Election of Speaker

Debate between Caroline Lucas and Iain Stewart

Tuesday 17th December 2019 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

I join those who have paid tribute to the two young people who were tragically killed on London bridge.

Mr Speaker-Elect, on behalf of an admittedly small party, but one with a lot of ambition, I should like to add my congratulations to you. I know from my own experience just how serious you are when you say that you will champion the interests of all of us from smaller parties. With our democracy being tested to its limits in recent months, I look forward to seeing your strong sense of fairness prevail, so that we can ensure that we hold the Executive to account, especially by continuing to uphold your long tradition of giving Back Benchers the opportunities to be heard and to play our part, no matter the size of the political party from which we hail.

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

I have to signify to the House the pleasure of Her Majesty that the House should present their Speaker this day at 3.45 pm in the House of Peers for Her Majesty’s Royal Approbation.

Rail 2020

Debate between Caroline Lucas and Iain Stewart

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow, for the second successive Wednesday, the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman), Chairman of the Transport Committee. Last week our discussions were about high-speed rail; this week’s discussions will be at a slightly more sedate pace.

These are encouraging times for railways in the United Kingdom. As the hon. Lady mentioned, since privatisation passenger numbers have doubled and freight is showing a healthy increase of about 60%. That compares very favourably with our counterparts on the continent. I believe it is fair to say we have had the fastest growth in rail usage.

We are also seeing a substantial programme of investment in our rail network, with large projects such as the electrification of the great western line and the midland main line and the opening of new rail lines, including, I am pleased to say, the east-west line through my constituency to connect Bedford, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Aylesbury, and, it is to be hoped, in due course going further east towards Cambridge and the East Anglian network.

[Caroline Lucas]

The hon. Gentleman made some comparisons with the rest of Europe in terms of railway passenger numbers. Would he also make some comparisons about the levels of fares in this country and many other European countries?

[Iain Stewart]

I will happily do that. Indeed, I looked into this matter for a previous debate, as it is often claimed that our rail fares are the highest in Europe. Certainly if we compare immediate, walk-up, any time fares, we are comparatively more expensive, but if we look at the whole basket of fares, we compare very favourably. I urge the hon. Lady to look at an independent website compiled by regular rail users called “The Man in Seat Sixty-One”. It compares similar journeys on the continent and here, and for even very short-time advance fares we compare very favourably, so I do not accept that across the piece it is more expensive to travel by rail in this country than on the continent.

Illegally Logged Timber (Prohibition of Import, Sale or Distribution) Bill

Debate between Caroline Lucas and Iain Stewart

Friday 4th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Lucas]

No.

In his speech on his ten-minute rule Bill, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle did an excellent job of explaining why UK legislation was needed, stating that

“it is clear that action at European level will not go far enough”.

Quite correctly, he went on to describe the problem with the EU legislation:

“It lacks an explicit overarching prohibition on illegal timber in the EU market... Loopholes are therefore created whereby all downstream companies—the majority of EU traders—are exempt from even the bare minimum of due diligence requirements. A prohibition on illegal timber needs to apply to all companies that make timber available to the market, whatever their position in the supply chain.”—[Official Report, 16 March 2010; Vol. 507, c. 738.]

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Caroline Lucas]

I will not, because of lack of time.

That is all good stuff, and I of course agree with it. A commitment to just such a prohibition was repeated on page 17 of the coalition agreement, which states that the coalition will bring forward

“Measures to make the import or possession of illegally logged timber a criminal offence”.

Given the critical need to act now and the Government’s clear commitment to go further than the EU, I was alarmed to receive a letter last July from a DEFRA Minister stating that

“we will not be pursuing further UK legislative action at this stage”.

Indeed, another Back Bencher showed me a similar letter that went further by dropping “at this stage” and bluntly stating that

“we will not be pursuing further UK legislative action.”