Points of Order

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 9th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Bless you, and thank you.

We are running out of time—

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

We have got until October.

Business of the House

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Thursday 25th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am keen to move on to the statement by the Prime Minister at or very close to 11.30 am, so the normal practice of accommodating everybody will not apply today. However, participation will be maximised by short questions and the Leader of the House’s characteristically pithy replies. Single-sentence inquiries are to be preferred.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

I express my congratulations to the Leader of the House on the new job. He has said already today that he will be the voice of this Chamber and that he will hold the Government to account. Will he therefore tell us what he feels about the appointment by the new Prime Minister, as his closest adviser, of somebody who has been found in contempt of this House? What will he do to hold him to account for that decision, and what does he feel about it?

Leaving the European Union

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

What I welcomed most about the statement yesterday was its change in tone, which was markedly different from the ones that had gone before. I express my gratitude to the Prime Minister for the amount of time that she has personally spent with Members from across the House—including me—with whom she has disagreed but engaged in recent weeks. It is clear, though, that the contents of the statement yesterday have widened, not healed, divisions going forward. In the two weeks before the Bill comes before Parliament and this House, I urge her to carry on that engagement with an open mind and to enter into discussions at least about what can be changed on the face of the Bill going into Committee, in which case we will all have something to talk about. Otherwise, it is not even worth putting it forward in the first place.

EU: Withdrawal and Future Relationship (Motions)

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 1st April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady—[Interruption.] I encourage everyone to look in this direction rather than in any other direction. I am not suggesting that we propose another deal. I am proposing that we accept the landscape that we are standing in, exactly in the manner that I have just suggested. The deal before us is one that defines Brexit, and as it stands, this sovereign Parliament has rejected it again and again and again. In fact, MPs have cast a staggering 1,167 votes against the deal—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I ask colleagues to show some respect for the Member who has the Floor. The hon. Gentleman has had his motion selected, and he is entitled—[Interruption.] Order. He is entitled to be heard.

[Mr Speaker]

Thank you. I suggest that we proceed.

[Peter Kyle]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

As it stands, this sovereign Parliament has rejected the deal again and again and again. In fact, MPs have cast a staggering 1,167 votes against it. That is 50% more than the number of MPs who sit in this Chamber. However, although the majority here do not like it, the fact remains that it has been signed off by every EU country, by the EU itself and by the British Government. It is the only deal on the table. We have to accept that there is no majority for the Government’s deal, but neither is there a majority right now for an alternative. So we have a stark choice. Do we continue the war of positions in the hope that one side will capitulate, knowing the damage that it will do to our politics and to our country? Do we persist with the deadlock? Or do we choose to progress? If there is no outright majority for any of the motions, we must do what the country is desperate for: we must compromise by bringing together two minority positions to create a majority in order to move forward.

EU: Withdrawal and Future Relationship (Votes)

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 1st April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

That requires no response, but I am grateful to the hon. Lady.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I think that now is the time for a little reflection and humility. I would have expected a little more humility from the Brexit Secretary in his statement, because when it comes to the need for a majority, we are all in this together, and that includes Government, too.

The bottom line is that in the last two sessions of these indicative votes, the proposition that my hon. Friend the Member for Sedgefield (Phil Wilson) and I have offered has come top, and tonight came within eight votes of the Secretary of State’s own proposition—the proposition put forward by Government. Is it not now the case that if there is not a majority for anything outright, we have to start looking to see how minorities in this House can be brought together in order to get the blockage within the House of Commons sorted, so that we can move forward, our politics can move forward, the Commons can move forward, and our country can get the resolution it needs? Mr Speaker, can you help guide us as to how Government can start acting with humility, reaching out and working with those of us with propositions rather than sticking to their guns?

[Mr Speaker]

I fear that the hon. Gentleman invests me with powers that I do not claim to possess. It is late at night. I think we have to await, as Macmillan used to say, events, and see what transpires tomorrow. God willing, I shall be in my place, and I will always seek to facilitate the House, which is it is the responsibility of the Speaker to do, but I cannot say with any confidence what will happen, and in that respect I think I am, frankly, not in a minority. I think that most colleagues would say with confidence that they do not know what is to follow.

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I am not going to give way, because the hon. Gentleman has already spoken, but I look forward to debating with him when his constituency fills up with lorries after we leave the single market.

