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795 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Business of the HouseThank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your service, and for calling me to make my last contribution in this House, after over 40 years. I also thank the staff of the House and of…23 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)As is well known, I have been opposed to the HS2 project since its inception, which goes back about 10 years or so. The Minister is giving us a bit of a eulogy about what is being…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)The question the Minister referred to is one of additional provisions. The real question—this is a technical question and not good for an intervention—and the bottom line is that…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)The instruction states: “The Committee shall, before concluding its proceedings, amend the Bill by—” and then sets out certain arrangements relating to certain aspects of the…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)May I refer my hon. Friend to paragraph 3 of the motion? It states: “The Committee shall treat the principle of the Bill, as determined by the House on…Second Reading, as…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)At the moment, travelling from Stoke-on-Trent or Stafford down to London Euston, as Conservative Members do, takes just over an hour. I would have thought that most people regard…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker; I think I can do it a lot quicker than that. I agree with the remarks made by my hon. Friends from Staffordshire and, in particular, my…21 May 2024HANSARD High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)Is the hon. Gentleman actually involved with a Bill that is currently in existence, or is he suggesting that something should be done in respect of a Bill that is not the same as…21 May 2024HANSARDIllegal Migration Act: Northern IrelandWill my hon. Friend indicate the extent to which the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Windsor framework and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, as it relates to the…14 May 2024HANSARD International Health RegulationsMay I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger) on securing this urgent question? I also congratulate those on the Government Benches—I note that there is…14 May 2024HANSARD War Graves WeekI note the welcome presence of the Secretary of State at such a debate. As the only MP whose father was killed in the war, I owe great thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves…14 May 2024HANSARDSmartphones and Social Media: ChildrenMay I congratulate my hon. Friend, and everybody who works with her, on the amazing work that she has done? It is a remarkable achievement, and I want to thank everybody who is…14 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewI beg to move, That this House has considered the BBC mid-term charter review. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for providing time for this debate on the BBC…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewI am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his remarks. I will only say that, as he will have noticed, I have been quoting some highly experienced, knowledgeable and famous…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewMay I commend the Minister not only on her speech just now, but on having continually engaged with me on the subject over the past few years? She has been dedicated to her task,…09 May 2024HANSARDMiners and Mining CommunitiesI am pleased to make a brief intervention in this debate. The hon. Gentleman may not know that I was vice-chair of the all-party group on coalfield communities for some time, and…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewI can assure the hon. Gentleman that I have not lost anything at all. It is very simple. The fact is that in Parliament, we have proper debates by elected people and decisions…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewIndeed. The proof was in the pudding and was demonstrated by the outcome of the referendum on 23 June 2016. My hon. Friend is right. Actually, this is about unconscious bias in…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewIt is at the heart of the BBC’s priorities in theory, but not in practice. Ofcom is insufficiently independent, and it is understood that there are deep concerns about the…09 May 2024HANSARD BBC Mid-term Charter ReviewThe short answer is that we got the verdict on 23 June 2016, as we all know. The problem is that the BBC is incapable of enforcing its own rules on impartiality, largely because…09 May 2024