Oral Answers to Questions

Andy Burnham Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 28 October.

[The Prime Minister (Andy Burnham)]

Our thoughts are with everybody in Spain who has been affected by the devastating train crash this morning. I have been in touch with Prime Minister Sánchez to relay our condolences and to offer any support that we can give. May I also send condolences to the families who lost loved ones during the storms over the weekend, and thank our emergency services and everyone who has worked so hard to support those affected?

Let me, in his final week, pay tribute to the Clerk of the House for his 30 years’ service to this place. Tom’s wisdom, professionalism and abilities at the piano are all hugely admired, and I know that the whole House will wish him well for the future.

Finally, I am sure that the whole House—including, I am sure, those on the Scottish National party Benches—will join me in congratulating Harry Kane. From Leyton Orient, on loan, to the Ballon d’Or—what a journey! Many congratulations, Harry. We are all so proud of you.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Mr Charters]

Last week I saw sewage pouring into the river Ouse, all while doing a BBC interview on pollution! I have worked out that during the average length of a Budget statement, the equivalent of four Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water will have leaked across the network. If only Yorkshire Water guarded its assets as closely as the Yorkshire Chancellor guards the HP sauce in his Red Box. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is time for stronger public control of our region’s water?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right. The water industry is a symbol of what has gone wrong. The private interest has been allowed to dominate the public interest, which is why we will introduce a strengthened water Bill that will lift the bar on public ownership, alongside other reforms over the next decade. The vast majority of the public support this. They do not want to see sewage in our rivers and seas—unlike, I believe, the Leader of the Opposition, who told her conference recently, “Water privatisation has been a success.” She cannot really believe that, can she?

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (North West Essex) (Con)]

May I also give my thanks to the Clerk of the House and convey to him, on behalf of those on my side of the House, our very, very best wishes for the future?

There has been a bit of confusion this week, and I hope that the Prime Minister can clear it up. Does he or does he not want a referendum on rejoining the European Union?

[The Prime Minister]

There is no confusion at all. The Government have a collectively agreed position, which I have set out today. It is entirely consistent with everything I have said, including what I said at the time of the by-election.

The red lines in our manifesto, including those on freedom of movement, will stay firmly in place for the whole of this Parliament, but what I will not do is defend the deal negotiated by the right hon. Lady and the Government she was in, which, in my view, gave us a harder Brexit than was promised at the referendum, and has been bad for growth and bad for control of immigration.

[Mrs Badenoch]

It sounds as if the Prime Minister does not know whether he wants another EU referendum. I certainly do not. It is the Chancellor’s big week, and the Prime Minister popped up on telly and opened his mouth without engaging his brain, not for the first time. Can he explain why he decided, during Budget week, to reopen a debate on freedom of movement?

[The Prime Minister]

It may have escaped the right hon. Lady’s notice that we are three weeks away from a UK-EU summit. It is an opportunity to improve the poor deal that the Conservatives negotiated and to get a better deal in place for Britain—a deal that backs British farmers and British food producers, and that removes red tape from our businesses. If we get the right deal, it will protect our car industry, protect our steel industry and allow better co-ordination on migration. The Tories used to stand for these things. If they still do, will she back Britain’s negotiating position as we go into that summit?

[Mrs Badenoch]

The Prime Minister keeps talking about our deal, but he is using our deal. He is using our Brexit freedoms to take VAT off energy bills. He used those Brexit freedoms just yesterday to scrap import taxes on hundreds of goods. What he should be saying is thank you.

I asked the Prime Minister about freedom of movement. I do not think he has been talking to his Cabinet colleagues, because I will tell him who does not want a debate about freedom of movement: the Home Secretary—she has been very clear on that. The Business Secretary does not want it either. The Culture Secretary and I do not agree on much, but even she does not want the Prime Minister to restart this debate. What about his Back Benchers? Let’s have a show of hands—who wants free movement? I know the Prime Minister does not want to look behind him, but nobody raised their hand.

