Speeches by Asser.

“To follow up on the description. You put a suggestion that there is a degree of flexibility, and you want to explain it. Essentially there are two forms of suspension of the Whip, aren’t there? There is the party discipline process that you have broken a Whip, and the Whips have decided to withdraw it for a period. Als…”

“You slightly pre-empted my next question, but I think it will be useful to probe. I would like to probe you, John, on the suggestion you made when you wrote to the Speaker. When the Whip is suspended, either temporarily or permanently, the “independent” tag is used, as it is, indeed, if you quit the Whip. Clearly, you …”

“Just a quick one: when you reached out, was there any discussion with the Whips about the descriptor or was that not a conversation that was had?”

“That is helpful because we have probed the House authorities in a previous session, so it is useful to hear.”

“Your time may yet come!”

“You slightly pre-empted my next question, but I think it will be useful to probe. I would like to probe you, John, on the suggestion you made when you wrote to the Speaker. When the Whip is suspended, either temporarily or permanently, the “independent” tag is used, as it is, indeed, if you quit the Whip. Clearly, you …”

“Just to probe, because obviously you did write to the Speaker about this because of the confusion it caused, and you suggested that your descriptor be changed to “Labour (suspended)”. Could you outline what you thought—”

“To follow up on the description. You put a suggestion that there is a degree of flexibility, and you want to explain it. Essentially there are two forms of suspension of the Whip, aren’t there? There is the party discipline process that you have broken a Whip, and the Whips have decided to withdraw it for a period. Als…”

“Just a quick one: when you reached out, was there any discussion with the Whips about the descriptor or was that not a conversation that was had?”

“That is helpful because we have probed the House authorities in a previous session, so it is useful to hear.”

“Your time may yet come!”

“As we have heard, it is National Apprenticeship Week. In constituencies such as mine, apprenticeships are hugely important for people securing good jobs underpinned by strong skills. Given the Government’s commitment to growth, supported by a lot of infrastructure projects and building, does the Leader of the House agr…”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) for securing the debate and for all the work he does on this; it is very much appreciated. We have just had another successful National HIV Testing Week, and I join others i…”

“7. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support people to use electric vehicles.”

“One of the challenges facing people who are moving to electric vehicles is the charging infrastructure, particularly in inner cities. Local authorities have worked to try to help that, but they have limited resources. My old team at Newham council did a deal with Uber to supply 400 on-street charging units. Does the Mi…”

“8. What progress he has made on reducing electronic waste.”

“Mr Speaker, I wish you and your team a very happy Christmas. I thank the Minister for her reply. We are all keen to increase recycling, but too often the opportunities for recycling electronic waste are very limited, meaning that it goes into mainstream waste, leading to increased pollution and hazards. We are seeing a…”

“I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am very pleased to be able to speak in this debate as one of the newly elected co-chairs of LGBT+ Labour, and it is a great honour to follow a number of hon. Members who have given very powerful testimonies from veterans. It is …”

“I am sure we will be happy to.”

“You have already touched on private Members’ Bills, which the Committee is picking up because we anticipated that, following last week, there would be interest in the issue. One of the priorities you suggested in your memorandum to the Modernisation Committee was organising how parliamentary time is allocated to Back-B…”