There is a lot I would like to say about the honest challenges raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley. She spoke to us in a respectful way, and I hope that she will see that I and others have been respectful to her and always will be.

[Mr Speaker]

For the final three-minute speech, I call Conor Burns.

International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Thursday 17th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I am grateful to all Members who have spoken today. The right hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening) summed up the objective we are trying to achieve when she said, “you cannot be at your best if you cannot be yourself.” Ensuring that people can be their best is what we are all trying to achieve in this Parliament, in the country and further afield.

There was a wonderful moment of drama, humanity and emotion in our debate, and it came from the hon. and gallant Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart). Being a gay man, I am partial to a bit of drama and emotion, and it came from the most unexpected source today. He admitted that he had got it wrong in the past, which is a brave thing for any politician to stand up and say. He did a second brave thing by standing up and saying not only that he got it wrong last time, but that he wants a big positive change in the future. That means he has learned from the past. That is an attribute for which we are all very grateful.

We heard a lot of testimonies to you, Mr Speaker, before you arrived in the Chair. I expressed my view that this Chamber can be a hostile place to work but that, as a gay person, I have never in my three years here experienced any hint of homophobia. That is a testament to you and your leadership in this Chamber. If other employers showed the determination that you have, a lot of other people in other workplaces would enjoy the freedoms that we express here daily. We are very grateful for that.

[Mr Speaker]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he said and the way in which he said it.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the international day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Thursday 19th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think we will take that as a no.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the Minister’s letter of this week, saying that his Department is taking on extra resource to simplify the fare structure on the Brighton main line. Will he reassure passengers in the area that that simplification will involve the rounding down of fares, not just rounding up? Will he also tell passengers when they can expect the review to complete?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is very good to see the hon. Member for Hove back in his place. I call Mr Peter Kyle.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Thank you so much, Mr Speaker. There is one set of tracks and one franchise operator between London and Brighton, but there are three separate pricing structures. I urge the Secretary of State and the Rail Minister to think about implementing the Gibb recommendation to lower the pricing to the lowest possible one—the Thameslink one—for a two-year period. That could be done with no technical changes whatever, and it would have a transformative impact on passengers who have suffered so much in the last few years.

NHS Winter Crisis

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. Down in Sussex, patient transport was privatised and given to a company called Coperforma. Seven months after the contract was awarded, the company was stripped of it for its appalling practices and for completely underperforming in every way, shape and form. It now transpires that Coperforma has been given more money for seven months than it would have received if it had performed properly for a full year. Is that not indicative of the way in which the NHS is being run?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I appeal for brief interventions? I would just point out to the House that no fewer than 38 Back Benchers wish to speak, and even if the debate is allowed to run on beyond 4 o’clock, which is in the hands of the usual channels, probably half of them will not be able to do so. I say now that they will just have to sit, wait and hope—I am not publishing a list; we do not do so—but long interventions do not help.

Social Mobility Commission

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let us take a good, honest, reliable citizen—there are so many to choose from on both sides. I call Peter Kyle.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker—that is an introduction I will struggle to live up to.

Alan Milburn has said that he resigned because of dysfunction in the Government and the lack of implementation. The Minister’s response gives the impression that he resigned because all the work was already done. Once again, can the Minister give us a clear explanation: why did the board resign, from his perspective?

Points of Order

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. After incessant briefing for the past two days that the Prime Minister and the Government were close to a deal, it has emerged in the past few seconds that she is going to come home empty-handed, with no deal. This shambles puts into perspective the constitutional settlement for our country, so can we expect her to make a statement tomorrow?

[Mr Speaker]

I am bound to say to the hon. Gentleman that it had very much been my expectation that there would in any event be a statement to this House this week. Although I cannot predict this with certainty, I had anticipated and been given reason to believe that it was likely to be tomorrow. The appetite of the hon. Gentleman will be at least partly satisfied ere long, and I expect to see him in his place and springing up from it with alacrity in a desire to contribute to our proceedings.

Domestic Violence Victims: Cross-Examination

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 9th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

This issue has been wreaking untold devastation on victims of domestic violence. I have now spoken to numerous survivors of abuse whose accounts of torment under cross-examination in the family court—often by convicted rapists—are devastating to hear, but impossible for most of us even to imagine.

