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Yesterday in Parliament - 10 November 2008

EDM: Post Office Card Account - Bob Spink

That this House understands and values the special position that post offices hold in society; believes that the Post Office card account, which is used by four million people to collect pensions and benefits, is essential to the future of many post offices and that, according to the Treasury Select Committee, around 3,000 more post offices may close if the account is removed from them; and calls on the Government to make a decision to keep the card account with the Post Office as a matter of urgency.

EDM: European Court of Auditor's Refusal to Certify the EU Budget - Bob Spink

That this House notes that the European Court of Auditors has, for the 14th year in succession, refused to certify the EU budget; further notes that Britain is the second largest net contributor to the EU budget, after only Germany, paying a direct sum of £15 billion per year for membership of the EU and incurring the even more substantial indirect costs of membership, including improper regulation, the loss of British jobs and destruction of British fisheries; believes that the level of corruption in the EU is unacceptable; congratulates Open Europe for producing a list of the top 100 EU scams that have been funded by UK taxpayers' money; and calls on the Government to listen to the British people and reverse its policy of ever closer union with this corrupt and wasteful organisation.

EDM: Compensation Paid to Sir Ian Blair - Bob Spink

That this House notes that, following his resignation as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, the Metropolitan Police Authority has agreed to pay Sir Ian Blair £300,000 compensation and an index-linked pension of £168,000 a year; believes that such use of public funds will be met by understandable concern, particularly given the economic climate; and calls on the Home Secretary to request an explanation from the Metropolitan Police Authority of why compensation is being paid given that Sir Ian resigned his position.

Post Office Debate

All Tories and most Labour MPs abstained on the Liberal Motion to save our Post Offices. That's how daft the whip system is!

If all MPs who agreed with saving POs voted for the Liberal motion, we would save them. Bob is right to refuse a Political Party Whip and do what is right for YOU. Independence works and is much more honest.

Bob Spink: Has the hon. Lady an estimate of the number of additional post office closures that may result if the Government remove the Post Office card account?

Jenny Willott: That is a very good question, to which I shall return later.

Mr. Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab): Does the hon. Lady not think it somewhat ironic that the Government's only IT success in the past 10 years has been the Post Office card? Is not the fact that we are debating the possible scrapping of the card in its present form slightly surprising? I hope the hon. Lady accepts that if some of us (Labr MPs) do not join her (she is Liberal) in the Lobby tonight, it is not because we are not full of apprehension about the Government's stance. There may, unfortunately, be another occasion on which we shall have to use our votes. (i.e. because of the whip... Labr MPs and indeed Tory MPs, did not vote with Liberals… but Frank implies he will vote against his party at a future date on this. I ignored all whips and voted for the motion because it was a good motion. )

Jenny Willott: I certainly agree with the right hon. Gentleman's first point. As for his second point, I hope that those who support the motion will consider voting with us later to make that clear. (they did not )

As for the earlier point of the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink), there are estimates of at least 3,000 branch closures if the Post Office card account is taken away from the Post Office, ( 3000 means 5 more closure in every constituency) although some suggest it could be worse, with 6,000 post office branch closures, which is more than half the current network.

Bob Spink: I am so surprised that the Secretary of State does not appear to be listening to the noises coming from the majority on his own Back Benches on this important subject. Does he not realise that there are fewer footfalls in post offices because the Government have been removing public business from the Post Office for many years? When will he adopt a policy to return public business to the post offices?

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Purnell): I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman has heard of the internet, but it is having quite a big impact on retail outlets. For example, he might be aware that Tesco sells some of its products over the internet these days.

James lost it at this time, being silly… (Tesco)… to avoid answering tough questions does not work in a debating chamber as sophisticated as the Commons. Even his own side laughed at him. Then Kate put in the EU context… Bless her!

Kate Hoey: Will he tell the House clearly why we had to put this account out to competitive tender? Does he not accept that there are other countries in the European Union where that has not happened? Why do we always have to obey every little dot of the European Union competitive actions when other countries get away with it? We are left with a situation in which the Post Office might end up without the Post Office card account.

