Contributions
2,215 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]I agree strongly with both my hon. Friend’s points. On his second point, the motion before Wirral Council is to ask its pensions officer to be the arbitrator of which business it…22 Feb 2022HANSARD SanctionsThe Minister is being very generous in giving way. May I press him on this point? Many of us feel the package of sanctions announced today is comparatively modest. Is the…22 Feb 2022HANSARD SanctionsWill my right hon. Friend give way on that point?22 Feb 2022HANSARD SanctionsMy right hon. Friend makes a good point. If the scenario that plays out is the first of the ones that I described, there will be little opportunity to introduce further sanctions,…22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]I will come back to the hon. Gentleman. I appreciate his interest. The latest example of the politicisation of public pension schemes is by Wirral Council, which is currently…22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]Yes, I do, and I will give some other examples of local authorities considering the same actions that my hon. Friend describes. The argument that I wish to advance is that, for…22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]Will the hon. Member give way?22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The Supreme Court raised two central arguments. One was whether the 2013 Act explicitly gave the Secretary of State the power to issue…22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]I will make a bit of progress and then I will return to the hon. Gentleman. All too often, the foreign policy of these public pension schemes is, I am afraid, exclusively focused…22 Feb 2022HANSARD Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill [Lords]As a matter of law, what the hon. Member is saying is not correct. Pensions within the public sector, as elsewhere, are regulated. They were regulated by the Public Service…22 Feb 2022HANSARDUkraineI thank my right hon. Friend for the leadership that he has shown in recent months. The paradox is that the more Putin tries to draw countries towards Moscow, the more he repels…21 Feb 2022HANSARDLiving with Covid-19I thank my right hon. Friend for his important statement, and for the reassurance that he provided in it for the clinically extremely vulnerable. The Government took huge steps to…21 Feb 2022HANSARD North Sea Oil and GasOur commitment to net zero is not in any sense incompatible with making use of our domestic reserves. Otherwise, we will simply be reliant on imported gas from Putin and the Gulf,…09 Feb 2022HANSARDAfghanistan Humanitarian Crisis: UK ResponseLast week, the US Treasury Department issued guidance to international banks on sanctions exemptions on humanitarian grounds enabling international banks to transfer money to…09 Feb 2022HANSARDRussia: SanctionsIn addition to targeted sanctions against Kremlin-linked individuals, our friends and allies in the US Senate are considering three further steps. The first is sanctioning Russian…31 Jan 2022HANSARDHolocaust Memorial DayI thank all right hon. and hon. Members who have participated in the debate. I have attended these debates on almost every occasion since I was elected eight years ago, and to me…27 Jan 2022HANSARDHolocaust Memorial DayI thank my hon. Friend, and return to my thanks to and support of the Holocaust Educational Trust, which sends hundreds of thousands of our young people to visit…27 Jan 2022HANSARDHolocaust Memorial DayAbsolutely. My right hon. Friend has a long record, of which he should be proud, of drawing the attention of the House to exactly those issues. That is exactly the point I was…27 Jan 2022HANSARDHolocaust Memorial DayI certainly do and the hon. Gentleman makes the point very powerfully. The way we remember is changing. For example, Dov, the great-grandson of Lily, whom I met in Victoria…27 Jan 2022HANSARDHolocaust Memorial DayI beg to move, That this House has considered Holocaust Memorial Day 2022. I would like to thank the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge) and the hon. Member for…27 Jan 2022