Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Phil Wilson

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We are investing, as my hon. Friend knows, over £33 million already in extending the coverage of superfast broadband in Devon and Somerset, as part of the current rural broadband programme, and roll-out is finally accelerating. More than 10,000 premises are expected to be covered by the project by the end of the year and 74,000 by next July. On his point about the so-called final 10%, we announced back in June a quarter of a billion pounds of new money to extend superfast broadband coverage further by 2017. I hear what he says, and the plans will be set out in further detail shortly.

[Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab)]

Q8. Both Nissan and Hitachi are major investors in the north-east of England, and both have said that if the UK leaves the EU, it will damage future investment. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that the Conservative party’s hostility to Europe is bad for business and bad for British jobs?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I agree—and I am sure I speak on behalf of most people in all parts of the House—that it would be a spectacular act of economic suicide for the country to pull itself out of the world’s largest borderless single market. By some estimates, over 3 million jobs in this country are dependent, one way or another, on our membership of the European Union.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Phil Wilson

Tuesday 11th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

One of the virtues of individual voter registration—the reason, I assume, why the previous Government were keen to introduce it as well—is precisely that there will be an individual responsibility on voters in the future, including students, to make sure that they are properly registered. As long as we make sure that there is still, as I said there will be, face-to-face household canvassing, there is no reason why this experiment and this introduction of individual voter registration should not lead to an increase in the registration of students.

[Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab)]

How did the Government make the calculation that the new police commissioners should earn £120,000 a year?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Police commissioners’ pay is still to be finalised, but the key thing is that the elections, which will be held next autumn, will give people a real sense of accountability over policing in their local areas.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Phil Wilson

Wednesday 10th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I think that the pupil premium is a significant policy. It puts an end to the system that we inherited from Labour, which meant that if you were a poor child at school in one part of the country a lot of extra money would be allocated to your education, whereas that would not happen if you were a poor child in another part of the country. The pupil premium is attached to children from poor backgrounds wherever they live, to lift their sense of aspiration and to improve the one-to-one tuition support that they need if they are to have the fair chance in life that all children deserve in our country.

[Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab)]

Q15. Up to 100,000 tenants are paying rent to more than 44,000 private landlords who are being investigated for non-payment of tax on rental income, and 53% of those tenants are receiving housing benefit. What are the Government doing to clamp down on private landlords who fiddle the tax and housing benefit system?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I strongly agree that we should come down very hard on those unscrupulous landlords, who are profiteering from the housing benefit system that was so poorly administered by the previous Government. As the hon. Gentleman will know, rents in the private sector have declined by about 5% over the last year, while rents that depend on housing allowance have increased by 3%. That is why we need to bring some sense and proportion to the way in which we administer housing benefit, which has more than doubled over the past few years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Phil Wilson

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab)]

If the intercity express programme survives the comprehensive spending review, Hitachi will build the rolling stock in my constituency, at Newton Aycliffe, creating 800 direct jobs and thousands of jobs in the supply chain. This will be the biggest investment in the north-east of England since Nissan. Will the Deputy Prime Minister ask the Transport Minister to meet me and a delegation of north-eastern business leaders and trade unionists, so that we can explain how important this project is to the region?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Of course that will be considered, as with everything else, in the comprehensive spending round. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the previous Government cut capital investment by 50%. We are determined to maintain investment in our infrastructure—in our transport infrastructure and in our built infrastructure—is maintained, so that we do not repeat the recessions of the past and cut deep into infrastructure, which is so important to the long-term economic future of this country.

Political and Constitutional Reform

Debate between Nick Clegg and Phil Wilson

Monday 5th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I hear what my hon. Friend says about the boundary between Cornwall and England, although I am sure that many of his constituents would be delighted to know that they are also citizens of England and the United Kingdom. The rule of thumb will be that the Boundary Commission should seek to redraw boundaries according to the simple principle that constituencies should be of a more equal size than they are at the moment, within the parameters that I have described. That will be the predominant requirement on the boundary commissions, and it will be of greater weight and importance than any other considerations.

[Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab)]

On fixed-term Parliaments, does the Deputy Prime Minister agree with the statement that the Prime Minister made during the general election campaign that unelected Prime Ministers ought to face election automatically within six months?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We have been very clear in the coalition agreement that we want to see the introduction of a Bill for fixed-term Parliaments in which exceptional elections will be just that, and so that we will never again be subjected to the pantomime of 2007, when the Government of this country were paralysed by the Prime Minister’s dithering and indecision on whether or not to call an election. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have finally put an end to that.