Budget Resolutions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

The future of global Britain will start with Britain facing greater isolation in the world. We are taking a begging bowl around the world and pleading for trade deals to give our nation a future beyond Brexit, and it is not going well. Sadly, the Chancellor’s Budget has nothing to ease the way. Yes, he has set aside £3 billion to help us over the shock, but I remind him that it cost £1 billion just to buy off the Democratic Unionist party to prop up a weak Government. No one should be in any doubt that, although countries may want special trade deals with Britain, they will exact a challenging price. Two examples: the USA wants us to drop our food safety standards, and India suggests that the UK must be prepared to allow more immigration if it is to agree a deal.

The Government must change course. They must end the public sector pay cap, introduce further controls on high interest, bring forward investment in infrastructure, reverse the planned tax giveaways for the super-rich and reject a deregulated, no-deal, race to the bottom Brexit.

Living on industrial Teesside, I am well aware of the international status of many of our companies, from CF Fertilisers, Lotte and Chemoxy to Quorn, Fujitsu and Greenergy—they are all striving to be internationally competitive while sustaining investment and jobs. They have done a grand job until now, but the uncertainty surrounding them has resulted in very real concern that frustrates local managers as they compete with their international owners’ other plants abroad for investment in the UK.

Those companies are anxious about Brexit, and they are looking for even greater Government assurance that they will not simply be left to wither but will have a business environment in which to thrive. They want to see the retention of the regulations on the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals for British companies post-Brexit, as exercising common standards with the EU will ease their ability to trade on the continent. I see nothing of that in the industrial strategy.

A few weeks ago, the Government woke from their deep slumber on carbon capture and storage with much trumpeting of the £100 million to be invested in demonstrator projects. That is a positive step, but it is only a tiny step when we need huge leaps to make Britain a world leader.

Teesside got a specific mention in the Budget speech, in which the Chancellor appeared to announce a major investment in the former SSI site in Redcar. He announced £123 million of funding, but the reality is that the Government are giving themselves the cash to fulfil a funding commitment that had already been made to keep the site safe. That means we will get just £5 million.

I share the deep disappointment that there is nothing to improve public sector pay. Replacing Conservative Members’ heartfelt and passionate speeches in support of our police, our health staff, our council workers and our prison officers with hard cash to give them a pay rise would go some way to helping those people to meet increased inflation.

The Government cannot starve a system of funds, watch it start to crumble and then half-heartedly try to inject some money and claim they are rescuing it. The NHS asked for an extra £4 billion a year, and instead it got a promise of £350 million for this winter and £10 billion over the course of the Parliament for capital projects.

This is my seventh speech after a Budget, and it is the seventh time that I remind the House that in 2010—seven years ago; three sevens, maybe my luck will be in—the hospital for Stockton was cancelled. Ever since we have faced the looming threat of the closure of the accident and emergency department either at North Tees or Darlington, which will force people to travel further for emergency treatment. I represent an area where unemployment remains more than double the national average, where health inequalities are part of everyday life and where our businesses seek real assurances from the Government that there is a future out there. I still feel pessimistic after this Budget.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Robert Syms (Poole) (Con)]

I sat in this House for 13 years when the Labour party was in government and listened to many speeches by the right hon. Gordon Brown, including a number in which he said he would abolish boom and bust. That was before we had the most almighty bust in 2007-08—

[Alex Cunningham]

Thanks to the banks.

[Sir Robert Syms]

Well, you were the people who regulated the banks and you were the people in charge for 13 years. Before we hit the crisis, you had a 3% deficit and you were too reliant on bankers’ bonuses and the City to provide money. The problem with that was that the deficit spiralled up to £160 billion. The then Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury left a note saying that there was no money—and there was no money. When I look at the Red Book today, I see that the deficit for the foreseeable future is less than £50 billion. That means we have reduced it by well over £100 billion, which is a remarkable achievement. While doing that we have upped the income tax allowances from £6,000 to £11,500; increased the minimum wage and the living wage; kept up our commitments to the third world with the 0.7% foreign aid commitment; kept the economy growing; taken 4 million people out of tax; and created more than 3 million jobs. What’s not to like about this Government’s progress over the past seven or eight years?

