Criminal Finances Bill

Debate between Keith Vaz and Baroness Laing of Elderslie

2nd reading: House of Commons & Money resolution: House of Commons & Programme motion: House of Commons
Tuesday 25th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Keith Vaz]

I can assure my hon. Friend that I would never want to reduce her time. I congratulate her on making an excellent maiden Front-Bench speech.

The delay in ELMER, and in the new system that the Government will want to put in place as technology moves on, will lead to more criminal activity. The quicker this is done, the better.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

I reassure the hon. Lady that she is quite safe in giving way during a winding-up speech. She has plenty of time. Indeed, she has until 10 minutes to 7, but she will know that the House would prefer that she does not take quite that long.

PETITION

Debate between Keith Vaz and Baroness Laing of Elderslie

Thursday 27th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure—[Interruption.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

Order. Will hon. Members leaving the Chamber do so quickly please ?

[Keith Vaz]

I wish to present a petition on behalf of Mrs S Kaur, Patricia Pitter, Kade aged five, Dillon aged eight, Mohammed Khan, Mr Mistry, and Councillors Bhatti, Clair, Osman and Newcombe. The petition has gathered 158 signatures from local residents. They are very concerned about a crossing in my constituency that crosses Gipsy Lane, Leicester. At the moment, there is a crossing but cars are not stopping at this pedestrian crossing. They would like to see a pelican crossing installed, which would mean that cars would have to stop. I went there last Saturday. The cars did stop when I arrived with a delegation of residents, but it is very clear that cars are not obeying the law. We hope that with this petition they will be able to do so.

The petition states:

The Petition of residents of Leicester East,

Declares that the zebra crossing on Gipsy Lane, Leicester is unsafe as the drivers do not stop long enough, they drive through when pedestrians are half way across the road and further declares that the Petitioners are concerned that there is an accident waiting to happen on this road.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Communities and Local Government and Leicester City Council to investigate installing a pelican crossing at this site.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

[P001337]

Crossing at Gipsy Lane, Leicester

Debate between Keith Vaz and Baroness Laing of Elderslie

Thursday 27th March 2014 Commons Chamber

Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)

- Hansard -

It is a pleasure—[Interruption.]

Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)

- Hansard - - Excerpts

Order. Will hon. Members leaving the Chamber do so quickly please ?

Keith Vaz

- Hansard -

I wish to present a petition on behalf of Mrs S Kaur, Patricia Pitter, Kade aged five, Dillon aged eight, Mohammed Khan, Mr Mistry, and Councillors Bhatti, Clair, Osman and Newcombe. The petition has gathered 158 signatures from local residents. They are very concerned about a crossing in my constituency that crosses Gipsy Lane, Leicester. At the moment, there is a crossing but cars are not stopping at this pedestrian crossing. They would like to see a pelican crossing installed, which would mean that cars would have to stop. I went there last Saturday. The cars did stop when I arrived with a delegation of residents, but it is very clear that cars are not obeying the law. We hope that with this petition they will be able to do so.

The petition states:

The Petition of residents of Leicester East,

Declares that the zebra crossing on Gipsy Lane, Leicester is unsafe as the drivers do not stop long enough, they drive through when pedestrians are half way across the road and further declares that the Petitioners are concerned that there is an accident waiting to happen on this road.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Communities and Local Government and Leicester City Council to investigate installing a pelican crossing at this site.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

[P001337]

Face Coverings (Prohibition) Bill

Debate between Keith Vaz and Baroness Laing of Elderslie

Friday 28th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hollobone]

What the right hon. Gentleman is saying is simply not true. I knock on the doors of my constituents each and every week, and my postbag on this issue, and my e-mail traffic and telephone calls, has beaten all records. The idea that I do not have a feel for how my constituents feel about the Bill is, I am afraid, simply misguided.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

Order. We have had more than sufficient argument about the number of doors knocked on by the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone). That is not the business in hand and we will now resume the debate on the Bill.

[Keith Vaz]

I felt I had to give the hon. Gentleman his fourth chance to intervene, but he has still not answered the question and told the House how many doors he has knocked on in respect of the Muslim community.

Let me speak about Leicester East, which has 21,705 Muslims—20% of my constituents. The constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South has even more than that. He is very proud of them, and we are both proud of the multicultural nature of the great city of Leicester. I have received two separate petitions from constituents, one with 700 plus signatures from mosques across Leicester, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Another with 300 signatures comes from Northfields Education Centre. One thousand people have signed petitions opposing what is proposed by the hon. Member for Kettering. That is the largest petition I have received since 1 January this year.

I thank all those residents and mosques for their campaign: in particular, Imam Adam from the Jamia mosque in Asfordby street, Imam Khalil from the Al-Bukhari mosque on Loughborough road, Imam Imtiaz from the Masjid Ali on Smith Dorrien road, Imam Yasin from the Masjid Noor in Berner street, and Imam Mogra from the Masjid Umar in Evington road in my hon. Friend’s constituency—I am sure that after this debate he will be on his way to hold a surgery there. A further 50 constituents have e-mailed me, which is the largest number who have e-mailed on an issue so far this year. They may not have e-mailed in Kettering, but they are certainly e-mailing in Leicester.

Police

Debate between Keith Vaz and Baroness Laing of Elderslie

Wednesday 12th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Keith Vaz]

The Minister nods in agreement. That is a good idea, but that will cost more money, and I am not sure that the grant will cover the ambitions that the Minister and we all have to ensure that our police service is properly equipped.

The new landscape is welcome. The cuts have probably gone as far as they should have done. I want to see better engagement with the police service. We have a debate tomorrow on the Police Federation, but that is a separate issue. At the end of the day, policing is about what happens locally, and if local people and local police feel that they are not being well served, that is a problem for all of us.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

I now have to announce the result of the deferred Division on the motion relating to the draft Public Bodies Order. The Ayes were 289 and the Noes were 203, so the Question was agreed to.

[The Division list is published at the end of today’s debates.]