Andy MacNae: It is a true pleasure to follow all the wonderful maiden speeches today and to hear that shared commitment to service and community. It really is inspiring. Once again, I feel incredibly proud to be part of this intake. I am also very aware that, when speaking at the end of a debate, there is a danger of repetition, and I apologise in advance for any that may happen. However, I can manage one...
Luke Taylor: ...Park, Cheam to Belmont and everywhere in between. I hope I am already going some way to repaying the trust they have put in me by voting to end the two-child benefit cap, voting to save the winter fuel payment, and already helping hundreds of them with issues and concerns through my office. To the people who did not vote for me, or did not vote at all, who have lost all faith in politics...
Baroness Smith of Basildon: ...field hospitals and the delivery of water, healthcare and treatment for malnourished children, but the ongoing restrictions on aid are impossible to justify. Israel must open more crossings and allow life-saving aid to flow. Crucially, Israel must provide a safe environment for aid workers. Too many have been killed, including three British citizens. Israel must act now, so that, together...
Stephen Doughty: ...in this country. There is no place for this hatred in our communities and society. Let us be clear: Hamas wanted to not just attack Israel but send a signal to Jews everywhere. It wanted them to feel scared and unsafe, regardless of where in the world they happened to be. The global rise in antisemitism following the attack highlights the need for urgent collective action to eliminate this...
Keir Starmer: ...field hospitals, and the delivery of water, healthcare and treatment for malnourished children, but the ongoing restrictions on aid are impossible to justify. Israel must open more crossings and allow lifesaving aid to flow. Crucially, Israel must provide a safe environment for aid workers. Too many have been killed, including three British citizens. Israel must act now, so that, together...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...green benches at Westminster, working in the national interest to hold the new UK Government to account. We will support it when we agree with it. We will look to improve Labour’s plans when we feel that they lack ambition and we will oppose them when we think that they are wrong. That is our responsibility and it is our job. A responsible Opposition has an essential role in...
Carál Ní Chuilín: ...is another outstanding commitment that we have been waiting for. Certainly, the current British Government appear to be following in the footsteps of their Tory partners. Their announcements on the winter fuel payments, not scrapping the two-child benefit cap and all the rest just do not augur well for people who are living in already challenging circumstances. Poverty levels in the...
Olly Glover: ...and the global effects on those prices. Dare I suggest that had we been building new homes to good environmental standards for the past 15 years, the Government would perhaps have avoided the winter fuel allowance backlash that is dominating my constituency postbag. This is a great example of a policy that benefits not only the planet, but people and the economy. Many people feel that...
Baroness Sherlock: ...I must admit I prefer it this way round—if not tonight. Before I turn to the specific issues and questions that have been raised, I want to start by clearly setting out why the Government feel the need to take action and what we are doing. Then I will do my best to answer all the questions that have been asked tonight. I might not manage to attach everybody’s name to them, but I want...
Greg Smith: ...opens? Is this not the New Labour playbook—scrap jobs, scrap production and become reliant on higher-polluting countries for imports? That is not what I call decarbonisation. I must say, I feel a little sorry for the Secretary of State, who has been dispatched here to announce these spending decisions just a day after Labour’s day of shame on winter fuel cuts for pensioners. In...
Jim Shannon: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We all recognise that this winter will be one where pensioners will feel the gravity of this and the pain of the cold. I stand for all those who are making do with less than £1,000 a month and those pensioners who will be impacted by the winter fuel allowance being taken away from them. For them, this is a lot of money. It is the difference between being...
Neil O'Brien: ...our numbers in this debate are more select than they might otherwise be, were it not for the fact that many Members are taking part in the vital debate on the Government’s decision to take the winter fuel payment away from 10 million needy pensioners. Since 1971, it has been a criminal offence for a person who is not a British citizen to knowingly enter this country without leave to do...
Edward Leigh: ...public trust. They gave an absolute guarantee and I think that is why people are so upset. I know that some people will say, and here I declare an interest: why should somebody like me receive the winter fuel allowance? All right, let us have a serious debate about that. But what about the people—these are the people I feel so strongly about—who have worked hard all their life, have...
Sorcha Eastwood: ...median wage are having to shell that money out again through childcare costs, and many times it is the woman who has to give up her job. Some politicians need focus groups to tell them what people feel about certain issues, while others create divisive culture wars to distract us from what really matters. But it should be as clear as day that people do not want more of the same. They do...
Danny Chambers: Over the past few weeks, I have been inundated with questions from the people of Winchester about the cuts in the winter fuel allowance, and it seems as though people from all parts of the House are getting similar correspondence. Although I totally understand that there are many wealthy pensioners who do not rely on the winter fuel allowance to heat their homes, a large proportion of...
Earl Russell: ...long-term reward. We admit that this helps to leverage investment, but where is the extra long-term benefit if the state does not own or supply anything at the end? Have the Government considered allowing the Crown Estate to waive the licensing fees in exchange for part ownership of the infrastructure? This would provide a continued source of revenue. The concerns and questions we have...
Alan Mak: ...is why it was a Conservative Government who created the OBR in the first place, and it is why we are keen to safeguard its reputation for independence and focus. In that context, this Labour Bill feels more like gimmickry than government. It is clear that the Bill is really designed for one purpose and one purpose alone: to distract everyone ahead of Labour’s tax rises in the autumn...
Adrian Ramsay: ...in a building that would otherwise have sat empty. What a great example of regenerating the high street. People in Waveney Valley are rightly proud of our market towns and villages, but they also feel let down by the loss of local services and the degradation of our environment in recent years and decades, which has particularly affected our rural communities. As has been noted this week,...
Miatta Fahnbulleh: ...volumes. But more than that, she combined tireless work in her constituency with making a huge impact on our politics nationally—whether through enduring policies like the minimum wage, the winter fuel payment and the Equality Act 2010, which went to the heart of the inequality she saw in our community, or through the trail she blazed for women in politics by breaking ceilings and...
Paul McLennan: ...than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for social security. That investment supports disabled people to live full and independent lives, helps older people to heat their homes in winter and aids low-income families with their living costs. However, we continue to operate with one hand tied behind our back due to the cruel policies and devastating austerity that have been...