In 2009, Eddie George, the then Governor of the Bank of England, said that whoever takes over this country’s economy will be ruined for a generation, yet my party has won two general elections—I admit that the 2017 one was on penalties. The reality is that this Government have been elected in 2010, 2015 and 2017, and I think that if there was a general election today, we would win, because we are more realistic and optimistic about the nation’s prospects. The country has made a decision. History will tell whether it is the right or the wrong one, but the country wants optimistic politicians who are going to go out and make a success of the decision the people have made. There is a big wide world out there. We need to have a decent relationship with our European partners, and I hope and believe we will have a decent negotiation. But it is right and proper that the Government make preparations so that if things do not work out properly, we can continue to manage our affairs.

The OBR has come up with some forecasts that are not as optimistic as they were, but throughout the time the OBR has done this, its forecasts have gone up and down and have never been right. That is because they are forecasts, and events come in. My view of life in the world over the next four or five years is a rather more optimistic one. We have relatively full employment, business is going to have to invest if it is to increase productivity, and I believe it will, and I think we are going to do well as the years go by. Clearly, there are uncertainties, and changing our relationships will cause short-term problems, but over five, 10 or 15 years, I think Britain is going to be a great success story. And I believe the United Kingdom is going to be a great success story, because the Union that is the great success for our nation is that of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I am therefore optimistic because the Government produced a good and balanced Budget, which has given a little bit of a tax cut and a little bit of increased spending, but which, broadly speaking, sticks to the financial plan. At the end of the day, sound finance is the only way of being a caring Government.

Budget Resolutions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

I do not want to accuse the Chancellor of any dodgy activity, but I would love to know where he has hidden his stash—his cash stash to help us make our way in the world as we ride out the storm of a low pound, rising prices, and uncertainty as we leave the EU. Everywhere we look, we see our companies working harder than ever to sustain their business and to persuade their often overseas-based bosses to invest in the UK rather than somewhere else. I am particularly worried about the future of our energy-intensive industries, such as steel, chemicals, and ceramics. Nothing that I have seen from the Chancellor does anything for any of them.

The North East England chamber of commerce was disappointed last week and said:

“What we needed to hear were optimistic and supportive policies which would help existing and potential exporters access new markets.”

It said that small and medium-sized businesses will be particularly affected by the fluctuation of the pound and will be hit the hardest by increased import costs.

The Chancellor also announced £90 million of roads cash for “the north”, but what did the area covered by the new Tees valley mayor get? It looks like it will be a set of traffic lights and some minor improvements to a junction on the A19—this is worth less than a million pounds. That is not a serious commitment to infrastructure in the north-east of England. What a great day it would be if we could just have 1% of all the money invested in London and the south-east, and HS2.

Other areas in which we could establish a place in the world and lead are in carbon capture and storage, and the decommissioning of North sea oil and gas infrastructure. The Chancellor did refer to a discussion document about maximising the extraction of oil and gas from wells that are nearly depleted. That is welcome, but he missed a trick by not extending that to plans to create thousands of jobs in areas such as Teesside from the decommissioning of oil and gas rigs. The Government have invested money in Decom North Sea, but no work and no jobs appear to have followed other than in the organisation itself. Teesside is ideally placed for this, with the right riverside facilities, furnaces to receive the metal and many people who are qualified for the jobs that would result from this decommissioning.

I am sure Ministers will be aware of the Teesside Collective, a cluster of leading industries with a shared vision to establish Teesside as the go-to location for future clean industrial development by creating the UK’s first carbon capture and storage-equipped industrial zone. Labour’s mayoral candidate for the Tees valley, Sue Jeffrey, joined me in a direct plea to the Minister to back the Teesside Collective, and although we received kind, warm words, they were simply that: just kind, warm words. I think we can expect a strategy some day from the Government, but I just wonder when that will be and whether it will be backed by funding in the autumn Budget.

