Business of the House

Pete Wishart Excerpts

Thursday 28th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

As my hon. Friend knows, there has been a long debate about the terminology attaching to the tragedy that took place a century ago. What I think we should say today is that, while we are commemorating with great sadness and a determination always to remember what happened in the terrible years of the Nazi regime in Germany, we should also remember on Holocaust Memorial Day that many other tragedies on an epic scale have taken place in other parts of the world, and we should not forget the people who suffered in those and lost their lives in them.

[Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)]

I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the business for next week, and may I also add tributes from the Scottish National party to Robin Fell, who has been such a distinguished senior Doorkeeper? I think this is what we should do in commemoration of Robin Fell, even though he is still very much with us: the new chief Doorkeeper should inherit the whiskers, which are the finest whiskers in—[Interruption.] On seeing them standing beside each other, I think we might review that: perhaps you should not consider that request, Mr Speaker. But all the best to Robin Fell.

May I start by cautioning the Leader of the House in his role as the putative leader of the Out campaign, because he is going to be up against some powerful and remarkable forces? In this referendum it is not going to be just “project fear” he will be up agin; it is also going to be “project fud”. To reassure my hon. Friends, may I say that “fud” means “fear, uncertainty and doubt”, and thankfully not the common vernacular Scottish meaning that probably more of them are familiar with? I say to the Leader of the House that we will not be taking part in this fear campaign. We have gone through and experienced that in the Scottish referendum campaign. We will have a positive campaign. The SNP campaign to stay in Europe will be fud-free.

I am surprised there was no statement on the Government’s intention on refugee children given that there has been some sort of announcement this morning. We need to secure a real debate about this so that we can ascertain from the Government a figure for how many children they intend to accept and ask why, once again, it seems that the Government are turning their back on children who are in Europe. This is not the “bunch of migrants” or the swarms, or whatever the Prime Minister’s term will be next week; this is children in need of help, so let us have a full debate to see what we can do to assist them.

The row about Google’s tax arrangements just is not going away and maybe a debate about that might help to clear some matters up. I am sure the Leader of the House will welcome the European Commission’s words this morning, following an approach from the SNP, that it is now prepared to investigate Google’s tax settlement to see whether it meets European standards. Hopefully we might get some transparency on this issue.

We will soon be coming to the time in the parliamentary calendar when we debate the estimates process. I want a reassurance from the Leader of the House that it will not be done in the usual haphazard and casual way, as in previous years. You will know, Mr Speaker, that you are invited to ignore the minor consequential issues when certifying Bills as English only, and the Leader of the House repeatedly told us during the votes on English votes for English laws that all issues to do with Barnett consequentials are to be considered in the consolidated departmental spending in the estimates process. The Procedure Committee has already announced that it will be conducting an inquiry into the estimates process following the introduction of EVEL. Can the Leader of the House assure us that there will be no debates on the estimates until that inquiry has been concluded and we have had an opportunity to examine all the departmental spending of the spending Departments?

Lastly, I am not going to ask for a debate, and I do not want a further statement—I just want this Government to do the right thing on the appeal on the bedroom tax. I want them to accept the High Court’s decision and to do the right thing by vulnerable families, disabled children and women who are in need of shelter. I want them to accept the ruling from the High Court this week.

[Chris Grayling]

First, the hon. Gentleman raised the issue of Europe, and I suspect that there will be many lively debates in which the SNP will be involved over the coming months. I think the biggest difference between us is that the SNP appears to believe that our relationship with the European Union can remain unchanged. I have been clear in my view that I think it would be absolutely wrong for this country to have an unchanged relationship with the European Union. That is why the renegotiation process is so important and why the referendum is so important. I think it betrays the people of this United Kingdom when people argue for no change to that relationship. That is the position of Scottish National party Members, and I profoundly disagree with them.

On the issue of refugee children, we have said that we will work with United Nations agencies to identify the nature of the problem and look to take children who find themselves in a position of being unaccompanied in refugee camps. We have also made it very clear that our support is going to those in the refugee camps. We believe that that is the right thing to do, and it is actually bringing more people to this country than are being relocated through the European scheme. We think it is better to help the very large numbers of people who are stranded in those camps, because they are the most vulnerable, and not the ones who have had the money and the ability to get to continental Europe.

The hon. Gentleman raised the issue of Google taxes. I can understand his frustration, but he is pointing in the wrong direction. The reason that we have an issue is that the Labour party was in power for 13 years and it did nothing to collect taxes from multinational companies. We are seeking to pick up the pieces of its failure. On that, I have no doubt that the hon. Gentleman and I would agree.

The hon. Gentleman also asked about the estimates process. This is being looked at by the Procedure Committee. To date, under this Government, the coalition Government and previous Governments, we have followed all the processes that are customary. If he believes that the process should change, the Procedure Committee is producing a report and he will undoubtedly have an input into that and will be able to bring his ideas to the House. Of course, time is also made available for his party if it chooses to table debates on this matter.

On the question of the court case, the Department for Work and Pensions will certainly talk to the House more about its intentions in due course.