Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Gemma Doyle

Tuesday 20th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)]

1. What the Government’s political and constitutional reform priorities are for the remainder of this Parliament.

[The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg)]

The Government have already introduced fixed-term Parliaments, a significant constitutional change, and given people a say on the voting system for this House, as well as overseeing significant transfers of power to both Scotland and Wales. We also have radical measures in train to shift power from the centre to local decision makers, including the recently enacted Local Government Finance Act 2012 and the second wave of city deals, which will accelerate the pace of decentralisation as well as unlocking new and innovative ways to drive growth. Work also continues on party funding, recall and lobbying reform.

[Gemma Doyle]

I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for that answer, but he has horse-traded with his coalition partner on Lords reform, electoral registration, our electoral system, and boundary changes. Does he not agree that the country deserves a better collection of policies than those that simply serve an individual party’s needs?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

That is a slightly curious allegation coming from a member of a party that had a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on the alternative vote yet barely lifted a finger to campaign for it when it was possible to do so, and that has had a manifesto commitment to an elected House of Lords for years but has done even less to make that a reality. Perhaps the hon. Lady should practise what she preaches.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Gemma Doyle

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I certainly think my hon. Friend is right in saying that, given the daily drip, drip effect of these horrific revelations—which seem to get worse every day—about things that seem to have taken place on a scale that was before now unimaginable, we should send out a clear message from all parts of this House to any victim who is sitting at home alone, still harbouring terrible memories of the terrible suffering they endured, that this is the time for them to speak out. This is the time for them to come forward. We will help them; we will reach out to them. We will make sure that their suffering is atoned for and that where we can find those who perpetrated these terrible abuses, they are brought to justice, even several years since those events might first have occurred.

[Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q12. Scotland’s First Minister has misled the public on legal advice that does not exist and rewritten the ministerial code for his own gain, and there are strong suggestions that he will ignore the Electoral Commission in the upcoming referendum. People in Scotland are losing faith in the First Minister, and this Government are in danger of being complicit in yet another muddle. Does the Deputy Prime Minister trust the First Minister to deliver a fair, legal and decisive referendum on separation?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I hope the hon. Lady will recognise that we have been working on a cross-party basis, particularly with those parties that believe in maintaining the family of nations in the United Kingdom, to ensure a fair, legal and decisive vote in the referendum. I certainly agree with her characterisation: the spectacle of the SNP Administration using taxpayers’ money to stop disclosure to the public of legal advice that they never sought in the first place—honestly, you couldn’t make it up. It is almost a bit like dropping Iceland from the arc of prosperity.