Seven years ago, the Tory-Lib Dem coalition axed the new hospital in my area, and the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been forced to make do in an area where health inequalities are a major issue. Don’t get me wrong, the trust does a good job but in very difficult circumstances. The capital spending cuts across the Parliament and the £5 billion shortfall in NHS maintenance means there is no hope of our Teesside people being provided with the same facilities enjoyed elsewhere. Our people need to be healthy if we are to make our way confidently in the world, and that includes being mentally healthy. But we know people are not getting the support they need, and I illustrated that when I raised a constituent’s case at Prime Minister’s questions. The Prime Minister said she would “take up” the case, but she passed the buck to the Health Secretary and I am still waiting for a reply.

The Chancellor did mention social care, and I remember the Tory cheers when he announced £2 billion extra—and then the rather pale faces opposite when they realised they had been had and it was not per year, but spread over several years. They have also been had on the whopping great tax increases on self-employed people, 2,600 of whom live in my constituency. I wonder how many more will put up with this manifesto betrayal. Another tax is to be increased, with probate fees set to rise from a flat rate charge of as little as £155 to a minimum of £300 and as much as £20,000—that is a nice little earner from the Tories’ very own and very real death tax.

There was some good news with the announcement of £500 million for further education, but we should not forget that it replaces less than a third of the money taken away since 2010. The scheme to merge colleges across the country is in tatters and, after a year of talks, in the Tees area the proposals are falling apart and one of the colleges in Redcar is going bust. Now that mergers are collapsing, not just in the north-east, but across the country, what will happen to that cash? Will it be invested in our young people or will it just be swallowed up by the Treasury?

Finally, the Chancellor gave us half a smile when he talked about wage growth, but he chose to ignore the public sector workers who have actually faced a real-terms loss of about 10% in wages since 2010. I am talking about the nurses and doctors who look after us when we get ill, the care assistants who look after the elderly and vulnerable day in and day out, and the teachers who are educating the minds of the future. Clearly this Government have no plans at all to help those who put everything into public service in this country, yet their wealthy friends face more tax breaks.

If Britain is to maintain its place in the world, rather than end up as some kind of low-wage, backwater economy, we need to invest in our people, our industries and our public services, and keep our people happy and healthy.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2016 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 24 May 2016:

[Alex Cunningham]

The Minister has said that he has talked to the Bangladeshi Government, but does he really think that that Government are taking sufficient steps to tackle the issue of violence against LGBT people?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Ind)]

2. What recent discussions he has had with his Bangladeshi counterpart on the protection of human rights in that country.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

7. What representations he has made to the Government of Bangladesh on violence towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in that country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Swire]

Like all those in this House, I was absolutely appalled by the senseless murders of the LGBT activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy, and we call on the Bangladeshi Government to bring those responsible for the killings to justice. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Extremist-related murders of members of minority religious groups and those whose views and lifestyles are contrary to Islam have increased in Bangladesh since February 2015, and we are discussing this regularly with the Government of that country.

[Alex Cunningham]

The Minister has said that he has talked to the Bangladeshi Government, but does he really think that that Government are taking sufficient steps to tackle the issue of violence against LGBT people?

[Mr Swire]

Clearly I do not. We have a certain amount of leverage in Bangladesh—we are the largest grant aid donor, giving £162 million in 2015-16—so our voice has some influence there. In the past year our human rights and democracy programme has provided safety training for bloggers, and we have also funded a project promoting the rights of LGBT groups in Bangladesh, but there is a huge amount more to do. We are not shy of pushing the Government of Bangladesh in the right direction, but sometimes it takes a little bit of time and persuasion.[Official Report, 26 May 2016, Vol. 611, c. 1MC.]

Dog Meat Trade

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) on securing today’s debate. I am positive that I cannot be the only one who has received many emails over the past few days and weeks urging me to speak out on the dog trade, so I applaud his efforts in giving us the opportunity to have that discussion.

