PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1461 Oral Answers
26 MARCH 2013
Oral Answers
1462
The Deputy Prime Minister: What I would put in the
Library, if the hon. Gentleman wishes, is the fact that
the last Labour Government removed exit controls on
our borders, so they had no idea who was leaving this
country and who was coming in. The reason why we
can pilot the so-called security bonds for people coming
here on temporary visas is that, unlike his Government,
we are reinstalling the exit checks that we have been
campaigning—as Liberal Democrats and now in
government—to reinstall for many years.
Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock)
(Con): Business growth in Basildon and Thurrock,
supported by Essex county council, is three times higher
than the regional average. Does my right hon. Friend
therefore agree that the recently introduced employment
allowance will encourage those new businesses to take
on their first, or an additional, employee, thus supporting
both businesses and those seeking work?
The Deputy Prime Minister: I agree with my hon.
Friend. This new employer’s allowance is a very exciting
way of encouraging small and medium-sized businesses,
which are the backbone of the British economy, to take
on more people. When it comes into effect it will mean
that a small employer will be able to employ someone
on up to about £22,000 without paying any national
insurance whatsoever.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): Did
the Deputy Prime Minister have any hand in the air-sea
rescue helicopter service being sold off or given to a
Texan company rather than to the British Navy and Air
Force? Is he responsible for that? Does he approve of it,
as it seems a rather strange decision?
The Deputy Prime Minister: I do if the service is
better and if the Department for Transport, which has
run this tender, is clearly persuaded that this is the best
way to ensure the safety and security of the British
people in the future and to do so at the best value for
taxpayers’ money. Those are precisely the criteria on
which everyone—any reasonable person—would judge
this decision.
Andrew George (St Ives) (LD): Cornwall may not
look like a city but, as my right hon. Friend knows, it
has both the ambition and the building blocks to negotiate
a deal with the Government on devolved powers. Will
he ensure that those ambitions can be fast-tracked to
reality?
The Deputy Prime Minister: My hon. Friend has been
a tireless campaigner, with his Cornish colleagues, for
emulating the idea of a city deal but adapting it for the
needs of Cornwall, now and in the future. I applaud him
for that, and I will make sure that he and his colleagues
can meet the Minister for cities and decentralisation, to
make the case directly for a bespoke deal for Cornwall
at some point in the future.
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab): Is there any chance
that the announcements made about the housing package
in last week’s Budget could create a housing bubble
here in the UK and risk repeating the mistakes of the
United States sub-prime market?
The Deputy Prime Minister: The key way to make
sure that there is no repeat of the disastrous mismanagement
of the housing market that we saw under the previous
Government is to ensure that more homes are built.
That is why one significant component of the Help to
Buy announcement that the Chancellor made last week
is precisely that Government equity being put towards
the construction of new homes should lead to extra
construction activity and a further supply of housing.
The Budget also included an announcement of a further
15,000 social homes being built, in addition to the
several thousand more that are already in the pipeline.
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr Speaker: Order. We had 23 questions in that
period but we must now move on.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The Attorney-General was asked—
Rule of Law
1. Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab): What
recent representations he has received on the effect of
membership of the European convention on human
rights on the UK’s reputation for upholding the rule of
law. [149745]
The Attorney-General (Mr Dominic Grieve): Ihave
not received any recent representations on this subject,
but I am clear that the United Kingdom’s enviable
reputation for upholding the rule of law is closely linked
to our country’s commitment to the European convention
on human rights and to ensuring that those rights are
enshrined in our own laws.
Yasmin Qureshi: I thank the Attorney-General for
that answer. Some Government Members are talking
about exiting the European convention on human rights.
Will he assure us that that will not happen? I know that
he believes in the convention, so may I tell him that he
will have the support of Opposition Members in the
battle to ensure that we remain in it?
The Attorney-General: I have noticed, on occasion,
irritation in all parts of the House about the operation
of the European convention on human rights, but the
Government’s position remains clear: our adherence to
the convention is in the national interest.
Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): Is it not
possible to be proud that this country created the European
convention on human rights in 1948 to counter communism
and fascism while also being dismayed that, because of
judicial activism, the Court is interfering in the rights of
this democratic Assembly to come to its own conclusions
on issues such as prisoner voting rights?
The Attorney-General: My hon. Friend is right to say
that the United Kingdom has not been uncritical of the
way in which the European Court of Human Rights
has operated. That is why we initiated the negotiation