Transcripts For CSPAN2 Prime Ministers Questions Prime Ministers Questions 20240711

We now come to Prime Ministers questions and im first of all going full on board with rape man chester. Prime minister. Mister speaker, today on Holocaust Memorial day i know that the whole house will want to join me in solemnly remembering the 6 million jewish men, women and children murdered during the holocaust and all other victims of nazi persecution. Last week i had the privilege of hearing from holocaust survivor renee salt, one of the last living british serviceman who limited liberated camp at bergenbelsen. Their courage to share their testimonies will inspire us to never forget the holocaust and to fight against all forms of hatred and prejudice wherever they are found in speaker this morning i had meetings with minister and colleagues and others my duty, i shall further such meetings later today. We will now have a virtual member of the opposition. Thank you mister speaker. Id like to associate myself with all the Prime Minister said. Id like to commend the Prime Minister for all their hard work in these challenging times in delivering on this fascination but my constituents from the wider midway account to would like me to raise their concerns with regards to the availability of the vaccine in our local towns. We have constituents in their 80s, 90s but have not yet had the vaccination and one of the hardest hit areas of the country in kent, north kent as some of the highest. Cant found in short we have the Mass Vaccination Center in midway. Mister speaker, i share my honorable friends sense of restoration about the pace of the vaccine rollout and in spite of the fact we have the fastest rollout anywhere in europe, it is entirely right that a constituency mp should want to see more doneas fast as possible. I can tell him weve vaccinated more than 80 percent of those over 80 across the country and we are looking certainly to largescale vaccinations near here and in the immediate this entity we have done 127,000 vaccines already, mister speaker providing the hope of longterm immunity for the people of medway and gilliam. We had to a virtual leader of the opposition, just hammer. Can i begin by joining the Prime Ministerin his remarks about Holocaust Memorial day. This evening ill be joined in the ceremony and unlike a panel to remember the 6 million jews murdered in the holocaust along course with the other genocides of persecutions that took place around the world. Mister speaker, yesterday we passed the tragic milestone of 100,000 covid tests in the United Kingdom. Behind every death is a grieving family. A mom, dad, sister, a brother. A friend, a colleague, a neighbor. The question on everyones lips this morning is why. The Prime Minister must have thought that question alot. What could he tell us why he thinks that the United Kingdom has ended up with a death toll of 100,000. The highest number in europe. Prime minister. Mister speaker, like the right honorable gentlemen i mourn every death in this pandemic and we share the grief of all those who have been bereaved mister speaker and there can be no doubt that i and government take full responsibility for all the actions i have taken and we have taken during this pandemic to fight this disease and yes mister speaker, there will indeed be a time when we must learn the lessons of what has happened, reflect on them and prepare mister speaker. I dont think that moment is now when we are in the throes of fighting this wave of the new variant and 27,000 people are struggling in our hospitals and i think what the country wants is for us to come together as a parliament and as politicians and work to keep the virus under control mister speaker as we are and to continue to roll out the fastest Vaccinations Program in europe. I think thats where the minds of the public are today. Just hammer. Im sure the Prime Minister regrets the fact that 100,000 people have lost their lives but the question is why . Why as the United Kingdom the highest number of deaths in europe . Why has the United Kingdom a death rate higher thanalmost anywhere in the world . The Prime Minister is going to have to answer that question one day. And he should have the decency to answer it today. A few days ago, the chief scientific officer said prepared to give it now. The lesson he said is you got to go hard, early and broad ifyoure going to get on top of this. Waiting simply doesnt work. Does the Prime Minister agree with that . Mister speaker, when you have a new virus and indeed a new variant of that virus of the kind that we had in this country , when you have delimiters as hard and as heavy as this government has had to face over the lastyear , i must tell the right honorable gentlemen there are no easy answers. A perpetual lockdown is no answer, mister speaker but we will continue to do as i said to the house, as i said to you mister speaker do everything we can to roll out our Vaccine Program and give the public the protections they want and deserve and as i say to you today 6. 9 Million People in our country have had the vaccine. We are on target if we can get the supply to deliver the target of the jcb i won before the most vulnerable groups of subarea and i hope very much to be in the next few weeks to be setting out in much more detail how this country can exit now from the pandemic. Mister speaker, the problem with the Prime Minister avoiding thequestion of why is that vital lessons will be learned. The reality is this the planet was slow into thefirst lockdown last march. It was slow getting protective equipment to the front lines. Slow to protect first care homes, slow on testing and tracing. Slow into the second lockdown. Slow to change the christmas mixing rule. Slow again into this third lockdown, delaying 13 days from 22 december before implementingit. And i fear that he still hasnt learned that lesson. The latest example is the continued delay insecuring our borders. Weve known about the variance of the virus since early december when it was announced in the house of commons. We