Mrs Claire Curtis-Thomas | ProjectParly

Parliamentary History

Labour

Crosby

1 May 1997 – 6 May 2010 (13 yrs)

Ideology spectrum

20.0

ProgressiveCentreConservative

Progressive — based on 15 coded votes across 1 axes (2% coverage).

Policy axis scores

0 = progressive, 50 = centre, 100 = conservative. Based on coded division votes.

Climate / energy 20

Medium confidence 15 votes

Voting trends (most recent 12 months of activity)

Voting record

March 2010 2 votes

Division	Date	Vote
It is not just the Liberal Democrats who have repeatedly pointed out the failings of control orders. There have been many high-profile court cases, not least over the past year, that inform and support our position. Seven orders in total have been quashed by the courts. As I mentioned, in June 2009 the House of Lords ruled unanimously that sufficient detail of allegations must be disclosed to susp...	1 Mar 2010	AYE
If the United Kingdom wishes to retain the power to exercise influence in this uncertain world, we sacrifice those assets at our peril. For the UK to surrender its role in the world would have disastrous consequences-military, political and economic. Recovery of that role would take at least a generation, if it could ever be done. That implies exercising choice, and that is something that we shall...	1 Mar 2010	NO

February 2010 5 votes

Division	Date	Vote
Question accordingly negatived. Question put, That the clause be added to the Bill.	9 Feb 2010	AYE
and insert 'under'. Amendment 10, page 1, line 15, leave out 'by the Treasury under any of' and insert 'under'.- ( Sarah McCarthy-Fry .) Question proposed, That the clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill.	8 Feb 2010	AYE
"strike at the very heart of the individual's basic right to live his own life as he chooses." His colleague in the Supreme Court, Lord Brown, said: "The draconian nature of the regime imposed under these asset-freezing Orders can hardly be over-stated." The hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) said that his amendment would make the Bill human rights compliant by deleting the reference to the...	8 Feb 2010	NO
Bill read a Second time; to stand committed to a Committee of the whole House (Order, this day). Considered in Committee (Order, this day). I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 3, leave out ' 31 December 2010 'and insert ' 31 March 2010 '. With this we may take amendment 2, line 2, leave out ' 31 December ' and insert ' 31 July '. We have pursued that line through introducing amendment 1, as we...	8 Feb 2010	NO
"In my opinion the rule of law requires that the actions of the Treasury in this context be subjected to judicial scrutiny." That is a powerful judgment that fatally undermines the Government's case that no other legislation will enable them to safeguard the national interest. They simply choose not to use what is already in place. Is my hon. Friend effectively saying that, when faced with the inc...	8 Feb 2010	AYE

January 2010 5 votes

Division	Date	Vote
Those are the very issues that we are looking at. I will table amendments on the issue for consideration in Committee, by which stage we will have further clarity on the points that the hon. Gentleman made. His contribution was important, and I know that my right hon. Friend has also been supportive on the matter. The second notable aspect of the debate was the fact that, for the first time in my ...	18 Jan 2010	AYE
The hon. Member for Havant talked about progression, which is an important issue. He talked about the report of the right hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) and the importance of trying to inspire apprentices to build their skills up to the higher education level. We have committed-again in the skills strategy-to introduce an apprenticeship scholarship fund from the autumn, and we are curren...	13 Jan 2010	NO
I am grateful to the Minister for his patience in giving way, but he again spoke about people with the highest care needs. We all agree that we should encourage as many people as possible to live at home and introduce a system to enable that-there is no argument about that. However, it is simply untrue that the Bill focuses resources on those with the highest care needs. Those who need residential...	12 Jan 2010	NO
Amendment 20 addresses the issue of carers. It would insert the wording: "Any process under subsection (4C) may not be contingent on the activity of, or acquiring, a carer." Even in a situation where carers would still be able to input their knowledge and expertise to design reablement packages, it would be difficult for them to be assured that that was being carried out appropriately if they were...	12 Jan 2010	NO
I also want to emphasise to the Committee-the hon. Gentleman acknowledged this in moving the amendment-that we have committed to reviewing the implementation of free personal care within the first 12 to 18 months of the policy coming into force. After that review, it will be possible to reconsider the predicted costs of delivering free personal care and the conditions for eligibility, if necessary...	12 Jan 2010	NO

