Contributions
111 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI think it is, and my hon. Friend makes a good point. I would answer more fully, but I am already running over time. Keeping TV licences free for all over-75s would require…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sIt certainly is for this Minister, who happens to be answering today. But it is not as if she, or other Front Benchers, did not have notice, because during the passage of the Bill…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sYes, and this is particularly exacerbated as we have massive technological flux in the broadcasting sector that requires the ability to invest in future content and platforms.08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sMy answer to the right hon. Gentleman is a complicated one. We are committed to 2022. I do not write or decide our manifesto. He knows I cannot do that. Our commitment to…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sWhat a great campaigner Jack Jones was. I thank my hon. Friend for raising his contribution. His legacy is the National Pensioners Convention, which is solidly against these…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI will give way for the last time, and then I will make some progress.08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sIt is not fair on my hon. Friend’s constituent and the many hundreds of thousands of other pensioners who will lose out. Very often, it is the most vulnerable and the loneliest…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sIf we believe in universal benefits and that people who have paid into the Exchequer over their working lives are entitled to benefits, then yes. I hope the hon. Gentleman…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI thank my right hon. Friend for making that point. He was part of the pioneering Government that gave this concession to pensioners because we believe that they deserve dignity…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI do. The Government’s commitment to my hon. Friend’s constituents was very clear: they promised that free TV licences would last for the duration of this Parliament. We are…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI agree, and I will come to loneliness a little later. Thankfully, the pensioners of Slough saw through the ambiguity of that manifesto and voted for my hon. Friend in the last…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI am afraid it is, but in this case there is also the issue of a broken manifesto promise. We seek to expose that today and persuade the Minister that it is not too late to change…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI agree: it is the most vulnerable and loneliest who will be affected if this policy is implemented. That is why we called this debate.08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sMy hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for pensioners not just in Coventry but throughout the country. Last week, he exposed the ambiguity in the Government’s position. Yet the…08 May 2019HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sTo take the Minister back to his original point, there is nothing hypothetical about a manifesto pledge. Is he saying that if the BBC drops the concession, he cannot honour that…08 May 2019HANSARD National Security Council LeakOn a point of order, Mr Speaker.02 May 2019HANSARD National Security Council LeakOn a point of order, Mr Speaker. In his answer to me earlier, the Secretary of State said that the matter of investigating a criminal act is one for the police, not for Ministers.…02 May 2019HANSARD National Security Council LeakThe primary duty of any Government is to keep our country safe and secure. On that we all agree. This leak from the National Security Council is a fundamental breach of that duty.…02 May 2019HANSARD National Security Council Leak(Urgent Question): To ask the Prime Minister to make a statement on the findings of the inquiry into the National Security Council leak.02 May 2019HANSARD National Security Council LeakA former Rottweiler.02 May 2019