Contributions
867 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDStrikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and here is the rub. I think it is the reason for the latest poll out today on support for the action that trade unions are taking. It is…30 Jan 2023HANSARDMinisterial Appointments: Vetting and Managing Conflicts of InterestThank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. We may have a carousel of Ministers, but it is the same old excuses every single time. Reports that the then Chancellor…23 Jan 2023HANSARDMinisterial Appointments: Vetting and Managing Conflicts of Interest(Urgent Question): To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on his Department’s processes for vetting ministerial appointments and managing…23 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillThe hon. Gentleman makes some important and valid points. In the past 12 months to two and a half years, we have seen the unravelling of the VIP fast-track lane for people linked…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillWhat I can say is that the Labour party would not have crashed the economy like the Conservatives did. We would not have inflation at the record levels we have at the moment. We…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI am glad the hon. Gentleman got the crib sheet from the Whips. There is a complete and utter lack of clarity about what these measures will mean for the six sectors to which they…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. This legislation “is not a solution to dealing with the industrial action we see at the moment.” Those are not my words but the words of…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillMy hon. Friend makes some important points. We can all see from the reports on the negotiations that there was genuine hope we could get to a settlement, and then the Government…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI absolutely agree. People watching this debate can see from the Secretary of State’s opening remarks, and from his previous remarks, what this is: a smokescreen about allegedly…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI absolutely agree with my friend. We may not be in the same party, but we are in the same trade union. These brave, hard-working men and women struck local life-and-limb deals on…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI thank my hon. Friend for that contribution and I absolutely agree. I was reflecting while the Secretary of State was making his opening speech, and I was thinking that, if I…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI will just educate the hon. Gentleman: although I used to be a trade union official and I am a member of a trade union, I do not negotiate on behalf of a trade union. But what I…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillWhat about the Conservatives crashing the economy? The Secretary of State forgets the fact that inflation has gone through the roof under their watch. Thirteen years of…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillFirst, let me declare an interest as a proud lifelong trade unionist. I regret the tone of the Secretary of State’s speech today. If he is implying in any way that Members of the…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) BillI absolutely agree with my hon. Friend; not only would we have grown the economy—and we have a plan to grow the economy, unlike the Conservatives —but we would not have wasted…16 Jan 2023HANSARD Industrial ActionI refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and declare that I am a proud member of a trade union. I will start by tackling the Secretary of…10 Jan 2023HANSARD Procurement Bill [Lords]Hear, hear!09 Jan 2023HANSARD Procurement Bill [Lords]I say to the right hon. Member that we do not have a system that works. That is pretty clear to me because we can see the disastrous waste that currently happens in the system,…09 Jan 2023HANSARD Procurement Bill [Lords]As I said to the Minister earlier, Wales and other countries had emergency powers to do things. It is our situation here that has seen the cronyism and the VIP lane in particular…09 Jan 2023HANSARD Procurement Bill [Lords]Yes. Clause 41 allows Ministers to use urgency as a new justification for granting direct awards—directly allowing the VIP lane yet again. I ask the hon. Gentleman to look at the…09 Jan 2023