Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 29th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Ind)]

If the Minister and other Members want to find out how to provide a phenomenal audiology service, they should come to Dudley and visit the clinical CCG buildings at Brierley Hill. It is an amazing service. When I was referred to them for a hearing aid, I could not believe the service. You ring up and say “When can I come in?”, and they say “When would you like to come in?” “Could I come in tomorrow?” “What time would you like to arrive?”—no waiting lists, an absolutely phenomenal service. I was worried—

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Minister.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Ind)]

I was worried that I was getting special treatment because I was the MP, but I was not; it is just an absolutely fantastic service, and I want to commend the brilliant men and women who provide it. It would be great if the Minister came to see them.

European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 (Rule of Law)

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Monday 9th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Main]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. We are having great difficulty hearing the hon. Gentleman, who is making a powerful speech, because he is being barracked.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not wish to be unkind to the hon. Lady, but she is not entirely averse to making loud noises from a sedentary position, so although I appreciate her important contribution on this, I think I will make the judgment myself, if she doesn’t mind. I am deeply obliged to her.

[Ian Austin]

The more Labour Members interrupt, the longer it will take: I am going to make these points. The reason I have not moved is that I did not leave the Labour party to join another party; I left the Labour party to shine a spotlight on the disgrace it has become under the Leader of the Opposition’s leadership and because I regard myself as proper, decent, traditional Labour, not like the extremists who have taken over this party and are dragging it into the mud. That is the point I am going to make in this debate.

These are people—the Leader of the Opposition, the shadow Chancellor—who have spent their entire time in politics working with and defending all sorts of extremists, and in some cases terrorists and antisemites. We should remember what these people said about the IRA. It might be ancient history to the Labour party’s new young recruits, but many people will never forget how they supported terrorists responsible for horrific carnage in a brutal civil war that saw people blown up in pubs and hotels and shopping centres.

A few weeks after the IRA blew up a hotel in Brighton—murdered five people at the Tory party conference—the Leader of the Opposition invited two suspected IRA terrorists to Parliament, and when the man responsible for planting that bomb was put on trial he protested outside the court. The shadow Chancellor said that

“those people involved in the armed struggle”

—people he said had used “bombs and bullets”—

should be honoured. And they have the brass neck to lecture anybody about the rule of law; what a disgrace.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I understand that this debate is about whether the Prime Minister obeys the rule of law, not whether Members talked to people who allegedly have broken the law; it is about whether we deliver the rule of law.

[Mr Speaker]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and his antennae are keenly attuned to the debate. There is a fine dividing line, and the hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) is dilating on the broad theme of disregard, bordering on contempt, for the law. If I think he has elided into a wholly different subject then I will always profit by the counsels of the hon. Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies), but for now the hon. Member for Dudley North is all right—just. But I do warn him that I hope his speech tonight is, given that many others wish to contribute, not going to be as long as the speeches he used to deliver at the students union at the University of Essex 36 years ago, when we jousted together; it needs to be shorter.

[Ian Austin]

Well, Mr Speaker, my speeches then were a lot shorter than yours.

[Mr Speaker]

That may be, but what I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that, by common consent, mine were considerably better.

[Ian Austin]

I am not going to argue that point, Mr Speaker.

This is a debate about whether politicians can be trusted to obey the rule of law, and there is not a single Labour figure in the past—not a single one—who would have backed violent street protest, as the shadow Chancellor did when he called for “insurrection” to “bring down” the Government or praised rioters who he said had “kicked the s-h-i-t” out of the Conservative party’s offices. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Liz McInnes) might not want to hear it, but I will tell her this—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Wednesday 24th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I am always deeply obliged to the hon. Gentleman, whom I have known since we jousted at the University of Essex together, but he was not often in order then and I am sceptical as to whether he will be in order now, for the simple reason that points of order come after urgent questions. I think I speak for the House in saying that we look forward with eager anticipation, bated breath and beads of sweat upon our brow to hear with what pearls of wisdom he intends to favour the Chamber.

Meanwhile, we come to the first of our four urgent questions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Monday 25th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

No, no, no: as I have just been advised, it would require a cross-country train to make the journey from Northumbria, about which the hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr Hepburn) asked, to either Coventry or Dudley, which doubtless have many merits, and which can be reached subsequently in other circumstances.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 6th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

17. It is not just schools in Dudley that have been inadequately funded. The area overall will have lost over £100 million by next year. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council’s spending power has been cut by 20%, while Surrey, which the Chancellor represents, has actually had an increase. Why is he treating Dudley so unfairly?

[Mr Speaker]

This is about the adequacy of school funding.

[Ian Austin]

Which I am interested in.

[Mr Speaker]

Very well done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

When we were at university together there was nothing, in my judgment, about the hon. Gentleman’s intelligence that was artificial.

[Ian Austin]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is not just artificial intelligence. The development of other life sciences and new technologies can have a massive effect on improving people’s healthcare, such as the development of treatments like Orkambi for people with cystic fibrosis. Will the Secretary of State make it an important priority to cut through the impasse between NHS England and the manufacturer, Vertex, so that people with cystic fibrosis can finally get access to the drugs they need?

Business without Debate

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I do understand that concern. Forgive me, but I do not want the hon. Lady to think that I am being frivolous. I sometimes think that a degree of lightness of touch and a bit of humour in the Chamber is not a bad thing. I have no control and no say on the matter, and I was not consulted at all, but I am sensitive to her point. It might be useful in future to think of the consideration that she has identified.

If I may say so, I also think it is perhaps a good idea to give some thought to how our decision making on matters of such importance is viewed by people outside this place. People outside this place do not normally have the capacity suddenly to bring forward their holiday by several days, which is something that bears careful reflection. I will leave it there for now.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. There are people around the country whose children have got cystic fibrosis and who are watching this on TV now, and I think we should get on with the Adjournment debate instead of talking about our holiday arrangements.

[Mr Speaker]

We will get on to that debate. I appreciate what the hon. Gentleman has said. It is a very important debate and it will run fully, but I must take points of order if there are such.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr and Dudley have much to commend them, but they are both a long way away from Oxfordshire, upon which this question is focused. The hon. Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) has always erred on the side of optimism in the 30 years that I have known him. He should keep trying, but later on. Resume your seat, man. Jolly well done.

[Ian Austin]

It is a question about Oxfordshire.

[Mr Speaker]

I do not know what the hon. Gentleman knows about Oxfordshire, but we will hear from the fella later. We look forward to it. A sense of anticipation is developing in the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister’s initial reply did refer to the Government’s ambitions for every part of the country, so there is no reason why we should not hear about the Dudley situation.

[Ian Austin]

London, the south-east and the home counties already get the vast majority of public sector investment. Civil service employment actually went up in London and the south-east while public spending was being cut in the rest of the country. Government Members impose austerity on the rest of us, and now they are coming to the Chamber to demand more spending for their own areas. Instead of thinking about London, the south-east and Oxfordshire, why do the Government not start looking at the position of the Black country so that they invest in infrastructure there and bring some new jobs to places such as Dudley?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Splendid.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

T4. We should all be very worried about the malevolent involvement of the Iranian hard-line al-Quds force using American heavy weapons against our brave allies the Kurds. Will the Minister make it clear that Iraqi forces must not enter the four provinces of the Kurdistan region, and that the only way forward is co-operation in Kirkuk and wider dialogue based on the Iraqi federal constitution, which is supposed to guarantee Kurdish rights?