Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

It is right in principle that, where overpayments of benefits have occurred, it is the policy to recover them to prevent loss to the public purse. I am not able to comment immediately on that individual case, which does seem to be complicated by the issue that my hon. Friend raises. But I will ask my ministerial colleagues to write to him in response to the concerns that he has raised.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

Given that Responsible Gambling Trust research into fixed- odds betting terminals showed that four out of five gamblers staking the average £13 spin exhibited problem gambling characteristics, can we have a debate on the Floor of the House to discuss whether the Government’s proposals will have any impact whatever?

[Mr Hague]

Again, that is an important matter. There will be other Members concerned about that as well. I cannot offer a debate in Government time between now and the Dissolution of Parliament, but, as I have said to one or two other Members, my hon. Friend may wish to pursue the matter through an Adjournment debate or a Back-Bench business debate as well as having raised it here today.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman will understand that I cannot account for the views of the former Prime Minister. “Politician” is an interesting description, but as Members of Parliament we are all here with a responsibility to represent our constituents, both in the constituency and—in my view—here in Westminster.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

The Bill to pardon Alan Turing completed its passage through the Lords yesterday. Can the Leader of the House assure me that, as in the Lords, the Government will leave the decision to Parliament and not seek to oppose the Bill?

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend is right that the Bill completed its progress in the other place yesterday and it will in due course come here. I would expect the view the Government took in the other place to be reflected here too.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The right hon. Gentleman will of course understand that I am not in a position to make any comment about any individual case. I am sure that the Home Secretary—as the right hon. Gentleman knows, she has done this before and will do so again—will keep the House fully updated about any actions she is taking relating to tackling violent extremism and tackling those who seek to propagate views promoting violent extremism and terrorism in this country.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

In the light of recent speculation that the London-based Science Museum Group could axe three regional museums, including Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry, to protect the London Science Museum, may we have a debate on the future of funding for museums and the need to protect our regional cultural assets?

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am sure that many Members will share with him a sense of the importance of the Science Museum Group, including, in particular, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. The group receives over 5 million visitors a year, so it is very important. It received a real-terms reduction in its overall funding in the previous funding review and, obviously, I am not in a position to talk about any future spending review. The distribution of funding within the Science Museum Group is an operational matter for the group itself, but I will bring the point raised by my hon. Friend to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman appears not to be aware that the document listing the members of Committees and Cabinet Committees was published on Tuesday. He could have seen it already.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

The number of my constituents who are waiting more than six months for the UK Border Agency to process their applications for indefinite leave to remain is on the increase. May we have a statement on the agency’s performance in that regard, and also an explanation for the delays?

[Mr Lansley]

I will of course ask my colleagues at the Home Office to respond to the specific point that my hon. Friend has raised, but let me say to all Members that we are continuously trying to improve the Border Agency’s performance. I hope that the Government will look for opportunities to update the House as soon as possible.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The right hon. Gentleman has raised an issue that we all recognise is both urgent and increasingly difficult. I will, of course, talk to my colleagues at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about it. I do not have knowledge of any immediate opportunity for debate, but I will talk to them about how they might further report to the House.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

Yesterday I hosted a meeting for MPs about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria. We heard numerous tales of aid not getting through to the people who really need it. When we return from the conference season, may we have a debate or statement on the effectiveness of aid and what changes need to be made to make sure that it is getting to the people who need it?

[Mr Lansley]

I will of course ask my colleagues how they might further report to the House. However, I remind hon. Members that the UK is the second largest bilateral donor to the Syrian people, and that it is helping to deliver emergency food aid to 80,000 people a month, shelter for 9,000 families, and urgent medical care for over 50,000 people affected by the fighting.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

The Leader of the House may be aware of the campaign for an apology for the victims of forced adoption in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, and early-day motion 92, which is currently the 16th most popular EDM of this Session.

[That this House recognises the suffering that forced child adoptions during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s caused, which took place due to social pressures on women who had children outside of marriage; notes the unacceptable adoption and care practices of the past, such as not giving information about welfare services including housing and financial help which were available at the time and not questioning whether women putting their children up for adoption had given informed consent; further recognises the negligence of previous Governments, with regard to ensuring that the care provided for unmarried mothers was appropriate and that they and their children were not mistreated or discriminated against, resulting in many women suffering traumatising pre and post-natal experiences and children being denied contact with their birth parents; and calls on the Government to apologise in order to go some way toward helping the parents and children who were victims of these practices.]

Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on whether the UK should follow Australia’s lead and issue an apology to victims of this terrible injustice?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, and I will share that with the appropriate Minister. As for a debate, the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), who chairs the Backbench Business Committee, has issued an invitation for bids for the pre-recess Adjournment debate, and it strikes me that my hon. Friend’s suggestion would be eminently suitable.

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

John Leech Excerpts

Wednesday 27th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Evans. It is also a pleasure to listen to the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing). She is a doughty campaigner and defender of the values of the British constitution that she holds so dear, and it is incumbent on the Committee to listen carefully to what she has to say on these matters.

The hon. Lady outlined the purpose of new clause 4 in great detail and stated that it has the support of the Electoral Commission and the House of Lords Constitution Committee. The reason for the new clause relates to the problems on 6 May 2010, when 27 polling stations in 16 constituencies experienced problems with queuing in the period leading up to 10 o’clock and beyond. The constituencies included Birmingham, Ladywood; Hackney South and Shoreditch; Hackney North and Stoke Newington; Liverpool, Wavertree; Milton Keynes North; Sheffield, Hallam; and my constituency of Penistone and Stocksbridge. In total, more than 40,000 polling stations were in use during the 2010 elections. As well as the 650 parliamentary elections, there were local elections and mayoral elections.

