Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
I hope that the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) will accept my prioritising age before—well, age before something. Let us hear a point of order from the Father of the House, the right hon. Sir Gerald Kaufman.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Mr Speaker, I wish to raise a point of order on the contempt shown towards this House by the Home Office, as evidenced by its treatment of a case that I wrote to the Home Secretary about last month. It relates to a constituent who came to see me and told me that she had moved into my constituency. She gave me her old address and her new address. I immediately wrote to the Home Secretary, on 17 August. I did not expect a reply from her, because in five years she has sent me only one letter, but I thought that my letter might be passed to a junior Minister. Instead, I received an undated letter from UK Visas and Immigration. The email date on the letter was 25 August. It stated:
“According to our records, Ms Smith is currently residing at 25 Thruxton Close…Therefore Ms Smith is not residing in your constituency.”
She is residing in my constituency. I wrote to the person who sent the email, J. Hughes, stating that if he did not reply to me by last week I would raise the matter in the House. He has still not replied to me. I will not be treated like dirt by the Home Office. More importantly, I will not allow my constituents to be treated like dirt. What can be done about it?
Mr Speaker
May I say to the Father of the House that I think he is almost always, including today, the means of his own salvation? There were occasions in the previous Parliament when the right hon. Gentleman had occasion to bring to my attention his dissatisfaction with not having received a reply from a Minister, and I think that on more than one occasion he received a reply from someone who did not exist—the name on the letter was that of someone who did not exist.
Look, these are not matters in which the Chair ordinarily becomes involved, but I have the highest regard for the courtesy that the Home Secretary has always shown to me, and which ordinarily she has always shown to the House. I think that it is much easier to respect the traditions and courtesies of the House and to err on the side of speed of response and, if I may say so, also on the side of acknowledging a very senior and long-serving Member who has made an approach.
I do not think that there will be a division of the House, or even any great objection from the right hon. Gentleman, if I say that he is not always the easiest colleague to please, but he has a right to represent his constituents and to be treated with the utmost courtesy. I am sorry if he feels that he has not been. I know that the Home Secretary will do her best with her ministerial team to accommodate his various requests and, periodically, his demands. [Interruption.] She says from a sedentary position that she does. Let us leave it there for today. The right hon. Gentleman has not been in the House for 45 years for no reason.
English Votes on English Laws
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
A lecture in calmness will be provided by the Father of the House, I feel sure.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Even the title of the statement sounds racist. [Interruption.] Yes! Yes!
The Leader of the House talked repeatedly about constitutional arrangements, but is it not a fact that the glory of this country is that we do not have a constitution, and that we are governed by the Queen in Parliament? Furthermore, is it not a glory of this House that all its Members, from those who hold the highest office to the most newly elected Member of Parliament, are equal in the Division Lobby? Is it not a fact that the Government are not just underlining whatever differences there may be between the outlooks of people from different countries within the United Kingdom, but undermining the whole basis of British democracy, all the way back to when Magna Carta was signed? I hope that there will be enough Conservative Members of Parliament who have sufficient love of this wonderful House not to co-operate in destroying it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. It is always a pleasure to hear the right hon. Gentleman, but his question is in a later group. We are saving him for the delectation of the House at a later stage in our proceedings.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
I am grateful to you for that guidance, Mr Speaker. I received a letter from the Department yesterday saying that my question, which was then question 22, was linked with question 5, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson). The Department has created great confusion which you, Mr Speaker, with your usual efficiency and consideration, are clearing up.
Mr Speaker
I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. All compliments gratefully accepted.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Since written answers began to be answered online, Hansard no longer publishes written questions and answers. I find this a deprivation because it has long been my practice to study the written questions and answers published in Hansard. I find it a deprivation for our constituents who no longer have the opportunity of seeing the written questions and answers. It means that Hansard is no longer a complete record of the proceedings of this House. I am therefore asking you, Mr Speaker, to give instructions that in future written questions and answers should be published in Hansard.
Mr Speaker
I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. My response is as follows. First, my distinct recollection is that the House has already decided on this matter. There is a reassuring nod of the head from the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg) sitting on the Opposition Front Bench, which suggests that my recollection is correct. I am not sure, therefore, that that can easily be revisited, and certainly not impromptu by me from the Chair.
