Business of the House

Angela Eagle Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2014 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 will be as follows:

Monday 9 June—Continuation of the debate on the Queen’s speech on health, followed by motion to approve a reasoned opinion relating to undeclared work.

Tuesday 10 June—Continuation of the debate on the Queen’s speech on home affairs.

Wednesday 11 June—Continuation of the debate on the Queen’s speech on jobs and work.

Thursday 12 June—Conclusion of the debate on the Queen’s speech on the economy and living standards.

Friday 13 June—The House will not be sitting.

The provisional business for the week commencing 16 June will include:

Monday 16 June—Conclusion of the remaining stages of the Consumer Rights Bill.

Tuesday 17 June—Conclusion of the remaining stages of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

Wednesday 18 June—Opposition Day [1st allotted day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.

Thursday 19 June—Motion to approve a statutory instrument relating to terrorism, followed by a general debate on the UK’s relationship with Africa, followed by a general debate on defence spending. The subjects for both debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee in the last Session.

Friday 20 June—The House will not be sitting.

I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall for 19 June will be:

Thursday 19 June—A debate on the Twelfth Report of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee entitled “Parliament’s Role in Conflict Decisions: A Way Forward” followed by a debate on the Fourth Report of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee entitled “Do We Need a Constitutional Convention for the UK?”

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Eagle]

Tomorrow we will remember the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, when 160,000 allied troops crossed the channel to liberate Europe. Thousands of men gave their lives to help free Europe from fascist tyranny. We must never forget their bravery and their achievement.

I thank the Leader of the House for giving us next week’s business. Will he confirm that after the debate on the Queen’s Speech he plans to carry on much as he left off by leaving the Opposition and the Backbench Business Committee to provide half the business each week?

There is a G7 meeting taking place in Brussels today at which the continuing crisis in Ukraine will be the main item on the agenda. Can the Leader of the House confirm that either the Prime Minister or the Foreign Secretary intends to come to this House on Monday with a statement?

Following yesterday’s point of order by my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) and your ruling, Mr Speaker, may I thank the Leader of the House for making generally available the No. 10 press briefing on the Gracious Speech? I see that he has just received his own briefing on this question. However, can he tell us why it took a point of order and your ruling for the Government to give to MPs what they had already freely given to the world’s media? Will the Leader of the House now confirm that he will make simultaneously available to this House any future press briefings, especially on the autumn statement and next year’s Budget?

The front pages have been full of the unedifying war between the Home Secretary and the Education Secretary on the Government’s strategy to combat extremism. It appears that separate approaches are being pursued in two different Government Departments, while the Communities Secretary is nowhere to be seen. The briefing is poisonous and the Prime Minister is said to be furious. The Government should be protecting our young people from coming under the influence of extremist ideas. Instead, they appear to be preoccupied with conducting a proxy leadership battle in the Conservative party. Does the Leader of the House agree that this is too important to be treated in this contemptuous way? May we have a statement from the Prime Minister on which of his warring Cabinet Ministers is actually in charge of this vital issue that is crucial to our national security?

Yesterday we heard this Government’s last-gasp legislative programme before the general election, but they have been so busy briefing and counter-briefing over whether the Queen’s Speech is blue rinse or yellow round the edges that they have left the big strategic questions that our country faces completely unanswered. This was a programme that failed to rise to the challenge. Plastic bags were in, but the crisis in the NHS was not even mentioned. There was no mention of immigration, no action on energy prices and no sign of the promised restrictions on cigarette packaging.

The programme outlined yesterday was so modest that even The Daily Telegraph could only call it “light touch”. Her Majesty might just as well have said, “Members of the Commons and Lords, my Government will switch between chillaxing and playing Fruit Ninja from now until the general election.”

We are well used to this coalition fighting, but things have now got so bad that both parties are turning on themselves. The Education Secretary is openly disparaging the Home Secretary, and she is briefing against him. I know he is classically trained, but I think he should beware the ides of May.

The Liberal Democrats have been as successful at organising a coup as they are at everything else. Lord Oakeshott has stormed off, denouncing his party for having

“no roots, no principles and no values.”

I think many of us would agree with that statement. Then we were treated to an excruciating show of enforced unity between the Deputy Prime Minister and the Business Secretary over a pint down the pub. I must say that they looked like they were enjoying each other’s company about as much as they were enjoying the beer. They were in a pub called No Hope and No Anchor. I have thought of a suitable pub for this Government, too: it is called Cock and Bull, serves only bitter and the British public cannot wait for last orders to be called.