know some of those variants are coming from abroad. But we dont know the route. Surely the Prime Minister can see that what is required now is that everybody coming into the country from anywhere in the world should be tested and subject to quarantine in a hotel. Why cant that be put inplace today . Mister speaker, throughout this pandemic its been the habit of the opposition first to support one approach and then to attack it and to twist and to turn. Recently the shattered transport was saying quarantine measures should be relaxed mister speaker. We have oneof the toughest regimes in the world. Our people test 72 hours before they fly, they have to locate before theyre kicked off the flight and they already have to quarantine for 14 days and my right honorable friend will be setting out later today to wait for that even tougher measures for those red list countries where we are particularly concerned about the new variant and i think what the people of this country wants for us now to do is to come together as a government, as aparliament and get this thing done. The Prime Minister complains about the operation opposition but the greatest criticism of the Prime Minister of the moment in relation to borders is coming from his own home secretary. Shes telling anyone who will listen the Prime Minister didnt do enough in relation to the borders last year. And i fear the Prime Minister is repeating the same mistake in relation to the new variants of the virus. Mister speaker, everybody agrees that reopening our schools should be a national priority. But that requires a plan. But the Prime Minister hasnt got a plan. The first step, does he agree with me that once the first four categories of the most vulnerable have been vaccinated by midfebruary , he should bring forth the vaccination key workers and use the window of the february february half term to vaccinate all teachers at all school staff. Mister speaker, of course it follows that all teachers in jcb i groups 1 to 9 will be vaccinated in a matter of priority and i pay tribute by the way to what the huge efforts that parents are making across the country, struggling to help educate their kids. I know how frustrating it is the extra burden to be placed on families by closing the schools and no one has worked harder than my own secretary for education to keep schools open. We all want to open schools mister speaker. What we want to hear from the leader of the opposition is that he will say loudly and clearly what hes refused to say so many times mister speaker and what the public needs to hear is that schools are safe. Absolutely critical that he says that. Hammer. Im sorry mister speaker, im on the wiser as to whether the Prime Minister agrees with me that School Teachers and school staff to be vaccinated, taking advantage of the february half term. Thats two or three weeks away and a fantastic opportunity and im no wiser as to whether the Prime Ministerthinks its a good idea or a bad idea. In the meantime, the government has got a duty child can learn from home. Without access to a laptop or computer or the internet, that canthappen. The government challenged on this last summer, challenged on it last autumn and here we are nearly at the end of january. The best part of the year into this pandemic and a third of families say they dont have enough laptops or home computers. For 400,000 children still cant get online at home. Does the Prime Minister realize how angry many families are they still havent got togrips with this. Mister speaker as i said just now i do fully understand the frustration and impatience with families across the country who are educating their kids at home and i know how frustrated teachers are with educating Remote Learning as well. To why we provided 1. 3 million laptops and why we provided a 1 billion pound ketchup fund and i will make a statement to the house in just a few minutes mister speaker setting what more we propose to do with the reopening of schools and the way forward with schools and what more we propose to do with escorting teachers and parents if he would wait a few minutes but hes missed his opportunity once again to say what i think people need to hear if we are to get schools to reopen because that is the best thing for people and the bestthing for families across the country. Id like to hear from the leader of the opposition in defiance of his union paymasters that schools are safe. I remind the post that his Prime Ministers questions. Every week the Prime Minister comes with his preprepared lies and i think when 100,000 people have died he should take the time to answer the question. When one in three families say that they dont have enough laptops or computers , the answers are simply not good enough. Where nearly ayear into this pandemic. This hasnt happened in the last few weeks and one in three families say they dont have the wherewithal. Those children are going without homeschooling thats the question the Prime Minister should be answering. Mister speaker, if the first country in europe to record 100,000 covid deaths we also have thedeepest recession of any major economy. Our borders are open. And my biggest concern is that the Prime Minister still hasnt learned the lessons of last year and i fear that as a result we will see more tragedy and more grim milestones. This afternoon, i will be speaking to families who lost loved ones to covid. The last time i didthis , i asked the Prime Minister what he would like me to sayto them on his behalf. He replied with a preprepared childish gag. I could tell the Prime Minister just how badly that went down with those families when i spoke to them later that afternoon. Ill ask him again and i hope this time he will have the decency to answer them properly. What would you like me to say to those bereaved families on his behalf this afternoon . Mister speaker, im grateful to the right honorable gentlemen for meeting the families of the bereaved as i have done and as i know members of the house have done throughout the pandemic and its important that we do that. The message