Cost of Living Increases
Debate between Rosie Winterton and Tommy Sheppard(2 years, 3 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. Interventions must be brief. We have a lot of Members who wish to speak and I will have to put a time limit on almost immediately.
Tommy Sheppard
I conclude by saying that it is a complete deceit to criticise the Scottish Government for not doing something that the House actively prevents them from doing. The simple way to test the truth of that is to let Scotland become an independent country, which is what people voted for at the last election in Scotland. Let them have that choice and, when it comes, we will put before the people a complete proposition that will answer all the questions that the hon. Member for Moray wants and many more. I believe they will choose a different way, an alternative way, of running their economy than what we get from this Tory Government.
Several hon. Members rose—
Business of the House
Debate between Rosie Winterton and Tommy Sheppard
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I call Tommy Sheppard to speak for no more than two minutes.
Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP) [V]
I wish to endorse and amplify the comments of the shadow Leader of the House. This is undoubtedly the greatest crisis that our world has faced in our lifetimes, and we know that the threat to our health, our society, and our economy is unprecedented. That is why Opposition Members have refused to make political capital out of the Government’s handling of the crisis, and we have sought to achieve consensus wherever we can.
Nowhere has that been more apparent than in discussions about how Parliament itself should operate. We have worked cross-party to make things work as best we can, using technology to allow remote participation—until now. I object to this agenda, because there is nothing on it to extend or modify these procedures—nothing at all. They are simply to be scrapped.
The Government seem determined to force things back to the way they used to be. They cannot and will not answer myriad questions. Can Parliament come back safely? What about Members who are sick or vulnerable? How will numbers be limited? Should we ignore public health advice? Most of all, what essential functions cannot be undertaken remotely? Those questions should be answered before remote engagement is scrapped, not after.
Unable to get us to agree, the Government have thrown their toys out of the pram. This is bizarre behaviour. It would be daft in normal times, but it seems absurd in the midst of a public health emergency, especially as none of us knows what might happen in the next two weeks. My question to the Leader of the House, to which I hope he will respond, is this: will he give an assurance to Opposition parties that he will consult and seek to agree how Parliament should operate after the recess, and will he be prepared to revise his current opinion that all remote working should be abandoned if it can be demonstrated that a solely physical meeting of Parliament presents unacceptable risks to Members’ staff and the public?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Before I put the Question, I confirm that my final determination is that the Question should be decided by remote Division. There is therefore no need for me to collect the voices or for Members present in the Chamber to shout “Aye” or “No”. The question is, as on the Order Paper. The Question falls to be decided by a remote Division. The Clerk will now initiate the Division on MemberHub. The remote voting period is now open. Members are invited to record their votes using the remote voting system. They will have 15 minutes to record their votes. I will make an announcement when the remote voting period has ended.
Question put.
The House proceeded to a remote Division.
Point of Order
Debate between Rosie Winterton and Tommy Sheppard(6 years, 1 month ago)
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Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise to seek your guidance on what parliamentary procedure might be available to me to get a reply from the Home Office on matters relating to my constituents.
Four months ago to the day, I wrote to the then Minister of State at the Home Office asking whether he would review the resources available to the Members’ support line at UK Visas and Immigration because my staff were unable to get basic information. Four months later, I have received no reply, despite several reminders. The problem remains, and I feel that this lack of support from UKVI is compromising my ability as an elected Member to represent my constituents who are in grave circumstances. I seek your direction, Madam Deputy Speaker, as to what can be done to make the Home Department respond to a Member.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice that he wished to raise this matter. It is obviously unsatisfactory that he has had to wait for such a long time to receive a response, but I am sure his concern has been heard on the Treasury Bench and will be conveyed to the Home Office.
Department for Exiting the European Union
Debate between Rosie Winterton and Tommy Sheppard(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. It is becoming a bit of a habit that there are exchanges across the House with Members saying “You” and “you” and “you”. We must observe the courtesies of the House; one goes through the Chair.
Tommy Sheppard
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was going to point out that the hon. Gentleman’s intervention had a tenuous link to the subject of debate and no connection whatever to what I was saying, but he has none the less made his point for the record.
What does this lack of preparation mean for financial planning? I shall give the House two quick examples. The first is the customs union—or the customs arrangements, as the Government will call them. I might be wrong, but it seems overwhelmingly logical for our global trade that if we are leaving the European Union, we should first immediately try to seek an arrangement with those countries that are nearest to us and with which we have the greatest trading links. That ought not to be a matter of controversy. The only reason that it is controversial is the existence of an unreasonable number of people on the Government Benches who are so Europhobic that they will not countenance anything that looks like a cut-down relationship with the European Union. The idea of having a customs union should not be controversial, however, and I very much welcome the fact that Her Majesty’s Opposition now seem to be on a course towards coming round to that point of view.