Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Barry Sheerman Excerpts
Thursday 14th December 2017

(6 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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My hon. Friend continues to be a champion for his constituents, and he is absolutely right to raise his concerns. Income tax powers were an important part of the Smith commission’s recommendations, and we devolved them through the Scotland Act 2016. It says a lot about the priorities of the Scottish Government that, within just a year of having those powers, they are threatening to renege on a manifesto commitment. As I said earlier, it would be a great shame if Scotland were to become the highest taxed part of the United Kingdom.

Barry Sheerman Portrait Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
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Does the Leader of the House understand that 1,300,000 people will be killed this year by road death? This week, legislators from all over the world, including the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, came to this Parliament, under the auspices of the Towards Zero Foundation, to debate how we can tackle road deaths. This is the greatest epidemic of our time. May we have a debate on it in the new year?

Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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Governments of all colours have tried hard to ensure that we reduce the incidence of road traffic accidents and that we try to provide all drivers with the right know-how to be able to drive safely and carefully. The hon. Gentleman will be aware of forthcoming legislation on driverless vehicles, which presents an opportunity to improve road safety. Nevertheless, he might wish to seek an Adjournment debate, so he can discuss the specific and very good work of the organisation he mentions.