i would give those families is the same as ive given everybody ive met and its that i have course deeply personally regret the loss of life, the suffering of their families mister speaker but i think the best thing that we can do to honor the memory of those who have died and to honor those who are currently grieving is to Work Together to bring this virus down. To keep it under control in the way that we are and mister speaker, throw out this pandemic im sad to say that the leader of the opposition has never failed in his effort to try to score political points when i think he could be doing just that and he has twisted and he has turned and one week he calls for tougher border measures after they shattered counsel secretary called for looser quarantine, calls for schools to go back and he wont even say this morning that schools are safe. He tries to associate himself now with the Vaccine Program when he senses that may be going well but one bundles the pharmaceutical companies mister speaker that made those vaccines possible and he actually attacked the vaccines, i tried to make this point last week, he even attacked the vaccine transports saving 675,000 pounds on an effort to discover whether hardtoreach groups would take the vaccine and i cannot think of a better investment right now of public funds and i hope that the right honorable gentlemen may think of apologizing for what he did and for thatattack on the vaccine transport. The right honorable gentlemen can go on making his little points, we will go on with or without his help taking this country forward, fighting the pandemic and getting coronavirus down. The lady from the derby shire. The importance of leveling up to constituencies like mine is critical as we look to build back better from covid. Can the Prime Minister commit to delivering the hs two in full, treating 150,000 jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the midlands of the north as well as unlocking the capacity for local transport in derbyshire in which cycling and walking must play a crucial part . My honorable friend is right and shes right to be militating plans early this year and im delighted that the transforming cities fund for nottingham and derby includes 10 Million Pounds for a new cycle route between nottingham and east midlands airport and i look forward to cycling with my right honorable friend. I now go to scotland to be in black, leader of the smp. I ask is it myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister on the holocaust, we all remember the 6 billion jews who lost their lives in the most terrible crime against humanity. We should never forget that nor indeed those that have fallen to the genocidearound the world. Mister speaker, last night the Prime Minister claimed we truly did everything we could to avoid the deaths of 100,000 people across the uk uk from covid19 but we know thats not true. The uks government was designed by a lack of leadership, makes message and policy. All of this is having an effect on the scale of the pandemic. Weve said nearly a quarter of all deaths have occurred in the last month. Prime minister, you promised to always follow the advice of scientists. This morning scientists have said this government is responsible for the legacy of your decisions during this pandemic. Does the Prime Minister still agree with the scientists . Mister speaker is right at all unscientific advice and done everything we can to minimize disease and suffering through the country and the right honorable would have heard my answer to the leader of the opposition. There are no easy solutions mister speaker when you are facing the dilemmas as tragic as the ones being confronted by countries around the world but i think everywhere in the uk if i may say so mister speaker can be proud of the efforts now being made by the nhs, by the army, by mrs. To roll out this program in europe. Thatis something the government must do, is doing and will do. Ian blackwood. Mister speaker i must respectfully say this is not about honest mistakes but it is about learning lessons from a Prime Minister has repeatedly ignored the scientific advice. When we call on the Prime Minister to introduce border controls last spring he refused. When we told the Prime Minister was a mistake to end lockdown prematurelyand push millions of workers back to the office, heignored. When we set tougher restrictions , he left it too late. People have been making huge sacrifices by his government. At least we now deserve financial certainty. Tell people straight Prime Minister, will this uk government extend funding, maintain the universal credit uplift and finally , finally offer support for the 2 million included or will he leave families struggling with the uncertainty of these delays. Mister speaker on the subject of dithering and laying im delighted the british army is helping the Scottish Government National Party government to roll out the vaccine faster and i think thats extremely important and one of the benefits of the union of the uk if i may say so and on this point mister speaker about the support for people and families across this country i dont think anybody could seriously deny this government has given absolutely unprecedented and unequal Global Standards support throughout the pandemic. We will continue to put our arms around people across the whole of the uk throughout this crisis. Peter all this. Thank you mister speaker. Government help put in place an extensive system of support to help employers and employees through the pandemic but a group that has been overlooked, many of whom now are really struggling or those selfemployed to set up their own businesses after the april 2019 and were unable to submit a complete system. 10 months on this no longer applies. To assist them will the Prime Minister emulate the Northern Ireland governments in a support team with subject straightforward criteria . My honorable friend is right to raise the concerns that he does because there are some people in the selfemployed groups at it has been hard to reach and support the way that we want. They are fewer in number than is sometimes suggested mister speaker in this house and i can tell him 2. 