5.15 pm
Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab):
The Government have done little to promote jobs and growth for towns such as Blackpool. They scrapped the regional development agency, which helped us to renew our tramway and our key visitor attractions, including the
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tower and the Winter Gardens. They also scrapped the area-based grants that targeted our pockets of severe deprivation.
The Government seem incapable of understanding the challenges faced by Blackpool and other second-tier towns, particularly in seaside and coastal areas. They have done no strategic targeting of the regional growth fund by industrial sector, which was highlighted by David Marlow, who has said:
“Blackpool has not yet had a distinctive RGF success despite benefit and public sector ratios 80% and 60% above national averages, and private sector ratios at about 65% and 25% below average.”
Any narrow focus on city regions risks ignoring surrounding areas. We suffer from imbalances not only between regions, but within them. We need growth in second-tier towns and cities, seaside and coastal towns, and suburban areas.
Just what are the Government delivering on the ground for young people in terms of jobs and growth? I have seen first hand the positive impact the education maintenance allowance had in encouraging young people in Blackpool to go to colleges, where we have struggled to improve our skills levels. Given our pockets of extreme deprivation, that assistance was vital, but it is now gone, along with opportunities for thousands of young people from my sixth-form college and Blackpool and the Fylde college, which were jeopardised at one stroke of a pen in the Department for Education, the same Department that cut off the dedicated money—£200 million—available to schools for careers advice.
Yesterday’s unemployment figures also illustrate that that problem is not budging. In my constituency, one in 10 of the active population is out of work, including more than one in five young people, which is 8% higher than this time last year. Those figures disguise the work shortfall for young people and key groups such as women, a point strongly made by my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) earlier in the week. Thirty-four thousand women nationally gave up work altogether in the last quarter.
The previous Government had imaginative schemes such as the future jobs fund, through which Blackpool football club, which will battle for premier league status again at Wembley this Saturday, gave young people real opportunities. The Deputy Prime Minister’s belated youth contract promised to create half a million new job opportunities for young people, but we have seen no indication of it in Blackpool yet. If his figures are as reliable as the ones so recently demolished by the National Audit Office, I will not hold my breath.
This story is not just about statistics, but about individuals’ blocked hopes and frustrations. Wherever I talked to young people—not just in Blackpool, but in places such as Crawley, Reading and Milton Keynes, which I visited during the local election campaigns—I have found that they are in “it” together: they are in the mire, north and south, thanks to our Chancellor.
What about our small businesses, which are critical to our economic recovery and prevalent in my constituency? The Government have talked a good game, but my case work shows that many small businesses are being let down by the banks. When will the Government tell the banks to give support rather than telling people to stop whingeing?
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We need proper activity on VAT, but we are not getting it, not on tourism and regeneration, or on repairs and renewals. The Government believe not in active and intelligent government but in scapegoat Britain. They scapegoat everybody except themselves, but their growth and jobs policies have failed.
5.19 pm
Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con): Today’s criticisms seem to be based on a familiar litany of three core ingredients: first, that the Queen’s Speech should have been the length of a speech by Fidel Castro at his peak; secondly, that it should have launched lots of new initiatives; and thirdly, that the Labour years represented a paradise lost. We have heard many of those points made today, and I commend to the Opposition the damning obituary given by the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) in one of his earlier books. He wrote that a day without a new initiative was a day wasted for new Labour. We do not need lots of new initiatives day after day; we need a series of cool, strategic policies that are well implemented.
All of us and our constituents have to win our jobs. Last year, I encouraged EDF energy, whose operational headquarters are in my constituency, to create 10 new apprenticeships there. One of them was won by an 18-year-old who came from Sheffield to Gloucester. He was interviewed, he moved down, he left his comfort zone and went for it, and now he is thriving in one of the most successful companies in our country. What he did is a great example to all our young people, not only in Gloucester but elsewhere in the country. We should learn from his determination to go and win a job.
In our city there are many new apprenticeship opportunities. In 2010-11, businesses in our city created 1,050 new apprenticeships. For the first half of 2011-12, we are up 20% and on target to create 2,200 new apprenticeship starts over the whole year. I visit two companies a week to see what the opportunities are, to encourage them to create new apprenticeships and to see whether those who have never done so are taking advantage of the Government scheme incentivising small companies with £1,500. I do a jobs fair every three months, on average, and I try to link our youth groups to trainers and the opportunities they can access with companies.
All of us can do our bit in our constituencies to help the policies along. I want to discuss the core policies on which we should be focusing. How many businesses have had loans from the national loan guarantee scheme, which is 80% guaranteed by the Government? Have they applied for this source of capital, which could help them to expand? How many of them have signed up to the youth contract and are offering Work programme work experience to our young people coming out of schools and colleges? How many of our manufacturers have applied to the regional growth fund manufacturing fund, which is available to them? Under the previous Government, manufacturing’s share of GDP was halved while benefits doubled, but in my constituency manufacturing is still 20% of our output. We have lots of good, thriving, small and medium-sized engineering companies, but they need help to access capital, and I need to help them to access the opportunities the Government have made available.
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Today’s youth have the skills—or lack of them—that they gained predominantly under the previous Government. One secondary school in my constituency had the second-worst GCSE results in the country. Today, under the new Gloucester academy, those results have improved from 11% to 33% and, this year, to 40% of pupils achieving target grades. This type of long-term planning for improved opportunities will provide the young in my constituency with better opportunities and jobs in the future.
5.23 pm
Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab): Like thousands of my constituents, I am deeply disappointed that after taking us back into recession this Government have failed to come forward with a substantive plan in the Queen’s Speech to get the economy back on track. In the fourth quarter of 2011, growth dropped to minus 0.3%, and to minus 0.2% in the first quarter of this year. Long-term youth unemployment has risen by a shocking 264% in the last year alone. What might be described as an embarrassment by the Chancellor is a tragedy for families up and down the country. Nothing announced by the Government in the Chancellor’s Budget and certainly nothing in the Queen’s Speech will address the problems that hard-working families face across the country.
We all know that business lending is a vital part of any healthy economy. That is why the Opposition wanted the Government to tackle what the Business Secretary himself described as a “yawning mismatch” between the demands of small business for finance and the banks’ reluctance to lend. Instead, we got a small sticking plaster to cover a massive business funding gap that is estimated to reach £150 billion by 2016.
We have a coalition Government who have completely the wrong priorities. They are more interested in papering over coalition cracks than getting Britain back into work. Instead of helping hard-pressed families and small business owners, the Government decided in the Budget to give a tax cut to those earning more than five times the average salary.
I was disappointed not to see any mention in the Budget or the Queen’s Speech of families struggling with the rising cost of child care, which is higher in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK. It is no surprise that 10% more women are in employment in countries such as Norway and Denmark, where parents have access to affordable child care, than in the UK.
I was even more disappointed to see nothing in the Budget about supporting disabled people into work, following the Government’s shocking decision to close the majority of Remploy factories. According to the Government’s own figures, about 500,000 disabled people will lose their benefit entitlement when the disability living allowance is replaced by the new personal independence payment. Case studies conducted under the Government’s consultation on the PIP suggest that blind and visually impaired people who are judged to have adapted to their disability will not qualify for the higher rate. That ignores the reality that the difficulties, the barriers and, most importantly, the costs continue regardless of the length of time a person has lived with sight loss.
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I urge the Prime Minister to look for inspiration to my home city of Glasgow, where the Labour council that was re-elected last week with a commanding majority —a feat that is almost impossible under a proportional representation voting system—has managed to lower unemployment in the past year in the face of this Government’s economic failures and the Scottish Government’s swingeing cuts. In Glasgow, people voted for a manifesto that put investment in jobs, growth and education first. They voted for the £25 million investment in the Glasgow guarantee, a programme that will use the Commonwealth jobs fund, the Commonwealth apprenticeship scheme and the Commonwealth graduate fund to create a lasting legacy of employment from Glasgow’s proud hosting of the Commonwealth games in 2014.
The people of Glasgow rejected the scorched earth policy of mass austerity and the imagined magic wand of separation in favour of investment to create jobs—investment such as that proposed by my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor in our five-point plan. We want to see the establishment of a state-owned British investment bank, similar to the bank for small and medium-sized enterprises that John Longworth, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, has been calling for, to help businesses to create the jobs that our country needs. We also want to see a jobs Bill that would ensure that money raised from a tax on bank bonuses was used to provide real jobs, with real wages and responsibilities, for more than 100,000 young people aged 18 to 24.
We have an out-of-touch Government at Westminster who are repeating the mistakes of the 1980s and a distracted Government at Holyrood who are concerned more about a separation referendum than about the real issues affecting the lives of ordinary Scots, and people up and down the country can see right through them. That is why we saw the elections results that we did last week.
5.27 pm
Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab): When I speak as a representative of Islington South and Finsbury, I feel that I always have to begin by dispelling myths. People know about our cappuccino bars and our Georgian squares, but they do not necessarily know that 44% of my constituents live in social housing, or that my constituency has the second worst child poverty rate in the country. The very rich and the very poor live in Islington. We live cheek by jowl, and we like it that way. The recession has affected all of us, but some much more than others.
One thing unites people, however, no matter what their background. I have spoken to women, including aspirant Somali mothers, a middle-class mother whose child has just left Oxbridge, and a woman whose child has just left school, and we are all really scared for the next generation. Although we have brought up our children as best we can and put everything into equipping them for the world as perfectly as we can, we are really scared that, when we push them out into the world, the world will say, “No, sorry. We don’t need you. We might be interested in your little brother or sister one day, but you have entered the world of work at the wrong time. Come back in four or five years’ time.” What will happen to those kids in the meantime if we do nothing about unemployment among young people?
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In Islington, we have had a massive increase in long-term unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds, and I know that that has been replicated across the country. In Islington, it has gone up by 88% in the past year. I hear Government Members say, “Well, of course it is because they haven’t got the right qualifications”, or “It’s because the Labour Government didn’t educate them well enough”, but it does not matter what qualifications a young person has now; they simply cannot get a job. There is a generation now who are finding it exceedingly difficult. The hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham) shakes his head, but if he were to advertise for an unpaid internship in his office, I suspect he would get at least 300 applicants from youngsters desperate to get employment. The problem is nothing to do with young people not being sufficiently educated; it is because the recession, which hits all of us, hits our children, teenagers and those in their early 20s the hardest. The older generation and Members here who represent our communities have a duty to do something about it. Frankly, the complacency of Government Members, to which I have had to listen over the past five and a half hours, is quite astounding.
I see in his place the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and I hope he will listen to what I have to say about other groups of people. I know the Conservatives say they are on the side of those who work hard and do the right thing. I know they want to change this country so that once again it rewards people who work hard, want to get on and play by the rules. The Conservatives want to represent the strivers, the builders, the family raisers, the community builders. Good, so would Conservative Members please consider the working poor in my constituency, who are being adversely affected by cuts to working tax credits, the housing benefit cap and universal credit? I hope the Secretary of State understands that they are badly affected by the price of housing and the extraordinary price they have to pay for rent. We must do something about that. Unless and until that is done, it will be impossible to have a mixed community in which people will be able to work at all levels.
