Oral Answers to Questions

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: two weeks ago, we saw the biggest increase in employment in one set of quarterly figures since records began in the 1970s; we are seeing unemployment come down and more people in work; most of those new jobs—the overwhelming majority—are full-time jobs; and nine out of 10 of those jobs over the past year have been in better-paid professions, rather than low-paid jobs. So we are seeing economic success, and every one of those jobs is not just a statistic; it is someone with a pay packet who can help take care of their family, and have the dignity and security that work brings. Is it not surprising that we heard not a word about the economy today from Labour Members? As they know, that is because it is growing and all their forecasts were wrong.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

In evidence to the Select Committee on Welsh Affairs, the leader of the Welsh Conservative Assembly group said that the lockstep on income tax in the draft Wales Bill was not

“a sensible course of action”.

Subsequently that day, the Secretary of State for Wales said that the Assembly group leader was expressing

“very much a personal view of his own.”

Later, the Secretary of State received a letter from the Welsh Conservative Assembly group saying that it was very much its opinion. Who speaks for Wales? Is it the Secretary of State for Wales or the leader of that Assembly group?

Oral Answers to Questions

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in his campaign to make sure that all our rural communities have access to superfast broadband. It is not just an issue of money, and this Government are putting the money in; there are also planning issues to address, because some councils have held up giving permission for the necessary cabinets and other things that have to be put in place at street and village level. That is why our planning reforms, announced by my right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary, are going to sweep away that bureaucracy so that we can get broadband everywhere.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Despite the Prime Minister’s recent valiant efforts, does he not realise that denying thousands of our disabled constituents adequate levels of benefit is merely underlining the fact that the Tories really are the nasty party?

[The Prime Minister]

I simply do not accept even the premise of the right hon. Gentleman’s question. The fact is that we are not cutting the money that is going into disability benefits. The question is how best to reform those disability benefits so that disabled people actually get access to the benefits that they require. I think that anyone who has looked at disability living allowance or who has had to fill in the forms knows that it needs reform. The reform has been led by many of the disability groups, which want to see something that is much more related to people’s disability and faster to access, too.

Public Sector Pensions

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hywel Williams]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

To summarise our motion, we appreciate the valuable work done by public sector workers and believe that they should receive pensions that are affordable, sustainable and fair. I think that we can have agreement across the House on that. We believe that the Government’s changes are primarily for the purposes of deficit reduction—I do not think we are going to have agreement on that—rather than to secure the long-term sustainability of public sector pensions. These changes are, to our minds, unfair on public sector workers.

We also note that the findings of the National Audit Office for the 2007-08 period show that pensions re-negotiated at that time will generate estimated savings of 14% by 2059-60. The conclusions of the 38th report of the Public Accounts Committee reveal that the cost of public service pensions has reduced substantially because of those changes. We agree with the criticism in both reports of the failure to develop a long-term strategy for the role of pensions in recruitment and retention in the public sector, and we condemn the Government’s threat to cut the devolved Administrations’ budgets if they do not implement the Government’s immediate levy.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

I am following my hon. Friend’s argument closely and I agree entirely with what he says. Does he agree that there is a link between this drive to the bottom on public sector pay and the Chancellor’s view that we should be looking at regional pay? This flexibility is all about a drive to the bottom, and it is unacceptable out there; people will not have it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I am grateful for that question from my hon. Friend. She is well known for her outstanding record as a champion for older people prior to coming to the House, and I am sure all Members on both sides of the House share her concern that all older people, regardless of whether they live in their own homes, sheltered accommodation or residential care homes, can live in those settings with real dignity. That is one reason why we have just announced that there will be an independent commission to consider how we can ensure affordable and sustainable funding for care and support for all adults in England, and I hope my hon. Friend will be able to make her views and expertise available to that commission.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

In his keynote Guardian interview on 10 July, the Deputy Prime Minister said:

“I am a revolutionary but”—

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

But he’s turned full circle.

[Mr Llwyd]

Indeed. The Deputy Prime Minister said:

“I am a revolutionary but I am also a pragmatist”.

When he suddenly agreed to raise VAT, was he being a revolutionary pragmatist or a pragmatic revolutionary?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

No one on the Government Benches took lightly the decision to raise VAT, but did we know before we went into government that the structural deficit was £12 billion higher? Did we know that the Labour Government had announced £50 billion of cuts but not told people what that actually meant in practice? Could anyone have predicted the economic firestorm in Europe? Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can tell me why the former Chancellor advocated an increase in VAT but was blocked by the then Prime Minister. The former Chancellor knew it was the right thing to do; the rest of his party stopped him.

Oral Answers to Questions

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look carefully at the report. I have every sympathy with what the right hon. Gentleman has said. Upland landscape is as beautiful as it is because it has been farmed for centuries, and we need to recognise the connection between beautiful landscape and active farming. We want our countryside to be a living, working countryside, not a museum.

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned housing. We must also recognise that the top-down target system was not working. Our plans in the coalition agreement to increase the ability of communities, including villages, to decide whether they want to put in extra homes is a good way of helping to keep the pub, the post office, and the local shops and schools open, and I hope we can proceed with that work.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

I am sure that, even as we speak, the Prime Minister and his team are seeking to make savings and possibly cuts, hopefully without affecting front-line services. May I commend to him one way of saving £7.2 million a day? Bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

[The Prime Minister]

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that I just do not agree with him. I think that if we brought the troops home precipitately—if we did it straight away—not only would we let down our NATO allies, not only would we let down the Afghan people, but we would create circumstances in which the Taliban would return, and the danger of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan would come straight back.

I know that what we are doing is dangerous and difficult, and that it is costing us dearly. I am, of course, acutely aware of that. However, I think that we must put our effort and our shoulder behind the wheel of the Obama-McChrystal plan to ensure that it works as well as it can, and accompany that military surge with a political surge. We need to seek a political settlement to get Taliban fighters to put down their arms and reintegrate into Afghan society. That is the way in which to create some stability in Afghanistan—never a perfect democracy, but some stability—in which event our troops can come home with their heads held high.