However, my second point to the right hon. Gentleman is that if he wishes to obtain a hard copy of the questions and answers, in accordance with his usual practice, he can obtain that from the Vote Office. That facility, although of course it could be extended to the right hon. Gentleman alone on grounds of his seniority and distinction, is in fact also an opportunity afforded to other right hon. and hon. Members.
I accept that these are matters of interpretation and opinion, but my last point would be that as far as the public are concerned I think the material is readily accessible and, arguably, as a result of this approach more accessible. Now, to judge by the rather sceptical expression on the right hon. Gentleman’s face, I fear I may have some way to go before persuading him of the merit of our approach. But what I am seeking to do—[Interruption.] Somebody chunters, slightly irreverently, from a sedentary position, “analogue”. In many respects, the right hon. Gentleman is modernity itself, not least in his original approach to sartorial elegance, but on these matters he does tend to be rather trad. I am trying, in a utilitarian spirit, on a Benthamite basis, to give the greatest satisfaction to the greatest number and I hope that we can do that. However, if the right hon. Gentleman is dissatisfied, I have a feeling that he will be beating a path to my door.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(10 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
The House, and indeed the nation, can now hear from Sir Gerald Kaufman.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Will the Government condemn in the strongest terms the current efforts by the Israeli Government and settler movements to divide the area of al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest places in the whole of the Muslim religion? Does the Foreign Secretary concur with the US State Department’s statement last week that Israel is poisoning the atmosphere and making support difficult, even from its closest allies?
Business of the House
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Has the right hon. Gentleman seen early-day motion 1041, which stands in my name and those of other hon. Members, and concerns the persecution by the branch of Asda in Longsight in my constituency?
[That this House expresses its disgust with and condemnation of the employment practices of Asda, in particular with regard to its treatment of a staff member at its branch in Longsight, Manchester; notes that this staff member was suspended for nearly two years on bogus allegations and has now, after this protracted and biased process, been unfairly dismissed; suspects that racism is involved in the persecution of this constituent of the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton; asserts that Asda has breached its own policies and procedures, confidentiality and data protection; further asserts that Asda has made false statements, has been involved in collusion over statements, has breached the ACAS code of practice, has made its decision with no valid evidence in support and has taken hearsay as being fact; and condemns these nasty bullies who believe they can get away with anything simply because they are immensely wealthy.]
A constituent of mine who was employed by Asda was suspended on bogus charges. After nearly two years he has now been dismissed, with Asda breaking every single employment rule it would be possible to break, never mind the fact that my constituent is a member of an ethnic minority. May I add to you, Mr Speaker, that when I raised this matter with Asda, it wrote to me saying that it would report me to you for raising it? I therefore report myself to you for standing up for a constituent against these wealthy and powerful bullies.
Mr Speaker
The politest thing I can say is that Asda is not thereby demonstrating a very firm grasp of the parliamentary procedures that we operate in this place.
Food Banks
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(11 years ago)
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Mr Speaker
That is not a point of order, but I am sure the right hon. Gentleman found it humorous.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(11 years ago)
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Mr Speaker
I hope that satisfies the right hon. Gentleman for today. I thank him for raising this important matter, which really is a public service. I am sure that clarity will be established, and hopefully very soon.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will recall that recently I have twice raised the issue of the response, or lack thereof, to my correspondence from the Minister for Immigration. Following the point of order I raised last Monday, on which you ruled, and about which I remind the House, I have continued to receive letters signed not by the Minister for Immigration, but by Lord Taylor of Holbeach, against whom I have no resentment whatsoever. That continued until yesterday, so I asked my secretary to telephone the office of the Minister for Immigration to say that if I continued to receive letters that were not signed by him by Friday of this week, I would raise the matter on the Floor of the House. However, when my secretary made that call, the lady who answered said—I quote from my secretary’s note—that
“this was noted but that it would not make any difference and that Lord Taylor will still be replying, as he does to other Members of Parliament.”
I regard that response as a serious discourtesy from a civil servant to a Member of Parliament in any case.
Mr Speaker, when you responded to my point of order last week, you said:
“It should not be a matter of any controversy from now on. I hope that the Home Secretary can pass on the message to the Minister for Immigration and that the Minister for Immigration will behave in a seemly manner both towards the right hon. Gentleman and towards other Members.”—[Official Report, 2 December 2013; Vol. 571, c. 658.]
