Nick de Bois MP: Why the Government must not retreat on the health bill

Nick de Bois is the MP for Enfield North

Tim is completely right that the Conservative Party has got itself in a phenomenal political mess over the Health and Social Care Bill, and the concerns that Cabinet Ministers have expressed to him don’t surprise me one bit. Yet his overall conclusion, that we should kill the Bill, is by no means the answer to the problems we currently face and would be a short-term fix to a long-term problem.

Tim’s analysis of the problems we face are undoubtedly correct, and I would go further in suggesting that the prevailing view on the backbenches may be frustration at the situation we’re in, and some may also be tempted to question why we even bothered in the first place. True, we have taken heavy chunks of criticism for bringing forward reforms, but it is also true that the Government will take flak if there are future problems in the NHS whether or not the bill were to go ahead.

Nick de Bois MP: Parts of the Coalition are contributing to Britain's anti-business culture

Nick de Bois is the Conservative MP for Enfield North. Follow him on Twitter.

I completely understand the reasons for the attacks on Stephen Hester and (ex-Sir) Fred Goodwin. For some people the attacks have been satisfying, cathartic even, and frankly in the case of Goodwin he almost definitely deserved it. Yet the decision to strip him of his knighthood is inconsistent, populist and as Alastair Darling said "there is something a little tardy" about it.

But like going to a good party and letting your hair down, drinking too much and dancing when you know your efforts are a throw back to the 70s and really should not be put on display, it may feel good for a few hours, but the next day will be wiped out by an almighty hangover. We are now dangerously close to a hangover for Britain's business, and not just the financial sector.

The PM arrived in Downing Street with a mission to show that Britain was open for business and to focus on private sector growth through exports and inward investment. He has himself started to rebuild foreign trade relations with overseas partners neglected under the Blair years (the Gulf in particular). His appointment of Lord Green was a sound move, and demonstrates a commitment to the export growth outside the turbulent Eurozone we so desperately need. And recently the Government rightly responded to criticism that it was focussing on austerity too much and has started preaching the growth agenda and appeared to understand the message that for business to succeed, governments must set the macro picture then back off. Liberating the regulatory burdens, loosening employment laws, introducing enterprise zones, supporting apprenticeships, flexible business rates and easing corporation tax were a big step in the right direction.

Nick de Bois MP: Labour is right about one thing. This is a Conservative-led government and we should say so.

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North. Follow him on Twitter.

I don’t make a habit of saying this often, but I completely agree with Tom Baldwin, Ed Miliband’s Chief Spin Doctor, that this Government should be described primarily as ‘Tory-led’. Whether in the press, on the news or around the blogosphere people should be constantly reminded that the driving force behind Government policy is Conservative, and although the Liberal Democrats have a proportional policy voice they are primarily serving to provide the parliamentary numeracy to drive forward Government programmes.

This Government, across the policy areas of the economy, welfare state public services, and international development has a Conservative conscience, drive and ambition and I am beginning to become frustrated that this is not the message being delivered. Too often the Conservatives are the ‘bad guys’ trying to damage the economy or suppress the poor, and our partners are the angels on Cameron’s shoulder, preventing him from going too far. This unhelpful presentation is misrepresentative and politically toxic, and the Government has to nip it in the bud before the damage it does becomes irreversible.

Nick de Bois MP: Confidence in the economy is not just a matter for the City, but a matter of economic life and death

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North

In all the news frenzy this weekend regarding the eurozone, a turbulent Middle East and potential union strikes, little attention has been paid to the CBI survey published on business confidence.

Perhaps it's a positive that the report has been buried, because it makes a worrying read. A third of the businesses interviewed admitted that they are looking to cut staff numbers. Three quarters said their view of the economic outlook had worsened considerably since the summer.  Astonishingly, three out of five business leaders said that they planned to alter their business strategies,  with 38 per cent admitting that they were going to change their staffing plans. John Cridland, the Director General of the CBI, sensibly places the blame on the corrosive effects of the ongoing euro debt crisis undermining the ability of firms to build confidence.

