Points of Order
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his point of order. I do appreciate his concern. The content of Ministers’ answers is, of course, not a matter for the Chair. That is a matter exclusively for the Minister giving the response. However, the hon. Gentleman references my repeated exhortation to Ministers to provide timely and substantive responses, an exhortation in which I am regularly joined by the Leader of the House. Many Ministers attach a premium to adhering to that principle and expectation. I agree that it is unsatisfactory if the Government are unable to give a substantive answer to a named day question tabled well before Prorogation. No doubt the concern articulated by the hon. Gentleman has been heard on the Treasury Bench. In so far as he further seeks my advice, it is encapsulated in one sentence: the hon. Gentleman should seek to speak to the Leader of the House, sooner rather than later.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(7 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
The hon. Member for Southport (John Pugh) shoehorned Question 21, which we did not reach, into a Question that we did reach. He blurted it out so quickly that it took us a while to notice that it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the private finance initiative. Very naughty boy!
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
PFI always was idiotic. It carried on under the coalition Government and has left a huge financial hangover. Will the Minister have a word with his colleagues in the Treasury, because the Treasury figures on hospital liabilities are different from the figures that some of the hospitals themselves produce? As there is a discrepancy, we do not even know what the liabilities are.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(7 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. This is supposed to be about an industrial strategy, rather than an electoral strategy, but there you go.
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
In passing, may I say that it was the black country that was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, not Coalbrookdale? However, on transport spending, which is key to the industrial strategy for the west midlands, when does the Secretary of State expect to persuade his colleague the Secretary of State for Transport to spend as much per capita in the west midlands as in London?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. Wolverhampton has much to commend it, but it is a long way from Leeds.
Mr Speaker
This is about light rail schemes for the city of Leeds, which is a very considerable distance from the constituency so ably and eloquently represented by the hon. Gentleman.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
It is very good of the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Minister to be willing to do what he asked me for permission to do; that is extraordinarily gracious of him.
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
As someone who spent several years as a bus driver, I know that one factor that encourages tourism is integrated ticketing on public transport. Will the Minister have a word with the Secretary of State for Transport about amending the Bus Services Bill to allow more integrated services and to enable councils to run bus services?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(8 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. No. That is a very serious matter and could properly be raised at topical questions, but it is something of an abuse of the main thrust of this question. I let the hon. Lady finish because I did not know quite where she was headed and I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but having given her the chance, I am afraid, if I may say so, she was hanged by her own rope. We had better move on to Mr Rob Marris.
Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
On Tuesday this week, Mr Speaker, I had the great pleasure of attending your State Rooms to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi, and I thank you for your generous hospitality. You know, sir, that Sikh soldiers made huge contributions to our country in two world wars, and many people now want a permanent monument in central London to commemorate that sacrifice. Will the Minister today promise the Government’s support in principle for this project?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(8 years, 10 months ago)
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Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)
The hon. Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher) asked about the creation of a midlands engine. I can assure the Minister that thousands of such engines are being built by Jaguar Land Rover in Wolverhampton, just outside my constituency.
The apprenticeship levy is very welcome, although there are still some kinks to be ironed out. Will the Secretary of State say a little more about how the Government will encourage the establishment of proper apprenticeships in the manufacturing industry?
HMRC Office Closures
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(9 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. Before the hon. Gentleman, who is an experienced and versatile Member, replies, I remind colleagues that the convention—a fairly long-standing one—is that the Opposition Front-Bench spokesperson for the party whose Opposition day it is not would ordinarily make a Front-Bench speech of about 10 minutes. The hon. Gentleman is a little over that. I am conscious that 18 Members wish to speak, and this is not a conventional Opposition day but the SNP’s Opposition day, so a brief contribution from the Labour spokesman is absolutely right and proper, but we need to get on to Back-Bench debate pretty sharpish.
Rob Marris
I am grateful, Mr Speaker. In fact, I had finished my speech but for the intervention. I shall respond to it briefly now. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain), and I think the Minister was very open in responding to the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies). That is precisely the sort of investigation we needed before these sweeping changes were announced. There should be consultation, investigation and much more publicly available evidence.
Mr Speaker
The hon. Gentleman confirms his reputation as a gentleman. It is very much appreciated that he took what I said literally. We shall have to start with a five-minute limit. I call Mr Philip Davies.
Finance Bill
Debate between Rob Marris and John Bercow(9 years, 2 months ago)
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Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris) is droning on about all sorts of stuff. My understanding is that Third Readings are supposed to be about what is in the Bill, not just a general drone about the economy. Will you rule on that, Mr Speaker? [Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. I was listening closely, and allowing the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris) some latitude, but the thrust of the point of order is correct. I should emphasise that this is not a portmanteau debate for the airing of a miscellany of grievances. This is a relatively narrow Third Reading about what is in the Bill, upon which I know the hon. Gentleman will now dilate for the remaining two and a half minutes.
Rob Marris
I thank you for that guidance, Mr Speaker. I prefaced my remarks by saying that I was putting the Finance Bill in the context of the economy in which it takes place. That is what I said, as Hansard will show. I think that the context of the Finance Bill is important, Mr Speaker, because otherwise one cannot judge whether the provisions are adequate for the country in which we live.
Mr Speaker
I entirely understand the point, but there are two minutes left, so the context has to be very pithily stated before the hon. Gentleman gets on to the substance.
Rob Marris
It will be, Mr Speaker. I was on to my peroration before the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) raised his point of order.
The national debt is up by 60% at the end of the tax year, so what is all this about protecting the next generation? The Government have missed their targets for five years, and they have been privatising debt for the next generation when it comes to student loans and costs for home buyers. We have a household debt bubble growing. This Government have slashed public investment and are substituting it with the private finance initiative. The measures in this Bill will not be sufficient to address the problems our nation is facing. What we need is public investment—and we need it in housing, in energy and in skills. This Government have mishandled the economy, and trouble will be brewing unless they change course. They should invest in infrastructure and skills.