Recall of MPs Bill

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Twigg]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point of substance that we need to consider as the Bill progresses. I imagine that Terry Fields would have been re-elected by a massive majority for the stand that he took against the poll tax.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

A moment ago my hon. Friend referred to the need for lay members to be involved in the process of trigger determination. Does he agree, however, that it is important that we do not just get the usual kinds of people but have genuine members of the public involved?

[Stephen Twigg]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I am glad that he has made that point. That will be a crucial part of our consideration not only in Committee but in some of the wider discussion that is happening about the future of the Standards and Privileges Committee. The political membership is contentious in terms of MPs policing ourselves. We could address that by ensuring that the lay membership is genuinely credible with the wider public.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I am looking forward to the debates, as they were a really good innovation and people want them next time. I can understand the concerns of parties with only one MP in this House, but as a leader of a party with 55 MPs I do not want any of the larger parties to use the angst among the very small parties with only one MP to serve as an alibi for foot-dragging. Let us get on with it and have these debates.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Does the Deputy Prime Minister think it is right that the Electoral Commission is trying to curb the tweets of charities?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman might need to write to me on the issue and I will then look into it for him.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney-General]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. Although at times people call into question the mechanisms of international order under the charter of the United Nations, or in a European Context those of the Council of Europe, they have delivered over time real improvements in the way in which states behave towards each other. That is why the actions of the Russian Government in tearing up the rule book in this way are so sinister and so chilling.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Is the Attorney-General satisfied that the United Kingdom in particular has fulfilled all its obligations under the Budapest memorandum?

[The Attorney-General]

I have no reason to think that the United Kingdom has not fulfilled its undertakings under the memorandum. The memorandum provided some important mechanisms and assurances for the Ukrainian Government when Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal, and it is clear that those have not been observed by the Russian Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 9th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I should point out to my hon. Friend that the donation cap did not find favour among various parties in the recent cross-party talks. The issue of the day is: are parties in this House free of vested interests—yes or no? I do not think it healthy for the Labour party or, for that matter, the trade unions to have this dysfunctional relationship. I welcome what the leader of the Labour party is saying today and offer legislation on behalf of the coalition Government to turn his words into action.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

On the funding of political parties, in recent years donations to the Conservative party from hedge fund managers, bankers and others associated with the City of London have doubled to nearly £43 million. They obviously like the half-baked regulatory measures being introduced by this Government. What measures does the Deputy Prime Minister plan to take to ensure full transparency, so that these donations, to use his own words, are not allowed to distort the political process?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

All parties in this House, if we are candid with each other, have had problems with the way in which big money circulates in politics. That is why I remain a keen advocate of a cross-party approach to getting big money out of political donations and why I am disappointed that the recent cross-party talks did not lead to fruition. We can make progress, which is why we are about to table a Bill on third party funding to limit the influence of non-political parties in the democratic process. I repeat what I said earlier: given that the Labour party finally seems to have had a change of heart over the way in which it organises its dysfunctional relationship with its financial backers, I hope that it will work with us to reflect that in law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, but frankly the word from smaller businesses in Wales is that they are frequently precluded from bidding because of the Welsh procurement process. I hope that will change under the new arrangements.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

13. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the responsibilities of police and crime commissioners in Wales.

[The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr David Jones)]

I have discussed the responsibilities of police and crime commissioners with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. PCCs are democratically elected and accountable to the communities they serve.

[Wayne David]

Does the Secretary of State share my concern that the former chief constable of Gwent yesterday told a Select Committee of this House that she was bullied out of her job?

[Mr Jones]

I heard what the former chief constable said. I want to reiterate what I said at the last Welsh Grand Committee. I have the highest possible regard for Carmel Napier. Ultimately, however, it must be for the police and crime commissioner to make that decision, and of course he is accountable to Parliament through the Home Affairs Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

In a spirit of coalition harmony, of course.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Owing to the opposition of large elements of the Conservative party, the Deputy Prime Minister’s plans for Lords reform came to nowt. Will he now co-operate with our party to ensure that the excesses and alleged abuses in the other place are tackled immediately?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

That is pretty rich, coming from a Front Bencher of a party which, despite its own long-standing manifesto commitment in favour of democracy in the House of Lords, could not even bring itself to support a timetable motion to make that a reality.

