Strengthening the Union

Is that not what No. 10 Downing Street is supposed to do?

That is a very interesting point. [Interruption.] Yes, it is, but while things are very good, the...

My hon. Friend is making an important point, just as the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Stewart M...

I believe the UK Government must do more in every policy area and, as my hon. Friend says, at eve...

It is a pleasure to be here on this of all Mondays, speaking up for my constituents in Coatbridge...

Can the hon. Gentleman tell me how many times he has voted against the Leader of Opposition, the ...

The point is that had the Tories done what they said they were going to do when they came down he...

The hon. Gentleman will be as aware as I am of the cuts across every policy budget area in Wales....

No, it is the fault of the two Governments we have got just now.

As Tony Graham, the Scotti...

How come that when that same measure was proposed by the SNP administration in Glasgow, Glasgow L...

It was not a council in Glasgow but a council in north Lanarkshire, and I voted for it.

We ...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate.

We should speak about some of the positives of ou...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech about the positive benefits from this Union. Does he a...

I thank my hon. Friend, and I could not agree more. My office has been involved in helping out a ...

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman, my neighbour, for giving way—[Interruption.] He is from...

I thank my neighbour for his intervention. I am glad that we have so much common ground between u...

I am grateful to the Government for giving us this debate, because it has given me the opportunit...

I am wearing a suit.

He knows the suit I mean! If we are talking about clothing, the Union is more like a fur coat, na...

Will my hon. Friend enlighten the House as to why she thinks that account has deleted that tweet?...

I think that the account has perhaps deleted the tweet because it was getting so many retweets fr...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. One of the people who have now said publicly that t...

Absolutely. He joins Murray Foote, one of the authors of “The Vow”, who has come round to the oth...

The hon. Lady is making a point about a very sensitive policy area, on which we have had a lot of...

I have campaigned solidly in favour of getting rid of the policy throughout the UK. All that the ...

I think it is important, before I get into the main context of my speech, to pick up some of the ...

Can I clarify the record, so that there is no misunderstanding? I think that I clarified the issu...

That is a very important clarification because I have checked the official record and I said, in ...

rose—

The hon. Lady has clarified that, and I have only 10 minutes in which to speak. I am grateful for...

rose—

Order. Is the hon. Gentleman going to take an intervention?

I think that the hon. Lady has clarified the position, and I have only a few minutes.

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to take the intervention.

Having clarified the point, I should be grateful if the hon. Gentleman stopped repeating a statem...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to move on, because I think that is an important point th...

May I take the hon. Gentleman back to his point about elections? What happened to the Conservativ...

Yes, and we have discussed that many times but, as a minority, we are governing in the United Kin...

I am always grateful to debate this issue with the hon. Gentleman. I have asked him to do this be...

The Ministry of Defence pays our hard-working and extremely brave servicemen and women the UK rat...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not give way. How dare they say the £4 million annually that this UK Government are pa...

Does my hon. Friend sense, as I do, that the SNP’s objective is to get independence for Scotland ...

Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes a very serious point. The outcome of independence does not matte...

I am upset to be called after the hon. Member for Moray (Douglas Ross) because as a result I was ...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech about the fact that solidarity transcends borders and ...

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I wonder what the Windrush generation feel about thei...

I am delighted to rise to speak in this debate this evening. In fact, there is nowhere else I wou...

But Ruth Davidson promised that if Scotland voted no it would get to stay in the European Union. ...

I think the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but of course she did no such thing. The people...

We hear a lot about this centralisation issue. Why was it that, when the Scottish Government brou...

I would have to look into that in more detail to find the exact reason why we abstained on that v...

I thank the hon. Members for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) and for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath ...

With the tie of the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard)?

An orange tie. They would blend in well at that great celebration of Unionism in Northern Ireland...

I am going to do something that breaks with convention in this debate—I am going to say something...

And Lancashire!

And Lancashire, and quite right, too, Mr Deputy Speaker; one great Lancastrian speaks to another....

I do not dispute whether or not what the hon. Gentleman is saying is correct, but that is just a ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that interjection. You are right: it has nothing to do with that; ...

Order. This is not about private chats. You have to speak through the Chair. I know there is grea...

I apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am speaking collegiately.

Looking at where we are going t...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris), who has pe...

I rise to defend and advance the cause of the Union: the most successful political and economic u...

May I just say to the hon. Gentleman that he is many things; a piece of scum is not one of them. ...

The hon. Gentleman is indeed honourable, because he has been the very first on social media to co...

What exactly have UK Departments rushed to devolve that they should not have devolved? [Interrupt...

Well, the British Transport Police, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (...

Hear, hear!

I am grateful for the support for that statement, if for nothing else I have said.

It is un...

It is a pleasure to contribute to what has so far been a somewhat enlightening debate.

The ...

It is interesting to follow the shadow Minister. He has been a Member of the House for a year and...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman shortly, but I want to get into the crux of what I am going...

I thank my fellow Glasgow Member for giving way. I have to put to him that the fundamental ethos ...

I agree that the hon. Gentleman believes that to be the case. I am afraid I do not believe that t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not give way because I want to make some progress.

I want to quote a former Glas...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

How can I say no after quoting the hon. Gentleman’s constituency slogan?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for quoting what used to be my constituency phrase of “Look aboot ye”....

I am willing to accept that entirely, but that does not mean I have to stop arguing for it. Indee...

The hon. Gentleman is right to point out grievances that he has with this Government. Is it not t...

The hon. Gentleman is in a unique position, as is the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and ...

I again commend the hon. Gentleman for his spirited defence of democracy in this context, but why...

Perhaps I can help the hon. Gentleman. I know he believes what I am saying to be sincere. I do no...

First, I thank the Government for bringing this matter to the House for consideration. I do not u...

It is an honour to wind up the debate on behalf of the Opposition. It has been an interesting deb...

rose—

rose—

I will carry on, thank you.

No longer can Whitehall hold the purse strings, dictating from ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I am just about to finish.

We will transform the outdated political structures of this coun...

It is a pleasure to reply to this debate, in what is my last act as a Wales Minister before I mov...

If all this is so important, and if respecting devolution is so important, can the Minister expla...

The hon. Gentleman will know full well that this Government engaged massively with both the Welsh...

Given that the Minister is now a Defence Minister, I hope he will be able to help me. What was th...

The honest answer is: I do not know the answer to that question, but I will be honest about it an...