Just over 1,200 voters were affected by the problems, leading to just over 500 complaints to the Electoral Commission within a fortnight of the elections. The strength of feeling was high. For example, 100 or more students at Sheffield, Hallam staged a protest after 10 o’clock, having been denied a vote. If that protest had carried on, perhaps the mechanisms to which the hon. Lady referred would have been activated. We are glad that they were not.

Given all that we have heard and read in recent years about voter disengagement, it is heartening that people cared so much about exercising their right to vote that they were prepared to queue. In Sheffield, Hallam and in my constituency, they did so in the rain. That defied all the pundits, who said repeatedly in the years before the 2010 election that people were disengaged from politics, that they were not bothered and that turnouts were going down. In fact, the 2010 election saw an increase in turnout. For that, we should be grateful. This House should feel an obligation to ensure that arrangements are in place to avoid any citizen ever again being denied the right to vote in any election.

The Electoral Commission report on the May 2010 problems identified two key problems. First, in the constituencies where problems were reported, there were common factors in the failure of returning officers to make sufficient arrangements for the elections. Despite their being issued with numerous publications detailing guidance, checklists and guidebooks, the planning processes adopted were inadequate. In particular, the plans were unrealistic and inappropriate, and in some cases were based on unreliable assumptions. On top of that, there was inadequate risk management and inadequate contingency plans were put in place in the constituencies that were affected. For example, voters experienced problems with the space in some polling stations, because they were small, cramped and unsuited to dealing with a steady stream of voters. That was not the primary cause of the problems, but where those conditions existed they impeded the throughput of voters and limited attempts to deal with the building queues.

Secondly, in several of the areas where there were problems, the allocation of voters per polling station exceeded the ratio recommended by the Electoral Commission. The recommended ratio was one polling station per 2,500 voters. In some instances, the latter figure was as high as 4,500. Staffing levels also varied considerably across the piece, with some returning officers providing only one presiding officer and one polling clerk, despite having voter ratios that demanded a much more generous staffing allocation. The commission lays down guidelines on the numbers of clerks and voters allocated to each station.

The combination of elections also made things difficult.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way on that point. I have argued strongly that we should never have two elections on the same day when that includes a general election. It is not so much of a problem to have local elections and another election on the same day because the turnout is naturally much lower than for a general election. A general election should be a stand-alone election. We should never have local elections and a general election on the same day.

[Angela Smith]

Like me, the hon. Gentleman represents a constituency that experienced problems. The commission makes the point that the combination of a general election and other elections might have created problems. In some London constituencies, there were local and parliamentary elections, and mayoral elections. That was given as an explanation for the queuing problems, but the commission has pointed out that there were no such problems in some constituencies that had more than one election. I do not believe that having two elections on the same day is the root cause, although it can make things more difficult. Having two elections on the same day certainly made the count more difficult—I did not get my result until 7 o’clock in the morning.

[Mr Leech]

There was also a problem in areas where a large number of people were entitled to vote in one election but not in another. Polling station staff had to explain that to people, which slowed the process.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reminding us about this day of remembrance for victims of the holocaust and for reminding us of Jacob Billauer and all the other victims. He will know that this House had a debate on Holocaust memorial day on 19 January, a very moving debate, part of which I attended, and which was organised by the Backbench Business Committee, and many Members on both sides of the House will have signed the book in the House to commemorate those who lost their lives. The debate that we held this year and in previous years highlighted the importance that the House places on ensuring that the victims of the holocaust are never forgotten.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

During Transport questions the Secretary of State confirmed that the Department has no idea of the cost of increasing the motorway speed limit and its impact on road casualties. Given that the Opposition have already come out in favour of a policy that will cost millions and cost lives, may we have a debate in the House on the financial implications and the cost in human life of an increase in the speed limit?

[Sir George Young]

This is a matter which I, as a former Secretary of State for Transport, have looked at and have some interest in. Again, it strikes me that that would be an appropriate subject for a debate in Westminster Hall, where we could give it the consideration that it deserves. If such a debate were to take place, I would do my best to ensure that the statistics that my hon. Friend has asked for—the cost in extra consumption and, if it is indeed the case, the cost in accidents and lives—are available so that that can help to inform the debate before a final decision is taken as to whether the speed limit should be raised on motorways.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I very gently say to the hon. Gentleman that I believe he was a Minister in the Department for Transport, and I wonder why that progressive measure was not introduced on his watch.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

The Leader of the House will be well aware of The Times cycling campaign after joining us in the Westminster Hall debate last week. Given the level of interest in and support for the campaign in all parts of the House, will he find some parliamentary time for my Road Safety (No. 3) Bill, which addresses much of The Times’ campaign?

[Sir George Young]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman about the quality of the debate in Westminster Hall last week, at the end of which the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), set out the steps that the Government are taking to promote cycling and cycling safety. I would be raising the hon. Gentleman’s hopes if I implied that his road safety Bill was likely to reach the statute book in the remaining days of this Session, but there will be an opportunity in the new Session to put forward private Members’ Bills, and I very much hope that he pursues his campaign in that context.

Business of the House

John Leech Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I do not think I have ever seen the hon. Gentleman look happy. Wherever the index is, it will be dragged down by his appearance in the House. I wonder whether, on reflection, he would describe yesterday’s demonstration as “marvellous”. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage was done in Westminster, and the demonstration was ruined by a minority of irresponsible people. I pay tribute to the way in which the police responded.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

In the light of the imminent publication of the report of the Select Committee on Transport on the North review, can we have a debate on the future of drink and drug policy?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The Government will introduce a police Bill, which will cover issues relating to alcohol licensing, and that may provide the opportunity for my hon. Friend to clarify his views on those issues. We take the matter seriously, and we are moving towards publication of a document on drug policy.