Interestingly, the same survey demonstrates that 82 percent of business leaders believe the Government is right to stick to its deficit reduction strategy, despite what Chukka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, may preach at the despatch box. More proof, if it is needed, that Ed Miliband and his team are simply not speaking the same language as British business.

Nick de Bois MP: Parliament must debate the European Arrrest Warrant

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North.
Follow Nick on Twitter.

Yesterday's Sunday Telegraph reported Dominic Raab's call for a back bench-led debate this week on the future of our extradition arrangements. This broadly coincides with the publication of the much anticipated review by Lord Justice Scott Baker into the matter, as ordered by the Home Secretary earlier this year.

The call for a debate is timely for a number of reasons but above all I hope it will allow Parliament to influence the response of the government to the Baker review. Take, for example, our arrangements with other European member states which are governed by the European Arrest Warrant. These are deeply flawed - as the experience of my constituent Andrew Symeou illustrates. I for one would like colleagues on both sides of the House to understand the experience which Fair Trials International described as a "four-year nightmare" for Andrew at the hands of a European Arrest Warrant. This and other examples that MPs can share should be cause enough for serious reflection on whether British citizens are currently adequately protected from falling victim to a similar nightmare.

Nick de Bois MP: It's time for common sense on maternity and paternity rights because men and women need more job-creating businesses

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North.
Follow Nick on Twitter.

An article in today’s Sunday Times (page 3) claims that there is a cabinet split over the crucial issue of maternity and paternity rights. The focus of the article is a supposed split between those who think the proposals should be rolled back as they will harm business and growth, and those that think they are necessary to attract more female voters to the Party. I would argue that this artificial division misses the point entirely.

The government’s proposals to allow parents to share maternity leave, by either taking it at the same time, sharing the allocated time or taking it on a part-time basis, may possibly be popular. However, the report on employment law by the venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft, commissioned by the Prime Minister, is expected to call for a scaling back of maternity leave, flexible working and many workers’ rights in an attempt to encourage business to employ more people.

I have no doubt that there is general agreement in Government that making it easier for businesses to hire and fire staff should be a priority as part of the Growth strategy, and yet it is a perceived threat to "family friendly" policies causing political anguish. The all-important floating female voters have been targeted by CCHQ, and it appears focus groups are threatening to replace business leaders as our source of information on employment law.

Nick de Bois MP: A response to Tom Brake MP - Now is the time for our party to reclaim its heritage on law and order

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North

On Sunday night I stood in Enfield and saw rioters in normally peaceful streets. That is something I have never witnessed first hand.

When watching the TV screens the following Monday was even worse. Indeed, in my own constituency for the second night we watched with despair the massive Sony warehouse in the North East of my constituency burn to ashes.

I make no bones about this. We stand at a turning point. this is defining moment.

People of all political views and none are united in their belief that the rioting, burning and random acts of criminality that are happened are wrong. We politicians have a duty to be on the side of those law-biding people. 

Nick de Bois MP: Now is the time to back Andrew Lansley - and competition in the NHS

Nick de Bois is the MP Enfield North

Every successful Government knows when to compromise and when to hold firm. Those that compromise too much on their core principles rightly die slow and unlamented deaths. And ones that are unbending on every little detail expend too much political capital to achieve their full reform package.

So the key to success is getting that balance right - and that balance is inevitably more difficult for a Coalition Government.

My absolute conviction is that right now, on the vital NHS reforms that we signalled in our manifesto, we are in danger of compromising too much.

Nick de Bois MP: NHS reforms will mean competition on quality, not price

Nick de Bois is MP for Enfield North.

Last Thursday's election results have sparked a furious and emotional debate about the direction the Coalition Government is taking.

The Party that lost swathes of councillors and councils feels that it gains the mandate of the people, and the party whose vote stayed strong a year into Government seems to become apologetic and defensive. Talk in many of the serious papers has been that in order to raise Nick Clegg’s popularity the Prime Minister will allow him to change the Health and Social Care Bill until he is ‘personally satisfied’. This is in the face of the majority of voters in England (the area, after all, where this Bill will take effect) who went to the polls on Thursday in local elections to vote for a Conservative candidate. Liberal Democrats should absolutely change their tune.