I should add that two Cabinet Ministers have told me that as a rule they always reply in person to letters from Privy Counsellors. In view of the fact that what you described as a “seemly manner” is not being observed by the Minister for Immigration, I ask you to rule on the matter. Furthermore, with your permission, if I receive any more letters from Lord Taylor, I will send them to you.
Mr Speaker
I wonder whether the Leader of the House wishes to say anything now—or he and I can discuss the matter.
Point of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You may recall that in October I raised a point of order with you, Mr Speaker, relating to the failure or refusal of the Minister for Immigration to reply to letters that I had sent him. You spoke very firmly indeed about the importance of the responsiveness of Ministers to Members of this House. I raised that point of order having advised the office of the Minister for Immigration that I would do so. After that point of order, on the two cases to which I referred, I got letters the next day signed by the Minister, although the content was unsatisfactory. Since then, all letters that have been sent to me on notepaper with the name on top of the Minister for Immigration have been signed by somebody called Lord Taylor of Holbeach. They have been signed with courtesy, but if they are on the notepaper of the Minister for Immigration, they are not authentic unless they are signed by that Minister. There is no doubt in my mind that what has happened in this past month or more is an act of petty spite by the Minister, because of the fact that I raised a point of order.
Mr Speaker, I do not mind the Minister insulting me; I have been insulted by better people than the Minister whose main claim for distinction was having sustained a fracture when dancing on a table, but it is an insult to my constituents that they are treated in that way and, after you spoke in the way that you did, Mr Speaker, it is an insult to you. That being so, I ask for your ruling and comments on the way in which the Minister for Immigration has been conducting himself so that in future my constituents can get the service to which they have a right. The Home Secretary has not signed a single letter to me in three and a half years, and I can put up with that, because she obviously regards herself as superior to me, but I do not regard the Minister as superior to me, and that being so I want him to sign the letters.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order, of which I did not have advance notice although I am, of course, aware of the chronological sequence of events about which he has just reminded the House. Whether any discourtesy was intended or not—I confess that I do not know, although I have no reason to think that a Minister would want to behave in a way that could be thought to be petty or spiteful—it seems to me, frankly, to be proper form for a letter sent on the headed notepaper of a particular Minister to be signed by that Minister. Although not all Members will necessarily be as exacting in their requirements as the right hon. Gentleman, if he regards it as proper that he be addressed in such a way it would make a great deal of sense, in terms of making the world go round and treating with courtesy someone with 43 years’ uninterrupted service in the House, to do things in the way that he has asked. It should not be a matter of any controversy from now on. I hope that the Home Secretary can pass on the message to the Minister for Immigration and that the Minister for Immigration will behave in a seemly manner both towards the right hon. Gentleman and towards other Members. Perhaps we can leave it there for today.
Bills Presented
Driving Whilst Disqualified (Repeat Offenders) Bill
Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)
Rehman Chishti, supported by Henry Smith, Keith Vaz, Gordon Henderson, Mr David Ruffley, Jeremy Lefroy and Gareth Johnson, presented a Bill to allow Magistrates’ Courts discretion to refer a third or subsequent offence for driving whilst disqualified to the Crown Court for sentencing; and to grant the Crown Court the jurisdiction to impose a custodial sentence of up to two years for such offences.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 28 February, and to be printed (Bill 139).
Causing Death by Driving Whilst Disqualified Bill
Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)
Rehman Chishti, supported by Henry Smith, Keith Vaz, Gordon Henderson, Mr David Ruffley, Jeremy Lefroy and Gareth Johnson, presented a Bill to increase the maximum penalty for causing death by driving whilst disqualified to fourteen years and an unlimited fine.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 28 February, and to be printed (Bill 140).
