be heard, but rural workers protections have already been destroyed. It is clear from the parliamentary timetable that the Government could have made time for the issue to be debated properly. Anyone would think that the Prime Minister was trying to avoid business running on until Wednesdays.

In 28 of the 31 weeks that the Health Secretary has been in the job, England’s major accident and emergency units have missed the target for treating patients within four hours, but at the same time he has handed £2.2 billion of NHS funds back to the Treasury. Will the Leader of the House arrange for an urgent statement on how Ministers will bring all accident and emergency departments in England back up to the national standards they set? Despite being forced to backtrack once already, the Health Secretary persists with his damaging section 75 regulations, which will effectively privatise the NHS by the back door. The Lords will debate them next Wednesday, so will the Leader of the House tell us when we will debate them in the Commons?

Following the Budget, the International Monetary Fund this week again slashed the UK growth forecast and agreed with us that the Chancellor needs to change course. A year ago, it predicted growth of 2%, but that has now dropped to just 0.7%. Unemployment is rising, real wages are falling and borrowing is shooting through the roof, but the Chancellor’s only growth strategy seems to be to destroy rights at work. When will he get real and admit that his plan is just not working? Our downgraded Chancellor has been busy trying to be a man of the people, attempting to distract attention from his huge tax cut for millionaires by dropping his aitches in a speech at Morrisons—and he was not even very good at that. With a failing economic strategy, a faltering legislative programme and a Government adrift, will the Leader of the House tell the Chancellor that we need a change of course, not a change of accent?

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to the shadow Leader of the House, particularly for her gracious good wishes to those of us who knew Margaret Thatcher well. Many of us at her funeral service at St Paul’s cathedral yesterday were tempted to think it the end of an era, but we realised that that was not the case at all—it simply marked her passing. It was a very personal event, a funeral service, and even with the national and international presence, it did not represent the end of an era. It was a reflection of the character of Margaret Thatcher. I hope that that persists and that we all understand the importance of values and principles and of seeing them through to completion.

The hon. Lady asked about the Prime Minister’s response to questions in the House. The Prime Minister is assiduous in his attendance in, and support for, the House and in responding to questions. The number of statements made and questions he answers in response to them is unprecedented compared with his predecessors, and of course she neglected to observe that on 8 May, on the state opening of Parliament, the Prime Minister will open the debate on the Gracious Speech.

The hon. Lady talked about permitted development rights. She would not expect me to anticipate at business questions what will be a further debate in the other place on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, but under the circumstances I thought my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government did what was right. We know how important it is, through the extension of permitted development rights, to give people an opportunity—this carries through the principle of localism—to develop their own homes. This is not something we should disparage; it is something we should support, and it will have the additional benefit of supporting growth in many communities. We just want to ensure, recognising the debate in the House, that we do so in a way that recognises where concerns arise.

On forthcoming business, the Opposition have taken the opportunity to schedule a debate on the Agricultural Wages Board next week and we will debate it then.

On A and E waiting times, the hon. Lady raises a point that I have heard my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health respond to, but I am sure he will take further opportunities to do so. She should look—and perhaps talk to her hon. Friends in Scotland and Wales—and recognise that this has nothing to do with the character of the targets set. The targets were set at 95% on clinical advice—quite appropriately—but A and E departments are coming under a range of pressures during the course of a very severe winter. The situation in England is not different from that in Scotland and Wales; in fact, if anything, the pressures and resulting delays in treatment are greater in Wales and Scotland. Although she is not here at the moment, her right hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) will have an Adjournment debate next week precisely to raise these issues.

Finally, the shadow Leader of the House talked about the IMF. When she looks at what the IMF has had to say, she will see that it is clear that there is considerable scope for optimism across the world, although there are substantial problems in Europe. We as a country are very exposed to those problems; none the less, according to the IMF we are anticipated to have higher growth rates in the year ahead than Germany or France. We also have employment levels that are considerably better and unemployment rates that are considerably lower than the average across the eurozone. I think she should express support for that, rather than seek to disparage this country’s economic performance.