Business of the House

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on raising the profile of a good example of how orderly reform can take place. There will be an opportunity at Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions on 19 July to ask my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary about that matter and about how the example of Morocco might be spread more widely.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Leader of the House will realise that this is the 10th anniversary of the dreadful Bradford riots. May we have an early opportunity to debate the progress made since then? In that debate, may we discuss how the cutting of youth services and of courses for English as a second language and the inability to integrate so many schools in our major cities will come back to haunt us?

[Sir George Young]

I have every sympathy with the hon. Gentleman’s point, but he will recognise that if his party had won the last election it would have had to take some difficult decisions that might have had exactly the same impact on youth services.