Welfare Reform Bill

Debate between Fiona O'Donnell and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Fiona O'Donnell]

In that case, I suggest that the hon. Lady holds back her support for the Government until she knows what they are going to do. She spoke to us about the review, but when she looks at the record she will see that she thought it entirely appropriate for disabled people not to play a part in it. The Government ask us to have confidence in this information-gathering review, but its findings will be secret, disabled people will not be part of it and there will be no consultation on it. The hon. Lady thinks those are reasons for us to have confidence. I see Members on the Government Back Benches putting their heads into their hands, and well they may. These are the facts. What is being presented to the House is clearly unacceptable.

[Charlie Elphicke]

I thank the hon. Lady for her great courtesy and generosity in taking interventions, and for her old-fashioned charm in giving way—[Interruption.] Her modern charm.

The issue is not about taking things from people; it is about double-counting, so that we ensure that our scarce state resources are as well directed as possible. Surely that must be the right approach.

Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Debate between Fiona O'Donnell and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Charlie Elphicke]

The crux of the issue is that we have to stop the draining of money from the public finances, right the nation’s finances and get this country growing with a pro-business agenda. That is what the Government are looking at, and I hope that in the Budget next week we will see a pro-growth, pro-business, pro-jobs and pro-money economic policy, which we have not had for the past decade. We have been brought to the brink of ruin by the amount of debt that the previous Government encouraged ordinary people to get into and, indeed, managed to get the public finances into. This Government are about putting those things right: ensuring that our housekeeping personally and as a nation is put back on the level. That is really important.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

Among all those tough choices, which does the hon. Gentleman think his Chancellor found tougher: taking money from his friends in the City and in the banks, or taking money from hard-working families in my constituency?

Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Debate between Fiona O'Donnell and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Fiona O’Donnell]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am obviously going to have to treat the Minister with kid gloves as she is so sensitive.

East Lothian is a largely rural constituency made up of small gatherings of communities that rely heavily on the use of their cars. I suspect that the hundreds of e-mails that I have received over the past few weeks will now be followed by hundreds more, as my constituents will be bitterly disappointed by the Minister’s utterly sterile contribution to the debate.

[Charlie Elphicke]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Fiona O’Donnell]

Not at this stage.

The e-mails that I have received have not been the standard campaign e-mails that many of us find in our inboxes every day. I have been genuinely moved and angered by the stories that they have told. They have been from motorists, some of them older people living on pensions, people surviving on disability living allowance—Lord knows, they have enough to worry about under this Government—or people stuck on fixed incomes. This rise in the cost of fuel is hitting them hard.

I have also had e-mails from employers in my constituency. East Lothian relies heavily on small employers, but they are struggling. Two have already told me that their businesses will close this month, and that is bad news for East Lothian and for my constituents. We are promised that we will have a Budget for growth next week, but in East Lothian, the Government’s policy is not working; it is going in the opposite direction.

--- Later in debate ---

[Fiona O'Donnell]

Perhaps I have some responsibility here. I have not formally congratulated the Government on winning the general election, so perhaps it is my fault that they have not grasped the fact that they are now in government. They are in a position to change their minds, to lower the VAT rate on fuel and to make a difference to Mr Flynn and to ensure that the people he employs continue to have jobs. I suspect that Mr Flynn will remain disappointed, however. We were certainly not planning to increase VAT or to make life even more difficult for people.

[Charlie Elphicke]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Fiona O'Donnell]

No thank you.

Then there is the case of Mary Johnston from Haddington, who said:

“My husband and I are senior citizens. We live in a farm cottage 2.5 miles outside Haddington”.

Let me summarise by saying that the rising costs of motoring are making it virtually impossible for them to leave their house. I hope that at some point during this debate we will hear some words of comfort from a Government who have let down my constituency.