European Union (Withdrawal) Acts

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Saturday 19th October 2019

(4 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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It would be open to the Leader of the House to do that if he so chose, but he is no longer in the Chamber and therefore, even if he was minded to do so—he might not feel so inclined—he could not do so at this moment. The right hon. Gentleman will doubtless be back in his place on Monday, as I am sure the hon. Lady will be in hers, when further exchanges on that matter and others can take place.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. When the Leader of the House was not making his business statement earlier, we had no suggestion of the timings of anything that might happen in Monday’s sitting. We presume that our proceedings will commence at 2.30 pm, but we have no idea as we are sitting today on Saturday. We are having to presume a lot of things. We are being left in the dark by a Government whose Leader of the House, frankly, is not sufficiently courteous to make a business statement. Could you please clarify the expected timings for Monday?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I can assure the hon. Lady that we will be meeting at 2.30 on Monday afternoon. We have had a business statement on the business for next week. That business statement—I say this as much for the people attending to our proceedings, to whom they should be intelligible, as for Members of the House—is the status quo; it is the given position. We will meet on Monday afternoon at 2.30. That is governed by Standing Order No. 9. The Government may well plan to make an emergency business statement on Monday, but they cannot change the start time, and I must say to the House, and to the people observing our proceedings, that there are very good reasons why there cannot be an arbitrary change in the timetable: it is really for the protection of the House. If it were possible for the sitting times to be arbitrarily changed at the whim of the Executive, that would be deeply injurious to the rights of individual Members and of the House as an institution. That cannot happen and, believe me, it will not happen.

Points of Order

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Tuesday 2nd April 2019

(4 years, 12 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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As to whether the Minister corrects the record, it is incumbent upon a Minister who thinks that he or she has erred to do so, but it is not incumbent upon me to act as arbiter of whether a correction is required. I am afraid that that must remain a matter for the Minister. Meanwhile, the hon. Gentleman, by the sedulous use of a bogus point of order, has taken the opportunity to put his own interpretation of matters clearly on the record. If I may say so, he looks mightily relieved to have done so.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At yesterday’s hearing of the Welsh Affairs Committee, I asked the Secretary of State for Wales why he had voted differently to some of his Cabinet colleagues on the extension of article 50. He informed me at that hearing that he had abstained because he had been elsewhere and had not been around at the time of the votes. It subsequently transpires that the right hon. Gentleman cast his vote by voting in both Lobbies, thereby abstaining. I ask you, Mr Speaker, whether the Secretary of State has declared any intention to you that he will come to make a personal statement on this matter. If he has not done so, can you offer me any advice on how to proceed and deal with this rather unusual discrepancy?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I have not received any indication from the Secretary of State for Wales that he intends to come to the House to make a statement on that matter. I was not entirely clear whether the hon. Lady was suggesting that the explanation that she had had from the Minister was outside the Chamber or inside it.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones
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In the Select Committee, Sir.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Oh, it was in the Select Committee. Well, it was in the course of a parliamentary proceeding. I suppose the Secretary of State may think he was elsewhere than being in one Division Lobby, because he was in two Division Lobbies.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones
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He said he was outside the House.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Oh, very well. If the Minister feels a responsibility to correct the record, he will do so. If not, knowing the eager beaver that the hon. Lady is, I have a feeling that she will be penning a letter and ensuring that it wings its way to the Secretary of State before very long. Whether he will await that letter with enormous enthusiasm is open to doubt.

Use of the Chamber (United Kingdom Youth Parliament)

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Monday 17th July 2017

(6 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I can assure the right hon. Lady that her conduct on this occasion has been entirely orderly. It was open to her to raise that matter in the way that she did, and she has done so.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Would it be in order for me to say that it has been suggested to me that I did not raise the point as to quite how useless Her Majesty’s Government are during the last debate? I would like to put that on the record, if I may.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Not only is that cheeky, but it is evident from her rather guilty smile that the hon. Lady herself is aware of the nature and extent of the cheekiness. The hon. Lady advised me that she wished to raise a point of order to correct the record because she felt that she had misspoken, so I thought there was going to be an air of contrition, not an attempt to score a party political point. But what the hon. Lady has said is on the record. Let us now preserve an orderly atmosphere as the Secretary of State for Transport makes his way to the Dispatch Box to deliver his statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Monday 10th July 2017

(6 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Very good intra-office arrangements; splendid.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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We all owe a great debt of gratitude to those armed forces charities that work so hard supporting former military personnel facing depression and other conditions, but why will the Government not commit to the Royal British Legion’s “Count Them In” campaign so that the charities, the statutory services and everyone else can know where former military personnel live?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Wednesday 13th April 2016

(7 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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On this point, the Minister is absolutely right. The best decision for Wales is to stay in the European Union, as our favourite pamphlet says. But can he tell us why, at a time when Sir Terry Matthews, Airbus, NFU Cymru and the FUW support our membership, Andrew R. T. Davies, the person the Conservative party wants to be First Minister of Wales, wants Wales out of the EU? It is a disgrace, is it not? [Interruption.]

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I think we got the gist of it.

petitions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Wednesday 6th January 2016

(8 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Speaker. A couple of hours ago I was informed by email that HSBC was proposing to close branches in Ruabon and in Chirk, which is in my constituency. We have, of course, seen many such bank closures, especially since the Government changed their policy of working with banks to keep the last branch in every community open. Can you tell me, Mr Speaker, whether any Minister has proposed to come to the House to discuss that change in policy?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Lady, but I must advise her that no Minister has given notice to me of an intention to make a statement to the House about the matter. However, the hon. Lady is herself a notably dexterous and versatile Member who is very familiar with the arsenal of weapons that is available to her so that she can raise matters of concern, one of which weapons she has just deployed by means of an ingenious but entirely bogus point of order. She will therefore know that she can continue to pursue the matter through questions, and possibly through debates. I have a keen hunch that she will pursue the course of action that I have recommended.

