Point of Order
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will be aware of the mistakes made during the counting of votes yesterday. Are you able to give some guidance to those on the Treasury Bench on the importance of the work of the Whips?
Mr Speaker
Divisions are a core part of our business in the Chamber, and the accurate recording of votes is integral to parliamentary decision making. I appreciate that there have been major changes in the Whips Office, and things have to be delivered in these new roles. I know the House team will work with the Whips to make sure we get accurate results.
I met the Chief Whip this morning and explained the concerns that were raised with me following last night, through the Deputy Speakers. We do take this seriously. My door remains open for the Chief Whip, and I hope he will use that avenue as a way for us to work together. It is unfortunate that I have not had that conversation until this morning. I will leave it at that.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
Before I ask my question, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the fact that last night, a man lost his life, a wife lost her husband, and children lost their father because of political intolerance. It was a personal tragedy, but also a tragedy for the body politic. I want to take a moment to recognise the importance of free speech in our democracies.
The Secretary of State quite rightly talks about improving rail performance, yet we are in a city paralysed by strike action from the RMT. The Government claim that nationalising the railways under Great British Railways will bring untold improvements. They are “untold”; Lord Hendy tells us that there will be rigorous performance standards, but he has repeatedly refused to set out what they will be. When will the Secretary of State set out the standards by which the Government’s nationalisation experiment should be judged—or are they still discussing them with the RMT?
Diego Garcia Military Base
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(4 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Speaker
Shaking your head and making comments —that is certainly not the example I want to see when I am looking to keep the House calm. I do not need the backchat; that has been going on for a while.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(5 months ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
Greater Anglia supports economic growth in the east of England with modern, quiet, fast trains, paid for by £2 billion of private sector investment. Its service is the most punctual in the country, it is popular with its passengers, and it is run so efficiently that instead of costing the taxpayer, it pays money into the Treasury. It is currently train operator of the year. Greater Anglia knows that nationalisation is coming, and it has offered to extend its operations to allow the Government to focus on the worst performing operators first. Why did the Government refuse? Is the Secretary of State focused on improving the lives of passengers, or is it an ideological determination to put the unions back in charge of the railways?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
We are told that nationalisation is the answer to improving passenger rail performance. If that is the case, surely it would make sense to start by nationalising the worst performing operators. CrossCountry comes last out of all train operating companies for passenger satisfaction and it is not complying with its obligations. The Secretary of State could call in that contract, so why is it not the first operator to be nationalised under GBR?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(8 months ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
I am very interested by that last answer, because the Government do think that nationalisation will reduce the cost of rail travel. What lessons has the Secretary of State learned from the SNP’s nationalisation of ScotRail?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(9 months, 1 week ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
I, too, welcome the Secretary of State to her post, and look forward to helping her to do an excellent job.
As we can see following the last few days of flooding, changing weather patterns are damaging our roads and increasing potholes. The last Government allocated an additional £8 billion for road improvements, paid for by the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2, yet all we have seen from Labour is a commitment of £1.8 billion for this financial year. Will the Secretary of State commit to matching the additional £8 billion for road maintenance?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(10 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
We will all miss John Prescott. He was a titan of our politics, and a man not afraid to come out swinging for what he believed in.
The figures show that capital spending on transport is not rising under Labour; it will fall by 3.1% in real terms next year. We have huge tax rises and a more than £70 billion increase in tax. Labour’s black hole myth has been debunked by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Financial Times and the Institute for Fiscal Studies—all real economists—so why the cut in capital spending? The Secretary of State was out of her depth when she negotiated a £9,000 pay rise for ASLEF train drivers with nothing in return. Was she out of her depth when she negotiated with her own Chancellor?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jerome Mayhew(11 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
After receiving millions from the trade union paymasters for its election, Labour is rewarding them with a package of 1970s, French-style workplace regulations, which will increase the cost of doing business in the UK to the tune of £5 billion a year, disproportionately falling on SMEs. That is before the £25 billion body blow to business delivered by the Chancellor yesterday in her anti-business Budget of broken promises. Does the Minister agree with the Office for Budget Responsibility that this Government’s decisions will make workers poorer, not richer, as increased employment taxes are passed on in lower wages, and that business investment will fall, not rise, as a direct result of this Government?