Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 22nd May 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree with my hon. Friend that we need to ensure that our NHS is a world leader in medical innovation. That is why yesterday we announced funding to roll out game-changing AI to radiotherapy departments in England. The benefits are clear, because that technology can locate cancer cells two and a half times quicker than doctors alone. But we will not stop there. We recognise the huge potential; that is why the productivity plan announced in the spring Budget will modernise the NHS and ensure that our patients get the care they deserve.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham) (Lab)]

Q13. In recent days, the Trussell Trust has revealed that its network has handed out more than 3.1 million emergency food parcels in the past year. That is the most it has ever distributed and nearly double the number of five years ago. Absolute poverty among children in this country has risen by its highest rate in 30 years, and a quarter of all children live below the poverty line. Two thirds of UK children in poverty live in families in which at least one parent works. My Streatham constituency is one of the worst affected. Does the Prime Minister have any plans to restore the child poverty unit, address the calls for universal free school meals, or report on any Government plans aimed at tackling child poverty at all?

[The Prime Minister]

Nobody wants to see any child grow up in poverty, and that is why I am pleased that the record of this and previous Governments has reduced not just the number of people living in poverty, but the number of children living in poverty, thanks to our measures to strengthen the economy. When it comes to food support for vulnerable children, we have extended the holiday activity and food programme with £200 million of funding, and we are investing £30 million in our national school breakfast programme, which will now run until the end of the summer term.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 26th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I join my hon. Friend in his comments. Coincidentally, one of the first gifts that I gave President Zelensky was an old copy of “Henry V”, so my hon. Friend’s comments are well made. We are training and arming the Ukrainian forces with the equipment that they need to push back Russian forces. I know that the whole House will join me in saying that the people of Ukraine’s incredible strength and inspiring bravery will ultimately defeat tyranny.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham) (Lab)]

Q7. This month marks 23 years since the passing of the late, great Bernie Grant, a former Member of this House and the founder of the reparations movement in the UK. In the last Prime Minister’s questions before his death, he asked for an apology to the people of African descent, living and dead, for our country’s role in slavery and colonialism, but since then Prime Ministers and Heads of State have only ever expressed sorrow or deep regret—not sentiments befitting one of the greatest atrocities in human history—and there has been no acknowledgment of the wealth amassed or of the fact that our country took out its largest ever loan to pay off the slave owners and not the enslaved. Will the Prime Minister do what Bernie Grant asked all those years ago, and what I and countless others have asked since, by offering a full and meaningful apology for our country’s role in slavery and colonialism, and committing to reparatory justice?

[The Prime Minister]

No, what I think our focus should now be on doing, while of course understanding our history in all its parts and not running away from it, is making sure that we have a society that is inclusive and tolerant of people from all backgrounds. That is something that we on the Government Benches are committed to doing and will continue to deliver, but trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward and is not something we will focus our energies on.