We have had a good, but brief, debate, and there has been consensus across the House on the matter. We have heard, over many years, about the appalling and barbaric nature of the dog meat trade and the importance of raising awareness if we are to succeed in doing something to deal with the situation. I am sure that the horrid examples and ghastly statistics that we have heard today will go some way towards doing that. I know that organisations such as Network For Animals, the Humane Society International and the International Fund for Animal Welfare all continue to work on tackling the dog meat trade, and that in doing so they are helped by their counterparts around the world.

It is extremely important that we recognise that the key concern is not the cultural matter of eating dog meat, but the inhumane way in which so many innocent animals are treated in its production and the serious threat to human health that the industry presents.

In China, dog meat has been eaten for thousands of years and continues to be considered socially acceptable in many parts of the country—although the majority of the people of China no longer consume dog meat. Indeed, dog meat has a particular cultural significance for some, and is thought to have cherished medicinal properties by others. That is one reason why draft animal welfare legislation proposed in 2010 with specific restrictions that would prohibit the consumption of dog meat was deemed by the burgeoning Chinese animal protection movement unlikely to be effective in curbing the meat trade in that country.

Although a number of countries have passed laws banning the production, slaughter and consumption of dog meat, a significant hurdle is posed by the often weak enforcement of the relevant laws. Countries such as the Philippines and Taiwan, for instance, have introduced animal welfare legislation that notionally bans the trading and eating of dog meat, but those laws are rarely or poorly enforced and dog meat continues to be a feature of many popular dishes.

Let us consider in more detail what is happening in the Philippines. Despite being outlawed nationally since 1998, and having been banned in Manila since 1982, the consumption of dog meat continues today. Indeed, in some northern provinces, eating dog meat is something of a long-standing cultural display, traditionally associated with celebratory events and rituals of mourning. Although, historically, the practice involved a relatively small number of animals being killed and consumed, more recent manifestations are seeing the eating of dog meat grow in popularity for commercial rather than cultural reasons. As we have heard from other hon. Members, Yulin’s annual dog meat festival in Guangxi is a relatively new “tradition”—if that is the correct term. It is a far cry from old-style festivities. Indeed, its primary aim appears to be to boost the local economy rather than to observe any underlying traditions or cultural practices.

Since its inception in the late 2000s, the June festival, which also marks the summer solstice, has been strongly opposed by international pressure groups, not to mention a majority of Chinese citizens themselves. Indeed, the Twitter #stopyulin2015 was used hundreds of thousands of times this year, yet organisers continue with the festivities despite these external and internal pressures to stop.

Estimates put the number of dogs slaughtered for people to feast on at somewhere in the region of 10,000, although precise numbers are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. It is worth noting that Animal Equality has similarly undertaken intensive investigations into slaughterhouses and the dog meat markets in the Leizhou peninsula, as well as in the rest of China’s Guangdong province. Its findings highlight that dogs sold for the meat market have often been taken from the streets or, in some cases, stolen from families by dealers supplying a black market. These animals are then confined for much of the remainder of their lives in wire cages where they suffer terribly—not only physically but psychologically too.

Animal Equality also tells us that many dogs are intentionally tortured before being killed owing to the fallacious belief that that tenderises the meat—what absolute nonsense. In these cramped cages, dogs are frequently left to go hungry, surrounded by dirt and faeces, and are subjected to extremes of temperature and a lack of water. Just as harrowing is the fact that these animals consume such a poor quality diet that they commonly become weak and susceptible to disease. Some are known to resort to cannibalism, which brings its separate concerns. I cannot be clearer that these are truly terrible conditions and the thousands of animals that perish on their journey to slaughter are testament to that. Conditions during transport are often so bad than an average of 50% of dogs die before they reach their destination. On occasion, however, as Network for Animals highlights, mortality rates rise as high as 90%. Given that many dead dogs retain profitability and are processed alongside live animals for markets and restaurants, however, such mortality rates are of little concern to the dog meat traders.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South is right to highlight the role of the dog fur and dog leather industries in driving such atrocious animal cruelty. It is estimated that 18 million dogs are killed each year for their meat or fur in China. Some 5 million dogs are eaten annually in Vietnam, where dog is the go-to dish for many special occasions, and a further 2 million are killed each year in South Korea, although that is a particularly interesting example. Although the Korea Food and Drug Administration recognises all edible products as food, other than drugs, Seoul has passed a regulation classifying dog meat as a “repugnant food”. However, as in other parts of the world, such regulatory oversight has not been effective in curbing the demand for dog meat.

