Trident: Test Firing

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Monday 23rd January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

How can this be an independent nuclear deterrent if Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America—a man who is as thick as two short planks—is given the information, but nobody on the Opposition Benches is allowed to see it?

[Sir Michael Fallon]

The hon. Gentleman knows very well that the nuclear deterrent that has served us so well is independent, because its operational control rests with our Prime Minister, not with the President of the United States.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Monday 23rd November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct to say that there is already a clear legal basis for military action against ISIL in Syria which does not require a United Nations resolution. None the less, I hope he will welcome UN Security Council resolution 2249, which provides clear and unanimous political endorsement by the entire international community for the military action already being taken by the counter-ISIL coalition.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Why are the Government turning a blind eye to ISIL selling off its oil to our NATO pals?

[Michael Fallon]

The Government are not turning a blind eye. On the contrary, we are doing our best to interdict those supplies of oil and to stop ISIL selling its oil on the international market. I have discussed this with Syria’s neighbours. We also need to stop ISIL selling its oil to the Syrian regime itself.

Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Monday 20th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

A number of Americans and personnel from other forces are embedded in our forces. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: this is part of the normal exchange between close partners in NATO and beyond, and these are some of normal operating procedures among the armed forces of friendly countries.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Twelve years ago, based on half-truths and in some cases untruths, the Iraq war began. Even today, we know the repercussions of those half-truths and of the failure to tell Parliament everything. I believe that the Secretary of State has not learned those lessons, and history is repeating itself.

[Michael Fallon]

I hope we are learning some of the principal lessons from Iraq, including that Iraq’s future will be secure only under a moderate Government of all the peoples of Iraq, whether they are Kurd, Shi’a or Sunni, and that it will survive only with the support of its friends and allies within the region. That is why this is an international effort to sustain a legitimate and democratically elected Government, which I hope the hon. Gentleman would welcome.

Service Personnel (Ukraine)

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend, another former Minister in the Ministry of Defence. He has got it exactly right. We should respond to requests. Ukraine is our friend, it is in need and we should respond to requests, whether they are for equipment or additional training. I want to assure the House that that is exactly what we will continue to do.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Secretary of State aware that mission creep knows no boundaries? That has happened so many times, as evidenced by the point made much earlier by one of his hon. Friends. In Vietnam, it started with only a little request. On Libya, not so long ago in this House I asked about mission creep and did not get a satisfactory answer. I never could and now I know the result: ISIL roaming over large areas of Libya. That is what mission creep did. As sure as night follows day, Ukraine will now realise that the United Kingdom is a participant in the battle and will ask for more. What is he going to do then?

[Michael Fallon]

It is rather odd to describe the operations in Libya as mission creep. This was a mission to get rid of Gaddafi and to help the Libyan people get rid of a brutal dictator; a dictator I believe the former Labour Government rather cosied up to—

[Mr Skinner]

No, Mrs Thatcher did to get more oil during the pit strike—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 19th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Minister with responsibility for the coal industry aware that when we met the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to try to get something like £70 million to save the two pits at Thoresby and Kellingley, I inquired about the person sitting at the back and was told that he was representing the Minister? In other words, he was jotting down everything that we said—he was acting on behalf of the Minister alone—and therefore the Business Secretary was not able to talk to us frankly, and when we asked for the £70 million to save the pits, they refused. He was like a spy in the camp.

[Michael Fallon]

I really do not recognise that description of the meeting that I know the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends had with my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary. Let me make it clear: I met the unions on Monday, including the National Union of Mineworkers, and we are prepared to look at any new plan brought forward by the directors of UK Coal that will enable us to continue the operation of the two collieries into next year, but any contribution from the Government has to represent full value for money.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 3rd April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

If we can get away from the green deal for a bit, we can talk about 1,300 jobs that are going to go in two of the last three pits in Britain—people who work in the blackness of a coal mine. I want to know the answer to a question that Ministers have been asked on three separate occasions: was there a proposal to use the money from the mineworkers’ pension fund—not the protection fund—in order to save these two pits? Was it raised with the EU? What is the answer? It is time the Government came clean.

[Michael Fallon]

Let me be very clear: these issues are being and have been discussed with the unions. I had discussions with the unions last week and we continue to discuss the proposals with the Commission. Any proposal for taxpayer support would have to show good value for money and it would have to be for a clearly defined period. We continue to discuss the proposals for a managed closure with all the parties involved.

