Informal European Council

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Horse passports—that was a good one. I do not think we eat horses in this country, but the previous Government, in their wisdom, decided that every one needed a passport. That is just one example. In future we can ensure that we do only what is absolutely necessary, rather than gold-plating.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister share with the House and the country what influence, if any, his Back-Bench Eurosceptics have had on his thinking during these discussions?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the Conservative party is entirely united in thinking that Britain is not right to sign this treaty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I strongly agree. In fact, we are seeking to accelerate the provision of proxy votes for those who are deployed briefly just before a general election, so that servicemen and women who are deployed at short notice are not caught out by the rules and can use proxy votes.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

6. What discussions he has had on the definition of lobbying.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Mark Harper)]

I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer to question 1.

[Jim Sheridan]

May I pump the Minister a little, and ask whether it is part of Government thinking to require companies to register the costs of lobbying in their annual accounts, either directly or indirectly?

[Mr Harper]

If I remember rightly, that was proposed by my Liberal Democrat colleagues when they were in opposition, and the entire parliamentary Labour party voted against it, including, I suspect, the hon. Gentleman. If he will be a little patient and wait for our proposals in the new year, he will be able to satiate his curiosity.

Parliamentary Standards Act 2009

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

rose—

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Afriyie]

We have all heard my hon. Friend’s comments.

[Jim Sheridan]

Are there any recommendations in the report about the principles afforded to IPSA? Is it subject to the same transparency and accountability in terms of salaries, bonuses and hours of work, so that we can see exactly what it is doing?

[Adam Afriyie]

We did not make any recommendations in that field; I simply observe that, given how things are worded, IPSA should be equally transparent. We ask it to tell us what it is doing, explain its logic and show its calculations so that the public can make a judgment on whether that is the right way to do things. Point taken.

I shall conclude my remarks, as I have gone on a fair bit longer than I intended. I have seen the amendment to the motion. I was a touch surprised that it should have come from a member of the Committee, given that we had not spoken about it beforehand, but I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) for all his work on the Committee; he made a great contribution and we reached a moderate set of proposals.

My own feeling is that we have presented the recommendations to the House, and IPSA can see them now. The Government may want to consider a few things in the medium term about these minor, non-controversial legislative changes. If the amendment to the motion is agreed to, I would not be happy about that but ultimately I would not think it was the end of the world.

I know from some of the feedback that I have had in the past few days that Front Benchers have been quite disoriented in their vehemence; I am quite surprised about some of the stories in the newspapers. I just ask Front Benchers to take the issue in a reasoned, calm fashion. Let us not be combative. They have heard my view on the amendment. Let us get on with this gently, without fear or favour, in the interests of taxpayers, transparency and making this place work. Above all, we need to ensure that we do not get a two-tier Parliament in which those with independent means enjoy an easy ride relative to those who need to claim because they cannot afford to subsidise themselves.

Trade Union Officials (Public Funding)

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Burley]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. That is the point that I was trying to make. My direct question to the Government is this: are they willing to go further and change the 1992 Act, so that trade unions should fund all their activities from their subs? There should be no taxpayer subsidy for those who take time off to spend on union activity.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Ian Murray]

rose—

[Mr Burley]

I will not give way.

That would be many people’s preference. By way of an example, the excellent, independent and non-taxpayer funded campaigning website order-order, or the Guido Fawkes blog, has been highlighting the practice of paying union officials out of the taxpayer purse. Following its campaign, full-time taxpayer-funded trade union officials have become known as “Pilgrims” in the media, after Paul Staines exposed one such full-time union rep named Jane Pilgrim as a full-time trade union organiser working in the NHS for Unison. She came to public attention in 2011 after criticising the Government’s health policies. Despite being billed as a nurse, she was found to be a full-time trade union official, being paid £40,000 by the hospital. She is now under investigation by both St George’s hospital and Unison for running a private health consultancy—called The Pilgrim Way—on the side, creating a conflict of interests.

As the website states:

“There is no justification for the taxpayer paying a lobbying organisation to fight for an unsustainable mess in the interests of a vocal minority group. We don’t pay the arms dealers and the tobacco lobbyists’ staffing bills”.

Let us consider this classic example, which was flagged up by none other than the black country’s Express and Star:

“Judy Foster…is employed as an administration officer by the fire service…But for the past seven years the Labour councillor has been devoting all her working time to Unison, representing 280 fire workers…The fire service has now insisted that Councillor Foster…spends half her…time…on fire service duties and half with the union…But Unison has appealed against the offer and says her union work should be full time and funded entirely by the taxpayer.”

My question is why and on what grounds?

[Jim Sheridan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. As a proud member of Unite the Union and the chair of the Unite parliamentary group, I am inviting the hon. Gentleman to come along to our group and tell us where we are going wrong. One of the main factors in a trade union official’s job is identifying and preventing health and safety problems in the workplace—not the office, the workplace. Has he factored in any of the figures from the TaxPayers Alliance?

[Mr Burley]

My direct answer to the hon. Gentleman is to ask what he thinks the human resources department or the Health and Safety Executive are for. Public sector organisations have those people, so there is total duplication.