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. He will know that it is a long-standing practice in the House that considerable latitude is afforded to the Prime Minister of the day to decide in what way to respond to a question. If the hon. Gentleman is dissatisfied with an answer—and it is apparent to me that that is so—he has the resources of the Order Paper and the guidance of the Table Office available to him to enable him to pursue the matter until he receives a substantive response to his inquiry. The opportunity therefore exists for written questions, correspondence and other means to extract the information or views that he seeks. I have given the hon. Gentleman a very particular response because I recognise how strongly he feels, but it would not be right for the Chair to interpose himself between a Minister and the hon. Gentleman in circumstances of this kind. I hope that that is helpful. I know that he is a terrier, and that he will pursue his concerns with his usual indefatigability. [Interruption.] The Whip on duty has just said that the hon. Gentleman is a big terrier. He certainly has a big heart, that is for sure.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I wish to raise a point of order relating to the right of Members of the House to have access to Ministers and, in particular, to Ministers at the Home Office. This relates in particular to two cases, whose correspondence I have here. I originally wrote to the Home Office about the first case on 9 July, saying that it was urgent and that I needed a speedy reply. It involved a religious organisation, the Al-Raza Foundation, in my constituency, which had an indispensable need for a religious worker to join it for an event beginning on 1 November. The matter has not been resolved in the interim, despite my repeated attempts to contact the Home Office and, in particular, the Minister for Immigration, the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper). That organisation is registered by the Home Office as a sponsor, but its activities have been wrecked by the failure of the Home Office to respond since 9 July.
The second case involves a constituent of mine who has been in Copenhagen and who has had problems with his passport. He has visited the British embassy there daily, but has received no help. He is now homeless in Copenhagen. During his family’s most recent visit to see me, his brother was in tears over his predicament. I wrote to the Home Office about the case a month ago, saying that it was urgent, but it has not even bothered to respond. I warned it yesterday that if I did not get a result by today, I would raise the matter with you, Mr Speaker. As a result of that, I got a completely useless telephone call from a member of the Minister for Immigration’s staff, saying that they would let me know as soon as possible. I do not object to the Home Office treating me like dirt, but I will not have my constituents treated like dirt by a Home Secretary who is, as it happens, the least responsive and courteous Home Secretary I have known in my 43 years in the House of Commons.
Mr Speaker
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I say in no facetious spirit but in all solemnity that, having known him throughout my 16 years in the House, I am surprised when Ministers do not judge it prudent simply to respond courteously to him in the first instance, not only because it is the right thing to do but because failure to do so will almost certainly result in a veritable Exocet of protest being lobbed in their direction by the right hon. Gentleman. That appears to have happened now, and I rather imagine that it will continue to do so.
There are two points here. The first is the question of courteous responses to Members, to which I attach a premium. It would help if Ministers on the Treasury Bench would commit to providing the timely, substantive and courteous responses to hon. and right hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber. That is what they ought to do, and I trust that the Leader of the House will ensure that they are up to the mark.
The second point relates to the question of particular immigration cases. I recognise that there has long been great pressure on the immigration system, under successive Governments, but I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will understand that I cannot comment on how long it might take to resolve a particular case, however needy it might be. However, courtesy, timeliness and comprehensiveness of replies are to be expected from Ministers in relation to correspondence, just as they are rightly expected from Ministers in relation to parliamentary questions. I trust that that message will have been heard, and that it will now be heeded.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
I hope there is just a possibility of an outbreak of harmony, but as the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) is on his feet I somewhat doubt it.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Will you confirm that right hon. and hon. Members have only two privileges that are not available to every citizen in this country? One is freedom of speech in this Chamber, subject to your rulings, and the other is access to Ministers.
Mr Speaker
I am reluctant to enter into a debate on this matter. The first point is unarguable; the second is something about which I have just opined. I know that the right hon. Gentleman would not seek to lure me further, because that would be unfair and the right hon. Gentleman would never knowingly be unfair.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(12 years ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. May I support the right hon. and learned Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) in what he has said? Last week, the Foreign Secretary came to this House to make a statement about a proposed action by Palestinians, as was right and proper. It is therefore beyond me that when the state of Israel is breaking international law in three ways the Foreign Secretary has not regarded it as necessary to come here today. When will we have a statement from him?
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the right hon. and learned Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) and to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) for raising this point. With respect to the latter part of the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s point of order, I refer to his words directly: it is right that the House should be kept up to date on this matter. There will be precisely such an opportunity at Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions tomorrow. I am not psychic, but you don’t have to look into the crystal ball when you can read the book; judging from the historical evidence of FCO questions, I just have a hunch that the right hon. and learned Gentleman and the right hon. Gentleman will be in their places, and there is surely a reasonable chance that their eyes might catch mine. I hope that that is helpful.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(12 years, 5 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman
I know that this issue has been a matter of continuing concern to the hon. Gentleman, and I am grateful to him for raising it again on this occasion. The Electoral Commission is certainly ready to advise electoral registration officers on how most accurately to ascertain the residences of second home owners and whether the people living in them have the right to be registered for a second home. As the hon. Gentleman will know, there are rules in secondary legislation to make that more precise. I am sure that the Electoral Commission will be willing to advise all electoral registration officers if they feel in need of that advice.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
My right hon. Friend will be aware that the problem of inaccuracy in the register and, indeed, the lack of registration more generally is particularly serious in inner-city areas. Is it not right that the Electoral Commission should make particular efforts over the coming period to improve registration rates and accuracy in the inner-city areas of our country?
