There are several noteworthy written answers in the latest edition of Hansard. The Opposition has supported the Government’s carbon reduction plans. The following question from Shadow Local Government spokesman Eric Pickles is interesting in light of this. Are the Conservatives contemplating a spending commitment? "Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food […]
Questions on the Business of the House of Commons are often fascinating. Harriet Harman is Leader of the House and is shadowed by Theresa May for the Tories. The latter is afforded the chance to raise a number of political issues at the same time, which she did yesterday. As readers will see, the Leader […]
Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth has raised the issue of Heathrow in the House of Commons, during oral questioning of his opposite number Hilary Benn: "Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey) (Con): I, too, welcome the two new Ministers to the DEFRA brief, which they will no doubt find challenging, just as all their predecessors did. […]
This is one for the geeks. In a debate in Westminster Hall (about Internet fraud) yesterday, Dr Richard Taylor – Independent MP for Wyre Forest – and Bob Spink – formerly Tory but now UKIP MP for Castle Point – referred to each other as "my honourable Friend": "Bob Spink (Castle Point) (UKIP): My hon. […]
Shadow Health Minister Stephen O’Brien has received the following answer about buses. "Mr. Stephen O’Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards achieving the target of increasing bus passenger journeys by 2010 by 10 per cent., as stated in his Department’s Transport 10 Year Plan of 2000; and […]
Lichfield MP and Opposition Whip Michael Fabricant is good fun. But he has a keen interest in a wide variety of issues. Yesterday in the Commons he asked a very pertinent question about global education of International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander: "Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): The Secretary of State rightly identified the need for equality […]
James Duddridge, MP for Rochford & Southend East, introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in the Commons today, to relax the rules on personalised car registration plates. He told ePolitix.com: "Speaking to the police there are issues of number plate recognition and I thought it was ironic that we weren’t allowed to have for example […]
Yesterday in the House of Commons Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague asked the Government to make a statement about the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bill Rammell did so on behalf of the Foreign Office. The situation there is desperate. It is heartening that the Conservatives appreciate that fact. The calm, cool questioning from William Hague […]
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail: "Black Wednesday, which is frequently raised by Labour as an example of blithering Tory incompetence, was estimated by the Treasury to have cost the country £3.4billion. Yesterday, the House of Lords heard of an even bigger cock-up by Gordon ‘Mr Economic Hero’ Brown. Lord Glentoran, an unexciting Conservative peer, […]
The text of the Shadow Secretary of State for Health’s speech to the Commons earlier.
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles has received a written answer on the cost of the 2011 Census. The census is taken every ten years. It is an attempt to provide essential information about the country, "from national to neighbourhood level for government, business, and the community", as the Office […]
Quentin Davies, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, is not wildly popular on the Conservative benches, from which he defected at the encouragement of Gordon Brown. Yesterday in the Commons he was the subject of severe criticism from Conservative MPs, including Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox. Major Sebastian Morley, formerly of the […]
Update: Brian Binley’s EDM had been tabled very shortly before this post was written, and has since attracted lots of signatures. Early Day Motions are effectively petitions signed by MPs to draw attention to an issue; although they are motions for debate, few actually end up being debated. They can be serious, they can be […]