Holiday Pricing
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Baroness Burt of Solihull(10 years, 2 months ago)
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Lorely Burt
I should be delighted to do that. There is a large element of the Asian diaspora based in my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley.
Maintained school and academy heads could previously authorise 10 days’ leave, but there is no jurisdiction over the private school sector. Academies normally work for 190 days a year, and private sector schools work, on average, 165 days. There is a measure of irony about that. The children with the wealthiest parents get most choice about when they can go on holiday.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
I hope to mention the issue of the 10 days in my speech, but the hon. Lady will recognise that the regulation makes allowance for “special” as opposed to “exceptional” circumstances, as set out in the previous regulations. What does she consider “special” circumstances?
Syria and the Use of Chemical Weapons
Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Baroness Burt of Solihull(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
I appreciate the hon. Lady’s concerns, but I think she is debating something we are likely to discuss next week. Does she agree that we should not allow the conscience of Russia and China to be our conscience when we are considering potential action?
Lorely Burt
I entirely agree. I am not suggesting that we take no action; I simply think that we must have international approval before taking that step.
Having bombed supposed chemical weapons sites, what then? With all that human suffering, surely we should intervene further. As the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley) commented, would we really want to allow President Assad to win? Several hon. Members have expressed concern about military action and they, like me, fear mission creep. Not every member of the public has researched these issues in detail, but they have a strong feeling. Only one person in four supports military action. Members of my own party are fearful of that and have urged me to vote against. Even the chambermaid at my hotel yesterday, before I left my family holiday in Wales, said to me, “Please don’t let them vote for war.” I will not.
In summary, I do support action, as I said to the hon. Lady, but under the present circumstances, not a military solution.