November 2009 15 votes

Division	Date	Vote
Given that the staff working at the sharp end do not want to be involved in mandatory sanctions for women with children up to the age of three, why does my hon. Friend think that Ministers are so wedded to those mandatory sanctions? They have not explained themselves and my hon. Friend might be able to shed some light on this issue. I do not accept that sanctions are necessary. All that can be sai...	10 Nov 2009	AYE
I do not accept that sanctions are necessary. All that can be said for them is that they provide a structure for the relationship, because staff cannot simply give up the attempt to make contact; they must continue the encouragement. That is the only beneficial aspect of a sanctions programme that I can see, and if it is to be used so rarely, why invoke it? In an earlier intervention, which was ra...	10 Nov 2009	AYE
Leaving aside the example of drunkenness that has been given, as we are talking about sexual infidelity, is it not true that we are not talking about somebody who intended to kill or who was out for revenge? We are talking about someone who snapped and lost control, and a jury should therefore have all the facts. The hon. Gentleman sums it up exactly. Somebody snaps and loses control, and whether ...	9 Nov 2009	AYE
I agree, and as the right hon. Gentleman will know, we have today been invited by the Home Secretary to extend the remit of the advisory committee to look at the possibility of admitting intercept evidence in coroners' inquests. I cannot speak for the right hon. Gentleman, but I would happily agree to the remit of the committee being widened in that way. With the leave of the House, I wish to repl...	9 Nov 2009	NO
It is tempting on these occasions to load the IPC with a huge number of responsibilities. Part of what I have tried to set out is a balance of powers, so that it is the role of Government to set out need, get the skills strategy right and obtain the investment. The job of the IPC is to make a specific judgment about specific developments. That said, I am sympathetic to the point my hon. Friend mak...	9 Nov 2009	AYE
"where D acted principally out of a desire". The key phrase is "acted principally". The jury decides whether someone acted principally out of the various matters referred to in the amendment. The Minister's problem with the subjective nature of "perceived" does not arise unless the jury thinks that that is the principal reason. No reasonable jury could possible believe that in the circumstances sh...	9 Nov 2009	AYE
I will be very brief—briefer than I would otherwise be—one reason being that like many Members of the House, I would like to hear the views of the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard) , if, indeed, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you were minded to call him at any stage. In that hope, I will be as brief as I can be. It is exactly the same with a coroner's inquest. If somebody ha...	9 Nov 2009	NO
We have made clear that on the question of public subsidy for nuclear—it was clear in the White Paper produced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton) —we are not going to provide public subsidy for the construction, operation and decommissioning of nuclear power stations. Motion made, and Question put forthwith ( Standing Order No. 83A ),	9 Nov 2009	AYE
Division 241	9 Nov 2009	NO
We have had a useful debate, and we have all managed to get on record the importance of the complete discretion and independence of the CAG. Question put and agreed to. Clause 38 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill. Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill. I want to ask about the necessity of this clause. The Father of the House might correct me, but I do not remember i...	4 Nov 2009	NO
My problem is that it is very difficult to compare costs. I intervened on the hon. Gentleman and, perhaps rashly, he insisted that he was comparing like with like. I ask him to think again. It is very difficult to make reliable comparisons for exactly the reason that has been given by the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) . There is no like-for-like comparison that we have been able t...	4 Nov 2009	NO
All I seek to do is point out to the Minister that we are establishing a panoply of corporate governance that could lead to confusion in the NAO, when all that is required is the scrutiny of those two aspects: the longevity of appointment, about which there is no disagreement at all; and, the board's oversight of expenses and NAO organisation, which may be rather more demanding than was intended o...	4 Nov 2009	NO
That takes us back to the debates that we had earlier this afternoon and the reluctance, it would seem, of the Executive entirely to let go of matters that are within their power. I hope that the Minister will be able to tell us that in the long term that is precisely what the Government intend to do. Of course we must get value for money, which is exactly what I said. As I shall describe in a mom...	4 Nov 2009	NO
I shall wait for inspiration-but there does not seem to be any great transfer of power in the amendment at all. The right way to address the concerns is to have a proper response to the Calman commission in the round. If the amendment is pushed to a vote and Members vote against it, they will not be voting against Calman; they will be voting for a proper considered response to the whole report. I ...	3 Nov 2009	NO
First, I welcome the conversion of the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) to the Calman commission. That will receive widespread support from Labour Members—even though there was no great support for the commission from the Scottish National party, which would not even take part in it. I listened to the hon. Gentleman carefully when he said that he was being helpful, and I w...	3 Nov 2009	NO

October 2009 3 votes

Division	Date	Vote
My hon. Friend also raised the issue of access to gateway. The civil service gateway gives access to all civil service jobs, not just to those in DEFRA. The MMO will apply to civil service commissioners, via the Cabinet Office, for accreditation for MMO staff. Providing the MMO continues to meet the criteria for accreditation, there is no reason why MMO staff should lose the benefit of access to c...	27 Oct 2009	NO
Question accordingly negatived. Amendment proposed : 27, page 50, line 8, at end insert-	13 Oct 2009	NO
I am very well aware of the interest my hon. Friend has shown in the issue-as has my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) -and I think there is a way to ensure that the regional strategies and local spending reports take into account many of the concerns they have raised. I invite them both to a meeting with the Secretary of State and me to look at how we can take forward some of those imp...	13 Oct 2009	NO

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