7 Million People have received support of 18. 5 billion the idea that he suggests i know will be taken up by my right honorable friend the chancellor, he can expect to hear more on 3 march. Kurt line lucas. Thank you mister speaker. There is a daunting gulf between the governments green rhetoric and his actions. Apart from a hilo sanctioning the third coal mine in 30 years, ministers have broken yet another election manifesto and sent wait to developingcountries where they are regularly dumped or burned. Nineyearold schoolgirl lizzie knows this is wrong and she has a simple message for the Prime Minister. Protect our oceans and People Living in poor countries by adding these dirty plastic exports now. Will you listen to lizzieand 90,000 signatures in her petition and stop this damaging and unethical practice, yes, sir no . Mister speaker first of all i must absolutely contest and deny what shes said about she may not know that in 1970, she may not have been alive but this country got 90 percent of its energy from fossil fuels, from cold and we now get five percent. Thats thanks to the green, active technologically optimistic policies driven by conservative government. Im also proud of what were doing too bad the exports of Plastic Waste around the world which is in our conservative Party Manifesto mister speakerwhich we will fulfill. [inaudible] thank you mister speaker. My constituents David Hoskins last summer, the pioneering immunotherapy treatment he needs is not yet available in the uk. He and his wife mickey continue to fund raise in germany and i know people have been incredibly supportive in this. Will the Prime Minister joined me in wishing the Hopkins Family well and will he work with me and the human charity to improveresearch and treatment for patients like david . Yes indeed mister speaker and i think my right honorable friend for what shes doing tocampaign for such an excellent charity. I can tell her that the department of health is working with the our Brain Cancer Mission and ive received 14 Million Pounds on brain tumors of the type that she describes and i would encourage my friends to continue the excellent work shes doing in this area. Christine jarvie. Thank you very much mister speaker and can i associate myself the liberal democrats with the Prime Ministers comments on the holocaust. A year ago next week in a speech at greenwich the Prime Minister said that the us, it was high time the us their punitive tariffs on scotch whiskey. Since then the industry has lost half 1 billion pounds in exports to the us and the government has failed to reach a deal to have the 25 percent tariffs removed so will the Prime Minister commit to what he argent ardently complies with the wto rules which led to the issue and can he promised in the budget stemperament will take it to support this vital industry and employer . Mister speaker i know my right honorable friend the chancellor actually does things to support fantastic industries such as scotch whiskey but one of the reasons for leaving the eu mister speaker is that we will be able to do a freetrade deal with the us and obviate a tariffs of the kind she describes which will be in perpetuity if the Scottish Nationalist Party to get their way and take scotland back into the eu. Jamie collins. Thank you mister speaker. This week kens first Mass Vaccination Center is working out along with our three gp hub. As we accelerate the delivery of this protection, as my right honorable friend agree that we need greater sharing so that we can target the resources of the largest Vaccination Program in our history and reach hardtoreach groups of individuals and the most vulnerable communities . My friend makes an important point and its something everybody wants to see. There are particular problems obviously mister speaker with sharing medical records, detailed medical records with local government but what we are doing is giving Public Health officials and local levels all the information that we can give them without breaching the confidentiality to find those hardtoreach groups and get them, encourage them to take vaccines and wonderful work is being done to get people to take vaccines and i encourage all members in your constituencies, get your constituents to take up this offer. Mister speaker, almost 4 years on from the tragedy government in action on the patty crisis means hundreds of thousands of leaseholders remaintrapped and unsafe blocks. The minister has published at least 15 times that they wouldnt have to pay unfair costs but theres been a lot of promises not matched by delivery so will the Prime Minister finally and in this injustice and come forward with a plan to fix the crisis that does not earn leaseholders with thecosts . Mister speaker, of course we will and i know that my right honorable friend will be bringing forward a plan shortly but its also important that the Mortgage Companies do not unreasonably refuse mortgages on properties that are perfectly safe. Sir jeffrey brown. Thank you very much mister speaker. This has been an extra nearly difficult year for the Prime Minister and the people of this country since the coronavirus was detected and their fortitude is being tested. They really need to know when they can get their children back to school and businesses can start to be reopened so will my right honorable friend sure the house that when he announces his comprehensive plan in midfebruary it will deal with how we left every area out of their tears and deal with the longterm problems that we dont that were going to have to live with and furthermore we will try to employ picking changes in the future 24 hour status so that long last the people of this country can start to plan their daily lives . Mister speaker, in a few moments or later on this afternoon i will be setting up in more detail what my honorable friend would like to know about schools and our approach to schools but then in the course of the next few