5.31 pm
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab): This Queen’s Speech can be summed up by the Prime Minister wandering around the country saying that he is not for turning. I remind him and his party that the last person who said that—Lady Thatcher—was tossed out by the country when people found out that they were getting uncaring Conservatism once again. [Interruption.] Yes, she was, of course, tossed out by her own party.
This is a Government who continue to attack, with ingrained unfairness, the personal income of all apart from those in the super-rich bracket. They boast of attacking citizens’ and workers’ rights. With 100,000 public sector job cuts, it is good to see the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in his place. How many of the present employees of Remploy will, to his shame, end up on the unemployment list? Only 50% of the jobs have been replaced by the private sector, and many of them are part-time and temporary jobs. Of 16 to 24-year-olds, 21% are in part-time jobs, while analysis suggests that 40% are on temporary contracts.
The national debt is higher, not lower, and the UK is in a double-dip recession for the first time in 30 years. Of course I welcome investment in car manufacturing from US companies. Their choosing a UK work force in
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a flexible trade union environment and our being near the EU market has nothing to do with the Government, and it follows the investment of Japanese and other international companies that invested under the Labour Government.
I am an economics graduate, so I know that economic growth is based on confidence in business and in consumers. The Chancellor is a one-trick pony, with low interest rates. His stated aim is that interest rates are being held low for the sake of the Government’s bond sales, but this has the effect, for example, of attacking the disposable income of pension funds and investment funds, thus hitting the mainly frugal elderly. Quantitative easing has also hit their income and made them poorer. This signals to UK businesses that the Government believe that the economy has to be held in check, as it is fundamentally too fragile to grow without creating threatening levels of inflation. This is caused by a failure to expand the resource base of the economy so that growth can be inflation-proofed for the future.
I looked at the “Prospects for inflation” chapter of the inflation report of May 2012, which states:
“Output has barely grown since the middle of 2010, and is estimated to have contracted slightly in each of the past two quarters.”
That is what this Government have delivered through their policies. Human resource expansion is required to deal, for example, with training and skills shortages. The ageing population needs to be replaced in industries with which I am involved. There is OPITO—the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation, which deals with offshore oil, and the subsea employers association—talk about 44% of its vacancies being in non-graduate technical jobs, with an additional 20% in technical graduate jobs. The Chemical Industries Association says that it fishes in the same pond for staff, and it demands science education in schools to provide a base of people who can be skilled up for growth. Mike Mack, the world president of Syngenta, says that he fears he cannot sustain his investment in this country because of the shortage of skilled labour. He steals from other companies, and they steal from him. We need technical apprenticeships. Forget the boasts about the number of apprenticeships that have been started; how many have been concluded? How many newly qualified technicians have we got? The SNP Government falsify the statistics. They say that there are 25,000, and write to companies asking them to include people who are doing part-time work as apprentices in order to supplement the figure.
Business investment is 6% lower than the target set by the Chancellor. There is £950 billion in company accounts that is not being invested. Companies are holding on to it: they are afraid to invest, because the signals are all wrong. The Chancellor has gone for corporation tax reductions, but they are a blunt instrument. VAT increases hit the supply chain for customers, for business and for personal consumption, whereas VAT reductions—a targeted programme such as the one that the French use, reducing VAT—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo): Order. The hon. Gentleman’s time is up.
5.35 pm
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab): I shall make only a few brief points.
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I thought that the Queen’s Speech was extraordinarily flimsy, given that it emanated from a party that is in its second year in government and has been out of power for 13 years. When we compare it with the greatest Queen’s Speeches of the Labour Government in their second year and, indeed, those of the Thatcher Government in their second year, it is apparent to us that the present Government are running out of steam after only two years.
There was nothing about jobs in the Queen’s Speech. As my right hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (David Miliband) demonstrated so eloquently in his speech, the Work programme is entirely unsatisfactory. It cannot possibly deal with the youth unemployment crisis. The Queen’s Speech should have been seen as an opportunity to put right the mistakes that the Chancellor had made in his Budget. I am glad that he has dug himself out of the hole of the churches tax, but I wish he would dig himself out of the hole of the pasty tax and the caravan tax, and, indeed, his £40,000 giveaway. I believe that the Prime Minister’s former speechwriter Ian Birrell described it as
“a missile into six years of Tory modernisation.”
I could not have put it better myself.
Unemployment in Leicester South has increased over the past 12 months. Although I welcome the drops in unemployment announced yesterday, I must tell Ministers that in Leicester South it fell not by 1%, but by one. If the Government do not produce measures to deal with the youth unemployment crisis soon, I fear for the future of many of the communities we represent.
The Chancellor expected growth of 2.5% this year, but we are now in a double-dip recession. Some of the contributions from Government Members were rather complacent on that front. Many people warned the Chancellor that a fiscal consolidation of this scale and pace, along with a collapse in demand and consumption, would lead to a recession. Indeed, the Business Secretary, when he was in opposition, gave him that very warning before the general election.
What are we given in the Queen’s Speech? We are given what appear to be proposals for the further erosion of workers’ rights. I must tell the Chancellor that downward pressure on workers’ rights will not lead to the growth in the economy that he wants. What a turnaround this is for the Business Secretary. He started his career co-authoring “The Red Paper on Scotland” with my right hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), but it appears that in the twilight of his career he will become the Twickenham strangler of rights at work.
Government Members have talked about trade and exports. I agree that the patterns of international trade are changing. As many Members will know, the city of Leicester, which I represent, has deep and extensive links with India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and I want us to build on those links and to trade further. The hon. Member for Sherwood (Mr Spencer) referred to food manufacturing, in which we in Leicester have expertise. We export British Asian food to Europe, to the middle east and, indeed, to India. However, I must tell Government Members that although the reports that I hear of UK Trade & Investment have improved, they are patchy at times.
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We need more support for export finance in Leicester. It would be greatly to the advantage of the Business Secretary, when he and the Prime Minister go on trade missions to India, to take with him not the great and the good, but some of the small business people from Leicester who understand how to enter challenging markets in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Let me finish by simply saying that we have a Government who promised us growth and jobs; what they are delivering is recession and unemployment.
5.39 pm
Mr Liam Byrne (Birmingham, Hodge Hill) (Lab): It is a privilege to wind up a week of debate and speeches on the Gracious Speech. However, let me start by saying what a disappointment it was to hear not a word of recognition, humility or apology from the Chancellor for a litany of Budgets that have put this country back in recession and given us a Queen’s Speech with nothing to dig us out.
We have, however, had something very significant this afternoon. We have had an admission—a confession, in fact—from the Chancellor. He finally forced himself to say it, in response to the intervention from my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling), although he had to choke it out. He said that austerity is not enough. The Chancellor finally said it. However, confession is not enough; redemption will demand a change of course. He has U-turned this afternoon on his policy for Europe; he should now U-turn on his policy here in the UK. Instead, what we got was a lot of jokes. Most people in this country now feel that if he focused more on economics and less on jokes, perhaps the country would not be in quite the mess that it is. The customary advice is: “Don’t give up your day job”, although most of us probably feel that the sooner he gives up his day job, the faster Britain will be back on its feet.
This is the Chancellor who told us a year ago that he was putting fuel in the tank of the British economy. What has happened? Where has the fuel gone? It has somehow been siphoned off into the jerry cans in the Cabinet Office. Instead, what we have got is £150 billion of extra borrowing, 1 million young people out of work, fewer hours worked this year than last, and a fall in our national output in the last quarter of £700 million —a development that the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) said was a step in the right direction. This is the first double-dip recession since 1975, the year of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, the story of a bunch of incompetent chancers, supposedly running the country, chasing after something that they had somehow misplaced. What an allegory of this Government’s pursuit of growth!
All week we have seen an unedifying witch hunt for the culprits—the people who have somehow misplaced Britain’s growth. This week the Government found someone else. The fault, it now seems, lies with those in the British business community, who just need to be working harder. My advice to them is that they should not take the attack personally. Indeed, they join illustrious company: we have had “the weather”; we have had “the wrong type of snow”; and we have also had the royal wedding. When it comes to their failure, this Government will blame only others.
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David T. C. Davies: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Byrne: I will not give way, because there are so many points to respond to.
We know that this recession was not made by British business. It is not down to the weather, the snow or the royal wedding; it is down to the failed policy of this Government. Despite the good news we had on unemployment this week—there was a glimmer of hope—Britain’s jobs crisis has now gone on for too long. We now have more people working part time or becoming self-employed, because they will do anything to make ends meet. Long-term unemployment is surging towards the 1 million mark, the number of people out of work for two years is up to 500,000, 100,000 more people are signing on than last year, redundancies are up by 50,000, and vacancies are down by more than 10,000. Families all over Britain are facing a disaster, because of the failed policies of this Government.
This afternoon we heard those stories from all over Britain. The point was made forcefully by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram), and it was a story repeated by my hon. Friends the Members for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), for East Lothian (Fiona O'Donnell), for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden) and for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth). We heard in the debate this afternoon that we need growth and demand—a point made by my hon. Friends the Members for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams), for Gateshead (Ian Mearns), for Great Grimsby (Austin Mitchell) and for East Lothian. We heard how higher unemployment is hitting some communities and some regions harder than ever—that was the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern). It is hitting ethnic minorities harder than ever—that was the point made by my hon. Friends the Members for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) and for Oldham East and Saddleworth. It is now hitting young people harder—that was the message we heard from hon. Members from all parts of the House, and it was a point made with particular force by my hon. Friends the Members for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) and for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood).
That is why what we needed in the last Budget and in the Queen’s Speech was not excuses, but action. We needed action on bank lending—that was the point made by my hon. Friends the Members for Leeds East (Mr Mudie) and for North Ayrshire and Arran (Katy Clark), and by the hon. Members for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay), for Northampton South (Mr Binley) and for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb). We needed action on infrastructure spending, too—that point was made with great force by my right hon. Friend the Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge), the hon. Member for Erewash (Jessica Lee), and my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow North (Ann McKechin) and for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar). This absence of action is now costing this country a fortune.
Mr Byrne: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will tell us just how much the benefits bill is increasing as a result of that failure.
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Andrew Selous: When the right hon. Gentleman wrote his famous note saying that there was “no money” left, what did he think the implications of that were?
Mr Byrne: The hon. Gentleman speaks for a party that has now put up borrowing by £150 billion more than projected. Does he know why? It is in large part because the benefits bill is not being capped by this Government—the benefits bill is going through the roof. It is set to be £25 billion higher than was projected by the end of this Parliament, with the cost of unemployment benefit set to be up by £5 billion and the cost of housing benefit set to be up by £6 billion by the end of this Parliament. I really do not know how he has the temerity to say what he has just said, given that it is his Government who are putting up debt.
