Ukraine

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can certainly make that commitment, and I know that that has the support of the whole House.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister is right when he says that democracy is at stake, including our democracy. The Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report sets out the challenge clearly. Can I ask the Prime Minister specifically what he proposes to bring forward to ensure that Putin’s dirty money is not filling the pockets of UK political parties?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, you cannot give money to UK political parties if you are a foreign national.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I can tell him that we are in the process of reviewing the 15-minute waiting requirement for both booster doses. We continue to be guided by the JCVI and the MHRA.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Q8. My constituents are having to resort to performing DIY dentistry, including on their children. In the catch-up money, nothing has been allocated to NHS dentistry, so can the Prime Minister explain why my constituents cannot access an NHS dentist?

[The Prime Minister]

We are putting record funding into the NHS, including NHS dentistry. If the hon. Lady would like to write to me with the cases that she has mentioned, I would be happy to take them up with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree 100%. I am looking forward to seeing the Westfield PODs and their means of conveying human beings around, although I cannot quite imagine what they are. What we want in this country is regulators for growth, and for green growth. We need a much more proactive approach that engages with brilliant ideas like that.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Moving to rail travel and away from more carbon-intensive forms of transport will be essential if we are to meet our ambitions to tackle the climate emergency. Two years ago, the Prime Minister visited Poulton and announced his commitment to reopen the railway line to Fleetwood. Can he tell my Fleetwood constituents what progress he is making with that, and when they can expect to catch the train from Fleetwood to the entire national rail network?

[The Prime Minister]

What we are doing is a general programme of Beeching reversals around the country. I will get back to the hon. Lady as soon as I can about what is happening in Poulton, but this is the biggest investment in rail for a century or more.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am only too happy to meet my hon. Friend at any time. I can assure her that we want to find the workforce to pick the flowers—the beautiful Cornish daffodils—that should not be “born to blush unseen”, if I remember the quote right. They should be properly picked. In addition to developing the local labour force, and making sure that we line up younger people and people across Cornwall with the opportunities that there are, she must not forget that, thanks to the EU settlement scheme, there are 6 million EU nationals still entitled to live and work in this country, who have taken advantage of that scheme. Never let it be said that we have done an injustice to that group.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Local residents in Lancaster are opposing the conversion of a popular local pub, the Britannia, into a 10-bedroom student let. The Housing Secretary says that the current planning system does not give people influence over local developments, but his party’s developers’ charter gags local residents and hands power to a Whitehall-appointed board of developers, resulting in low quality, unaffordable housing. Is it not the case that the Prime Minister is paying back his party of developer paymasters by selling out local communities?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not think that I have heard such total cobblers in all my life, except possibly from the Leader of the Opposition. That is not what the Bill does. On the contrary, it gives local people the power to protect.

If I understood the hon. Lady correctly, it was a pub called the Britannia that she wanted to protect. We are bringing forward measures to allow local people to protect such places of vital local importance. When it comes to development, the power remains vested firmly with local people, to make sure that they protect their green spaces and the green belt, and they have development only in the places where they, the local people, want it.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is totally right to raise the work of care homes, and we have put in repeated investments; I think another £1 billion went into supporting care homes throughout the pandemic. She is also right to raise the very painful questions of visiting and the ability of care home residents to leave their care home safely, and in that we have to balance the risks to them as well. We tried to increase the number of visitors they can have, and we hope very soon that greater freedoms will be possible.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Can the Prime Minister reassure the House that the terms of reference of this inquiry will include those suffering from long covid and the diagnosis, treatment and support for those who will no doubt be suffering for the foreseeable future?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an excellent point, and I am sure the chairman of the inquiry will want to consider that as we set up the inquiry in due course. I certainly do not exclude that the inquiry might want to look at long covid.

Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

University students, many of whom were not eligible for furlough for their part-time jobs, were already struggling financially. Today’s road map suggests that the vast majority of those students will not be able to return to their university accommodation until after Easter at best. They are legally being prevented from returning to accommodation for which they are obliged to pay. Does the Prime Minister think that that is fair? If he does not think that it is fair, what will he do about it?

[The Prime Minister]

I sympathise deeply with students who have had a time at university that no other generation has put up with. I sympathise deeply with their sense of unfairness, with the experiences they have had. They have been heroic, by the way, in the in which they have been able to bring the disease down in some university towns by obeying the guidance. We will do whatever we can to support them, working with the university sector, to make up for the experiences they have been through and to make sure, insofar as we can, that we help them to get compensation.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I fully understand the point that my right hon. Friend makes. I am sure that it will be borne in mind by the JCVI as it continues to make its judgments.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab) [V]]

The Chancellor announced the financial support package via a 90-second video on Twitter yesterday. With him not coming before the House, it is difficult for us to ask questions, so perhaps the Prime Minister will help. Yesterday’s announcement about grants did not say how long this new one-off grant support is intended to last. Will the Prime Minister tell us what will happen with business support should the current lockdown have to be extended or the vaccine roll-out delayed?

[The Prime Minister]

I think that the Chancellor was very clear about the £4.6 billion, with its Barnett consequentials, which he announced to the House. I must say, I do not think that anyone could fault the Chancellor for his willingness to come to the House and to explain what we are going to do.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Boris Johnson and Cat Smith

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. I can tell my hon. Friend that local restrictions support grants are still available—£3,000 for every 28 days that a business is forced to close.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Under the previous tiering system, my constituents in Lancaster and Wyre were frustrated that, although they had infection rates at the bottom of the Lancashire table of infections, they were bound by the rest of the county when it came to the tiering system. Will the Prime Minister reassure my constituents and businesses that operate in my constituency that district councils will be taken into account and consulted when deciding which tiers we are going into?