Food Labelling (Halal and Kosher Meat)
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
I oppose the Bill. I declare an interest. I am an orthodox Jew and I was brought up in a household where only kosher meat was eaten. None of these issues was raised throughout my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.
I do not believe for a moment that the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) has the tiniest anti-Semitic feeling in him and I am sure that he is not proposing the Bill for that reason. However, large numbers of Jews would be very greatly distressed if what he proposes were to become law. I speak not only about Jews, but Muslims. I represent many thousands of Muslims in my constituency—good, decent, law-abiding people who, because of their religious allegiance, will eat only halal meat. I do not see why Jews and Muslims alone should be compelled by law to have the meat they eat labelled in a way that no other meat is labelled.
If the hon. Gentleman’s proposed Bill had a wider remit—for example, if it said that all chickens had to be labelled in a certain way if the birds had been battery hens—or if he had proposed that meat had to be labelled in a certain way if the animals had been kept in dreadful conditions before being killed, and killed in an extremely brutal way, as shown in the documentary narrated by Sir Paul McCartney, which revealed the astonishing, abominable and utterly dreadful conditions in which large numbers of animals, whether cows, pigs or whatever, are kept, I would at least regard him as consistent. But he is not being consistent. He has picked on two small minorities who share the way in which the meat they eat is killed. Indeed, when Muslims first came to Manchester and Leeds and wanted their animals killed in a halal way, they went to Jewish slaughter houses in order to do so.
During my whole upbringing, I ate only kosher meat. I am afraid that I did not keep to that in later years, but I still will not eat pigmeat of any kind because my mother and father brought me up in such a way that that meat is what we call “trayf” in Yiddish, and I will not eat trayf food. I think that the hon. Gentleman is picking out two small minority religions that have a special way in which the meat they eat is killed and asking that they, and they alone, have their meat labelled.
I say this as someone who has spoken on animal welfare in this House for many years. I was the leading person who got the hunting ban passed, because of my understanding of the procedures of this House—I say that with some vanity, but it is a fact. I have been involved in the campaign to ban the keeping of wild animals in circuses, something on which I do not recognise the hon. Gentleman as having been hyperactive.
The proposed Bill would have profound implications for religious feelings, and I would be letting my faith and my family down, alongside many good, decent, fine and religious Muslims in my constituency, if I did not state my total opposition to it. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman withdraw the motion so that the House does not even have to vote on it.
Mr Speaker
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his observations on faith, family, eating habits and the legislative record; the House is indebted to him.
Question put (Standing Order No. 23).
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(12 years, 9 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
In thanking the right hon. Gentleman for the way he dedicates himself to alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people and congratulating him on the trouble he takes to go there and see for himself, may I ask him, with regard to textbooks for Palestinian children and children in Gaza, whether it would be valuable if there were schools in which they could study, in view of the large number of schools destroyed by the Israelis and their refusal to allow building materials in to rebuild them?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(12 years, 9 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Is the Prime Minister aware that the entry clearance office in Abu Dhabi has rejected an application by Mrs Maqsood Jan to come from Pakistan to attend her granddaughter’s wedding in Manchester? Would the right hon. Gentleman specify what kind of employment a 72-year-old woman who does not speak English and has never left Pakistan is liable to obtain in my constituency, where unemployment is 10.6%? Will he overrule this barmy decision and allow Mrs Jan the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend her granddaughter’s wedding? If the Home Secretary has said—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. The right hon. Gentleman has been lucidity itself. I am sure he is bringing the question to an end.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
I am; I am bringing it to an end. If the Home Secretary has whispered to the Prime Minister that Mrs Jan can appeal, I should add that the wedding is on 2 April and the appeal procedure is too slow to make that possible.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(12 years, 10 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I wish to raise with you an issue that goes to heart of the rights of hon. Members—whether they have been elected here 11 times and are in their 42nd year as an MP or whether they came to this House for the first time at the last election. The greatest right of hon. Members is freedom of speech within the rules of order. On that basis, I went to the Table Office before questions yesterday to table an early-day motion relating to the maltreatment and mistreatment of one of my constituents. I discussed it with the Clerk to whom I handed the motion, and he told me that it would be printed today unless I heard from him meanwhile.
