European Council and Nuclear Security Summit

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I would give two answers to that very incisive question from the hon. Gentleman. First, here in the United Kingdom, including in Northern Ireland, we have taken major steps to disinter the past and to discuss it and deal with it. The Bloody Sunday inquiry is one such example. That has not happened in Sri Lanka. Its lessons learned exercise is not going into the detail that is needed about the appalling events that happened, particularly at the end of the war. Secondly, although we guard our independence and sovereignty jealously, we did call upon friendly nations, including the United States, to help us with our peace processes. Frankly, in confronting one’s own past and one’s own problems, other countries can sometimes help. I think that Sri Lanka should take the same approach.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Institutionalised corruption is a key source of power for the Putin regime, but at the same time it is its greatest long-term weakness. What more can we do to extend visa bans and sanctions to deal not only with those implicated in the Crimean issue, but also those responsible for scandals such as the Magnitsky killing?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not want to say anything new about the Magnitsky case today, but I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend that the scourge of corruption lies at the heart of much of the crisis in Ukraine, just as it lies at the heart of so many countries today that are not getting the economic growth, prosperity and fairness that their peoples yearn for. As we go forward in these endeavours, we should do everything that we can to help ensure a non-corrupt Government for Ukraine in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will make two points to the hon. Gentleman, and I have written to him this morning. The first is this—[Interruption.] He will be interested to hear. The first is that the allegations he mentions are disputed and are currently subject to legal action, so I am limited in what I can say. But what he failed to mention to the House the last time he raised this is that the allegations date from the time when Mr Aziz was a Labour councillor. I am informed that during his time as a Labour councillor the Labour party did absolutely nothing about these allegations. So perhaps next time the hon. Gentleman stands up and asks a question in the House of Commons he will give us the full facts.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Q13. May I associate myself with the tributes to Paul Goggins? His work on the reform of the law on child neglect will go on. Last year, one of my constituents, 23-year-old Christopher Scott, died as a result of taking the so-called legal high AMT—alpha-methyltryptamine. Will my right hon. Friend support my calls and those of the coroner and Christopher’s family to ensure that this dangerous drug and others like it are outlawed?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that issue. First, let me offer my condolences to his constituent’s family. As he knows with the rules that we have, hundreds of legal highs have already been banned, and our temporary drug orders allow us to outlaw substances within days of them coming on the market. However, we are not complacent and we have asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to renew our definitions of controlled drugs to ensure that we capture these newly emerging substances when there is evidence of harm. There is more work to be done here, but my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is absolutely on it.

G20

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to read the hon. Lady the Government motion. It said this:

“Believes that the United Nations Security Council must have the opportunity immediately to consider that briefing”—

from the weapons inspectors—

“and that every effort should be made to secure a Security Council Resolution backing military action before any such action is taken”.

The fact is that Opposition Front Benchers are wriggling and quibbling because they know they had a choice. They could have done the difficult thing and the right thing for the country; instead, they chose the easy and simple thing that was politically convenient. They have to live with the consequences.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Was there an opportunity at the summit to discuss the emerging evidence that sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war in Syria?

[The Prime Minister]

Many of the issues around the appalling nature of the Syrian conflict were raised. The Foreign Secretary has taken international leadership on the issue that my hon. Friend speaks about, to say how unacceptable the use of sexual violence is as a conflict weapon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 19th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We need to build more houses in our country, and that is exactly what the Government are doing. We are building more social houses and more private houses, and we are reforming housing benefit so that we can better use the money. The question now is for the Opposition. They spent weeks and weeks complaining about the removal of the spare room subsidy. I do not know whether anyone else has noticed: they do not ask questions about it any more. Could that possibly be because they have not got a clue about whether they would restore it?

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

With an estimated £10 billion boost to our economy, does my right hon. Friend agree that a free trade agreement with the United States represents a glittering prize for Britain and for Europe?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is very good news that this free trade agreement has been launched at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. It will now take many months of very difficult and patient negotiation. It is a hugely complicated problem, because we want it to cover all sorts of areas, such as public procurement and services, and not just manufactured goods, but it is good that it is getting going, because this could mean millions of jobs right across Europe and great benefits for us here in the UK.