[Ian Murray]

rose—

[Jim Sheridan]

rose—

Public Disorder

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As my hon. Friend used to work as a solicitor, he knows well that far too much time is taken up in paperwork after an arrest is made. We need to cut down that paperwork. Joint working between the police and the CPS is already helping with that. Virtual courts are helping, and the 24-hour courts that have been working around the clock have made a big difference, too.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

The vast majority of people in Scotland share the anger and frustration of the victims of these crimes, but they are extremely disappointed at the First Minister’s statement that this is an English problem. I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement that he will seek advice from Strathclyde police. Will he extend that to the judicial system in Scotland, which took seriously the concerns of the police and community and imposed appropriate sentences?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look at what the hon. Gentleman says. I particularly admire the work that Strathclyde has done on gangs, and I want to ensure that we learn that across the United Kingdom.

Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thought that it was ingenious to get that point into order, but my hon. Friend makes a very important point, and that was one of the reasons why I did not want to cancel entirely my visit to Africa. It is important that we get on with doing the things that Britain should be doing in the world, whether that is trading with countries such as Nigeria and South Africa, or leading the aid effort, as we are, in the horn of Africa where today we have been told there is not just a catastrophe and a drought, but also a famine. I am proud of the fact that Britain is not being deflected from the great role that it is playing to try to feed hungry people.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

At yesterday’s evidence session, Rupert Murdoch was asked about his frequent meetings with the Prime Minister and his Government, to which he replied, “I wish they would leave me alone.” Will the Prime Minister and his Government comply with that request?

[The Prime Minister]

One of the outcomes of all of this is that there will be a lot more of leaving everybody alone.

Libya and the Middle East

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have put this on the record many times: I think it was wrong to try and facilitate that release. The British Government should have taken a clear view that that was the largest mass murder in British history and that that person should die behind bars. It would have been a clear view; it would have been the right view; and it would have taken the country with them.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

Notwithstanding the brave efforts of our military and consular staff at the weekend, if lessons are to be learned for the future, may I share the experience of my constituent, Mr James Coyle, who was released just last night, and his family? His family and I spent most of last week trying to contact the Foreign Office. Despite numerous phone calls, we were unsuccessful, and when we did get through we were asked the same questions over and over again, despite giving the details over the telephone and by e-mail. The family were repeatedly asked whether James could make his way to Tripoli, despite it being pointed out that he could not because the camp had been looted. If lessons are to be learned and there is going to be an inquiry, will the Prime Minister ensure that the victims in Libya will be included in that inquiry?

[The Prime Minister]

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), is listening to this, and I am sure that he will be able to take up this individual case. I have visited the crisis centre at the Foreign Office and seen the very hard work going on there. Obviously, the Foreign Office was coping not only with the crisis in Libya but with the earthquake in New Zealand, and it was taking calls on both of those. I have to say I have been impressed by its work. I am sure that if the hon. Gentleman has a constituency case, the Foreign Office will take it up for him and see what lessons can be learned.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Tuesday 18th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I reminded the House earlier, holding the referendum on the same day that people have an opportunity to vote anyway saves the taxpayer a considerable amount of money—£30 million. If we are to have a referendum on such an important issue, it is right in principle and in practice to do so on an occasion when people are invited to vote in any event.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

T8. May I ask the Deputy Prime Minister about the referendum on the alternative vote taking place on the same day as the Scottish parliamentary elections? In Scotland, the Electoral Commission says that it does not have the resources to hold both votes on the same day. Will he agree to meet the electoral commissioner in Scotland?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My team and I are more than happy to meet the Electoral Commission with regard to Scotland. We have always maintained that the two votes are very different in nature. There are, of course, practical issues with the administration of the vote, which we are addressing. However, a vote for a devolved Parliament or Assembly and a vote on a referendum of this nature can easily be separated in the minds of voters.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Every man, woman and child in Ireland spends more than £3,000 each year on British goods and services. Our economies are very intertwined—very interlinked—and it is right that we take part in helping to ensure stability and growth in the Irish economy.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

Q4. In the context of “We are all in this together”, could the Prime Minister explain why he proposes to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, which protects some of the poorest workers in the country, while at the same time he is protecting from public scrutiny the salaries and bonuses of major bankers in this country?

[The Prime Minister]

We have looked very carefully at all the quangos and tried to work out which ones need to stay and which ones need to go. That was long overdue. We have a minimum wage and a tax credit system, and there are so many quangos that are not adding value that it makes sense to give taxpayers value and scrap the ones that are not doing anything.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Sheridan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to look into that issue. As we seek efficiencies and savings in the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, we are going to have to be reformers. We are going to have to be more thoughtful and creative about how we have a criminal justice system that carries out punishment in which the public are confident, but that is not so wasteful of public money as what we have now. It is a challenge for us and it is a challenge that we will have to rise and meet.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

It looks as if there is a possible end to the current industrial dispute at British Airways. Will the Prime Minister join me in sending a clear message to senior management at British Airways that should the cabin crew decide to return to normal working, there should be no harassment, no bullying and, most importantly, no recriminations?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the most important thing is that this strike ends—that this action ends—and that British Airways gets back to working properly. The fact is that there is a hugely competitive airlines sector out there and those of us who love our national carrier and want it to be a success want to see people go back to work and work out how to make it compete with others that are striving ahead in the world. That is what we need, and the last Government did not really say that.