There was someone else who did not want to reopen free movement: an ambitious candidate fighting a by-election earlier this year. He said

“the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments.”

Does the Prime Minister still agree with himself?

[The Prime Minister]

I do, because I am not. I am trying to get a better deal for Britain at the summit that we are about to go to. The right hon. Lady has mentioned things said in the past. Can I remind her of what she said? [Interruption.] Well, I am going to—I am sorry. She said it was a mistake for the Conservative party to

“leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU.”

She has just nodded. She may as well have said it was a mistake to leave the EU without a plan in place to control migration, because that is what led to the Boriswave under the Government she was in, when migration into this country changed and went away from revolving-door migration and towards long-term settlement. It is why my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is having to reform indefinite leave to remain. She has my support in making those changes, but let us have a little humility from those on the Conservative Benches, who left Britain with low growth and migration out of control.

[Mrs Badenoch]

It sounds like the Prime Minister does not know if he agrees with himself or not. He wants to remind me about my words. I stand by my words. Where we make mistakes, we own up to them. Labour pretends that it never does anything wrong. [Interruption.] Yes, yes, yes. Indeed, that is the difference between him and me. He wants to remind me about what I said; I think it is worth reminding him what he said just this May about the Brexit referendum:

“It’s going to undermine everything I’ve said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.”

But he does not respect that vote, does he?

[The Prime Minister]

I think I have answered that very clearly by saying that the red lines in the manifesto are firmly in place. The right hon. Lady stood there a moment ago and said that she admits mistakes. She was asked twice by BBC London during her conference whether Brexit, and the deal she negotiated with her colleagues, was good or bad for London, and twice she could not bring herself to answer that question. Perhaps, before she finishes today, she will answer it now.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I have said many times that, yes, it was, and the Prime Minister is using those freedoms today. He is using those very freedoms, but he does not want to admit that. He is the Prime Minister, not me. He wants to ask me questions. I am very happy to swap places with him, if that is what he wants.

I am not talking about something that he might have said 10 years ago, although I can read out those quotes if he wants. I am talking about something that he said just a few months ago. The Prime Minister was not here for the 2017 Parliament, but many of us were. We do not want to go through that again. The country was paralysed—it was miserable, regardless of which side of the debate you were on. [Interruption.] It was, because Labour Members would not respect the result, and they are doing it again. Does the Prime Minister really think the country wants to reopen that debate?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, yes—now the right hon. Lady is speaking the truth. The country was paralysed by the Conservative party: low growth, insufficient control on migration. That is what this Government is dealing with, and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will stand up and show that we have a plan to get that growth going across the country.

Where I am focused is getting a better deal for Britain. That is my responsibility, and I will lead from this Dispatch Box over the next few weeks. I will do everything I can to get a better deal for Britain—a better deal for farmers and food producers, less red tape on our exporters, more support for our steel and our car industries, more control of migration. I will stand here and defend doing that, as well as being true to our manifesto. That is the difference between this side and that side of the House: we stand up for the British interest. Where is the Tory party of old that used to stand up for those things? The reason she could not answer in this House today on whether or not she was backing the position that I have set out is that she is too worried about the threat to her right to stand up for Britain. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Just to remind everyone, it is Prime Minister’s question, so I would not worry about the answers. I call Kemi Badenoch.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I cannot believe that the Prime Minister actually said at that Dispatch Box that he wants to reopen the Brexit debate. He is in a different place from where he was in Question 1. Let me tell the Prime Minister: the country does not want to rerun this debate; neither, as it happens, do his Back Benchers. This country voted to leave the EU, and we should respect that decision. The Conservative party always has done.

Our economy is facing serious challenges. The Prime Minister needs to get borrowing down, because of their stupid decisions. [Interruption.] One of them asks, “Why?” It is because of their stupid decisions. They need to get borrowing down. He needs to get welfare down. He needs to get people’s taxes down. All of this can be done without reopening a debate on the EU, so instead of leaving it to his team again, I will give him one last chance to clear up the mess he has made: will he rule out, after his extraordinary comments, any referendum on the EU or the single market?

