"I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate on the Government’s legislative programme for the coming year. Given the subject of this debate, I should, before I begin in earnest, declare that my wife is a primary school teacher in Scotland.
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wilson. I do not have much to add to the comprehensive assessment of the hon. Member for Cardiff West; we come at this debate from a very similar position. I ask the Minister to reflect, and to advise us on …..." Neil Gray - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Howarth. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) on securing this important Westminster Hall debate. I welcome her noteworthy and impressive contribution, as well as the contributions from other Members who have spoken.
"Absolutely. There is nothing that I can disagree with in that intervention, and I will come to some of those issues later in my speech.
Returning to the contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Lanark and Hamilton East, the gender pay gap still exists even in what would …..." Neil Gray - View Speech
"Absolutely—I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend.
In Scotland, councils are now responsible for meeting legal obligations to their employees, including on equal pay, but clearly more work needs to be done. My hon. Friend highlighted the issues in South Lanarkshire. My constituency falls under North Lanarkshire Council’s jurisdiction. The …..." Neil Gray - View Speech
"Would it not be better for this Government to value the work of our public sector workers in particular, rather than to undermine the role they play by bringing in agency workers to break strikes?..." Neil Gray - View Speech
"The hon. Lady is making a very good speech and an important point, but does she agree that it is unacceptable for Labour-controlled North Lanarkshire Council, which encompasses my constituency, to have dragged the equal pay claims of its hard-working staff through the courts for years at great cost to …..." Neil Gray - View Speech