Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Nick Smith Excerpts
Thursday 23rd June 2011

(13 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
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Persecution of any individual on the grounds of their religious faith is unacceptable. I am aware of the problems faced by the Baha’i community in Iran. The FCO makes regular representations on this matter here, and we also make representations to the Iranian Government so that this persecution can be brought to an end.

Nick Smith Portrait Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
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In south Wales over the past three years the theft of metal from train lines has cost £3 million. Last year alone, there were 84 instances of cable theft in our area, leading to train journey delays. May we have a debate on this issue, which is making the lives of train commuters miserable?

Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
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I will draw the hon. Gentleman’s comments to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, who will no doubt want to contact the British Transport police to see whether more effective action can be taken to deter these sorts of thefts and bring the criminals to justice.