The problem is that this Government have not learned the lesson that the way to bring the benefits bill down is by getting people into jobs—that is where this Government are failing. It is no wonder the people all across Britain are saying that this Prime Minister and this Chancellor have no idea how ordinary people live. The Prime Minister is riding on horses with editors of newspapers who are charged with perverting the course of justice while our young people cannot even afford a bus fare to college. We heard this afternoon just how much that bill has now become in a powerful speech from my right hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (David Miliband). We heard that youth unemployment will cost our country £30 billion over the years to come. When are this Government going to heed that lesson?
When will they look at the hit now being taken by working parents, who are struggling with child care? These parents are now losing £500 this year. No wonder 32,000 women have already had to give up work this year because they cannot afford the child care. We should look at what this Budget means for working parents—a point made with some eloquence by my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury and by my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms). Such is the incompetence and such is the incoherence that families in this country are now better off on benefits than they are in a job—what a catastrophic failure of policy and what a catastrophic failure by this Chancellor.
Look at what these proposals mean for savers—people doing the right thing. Alongside the granny tax, the Government tried to sneak out in the Budget small print another £900 cut for pensioners by getting rid of the savings credit. Look at what the proposals mean for workers with disabilities. Some 11 million people in this country have disabilities. Disability Rights UK says that 25,000 people with disabilities have had to give up work this year because their support and help are being cut away from them. This Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is now administering reform of the incapacity benefit system with all the finesse of border control at Heathrow airport. It is now taking people up to 11 months to get a hearing and then, when they reach that tribunal, half the decisions are being overturned. That is not a result that he can be proud of.
Worst of all is the treatment being handed out to workers at Remploy. These are workers indirectly employed by the Secretary of State himself. Worst of all—worse than anything I have heard over the past few months—are the reported comments that he made to Remploy workers.
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Apparently he told them that they “are not doing any work at all. Just making cups of coffee.” That is not compassionate conservatism; it is the conservatism of contempt. The Secretary of State should apologise to those workers this afternoon. When he should have been launching a war on poverty, he has launched a war on decency.
This Government have no idea how these young people, these parents, these working mothers and these workers with disabilities are now living. They are failing on jobs, they are failing on growth, and they are out of touch, out of their depth and out of steam. We need a change of direction and Labour’s amendment today offers that. I commend it to the House.
5.50 pm
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith): I welcome the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) back from a potential sojourn in Birmingham as mayor—his announcement that he wanted to stand was so powerful that Birmingham, on the spot, rejected the whole idea of having a mayor. I have got to know him well over the past couple of years and he has been heavily involved in designing the policy framework for the Opposition. He talked about part-time work and, as a result of his leader’s decision, he will experience it himself. I am sorry about that, because I am sure that he would have done a very good job had he been allowed to continue—I certainly suspect that he would have done better than some of his colleagues.
Today is about the Queen’s Speech, and I want to welcome a number of Bills: the Crime and Courts Bill, the children and families Bill, the draft care and support Bill to modernise the care system, and, importantly, a pensions Bill to provide once and for all a decent single-tier state pension to reward those who save. Let me say a few words about that matter and in tribute to the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Steve Webb). He and I have worked very hard together and I hope that when we publish the White Paper both the House and the country will see that we are proposing a genuine and serious reform that should improve the quality of retirement for everybody in the future. We will reform the state pension system, creating a fair, simple and sustainable foundation for private saving. The main benefits of the Bill will be that it will enable individuals to take responsibility for meeting their retirement aspirations in the context of increasing longevity and create an affordable and sustainable pension system for future generations.
Let me respond to a few of the comments made by hon. Members on both sides of the House. The right hon. Member for South Shields (David Miliband), who I see in his place, made an elegant speech, as ever, in which he referred to a number of different issues. In particular, he mentioned youth unemployment, and I want to ensure that we establish the baseline on that point. The trouble was that the previous Government gerrymandered the figures on youth unemployment. When somebody had been unemployed for six months, they put them on one of their programmes—the future jobs fund or whatever—and took them off the unemployment register. They were not put back on to
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the register until they fell out of that programme—
[
Interruption.
]
Members might want to hear this. If we add together the figures, we see that the total number of claimants aged 18 to 24 on jobseeker’s allowance or other forms of temporary support is lower this month than it was in May 2010. Under the previous Government, during a period of growth, youth unemployment rose every year from 2006.
Sheila Gilmore: The Secretary of State appears to be unaware of a briefing that his own Department gave to the Select Committee on Work and Pensions yesterday, which exposed the lack of rigidity in the figures. Apparently, the correct figure shows that in March 2010 the number of people who were taken off benefit on a training allowance was 18,000. It has come down to 4,000, but will he accept that that does not explain the rise in youth unemployment?
Mr Duncan Smith: Labour gerrymandered the figures, and that was a long suicide note about what they tried to do to change those figures. The hon. Lady can try as much as she likes but the truth is that the previous Government set in place every single mechanism to ensure that they did not count young unemployed people.
David Miliband: The figures that the right hon. Gentleman’s Department have put out show that in the past year—under his Government—long-term jobseeker’s allowance claimant figures have gone up threefold to 55,000. How does he explain that?
Mr Duncan Smith: As I said to the right hon. Gentleman—his point was about youth unemployment—the reality is that the figures I have given today are correct. His Government created a major crisis by putting us into a great big slump. That is what they did. Whatever else he wants to say in an attempt to defend the Labour Government, we are having to dig them out of a hole and we are the ones producing better youth programmes such as the youth contract. Those unemployment figures are very simple. When you add all the details together, you find that unemployment among young people was higher when we took office than it is now.
I want to move on to what other hon. Members said. The hon. Member for Leeds East (Mr Mudie) said that he wanted to see the right hon. Member for South Shields on the Front Bench. I wonder what role he would see the right hon. Gentleman in if he got him there. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) on his speech. He reminded us that we had some great news the other day because Boris won again in London. That is very good news for all of us. [ Interruption. ] I wonder what Opposition Members are saying. The reality is that their candidate, Ken Livingstone, failed, and I note that a lot of them did not even bother to turn up to support him.
The hon. Member for Redcar (Ian Swales) attacked Labour very effectively. I should like to pick up a point made by the right hon. Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge), the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, who said that the welfare-to-work programme is unlikely to be good value for money. I differ from her on that. The big difference with the welfare-to-work programme is that we will not pay the providers unless they get someone into work. Under the future jobs fund and
17 May 2012 : Column 803
everything else that was going on under the previous Government they threw money at providers ahead of any kind of outcome, caring only to tick the boxes to say that they had done something rather than that they had done something reasonable.
A large number of people spoke in the debate, including my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White), the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) and my hon. Friends the Members for Bedford (Richard Fuller) and for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay). The hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram) made an interesting speech. I notice that he wants to put his name forward to be manager of Liverpool. I wish him the best of luck in that endeavour. As a Tottenham supporter, I am looking forward to him running Liverpool next season.
The Opposition approached this debate believing that they had the right to criticise our Government for what they call our failures, yet not once have they ever apologised for putting the economy in the worst possible state—the biggest bust. They try to compare themselves to other countries. It is worth noticing that the US economy is set to fall faster—
Ms Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central) (Lab) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36 ).
Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.
Question put accordingly (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the amendment be made.
The House divided: Ayes 213, Noes 312.
[5.59 pm
AYES
Abbott, Ms Diane
Abrahams, Debbie
Ainsworth, rh Mr Bob
Alexander, rh Mr Douglas
Alexander, Heidi
Ali, Rushanara
Allen, Mr Graham
Anderson, Mr David
Ashworth, Jonathan
Austin, Ian
Bain, Mr William
Balls, rh Ed
Barron, rh Mr Kevin
Bayley, Hugh
Beckett, rh Margaret
Benn, rh Hilary
Benton, Mr Joe
Berger, Luciana
Blears, rh Hazel
Blenkinsop, Tom
Bradshaw, rh Mr Ben
Brennan, Kevin
Brown, Lyn
Brown, rh Mr Nicholas
Brown, Mr Russell
Bryant, Chris
Buck, Ms Karen
Burden, Richard
Byrne, rh Mr Liam
Campbell, Mr Alan
Campbell, Mr Ronnie
Caton, Martin
Clark, Katy
Clarke, rh Mr Tom
Coaker, Vernon
Coffey, Ann
Connarty, Michael
Cooper, Rosie
Cooper, rh Yvette
Corbyn, Jeremy
Crausby, Mr David
Creagh, Mary
Creasy, Stella
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, John
Cunningham, Alex
Cunningham, Mr Jim
Cunningham, Tony
Curran, Margaret
Danczuk, Simon
Darling, rh Mr Alistair
David, Mr Wayne
Davidson, Mr Ian
Davies, Geraint
De Piero, Gloria
Denham, rh Mr John
Dobbin, Jim
Dobson, rh Frank
Docherty, Thomas
Donohoe, Mr Brian H.
Doran, Mr Frank
Dowd, Jim
Doyle, Gemma
Dromey, Jack
Dugher, Michael
Eagle, Ms Angela
Eagle, Maria
Edwards, Jonathan
Efford, Clive
Elliott, Julie
Ellman, Mrs Louise
Engel, Natascha
Esterson, Bill
Evans, Chris
Farrelly, Paul
Field, rh Mr Frank
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Robert
Flint, rh Caroline
Flynn, Paul
Fovargue, Yvonne
Gardiner, Barry
Gilmore, Sheila
Glass, Pat
Glindon, Mrs Mary
Godsiff, Mr Roger
Goggins, rh Paul
Goodman, Helen
Greatrex, Tom
Green, Kate
Griffith, Nia
Gwynne, Andrew
Hamilton, Mr David
Hamilton, Fabian
Hanson, rh Mr David
Harman, rh Ms Harriet
Harris, Mr Tom
Havard, Mr Dai
Healey, rh John
Hepburn, Mr Stephen
Heyes, David
Hillier, Meg
Hilling, Julie
Hodge, rh Margaret
Hodgson, Mrs Sharon
Hoey, Kate
Hopkins, Kelvin
Hosie, Stewart
Hunt, Tristram
Irranca-Davies, Huw
Jackson, Glenda
Jamieson, Cathy
Jarvis, Dan
Johnson, rh Alan
Johnson, Diana
Jones, Graham
Jones, Mr Kevan
Jones, Susan Elan
Jowell, rh Tessa
Kaufman, rh Sir Gerald
Kendall, Liz
Khan, rh Sadiq
Lavery, Ian
Lazarowicz, Mark
Leslie, Chris
Lewis, Mr Ivan
Lloyd, Tony
Llwyd, rh Mr Elfyn
Love, Mr Andrew
Lucas, Ian
MacNeil, Mr Angus Brendan
Mactaggart, Fiona
Mahmood, Shabana
Malhotra, Seema
Mann, John
Marsden, Mr Gordon
McCabe, Steve
McCann, Mr Michael
McCarthy, Kerry
McClymont, Gregg
McFadden, rh Mr Pat
McGovern, Alison
McGovern, Jim
McGuire, rh Mrs Anne
McKechin, Ann
McKenzie, Mr Iain
McKinnell, Catherine
Meacher, rh Mr Michael
Mearns, Ian
Michael, rh Alun
Miliband, rh David
Miliband, rh Edward
Mitchell, Austin
Moon, Mrs Madeleine
Morden, Jessica
Morrice, Graeme
(Livingston)
Morris, Grahame M.
