Contributions
4,038 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am concerned to hear the hon. Lady say that this is not a covid-secure workplace. If we look around, we see the precautions that have been taken: the advice given to people to…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI hope Hansard got a bit more of that than I did, but I think I got the fundamental point. We have made the right provisions to ensure that people can come to the House and can…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend makes an important point. Perhaps it would be helpful for me to explain why the view is that this should cover the clinically extremely vulnerable, which is very…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI begin by wishing the hon. Lady well in her recovery. I am sure the whole House would like me to do that.16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am extremely grateful to the Father of the House for his question and his, I think, generous comments. I will certainly interpret them that way, though they may have been…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am afraid I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. The default position should be that Members attend the House to carry out the business of the House. We are key workers, and we…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend is enormously gracious in her thanks to the digital and broadcasting team, who have not only managed to introduce this new system since March, but have had to move…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI very much doubt that any of the right hon. Lady’s constituents would say that she does not represent them effectively. She has always been a powerful campaigner and an effective…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy right hon. Friend was momentarily interrupted, and that is one of the problems with remote participation; the quality of the audio is not invariably perfect. Although that…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am very concerned and sorry to hear that so many members of the Liaison Committee are extremely clinically vulnerable. That is certainly…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe hon. Gentleman is an absolute model of parliamentary engagement and of the ability to stand up for constituents and ensure that they are represented. He does it with aplomb…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI completely sympathise with my right hon. Friend. It must be very frustrating not being able to participate in the activities of the House, and I hope that the proposals being…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesTo answer the last point first, we are not copying the Lords because the Lords’ system, as I keep on saying, breaks down and it is really important that we have votes that…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend makes a very important point, and I would say that it is a matter on which she should consult her doctors. If they think that the risk is such that she is de facto…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesIf anyone looks around the Chamber, they will see that we are not working normally. It is not a question of working normally: we see the markings on the floor, the tape, the…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesWhat I have said is that those who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be able to have remote participation, I hope, subject to a motion before this House. There is no…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesI doubt the hon. Lady can see, but the shadow Leader of the House is nodding. I know everyone here wishes her well. As I said earlier, this is a balance between ensuring that…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe hon. Lady and I simply disagree on whether the House can operate effectively remotely. We have the experience to go on of May and June when it did not work effectively. The…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesThe hon. Gentleman stands up and says that what I am saying is something that he does not believe. At some point he made a little comment about the enormous enthusiasm with which…16 Nov 2020HANSARD Participation in DebatesMy hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. We ought to be assembling because we are not, as Edmund Burke put it, ambassadors representing countries —individual areas that are not as…16 Nov 2020