Election of Speaker
Debate between Colum Eastwood and Lindsay Hoyle(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Colum Eastwood (Foyle) (SDLP)
Thank you, Mr Speaker-Elect. I am very glad to be back and very glad to see the results of the election. Many people in Northern Ireland are delighted with it. We look forward to holding the new Government to account for the promises that they have made to the people of the north of Ireland.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome all the new Members—even the ones I profoundly disagree with. The one piece of advice I would give every new Member is to remember that the Speaker does not just chair the meetings; he is the boss. He is in charge of everything around this place and it would do well for you not to fall out with him. In fact, even a bit of sucking up is sometimes good. I want to take this opportunity, as I say that, Mr Speaker-Elect, to congratulate and thank you for all the fantastic work you did over the last Parliament. You were a champion, as you said yourself, for Back Benchers and for the smaller parties. Even when some of us pushed very close to the line, when we felt that certain things had to be put on the record of this House—he knows what I am talking about—you were there to protect us from some of the legal authorities who would like to get at us. Thank you very much for that.
Mr Speaker-Elect, I wish you all the best in corralling this new House. It is very diverse in terms of representation and in terms of opinion. I look forward to the end of tribal politics—I think that will be a sight to behold. Congratulations.
Tributes to Sir Tony Lloyd
Debate between Colum Eastwood and Lindsay Hoyle(7 months, 1 week ago)
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Colum Eastwood (Foyle) (SDLP)
We have heard much about the many roles that Tony played during his time in politics, in the House, in the Labour party, as a police and crime commissioner, and as the interim Mayor of Greater Manchester. He was also a champion of the underdog, someone we could all learn from and someone I absolutely looked up to. He was a great friend of mine from his time as the shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I was a newbie in this place in 2019, and he helped me to navigate the corridors and the strange rules that govern this place.
The chair of the parliamentary Labour party, the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (John Cryer), talked about Tony’s tolerance and restraint. I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that when he was the shadow Secretary of State, during a very difficult period in our politics, we put those qualities to the test many times, and in the numerous meetings that I attended with Tony and representatives of other political parties in Northern Ireland, there was not much tolerance and restraint on display, but he was there to calm us all down.
I think it important for me also to say that Tony’s interest in Ireland did not start when he became shadow Secretary of State; it was a decades-long pursuit of truth, justice and peace for the people of our island. His friends in Ireland will never forget him, as he never forgot us. I was delighted to host him in Derry a few months ago for a few pints in a local hostelry, where we had great craic and told great stories, and to see him again in the Strangers Bar for a pint just before Christmas—sometimes we actually met without having pints.
One thing stood out to me on the many occasions on which I saw him after he got sick. We all knew that he was not well, but he wore it so lightly. As others have said, he did not talk about himself or his own illness; he talked about us and asked us questions about how things were going. I think of some of the contributions that he was making in this place at the end of his career. He was talking about arms exports to Israel, he was talking about Rwanda, and he was talking about and advocating on behalf of private tenants who were not being treated properly. He was an advocate for the voiceless until the very end.
I want to extend our sympathy and love to Tony’s family and friends, and to all who loved him. On behalf of the people I represent on our island, I say, “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam”. May he rest in peace.
Points of Order
Debate between Colum Eastwood and Lindsay Hoyle(3 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
First, I thank the hon. Member for giving me notice of his point of order. All hon. Members are entitled to expect a timely response to their parliamentary questions. In this case, those on the Treasury Bench will have heard the point of order, and I am sure that the matter will now be looked into. If the hon. Member does not receive a response to his question he might wish to talk to the Table Office about ways to pursue this matter. I would point out, and quite strongly, that we are talking about people’s lives and communities, and I would expect that Ministers take seriously their role and duty to Members of Parliament who have been elected in those constituencies. Whatever their political side, MPs quite rightly deserve answers to their questions. There is no reason for Ministers not to answer in a timely way, so I hope that the message goes across clearly to the Treasury Bench.
Colum Eastwood (Foyle) (SDLP)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During Northern Ireland questions, the Secretary of State accused members of my party of making incendiary remarks on Twitter. He should know by now that words in this Chamber have an implication on the streets—we have seen that too many times. He has been sitting in his ivory tower during all this trouble, when the rest of us were on the street, toe to toe with the men of violence, so will you ask him to come to the House to clarify his remarks, please?
Mr Speaker
That is not a point of order for the Chair, but I assure the hon. Member that his point is on the record, and it will certainly have been heard.
I am now suspending the House for three minutes to enable the necessary arrangements for the next business to be made.