Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (Alba)]

Q13. The poorest in this country currently pay the highest fuel costs through prepayment meters that have higher standing charges and higher tariffs. Belgium ensures a social tariff for the poorest and most vulnerable. As the perverse and pernicious euphemism of self-disconnection enters the lexicon—when in fact it is a politically imposed choice, not something chosen by individuals—is it not time that we provided a social tariff and ended the injustice of prepayment meters?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member and I can tell him that what we are doing right now is helping 8 million households across the country with £1,200 of support, £300 for pensioners who are in receipt of the cold weather payment, plus £400 for every household in the country. That is the support we are giving right now to help people with the cost of energy. The only reason we can do it, as I have said before to the House, is because of the strength of the economy and the brave, tough calls we got right during the pandemic.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right that we will see many more people coming here. He is right that the instincts of this country are to be as generous as possible. That is why we have made sure that applications can now be processed online very quickly, so people can come here with their passports. Under the family reunion scheme alone, I think the numbers are now running in excess of 16,000 people coming here.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (Alba)]

While Ofgem can cap rising gas and electricity bills, other fuels such as heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas and solid fuel remain unregulated. Many households in rural Scotland depend on such fuels. There are also areas awash with energy, both on and offshore, yet with huge and rising numbers of people in fuel poverty. Will the Prime Minister regulate and cap such fuels, to alleviate hardship and end the perversity of energy-rich Scotland but fuel-poor Scots?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right that energy-rich Scotland and the hydrocarbons that we have in this country should be used to help the British people. We should not be needlessly reliant on oil and gas from Putin’s Russia. I think that is the policy of Alba but, unfortunately, is not yet the policy of the SNP.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It gives me great pleasure to thank my right hon. Friend for all the work that he did on the “New Decade, New Approach” deal. I agree that it would be a good thing for the whole package to be agreed, and I certainly support the approach that he has set out. I think that what the people of Northern Ireland want is a stable, functioning and mature Executive.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (Alba)]

A new Lord Advocate has taken up position, but the structural flaws in the office remain. In no other legal jurisdiction in the UK, or indeed in the western world, is the Government’s senior legal adviser simultaneously the country’s chief prosecutor; yet the role is enshrined in the Scotland Act 1998. Will the Prime Minister commit to changes so that that historical anachronism can be changed and a separation of powers achieved?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on the outstanding success of his party in the recent elections. I will study the anomaly that he raises and revert to him as soon as possible.

Integrated Review

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend and I think alike on so many of these issues, and we think alike on this, too. This country can be immensely proud, and he can be immensely proud of the leadership he showed as Foreign Secretary on aid and development and in championing the needs of the underprivileged around the world. The UK, under any view, continues to do that. Look at what we just did with the GAVI summit for global vaccines, raising $8 billion or $9 billion to spread vaccines around the world. We lead the world in investing in epidemic preparedness and in so many other ways. We will continue to do so, and the people of this country will continue to be world leaders in giving aid. I remember my right hon. Friend’s campaign to increase defence funding—I listened to it very carefully. I thought he was right at the time, and I am glad that we have been able to fulfil his expectations now.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (SNP)]

When the major threat is terrorism, largely homegrown and driven by inequality and prejudice, and with other budgets being cut, inequality rising and prejudice increasing, how will all the king’s soldiers and all the king’s weaponry put further victims together again?

[The Prime Minister]

I could not quite hear that question, Madam Deputy Speaker, but the hon. Gentleman seemed to be saying that terrorism is somehow caused by injustice in this country. I do not believe that to be true.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have very little doubt that, once we have got through to spring, we will be in a completely different environment. Indeed, I have high hopes that things will change very fast as a result, as my hon. Friend says, of new technologies that are coming on stream. But for the time being we have to concentrate on the tools we have in hand, and those tools are the packages of restrictions that we have set out and the basic guidance about restricting contact person to person and restricting the spread of the virus. That is what we have to do for the time being.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (SNP) [V]]

The reality for many in the hospitality sector is not a close-down for a week or two, but a shutdown for the rest of the winter season. These businesses are vibrant and can provide vital jobs when the spring comes around, as they have done in years past, but only if they can survive this closure. When Germany can furlough through until next year, why won’t the United Kingdom?

[The Prime Minister]

The Chancellor has set out the job support scheme, which, as he said, goes through till next year.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right that pharmacies and chemists are in the frontline of our healthcare and do an absolutely outstanding job in testing people for all kinds of things, covid among them. We will certainly support them in any way that we can.

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (SNP) [V]]

We may well have to endure this for six months or more, but it is less than six weeks until the furlough scheme ends. Germany, France and even Ireland are extending furlough schemes for specific sectors. It is a political, not a health decision. Many communities in my constituency were devastated by political decisions made by a Tory Government in the 1980s that reaped mass unemployment. Are we now to have that revisited on them in 2020, or will the Prime Minister extend the furlough scheme?

[The Prime Minister]

The comparisons with other European countries are actually illuminating, because the furlough scheme is far more generous than that of either Germany or France, or virtually any other country in Europe. What we will continue to do, as I have said repeatedly to the House, is to put our arms around the workers of this country to make sure that we help people throughout the crisis, but also, as I said before, to do everything we can to keep our economy moving and keep people in work wherever we can.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Kenny MacAskill

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (SNP) [V]]

East Lothian prides itself on its food and drink sector, which is gravely threatened by reduced standards in animal welfare and production. The Government failed to enshrine protections in the Agriculture Bill, and earlier this week Ministers equivocated on the issue; will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to be clear today that high standards will be protected, a food standards commission will be established, and we will not face chlorinated chicken on our table, along with Kentucky fried medicine in our hospitals?

[The Prime Minister]

Not only will we protect animal welfare standards but, on leaving the EU, as we have, we will be able to increase our animal welfare standards. We will be able to ban the treatment of farrowing sows that is currently legal in the EU, and we will be able to ban the shipment of live animals, which currently we cannot ban in the UK. We will be able to go further and better, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman supports that. By the way, I also hope that he will tell all his friends in the—SNP, is it?—SNP that that is one of the reasons why their plan to take Scotland back into the EU would be completely contrary to the instincts of the British people.