Not having heard from that Clerk meanwhile, I assumed that the early-day motion would be printed, but when I looked at the list, I found it was not there. With some difficulty, I then made further contact with the Table Office, a representative of which told me that the early-day motion was still being examined to see whether it was in order. The Table Office had seven and a half hours yesterday and six hours today to look into it. It discussed with me the basic question that it said needed answering—whether the early-day motion contained any sub judice elements. It did not. I have found it impossible to get an answer, 25 hours after I tabled the motion, as to whether it will be printed so that I can air my constituent’s grievance and raise it again.
I have to say that I regard it as discourteous and incompetent of the Table Office to have left the situation in this way on a matter that is crucial for any Members of Parliament, whose servants the Table Office staff are—they are not in charge of us; they serve us. That being the case, Mr Speaker, I ask you first to instruct the Table Office to print my motion and, secondly, to investigate why some people working in that Table Office believe that they have the right to dictate to Members of Parliament in carrying out their duties.
Mr Speaker
I am sorry to learn of the right hon. Gentleman’s disappointment and of the sequence of events that he has relayed to the House. I hope it will be helpful to him if, on the basis of what I have been advised thus far, I respond.
I say to the right hon. Gentleman and the House that I have a duty to uphold the sub judice rule. I note what he said about that, but I have something to say. That rule applies equally to written as it does to oral proceedings, and I expect the Table Office to support me in upholding the rule by taking precautions to ensure that there is no inadvertent breach of the rule. It can sometimes take a little time to check whether there are active proceedings in a particular case. I will take steps to assure myself that the right hon. Gentleman’s motion has been treated no differently from how one presented by any other Member would be treated in similar circumstances. However, I stress the importance I attach to taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the sub judice resolution of the House is abided by at all times.
I have been informed by the Table Office that the Ministry of Justice has confirmed that there are no active proceedings and that the right hon. Gentleman’s early-day motion has been tabled. I hope he will understand that I am responding on the basis of what I have been advised. I just want to say one other thing to the right hon. Gentleman, which is that I hope that nobody who works in this House and serves its Members would ever suppose it is his or her role to dictate, to rule or in any sense to trump Members. Everybody is here to serve Members, which should be a matter of pride. I am genuinely saddened if the right hon. Gentleman feels let down. I am happy to look into the matter further. I do not want him to be unhappy, and I hope he will take it in the right spirit if I gently add for his benefit and that of the House that I am relieved at least that at the point at which he discovered against his expectations that his motion had not been tabled, I was not myself anywhere near him.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Further to my point of order, Mr Speaker. I should point out that my courtesy towards you is maximal in comparison with any that I show to anyone else in the country apart from Her Majesty the Queen.
That having been said, anyone reading the 120 words of my motion would have had to be hyper-critical to imagine that it related in any way whatsoever to court proceedings or to the sub judice rule, and that being so, I hope that in future the Table Office will not take to itself rights over what Members of Parliament themselves have the right to say beyond what you yourself, Mr Speaker, would accept.
Mr Speaker
The role of the Table Office is to assist the Speaker in upholding the rules of the House. I hope that that is widely understood.
The right hon. Gentleman will understand that I cannot debate this matter further now, and that it would not be right to do so, but he has made his point very clear. I have heard it, representatives of the office in question have heard it, and I hope that that will suffice for now. I will keep the matter under close review, and I am sure that the spirit of what the right hon. Gentleman has said will be respected.
Middle East and North Africa
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
As it is clearly a waste of time asking the right hon. Gentleman to reverse his deplorable decision on Palestinian membership of the United Nations, may I ask him to endorse the French President’s character reference of the Israeli Prime Minister?
Palestine and the United Nations
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 3 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. May I appeal to colleagues who are almost unaccountably not staying for the urgent question to leave quietly so we can hear Sir Gerald?
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Always a treat, Mr Speaker.
I should like to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement stating the intentions of Her Majesty’s Government with regard to the application next week of the Palestinian Government at the United Nations.