European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. That is why, within a budget that needs to be properly constrained, we need changes to the common agricultural policy in order to deliver more money for research and development and things that can help growth in Europe. We have achieved that: I wish we had gone further in that regard, but we can still make that argument in individual budget negotiations.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

May I echo the support for my right hon. Friend and the work that he and his ministerial team have done, not only in the last week but in the months preceding these negotiations—engaging with countries such as Germany, building alliances, showing that Britain has real influence in Europe and being positive?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is strong support for the different agenda items that we want to pursue—whether that is constraining properly the European budget, completing the single market or making sure that we are having the impact that we want in terms of terrorism—and we should build those alliances and work accordingly.

Algeria

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 21st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What my hon. Friend says is absolutely right and should form part of every speech and statement made about this issue. This is not a clash of civilisations; it is all people against a very small minority who are poisoned by that ideology. It is worth making the point that the biggest number of victims of al-Qaeda violence are Muslim men and women. That remains the case, and we cannot make that point too often.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s refocusing of attention on the causes of instability in that troubled region; some are recent, but some are of much longer standing. Will he do all that he can to resolve the plight of thousands of Sahrawi refugees who continue to languish in the camps of Tindouf in Algeria, which may be a source of instability in the region?

European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There was not any open discussion about that issue, although I understand that Signor Berlusconi was in Brussels on the day of the European Council. My view is that these are issues for the countries in question. We can all have our views about the economic position of these countries, or indeed the political choices they make, but in the end, if we believe in democracy, we have to allow the Greek, Italian and Spanish voters to elect Governments who reflect their views. That is the way it has to work.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the commencement of free trade talks between the EU and Japan. That is of vital importance to Honda workers in my constituency, and does it not also demonstrate the continuing importance of our membership of the EU in extending free trade across the world?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I very much welcome the right hon. Lady’s initiative on this and her Committee’s work, and I thank her for her warm words of support for what the Government have done thus far. We have recovered £29 billion of additional revenues from large businesses in the last six years, including £4 billion in the last four years from transfer pricing inquiries alone, which is one of the issues the press has covered in detail. I am certainly committed to doing everything we can to look at all the options to make sure that companies pay their taxes properly, and I agree with what the right hon. Lady said about public, and even some political, pressure. On some occasions I myself have made one or two remarks on this subject that were seen as rather controversial. It is important that people feel that companies meet their responsibilities and pay their taxes.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Q10. Will my right hon. Friend do everything he can to ensure that education, health and social services work together to commission services jointly, in order to ensure that the very welcome reforms in the forthcoming children and families Bill will be workable on the ground?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. We need to get away from the idea of Government—or, indeed, local government—operating in silos with different budgets and different departments not working together. My hon. Friend represents a Swindon constituency, and I know that Swindon borough council has taken huge steps in bringing the various agencies together, particularly in the area of problem families, and I commend them for the work they do.

Leveson Inquiry

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

He is not Gordon Brown.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Particular attention should be paid to paragraphs 74 and 75 of the document, in which Lord Justice Leveson does not come to a specific conclusion about what to do if particular newspapers do not choose to sign up to any system of regulation. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is for this place to debate not only the principle of underpinning, which I support, but, for example, whether Ofcom is the most appropriate regulator or whether there should be a separate regulator for the print media?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which is referred to in paragraph 75 of the summary document, but he needs then to go away and look at the bit of the very long report to which it refers. In paragraph 75, Lord Justice Leveson states:

“For the sake of completeness I have…set out in the Report the options that…would be open to the Government to pursue… in that regrettable event”—

that is, if the press do not agree to the principles of self-regulation. That would include pretty full-on statutory regulation, which is something we all want to avoid and Lord Leveson wants to avoid. Separately, my hon. Friend’s point about Ofcom is well made and I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will think carefully about that specific issue, because it requires further thought.