As I said earlier, if specific housekeeping measures are necessary—involving Members of the House of Lords who have committed crimes and should not be there, or who have never attended and should not be there, or involving voluntary retirement—and if we can sweep those measures up into a wider Bill such as the one providing for the recall of MPs, we shall be prepared to consider doing so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

Yes, the congestion on the M4 is causing significant difficulty to Welsh commerce and, of course, to Welsh motorists. I repeat that it is a great pity that the Welsh Government did not carry out their statutory function by upgrading that road long ago. This is a matter on which I am engaged with the Welsh Government, and I hope we will be able to make further announcements in due course.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Will the Government introduce road tolls on the new M4 relief road?

[Mr Jones]

I must point out that the Assembly Government already have the competence to introduce road tolls, under the Transport (Wales) Act 2006. That is, of course, a matter for the Assembly Government.

Debate on the Address

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 8th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Redwood]

I think that the Government need to re-examine the whole carbon tax regime, which is not imposed by our Asian or American competitors, and the balance of power generation for electricity, because we seem to choose to generate a rather high proportion by extremely expensive means. I would impose this simple test: is it going to work and is it going to be cheaper?

The Government would be wise to understand that we may not be too far away from an unfortunate conjunction of events on a cold winter’s day when there is no wind blowing and we are very short of energy. I am worried that a number of our important old power stations are being pensioned off or forcibly converted before we have put the alternatives in place. As the Prime Minister has rightly said, that should have been done by the previous Government, who spent 13 years arguing over whether to have new nuclear or new gas and did not put in place the replacement and back-up power that we clearly need with a strategy that relies heavily on wind and other intermittent renewables and where an EU set of rules requires us to close down prematurely a series of older power stations that we might still need.

Indeed, I would hope that one of the new energy Minister’s urgent decisions will be to ask for permission or derogation to keep open some of the older power stations for another two or three years while the Government put in place the necessary permits, licences and investment framework for the replacement power stations—which will, I think, have to be gas powered—in order to ensure back-up and security of supply. One of the important tasks of government in the overall task of keeping the country secure is to keep the lights on, and we need to do more to make sure that that is happening.

I hope that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will encourage the Chancellor to go further and faster in sorting out the banks. Some of us are extremely impatient about the way in which the Royal Bank of Scotland, the recipient of so much public subsidy and shareholding, is still not able to help finance a proper recovery. It is extremely difficult to have a strong economic recovery in this country at a time when our major bank is still undertaking such a massive slimming programme and trying to reduce its loans and exposure to risk because it got itself into difficulties under the previous regulators and remains in difficulties under the new regulators. There are regulatory fixes; I do not wish to go into the technical details, but I hope that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will move quickly and more purposefully to split up RBS and create working banks to finance the faster recovery that all parties in this House clearly want.

That would also help with private infrastructure. Those on the Government and, I think, Labour Front Benches are keen to promote more large infrastructure projects, and it would be very good if they could be financed privately. We are many years beyond the initiation of that idea under Labour, and then under the coalition, but we are yet to see the commitment of large financing to the power, transport and wider broadband and other communications projects needed for economic development and to trigger more economic growth through the construction industry. I hope that more attention will be directed to tackling those issues.

I am very pleased that at the core of the Gracious Speech, as the Prime Minister said, is his wish to do more to control our borders sensibly. I am a free-enterprise free trader—I am all in favour of talent coming in and of diversity in our country. However, I think that most of us believe that far too many people came in far too quickly, creating difficulties for housing, health and other service provision. When new people arrive in our country, we want them, as well as the people already settled here, to enjoy a reasonable lifestyle and for that to be achieved at a pace with which the existing community is happy.

I think the big mood of anger that we saw in Thursday’s elections stems from the feeling that many people have that some of those who arrive in our country get free and easy access to public services and benefits before they become British citizens and valued members of our community. People ask, “Is this fair at a time of cuts, pressure and difficulty? Can we really afford to have hundreds of thousands of new people coming in who are immediately eligible for high-quality public services and welfare provision?” When we see the details of what the Prime Minister is suggesting, I hope that a fair and sensible system will be introduced.

In meeting the European Union obligations on the freedom and movement of workers, it would be a very good idea to say that while of course people can come in to take a job, that would not make them eligible to receive a welfare or top-up benefit of any kind, and that it would not give them automatic entitlement to a lot of fringe benefits for their wider family. It should be the free movement of workers, not the free movement of benefit-seekers. I believe that the contributory principle is enforced in other parts of the EU, so why do we not have a rule that says that people can get access to welfare benefits and services only if they have paid national insurance for five years, or—to cover those who are already settled here but who, through no fault of their own, have not been fortunate enough to have a decent work record—if they have been in full-time education in Britain for five years? We need to look at whether we can use that contributory principle to provide some discipline.

