Extract from Business
Questions
(East Renfrewshire)
(SNP): Six innocent UK military veterans, including
Billy Irving, remain in jail in India. The Foreign Secretary has
still not met their families. This Government have been in a
tizzy over Brexit and have not been focusing on those men, and
now this cynical Tory election means that their perilous
situation slips even further down the priority list. These
military veterans deserve better, so in the time left what are
the Government going to do to get Billy and his colleagues home
where they belong with their families?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David
Lidington): The hon. Lady has raised that case before,
so she knows that the Prime Minister has raised the case of the
Chennai six with Prime Minister Modi of India; that Foreign
Office Ministers and our high commissioner in New Delhi have
raised the issue many times with their Indian counterparts; and
that representations continue to be made to the Indian high
commissioner here in London. The case is with the judicial system
in India, which is a mature democracy, and we will continue to
make all representations possible on behalf of those men. We are
certainly not giving up and it is wrong for the hon. Lady to
suggest in any way that we have done so.
Extracts from debate
on State Pensions: UK Expatriates
(North Thanet)
(Con):...Will there be 27 different reciprocal
agreements or one blanket agreement? Will former EU pensioners
find their pensions frozen like those in Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, the Indiansubcontinent, Montserrat and other
countries? Surely now, in the light of Brexit, is the time at
least to start to put all expat UK pensioners who have paid their
dues on an equal footing...
Mr (Ealing, Southall)
(Lab):...This topic is important to many people, and not only
those living abroad who left the UK for very good reasons,
including people who migrated here in the 1950s and have since
gone back to live in India, Pakistan, Australia and other places.
Those people have contributed to this country’s economic and
social life. I congratulate the APPG and its chair on raising
these issues and on meeting and listening to the Australian
campaigners who came here. I hope that the next Government will
take this on board and ensure that these people are not
disadvantaged...
(Ross, Skye and
Lochaber) (SNP):...I will close now with some quotes. I
know that the hon. Member for North Thanet has eloquently
presented us with some human experiences, but let me just add to
them, because at the end of the day it is the cost for the
individuals that should concern us. Abhik Bonnerjee is 72 years
old and now lives in Kolkata, India. After contributing to the
British economy for 38 years, he is now scared of losing his home
as he is struggling to survive on his frozen pension. He is
considering moving to an unfrozen country. He said:
“The Government should be doing more, especially for Commonwealth
countries, and MPs can’t explain why they are not.”..
(Stockton North)
(Lab):...As the law stands, there are 551,000 UK
pensioners living abroad, in countries such as Australia and
Canada, who have had their pensions frozen at well below the
level paid to pensioners still living in the UK, according to the
International Consortium of British Pensioners. While UK
pensioners receive up to £155.65 a week, a person who retired in
2000 and moved to either Canada, India, Australia or one of
hundreds of other countries receives just £67.50.That does not
grow with inflation; in fact, it does not grow at all, leading to
a continuous reduction in real-terms income, a loss of
independence and, eventually, poverty for hundreds of thousands
of pensioners across the globe. As we have heard from their
champion, the hon. Member for North Thanet, all these people
contributed tax and national insurance to the UK throughout their
working life, and they are now penalised because they choose to
live in a different country, perhaps to spend their retirement
closer to their families...
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