European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is a little bit out of date, as the Mayor of London has chosen a visit to India to make it clear how much he supports my policy.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

As an enthusiastic European, may I congratulate my right hon. Friend on continuing to engage closely and constructively with our colleagues, and on building coalitions and consensus? May I urge him, in the months ahead, to carry on working particularly closely with the German Government to make sure that the progress made this weekend can be consolidated?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly continue to do that work. On the issue of the EU budget, I think there is a good reason why that coalition should stick together and push hard for a budget that, yes, is about growth, but comes in far lower than where it is today. I will work very hard to try to make that happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 21st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

The person responsible for the murder of Becky Godden-Edwards, whose mother is my constituent, has not been brought to justice because important incriminating evidence was excluded from the court process. Will my right hon. Friend join our cause in calling for a thorough review of code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, so that such terrible situations will not occur in future?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look very carefully at what my hon. Friend raises and the specific case he mentions. I will also look at the issue of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. It is always important that all information that possibly can be put in front of a court is put in front of a court, so that it can reach the correct decision.

European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have never stormed out of any European negotiations, but what I have done is that when a treaty was on the table that was not in British interests, I vetoed it.

When it comes to the future financing framework, I have studied very closely what the last Labour Prime Minister who went through the process did, in 2005. To start with, he said, “I’m not going to sign up to this new financial framework, because it means losing the British rebate.” But then they gave him a bit of pressure, and he completely backed down and gave up almost half the rebate. In return, he got a promise of a discussion on reforming the common agricultural policy, and that discussion never even properly happened.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Motor manufacturers such as Honda will be very pleased to hear that progress is being made on negotiations with Japan. Does my right hon. Friend agree that only through Britain’s positive engagement in and continuing membership of the EU will we negotiate effective and comprehensive trade agreements?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. If Britain was not at the table, I do not believe a free trade agreement would have much chance at all. There are countries alongside us that are in favour of it, but we are probably one of the most enthusiastic. I met the Japanese equivalent of the CBI last week at No. 10 Downing street with the Business Secretary, and I said that I would push hard for a free trade agreement with Japan. We have got a change in the language of the conclusions to talk about starting the negotiations in the coming months. However, it is hard work pushing and driving that agenda, because many countries would rather not see that happen. We think it is good for Britain. One of our selling points is being the most open trading economy in Europe, and we need to keep that up.

Hillsborough

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman speaks with much power, having attended the inquest. The point is not only that it was 23 years ago and that inquests and the coroners’ system have moved on, but specifically that the decision on the 3.15 cut-off point, as detailed in the report, seems beyond defence. This has to be done properly, of course, but I hope that those who make the decision will consider that point carefully.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend and the Leader of the Opposition for their sensitive and entirely proper apologies. On hearing the grim revelation that many statements were deliberately altered, two potential criminal offences came to my mind—misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. Does my right hon. Friend share my expectation that any criminal investigation into these matters will be thorough and efficient?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to my hon. Friend, who has experience in these matters, that it is up to the authorities to study the report, what happened, why it happened, what police officers were told they were doing and were meant to do, and all the rest of it. That has to be carefully looked at by the correct authorities.

Informal European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Tuesday 31st January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I tried to set out what I think is the sensible view in my speech to the Davos summit. Look, I do understand the German concern. It sees countries across Europe that have run up huge debts and huge deficits, putting at risk the stability of the single currency. It does not want that to happen again, so it wants these assurances for the future. Just as everyone needs to understand the German position, however, we also need to show some understanding of those countries that are going to struggle in the years ahead. They are going to need extra help and assistance, and there is going to have to be solidarity across the eurozone, because the single currency requires that, as I explained in my Davos speech. We manage a single currency across the United Kingdom because we show solidarity with different areas of the country, and the eurozone has to understand that similar solidarity will be required there, to make the single currency work in the long run.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

I was encouraged to see reference in the communiqué to this year being a decisive year for free trade agreements. Will my right hon. Friend do all that he can to move ahead with the free trade agreement with Japan, which is vital to large parts of our motor manufacturing industry?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly do that. I have discussed this issue with the Japanese Prime Minister and with the European Union. One of the issues with Japan is non-tariff barriers, in regard to the access to Japanese markets that British goods and services want. There is a particular advantage for us, in an economy with such a high level of services and branded goods, in ensuring that we really secure progress on the free trade agreement, not only with Japan but with India. The Indian economy is fairly closed off to services, and we want to see it opened up.

