Contributions
925 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageProfiteering businesses need to recognise that reputational damage to their operations will last beyond the crisis. The point I was making is that if we are to be serious in this…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageI welcome some of the reassurances that we have heard from the Prime Minister and others today, but I have watched the interviews with individual doctors about the risks that they…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageI will come on to the issue of repatriation, but let me mention it now. All of us now have constituents contacting us about their loved ones who are not able to come home. We need…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageIt demonstrates that naming and shaming works, and at some time in the future I might drink to that.25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageThe problem we have, as my hon. Friend points out, is that this is a voluntary scheme for employers to participate in. What we have to do is to use everything we possibly can to…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageI am grateful for my hon. Friend’s words. We have asked for a while, not least when we put forward our proposals last Thursday, that there should be a floor of the national…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageI support the words of Mr Speaker last week, when he made clear the practices that Ministers should pursue, and I believe that this is an act of bad faith on the part of the Prime…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageA bit of practice that has crept into our politics recently is that announcements are made at press conferences, rather than to this House. Mr Speaker has made it perfectly clear…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageI am grateful for the intervention, if only because it enabled me to have a drink, but it was a useful one, because the hon. Gentleman will argue that we were suggesting to the…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageFurther to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I understand some of the difficulties, but perhaps we could get an assurance that we will at least have a copy of the proposals in…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageThank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. On Monday, the Prime Minister ordered the 21-day lockdown and asked non-essential retail and leisure facilities to close. We all supported that…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageNot necessarily. Lay-offs are happening at scale, as I said, and hon. Members have mentioned the statistics. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has said that nearly…25 Mar 2020HANSARDFinancial and Social Emergency Support PackageThe Government must get serious now, at this stage in the attack by the virus. Therefore, sanctions are required, if necessary. Workers must also be assured that, as has been…25 Mar 2020HANSARDContingencies Fund BillWhat we were trying to establish in our discussions with the Government last week was equality of sacrifice. Yes, workers and the Treasury have realised that there will have to be…24 Mar 2020HANSARDCovid-19: Support for BusinessesWe have an urgent question on the self-employed after this, but to add to the comments that have been made so far, there is a sense of urgency about this now. There is no Member…24 Mar 2020HANSARDContingencies Fund BillIn the real world, that is exactly why trade unions have asked that when loans are given or support is provided through the jobs retention scheme, there is a requirement for…24 Mar 2020HANSARD Self-employed Persons: Financial SupportCan I say to the right hon. Gentleman and other Members that no one is looking for a row over this? We are looking for a solution. The reason some Members became irritated earlier…24 Mar 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsMay I again welcome much of what the Chancellor is doing, and say that we wish to work with him as positively as we possibly can in this very difficult period? I just wish to…24 Mar 2020HANSARDContingencies Fund BillThe hon. Gentleman has done some sterling work on this, so would he like to comment on the figures that are coming out on 6 April and the interest rates for overdrafts from HSBC,…24 Mar 2020HANSARDContingencies Fund BillMay I start by assuring the Treasury Bench that the official Opposition will support this Bill? I support the Government throughout, obviously, but as the Minister might expect,…24 Mar 2020