weeks assuming the vaccine rollout continues, assuming we dont find new variants of concern, we dont have to change our calculations i will be sending out a broader roadmap for the way forward for the whole country mister speaker of the kind i think that my right honorablefriend and his constituentswould appreciate. Liverpool with peter dowd. My mother received one for 49 years. [inaudible] i know they would agree, attention should be paid uk rate wherever a veteran or any pensioner lives in the world. When will 96yearold hancock ridge, a world war ii veteran who lives in canada who served their country courageously and live abroad stop being treated as a secondclass citizen and get the full pension they deserve . Will you commit to ending this injustice and agreed to meet with representatives of the unfrozen pensions campaign. At the start that the least the brine Prime Minister could do. Mister speaker, im grateful to the honorable gentlemen for raising this issue and this problem that ive come across before but the kc describes is obviously acute and i would assure that he gets the meeting he desires for the relevant minister. Shelley and taft. Thank you mister speaker. In my constituency germans arise acting as an export hub for consignments of local fish getting across the English Channel and its proving challenging, expensive and timeconsuming. Mister chapman is creating an opportunity to develop a vital home export to help but however hes burdened with red tape. My right honorable friend, what steps are you taking to it make exporting easier and with the Prime Minister accept an invitation to visit this fantastic enterprise . Mister speaker, we are, im grateful to her for raising this because the last few weeks has been an issue for many businesses and there has been too much red tape and what were doing is providing an immediate 23 Million Pounds to help businesses with problems that theyre encountering through no fault of their own but we are also investing 100 Million Pounds in a program for the uks fishing industry to help with processing and enable this country to be in a position to take advantage of the incredible access to our fisheries that we will have as the years go by. Lets head to scotland with stephen bonner. Thank you mister speaker. [inaudible] will he be responsible for pushing thousands of scottish into [inaudible] we will continue to look after the people of this country throughout this pandemic and its a feature of the uk treasury that we can continue to do this. Christian wafer. I recommend the Prime Minister in reaffirming his commitment to the leveling of the nation and the best way to level is to of course pursue local education. Without my school since 2014 preschools remains in the final stages but will my honorable friend help by supporting my campaign alongside the people of rehnquist for what thetown desperately needs. I think my honorable friend, a fantastic campaigner for his constituents and i can tell him that we are indeed looking at expanding the preschool program. We have 14 of preschools will be announced very shortly and i hope you wont have to long to wait. Bill extras in. Allison pyles tax return shows that she was paid 10 pounds more for her earnings than employees in her earnings in selfemployment. As a result she didnt qualify for any financial support. Its as if the Prime Minister is saying his government has done whatever it takes but the iss says just today 1. 8 million selfemployed people and 700,000 owner managers have not had financial support. So when is the government going to start supporting those so that allison and millions of people like her cant afford to stay at home and play their part in restricting this virus while the vaccine is rolled out . Mister speaker i am conscious as the honorable gentlemen says that there have been difficult cases of selfemployed people having qualified for some of the support that we offered. I invite him to send the details of allisons case to us and we will see what we can do but i would remind the house we sent 18 billion pounds supporting selfemployed people throughout this pandemic and as i say we will continue to put our arms around these people or the duration of the crisis. Mister ball mister. Thank you mister speaker. My constituents recognize the need for lockdown but are increasingly concerned about their Mental Health. Many of them on monday, over 20 schoolchildren told me how it was affecting them. Ive organized the Mental Health summit with me and the local cg. Does the Prime Minister agree the countrys Mental Health is suffering and should be after in deciding when to end specific restrictions . Mister speaker, i know the stress people are under and not just School Pupils and you are right to raise that particularly nhs workers during this current wave of the pandemic. Its been really grueling the past few weeks and months and we are investing a huge Mental Health support and 30 billion in 2019, we will see a further 2. 3 billion a year by 2023, 2024 and that will support 380,000, 345,000 children mister speaker. Final question from caroline forrest. Thank you mister speaker, given the Prime Minister has sent to yet to take full responsibility for all the actions taken during this pandemic, we will he be concerned this will include the restless management of the outbreak at the government site in my constituency and will he also ensure that he is accountable for the inexcusable damage and devastation that this has cost . I think the honorable lady for raising the question and i may also have my condolences mister speaker on the death of her father. I can tell her that weve been working flat out on the problem at the dv la and full staff who can work from home are doing so. Measures are being taken to minimize the number of people on the site at any one time and more than 2000 tests have been carried out by the dba the last fortnight alone mister speaker with all the results so far comingback negative. And i suspend the house for three minutes to enable the necessary next business, order. Dachshund