Mr Speaker
Order. I am grateful to the Minister, although his reply was on the long side. We need exchanges to be pithy, because I want to accommodate colleagues who wish to question the Minister.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it would be totally inconsistent to support freedom for the people of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, but not actively to support, through this country’s UN votes, comparable independence for the people of Palestine, who have been waiting 64 years for UN decisions to be fulfilled and implemented? Will he understand that a Palestinian success will transform the situation in the middle east, but that if the Palestinians go to the UN Security Council and, if needs be, the General Assembly and fail, the Israelis will regard it as a triumph and it will be the end of the 20-year peace process? Will the Government stand up and put their hand up for the Palestinian people at the UN?
Public Confidence in the Media and Police
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is it in order for a speaker at the Government Dispatch Box to say one thing at one moment and two minutes later totally deny that he said it?
Mr Speaker
I am afraid I must say that it is in order, and that it has in fact been happening for hundreds of years.
Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation Bid for BSkyB
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
As the hon. Gentleman knows, I was his predecessor as Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. As he also knows, we asked Rebekah Brooks—then Rebekah Wade—to give evidence to the Committee, with Andy Coulson, at that time. She admitted with clarity that she had been involved in paying money to the police. Andy Coulson said that that had been done only within the law, which was an unbelievable lie because it is impossible for a newspaper to pay money to the police within the law. When the hon. Gentleman has Rebekah Brooks and the other people from News International before him, I advise him to take a long spoon with him, because of the way in which they will try to lie and cheat their way out of the predicament that they are in.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the shadow Leader of the House for his point of order. The answer to his first question is no. I received no communication of the kind to which he referred. The second point that I would make to him is that it is always open to a Minister, if he or she so wishes, to come to the House at any time to make a statement on an important matter that is of interest both to the Government and to the House.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I have had cause on a number of occasions recently to draw your attention to the fact that Ministers have made statements and held press conferences outside this House—they have done so on a considerable number of occasions now—and then come to the House either later or not at all. We have now had the latest and worst example of this. The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport said in his last answer that everyone should be held accountable for their actions. The one person who refuses to be accountable for his actions in this is the Prime Minister. That being so—while I recognise that although you do not have power, you do have a remit—what action will you take, Mr Speaker, to make it plain to this Government that it is totally unacceptable for them constantly to insult this House by making statements outside the House and then perhaps coming here as an afterthought?
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. First, I have repeatedly stressed—and I do so again—that important statements of policy, including changes of policy, should be made first to the House. Secondly, the Prime Minister, to whom the right hon. Gentleman referred, will be here in the House, if not before Wednesday, then on Wednesday to respond to questions. The right hon. Gentleman and other Members may seek to catch my eye on that occasion if they are so minded. Thirdly, he will have noticed that when statements are made, in an attempt always to protect the interests of the House as a whole—and in particular the interests of Back-Bench Members—I am inclined to let them run fully, so that Back Benchers have a full and unvarnished opportunity to question the Minister, whoever that Minister may be, and however senior he or she may be.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order and for giving me notice that she intended to raise it. However, I have not been informed of any ministerial statement today on the matter. Perhaps it is worth emphasising that if a new policy or a change in existing policy is to be announced, one would ordinarily hope that the House would hear it first. I am not familiar with the detail of that particular matter, and therefore I cannot say whether it should so qualify, but the general requirement is very clear. The Deputy Prime Minister will be aware of it and the Leader of the House has regularly heard it and communicated it to ministerial colleagues. I am sure that the hon. Lady will find other ways in which to pursue the matter.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Members of the Cabinet are developing a track record for making statements to the press in the morning, with a Minister coming to the House in the afternoon. I drew your attention to the press conference that the Prime Minister held about the national health service before the statement in the House. Last week, before the Lord Chancellor’s statement about changes in sentencing and other matters, the Prime Minister again held a press conference before the House met and told the public what the Secretary of State later told the House of Commons. My hon. Friends on the Front Bench have provided two further examples. Is it not intolerable that the Prime Minister and the Government show continuous contempt for the House of Commons?
