NATO Summit

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Monday 8th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, my hon. Friend loses no opportunity to stand up for Plymouth, but let me say, as Prime Minister, how much I welcome the fact that we bring to our armed forces those from every part of the United Kingdom. We can think of the magnificent service of the Scottish regiments and the expertise of those who have built our incredible warships in Scotland—most recently, of course, the aircraft carriers. It is the contribution of all parts of the United Kingdom that means we have a defence budget that is one of the top five in the world and armed forces that are the envy of the world. My argument would be not just that Scotland benefits from being part of that but that it contributes a huge amount to what is a unique asset around the world.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

May I add my tribute to our colleague and friend Jim Dobbin, who has been supportive of me since I came into the House in 2010? He will be greatly missed.

The appalling attack on flight MH17 saw two avid Newcastle United fans, Liam Sweeney and John Alder, murdered along with 296 other innocent passengers. What specific discussions did the Prime Minister have with his NATO colleagues about ensuring that the perpetrators of that appalling atrocity are brought to justice?

[The Prime Minister]

The appalling act of the shooting down of MH17 was discussed at the NATO summit. I have also met some of the relatives of the constituents to whom the hon. Lady refers. It was an absolutely horrific set of affairs that came about. The Dutch will be publishing their report in the next few days, and I think we all wait patiently for what they have to say about how this was caused.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

The outgoing chief executive of the North Eastern local enterprise partnership has said:

“I have six big programmes, most are £100 million-plus, with a six-person team. That simply does not work.”

Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree with those comments and, if so, what are the Government going to do about it?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

If I understand it correctly, that is an issue about the resources which are allocated in the council to those big projects. One of the answers—the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) alluded to this earlier—is ensuring that there is greater devolution, greater control, greater autonomy and freedom to local councils and local areas. That is why the city deal, for instance, has been so warmly welcomed in the north-east.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right on that issue. We have set out a clear set of sanctions as a result of Russia’s behaviour towards Ukraine. We have taken a series of steps so far in terms of putting asset freezes and travel bans on named individuals. We have taken a series of diplomatic and other steps, and we have set out the so-called stage 3 sanctions that should be taken if further incursions and further destabilisation of south and eastern Ukraine are set out, and restrictions on arms sales should certainly be part of that.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Q2. The Prime Minister promised that by the end of this Parliament a third of his Cabinet would be women. We know that the former Culture Secretary had to go, but now only three of his 22 Departments are run by women. Does he agree with the new Culture Secretary that that is because Government appointments should always be made on merit?

[The Prime Minister]

What I said was that I wanted to see a third of my Front-Bench Ministers being women at the end of a Conservative Government. We have made some important progress on the numbers of people on the Front Bench. With respect to my coalition partner, I have to say that, in terms of Cabinet numbers, the Liberal Democrats need to do a bit more to pull their weight on that issue, but I hope to make further progress.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We want a fair tax system, and under this Government the rich have paid more in tax—specifically more in income tax—than they ever did in any year under Labour. We have made sure we have raised taxes fairly, not least through stamp duty, but we do not support a tax on the family home; we do not think that is the right step forward and we will fight it very vigorously.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Q6. Seventy per cent. of stay-at-home mums say going back to work just would not add up because rising child care costs would leave them worse off. With maternal employment rates going down on the Prime Minister’s watch, why is he doing nothing before the general election to help with rising child care costs?

[The Prime Minister]

We are helping families with child care, not least by giving 15 hours—[Interruption.] That is happening before the election; it has happened under this Government in this Parliament—15 hours of free nursery care for three-year-olds and four-year-olds. [Interruption.] Opposition Members say it is not enough; it is more than Labour ever provided. [Interruption.] It is good to see the shadow Chancellor gesticulating in favour of his leader now; he will be outside in a minute briefing against him.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 12th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

All organisations that run a pension scheme have to live in the real world. I am sure that the leadership of the PCS will take pleasure in the fact that its members in the civil service continue to enjoy a pension scheme that is significantly better than the one that the PCS offers to its own staff.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

T6. There is huge concern about the Government’s proposals to sell or part-privatise the Land Registry, putting 400 civil service jobs in Durham at risk. It works and even turns a profit for the Treasury. Why fix what is not broken? Has the Minister discussed this with his Department for Business, Innovation and Skills colleagues, and if not, why not?

[Mr Maude]

I have indeed discussed this with my colleagues in BIS. I do not take the gloomy view that the hon. Lady takes, that any involvement of the private sector means that the Land Registry will be less effective or have less opportunity to grow. A lot of what the Land Registry does is excellent, and there is a real opportunity for it to grow. If that involves bringing in a private sector partner, or private sector capital of one form or another, I hope that she would support that.

Apprenticeships and Skills (Public Procurement Contracts) Bill

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Friday 1st November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and a very reasoned case for the Bill, which, it seems to me, will also create a level playing field for businesses. Businesses want legislation such as this because, although there are patches of good practice, if that good practice existed throughout the country, there would be a level playing field not only for the young people who will benefit from the Bill, but for the businesses that invest in them and, at present, must compete with those that do not bother to do so.

