I began Business of the House Questions this week by raising the dramatic events in Ukraine that continue to unfold. As a new cabinet is installed in Kiev ahead of May’s presidential elections there are worrying reports of Russian troop movements on the border amid ongoing signs of volatility. I asked Andrew Lansley to give us his assurance that MPs will be kept up to date with this situation over the coming weeks.
Next Saturday is International Women’s day so I asked the leader of the House how the government plans to mark the occasion. Judging by the government’s record at the moment I don’t think we can expect much. We have had that notorious all-male frontbench, we have learnt that the Tory manifesto will be written by five men who went to Eton along with another man who went to St Paul’s, and the defence secretary Philip Hammond could not tell the difference between two women in the shadow cabinet … and it wasn’t me and my sister!
Yesterday Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, visited parliament to address both houses and I am sure there were many on the Tory backbenches who were especially interested in what the German chancellor had to say on the question of Britain’s relationship with the European Union. Last year, the prime minister was forced by his Eurosceptic backbenchers to announce that he was going to hold an in-out referendum in 2017. But last month the French president dismissed that arbitrary timetable for reform in Europe telling us that treaty change is ‘not urgent’ and ‘not a priority’. The reality is that the prime minister is utterly powerless to make good on his grand impossible promises to the growing band of Eurosceptics in his own party!
Earlier this week Conservative Central Office launched an outlandish rebranding exercise as Grant Shapps attempted to claim that they are now ‘The workers’ party’. So it’s out with the huskies and hoodies and in with the Bullingdon Bolsheviks. They have claimed to be the most family friendly government ever, the greenest government ever, the most transparent government ever, but this has to be the most laughable claim yet. Real wages are down, record numbers of people are working fewer hours than they would like and millionaire hedge fund donors are busy writing policies to slash rights at work. I asked for a debate on this latest Conservative misselling scandal.
Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a definite trend with this government. They continue to tell us they have increased flood defence spending when the national statistician says they have not. We have an environment secretary who does not believe in climate change and a deputy prime minister who thinks that he has got a right to be in government forever. I think this government might be living in a parallel universe.
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Angela Eagle is member of parliament for Wallasey, shadow leader of the House of Commons and writes the weekly Business of Parliament column for Progress. She tweets @AngelaEagle