Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Wednesday 12th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

There is an incredibly important principle at stake here, which seems to be missing from the Labour party. Either you want to stamp out electoral fraud or you do not. This policy is about that. Regardless of the number and the levels of the crime, we should tackle it and ensure it does not rob people of their votes. Furthermore, the hon. Gentleman entirely forgets what his own party did in government by making this policy a fact in Northern Ireland.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s steel procurement policies.

Draft Transparency of Donations and Loans etc. (Northern Ireland political parties) order 2018

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Tuesday 19th December 2017 General Committees

[Chloe Smith]

I have great respect for the hon. Lady and I have great and serious respect for her tone of voice. However, she has deployed it unnecessarily twice in this Committee. She is trying to say something that her vote will not say. She needs to hear her own advice. She needs to take her own point: that words and actions matter. In fact, I think that actions probably matter the most, which is why Conservative Members will vote for the order.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

--- Later in debate ---

[Chloe Smith]

I will put this quite bluntly: the Government propose transparency; those who vote against the order are reducing the amount of transparency that will stand on the statute. That is the fact.

[Nic Dakin]

Will the Minister give way?

[Chloe Smith]

No, I will not.

Let me deal with the point from the right hon. Member for Exeter. As I said when I intervened on him, I cannot confirm any of his questions; I explained why, and he should know why. He still seems to want me, for example, to have written to the Electoral Commission, and to have asked it to commit an offence by replying to such a letter. He says he has done so; I really hope he has not, because to do so before passing a draft order such as this is to incite the commission to commit a criminal offence. That would be very unwise indeed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

10. What recent assessment he has made of implementation of the Government’s procurement reforms.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Miss Chloe Smith)]

As a result of the Government’s procurement reforms, we have made the way we do business more competitive, more transparent, better value and far simpler than ever before.

[Nic Dakin]

I thank the Minister for that answer. Are the Government still allowing large corporations that are being investigated for fraud to bid to run our probation services while excluding small businesses and organisations from doing the same?

[Miss Smith]

The hon. Gentleman will find that the contracts he might be alluding to were all let by the previous Government, and I have already informed the House of the progress we are making in shifting Government business to SMEs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

My hon. Friend and I have exchanged views on this subject a number of times, and I look forward to doing so again. As to what we are discussing today, Mr Speaker, you and he will know that there was a draft Bill. We continue to work through its detail and I look forward to bringing forward the further details in due course.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

11. Given that MPs across the parties, and particularly those of us elected in 2010, have been calling for action on lobbyists since we were first elected, why has it taken three years, and still no action? When will we actually have a register in place?

[Miss Smith]

There are two points: one, we are doing it; and two, the Opposition did not do it 13 years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

4. How many new members of the House of Lords the Government plan to create.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Miss Chloe Smith)]

As stated in the programme for government, appointments will be made to the House of Lords with the objective of creating a second Chamber that reflects the share of the vote secured by the political parties at the last general election.

[Nic Dakin]

The coalition Government have created 43 peers a year on average, more than the five previous Prime Ministers. The average will go up to 60 a year if the Minister’s direction of travel is followed. Does she see this as a badge of honour?

[Miss Smith]

What I see is an avoidance of the reality of what happened after 2010, which was that the list of appointments contained the picks of the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) and Labour became the largest party in the Lords despite having lost the general election.

Votes for 16 and 17-year-olds

Debate between Chloe Smith and Nic Dakin

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Miss Smith]

Mr Chope, if I had more time than you might allow me, the direct answer would be that that is because the following things do not apply when a person is 16: holding a licence to drive any vehicle, except certain heavy ones, engaging in street trading, holding an air rifle, etc. I do not wish simply to read out the other half of the list. The point is that, as I have said, a range of activities signal majority from 16 through to 18. Indeed, there are eight of them, on certain counts.

[Nic Dakin]

I compliment the Minister on her engaging contribution to the debate. However, I have not heard any reason for not giving the vote at 16. I hope that she welcomes an ongoing debate about this, so that we can take it forward together.

[Miss Smith]

I welcome that debate and welcome everything that has gone into this debate. Again, I congratulate the hon. Member for Sunderland Central on securing the debate. I welcome the interest that is regularly shown in this debate by those whom we seek to represent and work with. I welcome that not only as a younger person in politics, but as a person who seeks to have other young people involved in politics, as I seek to take the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill through its remaining parliamentary stages. It is vital that registration and turnout increase in this country. We all seek to achieve that.

I cannot give the hon. Member for Caerphilly an emphatic yes, a tick in the box or franchise on a plate, because I do not think that there is consensus in the country for it. That is not reflected in what our constituents ask us to do. There are divergent views. Accordingly, there is no consensus within the Government on this issue. I shall not hide that fact. It was not included in the coalition agreement for Government, so there are no plans for a change in this Parliament.

I thank the hon. Lady for her constructive suggestions about citizenship education, which I will be sure to pass on to my colleagues in the relevant Departments. I look forward very much to continuing this debate and to all of us doing everything that we can to encourage young people to play the fullest possible part in civic and democratic life.