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to the shadow Leader of the House for her response to the business statement. She made quite a good joke about May, but unfortunately we are in June.

I completely share the hon. Lady’s view that tomorrow—the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings—offers an opportunity to commemorate the tremendous sacrifice, remember the great importance of the event and celebrate the participation of those who, happily, are still with us. I was particularly interested to read about Jock Hutton, aged 89, who is going to take a parachute drop. That is testament to not only the kind of men they were, but the kind of men they continue to be, which is fantastic.

On the question of business, I am slightly surprised that the shadow Leader of the House still does not quite get it. In this Parliament, we have decided to give the Backbench Business Committee and Back Benchers access to nearly a day a week to raise the subjects they consider to be of greatest priority. That is important. It is not the case that the only purpose of this House is to scrutinise and pass legislation. I am firmly of the opinion that less legislation that is better scrutinised is a good thing.

[Official Report, 9 June 2014, Vol. 582, c. 1-2MC.]As it happens, in the last Session we passed 20 Bills, while in the penultimate Session of the previous Parliament, 18 Bills were passed. An interesting contrast is that in the last Session, 24 Bills had two days of scrutiny on Report in this Chamber, while the figure for the whole of the previous Parliament was only 10. When it has come down to it, we have been able to accomplish a substantial legislative programme and we will continue to do so in this Session, with better scrutiny and legislation as a result.

The hon. Lady asked for a statement on Monday. Obviously, if summits such as that involving the G7 Ministers discuss something important that should be reported to the House, of course we will do so. I cannot necessarily say that there will be a statement, but we will certainly make sure that the House is fully kept up to date if there are matters that require reporting.

The hon. Lady asked about the press briefing pack. It did not require a point of order by the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) for it to be provided to the Vote Office. It was provided in hard copy form yesterday morning, along with a link enabling Members to access it electronically. I am sorry, but that is a fact and the point of order came after it had already been provided to the House in that way.

The hon. Lady asked about the question of extremism in schools, and she asked for a statement. Frankly, the appropriate time for a statement will be when Ofsted has produced its report. As far as the question of colleagues working together on the extremism taskforce is concerned, absolutely they are working together. They are working together energetically with the objective not only of taking the issues extremely seriously, but of taking measures that will be effective. As she has seen, the extremism taskforce has already given rise to a range of measures that we have taken to deal with the question. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education has done so, particularly in relation to questions about schools in Birmingham, including by establishing an inquiry by the retired senior police officer Peter Clarke, which will report back to him this summer.

I thought it was a rather good thing that my right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills went to a pub to reassure publicans the length and breadth of this country that this Government will take the action they have very much sought on the relationships of pub tenants with brewery companies. That should be welcomed by the Labour party, rather than otherwise.

The hon. Lady asked about things that were and were not in the Queen’s Speech. I must say that in this case, she has written her script not just without reading the Queen’s Speech, but probably before it was even provided to her. She talks about demanding action on employment agencies, as she did the other day—we have acted on that. She asks for action on the minimum wage—if she cares to look, she will see that that is in the Gracious Speech. The Opposition want to know when we will deal with zero-hours contracts—it is in the Queen’s Speech, as she can see. They want to cut tax for working people—this Government have increased the personal tax allowance to £10,000. They want action on consumer rights—we will debate the remaining stages of the Consumer Rights Bill during the week after next. She wants action on energy bills—we have just passed the Energy Act 2013, in the last Session. She wants action on immigration—we passed the Immigration Act 2014, which received Royal Assent on 14 May, and its measures are being brought into force. They talk about action on reforming banks—we had two banking reform Acts during the last Session. I am afraid that the Labour party’s only approach seems to be to criticise us by recycling the things we have already done and pretending that we have not done them.

It is very clear what the coalition Government have to do. We just need to get out there and make it absolutely clear that we are taking the measures for which this country is calling. The Labour party has nothing to say and, most importantly, absolutely nothing to say on how to promote economic growth in this country—nothing on more jobs, greater wealth, improving incomes for people. There was a hole bigger than a black hole at the heart of the Leader of the Opposition’s speech yesterday, with absolutely nothing about how to promote the economy in the future.

This party has a long-term economic plan. This Government have a long-term economic plan. We are cutting the deficit, stimulating growth, delivering jobs, promoting schools and skills, capping welfare and controlling immigration. We are the party that is delivering on that plan.