Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We regularly debate family law in this House, and the Government have made some amendments to family law, after long debates within Government and in this House. If the hon. Gentleman is arguing that there should be further such debates, there are Backbench Business days and other parliamentary opportunities to raise such issues.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Q12. Given the birthday present given to the Prime Minister by the former Member for Clacton, how many more birthday surprises is he expecting from his Tory Back Benchers?

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure I will be getting all sorts of pleasant surprises on my birthday. Please do not spoil it by letting me know what they are.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

1. What assessment she has made of the level of women’s participation in the upcoming Afghanistan presidential election.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

Provisional estimates show that approximately 7 million people voted in Afghanistan’s presidential and provincial council election last Saturday. About a third of women voted—a tremendous achievement. That is evidence that support for democratic institutions and women’s participation is making a real difference on the ground.

[Karl Turner]

Early indications show that the role of women in Afghanistan’s elections has taken great steps in the right direction, but what plans are in place to ensure that those hard-won battles for the rights of women are not lost as a result of the international security assistance force draw-down at the end of this year?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise that point. The Department for International Development committed £20 million of funding to help the UN work to support the elections, including nearly £5 million for a programme to support women’s participation. As we go forward, we must ensure that the constitution that is already in place to support women’s rights is enforced, that we are working at grassroots level and putting more money into community programmes and that across government, for example in the police, women get the chance to play their full role. As far as I and the Government are concerned, we are determined to ensure that those hard-won additional rights for women are not just maintained but built on further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl Turner Excerpts

Wednesday 17th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can tell my right hon. Friend that we are working on the issue. I do not think there will be any difficulties in achieving the two goals that we have. One is to get the immigration system that we inherited under control. The current level of net immigration into the UK of 200,000 a year—2 million over a decade—is too high. It needs to be brought down, but we should do that in a way that is business-friendly and helpful to the economy. When we look at the rules that we inherited and the fact that people were coming into this country under tier 1, but often had no skills at all or were not working in skilled jobs—some were even working in pizza restaurants—it is clear that the system was not working properly. That is what we have to get right.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Q11. What does the Prime Minister have to say to my constituents on the Ings estate on Preston road in east Hull, who will now be left in unfit housing because his Government have scrapped the flagship housing market renewal programme, the Gateway pathfinder scheme? Over the past few days, I have been inundated with constituents who are desperate, living in properties surrounded by properties that are boarded up. I am seeing them tomorrow night at a residents meeting—what message of hope can I give them?