I have spoken to a woman who was cross-examined by the man who was in jail for numerous counts of rape and abuse that had left her unconscious and hospitalised. As a result of the family court process, this extremely vulnerable woman needed weeks of medication and months of counselling to recover. She has now suffered such an ordeal three times. I have spoken to the sister of a woman who was abused so grievously that the abuse resulted in her death. The convicted murderer then sued for custody of their child from the prison where he was serving a life sentence for murder. He directly cross-examined the sister of the woman he murdered, even having the grotesque nerve to ask, “What makes you think you can be a parent to my child?” Abuse is being continued and perpetuated right under the noses of judges and the police, the very institutions that should be protecting the vulnerable with every sinew of state power.

On 15 September 2016, in response to speeches by Members on both sides of the House in a Back-Bench debate, the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. Member for Bracknell (Dr Lee), said that this is a

“scourge, which blights our society.”—[Official Report, 15 September 2016; Vol. 614, c. 1119.]

Yet he made no commitment to review or to change policy. Sadly, it took the excellent coverage in The Guardian during the Christmas break for such a commitment to emerge from the Ministry of Justice.

The source was anonymous, so will the Minister provide clarity in these areas? Lord Justice Munby, the president of the family division, supports measures to outlaw the cross-examination of victims by perpetrators, and he has said that this will require primary legislation. Does the Minister agree with that assessment, and if so, will he make the drafting and introduction of any such legislation a priority? The anonymous source told The Guardian that this was a matter of urgency for the Secretary of State. Will the Minister tell the House when she started the review, and more importantly, precisely when it will be completed? Victims of abuse need to have precision and clarity at this moment of great importance for them. Speed is of the essence, but so is consultation—we need to get this right—so will the Minister tell us what process is in place to enable victims, campaigners and support organisations to feed in their essential experiences and views so that the review is at all times carried out with, not done to, survivors of domestic abuse?

Finally, as I told the House back in September, it is a source of shame to me personally that I got to the age I am today without being aware that such barbarism is being practised within our own legal system. In addition to my lack of inquisitiveness, which I regret profoundly, the secrecy imposed by law on the family court process allowed this to continue without journalistic oversight. Will the Minister consider longer term assessment of the wider operational activity in the family court system? Such assessment should look, in a considered and detailed way, at the overall operation of family courts with a view to ensuring, where appropriate, greater transparency and oversight of the family court process is introduced.

[Mr Speaker]

Before we proceed, let me just say this. The hon. Gentleman has raised an extremely serious matter on the back of very considerable knowledge and research, and he has aired it in this House with great sensitivity. I did not wish to interrupt him—not least for that obvious reason—but perhaps I can announce to the House a new year’s resolution: from now on we must, without fail, stick to the established time limits for urgent questions. The hon. Gentleman was notified of the two-minute limit and he took over three minutes. That is the first point. A lot of more experienced Members will be well aware of my second point, but perhaps I can just underline it. The briefest preamble of description is fine, but an urgent question is supposed to be just that: neither a speech nor a contribution to debate, but a series of questions. I know the hon. Gentleman well and he will not, I am sure, take offence. He has raised very important matters. In future, however, doing so must be done in accordance with the proper form and time.

Report of the Iraq Inquiry

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Wednesday 6th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Somebody has just moaned about not being called to ask a question. I try to call everybody, but although what each individual has to say is enormously important to him or her, it is not necessarily any more important than what anybody else has to say. [Interruption.] Order. I do not need any help in the discharge of my duties. I will call colleagues, but colleagues need to be patient, and I am sure that none of them, for one moment, would be self-important—that is unimaginable.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

I am very grateful, Mr Speaker.

From my early and hurried reading of the report, I can see no evidence that anybody acted in bad faith. However, I am very aware that the report refers to a war that started 13 years ago. There have been several conflicts since; we intervened in Libya with airstrikes but not ground troops, and in Syria we did not act for several years. Is there anything about those subsequent conflicts, in which the Prime Minister led, that leads him to disagree with some of the report’s conclusions? That would give us an updated view so that we do not base all our future actions on a report about a war 13 years ago?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Monday 6th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Edinburgh and south-east Scotland are a very long way from Hove. Notwithstanding the hon. Gentleman’s considerable ingenuity, I find it hard to see how he can relate this to Hove. He should be patient and have another go on another question. Keep waiting, man, and keep in good spirits. We will get you in somehow.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Kyle and John Bercow

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Not now—we will save the hon. Gentleman up for later.