Industrial Action

Debate between David Linden and Grant Shapps

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

When the Tory party spoke about taking back control, none of us thought that would mean suppressing votes with voter ID legislation, a policing and crime Act that curbs the right to protest, a House of Lords with unelected clerics and a Government who are withdrawing the basic fundamental human right to strike. How much longer will this Government continue to claim that this silly little island is a functioning democracy?

[Grant Shapps]

I am pretty sure the hon. Gentleman has been in the Chamber from the beginning, otherwise you would not have called him to speak, Mr Deputy Speaker. He will therefore have heard me say, not once or twice but three times now, that this legislation is compatible with the International Labour Organisation rules that the unions themselves sign up to and many of our European neighbours follow. I am struggling to follow the hon. Gentleman’s argument that this is somehow unfair, undemocratic or against international law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Linden and Grant Shapps

Thursday 30th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

On Saturday, I met RMT Scotland workers on the picket line at Glasgow central station and was incredibly proud to do so. One of the things they told me is that they are sick, tired and fed up of the Secretary of State vilifying them in public. Will he take this opportunity to apologise to RMT workers, our hard-working railway staff who keep the railways safe every day, and actually get around the table with them?

[Grant Shapps]

I am happy to clear this up: I think that railway workers are very hard-working people who have been sold a duffer by their union bosses, who are hard-line—in many cases—Marxists who want to bring this Government down and bring the country to a standstill. It is a great shame that the hon. Member is encouraging that, rather than condemning it. Fortunately, they are paid well above the average in the country—£44,000 for the average railway worker compared with only £31,000 for a nurse.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Linden and Grant Shapps

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

We know that as a result of the disruption caused by the pandemic, many driving students have had to double-pay fees for a driving test. When pressed on that, the Department said that the Road Traffic Act 1988 forbids refunds. Will the Secretary of State therefore support the private Member’s Bill of my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Kirsten Oswald), the Driving Tests (Repayment of Test Fees) Bill?

[Grant Shapps]

Driving tests are among the many things for which there is a big backlog due to the pandemic. I know that because my children are desperate to take their driving tests—or will be shortly. We are doing everything we can to bring them forward, particularly so that people who have already taken their theory test do not end up in a position where they have to pay again. We are doing everything we can. We have already extended the period of time. We have an issue in that we do not want people to take their practical test with a theory test that is so old that it would create new dangers on the roads, but I will look carefully at what the hon. Gentleman has to say.