Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney-General]

I certainly think that the judgments of the Court in Strasbourg will be looked at by our courts in the circumstances that my hon. Friend describes, and that they will no doubt take note of some of them. I do not think it right, however, that the courts in this country should be obliged to take account of the judgments of the Strasbourg Court, and that is what we would change. It is perfectly reasonable for the courts in this country to look at judgments not only from Europe but from other jurisdictions, but it should not be obligatory for them to do so, and that is what we would change.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

We need clarification on this point, because the Government’s position on human rights is chaotic. We know that the Law Officers are at loggerheads on this issue, and that the very sensible former Attorney-General, the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), was sacked in the Prime Minister’s massacre of the moderates because of his “poor” human rights stance. The Minister knows, however, that the European Court declares more than 98% of claims against the UK to be without merit, so why will he not celebrate the excellent Human Rights Act and commend Strasbourg for its common-sense decisions in most of those cases?

[The Attorney-General]

The hon. Gentleman seems to be inviting me to accept that it is fine to have a power that one should not have, so long as one does not use it all the time. That is simply not the position that we should be in. He is, of course, right to suggest that this is an important subject, and it will be an important subject in 44 days’ time when the British people will make a judgment on it. It would be useful to know whether Labour is utterly content with the state of human rights law in this country and would make no changes to it whatever. If that is Labour’s view, as it seems to be, the public need to understand that, come election day.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear!

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is very nice to be popular.

Does the Attorney-General agree that the very low level of rape and sexual assault prosecutions in the military is a direct result of both a lack of independent scrutiny by civilian authorities and the discretion given to commanding officers to hear cases summarily themselves? Does he think it would be helpful if regular inspections of the Service Prosecution Authority were to be put on a statutory footing?

[The Solicitor-General]

May I first welcome the hon. Gentleman to his position and offer warm congratulations to him? The point he makes is perhaps more relevant to other types of sexual offences that are not included in the schedule to the Armed Forces Act 2006. When it comes to rape and serious sexual offences, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the rigorous standards used by the CPS are those adopted by the SPA as well. The joint training and joint working I mentioned allow the Attorney-General and I the reassurance we need to make sure that these serious matters are prosecuted effectively.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 26th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will make sure that my hon. Friend has a meeting either with me or with the Health Secretary to discuss this issue. The Care Act makes some very important breakthroughs in terms of providing care for people and making sure there is quality care for people. I would add that if he does have a high concentration of older people in his constituency, they will obviously welcome the fact that by next year the basic state pension will be £950 higher than it was when we came into government in 2010.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Q11. Does the Prime Minister think it is right to give Serco a £70 million contract when there are questions about its handling of Yarl’s Wood and allegations of serious abuse and sexual violence? Does he not agree that a full, independent inquiry into these allegations should have been carried out before his Home Secretary signed off on that contract?

[The Prime Minister]

It is very important that when these contracts have gone wrong—the hon. Gentleman is right that in some cases they have gone wrong—it is properly looked at and investigated and lessons are learned. On occasion, we have made sure that serious amounts of money have been recovered from the companies concerned. What we should not do is use one or two bad contracts to fulfil the trade unions’ dream of ending all contracts altogether.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, let me pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who I know has worked hard on this difficult issue for his constituents. I understand that the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey strategy has been approved, and once it has been implemented Chase Farm hospital will provide a service giving access to GPs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Enfield is also getting an increase in primary care funding. That is part of our plan of not cutting but expanding our NHS.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating the good people of Hull on winning the city of culture 2017?

[The Prime Minister]

I am absolutely delighted to join the hon. Gentleman, and everyone in Hull and around the country, in celebrating this great award of the city of culture to Hull. It is a very exciting opportunity for Hull. We will be able to celebrate the birthplace of Wilberforce and the fact that Andrew Motion lectured there and Philip Larkin was the librarian. Slightly more incongruously, Peter Mandelson is the high sheriff—but every city has its burden to bear. And of course Hull has a fantastic record on popular music. I remember some years ago that great Housemartins album, “London 0 Hull 4”—so named because they said they were the fourth-best band in Hull. I am sure it will be a huge success for Hull and for Humberside more generally.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I admire everything that happens in Dorset, but I think it needs to look at its trading standards. I have to say that this man folded faster than a Bournemouth deckchair.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Q11. The Chancellor blames the eurozone crisis for problems in the UK economy. Since 2010, however, real wages in France and Germany have risen, when they have fallen in Britain. Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility for the living standards crisis that families in this country are facing?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said many times, times are tough because we are recovering from the calamitous situation left by the Labour party. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make comparison with eurozone countries, he will see that we have a much lower unemployment rate than many of them. There are no other European countries that can boast a record of 1.4 million new private sector jobs. The best way to help people’s living standards and the best way to help them out of poverty is to help them into work. I would have thought that the Labour party understood that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