Something that is of great interest to the trade union movement and the Labour party, as well as to the rest of us, is the impact that high volumes of migration have had on wages. Because Britain has been such a welcoming home to so many people, it has seen a large number of migrants from the rest of Europe. That has undoubtedly acted as a damper on wage levels at the lower end of the market. Often, people of great talent and skill come in and do jobs well beneath their skill level for very low wages because they are better than the wages where they come from. Some of that is a good thing, but too much of it creates enormous difficulties because it means that people who have been here for many years or were born here cannot get a job, the overall level of wages is rather low and living standards are not as high as we would like. That causes anger and tension in local communities.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it would help if the minimum wage in this country was enforced vigorously?

[Mr Redwood]

I do not think that the minimum wage is high enough for a family. Our ambitions should be rather higher. It is a Labour cop-out to say that all the problems can be solved by enforcing the minimum wage. We all know that, on the whole, people do not live on the minimum wage, but get benefit top-ups. If people have family commitments, they of course need benefit top-ups.

I am talking about the justice of a system in which there are people in Britain who cannot get a job at all and lots of other people coming in from outside who are taking jobs on very low wages and expecting welfare top-ups, making it difficult to get the welfare bill down. That does not make any sense. There is a double bill for Britain: we have to pay the full welfare costs of the British person who cannot get the job and the top-up costs for the person who comes in from outside. Labour should take that point seriously and worry about it.

British people expect the Government, in trying to keep the country secure, to have the power to get rid of terrorist suspects and other unpleasant individuals who have, perhaps foolishly, been let in. I want the Government to appear strong and to be able to act strongly when necessary. There is huge public will for this House to gain powers that enable us to extradite people who are guilty of crimes or who are suspected of crimes and need to go elsewhere to be tried properly.

My final point is about Europe. I know that the Prime Minister is not keen to have a long debate on Europe. The trouble is that Europe is no longer a single subject; it is about the life that we lead. If we want to be sure that we can control eligibility to our welfare system, we have to sort out European welfare issues. If we want to extradite people from Britain, we need to sort out the European Court of Human Rights and will soon have to sort out the European Court of Justice as well, because there is an important European constraint on the power of Governments to act in that area. If we want to have cheap energy, we may well need to change European energy policy as well as our own. We can make immediate progress through derogations and permissions, but it would be far better to change the overall energy policy, because the whole of Europe is being damaged by its dear energy strategy, which allows America, Asia and others to take the jobs and markets that we need. We need to control our borders, keep the lights on and extradite people who deserve to be tried somewhere else. To do that, we need to sort out the European issue, as well as all the individual issues in their own right. I wish the Prime Minister every success in that.

I do not want to belong to a powerless Parliament. I do not want to belong to an impotent Parliament. I want to belong to a Parliament that can give redress to angry people outside if we think that they are right. I want to belong to a Parliament that controls our borders. I want to belong to a Parliament that settles our energy crisis. I want to belong to a Parliament that can legislate to finalise who has welfare entitlement and who does not. We are not in that happy position today. That is why I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement that we need a new relationship with the European Union. Bring it on as soon as possible and put it to this House of Commons, because without it this House of Commons is, indeed, impotent.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

The Gracious Speech was hardly an earth-shattering event. It was a short speech that, compared with previous ones, had few proposals for legislation and even fewer ideas about the direction the country should take. Before I refer to some of its contents, I want to make the point that it was more notable for what was not in it than for what was.

To date, the Government have introduced a number of measures seeking to bring about constitutional change, such as the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, which introduces individual electoral registration, and the House of Lords Reform Bill. The first two Acts reached the statute book with our support. The Electoral Registration and Administration Act, however, was substantially amended, effectively negating the Government’s attempt to reduce the number of MPs and introduce new parliamentary constituencies. The House of Lords Reform Bill, of course—well, we all know what happened to it. There were other measures as well, such as the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and the legislation allowing the referendum on the alternative vote, and we have seen a commission established on the West Lothian question, which has reported, and a commission established on a Bill of Rights.