That leads me to re-emphasise the health risks associated with the dog meat trade. Figures suggest that, despite the legislative measures introduced, in the region of 10,000 dogs and 350 humans still die of rabies in the Philippines each year. The consumption of such tainted meat is a proven high-risk activity that can lead to the transmission of the rabies virus to humans. There is also a growing body of evidence highlighting the significant risk that the trade, slaughter and consumption of dog meat poses to human health, as it is variously linked to outbreaks of cholera and other diseases, as well as rabies.

Over recent years in Vietnam, for instance, there have been a number of large-scale cholera outbreaks directly linked to the dog meat trade. That has led to warnings from the World Health Organisation that the movement of dogs and consumption of dog meat facilitated the spread of the bacteria that causes cholera. The organisation stated that eating dog meat was linked to a twentyfold increase in the risk of contracting the disease. The presence of the rabies virus in dogs destined for human consumption has been revealed in studies carried out in slaughterhouses and markets in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, and the risk posed by the dog meat industry to human health is very real, as reflected by the reported transmission of rabies to those involved in dog slaughter, butchery and consumption in the Philippines, China and Vietnam.

In China, for example, where authorities have declared quarantine regulations for dogs being transported, there are worrying examples of the criminals who mastermind much of the dog meat trade forging documents to transport dogs en masse to Yulin. The director of the Beijing Small Animal Veterinary Association has noted that the dogs in question are not considered farmed-for-meat animals, meaning that the meat is not properly quarantined or inspected, thereby increasing the safety risks associated with the processing and eating of dog meat.

Those instances confirm that when the trade in dogs for meat occurs, it regularly fails to comply with disease-prevention measures, and breaches the rabies control and elimination recommendations of key human and animal health advisory groups such as the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health. Furthermore, the dog meat trade has specifically been cited by the WHO as a contributing factor to recent rabies outbreaks in both China and Indonesia.

I am sure that Ministers will take account of today’s debate and consider carefully what has been said. Although the Government cannot legislate beyond our shores, I know that Ministers in the Foreign Office have previously raised concerns on the issue with the Governments of China and the Philippines, while the UK ambassador in Seoul has raised concerns with the South Korean Government.

I very much hope that the appalling conditions in which many dogs facing slaughter find themselves and the real risks that the dog meat trade poses to human health across the world will spur Ministers to use their diplomatic and other opportunities to ensure that these cruel and hazardous practices are brought to an end. Britain has long led the way on animal welfare issues, and I hope the Government will continue this by pressing counterparts around the world to collaborate in efforts to change attitudes and reduce animal suffering.

Palestine

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2014 Westminster Hall

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Like many others, I have visited Gaza. When I saw the refugee camps, I witnessed the exceptional adversity, prolonged suffering, misery and anguish that are being experienced in the region. That journey opened my eyes and confirmed what I already believed. As I stand here, I know that the situation in Gaza is far worse than when I visited three years ago. Everything has been affected, from supplies of food and energy to infrastructure and schools, and of course lives have been ruined.

Alongside the suffering in Gaza, one thing that stuck out for me was a briefing from the United Nations that showed the extent of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In my naiveté, I had never realised that the settlements were so extensive or so spread out across Palestine. Had any other country been guilty of such activity, which is illegal under international law, countries would have been queuing up to demand an end to it. Yes, the world speaks out, but sadly I see what is being said as empty words. There has been no end to the practice, but rather a considerable expansion of it. The practice must be stopped and reversed.

We all rightly condemn violence on all sides and loss of life as a tragedy. The Israelis have the right to defend their people, but they go too far with what amounts to disproportionate collective punishment against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories. Those measures include arbitrary searches, detentions, increased checkpoint closures and tough restrictions on free movement, as well as the extensive settlement building.

