Mark made the following contributions to a debate on the benefit cap.

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I agree with where the Minister is coming from, but he should not doubt the sincerity of many London Members, particularly those of us who represent inner-London seats. We have deep concerns that some of our local residents will have to move. They will not be made homeless—I agree with him that we should not exaggerate—but they will have to move to other parts of London or the UK....

Mark made the following speech at a breakfast meeting on UK relations with the EU and the Coalition in 2012: Now one-twelfth of the ‘New’ Year is already behind us, but the Eurozone saga continues unabated. I have frequently observed that it is a victory for politics over economics, but it also reflects a victory for sheer human nature. Too often when we are confronted with painful choices, we as humans default into denial. Perhaps politicians across our continent are not such a bizarre breed or law unto themselves as we all thought!

Mark made the following speech today at the 2012 Cyber Defence and Network Security Conference in his capacity as a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee:

The growth of the internet is the defining technological change of this generation. Not only has it transformed the way we communicate, socialise, transact, consume,...

Mark made the following contributions to a debate tabled by Stephen Hammond MP on UK-India trade.

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) It is a pleasure to be here under your chairmanship, Mr Walker, and in a debate initiated by one of my close friends in Parliament, my hon. Friend Stephen Hammond.

I will speak, if I may, very briefly. I have made two visits to India—in 2003 and in 2006. Between those years, there was a change in Government. What struck me was the confidence of the business and political classes in New Delhi and Bombay. I suspect that, six years ...

Mark made the following contribution to the Local Government Finance Bill which makes provision for non-domestic rating; grants to local authorities; and council tax.
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I am sure Mr Jones will be glad to hear that I am not speaking just to protect the ratepayers and businesses in Westminster.This has been a worthwhile debate. I appreciate that the amendments were tabled for probing purposes, and I hope the Minister will elucidate precisely what the context of the word “disproportionate” is. I suspect I agree with my hon. Friend Mr Syms that the context will change over a number of ...

Mark made the following contribution to the Local Government Finance Bill which makes provision for non-domestic rating; grants to local authorities; and council tax.
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): Does the right hon. Gentleman not recognise that the current system also has a whole lot of disincentives for local authorities built into it? Over years gone by, it has disincentivised many local authorities. It is perhaps all too...

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I congratulate my hon. Friend Mr Burrowes on obtaining this very important debate. We have heard a lot about palliative care and the hospice movement and we recognise what a patchwork of provision there is in different parts of the country. I take on board the warnings from my hon. Friend Penny Mordaunt that that should not be used as an excuse to make assisted dying easier. I will concentrate my brief comments on assisted dying....

Mark made the following speech at a couple of City meetings this week:
The coalition’s spending programme for the duration of this parliament was supposed to have been settled conclusively in last November’s pre-budget report. On that basis next week’s Autumn Statement was designed to be a routine affair. Instead the government is investing substantial political capital in the hope that this set-piece parliamentary event will promote UK economic growth beyond its recent anaemic levels. We are unlikely to hear the Chancellor admit.

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) I thank my hon. Friend Mr Baron—my very old parliamentary friend—for securing this debate. He talks with immense sense and, as a man who had a job outside politics before entering this place, immense experience. After 20 years in the financial markets, I suspect he has forgotten more about finance than many people who talk on these matters on all our behalves know.

Conventional wisdom dictates that high noon for the euro is imminent.

Mark made the following contributions to a debate on grammar schools.

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): Before my hon. Friend finishes his history lesson, which is timely—I congratulate him on obtaining this important debate—surely one problem in the post-war era and one reason for the hostility on one side of politics to the grammar school system was the failure of the plan to build up technical...

Mark made the following contributions to a debate on basement development that had been tabled by Westminster North MP, Karen Buck. Subterranean development has been a matter of great concern to Central London residents in recent years given the disruption that can follow and the damage that can occur to the local amenity.

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I agree with what the hon. Lady says. The Knightsbridge Association in my constituency, among others, has made it clear that it is not opposed in principle to the provision of basements beneath existing houses, but it is concerned about aspects of the design, construction and usage....

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative): I congratulate the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) on introducing this important debate. As he pointed out, I, rather greedily, have two cities in my constituency just to the west of his own. They are also rich in history, and I suspect I could bore Members for some hours by going into the details of that history. It was a great pleasure to listen to the hon. Gentleman’s speech, in which he described, with understandable pride, the great achievements of Tower Hamlets. Although he spoke about its great history, he also had a firm eye on the future.

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative): Although I do not agree with the final few words of my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), I agree with much of the rest of what he said. If this was genuinely the last time that the House would ever consider these issues, I would be rejoicing and might even be entirely persuaded by what the Leader of the House said. He knows as well as I do that, if IPSA recommends a significant salary increase in advance of April 2013, the Government—perhaps even a Government with him still as Leader of the House—will introduce a two-line Bill to ensure that we do not vote on the proposal.

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) Like my hon. Friend Gavin Barwell, I watched the dreadful and, at times, terrifying scenes of disorder that took place in so many of London’s shopping centres. My first thoughts were often with the business owners whose livelihoods had been destroyed. Those very hard-working folk are supporting not only families, but our neighbourhoods. They are often the very glue of our local communities and deserve not only our deepest sympathy, but the fast-track help that has been promised by the Government...

Mark made the following interventions in a Westminster Hall debate about problems relating to gangs and gang culture:
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) It is important to put it on the record that there have been improvements in some statistics for some areas of serious crime, whether knife crime or gun crime, in recent years, although I accept that there is a tendency now to move in the wrong direction. We all know that just to bandy around statistics is not a sensible route forward. I very much take on board the idea that there needs to be far more co-ordination within London. The right hon. Gentleman referred...

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) As the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr Foster) pointed out, there is a danger of this debate—and, indeed, other similar debates—becoming a bit of a love-in. In the 10 years that I have been in this House, I have always been a great believer that Members must work together with other Members. My constituency neighbours have tended not to be from my political party, but I have worked closely with the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) and the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson) on a range of issues. However, I always have some concerns when there is a little too much consensus in this House on particular issues, not least because the very essence of politics should be choice. In the current debate, it is important that certain aspects of the scepticism felt by many millions of Britons outside this House are also put on the record. .

Mr Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): The royal parks are a national asset treasured by millions of Londoners, those who work here and countless tourists from all four corners of the globe. For many, they provide an oasis of peace and tranquillity amid the incessant din of urban noise. For others, they are a meeting place, a venue for team sport, an arena—sometimes, at least—for music and a setting for national expression. ...

Mr Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I am lucky enough to be the chairman of the all-party group on Azerbaijan, and I was also on the trip that the previous two speakers attended in recent weeks. In addition, in recent months I have been board adviser to the European Azerbaijan Society. We had a tremendous trip to Baku, Nagorno...

Mr Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): It was only four short years ago that the United Kingdom reflected on the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. At the time, among all the self-congratulatory celebration, I suggested that our renewed focus should be on refreshing our resolve to tackle the modern equivalent of slavery—human trafficking. Human trafficking involves the recruitment, transfer and harbouring of men, and particularly women and children, so that they can be exploited for forced labour, sexual services or domestic servitude. It is the most unpleasant by-product of globalisation in the labour market and now scars each and every constituency...

Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative) I congratulate my hon. Friend Elizabeth Truss on securing this extremely important debate. I shall try to make my comments even briefer than you have asked us to, Mr Rosindell. The debate has been very interesting and we have touched on a lot of issues to do with aspiration, but I just want to say a little about education for excellent pupils, a matter about which the Minister and I had a brief exchange on the Floor of the House only yesterday. .