It is fair to say that the Government, with varying degrees of success, have at least attempted significant constitutional reform over the past three years, but it is now clear that they have run out of steam. It appears, from the absence of constitutional change in the Queen’s Speech, that they have got cold feet and are playing it safe, to the extent that—believe it or not—only one constitutional Bill was announced, and a draft one at that. I refer to the promised draft Bill on electoral arrangements for the National Assembly for Wales.

Some Members might recall that last year the Wales Office published a Green Paper on future electoral arrangements for the National Assembly. Its main suggestion was that the Assembly might change to an Assembly of 30 constituency Assembly Members and 30 regional list Assembly Members. The Government’s intention was straightforward: having gerrymandered the Westminster boundaries in Wales and reduced the number of Welsh MPs by 25%, they hoped also to gerrymander the composition of the Welsh Assembly. Their objective was clearly to prevent the future election of a Labour Government for the National Assembly. However, as we all know, the ERA Bill was amended so that the Conservatives’ attempt to change the constituency boundaries and the number of MPs was thwarted. With the demise of the Westminster boundary changes, the Welsh Assembly boundary changes also bit the dust.

The promised Wales Bill is therefore likely to be extremely modest. In all probability, it will seek to fix the Assembly’s electoral term at five years, rather than four, as it is currently, and it will allow individuals to stand as candidates for both a constituency and a regional list. The fixing of the term at five years is probably relatively uncontentious, but I think that it is wrong that individuals might be able to stand for both a constituency and a regional list, because that will mean losers can be turned into winners. In other words, someone can be rejected in a constituency election and yet be elected through the back door on a regional list.

At a time when the people of Wales are likely to see unemployment rise again, when people’s standards of living are going down, and when the Welsh people are crying out for a vision of the future, what do we have? We have a Conservative-led Government promising to introduce only one piece of constitutional legislation, and only one piece of Welsh legislation, and it is specifically designed to promote the interests of Conservative party candidates.

If the Gracious Speech was bereft of constitutional proposals, there are other noticeable omissions. For example, there is no reference to legislation on the recall of MPs, despite the promises that we have had from the Government. As the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) said, there is no proposal to create a statutory register of lobbyists, despite an explicit commitment in the coalition agreement and despite the fact that the Prime Minister himself has said that

“the next big scandal waiting to happen”

concerns lobbyists. Why this omission? Is it because the Prime Minister was leaned on by the vested interests who fund the Conservative party?

The hon. Lady has had a number of her tweets, to which she referred, retweeted. I was grateful to the Financial Times this afternoon for quoting one of those tweets, which says:

“Are alcohol & tobacco lobbyists the real ‘barnacles’ that need to be scraped off the Ship of State?”

That is a very good question. I cannot for the life of me understand what valid and legitimate reason there can be for not having a statutory register of lobbyists in this House. It is a great omission that does not reflect well on the Government.

The hon. Lady made a very important and, rightly, emotive statement about the effects of tobacco on people, which is a real concern. As well as strong lobbying on behalf of alcohol interests, there is strong lobbying on behalf of tobacco interests. I deeply regret the fact that the Queen’s Speech made no reference to legislation that would introduce plain cigarette packets. Again, that is very remiss of the Government.

What, then, do we have in the Queen’s Speech? One of the more significant elements is the promise to introduce further legislation on immigration. I feel that Labour Members will probably support a number of the measures that the Government introduce. However, it is likely that the impact of many of those measures will, by definition, be very limited. I am concerned that by placing such an emphasis on immigration, the Government may convey a wrong impression about the difficulties that this country faces, possibly in the context of the fact that from 1 January there will be free movement of labour from Romania and Bulgaria. It is right that people’s understandable concerns are addressed and that safeguards are put in place, but in some quarters of our political life and the media we are coming very close to whipping up unnecessary fears among people in a rather irrational way.

I am also worried that the Government are apparently determined to do nothing to stop the exploitation of migrant workers and the undercutting of wage levels of indigenous British workers. It is very important for the minimum wage to be strictly enforced, and I deeply regret the fact that there are very few prosecutions for its non-enforcement. I also want the gangmasters licensing legislation to be tightened up substantially. If that was done, I think we could correctly say that the exploitation of all workers was being addressed.

The Government have to match their rhetoric on illegal immigration with practical measures to ensure that the UK Border Agency can do its job more effectively. For example, UKBA should be given the ability to deal with bogus student cases and the shortcomings in student visas. I have highlighted that issue in particular because the Government themselves have emphasised its importance.