Then, of course, there is the wall, which prevents people from going about their daily business, frustrates them at every turn and even separates members of the same family. Last month, we marked 25 years since the other wall—the one that split Berlin in two—started to come down, when families and two parts of a city were reunited. It is tragic that a new wall has been created, which splits the holy city of Jerusalem and deprives innocent people of so much. One day, I pray, it, too, will be shattered.

Having seen what I have seen, and having learned more as I have gone along, I still believe that a major contributory factor to peace could be the recognition of the state of Palestine through official channels. Adding the UK’s voice to the 135 states that already recognise the state of Palestine would not only validate the continued viability of the two-state solution but confirm our commitment to advancing peace in the region and send a strong message about the illegitimacy of the ongoing occupation. I am sure that the British Government have taken note of what our Parliament had to say on the question of recognition for the state of Palestine, and I hope that that historic step will be taken before too long.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The hon. Gentleman is right to refer to the dangers in Lebanon. As I have said, we shall hold the international support group for Lebanon, which I shall attend, tomorrow in Paris. He is also right to emphasise the importance of bringing the parties back to the table. For that to happen, the Assad regime has to be ready to discuss the creation of a transitional governing body. The offer that Lakhdar Brahimi made to both sides when the talks last ended was that they would discuss terrorism, as the regime describes it, and a transitional governing body, as the Opposition wanted, in parallel. The regime refused to do that, but it needs to become ready to do that for the talks to get going again.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

14. What recent discussions he has had with the Government of Pakistan on the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in that country. We remain deeply concerned about the persecution faced by Christians and other religious minorities and continue to raise that with the authorities in Pakistan at the highest level. My right hon. and noble Friend Baroness Warsi most recently raised the matter with the Pakistani Prime Minister during her visit last October.

[Alex Cunningham]

Many of my constituents have written to me about the persecution of Christians across the world and want British Government action. The Minister appears to recognise the sectarian bias, which is a significant problem in Pakistan. What talks has the Minister had with the Pakistani authorities to assist them in protecting all religious minorities?

[Mark Simmonds]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that important issue. It is something that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office takes extremely seriously across the world. It is vital that Pakistan guarantee the rights of all its citizens regardless of faith and ethnicity. The UK Government are extremely active and raise issues of religious freedom on a regular basis. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met faith leaders in Lahore last year, and my right hon. and noble Friend Baroness Warsi has had frank discussions not just with the Prime Minister but with the national security adviser of Pakistan and the then Minister for National Harmony. We did so both on a bilateral and multilateral basis.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2013 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of the treatment of Palestinian child detainees in Israel.

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Hugh Robertson)]

Before answering, may I briefly place on the record my appreciation of the work of my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt)? He will be greatly missed by his many friends in the House and across the region.

Despite some progress, we retain serious concerns about Israel’s treatment of Palestinian child detainees. The British ambassador in Tel Aviv wrote again to the Israeli Justice Minister on 14 October to urge further action.

[Alex Cunningham]

I welcome the Minister to his new post. May I commend the Foreign Office report “Children in Military Custody” for exposing how the authorities in Israel arrest Palestinian children in the middle of the night, interrogate them without parents or lawyers present, bully them into signing confessions in a language they do not understand, and jail children as young as 12 years old? Will the Minister outline what action he is taking and tell the House how many of the 40 recommendations in the report have been carried out?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Of course, human rights issues are by no means the only issues we discuss with the Chinese Government and others; there is a vast range of issues to discuss. But I think that we should always be clear in the United Kingdom about our belief in universal human rights and never be afraid to give our advocacy for those rights. That includes relations with China.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

9. What advice his Department has given to UK businesses on trading with illegal Israeli settlements.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt)]

When asked by companies, we give a clear statement of our view on those settlements: they are illegal, an obstacle to peace and not helpful in creating the solution to the two-state process. In line with the publication tomorrow of the UK action plan on business and human rights, we are updating our guidance for those working in overseas markets in relation to this issue, and that will include Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

[Alex Cunningham]

In the light of UK businesses continuing and expanding trade and investment in the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, will he confirm that it is actually wrong for them to do so? Does he not agree that a bit of advice is now insufficient and that he needs to take practical action to end these shameful activities?