EU Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Frankly, I have found huge support from the business community for what I have said—and that spans a huge number of different industries. Many industries are asking what we will do about the problem of excessive regulation. That should be dealt with through the single market, which we will continue to do.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

As someone who has long advocated a positive role for Britain in Europe, may I welcome my right hon. Friend’s decision on Friday as the right one for this country? Will he further commit the Government to carry on engaging strongly with our European partners to ensure more jobs and growth in the single market?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support. I have spoken to a number of people over the last few days, in my party and others, who have a long history of supporting Britain’s membership of the EU and who think that what I did was right. Of course we need to engage, and in terms of the single market we need to make that engagement even more powerful in the weeks and months ahead. But it was right, on this occasion, to say no to this treaty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am full of admiration for the campaign Brooke Kinsella has run. When someone has suffered such a loss in their own family, it is incredibly brave of them to get out there and campaign for change—and not just change in the law, but also change in the way the police behave and in the way young people behave. I think she is a thoroughly good individual, with a very great campaign. What this Government are doing—which the last Government did not do—is have a mandatory sentence for knife crime, which we will introduce in our forthcoming Bill.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in supporting the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists “giving voice” campaign, which rightly emphasises the central importance of speech, language and communication in tackling a wide range of social issues?

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in doing that, and I know that you, Mr Speaker, take a close personal interest in this issue as well. Anyone who has brought up disabled children knows the vital importance of speech and language therapists. They also know that there are often not enough of them to provide all the help and services we need, and that getting their services through the statementing process can be extremely tough. I therefore certainly agree with what my hon. Friend says.

Public Disorder

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

By making funds available. One of the first things I did in politics as a Home Office special adviser was to set up one of the first ever CCTV challenge funds so that communities could invest in it.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that when it comes to punishment the courts need to put compensation of victims at the heart of their deliberations, whatever the income or means of the offender, and should deploy to their fullest effect the powers to confiscate the proceeds of crime?

[The Prime Minister]

I agree with my hon. Friend. He speaks with great expertise as he has practised criminal law. There may be opportunities in the forthcoming sentencing Bill to look at even further powers of confiscation to make sure we really get after these criminals.

Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

He was vetted. He had a basic level of vetting. He was not able to see the most secret documents in the Government. I can write to the hon. Lady if she wants the full details of that vetting. It was all done in the proper way. He was subject to the special advisers’ code of conduct. As someone shouted from behind me, he obeyed that code, unlike Damian McBride.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

There has been much talk of freedom, but freedom has to be under the law. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that any future regulation of the press will balance the interests of ordinary men and women against the legitimate interest in maintaining a free press in this country?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course I give that assurance. One of the things with which the committee of inquiry will have to battle is that, if you consider some of the great investigative stories that have bust open scandals in the past, sometimes there has been a public interest defence. My hon. Friend is a lawyer and he will know about that. That is one of the reasons why we are asking the committee of inquiry to try to do that very difficult work.

Phone Hacking

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman that the judge can take the inquiry in any direction in which the evidence leads it. He, like others, is free to make submissions to the inquiry, point out evidence, point out conclusions from that evidence, and ask the inquiry to follow that. As well as wanting a broad, independent and tough inquiry, we want some early results—some early harvest—and I am sure that the inquiry will produce that as well.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Will the ambit of the judicial inquiry focus on the need to enable ordinary members of the public, such as bereaved families of service personnel who have given their lives for this country, to seek and achieve legitimate redress of grievances through proper complaints against the media and their agents when they are guilty of malpractice?

[The Prime Minister]

That is a good point. We must keep the public, and the victims of what has now emerged, front and centre at all times. Of course we all, as politicians, have strong views about what has gone wrong, what might have happened to all of us and the rest of it, but, although some people have said that there is an element of “revenge for expenses”, this has to be about the public and the victims. Politicians must be very careful. Yes, we want a good and robust system of self-regulation, but we must also be absolutely clear about wanting a strong, free, independent press that is able to challenge and to uncover wrongdoing, as it has done in this case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

With the National Audit Office estimating the cost to the economy of criminal reoffending at £10 billion a year, does my right hon. Friend agree that the need to reduce reoffending from the unacceptably high rates that we inherited from the previous Government must be the priority of any penal policy?