(Easington)
Mudie, Mr George
Murphy, rh Paul
Murray, Ian
Nandy, Lisa
O'Donnell, Fiona
Osborne, Sandra
Owen, Albert
Pearce, Teresa
Phillipson, Bridget
Qureshi, Yasmin
Raynsford, rh Mr Nick
Reed, Mr Jamie
Reeves, Rachel
Reynolds, Emma
Riordan, Mrs Linda
Robertson, Angus
Robertson, John
Robinson, Mr Geoffrey
Rotheram, Steve
Roy, Mr Frank
Roy, Lindsay
Ruane, Chris
Ruddock, rh Dame Joan
Sarwar, Anas
Sharma, Mr Virendra
Sheerman, Mr Barry
Sheridan, Jim
Shuker, Gavin
Skinner, Mr Dennis
Slaughter, Mr Andy
Smith, rh Mr Andrew
Smith, Nick
Spellar, rh Mr John
Straw, rh Mr Jack
Stuart, Ms Gisela
Sutcliffe, Mr Gerry
Tami, Mark
Thomas, Mr Gareth
Thornberry, Emily
Timms, rh Stephen
Trickett, Jon
Turner, Karl
Twigg, Stephen
Walley, Joan
Weir, Mr Mike
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh
Whitehead, Dr Alan
Wicks, rh Malcolm
Williams, Hywel
Williamson, Chris
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr David
Winterton, rh Ms Rosie
Wood, Mike
Woodward, rh Mr Shaun
Wright, David
Tellers for the Ayes:
Nic Dakin and
Mark Hendrick
NOES
Adams, Nigel
Afriyie, Adam
Alexander, rh Danny
Amess, Mr David
Andrew, Stuart
Arbuthnot, rh Mr James
Bacon, Mr Richard
Baker, Norman
Baker, Steve
Baldry, Tony
Baldwin, Harriett
Barclay, Stephen
Barker, Gregory
Baron, Mr John
Barwell, Gavin
Bebb, Guto
Beith, rh Sir Alan
Benyon, Richard
Beresford, Sir Paul
Berry, Jake
Bingham, Andrew
Binley, Mr Brian
Blackman, Bob
Blunt, Mr Crispin
Boles, Nick
Bone, Mr Peter
Bottomley, Sir Peter
Bradley, Karen
Brady, Mr Graham
Brake, rh Tom
Bray, Angie
Brazier, Mr Julian
Bridgen, Andrew
Brine, Steve
Brokenshire, James
Bruce, Fiona
Bruce, rh Malcolm
Buckland, Mr Robert
Burley, Mr Aidan
Burns, rh Mr Simon
Burrowes, Mr David
Burstow, Paul
Burt, Lorely
Byles, Dan
Cable, rh Vince
Cairns, Alun
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Neil
Cash, Mr William
Chishti, Rehman
Clappison, Mr James
Clark, rh Greg
Clegg, rh Mr Nick
Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey
Coffey, Dr Thérèse
Collins, Damian
Colvile, Oliver
Cox, Mr Geoffrey
Crabb, Stephen
Crockart, Mike
Crouch, Tracey
Davey, rh Mr Edward
Davies, David T. C.
(Monmouth)
Davies, Glyn
Davies, Philip
Davis, rh Mr David
de Bois, Nick
Dinenage, Caroline
Djanogly, Mr Jonathan
Dorrell, rh Mr Stephen
Dorries, Nadine
Doyle-Price, Jackie
Duddridge, James
Duncan, rh Mr Alan
Duncan Smith, rh Mr Iain
Dunne, Mr Philip
Ellis, Michael
Ellison, Jane
Ellwood, Mr Tobias
Elphicke, Charlie
Eustice, George
Evans, Graham
Evans, Jonathan
Evennett, Mr David
Fabricant, Michael
Fallon, Michael
Farron, Tim
Featherstone, Lynne
Field, Mark
Foster, rh Mr Don
Fox, rh Dr Liam
Francois, rh Mr Mark
Freeman, George
Freer, Mike
Fullbrook, Lorraine
Fuller, Richard
Gale, Sir Roger
Garnier, Mr Edward
Garnier, Mark
Gauke, Mr David
George, Andrew
Gibb, Mr Nick
Glen, John
Goldsmith, Zac
Goodwill, Mr Robert
Gove, rh Michael
Graham, Richard
Grant, Mrs Helen
Gray, Mr James
Grayling, rh Chris
Green, Damian
Greening, rh Justine
Grieve, rh Mr Dominic
Griffiths, Andrew
Gummer, Ben
Gyimah, Mr Sam
Hague, rh Mr William
Halfon, Robert
Hames, Duncan
Hammond, rh Mr Philip
Hammond, Stephen
Hancock, Matthew
Hancock, Mr Mike
Hands, Greg
Harper, Mr Mark
Harrington, Richard
Harris, Rebecca
Hart, Simon
Harvey, Nick
Haselhurst, rh Sir Alan
Hayes, Mr John
Heald, Oliver
Heath, Mr David
Heaton-Harris, Chris
Hemming, John
Henderson, Gordon
Hendry, Charles
Herbert, rh Nick
Hinds, Damian
Hoban, Mr Mark
Hollingbery, George
Hollobone, Mr Philip
Hopkins, Kris
Horwood, Martin
Howell, John
Hughes, rh Simon
Huhne, rh Chris
Hunt, rh Mr Jeremy
Hunter, Mark
Huppert, Dr Julian
Jackson, Mr Stewart
James, Margot
Javid, Sajid
Jenkin, Mr Bernard
Johnson, Joseph
Jones, Andrew
Jones, Mr David
Jones, Mr Marcus
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kelly, Chris
Kennedy, rh Mr Charles
Kirby, Simon
Knight, rh Mr Greg
Kwarteng, Kwasi
Laing, Mrs Eleanor
Lamb, Norman
Lancaster, Mark
Lansley, rh Mr Andrew
Latham, Pauline
Laws, rh Mr David
Leadsom, Andrea
Lee, Jessica
Lee, Dr Phillip
Lefroy, Jeremy
Leigh, Mr Edward
Leslie, Charlotte
Letwin, rh Mr Oliver
Lewis, Brandon
Liddell-Grainger, Mr Ian
Lidington, rh Mr David
Lilley, rh Mr Peter
Lopresti, Jack
Lord, Jonathan
Loughton, Tim
Luff, Peter
Lumley, Karen
Macleod, Mary
Main, Mrs Anne
Maude, rh Mr Francis
Maynard, Paul
McCartney, Jason
McCartney, Karl
McIntosh, Miss Anne
McLoughlin, rh Mr Patrick
McPartland, Stephen
McVey, Esther
Menzies, Mark
Mills, Nigel
Milton, Anne
Morgan, Nicky
Morris, Anne Marie
Morris, David
Morris, James
Mosley, Stephen
Mowat, David
Mulholland, Greg
Munt, Tessa
Murray, Sheryll
Murrison, Dr Andrew
Neill, Robert
Nokes, Caroline
Norman, Jesse
Nuttall, Mr David
Offord, Mr Matthew
Ollerenshaw, Eric
Opperman, Guy
Osborne, rh Mr George
Ottaway, Richard
Patel, Priti
Pawsey, Mark
Penning, Mike
Penrose, John
Percy, Andrew
Perry, Claire
Phillips, Stephen
Pickles, rh Mr Eric
Pincher, Christopher
Poulter, Dr Daniel
Prisk, Mr Mark
Pritchard, Mark
Raab, Mr Dominic
Randall, rh Mr John
Reckless, Mark
Redwood, rh Mr John
Rees-Mogg, Jacob
Reevell, Simon
Reid, Mr Alan
Rifkind, rh Sir Malcolm
Robathan, rh Mr Andrew
Robertson, Mr Laurence
Rogerson, Dan
Rudd, Amber
Ruffley, Mr David
Russell, Sir Bob
Rutley, David
Sandys, Laura
Scott, Mr Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, rh Grant
Sharma, Alok
Shelbrooke, Alec
Shepherd, Mr Richard
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr Keith
Skidmore, Chris
Smith, Miss Chloe
Smith, Henry
Smith, Julian
Smith, Sir Robert
Soames, rh Nicholas
Soubry, Anna
Spencer, Mr Mark
Stanley, rh Sir John
Stephenson, Andrew
Stevenson, John
Stewart, Bob
Stewart, Iain
Streeter, Mr Gary
Stride, Mel
Stuart, Mr Graham
Stunell, Andrew
Sturdy, Julian
Swales, Ian
Swayne, rh Mr Desmond
Swinson, Jo
Swire, rh Mr Hugo
Syms, Mr Robert
Tapsell, rh Sir Peter
Teather, Sarah
Timpson, Mr Edward
Tomlinson, Justin
Tredinnick, David
Truss, Elizabeth
Turner, Mr Andrew
Tyrie, Mr Andrew
Uppal, Paul
Vaizey, Mr Edward
Vara, Mr Shailesh
Vickers, Martin
Villiers, rh Mrs Theresa
Walker, Mr Charles
Walker, Mr Robin
Walter, Mr Robert
Watkinson, Angela
Webb, Steve
Wharton, James
Wheeler, Heather
White, Chris
Whittaker, Craig
Whittingdale, Mr John
Willetts, rh Mr David
Williams, Mr Mark
Williams, Stephen
Williamson, Gavin
Willott, Jenny
Wilson, Mr Rob
Wollaston, Dr Sarah
Wright, Jeremy
Wright, Simon
Yeo, Mr Tim
Young, rh Sir George
Zahawi, Nadhim
Tellers for the Noes:
Mr Brooks Newmark and
Bill Wiggin
Question accordingly negatived.
17 May 2012 : Column 804
17 May 2012 : Column 805
17 May 2012 : Column 806
17 May 2012 : Column 807
Amendment proposed : at the end of the Question to add:
“but respectfully request that your Government recognise that its programme fails to include any meaningful measures to deliver growth in the economy, which is the most pressing issue facing the UK; and therefore call on your Government to bring forward a plan for growth to include measures designed to increase bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, to build confidence in economic recovery, to bring forward a programme of direct capital investment and to tackle unemployment.”—(Stewart Hosie .)
Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 33), That the amendment be made.
The House divided:
Ayes 213, Noes 311.