The McKay commission report deals with some of the questions the hon. Gentleman raises. As I have said, they are serious questions, and it will take time to ensure that we respond appropriately. We will do just that.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

3. What the Government’s political and constitutional reform priorities are up to 2015.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

5. What his plans are for constitutional and political reform for the remainder of the present Parliament.

[The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg)]

The Government continue to work on political and constitutional reform, particularly devolving more powers from Whitehall to our cities and regions. Work also continues on the implementation of individual electoral registration and developing proposals on recall and lobbying reform.

[Karl Turner]

Will there be a Bill to regulate the lobby industry in the Queen’s Speech?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman may know, we are still reflecting on exactly how to proceed on lobbying, but we will do so. I cannot give him a precise date for when we will come forward with our proposals after the consultation, which provided a lot of feedback, but we will do so in due course.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I will not be a candidate, however much the hon. Gentleman might hope otherwise.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Q8. The Deputy Prime Minister’s predecessor and mine is Labour’s excellent candidate in the police and crime commissioner elections in Humberside, but the Tory candidate describes the role as the “job from hell”. Does he agree with his Tory colleague, or does he think that he has it harder?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I will not try to compare notes with my predecessor on the police and crime commissioner elections. I hope that everyone will turn out to vote, but the fact that so many has-been Labour politicians and recycled ex-Labour Ministers are standing might put quite a lot of people off. None the less, I hope that people will participate in these important elections.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Tuesday 16th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We will make the impending announcement on the third round of the regional growth fund in the coming days. Although there have been criticisms about the pace of the disbursement of the money under rounds 1 and 2, my hon. Friend will be delighted to know that 60% of the projects from the total envelope of £2.5 billion are up and running, creating thousands upon thousands of jobs directly and tens of thousands of jobs indirectly, and enhancing private sector as well as public sector investment in our economy.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

T11. Does the Deputy Prime Minister believe that abusing police officers at the gates of Downing street and calling them “f***ing plebs” would constitute serious wrongdoing for the purposes of recall? What representations has he made to the Prime Minister on this issue?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Chief Whip has made it clear that he acknowledges that what he did was wrong, he has apologised to the police officer in question, and the police officer has accepted his apology.

[Karl Turner]

Will he apologise?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I know a thing or two about apologies, musical and otherwise, and I think that when someone is big enough to say that they made—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 14th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I sense that the House is waiting on the edge of its seat for my answer. On 30 November, 146,256 civil servants went on strike, which represents about 30% of the civil service work force. I would like to express my appreciation to the 70% of civil servants who came to work that day as normal.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

T4. The Minister is refusing to negotiate with the unions over pension contribution increases, the retirement age, cost ceiling, indexation and other issues. Is that not typical of this Government, proving that they enter into negotiations with no intention whatever of coming to an amicable agreement? Are not the Government spoiling for a scrap with the trade unions?

[Mr Maude]

Far from spoiling for a scrap with the trade unions, we are engaged in very intensive discussions with them. Even in the week during which the strike took place—a completely unnecessary strike, which the Labour party refused to condemn, massively inconveniencing many people and damaging the economy—a number of meetings took place with the trade unions to try to secure agreement on the much needed reforms. Let me remind the hon. Gentleman that Lord Hutton, the former Labour Pensions Secretary, has said that this is a generous offer and that the unions should stop “holding a gun” to the taxpayer’s head.

EU Council

Karl Turner Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful for the grandfatherly advice. I remember the advice that the hon. Gentleman used to give me when we both cycled in to the House of Commons many years ago, so I will take it carefully on board. I will also take away the Carlos Tevez reference and give it a bit of thought.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

It is becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that the Lib Dem partners in this coalition are completely pointless. As the Prime Minister does not know the whereabouts of his deputy, will he assure the House and Mrs Clegg that he will send out a search party to look for him?

[The Prime Minister]

Did the hon. Gentleman really wait one hour and 34 minutes for that? I am keen to hold on to the rebate and I think that his constituents might want a rebate as well.