[Andrew Gwynne]

My hon. Friend is right. Over the past few months, when I was drafting the Bill, I spoke to numerous companies, large and small, which were bidding for public procurement contracts. They made precisely the point that my hon. Friend has made. If a public body requires apprenticeships to be part of the tendering process, the standards of the bids will be levelled upwards, so that a company that pursues good practice by providing apprenticeships will no longer be undercut by another that does not invest in skills and training.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I know that my colleagues, notably my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government and for Business, Innovation and Skills are in constant dialogue with leading figures from local enterprise partnerships around the country in order to explore ways in which we can work together. The city deals, the creation of local enterprise partnerships, the enterprise zones, the single pot flowing from the Heseltine recommendations and the industrial strategy promulgated by my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary all feed into that.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me in backing the NEvolution campaign launched yesterday by the north-east’s newspapers, which calls on the Chancellor to devolve more funding and spending decisions to regions like the north-east, as recommended by Lord Heseltine?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Yes, I strongly endorse that. In fact, we have already announced that we are going to implement the vast majority of the Heseltine recommendations—81 of the 89. That really will be a significant moment, when we break from that long, long tradition, which has prevailed under Governments of all persuasions, of over-centralisation in England. In addition to the radical moves—the city deals, the LEPs and the devolution of business rates—it will leave this country significantly more devolved by the end of this Parliament than we found it at the beginning of the Parliament.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney-General]

The Home Office is responsible for producing official statistics on casework outcomes in terrorism. The latest published Home Office data for the year ending September 2012 indicate that 24 out of 29 defendants were convicted, at a conviction rate of 82.8%. At that time, 134 prisoners classified as terrorists or domestic extremists were convicted and remanded. On fraud, the number of prosecutions has increased by 25% since 2010 and the conviction rate remains at 86.2%. On tax evasion, in the financial year to date 86% of cases originating with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have resulted in conviction. I should like to write to my hon. Friend about the overall figures on this.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Does the Attorney-General share my concern about the memo leaked by the CPS that showed there was a risk of CPS prosecutors deliberately choosing cases that were likely to crack because of lack of evidence, in order to save costs?

[The Attorney-General]

I think that the conviction rates speak for the efficiency of the CPS. I have seen nothing to suggest that cases are not being pursued outside the ordinary tests of public interest and the reasonable prospect of getting a conviction. Obviously, if those do not apply then there should not be a prosecution at all. I am certainly not aware of there being any fiddling and of decisions being made not to prosecute certain cases that should be prosecuted.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 27th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this tragic case of a nine-year-old constituent of his, Cerys Potter, who died in 2010 in Turkey. I want to send my sincere condolences to the family in these terrible circumstances. I know that he has been speaking to the Minister for Europe about this case, and that our embassy in Turkey is monitoring the case and can again approach the Turkish authorities and ask them to keep the Potter family fully informed of any progress. I am sure that the Foreign Office will have listened very carefully to what my hon. Friend has said today, standing up for this family’s interests.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Q8. A vulnerable constituent of mine is near pension age and has lived in the same house his whole life. His parents have now died and he is willing to be re-housed but cannot find an alternative. He now faces homelessness because he simply cannot afford the Government’s bedroom tax. Can the Prime Minister explain why he has prioritised a tax cut for millionaires while devastating the lives of vulnerable people?

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make to the hon. Lady is that 250,000 families live in overcrowded accommodation and 386,000 people live in under-occupied homes. There are 1.8 million people who would love to have a council house but cannot get one. Of course we need to build more social homes, and we are doing exactly that, but in the meantime we should do everything we can to make sure those homes are used in the most efficient and fair way. That is what our changes will help to achieve and that is why they deserve our support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As my hon. Friend will know, we are in the final stages of announcing the next wave of city deals. I very much agree with him. The city deals that we have already signed and launched are proving to be very valuable for the creation of jobs and prosperity in our local areas. In Sheffield alone, the scheme is worth about half a billion pounds to the people of the city. That represents a fantastic boost for job creation in communities up and down the country.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

T3. I have been interested to see local Liberal Democrats in Newcastle campaigning to save public services put at risk by the Government’s disproportionate and unfair funding settlement for Newcastle city council. Will the Deputy Prime Minister therefore confirm that his party will be voting against the local government settlement Bill tomorrow? Otherwise his party and councillors will end up looking extremely opportunistic.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

They are Labour cuts in Newcastle, which if I read the newspapers this morning, I see that the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) is intervening to stop in a shameless act of political opportunism and cynicism. The Labour party in Newcastle is closing every single arts and cultural institution, which other non-Labour councils are not doing, and simply pointing the finger of blame at the coalition Government. When is the Labour party going to start taking responsibility for the mess that it created in the first place?