[6.12 pm
AYES
Abbott, Ms Diane
Abrahams, Debbie
Ainsworth, rh Mr Bob
Alexander, rh Mr Douglas
Alexander, Heidi
Ali, Rushanara
Allen, Mr Graham
Anderson, Mr David
Ashworth, Jonathan
Austin, Ian
Bain, Mr William
Balls, rh Ed
Barron, rh Mr Kevin
Bayley, Hugh
Beckett, rh Margaret
Benn, rh Hilary
Benton, Mr Joe
Berger, Luciana
Blears, rh Hazel
Blenkinsop, Tom
Bradshaw, rh Mr Ben
Brennan, Kevin
Brown, Lyn
Brown, Mr Russell
Bryant, Chris
Buck, Ms Karen
Burden, Richard
Byrne, rh Mr Liam
Campbell, Mr Alan
Campbell, Mr Ronnie
Caton, Martin
Clark, Katy
Clarke, rh Mr Tom
Coaker, Vernon
Coffey, Ann
Connarty, Michael
Cooper, Rosie
Cooper, rh Yvette
Corbyn, Jeremy
Crausby, Mr David
Creagh, Mary
Creasy, Stella
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, John
Cunningham, Alex
Cunningham, Mr Jim
Cunningham, Tony
Curran, Margaret
Dakin, Nic
Danczuk, Simon
Darling, rh Mr Alistair
David, Mr Wayne
Davidson, Mr Ian
Davies, Geraint
De Piero, Gloria
Denham, rh Mr John
Dobbin, Jim
Dobson, rh Frank
Docherty, Thomas
Donohoe, Mr Brian H.
Doran, Mr Frank
Doyle, Gemma
Dromey, Jack
Dugher, Michael
Eagle, Ms Angela
Eagle, Maria
Efford, Clive
Elliott, Julie
Ellman, Mrs Louise
Engel, Natascha
Esterson, Bill
Evans, Chris
Farrelly, Paul
Field, rh Mr Frank
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Robert
Flint, rh Caroline
Flynn, Paul
Fovargue, Yvonne
Gardiner, Barry
Gilmore, Sheila
Glass, Pat
Glindon, Mrs Mary
Godsiff, Mr Roger
Goggins, rh Paul
Goodman, Helen
Greatrex, Tom
Green, Kate
Griffith, Nia
Gwynne, Andrew
Hamilton, Mr David
Hamilton, Fabian
Hanson, rh Mr David
Harman, rh Ms Harriet
Harris, Mr Tom
Havard, Mr Dai
Healey, rh John
Hendrick, Mark
Hepburn, Mr Stephen
Heyes, David
Hillier, Meg
Hilling, Julie
Hodge, rh Margaret
Hodgson, Mrs Sharon
Hoey, Kate
Hopkins, Kelvin
Hosie, Stewart
Hunt, Tristram
Irranca-Davies, Huw
Jackson, Glenda
Jamieson, Cathy
Jarvis, Dan
Johnson, rh Alan
Johnson, Diana
Jones, Graham
Jones, Mr Kevan
Jones, Susan Elan
Jowell, rh Tessa
Kaufman, rh Sir Gerald
Kendall, Liz
Khan, rh Sadiq
Lammy, rh Mr David
Lavery, Ian
Lazarowicz, Mark
Leslie, Chris
Lewis, Mr Ivan
Lloyd, Tony
Llwyd, rh Mr Elfyn
Love, Mr Andrew
Lucas, Ian
MacNeil, Mr Angus Brendan
Mactaggart, Fiona
Mahmood, Shabana
Malhotra, Seema
Mann, John
Marsden, Mr Gordon
McCabe, Steve
McCann, Mr Michael
McCarthy, Kerry
McClymont, Gregg
McFadden, rh Mr Pat
McGovern, Alison
McGovern, Jim
McGuire, rh Mrs Anne
McKechin, Ann
McKenzie, Mr Iain
McKinnell, Catherine
Meacher, rh Mr Michael
Mearns, Ian
Michael, rh Alun
Miliband, rh David
Miliband, rh Edward
Mitchell, Austin
Moon, Mrs Madeleine
Morden, Jessica
Morrice, Graeme
(Livingston)
Morris, Grahame M.
(Easington)
Mudie, Mr George
Murphy, rh Paul
Murray, Ian
Nandy, Lisa
O'Donnell, Fiona
Osborne, Sandra
Owen, Albert
Pearce, Teresa
Phillipson, Bridget
Qureshi, Yasmin
Raynsford, rh Mr Nick
Reed, Mr Jamie
Reeves, Rachel
Reynolds, Emma
Riordan, Mrs Linda
Robertson, Angus
Robertson, John
Robinson, Mr Geoffrey
Rotheram, Steve
Roy, Mr Frank
Roy, Lindsay
Ruane, Chris
Ruddock, rh Dame Joan
Sarwar, Anas
Sharma, Mr Virendra
Sheerman, Mr Barry
Sheridan, Jim
Shuker, Gavin
Skinner, Mr Dennis
Slaughter, Mr Andy
Smith, rh Mr Andrew
Smith, Nick
Spellar, rh Mr John
Straw, rh Mr Jack
Stuart, Ms Gisela
Sutcliffe, Mr Gerry
Tami, Mark
Thomas, Mr Gareth
Thornberry, Emily
Timms, rh Stephen
Trickett, Jon
Turner, Karl
Twigg, Stephen
Walley, Joan
Watson, Mr Tom
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh
Whitehead, Dr Alan
Wicks, rh Malcolm
Williams, Hywel
Williamson, Chris
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr David
Winterton, rh Ms Rosie
Wood, Mike
Woodward, rh Mr Shaun
Wright, David
Tellers for the Ayes:
Jonathan Edwards and
Mr Mike Weir
NOES
Adams, Nigel
Afriyie, Adam
Alexander, rh Danny
Amess, Mr David
Andrew, Stuart
Arbuthnot, rh Mr James
Bacon, Mr Richard
Baker, Norman
Baker, Steve
Baldry, Tony
Baldwin, Harriett
Barclay, Stephen
Barker, Gregory
Baron, Mr John
Barwell, Gavin
Bebb, Guto
Beith, rh Sir Alan
Bellingham, Mr Henry
Benyon, Richard
Beresford, Sir Paul
Berry, Jake
Bingham, Andrew
Binley, Mr Brian
Blackman, Bob
Blunt, Mr Crispin
Boles, Nick
Bone, Mr Peter
Bottomley, Sir Peter
Bradley, Karen
Brady, Mr Graham
Brake, rh Tom
Bray, Angie
Brazier, Mr Julian
Bridgen, Andrew
Brine, Steve
Brokenshire, James
Bruce, Fiona
Bruce, rh Malcolm
Buckland, Mr Robert
Burley, Mr Aidan
Burns, rh Mr Simon
Burrowes, Mr David
Burstow, Paul
Burt, Lorely
Byles, Dan
Cable, rh Vince
Cairns, Alun
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Neil
Cash, Mr William
Chishti, Rehman
Clappison, Mr James
Clark, rh Greg
Clegg, rh Mr Nick
Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey
Coffey, Dr Thérèse
Collins, Damian
Colvile, Oliver
Cox, Mr Geoffrey
Crabb, Stephen
Crockart, Mike
Crouch, Tracey
Davey, rh Mr Edward
Davies, David T. C.
(Monmouth)
Davies, Glyn
Davies, Philip
Davis, rh Mr David
de Bois, Nick
Dinenage, Caroline
Djanogly, Mr Jonathan
Dorrell, rh Mr Stephen
Dorries, Nadine
Doyle-Price, Jackie
Duddridge, James
Duncan, rh Mr Alan
Duncan Smith, rh Mr Iain
Dunne, Mr Philip
Ellis, Michael
Ellison, Jane
Ellwood, Mr Tobias
Elphicke, Charlie
Eustice, George
Evans, Graham
Evans, Jonathan
Evennett, Mr David
Fabricant, Michael
Fallon, Michael
Farron, Tim
Featherstone, Lynne
Field, Mark
Foster, rh Mr Don
Fox, rh Dr Liam
Francois, rh Mr Mark
Freeman, George
Freer, Mike
Fullbrook, Lorraine
Fuller, Richard
Gale, Sir Roger
Garnier, Mr Edward
Garnier, Mark
Gauke, Mr David
George, Andrew
Gibb, Mr Nick
Glen, John
Goldsmith, Zac
Goodwill, Mr Robert
Gove, rh Michael
Graham, Richard
Grant, Mrs Helen
Gray, Mr James
Grayling, rh Chris
Green, Damian
Greening, rh Justine
Grieve, rh Mr Dominic
Griffiths, Andrew
Gummer, Ben
Gyimah, Mr Sam
Hague, rh Mr William
Halfon, Robert
Hames, Duncan
Hammond, rh Mr Philip
Hammond, Stephen
Hancock, Matthew
Hancock, Mr Mike
Hands, Greg
Harper, Mr Mark
Harrington, Richard
Harris, Rebecca
Hart, Simon
Harvey, Nick
Haselhurst, rh Sir Alan
Hayes, Mr John
Heald, Oliver
Heath, Mr David
Heaton-Harris, Chris
Hemming, John
Henderson, Gordon
Hendry, Charles
Herbert, rh Nick
Hinds, Damian
Hoban, Mr Mark
Hollingbery, George
Hollobone, Mr Philip
Hopkins, Kris
Horwood, Martin
Howell, John
Hughes, rh Simon
Huhne, rh Chris
Hunt, rh Mr Jeremy
Hunter, Mark
Huppert, Dr Julian
Jackson, Mr Stewart
James, Margot
Javid, Sajid
Jenkin, Mr Bernard
Johnson, Joseph
Jones, Andrew
Jones, Mr David
Jones, Mr Marcus
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kelly, Chris
Kennedy, rh Mr Charles
Kirby, Simon
Knight, rh Mr Greg
Kwarteng, Kwasi
Laing, Mrs Eleanor
Lamb, Norman
Lancaster, Mark
Lansley, rh Mr Andrew
Latham, Pauline
Laws, rh Mr David
Leadsom, Andrea
Lee, Jessica
Lee, Dr Phillip
Lefroy, Jeremy
Leigh, Mr Edward
Leslie, Charlotte
Letwin, rh Mr Oliver
Lewis, Brandon
Liddell-Grainger, Mr Ian
Lidington, rh Mr David
Lilley, rh Mr Peter
Lopresti, Jack
Lord, Jonathan
Loughton, Tim
Luff, Peter
Lumley, Karen
Macleod, Mary
Main, Mrs Anne
Maynard, Paul
McCartney, Jason
McCartney, Karl
McIntosh, Miss Anne
McLoughlin, rh Mr Patrick
McPartland, Stephen
McVey, Esther
Menzies, Mark
Mills, Nigel
Milton, Anne
Morgan, Nicky
Morris, Anne Marie
Morris, David
Morris, James
Mosley, Stephen
Mowat, David
Mulholland, Greg
Munt, Tessa
Murray, Sheryll
Murrison, Dr Andrew
Neill, Robert
Newmark, Mr Brooks
Nokes, Caroline
Norman, Jesse
Nuttall, Mr David
Offord, Mr Matthew
Ollerenshaw, Eric
Opperman, Guy
Osborne, rh Mr George
Ottaway, Richard
Patel, Priti
Pawsey, Mark
Penning, Mike
Penrose, John
Percy, Andrew
Perry, Claire
Phillips, Stephen
Pickles, rh Mr Eric
Pincher, Christopher
Poulter, Dr Daniel
Prisk, Mr Mark
Pritchard, Mark
Raab, Mr Dominic
Randall, rh Mr John
Reckless, Mark
Redwood, rh Mr John
Rees-Mogg, Jacob
Reevell, Simon
Reid, Mr Alan
Rifkind, rh Sir Malcolm
Robathan, rh Mr Andrew
Robertson, Mr Laurence
Rogerson, Dan
Rudd, Amber
Ruffley, Mr David
Russell, Sir Bob
Rutley, David
Sandys, Laura
Scott, Mr Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, rh Grant
Sharma, Alok
Shelbrooke, Alec
Shepherd, Mr Richard
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr Keith
Skidmore, Chris
Smith, Miss Chloe
Smith, Henry
Smith, Julian
Smith, Sir Robert
Soames, rh Nicholas
Soubry, Anna
Spencer, Mr Mark
Stanley, rh Sir John
Stephenson, Andrew
Stevenson, John
Stewart, Bob
Stewart, Iain
Streeter, Mr Gary
Stride, Mel
Stuart, Mr Graham
Stunell, Andrew
Sturdy, Julian
Swales, Ian
Swayne, rh Mr Desmond
Swinson, Jo
Swire, rh Mr Hugo
Syms, Mr Robert
Tapsell, rh Sir Peter
Teather, Sarah
Timpson, Mr Edward
Tomlinson, Justin
Tredinnick, David
Truss, Elizabeth
Turner, Mr Andrew
Tyrie, Mr Andrew
Uppal, Paul
Vaizey, Mr Edward
Vara, Mr Shailesh
Vickers, Martin
Villiers, rh Mrs Theresa
Walker, Mr Charles
Walker, Mr Robin
Walter, Mr Robert
Watkinson, Angela
Webb, Steve
Wharton, James
White, Chris
Whittaker, Craig
Whittingdale, Mr John
Willetts, rh Mr David
Williams, Mr Mark
Williams, Stephen
Williamson, Gavin
Wilson, Mr Rob
Wollaston, Dr Sarah
Wright, Jeremy
Wright, Simon
Yeo, Mr Tim
Young, rh Sir George
Zahawi, Nadhim
Tellers for the Noes:
Bill Wiggin and
Jenny Willott
Question accordingly negatived
.
