Contributions
717 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Belfast/Good Friday Agreement: 25th AnniversaryI am grateful for your advice, Mr Deputy Speaker. I did seek advice from the Speaker’s Office in relation to the references that I was going to make, but I will adhere to your…30 Mar 2023HANSARD Belfast/Good Friday Agreement: 25th AnniversaryI welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate. I also welcome the comments of the Secretary of State, as well as those of the respective Front Benchers and the many other…30 Mar 2023HANSARD Finance (No. 2) BillThank you for the chance to speak in this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was quite taken by the Financial Secretary’s remarks setting out the three pillars of tax: making it…29 Mar 2023HANSARDBudget Resolutions and Economic SituationIt is a great honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) and his excellent speech. In the time that I have, I wonder if I might focus on one specific issue…16 Mar 2023HANSARD Business of the HouseTomorrow is St Patrick’s day [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Exactly. But it is also the first anniversary of P&O Ferries’ appalling assault on the legal and employment rights of…16 Mar 2023HANSARDBudget Resolutions and Economic SituationI am fascinated by the Secretary of State’s contribution and the improvements in pensions, particularly for high earners, but did the Chancellor forget to mention the injustice to…16 Mar 2023HANSARDBudget Resolutions and Economic SituationMy hon. Friend is very kind to give way, and he is making an excellent speech, but can I just ask his opinion about left-behind areas? It is all very well for the high earners who…16 Mar 2023HANSARDWorkers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) BillIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Robert. I congratulate the hon. Member for Blackpool South on introducing the Bill and explaining the provisions in such an…08 Mar 2023HANSARDWorkers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) BillI congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing the Bill, which is a welcome step in the right direction. I am aware of the figures for the number of workers who are on…08 Mar 2023HANSARDNHS Workforce ExpansionIt is not correct that Labour’s spending plans are unfunded, and I hope that the Minister will put the record right. On the cancer plan, there is information out there that the…28 Feb 2023HANSARDNHS Workforce ExpansionI am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way before my knee does. Clearly, he is a man with a plan. Is it not incredible that we do not have a plan for dealing with…28 Feb 2023HANSARDNHS Workforce ExpansionI am honoured to speak in the debate and to follow my good friend, my hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mick Whitley). I, too, place on record my thanks and appreciation and…28 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]I am grateful to the Minister for these amendments, as the issues to which they relate were raised by Opposition Members in Committee and on Second Reading. What is the position…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]We have to agree to disagree on this point. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers has estimated that the 2020 legal extension of the national minimum wage…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I wish him every success in his bilateral negotiations with the French Government and other seafaring nations. Let me turn to the…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]I agree with my hon. Friend, who makes a powerful point. It is not that we are not giving the Minister credit for having moved some way; it is just that this Bill presents an…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]That is an important point. The Government are laying so much store by voluntary agreement in the application of the seafarers welfare charter, or the seafarers charter—it has had…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]I rise to support the amendments in the names of my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) and for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane), in particular new…07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]I give way to the former Shipping Minister.07 Feb 2023HANSARD Seafarers’ Wages Bill [Lords]That is absolutely spot on. As I have said, the improvements in the amendments and the new clause have the support of the official Opposition and our friends in the SNP, but I…07 Feb 2023