Consumer Credit and Debt Management

Debate between Mark Durkan and Baroness Burt of Solihull

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lorely Burt]

Back in the real world, we do not want to abstain. We—the Government—want to support her proposition, so I am disappointed that she is taking the view she has.

We cannot accuse the Government of doing nothing. This week the consumer credit directive came into force, enforcing a 14-day cooling-off period. We have also increased the money going into catching, prosecuting and imprisoning loan sharks—these pariahs who feast on the misery of the desperate. The illegal money-lending teams are doing a great job and have been very effective, and we have also launched the consultation—the one that the hon. Lady does not seem to be interested in acknowledging.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Lorely Burt]

I am sorry, but I cannot any more.

I, too, am impatient to see help for vulnerable indebted people, but there are other things that we could be doing. When the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading merge into one regulator, one option could be to give that newly formed body the power to introduce caps if it felt them to be appropriate. Another option that I should like my hon. Friend the Minister to consider is the use of the post office network as a method of access for credit unions, especially as the Government have halted Labour’s closure programme.

The amendment, which I tabled along with the hon. Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) and other Back Benchers, retains all the good aspects of the motion without committing the Government to any course before the end of the consultation. I urge Opposition Members to support the amendment, so that we as a Parliament can work together to end this scourge, with our heads as well as our hearts.

Postal Services Bill

Debate between Mark Durkan and Baroness Burt of Solihull

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lorely Burt]

I have a great deal of sympathy with my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) and with everyone else in the House who wishes to protect the relationship between the Royal Mail and the Post Office. We all want that relationship to continue, but I have severe reservations about whether we can enforce that through Government legislation.

If we examine the situation between the two companies, we will see that they rely on one another. There will continue to be a long-term contract in place between them because there will remain an overwhelming commercial imperative for the two businesses to work together as they do now. The chief executive of Royal Mail, Moya Greene, has said that it is “unthinkable” that there will not always be a very strong relationship between the Post Office and Royal Mail. However, legislation is not the appropriate way for the commercially sensitive terms of a relationship between two independent businesses to be settled.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

The hon. Lady says that legislation is not the appropriate way to make provisions about commercial relationships, but surely it is the appropriate way to make provisions to guarantee public services and public service standards.

[Lorely Burt]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman would agree that there is a guarantee of public services built into the Bill.

The Government are not party to the current arrangements between the two businesses, and they will not be in future. There is no statutory precedent for requiring particular commercial terms between two independent businesses. What the Government can do, however, is help to create the conditions in which both businesses can flourish in partnership with one another. We have heard this afternoon about the £1.3 billion funding package that is being provided to post offices, which will help the Post Office to deliver the best possible service to its new business partner.

The hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Mr Davidson) mentioned the EU, and I will surprise him again by saying that we in this House are to blame for the EU legislation that has come forward. We have gold-plated the EU directive and created an uncompetitive situation by giving private companies compulsory access to Royal Mail and guaranteeing a margin for competitors. My hon. Friend the Member for Colchester mentioned the loss that is made on each competitor’s letter; 2.5p is lost with the delivery of a competitor’s letter.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Durkan]

I fully accept the hon. Gentleman’s point. The proposed agreement would make a difference not just for the individual business people who make a commitment to individual post offices, but collectively for the network and for those who will have responsibility for the broader Post Office enterprise in future. It is meant to give a period of confidence and space, to reduce the unknowns and to give at least some stability and reliability regarding some of the knowns in that context. It would not solve all the other problems—and there are many other issues and challenges—but it would at least give people some measure of assurance.

[Lorely Burt]

I think we are all on the same page in wanting a long agreement. Donald Brydon has said that he would push for the longest agreement possible, so I am not too sure why hon. Members are so worried about the fact that we are trying to impose a 10-year agreement on two businesses for which 10 years may or may not be an optimum time.

[Mark Durkan]

We are not worried about why we should impose an agreement of 10 years; most of us are worried about why the Government would not impose an agreement of 10 years. If someone says they want the maximum agreement possible, it is entirely reasonable for us as a legislative body to say that 10 years is a reasonable period. Given that the legislation is going to construct new realities and impose new conditions on these businesses, we at least have a duty and responsibility to make sure that one of them can have a measure of confidence that it will not have if this new clause is not accepted.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate between Mark Durkan and Baroness Burt of Solihull

Tuesday 12th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

I am trying to follow the hon. Gentleman’s argument and wondering how his constituents might feel about different types of election being held at the same time. I do not understand why he thinks that they are not capable of understanding that. Can he not give them the credit for being able to comprehend the difference?

[Mark Durkan]

I fully recognise that the electorate in my constituency and elsewhere in Northern Ireland can cope with having different elections on the same day. Irish people can cope with elections and referendums on the same day, as we have seen in the south of Ireland. However, the electoral body in the south learned the lessons from that and pointed out the serious issues that arose, including in relation to programmes that were meant to be about the referendum campaign, with a representative from the yes side and one from the no side. But some parties involved in the election on the same day were not included in the broadcasts, and that caused serious controversy about the balance of the coverage. The legislation that this House has previously passed about the obligations in referendums and election campaigns is already difficult to observe, but it will be even more difficult to observe it when both are held at the same time.