Contributions
201 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election Bill (Business of the House)Does the hon. Gentleman know where his partner, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), is, because she has not bothered to turn…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillThe hon. Lady says that there was not a referendum under the coalition as a result of the Liberal Democrats. I was here in 2008, and she said in this Chamber, “We are being…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillOn Brenda of Bristol, I shall give way.29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillOn political footballs? The hon. Gentleman plays the game very well, so I shall hand over to him.29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI want to give my hon. Friend a bit of a breather. I understand his frustration. Until the last incarnation of the withdrawal agreement, the Labour party—Her Majesty’s official…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillNo. I am making an intervention on my hon. Friend. Eventually there was a consensus on the withdrawal agreement, so the next point of attack became how long we could discuss it.…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI hope the intervention is on this particular point of asking the same question, because I do wish to give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Rachel Maclean).29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillIt is important that we have a general election. When the question about Brexit was asked in 2016, it was a matter of which side of the argument people supported. The hon. Member…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is important that we go back and look at how we got to where we are in order to understand where we are going next. I am sorry about the…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI assume that the word “you” was directed not at you, Mr Speaker, but at me, so I do not expect you to answer the hon. Gentleman’s question and tell us why you are not changing…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillMy right hon. Friend tempts me, and since there are no time limits, I may well wax lyrical on that point. However, it is important for us to get to the nub of the matter, which is…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillMay I finish this point first? Otherwise I could be speaking for hours, and I am sure the House would rather I did not detain it for that long. People came up to that market stall…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillOn political tribes, I shall give way.29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillPerhaps the arithmetic in the hon. Gentleman’s particular tribe is not as good as it might be. The Conservatives have not had a working majority for three years; there have been…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI can only hazard a guess that certain parties saw it as politically expedient to suggest or imply, in 2008 in the case of the Liberal Democrats or in 2017 in the case of the…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillOn a scintilla of that argument I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. However, I am going to go back to the intervention of my right hon. Friend the Member for East…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI will not give way now as I want to respond to the intervention of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire about honouring referendums.29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI will give way in a moment; I am in great demand. First, however, I will respond to my right hon. Friend’s intervention on referendums. It is important that we recognise that…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillI am glad the hon. Gentleman asked me that because my answer to my constituents then, now and in the future is that I completely respect democracy, and whatever democratic outcome…29 Oct 2019HANSARD Early Parliamentary General Election BillNo, I am not going to have a two-way debate with the hon. Gentleman on this particular matter.29 Oct 2019