17 May 2012 : Column 808
17 May 2012 : Column 809
17 May 2012 : Column 810
17 May 2012 : Column 811
The House divided:
Ayes 310, Noes 212.
[6.25 pm
AYES
Adams, Nigel
Afriyie, Adam
Alexander, rh Danny
Amess, Mr David
Andrew, Stuart
Arbuthnot, rh Mr James
Bacon, Mr Richard
Baker, Norman
Baker, Steve
Baldry, Tony
Baldwin, Harriett
Barclay, Stephen
Barker, Gregory
Baron, Mr John
Barwell, Gavin
Bebb, Guto
Beith, rh Sir Alan
Bellingham, Mr Henry
Benyon, Richard
Beresford, Sir Paul
Berry, Jake
Bingham, Andrew
Binley, Mr Brian
Blackman, Bob
Blunt, Mr Crispin
Boles, Nick
Bone, Mr Peter
Bottomley, Sir Peter
Bradley, Karen
Brady, Mr Graham
Brake, rh Tom
Bray, Angie
Brazier, Mr Julian
Bridgen, Andrew
Brine, Steve
Brokenshire, James
Bruce, Fiona
Bruce, rh Malcolm
Buckland, Mr Robert
Burley, Mr Aidan
Burns, rh Mr Simon
Burrowes, Mr David
Burstow, Paul
Burt, Lorely
Byles, Dan
Cable, rh Vince
Cairns, Alun
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Neil
Cash, Mr William
Chishti, Rehman
Clappison, Mr James
Clark, rh Greg
Clegg, rh Mr Nick
Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey
Coffey, Dr Thérèse
Collins, Damian
Colvile, Oliver
Cox, Mr Geoffrey
Crabb, Stephen
Crockart, Mike
Crouch, Tracey
Davey, rh Mr Edward
Davies, David T. C.
(Monmouth)
Davies, Glyn
Davies, Philip
Davis, rh Mr David
de Bois, Nick
Dinenage, Caroline
Djanogly, Mr Jonathan
Dorrell, rh Mr Stephen
Dorries, Nadine
Doyle-Price, Jackie
Duddridge, James
Duncan, rh Mr Alan
Duncan Smith, rh Mr Iain
Dunne, Mr Philip
Ellis, Michael
Ellison, Jane
Ellwood, Mr Tobias
Elphicke, Charlie
Eustice, George
Evans, Graham
Evans, Jonathan
Evennett, Mr David
Fabricant, Michael
Fallon, Michael
Farron, Tim
Featherstone, Lynne
Field, Mark
Foster, rh Mr Don
Fox, rh Dr Liam
Francois, rh Mr Mark
Freeman, George
Freer, Mike
Fullbrook, Lorraine
Fuller, Richard
Gale, Sir Roger
Garnier, Mr Edward
Garnier, Mark
Gauke, Mr David
Gibb, Mr Nick
Glen, John
Goldsmith, Zac
Goodwill, Mr Robert
Gove, rh Michael
Graham, Richard
Grant, Mrs Helen
Gray, Mr James
Grayling, rh Chris
Green, Damian
Greening, rh Justine
Grieve, rh Mr Dominic
Griffiths, Andrew
Gummer, Ben
Gyimah, Mr Sam
Hague, rh Mr William
Halfon, Robert
Hames, Duncan
Hammond, rh Mr Philip
Hammond, Stephen
Hancock, Matthew
Hancock, Mr Mike
Hands, Greg
Harper, Mr Mark
Harrington, Richard
Harris, Rebecca
Hart, Simon
Harvey, Nick
Haselhurst, rh Sir Alan
Hayes, Mr John
Heald, Oliver
Heath, Mr David
Heaton-Harris, Chris
Hemming, John
Henderson, Gordon
Hendry, Charles
Herbert, rh Nick
Hinds, Damian
Hoban, Mr Mark
Hollingbery, George
Hollobone, Mr Philip
Hopkins, Kris
Horwood, Martin
Howell, John
Hughes, rh Simon
Huhne, rh Chris
Hunt, rh Mr Jeremy
Hunter, Mark
Huppert, Dr Julian
Jackson, Mr Stewart
James, Margot
Javid, Sajid
Jenkin, Mr Bernard
Johnson, Joseph
Jones, Andrew
Jones, Mr David
Jones, Mr Marcus
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kelly, Chris
Kennedy, rh Mr Charles
Kirby, Simon
Knight, rh Mr Greg
Kwarteng, Kwasi
Laing, Mrs Eleanor
Lamb, Norman
Lancaster, Mark
Lansley, rh Mr Andrew
Latham, Pauline
Leadsom, Andrea
Lee, Jessica
Lee, Dr Phillip
Lefroy, Jeremy
Leigh, Mr Edward
Leslie, Charlotte
Letwin, rh Mr Oliver
Lewis, Brandon
Liddell-Grainger, Mr Ian
Lidington, rh Mr David
Lilley, rh Mr Peter
Lopresti, Jack
Lord, Jonathan
Loughton, Tim
Luff, Peter
Lumley, Karen
Macleod, Mary
Main, Mrs Anne
Maynard, Paul
McCartney, Jason
McCartney, Karl
McIntosh, Miss Anne
McLoughlin, rh Mr Patrick
McPartland, Stephen
McVey, Esther
Menzies, Mark
Mills, Nigel
Milton, Anne
Mordaunt, Penny
Morgan, Nicky
Morris, Anne Marie
Morris, David
Morris, James
Mosley, Stephen
Mowat, David
Mulholland, Greg
Munt, Tessa
Murray, Sheryll
Murrison, Dr Andrew
Neill, Robert
Nokes, Caroline
Norman, Jesse
Nuttall, Mr David
Offord, Mr Matthew
Ollerenshaw, Eric
Opperman, Guy
Osborne, rh Mr George
Ottaway, Richard
Patel, Priti
Pawsey, Mark
Penning, Mike
Penrose, John
Percy, Andrew
Perry, Claire
Phillips, Stephen
Pickles, rh Mr Eric
Pincher, Christopher
Poulter, Dr Daniel
Prisk, Mr Mark
Pritchard, Mark
Raab, Mr Dominic
Randall, rh Mr John
Reckless, Mark
Redwood, rh Mr John
Rees-Mogg, Jacob
Reevell, Simon
Reid, Mr Alan
Rifkind, rh Sir Malcolm
Robathan, rh Mr Andrew
Robertson, Mr Laurence
Rogerson, Dan
Rudd, Amber
Ruffley, Mr David
Russell, Sir Bob
Rutley, David
Sandys, Laura
Scott, Mr Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, rh Grant
Sharma, Alok
Shelbrooke, Alec
Shepherd, Mr Richard
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr Keith
Skidmore, Chris
Smith, Miss Chloe
Smith, Henry
Smith, Julian
Smith, Sir Robert
Soames, rh Nicholas
Soubry, Anna
Spencer, Mr Mark
Stanley, rh Sir John
Stephenson, Andrew
Stevenson, John
Stewart, Bob
Stewart, Iain
Streeter, Mr Gary
Stride, Mel
Stuart, Mr Graham
Stunell, Andrew
Sturdy, Julian
Swales, Ian
Swayne, rh Mr Desmond
Swinson, Jo
Swire, rh Mr Hugo
Syms, Mr Robert
Tapsell, rh Sir Peter
Teather, Sarah
Timpson, Mr Edward
Tomlinson, Justin
Tredinnick, David
Truss, Elizabeth
Turner, Mr Andrew
Tyrie, Mr Andrew
Uppal, Paul
Vaizey, Mr Edward
Vara, Mr Shailesh
Vickers, Martin
Villiers, rh Mrs Theresa
Walker, Mr Charles
Walker, Mr Robin
Walter, Mr Robert
Watkinson, Angela
Webb, Steve
Wharton, James
White, Chris
Whittaker, Craig
Whittingdale, Mr John
Wiggin, Bill
Willetts, rh Mr David
Williams, Mr Mark
Williams, Stephen
Williamson, Gavin
Wilson, Mr Rob
Wollaston, Dr Sarah
Wright, Jeremy
Wright, Simon
Yeo, Mr Tim
Young, rh Sir George
Zahawi, Nadhim
Tellers for the Ayes:
Jenny Willott and
Mr Brooks Newmark
NOES
Abbott, Ms Diane
Abrahams, Debbie
Ainsworth, rh Mr Bob
Alexander, rh Mr Douglas
Alexander, Heidi
Ali, Rushanara
Allen, Mr Graham
Anderson, Mr David
Ashworth, Jonathan
Austin, Ian
Bain, Mr William
Balls, rh Ed
Barron, rh Mr Kevin
Bayley, Hugh
Beckett, rh Margaret
Benn, rh Hilary
Berger, Luciana
Blears, rh Hazel
Blenkinsop, Tom
Bradshaw, rh Mr Ben
Brennan, Kevin
Brown, Lyn
Brown, rh Mr Nicholas
Brown, Mr Russell
Bryant, Chris
Buck, Ms Karen
Burden, Richard
Byrne, rh Mr Liam
Campbell, Mr Alan
Campbell, Mr Ronnie
Caton, Martin
Clark, Katy
Clarke, rh Mr Tom
Coaker, Vernon
Coffey, Ann
Connarty, Michael
Cooper, Rosie
Cooper, rh Yvette
Corbyn, Jeremy
Crausby, Mr David
Creagh, Mary
Creasy, Stella
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, John
Cunningham, Alex
Cunningham, Mr Jim
Cunningham, Tony
Curran, Margaret
Darling, rh Mr Alistair
David, Mr Wayne
Davidson, Mr Ian
Davies, Geraint
De Piero, Gloria
Denham, rh Mr John
Dobbin, Jim
Dobson, rh Frank
Docherty, Thomas
Donohoe, Mr Brian H.