In conclusion, this year’s Queen’s Speech is strong on broad intentions, but weak on specific proposals. It identifies issues of concern, but fails to propose measures to address them properly. It is laudable for its succinctness, but lamentable for its lack of vision and coherence. I am confident that in two years’ time the Gracious Speech will be of far greater quality and of much more substance.

Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.— (Mr Syms.)

Debate to be resumed tomorrow.

Tributes to Baroness Thatcher

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 10th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

I believe we should all show respect to Mrs Thatcher, this country’s first woman Prime Minister. As Prime Minister of this country, she undoubtedly achieved things in which all of us, on both sides of the House, can share a pride. Most notably, she signed the Good Friday agreement, and under her leadership this country liberated the Falklands and encouraged the freedom of the peoples of eastern Europe. Let it be said, too, that she played a key part in the development of Britain’s role in Europe and the single market. The young Margaret Thatcher was a good European. We should acknowledge too, if not to celebrate it on the Labour Benches, that Mrs Thatcher won three consecutive general elections. There were and still are many people who admired her undoubted strength and resolve, which she had in abundance.

To show respect, of course, does not necessarily mean that we have to be in agreement. It is worth remembering that many people throughout the length and breadth of this country suffered because of Thatcher’s ideology and the policies she pursued. It is important for us all to recognise that—and no part of the United Kingdom suffered more than the valleys of south Wales.

I was born and brought up in a largely mining community—Cefn Cribwr, near Bridgend. Both my grandfathers were miners and both knew from first-hand experience how difficult and dangerous coal mining was. Like so many of my generation in south Wales, the miners’ strike of 1984-85 left an indelible mark on me. Let me be clear: the tactics of Arthur Scargill were wrong and played into the hands of the Government; but it was wrong, too, that the Government gave the impression of relishing the opportunity to mobilise the state against working people who were trying to defend their jobs, their families and their communities. In our country, no opponents should ever be described as “the enemy within”.

During that long year of the miners’ strike, there was undoubtedly real hardship. In my own village, we organised a support group and raised hundreds of pounds to help miners’ families. The same happened throughout south Wales. If the hardship of the strike was bad, what happened afterwards was truly awful. Within months of the end of the strike, nearly all the remaining collieries in south Wales were closed. Nowhere was worse hit than the Rhymney valley, the greater part of which I now have the privilege to represent. Two of the biggest collieries in south Wales were within the Rhymney valley—Bedwas and Penallta. Each employed more than 600 men. Bedwas was closed literally weeks after the strike and Penallta followed suit a couple of years later.

Those closures were body blows to the valley. Closing the collieries was bad, but what made things worse was the absence of any real attempt to provide alternative employment or even training for those made unemployed. There was, it is true, a much heralded “valleys initiative” but that, like so many other Government initiatives of the time, was all hype and little substance. In the aftermath of the miners’ strike, unemployment rocketed, and so did economic inactivity.

Today, many of the scars of the 1980s are still with us. After 1997, we saw more enlightened and interventionist policies pursued, but we are still nevertheless grappling with the country’s historic legacy. In large part because of what happened during the 1980s, unemployment and economic inactivity in the south Wales valleys are still above the UK average, and poverty and deprivation are still a scourge.

I do not believe that the huge social fracture in the south Wales valleys was the result of any individual’s spite or malice; but it was the result of adherence to monetarist economic theory—a theory which elevated individuals above the community, which put short-term profit before long-term prosperity, and which made people subservient to uncontrolled market forces.

Many Conservative Members genuinely believe that Mrs Thatcher achieved many great things. They are entitled to that view. Undoubtedly Mrs Thatcher did some things that we can all take pride in; but for my constituents, and for many ordinary people throughout south Wales, Mrs Thatcher has left a legacy which they will not celebrate and which they will never forget.

Oral Answers to Questions

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

I am happy to write to the hon. Lady to deal with her question in enough detail.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

In September 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government wanted to reduce the cost of politics. To date, 128 new peers have been appointed at a cost of £131,000 each per year, with more planned. Why are the Government no longer concerned about reducing the cost of politics?

[Miss Smith]

The hon. Gentleman’s party refused to allow the timetable that would have allowed the Government to plan to instil greater legitimacy and constrain the size of the House of Lords. I think that answers his question.