http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speecharchive.php Recent Speeches from Chris Huhne MP en-GB Chris Huhne MP http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Chris Huhne MP 2008-11-20T23:09+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000081/revitalising_politics_have_we_lost_the_plot.html This afternoon, I could cite reams of statistics about falling turnout, declining party membership and rising disillusion, but I am going to take that as read. Our system is failing because it no longer engages our citizens. The problem is, at root, simple. First, people ask whether the political system matters to them. Many people increasingly answer no. This is partly because the great ideological battles of the past have disappeared, but it is also because the system increasingly lacks a human and local dimension. Secondly, people ask whether they can have any influence, or whether the system will go ahead with a pre-ordained outcome whatever they do. It does things to us, not for us or with us. Thirdly, and closely related to the second, people ask whether anyone cares about them. Reciprocity we know matters in society. If no-one cares about them, why should they care about politicians? 2008-11-05T15:10+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000065/immigration_debate_speech.html We welcome this debate; the motion is right to highlight the chaos of the Government's immigration policy. There is a widespread crisis of confidence over not just what we are aiming to do, but whether we can do it. The debate raises issues of Government policy concerning both the fairness and the integrity of the system. 2008-10-21T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000064/september_2008_conference_speech.html Conference, there is a Tory and Labour conspiracy on crime. 2008-09-16T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000069/intelligence_and_security_committee_speech.html We support the provisions in the White Paper, "The Governance of Britain". We will also support the amendments tabled by the hon. Members for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) and for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick), which add to the transparency and accountability and, to some degree, clarify the separation of powers, which has become somewhat muddled in this area. We also welcome the Committee's authoritative and detailed annual report for 2006-07. I would particularly like to pay tribute to the work of my right hon. Friend Sir Alan Beith on the Committee. Members might be aware that he is not present today because he is recovering from successful treatment for a heart problem. I am sure that all Members of the House wish him a speedy recovery. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] 2008-07-17T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000071/prevention_and_suppression_of_terrorism_speech.html I will not go over the full history of the way in which the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran got on to the list of proscribed organisations. Its inclusion was controversial even at the time and its public announcements that it had disarmed and renounced violence were especially clear. It is surprising that the Government maintained their proscription in the face of mounting judicial reviews of the decision, beginning on 12 December 2006, with the European Court of First Instance and continuing with the POAC High Court decision on 30 November 2007. The hon. Member for Thurrock described fairly the Lord Chief Justice's reaction to the evidence that the Government brought to bear in secret session. Despite all that, the Government persisted in attempting to defend the proscription. 2008-06-23T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000072/detention_and_bail_speech.html In my speech, I shall first explain why an extension of detention without charge matters to ordinary people and their freedoms, then I shall examine the weakness of the Government's case for such an extension and the feeble parliamentary safeguards offered by Ministers, and finally I shall argue that such excessive powers may be seen as illegitimate by substantial sections of our nation, and may act as a recruiting sergeant for the extremists. 2008-06-11T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000073/immigration_speech.html I beg to move that the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (House of Commons Paper No. 321), a copy of which was laid before this House on 6th February, be disapproved. 2008-05-13T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000074/pointsbased_immigration_system_speech.html We broadly welcome the points-based immigration system, as it will simplify the mess of different immigration schemes, which is all to the good. We also hope-although we do not yet trust-that the system will dramatically improve what can only be described as the chaos of the current arrangements. The increased public concern over immigration reflects a lack of confidence that the Government know what they want, understand what they are doing or are delivering what people in this country need. 2008-04-24T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000075/counterterrorism_bill_speech.html I shall set out what we welcome in the Bill, as well as what we deplore in it. There are good and bad things in what Ministers have brought forward. The good things include the use of intercept evidence in limited cases-in our view, too limited-and the ability to question people after charge, again in a limited and incipient form. Those are innovations with the potential to help substantially the attack on terrorism, particularly if combined with the benefits of greater flexibility in the decision to charge already being exercised by the Director of Public Prosecutions, as we have heard. It is the innovations in law, together with the innovations in practice through the variation in the test applied by the DPP, which make the bad elements of the Bill both redundant and harder to understand. 2008-04-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000076/police_grant_speech.html Clearly, there is serious concern among the public about crime. There is excessive violent crime, which has doubled since the Government came to power. The deterrent effect is, crucially, composed of not merely the severity of the penalty but the likelihood of detection. That is why the police service is so crucial in the fight against crime, and why the dangers of demoralising it seem considerable in the wake of the decision to phase the police pay settlement. 2008-02-04T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000077/lisbon_treaty.html Globalisation clearly involves the globalisation not merely of trade but of crime. The communications revolution ensures that, as does ease of transport. Sometimes I think that Members of this House, particularly those on the Conservative Benches, have not caught up with public opinion on the issue. A recent Eurobarometer opinion poll found that 70 per cent. of British people believe that decisions on terrorism, for example, should be taken jointly with our EU partners. As the right hon. Gentleman pointed out, we recently debated precisely that issue in the context of the Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention. The trafficking of men, women and children is a new form of slavery by debt bondage and an outrage against all civilised values. It is an entirely international trade on which the utmost international co-operation is required if it is to be tackled effectively. That includes early ratification of the anti-trafficking convention. 2008-01-29T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000078/police_funding.html I realise that the House debated the matter extensively yesterday, but it is hard to deal with the question of police efficiency and funding and the stresses thereon if we do not also touch on the issue of police pay. For us, it is a simple matter. If the Government ask a group of their own employees to give up certain basic rights-rights that are available to other employees-in exchange for a set of arrangements that are meant to deliver 2.6 per cent. against the 1.9 per cent. allowed by the Treasury, the results of arbitration ought properly to be accepted. There will be serious consequences for police forces across the country if they are not. 2008-01-10T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000062/a_liberal_democrat_view_on_climate_change_and_localism.html Thank you for the invitation to be here today. Climate change is the issue of our times. We are literally stealing the planet from our children and our grandchildren. We can and must change course. 2007-12-04T00:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000067/northern_rock_the_anatomy_of_a_financial_and_economic_crisis.html (CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY) 2007-11-13T13:00+00:00 http://www.chrishuhnemep.org.uk/speeches/000063/climate_change_lessons_and_opportunities.html It is an honour and a pleasure to be asked to speak tonight to this audience of business leaders and the Environment Agency in the natural history museum. 2007-11-05T00:00+00:00