Doran, Mr Frank
Dowd, Jim
Doyle, Gemma
Dromey, Jack
Dugher, Michael
Eagle, Ms Angela
Eagle, Maria
Edwards, Jonathan
Efford, Clive
Elliott, Julie
Ellman, Mrs Louise
Engel, Natascha
Esterson, Bill
Evans, Chris
Farrelly, Paul
Field, rh Mr Frank
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Robert
Flint, rh Caroline
Flynn, Paul
Fovargue, Yvonne
Gardiner, Barry
Gilmore, Sheila
Glass, Pat
Glindon, Mrs Mary
Godsiff, Mr Roger
Goggins, rh Paul
Goodman, Helen
Greatrex, Tom
Green, Kate
Griffith, Nia
Gwynne, Andrew
Hamilton, Mr David
Hamilton, Fabian
Hanson, rh Mr David
Harman, rh Ms Harriet
Harris, Mr Tom
Havard, Mr Dai
Healey, rh John
Hepburn, Mr Stephen
Heyes, David
Hillier, Meg
Hilling, Julie
Hodge, rh Margaret
Hodgson, Mrs Sharon
Hoey, Kate
Hopkins, Kelvin
Hosie, Stewart
Hunt, Tristram
Irranca-Davies, Huw
Jackson, Glenda
Jamieson, Cathy
Jarvis, Dan
Johnson, rh Alan
Johnson, Diana
Jones, Graham
Jones, Mr Kevan
Jones, Susan Elan
Jowell, rh Tessa
Kaufman, rh Sir Gerald
Kendall, Liz
Khan, rh Sadiq
Lammy, rh Mr David
Lavery, Ian
Lazarowicz, Mark
Leslie, Chris
Lewis, Mr Ivan
Lloyd, Tony
Llwyd, rh Mr Elfyn
Love, Mr Andrew
Lucas, Ian
MacNeil, Mr Angus Brendan
Mactaggart, Fiona
Mahmood, Shabana
Malhotra, Seema
Mann, John
Marsden, Mr Gordon
McCabe, Steve
McCann, Mr Michael
McClymont, Gregg
McFadden, rh Mr Pat
McGovern, Alison
McGovern, Jim
McGuire, rh Mrs Anne
McKechin, Ann
McKenzie, Mr Iain
McKinnell, Catherine
Meacher, rh Mr Michael
Mearns, Ian
Michael, rh Alun
Miliband, rh David
Miliband, rh Edward
Mitchell, Austin
Moon, Mrs Madeleine
Morden, Jessica
Morrice, Graeme
(Livingston)
Morris, Grahame M.
(Easington)
Mudie, Mr George
Murphy, rh Paul
Murray, Ian
Nandy, Lisa
O'Donnell, Fiona
Osborne, Sandra
Owen, Albert
Pearce, Teresa
Phillipson, Bridget
Qureshi, Yasmin
Raynsford, rh Mr Nick
Reed, Mr Jamie
Reeves, Rachel
Reynolds, Emma
Riordan, Mrs Linda
Robertson, Angus
Robertson, John
Robinson, Mr Geoffrey
Rotheram, Steve
Roy, Mr Frank
Roy, Lindsay
Ruane, Chris
Ruddock, rh Dame Joan
Sarwar, Anas
Sharma, Mr Virendra
Sheerman, Mr Barry
Sheridan, Jim
Shuker, Gavin
Skinner, Mr Dennis
Slaughter, Mr Andy
Smith, rh Mr Andrew
Smith, Nick
Spellar, rh Mr John
Straw, rh Mr Jack
Stuart, Ms Gisela
Sutcliffe, Mr Gerry
Tami, Mark
Thomas, Mr Gareth
Thornberry, Emily
Timms, rh Stephen
Trickett, Jon
Turner, Karl
Twigg, Stephen
Walley, Joan
Watson, Mr Tom
Weir, Mr Mike
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh
Whitehead, Dr Alan
Wicks, rh Malcolm
Williams, Hywel
Williamson, Chris
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr David
Winterton, rh Ms Rosie
Wood, Mike
Woodward, rh Mr Shaun
Wright, David
Tellers for the Noes:
Nic Dakin and
Mark Hendrick
Question accordingly agreed to.
17 May 2012 : Column 812
17 May 2012 : Column 813
17 May 2012 : Column 814
17 May 2012 : Column 815
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows:
Most Gracious Sovereign,
We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.
Address to be presented to Her Majesty by Members of the House who are Privy Counsellors or Members of Her Majesty’s Household.
Business without Debate
Delegated Legislation
That the Motion in the name of Mr Peter Lilley relating to the House of Commons Members’ Fund shall be treated as if it related to an instrument subject to the provisions of Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees) in respect of which notice of a motion has been given that the instrument be approved.—(Mr Heath.)
17 May 2012 : Column 816
John Lawton
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(Greg Hands.)
6.36 pm
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): I am extremely grateful personally to Mr Speaker for affording me the opportunity to secure this debate and to raise the case of the disappearance of my constituent, Mr John Lawton. John’s wife Lynda, his son Steve and daughter-in-law Rachel are in the Gallery this evening, at what is a deeply worrying time for them. I pay tribute to the dignity and commitment they have shown throughout the period of some five to six weeks since Mr Lawton disappeared in Greece. They have spent much of the past five to six weeks in Greece and are back in the UK while the search for John continues.
John Lawton went missing on 8 April—Easter Sunday—while participating in the Taygetos marathon in Greece. The race started at 8.30 am. The organisers have confirmed that John passed through checkpoint 4 at 1.17 pm, which was about halfway round the course, 21 km from the start of the race at the start of the Viros gorge, but he never reached checkpoint 5, at 26 km—or at least he was never checked in there. Some new information in that connection has just come to light, and I will refer to it later in my speech.
Since being made aware of John’s disappearance, I have been assisting the family and trying to maintain awareness of the case. I heard about the matter within three days and made immediate contact with the Foreign Office to call for assistance. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr Djanogly), also made immediate representations to the Foreign Office in his capacity as the constituency MP of Mr Lawton’s son, Steven. My hon. Friend spoke with the Foreign Office no fewer than three times on Easter Monday, and his intervention contributed to the provision of a helicopter search for about an hour on the following day. The family are appreciative of my hon. Friend’s active interest in the case.
I first raised the matter in the House at my earliest opportunity, at Foreign Office questions on 17 April, when the Minister for Europe kindly confirmed in response that he had spoken with our ambassador in Athens, called for further representations to be made at the highest level of the Greek Government, and made arrangements for a member of the consular team in Greece to visit the Lawton family to discuss their concerns and what support they required. At that time, one key thing that the family wanted—they still want it on an ongoing basis—was a well-resourced, professionally co-ordinated search directed at the highest possible level by the Greek authorities.
I wish to put on the record my thanks to the Minister and the staff in his office for their ongoing assistance. I thank him specifically for taking the time to speak directly with Steven Lawton a few weeks ago and for his continuing agreement to meet representatives of the Lawton family at any stage. It is also important to thank British officials in Greece who have continued to press the Greek authorities on behalf of the family. Dialogue with the police and the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs remains crucial. It is particularly important
17 May 2012 : Column 817
because at present, as the family told me a few minutes ago, the search in the area is no longer continuing, other than through the occasional tourist who might see the posters placed in the area advertising John’s disappearance.
Over the past five or six weeks, I have received dozens of e-mails not only from constituents but from people across the country who know John, Lynda, Steve and other family members, and I have been struck by the affection and respect in which they are held. One typical e-mail read: John
“is a man who worked with people with learning, physical difficulties and challenging behaviour”
“he never gave up on. His wife, Lynda, is the nicest person you could meet and they are totally devoted to each other”.
John and Lynda married when they were 18-years-old and have been happily married for 42 years. The family tell me that there is no reason John would have voluntarily disappeared. They have lived in the local area, in my constituency, for almost all their married live, and their two children, Steve and Sara, attended school in Sandbach. The local community has rallied to support the family, and yellow ribbons have been worn by many people to show their concern following John’s disappearance. The local media, too, have been extremely supportive. I spoke on BBC Radio Stoke most recently this morning about the matter, and the Crew e Chronicle and the Sandbach Chronicle have made this a headline issue for several weeks, which has been crucial, not least in helping to raise funds to support the search for John.
John Lawton is a popular and active member Sandbach Striders running group, three of whose members have been out to Greece to help in the search. I have been particularly impressed by the lengths to which members of the group have gone to support the family. Six members—husband and wife duo, Jason and Jo Bulley, Perry Wyatt, Terry Coppenhall, Robert Kettle and Steve Treweeks—participated in the London marathon to raise funds for volunteers to go out to Greece as part of the search team. A JustGiving page, in the name of John Lawton, has also been set up by Missing Abroad. The last time I visited the site, 300 people had generously donated more than £13,500. That money, however, has all but been spent on the cost of the 15 Cheshire search and rescue team volunteers who also went out to Greece to help with the search, and on other expenses. I hope that the recently revised target of £25,000 for these costs can be surpassed as soon as possible and that publicity generated, not least as a result of this debate, will help in that process.
In the immediate aftermath of his disappearance being reported, the Greek authorities initiated a search conducted and led mainly by the local Gaia volunteer rescue group. People from the local villages were extremely helpful, closing their businesses and searching throughout their Easter holidays. The search was joined at various points by the police, fire service, search dogs, local mountain rescue teams and the Greek Red Cross. The official search, however, was called off by the Greek authorities about two and a half weeks ago. The family have asked me to express their gratitude that it lasted 20 days, but since then only local volunteers, family members and volunteers from Cheshire have been on the ground looking for John. The 15-man team from
17 May 2012 : Column 818
the Cheshire search and rescue group returned just a day or so ago, and the family are now particularly keen that I emphasise that there is now no ongoing, active, professional search, and have asked that the Minister ask the Greek authorities that the search be reconvened, not least because information has come to light that leads us to believe that not all the relevant areas have been searched.