Mr Speaker
The right hon. Gentleman is a very experienced Member. I think that I am right in saying that it is 41 years 11 days since he was elected to the House. He has seen a lot. He will understand that the Chair must consider those matters on a case-by-case basis in that some cases are egregious and others are not. I recall the right hon. Gentleman’s previous point of order. He might recall—if not, I shall tell him—my response to the shadow Leader of the House last week. I said that statements should be made first to the House and that I was perturbed by a growing practice of a written ministerial statement followed by a press conference, and, only after that, an oral statement to the House. I hoped that that practice would be nipped in the bud. On that occasion, I also made the point, the significance of which will not escape the right hon. Gentleman or the House, that if that unfortunate and inappropriate practice persisted, there would be mechanisms available to Members who wished to allocate a considerable amount of parliamentary time on a particular day to the study of the matter of urgency, and that that would cause all sorts of problems with programming Government business, which I know the Leader of the House would not want to encounter. I hope that that is clear to the right hon. Gentleman and the House.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You are, of course, aware that there is a major Bill before Parliament proposing huge changes in the national health service. It has been announced in the press today that the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are to hold a staged event at 12 noon tomorrow to announce the changes that they intend to make to that Bill. Is it not utterly unacceptable, particularly when a Bill is before the House of Commons, for announcements about what is to be done to that Bill to be made two and a half hours before the House sits? Do you not agree that that statement should be made first to the House of Commons, and that this stunt should be called off?
Mr Speaker
I reiterate to the right hon. Gentleman, and to the House, my usual point from the Chair, which is that if Ministers, be they ever so high, have important policy announcements to make, including about any changes in policy, those announcements should be made first to the House of Commons.
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I hope that I made clear in the most uncompromising terms, on behalf of the House, my view of unauthorised disclosures in response to the point of order raised yesterday by the right hon. and learned Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell). On that occasion I made the point—which I must reiterate today—that at this juncture what has been raised is not specifically a matter for me, but a matter for the Committee itself to investigate.
The Committee may wish to establish how this came about, because I think that all Members who care about this place would unite in deprecating it in the strongest terms, because of the unfairness to the Member concerned and the rank discourtesy to the institution of the House of Commons.
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I wish to raise with you the extraordinary conduct of 10 Downing street in relation to correspondence from Members of Parliament.
On 26 April, I wrote to the Prime Minister at the request of a constituent. During the last half hour I have received a reply from 10 Downing street, signed “Mrs E Adams, Direct Communications Unit”, saying that my letter has been diverted to receive a response from a Minister in the Treasury.
When I telephoned Mrs Adams to ask why the diversion had taken place, I was first transferred to someone in the correspondence unit, who told me that Mrs Adams did not speak on the telephone. I said that as she had written to me, I assumed that she was capable of speaking to me on the telephone. I was then transferred to someone who described herself as “head of the correspondence unit”, who said that Mrs Adams did not exist and that hers was a computer-generated name. Presumably, hers is also a computer-generated bogus signature.
It so happens that I have been a Member of the House of Commons for nearly 41 years, and that in the past whenever I wrote to a Prime Minister, that Prime Minister replied to me personally, whichever party was in office and whether I was a Back Bencher or a Front Bencher. During the past year, this Prime Minister has not once replied directly to any letters that I have sent him, but has diverted them to other Departments.
I ask for your guidance, Mr Speaker. Can you tell me first why the present Prime Minister does not answer letters as his predecessors have, and secondly what extraordinary events are taking place in 10 Downing street as a result of which it sends letters from someone who does not exist and expects people to accept that?
Points of Order
Debate between Gerald Kaufman and John Bercow(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on a matter relating to ministerial accountability to Members of the House. I recently sent a letter, at the request of a constituent, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose office then notified me that it was being forwarded to the Department for Education for reply. Today, I received a reply from the Department—from the permanent secretary. This is the second time I have received such a letter. The matter about which I wrote was politically controversial, so the permanent secretary has, whether he wished it or not, been drawn into party political controversy by expounding and defending Government policy. This clearly is not satisfactory, Mr Speaker, and I shall be grateful for your guidance on how we should deal with such a situation and prevent its recurrence.
Mr Speaker
The right hon. Gentleman has been in the House for 40 years—I think he is in his 41st year of service in the House—so he will know that how Ministers respond to questions is principally a matter for them. However, I certainly think the point that he has raised warrants a ministerial response. For my own part, I will stick my neck out and observe that when a Member of Parliament tables a question, the Member of Parliament wants a reply from a Minister, not from an official. It might even be thought a little unwise to respond to the right hon. Gentleman, of all people, in the way that was done, but I am sure the Secretary of State will have something to say about the matter.