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who has considerable experience in this matter from his career before coming to this place. We have inherited a system in which each prison place costs £45,000, half of prisoners reoffend within a year of getting out, half of prisoners are on drugs, and more than 10% of prisoners are foreigners who should not be in this country in any event. The key thing we have to do is reduce costs in the criminal justice system by making prison work and reforming prison, rather than by cutting sentences.

Libya/European Council

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make to my hon. Friend is that we had to come together in a coalition Government with a coalition agreement. If we are absolutely honest with ourselves, Europe is not an area where the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives always agree, if I can put it that way. However, in the coalition agreement we came to a good agreement that we would not pass further powers from Westminster to Brussels, and that we would introduce the referendum lock so that any further transfer would be subject to referendum; and we also have the agreement that Britain is not intending to join the euro. In spite of the fact that we do not always agree on these European issues—and we are grown-up enough to make that point—I think it is a very strong coalition agreement, and one that all colleagues can support.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

When my right hon. Friend spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister on Friday, did he receive assurances from him that everything was being done to reopen Japanese factories that provide much-needed components to the British car industry?

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise the point that my hon. Friend makes, given his interest in the magnificent Honda plant in Swindon, which I had the great good fortune to visit. Indeed, although I am not allowed to drive it any more, I am the proud owner of a Honda made in Swindon. I know of the problem. I did not discuss it with the Japanese Prime Minister because we were talking about the absolutely urgent requirements for help for the Japanese now, but it will be key for the Japanese economy, and indeed for ours, to make sure that those trade links are opened up again as soon as possible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Every council in the country is having to make difficult decisions about reducing their spending. When we look at what is actually happening to Government grants, we see that in most cases, they are going back to the levels that we had in 2007, 2006 or, in some cases, even 2009. Everyone has to take part in this, and I would just remind the hon. Gentleman that the reason this is being done is because his party made a complete mess of the economy.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

At a time when prices at the petrol pumps are going up and up, will the Government do all that they can to ease the pressure on hard-pressed motorists?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. I know how difficult it is for motorists, and particularly for small businesses and families, when they are filling up at the pumps and paying more than £1.30 a litre. As we have said, we will look at the fact that extra revenue comes to the Treasury when there is a higher oil price, and will see whether we can share some of the benefit of that with the motorist. That is something that Labour never did in all its time in government, and it ought to be reminded of the fact that it announced four increases in fuel duty last year, three of which were due to come in after the election.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman makes very good points on how far Northern Ireland has come. Everyone on both sides of the House wants to continue that process, make the institutions work and embed the peace that we have achieved in Northern Ireland. I pay tribute to my predecessors, who put so much hard work into that.

On the specific issues, the previous Prime Minister made a series of promises, particularly about policing and justice in Northern Ireland, which we discussed when we were the Opposition. We stand by those promises. On the Presbyterian Mutual Society and a group of people who did lose money in the financial crunch—I know how angry it can make people in Northern Ireland when people say, “Nobody lost money”, because they did—we are working very hard to try to find a fair and equitable solution.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Q3. Does the Prime Minister agree with the previous Government’s policy of part privatisation of Royal Mail? Will he urge those on both sides of the House to work together to help to revitalise that great British institution?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for what my hon. Friend says. The fact is that Royal Mail is a business that has falling volumes of mail and a £10 billion pension fund deficit, and it badly needs investment, modernisation and change right now. The last Labour Secretary of State supported such reform, the Conservative party supports that reform and the Business Secretary supports that reform, and we are publishing the Bill today, which includes a minimum of 10% employee share ownership and participation in this important move. I hope that the Opposition will not turn their backs on the future, but will back this change, rather than stepping back into their comfort zone.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Buckland and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are absolutely committed to meeting the child poverty targets. I remind the hon. Gentleman that this Budget, despite all its difficulties, does not add a single family to child poverty, in contrast to the last Government, who put up child poverty by 100,000—[Interruption.] They shake their heads. Check the figures and come back to me.

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

Q7. Will my right hon. Friend give an assurance that all new academies that will be set up will be obliged to accept children with special educational needs?

[The Prime Minister]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. Academies will be required to ensure that pupils with special educational needs are admitted on the same basis as other schools. Children with special educational needs have special needs, and a compassionate, decent and tolerant country will ensure that they get the help, support, education and love that they need.