Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Healey and Catherine West

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

The action I took in the Budget last week was on top of help that the Government have given this year to help across the board with energy costs. It included some of the measures that my hon. Friend’s Committee has urged us to look at. Going into this Budget, I was conscious of the pressures and the worry that people have about rising energy bills, which are driven by the Iran war. My priority was therefore the steps we have taken: extending the 5p cut to fuel duty, extending the VAT cut on electricity bills, and removing the standing charge from gas bills for next year. Above all, we will see the direct payment of £100 into the bank accounts of 20 million households in January, which will help at that point of maximum pressure as people face those winter bills.

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Friern Barnet) (Lab)]

The Treasury Committee has done an enormous amount of work not only on the household bills situation, but also on the impact on graduates who still have significant debts. Can the Chancellor promise that when things do improve, he will look again at this burning issue for so many of our constituents?

[John Healey]

I will indeed. We will keep an eye on that, and no doubt we will return to it. However, I say to my hon. Friend, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson), that the Budget provides for immediate action to help with the cost of living pressures and give people a bit of breathing space over the winter, but also for action to make deep reforms to our energy system that will bring prices down for business and for households in the long term. That means an end to the standing charges on gas bills, an end to Government policy costs simply loaded on to consumer bills through levies, and an end to buying and building new generation that does not bring cheaper as well as cleaner energy and cannot be connected to the grid. This is a Budget with immediate action to deal with the cost of living pressures, and action for the long-term changes that are necessary to bring British energy bills down in line with those in Europe.

Middle East

Debate between John Healey and Catherine West

Monday 23rd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[John Healey]

I am not sure that I follow the hon. Lady; I certainly do not accept what I understand to be her point. When I was in Cyprus a couple of weeks ago, I met the Defence Minister, as well as the chief of the national guard, who made it clear to me that military co-operation with the UK is closer than it has ever been. As I have said, we are playing a leading role, with the Republic of Cyprus, in co-ordinating the increasing capabilities in the eastern Mediterranean, to help that sovereign base to remain as protected as possible in the circumstances and in the face of the Iranian threat.

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Friern Barnet) (Lab)]

Further to that point, I thank the Minister for Europe for going to Cyprus last week, and I am grateful for the conversations between the Prime Minister and the President of Cyprus. My constituency has long-standing people-to-people ties with Cyprus, so what assurances can the Secretary of State give my constituents that Government are considering not just British personnel but the wider Cypriot family?

[John Healey]

I can indeed. I hope my hon. Friend, and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus and their military, realise that the steps we took well before this war broke out to reinforce defences in Cyprus and across the region, have been there not just to protect British personnel and step up defences at our base, but they are defending and helping to protect the whole Republic of Cyprus and the island of Cyprus.