Royal Mail

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 12th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I have had discussions with the union about the details of the employee share scheme. At the moment, the union is opposing privatisation, but my hon. Friend will recall that the unions have opposed previous privatisations, yet their own members have taken the schemes up. I will be interested to see how many members of the Communication Workers Union opt out of the free shares that are being made available.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Does the Minister recall—he probably does—that in the late ’80s we had a wholesale privatisation of almost all the public utilities, with the exception of this one? That was under what Mrs Thatcher called the share-owning democracy. It is almost as if I can hear the same words from the Dispatch Box today. What happened to that share-owning democracy? Almost without exception, the public utilities are now owned abroad and are ripping off the British consumer. The only difference between now and then is that those lickspittle Lib Dems have joined the Tories to privatise this one. What an utter disgrace.

[Michael Fallon]

I do recall hearing roughly the same sentiments from the hon. Gentleman back in the 1980s, but I do not want to return to a world where people waited weeks and months for a phone to be installed. Is he really suggesting that we go back to the days when the state owned car companies, electricity, gas, water and all the rest? Let me be clear about his allegation that the consumer could be ripped off: the price of the second-class stamp will continue to be regulated and will be set by the regulator. It will not be possible for Royal Mail to increase prices in the way he suggests.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Given that Parliament has already decided that this is the right future for Royal Mail, I hope the Opposition will now join in dismissing some of the unnecessary scaremongering, and make clear what would happen if there was ever the horror of a future Labour Government: do they intend to renationalise the Royal Mail?

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

It is not misleading to say that when the share-owning democracy of Mrs Thatcher was launched in the ’80s and ’90s and all those public utilities were sold off and many of the employees received shares—just like the possibility of that on this occasion—the net result is that those public utilities, almost without exception, are now owned by as many as 30 countries. What guarantee has the Minister got that this will not happen to Royal Mail as well?

[Michael Fallon]

In a public offering it is not possible to prevent others from subscribing for the shares, but we hope that Royal Mail, given now the freedom— later this year, we hope—to access private capital, will be put on to a longer-term sustainable footing and will be able to develop its business not just here in Britain, but overseas.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 11th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

We know from the British Geological Survey, which we published two weeks ago, of the central estimate of 1,300 trillion cubic feet in the Bowland-Hodder basin. What we do not yet know is whether that resource can be recovered as economically or, indeed, technically as it has been recovered in the United States. That is why we need to get on and explore to see whether that resource can be made available in the same way and have the same significant reductions in the cost of energy for our businesses and our households.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

But do we not have to be careful about going into those old mining areas where the miners and the miners’ welfares were ethnically cleansed by previous Tory Governments? [Hon. Members: “What?”] Yes, that is exactly what I said. In Calow near Bolsover, Cuadrilla is actually thinking of drilling in an area not a mile away from where methane escaped and nearly killed several hundred people in the village of Arkwright. I warn the new Minister: be careful where these people operate. As for some great nirvana—some great future—from this fracking, it has not been proved at all that there is all that much in it for Britain.

[Michael Fallon]

Let me utterly reject what the hon. Gentleman said about ethnic cleansing, which I find particularly distasteful in a week when this Government have assisted UK Coal in the safeguarding of 2,000 jobs at Kellingley and Thorseby collieries. We do not yet know the full potential of shale in this country. What is important is that we allow those developers to go down, have a look and see the potential. That is why we are simplifying and streamlining the planning and the environmental system to enable them to do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dennis Skinner and Michael Fallon

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

In an earlier question, on the privatisation of Royal Mail, the Minister deliberately referred to the fact that shares would be sold off to the people in Royal Mail. It almost harks back to the “share-owning democracy” of Mrs Thatcher, when she privatised all the public utilities and almost without exception those public utilities—E.ON, EDF and all the rest—are now owned by Germany, France, Spain and even further afield. That is what happens to share-owning democracies. Instead of gazing into crystal balls, read the history!

[Michael Fallon]

I not only read the history, I remember the history because I was here, when the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues—

[Mr Skinner]

You voted for it!

[Michael Fallon]

I voted for it, and he and his colleagues advised the workers in BT—[Interruption]—not to buy the shares and more than 90% of them did buy them. In this instance, Parliament has quite rightly provided that up to 10% of the shares should be reserved for employees. I think that the more than 130,000 people who work for Royal Mail should have the chance to share in the success of their company.