Amendment of the Law — House of Commons, 2015-03-23
Topic: Technology
Daniel Grian Alexander (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): We have had a good debate with distinguished contributions from Members across the House, and like the shadow Chief Secretary I particularly wish to recognise the contributions of those who are not seeking re-election to this House. A number of hon. Members said that their speech would be their final contribution here, including the hon. Members for Sheffield, Heeley (Meg Munn) and for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh), the right hon. Members for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson), for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett), for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) and for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling). I am sure the House will agree that in their different ways they have all made a significant contribution to British public life, and the whole House will be grateful for their service to their country The right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles spoke movingly about the circumstances in which she grew up and the commitment to social mobility that that imbued in her—a commitment I strongly share. I am grateful for her kind words about the Government’s decision to support the Speaker’s parliamentary placement scheme, which as the House will know provides opportunities for many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to work in this House. Credit should go to the right hon. Lady, and to you, Mr Speaker, for promoting that scheme. In her remarks she gave some examples of young people who have benefited from the scheme that she promoted, and many hon. Members will have encountered young people who have gained apprenticeships through it My hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton spoke about her rural constituency, and drew attention to the issues facing rural communities and the need for broadband. As a Member who represents a very rural constituency, I share that concern. I draw her attention to the supplementary document that was published alongside the Budget which included the strategy for superfast broadband, and indeed for moving to ultrafast—[Interruption.] The shadow Chief Secretary is muttering, but I will come to that point. The supplementary document on the move to ultrafast broadband set out a new and ambitious strategy for this country, including moves towards superfast broadband for 95% of households through the BT scheme, the roll-out of 4G broadband to 98% of households, and the availability of a vouchers scheme for the most remote households to gain satellite connections. I hope that that answers her point, which I am sure is an important issue for many hon. Members Other strong contributions included the one from my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood)—I do not know whether he is in his place. He made an important point about the decision in the Budget to extend the pension changes to police and fire service widows and widowers where someone has lost their life in the line of duty. We made clear in the Budget that we also intend to extend that change to apply to members of the security services who have lost their lives in the line of duty. That pension change is not yet fully worked out, but we intend to make it along the same lines as the measure announced for police officers and members of the fire service who lose their lives in the line of duty The hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg) made a balanced speech—I think he was the only Labour Member to welcome the strong record of job creation we have seen since 2010, and I credit him for that. He also—fairly, I think—called for further improvements to the quality of job creation, and the measures that the Government announced in the Budget, as well as the creation of more than 2 million apprenticeships during this Parliament, will help to support the agenda he described We also heard distinguished contributions from two former Chancellors of the Exchequer. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke) provided distinguished service in government during this Parliament, and indeed for many, many decades before that—[Laughter.] I know he is standing again; I am not citing him as a Member who is stepping down. He is an immortal in this House as far as many of us are concerned. In his remarks he gave strong support for a balanced, fiscally neutral Budget, and responsible measures from the coalition Government. He rightly celebrated the rise in the income tax personal allowance, a matter to which I will return. I am bound to say, however, that his customary generosity deserted him when describing the political heritage of this particular policy commitment. My hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham corrected the balance of the ledger in that respect, when he made clear that this policy emerged from the 2010 Liberal Democrat manifesto. It is making a huge difference to 27 million people.