I began Business of the House Questions today by paying tribute to all the men and women who have given their lives to protect our country. This year’s Remembrance Sunday is especially poignant as it is the centenary of the start of the Great War.
Every week in Wallasey I meet people struggling to feed their families at the end of the month, despite the fact they are in work. Thanks to this government, more than 12,000 people have been forced to rely on foodbanks on the Wirral. This week is living wage week, and Labour is proud to support it. Twenty-eight Labour councils are now accredited living wage employers and Labour-run Brent council is putting our policy into practice early by incentivising local employers to pay the living wage too. I asked William Hague this morning whether he remembers his fight to prevent the introduction of the lower but statutory minimum wage, especially when he declared that it would price people out of work.
As Tory backbenchers continue with their never-ending plots to drive Britain out of the European Union it is clear that the German chancellor is losing patience with the prime minister’s desperate attempts keep his party together. She let it be known this week that tinkering with free movement was a point of no return for Britain’s membership. Yesterday all David Cameron could do was attempt the in-out hokey-cokey which is fooling no one. I asked William Hague whether he agreed with his PPS Margot James that ‘the anti-immigration and EU minority tail is wagging the majority British dog’.
I understand that last week Tory members of parliament travelled to the prime minister’s constituency to shed the accusation that they are out of touch and privileged … by recreating the Bullingdon club at a £200-a-night hotel. Apparently it was billed as a ‘how to beat Ukip summit’ but the campaign effort consisted of knocking back free champagne and cognac until 3am. Michael Gove played a special game of ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’… but we know that already. Alan Duncan unveiled an excruciating painting of George Osborne naked and brandishing a carrot and there were some after-dinner jokes which were in such dubious taste that Bernard Manning would have been embarrassed. I wonder if my opposite number Hague had had his usual 14 pints …
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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