HM Passport Office

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Thursday 12th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

This is the biggest problem that my constituency office has been presented with since the bedroom tax. My staff have often worked overtime to deal with cases such as those of the lady who phoned early one afternoon to say that her friend was leaving Glasgow airport at six o’clock the next morning and did not have a passport, and the man who, two months after sending off his application, received a letter saying that it had not been signed. My staff would want me to pay tribute to the—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry. The right hon. Gentleman is an extremely senior Member and I treat him with the utmost courtesy, but we are very pressed for time. What we need is a one-sentence, short question.

[Mr Clarke]

I am happy to oblige, Mr Speaker. Will the Home Secretary address herself to the question put to her by my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), and personally meet front-line staff and union representatives who warned that this was going to happen?

Syrian Refugees

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

Non-governmental organisations, such as the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development and Christian Aid, very much welcome the Government’s humanitarian contribution to these awful problems and will no doubt welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. However, they are puzzled, as I am, that the Government have not thus far associated themselves with the UNHCR’s programme, and therefore with 18 important countries. That lack of solidarity seems to be a wee bit intransigent and hardly fits in with the rest of the Government’s approach. Have I missed an obvious explanation?

[Mr Speaker]

I see that the right hon. Gentleman has put in to speak in the debate as well. We are grateful to him. He will have made two speeches by the end of it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Gentleman will have to raise his point of order after the statement.

Points of Order

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I have received no such indication, but the hon. Lady is an indefatigable Member. Her concerns will have been heard by the Deputy Leader of the House, and she will have to look for opportunities, either at Question Time or through the resources of the Table Office, to highlight her inquiries.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. First, with your permission, with pride and humility, I would like to associate myself with the tributes paid to Paul Goggins, our dear friend—and particularly your tribute, Mr Speaker. He was involved in many activities. I remember most his commitment to international development, which was shared by his family and his son Dominic. I know that our thoughts, as expressed by you, are very much with them today.

During our eventful break, to their credit the television media covered the significant events in South Sudan. That is understandable, given that 200,000 people have been displaced, 500,000 are waiting for humanitarian aid and awful violence continues. Mr Speaker, have you been given any indication, either by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the Department for International Development, that a Minister intends to make a statement to the House? If not, may I seek your invaluable advice about how the matter might be pursued?

[Mr Speaker]

I have received no such indication from either Department. My advice to the right hon. Gentleman is to think forward to Tuesday 21 January, when there will be oral questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and his team. The right hon. Gentleman might think that a suitable opportunity to raise the matters of concern to him. Who knows? He might be successful either on the Order Paper or in seeking to raise a supplementary question.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I told the Secretary of State privately before, and I say it publicly now, that if he intends to devote part of his answer to talking about what happened under the previous Government, he can abandon that plan now and resume his seat. I suggest he resumes his seat.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

As part of this openness and transparency, will the Government improve their relations with the police and prison services, so that we can have a clearer idea of why people with mental illnesses are spending time in police cells or being sent to prison?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 30th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

Is the Minister satisfied with the distribution of aid in northern Mali, and particularly in those parts that have been retaken? Have the Government had any discussions with their French counterparts? [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Far too many noisy conversations are taking place on the Opposition Benches. We are discussing extremely serious matters of life and death.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call Tom Clarke.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

Many people watching our proceedings will be interested in the issue of fuel poverty, but they might be a little confused by the Prime Minister’s reply a few moments ago to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Joan Walley). Will he confirm—let us be transparent—that, as one body has advised, approaching 9 million households suffer from fuel poverty, which is the highest since records began? Will he explain to the House and our constituents, as we approach Christmas, what the Government are prepared to do about the horrible scandal of fuel poverty?

IMF

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

The Chancellor is now in a position to tell us whether he intends to honour his commitment of 0.7% gross national income for overseas aid by 2013. When can we expect the legislation, which I understand is now sitting on the desk of the Secretary of State for International Development?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sure that the Chancellor will relate the answer to the IMF, to which I feel sure the right hon. Gentleman was seeking indirectly, and without saying so, to relate the matter.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Point of order, if the Secretary of State will just hold on. Point of order, Mr Tom Clarke.

[Mr Tom Clarke]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

I hope it is.

[Mr Tom Clarke]

Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, you could not be here earlier, when again, again and again I asked Ministers to give way. Is there something in “Erskine May” which says, “You don’t give way to the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill”?

[Mr Speaker]

No. It is uncharacteristic of the right hon. Gentleman to be suffering from a persecution complex, and I hope that it will not be repeated. He is just unlucky today.

[Mr Kenneth Clarke]

I was about to give way to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr Cox), but I have the highest regard for the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr Clarke), whom I have known for years, and this is the first time that I have rebuffed him, so I will give way, as he insists. He is obviously getting worried about this.

Amendment of the Law

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Tuesday 29th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will have heard the Minister refer me to page 44 of the Red Book, which I have now read. Is it in order for the Minister to refuse to allow me to respond?

[Mr Speaker]

It is.

[Danny Alexander]

The right hon. Gentleman misheard me; I referred to page 55.

It is the right decision—

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Tom Clarke]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is patently obvious that the right hon. Gentleman is having trouble finishing his speech. Would he allow me to answer the point that he asked me to—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, but he has been in this House long enough to know that that is not a point of order. I think that it is a point of frustration.

[Danny Alexander]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Secretary Michael Gove to make a statement.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. First, I say to the right hon. Gentleman that points of order come after the statement, and secondly, I appeal to right hon. and hon. Members who are leaving the Chamber to do so quickly and quietly, so that we can hear the statement from Mr Secretary Gove.

Points of Order

Debate between Tom Clarke and John Bercow

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will recall that during Prime Minister’s Question Time my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) asked the Prime Minister about the mobility component of disability living allowance for those in residential accommodation and the Government’s plans for people in those circumstances. The Prime Minister said in reply that the official Opposition supported the Government’s position. I observed that the Prime Minister was being advised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I recall that the Chancellor made the same comment to the House at Treasury questions a week or so ago. I seek your advice on the following point, Mr Speaker. The fact is that my Opposition Front-Bench colleagues assured me right up until when the last statement was being made that that is not the policy of the official Opposition, and that we are utterly opposed to it—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am very grateful to the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr Clarke). He is an extremely experienced and assiduous Member and I was waiting expectantly, with bated breath and beads of sweat upon my brow, for the point of order he was going to raise, and I think we have now just about reached it, except that it is not a point of order. It is, I think, a point of debate, at which the right hon. Gentleman is very adept, but I am afraid we will have to leave it there. There is nothing on which I need to rule, although it is always a pleasure to hear from the right hon. Gentleman.