Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(5 years, 10 months ago)
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Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)
For a number of years we held a march in Islwyn to commemorate the service of test veterans to our country. Last week, test veterans were in the House of Commons to campaign for a medal for their service. Will the Prime Minister look at their campaign with a view to giving them a medal for the service they have given to this country?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(5 years, 11 months ago)
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Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)
At the heart of the industrial strategy is a commitment to 5G connectivity for businesses in Wales. Most businesses across Wales, including in my constituency, have little or no connectivity and slow connections. The Secretary of State has been warned by the CBI that the industrial strategy must be achievable. Is all this not just pie in the sky for businesses that are not connected at the moment?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(7 years ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am afraid Newcastle and Islwyn are too far away. Those Members will have to try to come in on another question; the M40 is not that big.
Finance Bill
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Chris Evans
I do not know how much my hon. Friend thinks he would get if he sold himself into slavery—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. Thankfully, that matter would be out of order to discuss. Therefore, any embarrassment that the hon. Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) might feel is spared.
Chris Evans
Thank you for that interjection, Mr Speaker, and I am sorry that I treated such a serious topic as slavery in a light-hearted manner.
I agree with my hon. Friend: these are hard-fought employment rights. I do not want to hark back to the past, but although the Conservatives like to say theirs is a progressive party, every piece of social legislation in this country, from votes for women to increased maternity and paternity rights to the minimum wage and even the state pension, has been brought about by Labour and by people having to fight for them. To me, it seems frivolous for those rights to be given away. As a former trade union official working in financial services, I do not believe that people were deterred from employing staff because of the rights they had. Maternity rights are accepted across the board. If someone goes on maternity leave, people believe they have that right, and it is shocking that the Government think this can be sold off for 30 pieces of silver.
John Cridland, director general of the CBI, said:
“I think this is a niche idea and not relevant to all businesses,”
again backing up my argument that this is policy made on the fly. It has not been thought out. It seems to me that the share schemes and share save schemes work very well without people having to trade their employment rights. Employers who have introduced a share save scheme or given shares to their employees do so as a reward for good business practices, not to buy off potentially bad employees.
There is a little thing that we should learn in this House: it is called trust. If an employer asks me to sell my rights, I will straight away be suspicious; I will always work hard, but I will not be industrious in the way I should, and I am going to ask myself questions such as, “Is there a question mark over my competence if he is willing to trade my hard-fought employment rights for shares in his company?”
Points of Order
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(10 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Lansley
I have the Prime Minister’s letter of 11 April here. It is to the hon. Member for Islwyn, who wrote on behalf of his constituents, and I think we can assume that he passed it on to them. It relates specifically to Mr and Mrs Goodwin and replies to their circumstances.
Mr Speaker
Order. We are not going to have a protracted exchange on this matter. I think that people are perfectly capable of making their own assessment—those in the House and outside it. The hon. Member for Caerphilly (Wayne David) made a point about a letter from individuals who did not receive a direct reply. The Leader of the House has made the point that there was a letter from an hon. Member to which the Prime Minister replied. We really do not have to go into the interstices of this, and it would be a disservice to the House to do so when we have pressing demands on our time, and, before we even reach those other matters, more points of order. [Interruption.] I think that I have given a very fair hearing to both points of view on this matter, and I am grateful to participants.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Bercow and Chris Evans(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. There are far too many noisy private conversations taking place. The Secretary of State and Members are addressing extremely important matters, and they should be discussed in an air of respect and consideration.
Chris Evans
Last year the Secretary of State said that her top priority was women and girls. What steps is she taking to tackle violence against women and girls, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?