Business of the House

Chris Law Excerpts

Thursday 21st April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

On the issue of anti-Semitism and the Labour party, I would encourage Labour Members to have a debate. The shadow Leader of the House is absolutely right to have written the article he did, saying that anti-Semitism is not acceptable, but, of course, his words have to be turned into action by the Labour party.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

One of my constituents, Ewan Gurr, would be delighted to become unemployed. Why? Well, he is Scotland’s network manager for the Trussell Trust. The latest figures he has published show that over 133,000 people depend on food banks—they would twice fill Murrayfield stadium—and we have seen a 20% increase in my constituency in the last year alone, due to the recent benefit cuts and sanctions. One constituent has just been sanctioned for an appalling three years—three whole years—and is depending on £36 a week. May we have an urgent debate in the House to discuss that Dickensian situation and to make food banks a thing of the past so that Ewan Gurr can move on to new employment?

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Gentleman’s constituent can have been sanctioned for three years only if he has turned down three reasonable job offers and so has basically refused to work. In a society that is compassionate but believes that people should get back to work, that is simply unacceptable. On food banks, there are some fantastic projects around the country linked to churches, where people are doing really good work in our community. It is worth saying that the use of food banks in this country is much lower than in other countries, such as Germany. However, I pay tribute to those who work on behalf of people going through hiccups in their lives, and it is right and proper that we have a strong voluntary sector that does that.

Business of the House

Chris Law Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

This is obviously a very difficult and sensitive issue. I do not know enough about the circumstances of the drug, but I will make sure that the Health Secretary is aware of the concerns that the hon. Lady raises. I believe that he will be in the Chamber next week, and I ask her to bring up this issue with Health Ministers then.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

I have previously asked the Leader of the House whether we could have an urgent debate on the disproportionate size of the House of the Lords compared with the House of Commons. However, my question was dismissed, so I will try again. May we have an urgent debate on the role of a bicameral Parliament in a representative democracy in the 21st century to consider whether it continues to be appropriate for more than half the Members of the United Kingdom Parliament to be appointed by the Prime Minister, rather than elected by the people?

[Chris Grayling]

I seem to remember that SNP Members praised the House of Lords last week for one of its votes. I would say to the hon. Gentleman that this country has greater priorities on its desk right now than sorting out, changing or reforming the House of Lords.

Business of the House

Chris Law Excerpts

Thursday 25th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

Of course it is the Government’s intention to publish the childhood obesity strategy, but we are also working on getting it right. I can absolutely assure the hon. Gentleman that, when we come to publish that document, when it is ready and we are satisfied that it is the right tool for the job, we will bring it to the House.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

Extraordinarily, the Prime Minister has made 233 appointments to the unelected House of Lords since he was elected, making a seam-bursting total of 826 Members, yet only yesterday many of us here received an email from the Boundaries Commission informing us of a forthcoming review of the Chamber to reduce the number of Scottish MPs from 59 to 53, which will result in the House of Lords being 40% larger than this House. Will the Leader of the House bring to this Chamber an urgent debate on the rough wooing of our democracy in Scotland, where we will have more Tory Lords than MPs apparently representing our country?

[Chris Grayling]

It is important to remember that this is the elected House. This is the House that ultimately has the final say on matters, and it is right and proper that we have a structure of representation here that represents the balance of the population of the country. It is the case that the Boundary Commission has a remit to align the size of constituencies across the country. That matter is not related to the other place. It is about ensuring that there is fairness of representation in this elected House, which is the one that ultimately decides what happens in this country.

Business of the House

Chris Law Excerpts

Thursday 28th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

That is a good point and some very good work is being done. I am not aware of the college that the hon. Gentleman refers to, but it clearly plays an important role. We want to see people, when they leave school, have the opportunity to move into work or move into apprenticeships—that should be a priority for us as well. The Minister for Skills will be here on Tuesday and I will make sure that he is aware of the concerns that have been raised.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

Last week, in reply to my question regarding post-study work visas, the Leader of the House stated:

“This is an area that was not in the Smith commission report.”—[Official Report, 21 January 2016; Vol. 604, c. 1566.]

The right hon. Gentleman is entirely wrong. Page 20 of the report, which I have here, states that,

“the Scottish and UK governments should work together to explore the possibility of introducing formal schemes to allow international higher education students graduating from Scottish further and higher education institutions to remain in Scotland and contribute to economic activity for a . . . period of time.”

Will the Leader of the House apologise for his misleading reply and offer to correct the record by offering a commitment that the UK Government will now seriously consider the issue of post-study work visas, as recommended by the cross-party Smith commission?

[Chris Grayling]

The only person who should resign is someone who works for the current leader of the Labour party and does not agree with him. Let us be clear. The hon. Gentleman has clearly misunderstood the point that I was making last week. There is not a recommendation in the Smith commission report that this should happen. We have implemented the recommendations of the Smith commission report about what should happen. The two Administrations should carry on talking about this area and a whole variety of areas, and we do and we will, but the Smith commission did not recommend that we implement a change on this and we have not done so.

Business of the House

Chris Law Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Gentleman knows, as this issue was addressed in this House a couple of days ago, that the steel industry internationally faces enormous challenges. The problems that we are experiencing are not unique to this country; they are a factor of change around the world. We believe strongly that this country benefits economically from having proper and solid economic ties with China, which does not mean that we are not putting serious effort into trying to address the problems that the steel industry faces, but he will understand that it is an international challenge that is not easy to resolve.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

Within the past week, the Secretary of State for Scotland has made a departmental statement and then a U-turn counter-statement on post-study work visas while being fully aware that there was an ongoing investigation into this matter by the Scottish Affairs Committee. That has enraged both the Scottish media and the people of Scotland. Will the Leader of the House issue a statement saying that such behaviour undermines the cross-party work of the parliamentary Committee, the evidence submitted from the many who come before the Committee, and subsequent reports that are published? Will he also assure us that this UK Government made an abject error and will not undermine parliamentary democracy in the future?

[Chris Grayling]

This is an area that was not in the Smith commission report. It is also one on which we seek to do the right thing and to provide the right balance. We think the system that has been put in place provides that right balance, even though the hon. Gentleman and his party do not agree.

English Votes for English Laws

Chris Law Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

I will make some progress first, if I may.

England does not seek to overturn those powers, nor would we want to. As this process has developed, however, there has been a failure to incorporate democratic fairness for England. That is the point. The situation persists that Scottish MPs have the right to vote on issues such as health and education that affect my constituents in east Yorkshire, while I cannot do the same in respect of their constituents north of the border. As the scale of devolution has grown, that unfairness has increased, and the Bill that is going through the House will further exacerbate the imbalance.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?