One of the main bones of contention is the assertion that Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s reforms will see privatisation of the NHS. As a backbencher who sat on the committee for the Health and Social Care Bill and went through the clauses - one by one, hour by hour - I feel fully confident in stating publicly that the NHS under the current Government will always be free at the point of use, funded by general taxation and available based on need, not ability to pay. We will never privatise the NHS.

Nick de Bois MP: NHS reform - let's press on and do the right thing

Nick de Bois is MP for Enfield North

When it comes to the NHS, there is certainly consensus on one thing: leaving the NHS as it is just isn't an option. Doing nothing will let down front line doctors and nurses and patients alike. It also does a disservice to taxpayers. A system over 50 years old needs to be updated for modern times and modern health problems. That is why Ministers should press ahead with their proposed reforms, and win the battle against those who are calling for them to be watered down.

It's important to bear in mind that despite spending similar levels of money on health care as other European countries, our health outcomes aren't meeting European averages. It's a stark truth that in the UK you're twice as likely to die from a heart attack as in France. So it's not a case of spending a lot more - it's a case of spending better. That's why our plans to cut bureaucracy (by abolishing Primary Care Trusts) to save £1.7bn a year are so important.

Nick de Bois MP: We must show the British people that we are not resigned to accepting ludicrous decisions imposed by European institutions

Nick de Bois is Conservative MP for Enfield North.

One of the things that felt the most wrong about the thirteen years of Labour government was the feeling of helplessness: the sense that things were marching inexorably onwards and there was nothing that you could do about it.

CCTV, speed cameras, national ID cards, Europe... There was a mood amongst vast swathes of decent hard-working people that however strongly they felt or however nonsensical the direction seemed, Labour would keep us heading in that direction. Resistance was futile.

The recent judgement by the European Court of Justice that drivers buying insurance should not be discriminated against on the basis of their gender has that same feeling about it. It is clearly nonsense to argue that better drivers on the whole should not pay lower premiums. You can read that argument in any of the papers and right across the blogosphere. Combine that with the judgement by the European Court of Human Rights that prisoners should be allowed the vote, and we get that same gut-wrenching sense of unfairness.

Add to it the absurd notion that Europe will now dictate how much in benefits asylum seekers should be able to claim, and you clearly have an absurd position.

Whether we like it or not, the purpose of these institutions was to provide clear legal guidance away from the political mores of an individual nation state. But what we have instead is a group of unelected people putting their political mores ahead of our own people's wishes. Insurance firms will be forced to ignore impartial statistical evidence and instead impose a penalty on young, safer female drivers. As many other people have argued over the last couple of weeks, this decision has a knock-on effect for pensions, life assurance and other areas that previously worked absolutely fine without interference from above.

Before the election David Cameron spoke frequently about the need to change our relationship with Europe - to change the way that we deal with decisions imposed by European institutions. While we cannot single-handedly make the ECHR or the ECJ see sense, what we can do is to stop the feeling of helplessness. As the votes for prisoners issue shows, our people care deeply about the right to make their own laws, in keeping with their own opinions.

And that’s what this is all about. It’s not about an oppressive European superstate, or even about unelected judges. It’s about showing the British people that when it really matters we can change things, we are not resigned to our fate, supine and helpless but that we can take charge and put a stop to things that are just plain wrong.

Nick de Bois MP: Now it's time for a free vote on leaving the ECHR

Nick de Bois is Conservaitve MP for Enfield North.

Last night, the House of Commons did a remarkable thing: on a contentious and vital issue, it found virtual unanimity.

I was proud to vote against prisoners having the vote. This time last year, the Prime Minister said that burglars leave their human rights outside when they break into your house. Well, criminals sent down leave their vote outside the prison gates.

The absurd prospect of taxpayers paying a nine-figure sum to compensate criminals for the consequences of their own criminal behaviour has served one useful purpose - it has thrown into stark relief the illegitimate power of the ECHR over our own institutions.

That blatant illegitimacy should prompt a further free vote - on leaving the jurisdiction of the ECHR. Its overweening ambition demonstrated by its judicial activism to hold itself above our parliament makes it incompatible with a British view of democracy. There was a time when it served a useful purpose – but that time has gone when 'human rights' embraces so many fatuous cases as we have witnessed over the last decade.