[The Prime Minister]

I have repeatedly set out the red lines of the manifesto, and can I just say this one final time? I am doing what I can to get a better deal for Britain, and getting a better deal for Britain, I can tell the right hon. Lady, is part of this job. I am standing up for British business. Can I tell her who supports what we are doing? The CBI, the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Retail Consortium, Asda, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Salmon Scotland—they all support what we are trying to do. Why does she not join us, with other colleagues across this House, and send a strong message that Britain is calling for a better Brexit deal, so that we can get growth going again, as my right hon. Friend will shortly show to this whole House?

[Steve Race (Exeter) (Lab)]

Q2. I commend the Prime Minister’s commitment to ending rough sleeping and for hosting the first No. 10 rough sleeping summit on Monday. I have fantastic organisations such as St Petrock’s and CoLab in Exeter that help people who end up on the street but who have very complex needs that require wraparound services such as addiction treatment and trauma support. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that, alongside a roof over their heads, we need to rebuild the wraparound support system for people that were so dismantled under the previous Government?

[The Prime Minister]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. I do not think we should accept in this country that anybody should spend even one night sleeping rough on the streets. I said when I walked up Downing Street coming into office that I wanted to change that and wanted to bring an end to rough sleeping. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor for committing funding for the whole of this Parliament to support a drive to give everybody an offer of support, and I can confirm to the House today that we are increasingly confident that everyone will get such an offer before the Christmas break. My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue, and I thank him for attending the summit. I hope everybody will get behind this national drive.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

[The Prime Minister]

I am prepared to meet the right hon. Gentleman, and I thank him for what he said. It is a start, but we are in a position where we are trying to build a cross-party consensus around better support for older people, a new social care system in which there is much stronger support for family carers, as he has so rightly argued.

[Ed Davey]

I am grateful to the Prime Minister for that reply. I hope the invitation will extend to the Conservatives, who want to join in real cross-party talks to solve this long-standing issue.

Turning to the economy, the Prime Minister is right to say that Britain’s best future lies back at the heart of Europe. He is also right to say that we need to build consensus within the British public to make that happen. But instead of making everyone wait for Labour’s next manifesto, will the Prime Minister start now to show the economic benefits of a closer trading relationship with Europe by joining a customs union, joining the single market, boosting growth and using the dividends of that growth to help with the cost of living by cutting people’s taxes?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said today, we will not be doing those things in this Parliament, but let me come back to what I was saying to the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition. We will take pragmatic steps where we can to support British business by improving the Brexit arrangements that we have got. I think it is extraordinary that the Conservative party, the Opposition, are unable to back us in getting in place those better arrangements that would make a real difference for people in their constituencies trying to export to the European Union. People will have heard that very clearly today. The Conservatives claim to be the party of business. They have turned their back on them today. This party never will.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

Q3. Last week, the US special envoy to Ukraine described Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian”. My constituents were horrified that our closest ally could use such words for a man wanted by the International Criminal Court for the systematic abduction of 20,651 Ukrainian children. The following day, my constituency welcomed the Ukrainian Member of Parliament for Poltava with open arms and a determination to deepen our solidarity and co-operation. Will the Prime Minister remind our American partners that appeasement, flattery and sanction-dodging deals will only embolden Putin and risk further aggression to our NATO allies?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to call out President Putin’s actions, which have resulted in thousands of innocent Ukrainian children being killed, people forced into the bitter cold, and sending his own Russian people to die on the frontline. I spoke to President Zelensky this morning, together with the Chancellor. We assured him of our steadfast support. We said to him that we will always take sanctions and we are committing to more sanctions. That is the clear commitment that we are making to stand with Ukraine, whatever it takes.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llefarydd. The Prime Minister believes that devolution is the key to unlock economic growth. He champions new powers for English mayors, while still refusing Wales many of the economic levers already held by Scotland. When he meets the First Minister at the National Economic Council on Friday, the key test will be how much power he is prepared to release from Westminster, because that is how he can make a difference. We will do our part to empower communities. Will he do his and give Wales the economic powers we need to prosper?

