Terrorist Attacks (Paris)

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Wednesday 14th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am very keen to accommodate colleagues, but I remind the House that this is an Opposition day, with two well-subscribed debates to come, so what I am looking for now is Members who will ask a short question without preamble. I feel sure that the Home Secretary will provide us with her characteristically pithy replies.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The unwise response of previous Governments to outrages such as 9/11 and 7/7 led to the Iraq war and the introduction of the failed identity cards scheme. Does the Home Secretary agree that our response to this outrage must be one of sober wisdom, not a rush to squander British liberties because of those who wish so violently to take them away from us anyway?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Thursday 30th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) is clearly in a very jolly mood, and I hope that it is contagious.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

We are all very jolly in Cumbria that 93% of our homes will be connected to superfast broadband by this time next year. The fact that 7% will not be and will have a minimum of 2 megabits per second download speed should trouble us, particularly when we realise that that means an upload speed of only 0.2 megabits per second, which causes serious problems for businesses in areas that are not connected. What can my right hon. Friend do to guarantee that the 7% of businesses and residences that do not have superfast broadband are helped?

Health Services (North-West)

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Thursday 11th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I thank the Secretary of State for his courtesy. I know the right hon. Gentleman well, and I know that he would not seek for one moment to mislead the House. He was trying candidly to respond to the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw). For the avoidance of doubt, let us be absolutely clear. I can quite accept that the Secretary of State requested, within the Government machine, permission to make a statement today. However, the House will wish to be aware that I myself was aware of the request to make a statement only this morning. Let us be clear about that.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

There is a strong clinical case for the concentration of vascular services in Cumbria and Lancashire at three sites, but is it not ludicrous that the three that have been chosen are so geographically located that one is virtually on the Scottish border, then there is a gap of almost 100 miles, and then there are two that are nine miles apart? Does not that leave south Cumbria and north Lancashire dangerously under-provided for? Given the current difficulties, shall we say, at Morecambe Bay, does not robbing Morecambe Bay of those skills and that expertise make a difficult situation potentially even worse?

West Coast Main Line

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Monday 3rd September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I rise to propose that the House should debate the specific and important matter of the awarding of the west coast main line franchise to FirstGroup.

I propose that the House should debate this matter in order to seek full and proper scrutiny of the decision. I hold no brief to stand for Virgin Trains—indeed, I have had many occasion to stand on a Virgin train—and I hold no brief against FirstGroup, but over the past three weeks, as I have been doing my summer surgery tour across the towns and villages of my constituency, the west coast main line franchise has been comfortably the most common subject raised by residents. Local people are deeply concerned about not only the decision itself, but the process, the lack of debate and the timing.

There are now 165,000 signatures on the e-petition, Members from all parties are raising concerns, Select Committees are asking questions and there is a clear sense among the wider public that an extremely significant decision that affects them has been made without them having a say, and made during the summer recess when Members have no opportunity to express their views or interrogate the process and outcome. We might have expected a decision of this nature and scale, and one that will affect so many people across the UK, to be announced during parliamentary time to ensure that MPs and peers have the opportunity to debate the issue and scrutinise both the bidding process and the decision, but that did not happen. Instead, the announcement was made in the middle of the summer recess, allowing the House no opportunity to debate it. Today’s announcement that the awarding of the franchise has been suspended due to the judicial review gives us time to have that debate with greater possession of the facts on all sides.

It is especially important that we have this debate because the franchise is the first to be awarded under the new longer franchise system. Over the next three to four years almost every other franchise in the country will be re-let, so it is more important than ever that this decision, the biggest and first, is properly scrutinised and, in particular, that we take our time to get the risk evaluation right. It is the risk evaluation part of the process that understandably causes the greatest concern because the available evidence shows that the risk evaluation process has been flawed in the past. On two occasions the process has led to the collapse of the east coast main line franchise and to First Great Western terminating its franchise agreement early to avoid failing to meet the terms of its bid. A collapse in the west coast main line bid because it was undeliverable would be economically catastrophic, given current conditions in this country, and a huge blow to all of us in Cumbria and the rest of the north-west of England. For those reasons, Mr Speaker, I ask that you grant us a debate on this most topical and strategically important matter.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman asks leave to propose a debate on a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration—namely, the award of the west coast main line franchise to FirstGroup.

I have listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s application. In this case, I have concluded that, although undoubtedly important, the matter raised does not meet the criteria for debate under Standing Order No. 24. I expect that the hon. Gentleman will pursue the issue by other means.

House of Lords Reform Bill

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Monday 9th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Liberal Democrat Members should not be yelling at the right hon. Gentleman. The right hon. and learned Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) intervened and the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) is replying. The hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) is an aspiring statesman—

[Tim Farron]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Speaker]

Well, perhaps he thinks he is a statesman already, and he should behave accordingly. Let us hear Mr Sadiq Khan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think that we have the drift of the Minister’s answer. We are grateful.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

Surely the reoffending rate is a critical factor affecting the number of prison places that are required. Restorative justice programmes such as that of the Sycamore Tree foundation, which operates at Haverigg prison in Cumbria, are both inexpensive and highly effective in reducing reoffending. What steps is the Minister taking to increase the number of restorative justice programmes in Britain’s prisons?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tim Farron and John Bercow

Wednesday 9th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

May I associate myself with the remarks that the Prime Minister rightly made about the dreadful shootings in Cumbria last week, and also pay tribute to the emergency services and to all those who are recovering from that appalling tragedy?

The Prime Minister will be aware that the national cancer reform strategy states that no cancer patient should have to travel for more than 45 minutes to receive radiotherapy treatment. Last December, we received a commitment from our local health trusts that there would be a new cancer unit for South Lakeland in Kendal. Will the Prime Minister agree to meet me and health campaigners and NHS officials soon to try to ensure that he, too, makes a commitment to the delivery of a cancer unit—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We really must have shorter questions.