I have no doubt that given the chance, the Conservative Parliamentary Party would vote enthusiastically for such an exit. And in doing so, they would genuinely be expressing the will of the people.

But as last night showed, there are other parties who also would vote to leave. And that is why it should be a free vote.

After all the opprobrium that has been thrown at politicians in recent years - and the sight of MPs and ex-MPs being found guilty of fraud and given custodial sentences - we could now do something to show that we are in fact in touch with our electorate; that their instincts are our instincts too; that we believe in the sovereignty of our country through its parliament and the power of our electorate to decide our own laws.

So, it’s time for another free vote. And I know which way I would be voting.

Nick de Bois: How we should use transferable tax allowances and childcare vouchers to support working families

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

It is not unusual for political parties to have slightly greater support among one sex than another. But it certainly is remarkable that some recent polls have given Labour a lead among women. Not a smaller deficit – but an actual lead.

A recent ComRes poll gave us a 16 point lead among men - and a four point deficit among women. Now not every poll gives Labour a lead amongst women – far from it. But the polls do betray a definite difference in support between the sexes. We need to accept that this is a problem; we need to examine why that is; and we need to agree what to do about it.

Social analysts have observed that to imagine men and women have different policy priorities is tempting but wrong. We all worry about crime, taxes, public services etc. And to suggest otherwise isn’t just a little patronising, it’s also wrong - and bad politics too.

But we do seem to differ in how we react to the answers proposed to those policy issues. Take family policy. Polls show that both sexes are in favour of greater support for families. But the most recent polling on our proposals shows a majority of women against a transferable tax allowance for married couples; compared with a clear majority of men in its favour.

In contrast, women offer clear support for the state to make it easier for them to combine children with work.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

Nick de Bois: In these testing economic times we must urgently argue the case for less - not more - intervention and regulation

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

All recessions change the political balance. But this one looks set to go further - and change the way we view the role of the state. This week's revelation from the Governor of the Bank of England of £60 billion of secret government support for HBOS and RBS will only add to the impression that this is a pivotal moment, not to mention the confirmation yesterday (as if there were any doubt) that we are still in recession; the longest and deepest ever.

Labour's most recent line of attack on our economic policy seeks to embed government intervention in the economy, and to foster the view that somehow an interventionist, expansionist state is key to driving economic growth.

That's a strange view, and it one with which I would certainly disagree. But in the current climate, it's one that I could see sticking.

With the banks having brought us so close to disaster, there is a natural and worrying backlash against the free market. If we do not make the case that actually an overblown state impedes economic growth rather than accelerates it, then we will end up with a re-run of the 1960s/1970s attitude to economic management. Now, as much as I might enjoy Life on Mars, or repeats of The Good Life, none of us seriously wants to return to the days of civil servants and Ministers - normally with zero private sector expertise between them - somehow 'backing winners' with taxpayers' cash.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

Nick de Bois: We now need the spirit of the Great Reform Acts to rebuild trust in politics

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.

The crisis facing politics today is deep, few would disagree with that. Yet to date the response of the main parties has been to focus on fixing the broken expenses model and the role of the Speaker. But I would venture that we now have a chance to go further and rebuild trust not just in the conduct of MPs, but in the purpose and ideals of Parliament.

The Reform Acts of the 19th Century were designed to widen the franchise and, in the process, eliminate grotesque failings of the system, including rotten boroughs. Disraeli in 1867 realised the need to build on the reforms of 1832 and beyond - and now it is time to echo Disraeli and seize the initiative.

The challenge for the next Parliament is to do just that and introduce reforms in the spirit of the Great Reform Acts, which will include, of course, the removal of the current grotesque failings in our system. The mood of the country may be currently "a plague on both your houses", but a positive agenda for change - far more reaching than just a dash to clean up the abuse of expenses - may be the catalyst for turning all this negative feeling into positive approval. We may even see an increase in voter engagement and turnout for positive reasons - and the party that delivers reform wins the election on a positive wave of support rather than anti-government protest.

Nick de Bois is the parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, the seat he also fought in 2001 and 2005. A father of four, Nick is also MD of Rapiergroup, an international marketing events company.