New Debate: Economic Crisis

Dr Bob Spink: Will the hon. Gentleman extend his advice to the Government by asking them to ask Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to take a more sympathetic and reasonable attitude to those who owe the Government money in back taxes, and to agree more achievable repayment systems and schemes?

Dr. Vincent Cable: Indeed, the Government could take a variety of steps, and the hon. Gentleman suggests one. The small Government loan guarantee scheme has not been updated to take account of current realities. Given the strength of the Government's balance sheet relative to the private sector, the Government could do a variety of things to help. They have made several helpful gestures, but they could go much further.

All the Front Bench teams follow Bob in trying to get answers on the key measure for recovery… the level of national debt as a proportion of GDP that will determine Public Spending and Taxation: Cameron and Osborne ran with this issue in all Tuesday mornings news conferences.

Bob Spink: Earlier, the Minister mentioned the level of personal debt, but what was the level of national debt, as a proportion of gross domestic product, as we started to enter this negative cycle? What peak does she expect it to reach during the cycle? This is the key to recovery.

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Angela Eagle): The updated economic forecast will be available when the pre-Budget report is presented; it is not my role to start anticipating it today. The hon. Gentleman will get those figures in full at the appropriate time. The Labour Government inherited a debt of 43 per cent. of gross domestic product, which is higher than the present level. It is important to note that point.

Philip Hammond (Con Front Bench Spokesman): Will the hon. Lady confirm that, whatever she might think, the Office for National Statistics says that the current deficit is 43.3 per cent. of GDP?

Angela Eagle: The hon. Gentleman will see the fiscal and monetary figures when the pre-Budget report is produced, and people will be able to make their own decisions at that time.

Kelvin Hopkins (Lab Treasury Expert): May I return my right hon. Friend to the question of the gross national debt? Is it not the case that our gross national debt is still way below that of many other countries, that it is historically low, and that to tighten the fiscal stance at this moment would be economic madness?

Angela Eagle: My hon. Friend makes an appropriate and astute comment. People will be waiting to see which side of the Opposition's schizophrenic approach predominates.

Bob Spink: Does the Minister accept that swimming is an important skill, especially in an island and a seaside community such as Castle Point, so will he give us a progress report on the Government’s free swimming initiative?

Mr. Sutcliffe: I am happy to report that more than 80 per cent. of local authorities support the free swimming initiative for the over-60s and the aspirations for the under-16s. I am concerned, however, that a number of local authorities are playing politics with the issue by not investing their own money in supporting free swimming. It is important that people see the issue for what it is: it came from local government, and many local authorities funded it from their own resources. The Government supported the scheme and have put money on the table, but we are being thwarted by a number of authorities that would rather play politics than deliver free swimming for their constituents.

Bob is concerned to ensure local people, especially children, have greater opportunity to learn to swim and has put down Parliamentary questions seeking details of which Councils have not delivered the Government's free swimming initiative.

Traffic Management (Essex)

Bob Spink (Castle Point) (UKIP): School access and parking are perennial problems for MPs to deal with, and they require careful and considerate action from councils to ensure that children are safe and local residents are not unnecessarily or unreasonably inconvenienced. In this case, although residents approached the council for help with traffic management in New Park road many months ago, nothing has yet been done. There is a consultation on yellow lines outside the school, but I urge the authorities to make appropriate changes to relieve New Park road and to help the many excellent residents who have sent this petition to me.

The petition states:

The Petition of Christopher Rankin, residents of New Park Road, Benfleet and others,

Declares that access arrangements for Appleton School currently cause great inconvenience to residents and pose a danger to school children and the wider community since New Park Road is totally unsuitable for large volumes of traffic and commercial vehicles which cause safety concerns for the children who use it and cause unacceptable vibrations, adverse noise and other pollutants reducing the quality of life for residents.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to change advice given on access to schools to take greater account of the needs of residents, and does urge Castle Point borough council and the Highways Authority to design a more appropriate traffic management system to protect the quality of life of all residents.

Bob did much more… these were some of the highlights