Business without Debate Debate

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Friday 18th March 2022

(2 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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We are going to take this next part very slowly. If people are objecting, make sure you do so loudly. If you are moving a Bill on behalf of another Member, please make that clear.

Goods Delivery Services Bill

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

None Portrait Hon. Members
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Object.

Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 6 May.

Commercial Rent (Prohibition of Upward-Only Reviews) Bill

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

--- Later in debate ---
John Spellar Portrait John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. This Bill has overwhelming support both from the public and in this Chamber. Is there any way of getting it across to the public that the Government, having failed to produce their own promised Bill, are actually blocking this one, and to assure them that this Bill will be coming back in the next Parliament until we can get rid of this vile trade?

Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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I think the right hon. Gentleman has just done it.

Armenian Genocide (Recognition) Bill

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

None Portrait Hon. Members
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Object.

Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 6 May.

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) (Abolition of By-Elections) (No. 2) Bill

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

--- Later in debate ---
Richard Burgon Portrait Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Conservative party is stacked with MPs lining their pockets with second jobs, but the Tory Government have repeatedly blocked my Bill to bar MPs’ second jobs. What can be done to force the Government to act to ban MPs from having second jobs, as the public wants us to do and as this Bill provides?

Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker
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I am sorry, but this is now turning into an abuse of points of order. We all know how private Members’ Bill operate and, therefore, if there is an objection, I have to take the objection.

PLASTIC POLLUTION BILL

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

None Portrait Hon. Members
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Object.

Bill to be read a Second time on Friday 6 May.

Status of Workers BILL [Lords]

Motion made, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

--- Later in debate ---
Maria Eagle Portrait Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Government have now killed the Public Advocate Bill, which aimed to prevent families bereaved by public disasters from having to go through what the Hillsborough families have endured, by objecting to it eight times, even though it would have fulfilled a manifesto commitment of theirs from 2017. On 16 September last year, after the Hillsborough criminal trials collapsed, I was told by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. and learned Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk), at the end of a Backbench Business debate on helping families bereaved by public disasters that the 2018 consultation on the matter would be replied to, and proposals brought forward, before the end of 2021. That has not happened. In a few weeks it will be the 33rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. How much longer will those families have to wait? Can you advise me, Mr Deputy Speaker, on how I can now take these matters forward, given that the Bill has been killed and the Government seem intent on doing nothing but repeatedly blocking this essential reform?

Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order, and for giving me notice of it. I know which Minister she was speaking about, and I know that she is a doughty fighter for the cause of not only those who have been affected by the Hillsborough disaster, but others in the future. If she were to seek a meeting with the Minister, I should be amazed if he did not readily agree to such a meeting to see how progress can be made in this matter. I wish her well.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. As we are almost at the end of the 13th and last Friday sitting for private Members’ Bills in this Session, I wonder if it would be in order for us to collectively thank the Clerk in charge in private Members’ Bills, who has done such a great job in encouraging us to participate in this important process, and, more important, giving us cogent advice. Adam Mellows-Facer has been doing this job for several years, and I think that we all owe him a great debt of gratitude.

Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker
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I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I think it is pertinent to ask for proper recognition of the amazing work that is done on private Members’ Bills, and also of the incredible service that we receive from the Clerks’ department. We are extremely grateful for it, and it is good for that to be said publicly now and again, so I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for his point of order.