[The Prime Minister]

I am ready to make an offer to Wales similar to the one I recently made to the First Minister of Scotland, and I will do so on Friday. I am glad to hear of the right hon. Lady’s commitment to pushing power down for deeper devolution. What I will put on the table on Friday is an offer of greater devolution of employment support, so that we can have a different approach to supporting people in communities to get back to work and supporting the economy. That is a starting point; there will be more to come. I look forward to working with the right hon. Lady and her party on that issue.

[Maureen Burke (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Q5. Having lived my whole life in Easterhouse, one of Scotland’s most deprived communities, I know the challenges that our young people face, but also their enormous potential. I was therefore encouraged to hear the Prime Minister commit to the Easterhouse principle, inspired by the work of Ian Montague and the charity FARE Scotland’s “names not numbers” approach. Will the Prime Minister accept my invitation to return to FARE with the Work and Pensions Secretary to discuss making that principle a guide for supporting young people across Britain?

[The Prime Minister]

I will give my hon. Friend that commitment, because the visit I made to FARE Scotland some years ago had a huge impact, and I know that the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) was very much inspired by the same. FARE takes a very personal approach—a “names not numbers” approach—and I took that to our work in Greater Manchester on employment support. Exactly as I was saying to the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) just a moment ago, that should be the way that we approach supporting people in work across the country, as pioneered in my hon. Friend’s constituency by FARE Scotland.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Q4. I wish the Prime Minister well on a personal level—may God bless him in what he does. On Monday 19 October, a calculated cyber-campaign targeted our most vulnerable with a co-ordinated hoax email threatening that explosive devices had been sent to up to 300 schools across Northern Ireland, and hundreds more in Scotland. That vile communication explicitly referenced Islamic terror and “Allahu Akbar”. The intense panic, fear and distress inflicted on thousands of young children and their parents were entirely real. Will the Prime Minister please outline what specific measures our security forces and services are taking to trace the source of those digital threats, which police indicate originated from outside the United Kingdom? Furthermore, what active steps have the Government taken to protect our schools, harden our cyber-defences, and ensure that our children and grandchildren are kept safe from the looming threat of radicalised terrorism?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for his kind wishes at the start. I completely share the deep concern about that attack, and the distressing effect that it will have had on parents, teachers and children. Obviously, there is a live and serious police investigation. I cannot comment on that, but I can tell him that the National Cyber Security Centre is providing direct expert help to the schools affected. I can be categorical with him—and I will work with him on this—that those found to be responsible will face the full force of the law.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

Q6. Hon. and right hon. Members will all know that Royal Mail has a serious problem. Part of it is that the parcel companies that Royal Mail competes against use bogus self-employed models for their employees, and too many pay a pittance for an unmanageable workload, where drivers cannot provide a quality service as they race to complete routes. The public purse loses too: Royal Mail pays £650 million in national insurance, while many of its competitor firms pay next to nothing. The Government’s consultation on employment status is a great start. Will the Prime Minister commit to using that review to truly level the playing field and secure the long-term future of Royal Mail, ensuring that my constituents in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages get the service they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

Q9. Ashfield district council is being run by criminals—criminals such as Councillor Tom Hollis, who is the vice-chairman of the council. Councillor Hollis, along with his family, keep putting in planning applications that are recommended for refusal by the planning officers, and then, as if by magic, they go to committee and they are planned, netting Councillor Hollis tens—if not hundreds— of thousands of pounds for him and his family. Will the Prime Minister please send in the commissioners to root out that corruption and put those people where they belong?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary says that she will meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss those concerns, because what he has just said in the House is extremely serious. Of course we must have the highest standards of conduct from local authorities and elected councillors, and we are monitoring the situation. I will say no more than that at this stage, but the hon. Gentleman has that clear offer of a meeting.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

Q7. Regional health inequalities are now so severe that a study this month found that death rates among 25 to 49-year-olds in the north of England are 42% higher than those in the south. The Prime Minister has promised us growth in every postcode. Can that be met by good health, too?

