Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has received yet another interesting written answer: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of the number of new additional jobs created since 1997 in the (a) public […]
The House of Commons has had its last Business Questions for the year. Shadow Leader of the House Theresa May asked why the Government has failed to find time for a debate on the economy, and then teased Harriet Harman for good measure: "Last year, in the final business questions before Christmas, I asked the […]
Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan doesn’t get to quiz Lord Mandelson directly in Parliament, because they sit in different Houses. Instead Pat McFadden, a minister of state, represents the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the Commons. Yesterday Mr Duncan, who is a formidable debator, piled on the pressure: "The real truth is […]
The Conservative chairman of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, Neil Parish, has put out a press release attacking the Government. The European Commission has fined the UK £74.5 million for the Single Farm Payments cock-up, which saw Britain fail to meet the EU’s deadline for providing subsidies for farmers. In 2005 the Rural Payments Agency […]
Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, has had a noteworthy written answer: "To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission with reference to the answer of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2242W, on Liberal Democrats: finance, what the (a) status and (b) timetable is of […]
Beverley and Holdness MP Graham Stuart secured a debate on the flood risk to the River Hull and River Humber. Herewith some extracts: "In 2005, the “Planning for the Rising Tides” document was published and in March 2007 funding for the first 25 years of work, estimated at about £323 million, was approved by the […]
Earlier this month, a body set up to consider the reform of Scottish devolution ruled out handing over full financial powers to Scotland. Sir Kenneth Calman’s body indicated that such a move would be inconsistent with the Union. A full report will come out next year. Yesterday the subject was raised in the House of […]
Lord Renton of Mount Harry used to be MP for Mid-Sussex, and is a former Chief Whip and Minister for the Arts. Now in the House of Lords, he asked the Government yesterday what it is doing to improve relations with the Muslim community: "The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government […]
Ludlow MP Philip Dunne has produced some remarkable figures on community sentences, which the Government has not challenged: "The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr. Hanson), referred earlier to the introduction of high-visibility jackets last week for those serving community sentences. Will he now turn his attention to […]
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague will speak in the House of Commons today about the crisis in Zimbabwe. Here is a portion of his speech: "My Rt Hon Friend the Leader of the Opposition spoke to Botswana’s Foreign Minister yesterday, who has called for a ban on fuel supplies to the Zimbabwean Army and Police. […]
As I pointed out earlier in a post on CentreRight, all but nine Conservative MPs were present yesterday to vote in the crunch division – defeated by four votes – which sought to allow the Speaker’s committee investigating the raid on Damian Green’s office to be set up along the lines that the Speaker originally […]
Shadow Health Minister Mike Penning – MP for Hemel Hempstead and polymath – has posed a noteworthy written question to the Government: "To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many problematic drugs users were estimated to be residing in London in the last year for which figures are available. [240585] Dawn Primarolo: The […]
My ConservativeHome colleagues have already covered yesterday’s debate on the Damian Green affair. But such is its significance that it is worth recording contributions from other Tory MPs. (The motion was introduced by Harriet Harman, the Leader of the House of Commons.) Shadow Home Secretary made a crucial point, albeit that Sir Gerald Kaufman didn’t […]