[Alistair Burt]

No, I do not. I think that providing advice to companies that are in a position to make their own choice, just as consumers can make their own choice through labelling of goods, is the right action. We do not support a boycott of Israel or those companies that work there, but what is most important, as the hon. Gentleman will know, is that these issues will be resolved when the negotiations currently taking place between Israel and the Palestinians are resolved and then all can look forward to a much better economic future for the region, rather than dealing with issues of restrictions.

Europe

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 30th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

First, may I commend the Prime Minister on his fine speech in London last Wednesday? After signing the treaty of accession in 1972, Edward Heath said that the ceremony marked

“an end and a beginning”.

Now, our Prime Minister’s speech must mark the beginning of the end of our current relationship with Europe—it is a promise that, if we win the next election, the British people will decide whether we remain part of a reformed European Union, and it is long overdue. I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will reconsider his position. Instead of rubbishing a referendum, he should listen to many of his Back Benchers, who actually welcomed such a measure.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

More than 4,300 people are on jobseeker’s allowance in my constituency, which is 300 more than last year. More jobs than that—some 5,000 in my constituency and 32,000 across Teesside—depend on EU markets, so surely the Government should be concentrating on protecting and promoting jobs, instead of blighting our country with talk of an in/out referendum.

[Mr Turner]

We should do both—that is the point.

Of course, the Liberals, once again, find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion. Their reason for dodging the Lisbon referendum in 2008 was that they were in favour—so they said—of an in/out vote. Their leader said:

“It’s...time for a referendum on the big question. Do we want to be in or out?”

That was their attempt to persuade the public that they wanted a referendum, but by 2010 they had changed their minds yet again. The fact is that they believe in giving more powers to Brussels, rather than fewer. Why are the Liberals afraid of asking the people what they think?

In 1975, we were asked:

“Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?”

I was in the minority, as I voted no. However, I believe that if the British people had known what the Common Market was to become, almost everyone would have voted no.

--- Later in debate ---

[Neil Carmichael]

No, as I am running out of time.

The first area in need of reform, then, is the common agricultural policy. The second—and we heard the Prime Minister signal this—is energy, in connection with the single market. We should be thinking about extending the single market to other areas, and energy is ripe for it.

I know that many people currently envisage what would effectively be the nationalisation of energy policy by European countries which are worried about their security of supply and how they can deal with such matters as reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. We therefore need to think carefully about how we can apply energy to the single market. There are two key words that we should be using, and one is competition. We need more competition: we need a competitive Europe generally, but we need a competitive market in energy specifically, because we need to be able to sell energy to other countries more easily than we do at present and because the development of a different tapestry of energy production systems will require a more open, flexible market.

There is a specific need for energy to be in the single market, but there is a desire for it as well, not just in Britain but in other countries, notably Germany. I have talked to representatives of the BDI—the German equivalent of the CBI—who are interested in the possibility that energy could become part of a more competitive, effective single market. I believe that the processes in which we are already engaging will eventually produce a single market that is more robust, more competitive and more flexible.

[Alex Cunningham]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Neil Carmichael]

I will give way briefly.

[Alex Cunningham]

The CBI is interested in employment law. I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman would hazard a reply to the question posed earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey). Do he and his party hope to reduce workers’ rights by repatriating powers in that area?

[Neil Carmichael]

Absolutely not. We do not want to “reduce workers’ rights”, as the hon. Gentleman puts it, but we do want to ensure that more people can be employed. That is being made possible by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which is probably an Act by now. It copies legislation introduced by the German Chancellor who, at the time, was none other than Chancellor Schröder of the SPD—the Social Democratic party of Germany—to make it easier for small firms to employ people. Those are the sort of measures that we should be introducing here, and we are starting to do exactly that.