[The Prime Minister]

I could not agree more strongly with my right hon. Friend—sorry, my hon. Friend. I promoted him for a second—it is just a matter of time, I am sure. I was the Health Secretary who received the groundbreaking report from Professor Sir Michael Marmot, “Fair Society, Healthy Lives”, in February 2010, and in my view that remains the blueprint for how this country can close those health inequality gaps. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend and talk more about how we do that in his constituency and beyond.

[Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire) (Reform)]

Q11. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Budget calculations assume the approval of the Rosebank gasfield, and, if so, has he told the Energy Secretary of this important development? If he is now taking back control of energy policy, will he approve more North sea exploration and, while he is at it, speed up the roll-out of nuclear as well?

[The Prime Minister]

That is obviously a matter for the Energy Secretary. It is a quasi-judicial decision, and the hon. Gentleman will have to wait for that in due course. He will also have to wait for the details of the Budget, which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will set out to the House shortly. The hon. Gentleman is right, however, in pointing to the fact that use of our reserves can support and accelerate a clean energy future, and that was very much the logic behind the decision that the Government announced on Jackdaw last week.

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

Q8. In bad weather—and sometimes we do have it in the Hebrides—one in six landings at the isle of Barra airport and 40% at Stornaway airport are turned away due to the lack of low-visibility radar, known as EGNOS. The European geostationary navigation overlay service is available to pilots at the touch of a button, but the Tories switched it off during Brexit. My constituents rely on flights not for holidays, but for health—for chemotherapy and for ordinary appointments that they should have at home. The Prime Minister has a summit with European leaders next month, so will he put EGNOS on the radar and on his agenda so that, at the very least, my constituents can get to their hospital appointments?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is reinforcing the point I was making earlier that the Brexit arrangements that the Conservatives left were clearly not good enough, including for his constituency. We are reviewing the potential benefits of restoring access to this important system. The relevant Minister will have heard my hon. Friend’s case today in this House and will be happy to discuss it with him.

[Dr Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) (LD)]

Q13. After months of terrible drought, the UK has endured a battering from two named storms in two days. Last week I hosted a flood summit in the South Cotswolds and heard from farmers how on-farm water storage would help to alleviate both drought and flooding. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the £15 million Government fund promised for on-farm water storage and on when farmers can expect to see the expansion of development rights?

[The Prime Minister]

I was in the south-west, in Cornwall, in the summer to announce the funding for on-farm reservoir development, and I am pleased to tell the hon. Lady today that the application system will open very shortly. I hope that farmers in her constituency will benefit.

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

Q10. Twenty-one years ago my constituent Paul Dadge helped survivors of the 7/7 bombings to safety. His phone was hacked, and so were the phones of family members of people who lost their lives that day. Press intrusion also affected victims of the Manchester Arena bombings and the Hillsborough families, who have described press regulation as the final piece of the jigsaw in their fight for justice. Fourteen years on from the Leveson inquiry, we still have major publications in control of the system that polices them. I know that this is an issue that the Prime Minister cares deeply about, so will his Government bring forward plans for the fair, independent press regulation that our constituents want to see?

[The Prime Minister]

It is the case, in all the terrible situations that my hon. Friend mentioned, that people suffered unacceptable intrusion into their private lives. I understand why he is raising this issue today, and I am happy to meet him to discuss it further.

[Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)]

One of the benefits of Brexit to my constituency has been the establishment of the Humber freeport. Can the Prime Minister give an assurance that any reset with Europe will not prevent freeports from operating as they do at the moment?

[The Prime Minister]

What we are trying to do is build up from where we are. That was the whole thrust of the answer that I gave to the Leader of the Opposition at the start. The hon. Gentleman sounds slightly more constructive, so I am happy to work with him on that. I hope that he will work with us to get backing for the British position at the forthcoming UK-EU summit.