Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Apsana Begum

Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her fantastic work to reopen Shire Hall—she is a passionate campaigner for Stafford—and Stafford was awarded over £14 million lately through the future high streets fund.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Q8. My constituency has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the entire country, with too many already struggling between heating and eating. The Government’s recent real-terms social security cut will now push even more families, children and pensioners into desperation. Does the Prime Minister agree that the biggest squeeze in household finances since records began does not come out of the blue, but is due to Conservative economics and the notion that, while some have the pleasure of partying, the rest of us should suffer?

[The Prime Minister]

No, we are absolutely dedicated to levelling up across our entire country and making sure that we reduce poverty. That is why I am proud that there are now half a million fewer kids actually in workless households, 200,000 fewer kids—200,000 fewer—in poverty and 1.3 million fewer in absolute poverty. The way we have done that is by helping people into work, and we are going to go further—investing in more work coaches, and massively increasing our training budget so that people get the skills that they need. That is our approach—helping people by getting them into work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Apsana Begum

Wednesday 20th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Indeed. I remain a champion of liberty in all its aspects, but I am also the living embodiment of the risks of obesity. There is no question but that it is a comorbidity factor in the pandemic. I think that is something that the people of this country understand. They understand that it is all of our individual responsibility to do what we can to get healthy and to stay healthy, because that is one of the ways we can all help protect our NHS.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab) [V]]

Doctors, researchers, experts, campaigners and my constituents, of whom just under two-thirds are from BAME backgrounds, including a large Bangladeshi population, have all observed the covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affecting BAME communities. The Royal College of General Practitioners has even requested that these communities be prioritised for vaccine roll-out. Will the Prime Minister finally recognise that this disparity is as a result of structural racism, and can he outline what his Government are doing to address the issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not agree with the hon. Member’s last point, but she makes a very important point about the need to reach hard-to-reach groups in society. That is why it is so important that the vaccine roll-out is not just conducted by the NHS, the Army, pharmacies and volunteers, but in co-ordination with local government at all levels, because it is local government that will know where we need to go, as I am sure she would understand, to ensure that we reach those groups we must vaccinate and who may be a little bit vaccine hesitant, as the jargon has it.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Apsana Begum

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what she says. The best thing we can do for retail, which we opened up again in June, is to ensure that we keep it open and that people can keep going to the shops in a covid-secure way, including on the high streets in Morley and Outwood. That is the way to take our country forward. But the way to do it is to follow this package of measures to the letter. I am delighted that it has Opposition support, which, as she rightly says, is not uniform or everyday, but we have got it today. Let us work with it and get that message across to the country.

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

Through the testing scheme, we have seen that the BAME population has suffered most from covid-19. What assurances can the Prime Minister give that ethnic minority communities can be prioritised for testing? My constituency has a high Bangladeshi population, which has suffered the highest number of excess deaths of any ethnic group. That community is devastated. It really needs assurances that it will be prioritised for testing, along with other ethnic groups.

[The Prime Minister]

We grieve for what has happened in black and minority ethnic communities. The hon. Lady is right in what she says about the Bangladeshi community. We will do everything we can to get all the groups in our country that need testing the testing they deserve as fast as we possibly can. All I can tell her is that we have hugely expanded our testing capacity. There is a hierarchy of need, of priority groups, which she will have seen. We will do everything we can to ensure that black and minority ethnic groups get the support and protections they need, in addition to the measures that we have already taken, which I outlined earlier.