This week I began business of the House questions by welcoming the debate this afternoon on violence against women and girls. This debate coincides with a series of actions across the UK as part of the ‘One Billion Rising’ global campaign and I am proud to support it.
I followed on by raising the government’s failing work programme – one of the first actions of the work and pensions secretary after the election was to abolish Labour’s Future Jobs Fund. But the Department for Work and Pensions’ own assessment of the Future Jobs Fund said it was one of the most successful, most cost-effective schemes ever. Yesterday the government had to rush emergency regulations through the House after the courts ruled the government’s work programme illegal. But for people looking for work what matters most is the DWP’s own assessment of the work programme: it concluded it was ‘worse than doing nothing’. The government blundered in scrapping the Future Jobs Fund and blundered in setting up the work programme.
Last week at PMQs the prime minister claimed, ‘the bedroom tax is not a tax’, then this week the government chief whip apparently emailed Conservative backbenchers: ‘Please could all colleagues refer to “underoccupancy” and not the “bedroom tax”.’
You can change the name but you can’t change the facts. This April the bedroom tax hits those at the bottom. At the same time the government is handing out a huge tax cut to those at the top. That is what the chancellor decided to do in his last budget. I asked the leader of the House to arrange time for the chancellor to make a statement next week so he can U-turn on the bedroom tax and U-turn on the tax cut for millionaires.
Speaking of U-turns, new figures show that since the election the government has announced a U-turn every 29 days. Given the education secretary U-turned on GCSEs this time last week, I calculate that the next government U-turn is due on 8 March. As the 8 March is a Friday and not a sitting day in parliament I asked whether the leader of the House could arrange for his colleagues to bring forward the next U-turn to a day when the House is sitting?
I also asked the leader of the House join me in paying tribute to Harold Wilson who 50 years ago today was elected leader of the Labour party. A member of the House for almost 40 years, he led the Labour party for 13 years. He was prime minister for more than seven years. I reminded the Tory benches that after the February 1974 election Wilson chose to lead a minority government rather than go into coalition with the Liberals. And that he went on to win the subsequent election later that year.
I finished this morning’s questions by trying to bring some Valentine’s Day romance to the Conservative benches. The coalition has been going through a tough time, relationships are strained. As all good marriage guidance says, when relationships hit tough times you need to get the romance back. Put a bit of spice back into it. Have a bit of fun! So in the spirit of the day I suggested to the leader of the House that Conservative MPs be encouraged to take out a Liberal Democrat colleague – for a suitably expensive Valentine’s Day meal of course.
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Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey, shadow leader of the House of Commons and writes the weekly Business of Parliament column for Progress. She tweets @AngelaEagle