Park and Ride Scheme on Bathampton Meadows

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Wednesday 6th January 2016

(8 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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On a point of order, Mr Speaker. A couple of hours ago I was informed by email that HSBC was proposing to close branches in Ruabon and in Chirk, which is in my constituency. We have, of course, seen many such bank closures, especially since the Government changed their policy of working with banks to keep the last branch in every community open. Can you tell me, Mr Speaker, whether any Minister has proposed to come to the House to discuss that change in policy?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Lady, but I must advise her that no Minister has given notice to me of an intention to make a statement to the House about the matter. However, the hon. Lady is herself a notably dexterous and versatile Member who is very familiar with the arsenal of weapons that is available to her so that she can raise matters of concern, one of which weapons she has just deployed by means of an ingenious but entirely bogus point of order. She will therefore know that she can continue to pursue the matter through questions, and possibly through debates. I have a keen hunch that she will pursue the course of action that I have recommended.

Business of the House

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Thursday 12th March 2015

(9 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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The Leader of the House may be aware that Boris Johnson in his own inimitable way once said that he fought Clwyd South and that Clwyd South fought back, and he was helped in so doing by the Leader of the House. My constituents in Clwyd South are rather concerned because this time the Conservatives have selected a councillor, David Nicholls, who is a commercial lawyer of the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea. There is much concern that he may get lost around our 240 square mile constituency. We are confident that the Leader of the House knows the constituency rather better than the said gentleman, so could he find a little time to come across from his retirement home in mid-Wales and show the gentleman around?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I think the hon. Lady was also asking for a statement, but whether she was asking for one or not, she is going to get one.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Thursday 6th February 2014

(10 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Indeed. There is a degree of ingenuity about the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh) with which I am very familiar.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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13. The great British pub is well sited in many places, but I suggest that junction 2 of the M40—or, indeed, any other motorway junction—is not one of them. Organisations such as Brake are firmly against the siting of a pub there, and a survey from the RAC has now shown that two thirds of the British public are against it as well. Will the Minister please look into this issue? It is nonsense to have a pub at a motorway service station.

Tributes to Nelson Mandela

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Monday 9th December 2013

(10 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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I feel supremely unqualified to speak in this debate having followed people of such great knowledge and campaigning experience in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. I think especially of my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr Hain), that great South African Welsh—if I may call him that—internationalist.

The main reason I am speaking is that I promised primary school pupils—my constituents—at Ysgol Bro Dyfrdwy in Cynwyd that I would do so. On Friday I was privileged to take part in their school assembly and to hear their tributes to Nelson Mandela. The thought came to me that many tributes will be televised and many people—the great and the good—will be speaking at them, but there are tributes and memorials all over our nation and all over our world that will not be recorded in the history books but will be equally heartfelt, sincere and well made.

It is fitting to remember those in the Anti-Apartheid Movement across the villages and small towns of England, Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom. We have heard the great stories of struggle in London and our large cities, but we also need to remember that through the great grassroots organisations across our country—the trade unions and the churches—petitions were signed outside small branches of banks and people walked from door to door urging a boycott. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Dr Francis), I pay great tribute to those people and to the Welsh Anti-Apartheid Movement and its work in the campaigning struggle across Wales.

I would like to offer a short reflection on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There has been a great deal of talk about forgiveness and reconciliation as though they are natural phenomena, but I do not believe they are. One thing that the great struggle of Nelson Mandela proved was that forgiveness and reconciliation are not just moral or spiritual truths, and certainly not just abstract concepts; they were viewed as an absolute necessity for the change that needed to happen.

I pay great tribute to you, Mr Speaker, for the honesty you have shown in saying that you got it wrong on the apartheid issue. I have to confess that once upon a time I stood waving a placard outside the university of Bristol union against someone who was viewed as a very right-wing member of the Federation of Conservative Students. I could not possibly name that person; suffice it to say that I think he looks rather better sat in a green chair and wearing a tie with the flag of South Africa on it.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Yes, I fear it was on 23 October 1986; I remember it only too well. I am grateful to the hon. Lady, I am sure, for reminding me.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Wednesday 9th October 2013

(10 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. There are far too many persistent and very noisy conversations taking place in the Chamber. I know that colleagues will want to listen to Susan Elan Jones.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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8. What assessment he has made of the potential effects on charities in Wales of the provisions of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill.

Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Wednesday 9th October 2013

(10 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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Among the many anomalies in the Bill are the cross-border implications —England, Wales and Scotland. We can well envisage a situation in which the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Wales is campaigning on an issue and broadcast and print media could be received on the other side of the border. The RSPCA would say, “We’re from Wales and this area is devolved,” whereupon the response might be, “But it has an impact on the UK general election.”

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. May I make the point that, I have noticed in my two spells chairing the debate, interventions have not decreased in length? If anything, they have tended to get longer. They need to be a little shorter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Susan Elan Jones and John Bercow
Tuesday 13th March 2012

(12 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. It is always a pleasure to hear the Secretary of State, but on account of the level of demand, I am afraid that he has to be subject to rationing.

Susan Elan Jones Portrait Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
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T9. I am sure I will not be the only Member of the House to have been dismayed by the Secretary of State’s last answer. Yet again the Government seem to think they know better than the Royal British Legion and service personnel on this matter. Service families want justice done in the open for loved ones killed in action. Why will he not listen to their rejection of the secret inquests he has proposed in the justice and security Green Paper, or will he answer again that the Government know best?