Speeches by Byrne.

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I hope that smile is because you are pleased to see me, and not because of Liverpool’s defeat on Sunday—[Laughter.] I thank the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) for securing this important debate. In January, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published its firs…”

“Many will see the removal of £5 billion from the social security system not as reforms, but as the continuation of the failed ideology of Tory austerity, which has already cost thousands of lives. I have had hundreds of disabled constituents tell me that they are absolutely terrified by what the Government are planning…”

“It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. First, I offer an apology from my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell). Normally he would have been here for this debate, but he is chairing a meeting on disability cuts as we speak. More than 5,000 women in my constitu…”

“I place proudly on the record that I am currently a member of Unite and GMB. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I take the opportunity to pay tribute to my good friend Terry Jones, a brilliant Scouse trade unionist who sadly passed away this morning. He supported the Bill …”

“The House also should have oversight of what we are called. You are representing them on a mandate from the electorate, so for me the House should have the say. If we are elected as Labour party MPs, we are Labour party MPs. If we are suspended, we will put “suspended” next to it.”

“It should carry through Parliament.”

“No; that is a fair point.”

“Absolutely, Michael, yes.”

“It will be a long chapter.”

“I think people do get confused when you say you are still following the Whip, but you are suspended, and they say, “You are an independent now, aren’t you?” It is all in people’s minds, so I think it needs clarifying.”

“No, I think we could agree to a form of words when it happens. I was suspended; I think that was fine. I did want to keep the Labour party, and I think that is what John was looking at and I was as well, just to avoid the confusion within the constituency—because it did cause an awful lot of confusion. People who obvio…”

“Just touching on that, you talk about the Bill Committees. I was suspended in July. I am the lead for the Hillsborough law in Parliament that is coming down the line. Hopefully, it will get laid down before the anniversary in April. I think it would have been a loss if I had not been able to put myself forward to be on…”

“To build on what John said, I was elected proudly as a Labour MP. We have done what we did. We have received the punishment, but it has confused constituents on a huge level when it comes up “independent”. I think John and I were in full agreement, and the other Members who have been suspended were as well: how we are …”

“Ian Byrne, Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby.”

“Absolutely, yes.”

“Like a technical group you are talking about?”

“To an elected MP, yes.”

“The House also should have oversight of what we are called. You are representing them on a mandate from the electorate, so for me the House should have the say. If we are elected as Labour party MPs, we are Labour party MPs. If we are suspended, we will put “suspended” next to it.”

“Then be amended if suspended.”

“It should carry through Parliament.”