government is investing in now and we are taking the tough decisions necessary. statutory sick pay is worth £3 a week less in real terms compared to at the start of the pandemic and millions of workers are being forced to choose between isolating or putting food on the table. in germany, 100% of workers salaries are covered by sick pay, whereas in the uk it is a pitiful 19%. so, i asked the prime minister if he thought earning £250,000 from his second job was chickenfeed, how on earth does he expect working people to survive on £96 a week when they get sick? and if he agrees that many lives and livelihoods could be saved by increasing sick pay, will he commit here and now to raising it to the level of the real living wage? mr speaker, i thank the honourable gentleman, of course, as he knows one of the first things we did when covid struck was to make sure that statutory sick pay was payable from day one, so it is up to 75% more generous if you need to self isolate. and th
been the result, mr speaker? another body blow to the uk economy and to our ability to fund our nhs. that is the fundamental difference between. that is the fundamental difference between this government and the opposition. we have a plan for getting to covid, all they do is carp from the sidelines. mai; for getting to covid, all they do is carp from the sidelines. carp from the sidelines. may i commend carp from the sidelines. may i commend my carp from the sidelines. may i commend my right carp from the sidelines. may i | commend my right honourable carp from the sidelines. i l commend my right honourable friend for resisting calls from the labour party and others for more restrictions before christmas. and also for the changes that he has announced today. omicron is less serious than previous variants. we will see new variants appear in future, the likelihood is that they will continue to be less serious. it is not in the national interest to partially or wholly set
Regime. it stands about the testing regime. it stands today efficiency that our testing river would seem that the leader of the opposition who we wish well is not currently in his place. it is thanks to the testing regime that she is able to speak from that dispatch box at all. so she might as well. she might as well support it. two final points. they voted continuously against our funding for the nhs that has made this possible. and let s be in no doubt, they would have kept this country in the lockdown from july 19. and members of the front bench chorused that we needed tougher restrictions as we came into omicron, and they said we needed a road map for lockdown. that was their approach. what would have