Abu Qatada

Brian Binley Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

As has been made clear to the House, the BBC was making claims about the deadline at that time. The Government have been absolutely clear that the deadline was 16 April. As I have tried to explain to the House today, the Government have also been absolutely clear that the decision as to what the deadline was and whether an application for referral can be accepted—and whether it is within the deadline or whether it can be accepted outside the deadline at the discretion of the European Court—is a matter only for the panel of the Grand Chamber of the European Court. It is the arbiter of this—nobody else.

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

I welcome the Home Secretary’s support for a Bill of Rights, but I am sure that my right hon. Friend recognises that the British people are quickly losing patience with the European Court of Human Rights. Will she therefore urge the Cabinet to ensure that a Bill of Rights is included in the Queen’s Speech, so that the British people can be reassured on this matter very quickly indeed?

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend knows very well the Government’s position in relation to a potential Bill of Rights. The Government have set up the commission; that commission will report, and we will consider its recommendations.

Abu Qatada

Brian Binley Excerpts

Tuesday 17th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

I thank the hon. Lady for what I think is her support for my statement. We will be considering, in particular, the systems that are available to other countries to establish whether there is anything that we should be doing here in the UK to ensure that we can deport people who are dangerous to the United Kingdom, who are suspected of terrorist offences, and who pose a national security risk, far more quickly than we do now.

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

I too congratulate the Home Secretary on setting in train the process of deporting Abu Qatada. Many people in this country will welcome her action. However, although the matter has not been helped by the European Court of Human Rights, there are rumours that our proposals to the Brighton conference will be watered down. Will the Home Secretary, here and now, give us an unqualified assurance that that will not happen when the conference opens tomorrow?

[Mrs May]

I am not in a position to predict what will emerge from the deliberations that will take place during the three days in Brighton, but I can assure my hon. Friend that—as I said earlier—the Prime Minister in a speech earlier this year clearly defined the areas in which we felt that it was necessary to work with other countries on reform of the European Court, and I have every expectation that they will be addressed at the conference this week.

Tribunals (Maximum Compensation Awards) Bill

Brian Binley Excerpts

Friday 17th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Chope]

To put the issue in context, I will quote briefly from some newspapers. On 24 October 2008, the MailOnline had the headline “Asian bank worker gets record £2.8m race discrimination payout”. On 10 September 2009, another headline read: “Sacked council manager wins £1 million age discrimination payout”,

and a report has come out in the past few days saying:

“Discrimination compensation payouts hit an all time high.

A recent annual survey of compensation awards in the Equal Opportunities Review has revealed that the amount being paid out by employers in discrimination cases has more than doubled in two years.”

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend recognise that there is a level below a claim which employers are quite concerned about? They are being threatened with being taken to a tribunal as a way of extracting money from them. Many employers are advised at local level to give in and not allow the case to go to a tribunal. In that respect, there is a certain element of the blackmailers charter about all this. I wondered whether my hon. Friend had thought about that and why he had not included it in his Bill.

[Mr Chope]

I am sure that I could have included it in the Bill, but it is implicit that having a lower maximum figure in the case of unfair dismissal and an absolute maximum figure—there is no maximum figure at present—in the case of discrimination cases will reduce the bargaining power in a situation such as that my hon. Friend outlined. He described it as blackmail. We know that companies can sometimes be threatened with being taken to a tribunal and subject to all sorts of allegations it will find difficult to answer, so they pay up to an aggrieved ex-employee.

Student Visas

Brian Binley Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

What I am doing at every possible opportunity is saying that our universities are still open for business to overseas students. I have said at every stage, both throughout the statement and in response to a number of questions, that the whole point of what we are proposing is to protect the universities while dealing with the bogus colleges. I think that is the right approach, and I hope it meets with agreement across the entire House.

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

I welcome the general thrust of the statement, and my constituents will be delighted to hear about it. I particularly welcome the statement that Britain’s universities are open for business to the brightest and best, but I must tell the Home Secretary that that perception does not hold good in China. In fact, the Chinese think we are closed for business. What specific measures will the Home Secretary take to improve that situation?

[Mrs May]

I thank my hon. Friend for his opening comment, but I do not think that there is any reduction in the number of applications from Chinese students wanting to come to the UK. However, as I have said in answer to a number of other questions, we are absolutely clear about the purpose of what we are announcing today, and I have talked with the university sector about the responsibility that it also has for ensuring that the message is given that UK universities are open for business.

Crime and Policing

Brian Binley Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

No, I will not give way at the moment.

That is why we want to restore that connection between the police and the people that we believe has been bogged down by bureaucracy and damaged over the years.

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that Northamptonshire people have little to thank the previous Government for. They reviewed formula funding in a way that benefitted the county and then failed to implement it. They admitted that the population figures used were incorrect but failed to act on them and they cheated Northamptonshire police out of millions of pounds a year. On that basis, will my right hon. Friend meet a delegation from Northamptonshire and, I hope, talk about reviewing formula funding?