Article 50: Parliamentary Approval

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and John Penrose

Monday 11th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[John Penrose]

I agree with my hon. Friend on both those points: consensus is always desirable and to be sought wherever possible, and article 50 is the route for achieving Brexit. He is also right to point out that it is only the tip of a much larger iceberg; there are a whole series of other things that have to wrap around it. We have heard some of those mentioned already during this urgent question, and I suspect that we will hear more of them in due course.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

Is it not the case that referendums are advisory and that this Parliament is sovereign? Is it not a constitutional outrage and supreme irony that those on the Conservative Benches who based their argument for Brexit on parliamentary sovereignty now want to deny this House a vote and are suggesting that an unelected Prime Minister, with no mandate, agrees to such a fundamental decision for this country? That is a disgrace, and they must not be allowed to get away with it.

[John Penrose]

With the greatest possible respect to the right hon. Gentleman, who is extremely experienced, he may be right on strict constitutional legalities but democratically he is fundamentally wrong. We have had a referendum, the people have spoken and it would be unconscionable—it would be impossible—for us collectively to turn around and thumb our noses at the British people and ignore that democratic verdict.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and John Penrose

Thursday 3rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[John Penrose]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the Staffordshire hoard is a glittering jewel, both literally and figuratively, in the British crown. It shows our history in a completely new light and transforms our understanding of a particular period of our nation’s story. It will indeed draw many tourists to this country, and I hope that it will be involved in many international tours to spread that message more widely.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

The vital south-west tourism industry says that the single measure that would make a difference to it would be an extra hour of daylight, particularly in spring and autumn. When will the Government fulfil their promise on this, and why is the Department not pushing much more vigorously within Government for the change?

[John Penrose]

The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that a private Member’s Bill on that issue is going through Parliament. He will also be aware that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said that the Government do not want to move forward on this without the consent of people from the whole of Britain. That means that the people of Scotland, for example, must be comfortable with the move before we take it forward.

National Lottery Reform

Debate between Ben Bradshaw and John Penrose

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Westminster Hall

[John Penrose]

I thank the hon. Lady for drawing everybody’s attention to that issue. She is absolutely right to point out that any such policy direction would be purely for England; it would then be up to the devolved Administrations to decide whether they wished to follow or not. Alternatively, if they wanted to change or flex the policy direction, it would be entirely up to them to decide how they wanted to react. I hope that that answers the hon. Lady’s question. It is important that we strike the right balance and are flexible on that issue, because an overly rigid approach could create some unintended consequences.

I also want to pick up briefly on one or two of the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay, who is standing in today very nobly for my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr Foster). He asked how we were getting on with the gross profit tax; incidentally, that is an answer to the shadow Secretary of State’s question about whether there was a policy that the Liberal Democrats as well as the Conservatives had backed. The answer to my hon. Friend’s question about the gross profit tax is that discussions with the Treasury are already under way. I am afraid that the timetable is still slightly elastic, because the Treasury is in charge of it, since it is a tax rather than something that is directly the responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. However, as I say, discussions are happening, officials are already involved and I have spoken to the relevant Minister at the Treasury about it already.

[Mr Bradshaw]

I asked the Minister whether any discrete Liberal Democrat policies that were not shared by the Conservatives before the election were now Government policy.

[John Penrose]

I am afraid that I shall have to rely on my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay, who is speaking for the Liberal Democrats today, to answer that question, as I am not quite such an expert on their election manifesto as I am sure he is. I am certain that he will be willing to be buttonholed by the right hon. Gentleman after the debate and will put him right, as necessary.

My hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay asked about the speed at which the spending cuts would be made. He and a number of other Members also asked whether we would try to be flexible in making those cuts. In fact, the right hon. Member for Exeter was also very concerned—to put it charitably—about the extent of cuts. We have four years in which to achieve those cuts and therefore we will carefully phase any reductions that have to be made. None of us here like the notion that there have to be cuts at all; sadly, they are a necessary thing rather than something that anyone is looking forward to implementing. But we will try to ensure that we phase them over that four-year period in the most intelligent way possible, to minimise the effect on the front line and to ensure that adjustments that have to be made can be made during that period.

In response to the comments made by the right hon. Member for Exeter about the need for these cuts, I share the view of my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay. I am afraid that it is true that these cuts are not something that anybody wants to implement; none the less, they are the result of the previous Government’s actions. The reason why they have to be made is not that anybody wants to make them but simply because of what is happening to countries such as Greece. If we look at those countries, we can see that if a country’s public sector finances are not in balance, the international capital markets and the rest of the world will form their own view about its creditworthiness. We are borrowing a vast amount from international creditors at the moment so we need to ensure that we are a credible borrower in their eyes; otherwise, we will not be able to carry on doing anything that we want to do. I am afraid that that credibility has been gravely put in peril, and that is why we have to bring the national accounts back into balance as fast as is reasonably possible. However, I take the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay that we need to do that with sensitivity and care and attempt to minimise the impact on the front line as far as possible.

The right hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth made some points about the needs-based approach, which were picked up by a number of other Members. I think that he was suggesting that he would prefer to see the Big Lottery Fund contribution maintained at 50% rather than at 40%, although as a result of our creating a smaller slice of a bigger pie the total cash amount will go up; I hope that I also answered his question about the impact on both Scotland and Wales. I think that his argument was that he would prefer that contribution to remain as a higher percentage as well as that higher total cash amount, because he felt that that would maximise the amount of money being given on a needs-based approach.

To reassure the right hon. Gentleman—