The family have engaged privately commissioned UK investigators to review the evidence that has been amassed in respect of John’s disappearance. A detailed timeline chart has been prepared and was sent to the Minister earlier this week. The chart is an analysis based on interviews conducted by UK investigators directly with Greek and British witnesses. The police investigation into John’s disappearance has confirmed that there were eight athletes behind John at the fourth checkpoint, but there has been no formal indication that they were all interviewed and asked whether they saw him between the fourth and fifth checkpoints.
An English witness who lives near the fifth checkpoint on the course apparently approached Gaia to say that she recalled seeing John running past her home close to the fifth checkpoint at about 2 pm. A gel packet, of the English brand that John used and certainly had with him at the time, was found on the course just before the fifth checkpoint. It was found some four weeks ago, but it has not yet been established whether it belonged to him. The family is awaiting the results of DNA tests from the Greek authorities. Any help the Minister can provide to help to secure those results promptly would be appreciated. Two other such gel packets have been found recently by the Cheshire search and rescue team.
All this information suggests that John might have progressed beyond the main area covered by the initial search, and the family is therefore requesting the Greek authorities to recommence their search efforts and to focus on the area highlighted by the new evidence. The initial search might have been conducted in the wrong area, and it is for that reason that the voluntary groups out in Greece have been searching the area between checkpoints 4 and 5 far more extensively. However, additional professional help would be greatly appreciated.
John Lawton is not the first Congleton constituent to disappear in Greece. The Minister might be aware of the case of Steven Cook, a Liverpool university student and former Sandbach school pupil who disappeared in the resort of Malia in Crete on 1 September 2005. I know that Steven’s parents have campaigned tirelessly for more information following their son’s disappearance, and the advice and support that they have offered to the Lawton family over the past few weeks have been greatly appreciated, especially as John’s disappearance must bring back memories of the extremely worrying time during the aftermath of Steven’s disappearance.
I have highlighted a very sad case tonight. It is a case that continues to cause the Lawton family an immense amount of worry and distress. I know that the Foreign Office has been as active as possible, here in London and out in Greece, but I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm what further action can be taken at this time to continue and extend the search for John. Will he also tell me how the discussions with the Greek authorities are progressing, and will progress in the future, and what further steps will be taken to ensure that John’s family receive the ongoing support
17 May 2012 : Column 819
that they require from all the relevant authorities, here and abroad, and in particular, to ensure the re-engagement of the official search?
I would also be grateful if the Minister could use this opportunity to clarify what assistance the Government can give through the Foreign Office to families who find themselves in a similar predicament. Could he, for example, review the literature that is provided by our embassies to families who find themselves with a missing relative abroad to ensure that it is clear? The disappearance of a loved one at any time is a tremendously distressing situation to have to contend with, but it is made much worse when it happens overseas. I am sure that it would be of considerable help to receive some guidance from the Minister in this respect. This would be of benefit not only to the families who find themselves in this predicament but to Members of Parliament who want to advise their constituents as well and as expeditiously as possible in such circumstances.
I want to close as I began, by paying tribute to the immensely dignified and committed way in which the whole Lawton family—not only Lynda and Steven, but Lynda and John’s daughter Sara, who has also been supporting them—have behaved, and to the commitment that the whole community in my constituency has shown in this situation.
6.49 pm
The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on securing this debate, and I pay tribute to the consistency and tenacity with which she has represented the interests of the Lawton family to me and my officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I also want to acknowledge the presence in his place this evening of my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr Djanogly) who, as Mr Steve Lawton’s MP, has been extremely active in making representations to the Government on behalf of the family.
I want to take the opportunity to respond to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton by outlining the consular assistance we have provided to the family and the contacts we have had with the Greek authorities since Mr John Lawton was reported missing, and by trying to provide at least an initial response to some of the newer questions that she posed this evening.
As my hon. Friend said, Mr John Lawton had been taking part in the Taygetos mountain marathon challenge in the Kardamyli area of Greece on the morning of 8 April, Easter Sunday. He started the race, but did not show up at checkpoint 5 en route. Local search efforts began immediately it became clear that he had missed a checkpoint, and he was formally reported missing on Monday 9 April, Easter Monday. Following this, a more intensive search and rescue operation started on 9 April and lasted for 18 days before being officially called off on 26 April. To date, Mr Lawton remains missing. I am sure that the entire House will appreciate and sympathise with the anguish and sense of frustration and anxiety that Mr Lawton’s family and friends will have felt ever since the day he disappeared.
In these circumstances, expectations of consular staff are extremely high. In the overwhelming majority of cases, consular staff throughout the world perform their duties with care and compassion, doing all they can to help families to keep up to date with developments
17 May 2012 : Column 820
and get the information they need in order to make properly informed decisions as things progress. The primary role of consular staff is one of welfare: it is to assist, where they can; to obtain information from relevant authorities where possible; and, where appropriate, sometimes to raise more detailed issues with those authorities. What our consular staff cannot do themselves is to investigate missing persons overseas, and, as I know my hon. Friend understands, they cannot instruct the local authorities how they should handle a search or investigation in their own country, just as we would not expect other countries to attempt to instruct us how to carry out a missing person search in the UK.
Consular staff in Greece and London have been very active in this case since Mr Lawton’s disappearance was first reported. On the same day as the report was made, consular staff in Athens were in contact with the local chief of police who was supervising the search, to register our concern and see whether there was any assistance we could offer. The chief of police asked if we could intercede with the central authorities in Athens to try to secure the use of a helicopter with thermal imaging equipment. As a result of the direct intervention of the British embassy in Athens with officials at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such a helicopter was dispatched to the search site during Tuesday 10 April —just over 24 hours after Mr Lawton was officially reported missing.
In the early days of the search, consular staff were able to support some other strands of the search operation, including attempts to locate John Lawton through his mobile phone or through the Garmin watch with GPS facility that he was wearing at the time. Unfortunately, the mobile phone was later found to have been left switched off at his hotel, and the watch could only receive a signal—regrettably, it could not transmit details of Mr Lawton’s location.
Our consul in Athens was also in direct telephone contact with Mr Steve Lawton, John Lawton’s son, on the evening of Easter Monday, and has remained in contact ever since, with a face-to-face meeting when she visited the area on 19 April.
Our embassy staff in Athens maintained regular contact with the Greek authorities at both senior and local operational level in both the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Citizen Protection, which has responsibility for the police and related emergency services, to support the efforts of Steve Lawton himself at the search site. Normal practice in Greece is for such a search to last for 72 hours, as was the case in March this year when a Greek national went missing in the same area. As my hon. Friend acknowledged, in this case—in large part, I believe, as a result of the that high level of contact from our staff—the Greek authorities maintained the search for nearer to three weeks. During that time they deployed a variety of resources, including specially trained search and rescue teams, other manpower—both official and volunteer—and trained dogs and a thermal imaging helicopter.
In the most recent high-level intervention, our ambassador in Athens has spoken to both the Minister and the Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection, acknowledging the efforts of the authorities so far and encouraging them to continue to consider whether there was anything more that they ought to be doing. The Minister confirmed that the investigation should continue,
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and obviously I will ask our embassy to follow up that conversation in the light of what my hon. Friend has said this evening.
My hon. Friend mentioned some of the findings of the privately commissioned investigation. Having received the report earlier this week, we have passed it on to our ministerial contacts in Greece, together with the family’s request that the search should recommence on the basis of the timeline analysis and the findings of the investigation. I note what my hon. Friend said about the time that it has taken to obtain the results of the DNA test that was promised for the gel samples. As she will understand, I cannot speak with any detailed knowledge of how the system of pathology tests operates in Greece, but I will ask our consular team in Athens to look into the matter as well.
I hope that my hon. Friend and the Lawton family will be reassured that we maintain, and will continue to maintain, a high level of contact with the Greek authorities. Inevitably, given the current economic and political situation in Greece, Ministers and the officials who are political appointees will be preoccupied with the forthcoming general election, but we will continue to do all that we can to maintain the profile of this case with them and with the operational authorities at a more local level.
I am grateful for the fact that my hon. Friend was able to arrange for me to speak directly to Mr Steve Lawton by telephone when he returned to the United Kingdom for a few days to accompany his mother home. That enabled me to explain our role in a little more detail, and to assure him that we would continue to maintain our close contact with the Greek authorities as the case progressed.
I completely understand why the Lawton family and John Lawton’s friends felt frustrated that the Government could not intervene and send UK search specialists to bolster the Greek effort, as we sometimes do in the case of natural disasters overseas. As I said to Mr Lawton when we spoke, it is the Greek authorities that have the local expertise and the legal responsibility and powers in their own country and locality, and they were co-ordinating the search on the ground. Official offers of support from the UK would normally be made only if the local authorities in the country concerned lacked the equipment, resource or experience to conduct a search, and requested such help from us. Those circumstances did not apply in this case. However, in the event that the family, friends or UK search teams wanted to be actively involved in the search on a volunteer basis—either independently or in support of an official search—we would help to facilitate contact with the relevant authorities in Greece if that were asked of us.
We have recently been in contact with the Cheshire search and rescue team in that regard. I understand that
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it had been invited to continue the search by the Lawton family and the Greek volunteer search teams. Although our assistance was not required in this case, we stand ready to help, should that be required in any similar deployments in future. As my hon. Friend has said, the funding for the Cheshire team has come from the JustGiving page set up by Missing Abroad, a charitable organisation set up by the Lucie Blackman Trust in 2008 to provide practical and in some cases financial support to families and friends of people who have gone missing overseas. Missing Abroad can supplement consular support by offering additional services, including supporting or co-ordinating searches for missing people in other countries. It also provides valuable emotional support to families. FCO consular staff, both in this country and abroad, regularly encourage people to contact Missing Abroad. My Department also provides some funding to Missing Abroad, as its services clearly complement the support that our consular teams offer. Details for Missing Abroad are available via the Foreign Office’s public website and in the FCO publication “Missing persons abroad”.
Let me respond to the point my hon. Friend made about the provision of information. Although there is inevitably an inherent tension between the wish to provide a concise and clear account and the need to provide answers to the detailed questions that families facing many different circumstances might have, we are always keen to learn from the experience of people who unfortunately have to make use of such literature. I would be very happy for my officials to talk directly to my hon. Friend and to members of the Lawton family to see whether improvements could be made in the light of the experience in this case.
The main help that the FCO can give in such cases is to assist families in understanding how systems work in other countries—although we cannot provide professional legal advice—to liaise with local authorities where necessary and, if appropriate, to act as a bridge between those authorities and families. That is the kind of support that our staff in Crete have provided to the family of Mr Steven Cook, in the other case that my hon. Friend mentioned. Steven’s family have been in close contact with consular staff in Crete since he first went missing in 2005.
I freely acknowledge that our efforts and those of the Greek authorities will never be enough for as long as Mr John Lawton remains missing. I believe that our consular staff have worked hard to provide the family with consular assistance during every stage of the case. More important, we stand ready to continue to offer support to the family and to maintain our contact with the Greek authorities for as long as necessary.