Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The most important thing in our country is that we make sure that everybody can take advantage of the opportunities to work, get training and go to university. This is an opportunity country, but there is no opportunity for people if you do not speak the language. That is why we are going to target money at those people—they are very often women—who have been stuck at home, sometimes by the men in the house, and make sure that they can get the English language skills they need.

Let me make one other additional point, because this is so important. When I was sat in a mosque in Leeds this week, one of the young people there said how important it is that imams speak English, because if some young people can speak English but not Urdu or Arabic they need someone to guide them away from ISIL and its poisonous rhetoric. Speaking English is important for all, imams included.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Q6. Over the past few months, young people in Southampton have seen themselves frozen out of the living wage and housing benefit, and faced the downgrading or closure of the further education and sixth-form colleges from which many of them get their qualifications. We now see the ending of maintenance grants for those young people who want to go to university. What has the Prime Minister got against young people trying to make their way in life?

[The Prime Minister]

I will tell the hon. Gentleman what we are doing for young people: record numbers going to university; record numbers who are taking on apprenticeships; and record numbers in work. Actually, today, the unemployment figures show a record low in the unemployment rate among those people who have left school. I would say to the hon. Gentleman that one of the reasons why a Labour MP in the south of England is as rare as hen’s teeth is that they talk down our country and talk down opportunity in it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, may I welcome my hon. Friend to this place and praise him for his maiden speech which moved all those who heard it or have subsequently read it? He is absolutely right that the best way to tackle poverty is to get people into work, then make sure that there is a decent minimum wage that rises over time, and then cut people’s taxes by taking those earning minimum wage out of income tax. Our plan to raise the personal allowance to £12,500 will make a real difference and I want to see progress on the minimum wage going on at the same time as that, but all the while we have to recognise that the absolute foundation is a growing economy that is producing jobs. Getting into work is the greatest way to combat poverty.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Q6. Can the Prime Minister reassure me that press reports that he is going to cut funding support to household energy efficiency programmes are wrong, and that instead he is committed to maintaining support for programmes to ensure that the most vulnerable in our society have warm homes to live in?

[The Prime Minister]

We made some very big progress in the last Parliament with home insulation programmes and support for solar panels. There are now almost 1 million homes in the UK with solar panels. We want to carry on with those programmes and make sure there is value for money.

I hope it will not be seen as gloating to welcome the hon. Gentleman back, because he is quite a rare bird: a Labour MP in the south of England.

G7

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I note my hon. Friend’s long-standing interests in the links between Britain and Bangladesh, and in the strength and prosperity of Bangladesh. There was not a specific discussion on the matter she raises, but we talked about inclusive Governments representing all their people and governing on behalf of all their people, which is relevant in this case.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

The German Chancellor, Chancellor Merkel, in her statement at the end of the G7, wanted to emphasise the agreement of the G7 to phase out all fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation by the end of the century. Did the Prime Minister have a hand in securing that agreement? If so, what target was in his mind for the UK?

[The Prime Minister]

We worked very hard to get the strongest possible language on climate change. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax), having set Britain on a path of low-carbon electricity and having reduced our carbon emissions, we want other countries to do this as well. We did not achieve all we wanted in the communiqué, but it was pretty strong stuff.

In terms of decarbonising electricity, I repeat what I said. What is happening in Germany at the moment is that because it has reduced its nuclear programme it is actually burning more, rather than less, coal. Our strategy is to reinvest in the nuclear industry and go on investing in renewables, and have gas plants constructed too. Over time, that will require carbon capture and storage. The pragmatic thing to do is to promote that technology and commit to full decarbonisation only when we know we can bring it about.