Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

On the personal abuse stuff, I think the right hon. Gentleman is talking a load of tosh, but when he has retired to his croft—which may be all too soon—I hope that he will reflect on his long-running campaign to break up the greatest country in the world. I hope that he will reflect on the pointlessness of what he is trying to do, and think instead about the priorities of the people of Scotland, which are all the issues that he thought were trivial: education, crime, and the burden of taxation that the SNP is unnecessarily placing on the people of Scotland.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Q6.   A long time ago, when I trained as a pilot, I had the luxury of being able to fly around turbulent storms. I also had the ability to rely on a team who kept my aircraft airworthy. As the Prime Minister prepares his new flight plans, may I suggest that he resets his compass to true north and stops off in Dudley, where he will always be welcomed with open arms and sincere affection, and where he will be able to see his legacy?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for that renewed invitation. I have spent many happy days with him in Dudley; let us hope that there are more to come.

CHOGM, G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Monday 4th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The discussion at the G7 was probably liveliest on that subject. The G7 feels that China is a gigantic fact of our lives and that we have got to understand that. Everybody has got huge trading relations with China, but, on the other hand, there are lots of areas where we have got to compete, contest and, sometimes, challenge what China does. That was very much agreed around the table at the G7, and indeed at NATO.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

My constituents are proud of the actions taken by this country and the Prime Minister in supporting Ukraine, its armed forces and the victims of Russian aggression in Ukraine. However, they are feeling the pinch in their pockets, and the public purse is under severe pressure as well, so they want to know that our NATO allies and immediate neighbours are playing their part in equal measure.

[The Prime Minister]

On the table of expenditure, the US is way out in front. I really congratulate Joe Biden on his leadership. Joe Biden and the Americans have really stepped up to the plate—a fantastic effort. We are spending the second biggest amount, and I think that the Poles are in third place. There is then a long tail of others, but everybody is now spending more and more. We agreed that we are in it for the long haul; that is the most important thing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 9th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, I am very sorry about the hon. Gentleman’s constituent and for the difficulties she has been through. I understand very much her feelings, but in what the hon. Gentleman has just said I am afraid he is completely in error.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Q10. On 30 September 2020, the Prime Minister joined me on a building site in Dudley that is now the new Institute of Technology, delivering on skills for future jobs and creating opportunities across the Black Country. Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating the delivery team—including stakeholders such as Thomas Dudley and Dudley College—that delivered on this amazing project? Will he join me to do so in person at the nearest opportunity?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for Dudley and for the Black Country. I am delighted to hear that the Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology is now open and will certainly keep his kind invitation in mind.

Sue Gray Report

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course I share the hon. Lady’s grief for Ismail.

I sympathise with his family. I understand the pain and loss that everyone has experienced throughout this country. All I can say is that I will continue to do my best to fight covid, as I have done throughout this pandemic, and to deliver for the British people. I cannot say more than that.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Having the required management expertise to run dozens of offices with hundreds of people within, is one thing. Running the country and getting the big decisions right is quite another. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to have a look at what is happening at No. 10 and those management structures, so we can deliver on the Brexit promises we made to the people of this country.

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend. That is why we are taking up the findings of the Sue Gray report. We want to make sure that No. 10 works better and that the whole of the Government work better. It has been focused very much on covid, but we now need to deliver exclusively on the great priorities of the people.

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Plainly, the free trade deals with the CPTPP, Australia and countries around the world that we are doing and will continue to do make a nonsense of the proposal that the hon. Gentleman outlines.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Our hosting of the G7 and the reaffirmation of our indestructible partnership with our cousins across the pond—also seen through NATO—sets the scene for a brighter and far more aspirational future for the whole of the UK. Does the Prime Minister agree and can he explain, perhaps in writing if he does not have time now, what this means for the people of Dudley North and the rest of the country?

[The Prime Minister]

The people of Dudley North and the rest of the country will benefit massively from a new age of co-operation between our democracies; from the security that we are establishing, but also from our global commitment to work together to build back greener, so that we generate hundreds of thousands—millions—of high-wage, high-skilled jobs in Dudley, in the west midlands and around the whole of the UK.

Integrated Review

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con) [V]]

The integrated review is clearly extremely welcome. Does my right hon. Friend agree that a vigorous approach to foreign policy that recognises the importance of the Indo-Pacific region is key? Does he also agree that a truly global Britain that forges strategic ties with future superpowers, such as Brazil, which partnered with us in the development of the Oxford vaccine, is also of crucial importance?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that I speak for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and, indeed, for my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North himself when I say that we understand the importance of Brazil. I share his analysis about the future of Brazil. Together with the Canning of our times, the Foreign Secretary, we intend to build closer relationships not just with Brazil and the rest of the Mercosur countries, but with the Pacific Alliance countries too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 3rd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. In fairness, Prime Minister, we have to be somewhere near the question that was asked. I do not want you to go around answering every problem and issue. There are a lot more questions that will allow you to do that and the first one is from Marco Longhi.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

I join the Prime Minister in his moving words about Captain Sir Tom Moore, who was an inspiration to each and every one of us in this country and beyond. The Priory Park boxing club in Dudley has produced many champions, including Ryan Aston, who became champion five times in this country. Will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to Paul Gough at the club, who is working with young boys and girls who have been excluded from mainstream education? Will he also pay tribute to the council leader Patrick Harley, who has agreed to and is supporting a new school, in partnership with the club, to ensure that these young people will get academic qualifications as well as increased strength, belief and new opportunities for the future?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this excellent club. I am happy to join him in paying tribute to the work of Paul Gough and Patrick Harley, and everybody at Priory Park boxing club. I know from personal experience what a huge difference it can make, not just to young people’s fitness, but to their educational success, to attend boxing clubs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I share the hon. Lady’s anxiety about the impact of differential learning on kids in our schools across the country, because there is no doubt that different groups have been affected in different ways by the pandemic. That is why we have put a billion pounds or more into the catch-up funds, but it is also why it is so important to ensure that kids go to school and stay in school. That is why we have put all the emphasis, as we have throughout this pandemic, on maintaining kids in school, even if that has put pressure on the hospitality sector and other parts of our economy.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

I wonder whether my right hon. Friend, were he to find a small gap in his very busy diary, would join me on a visit to the Black Country Living Museum, where I would introduce him to a plate of Black Country battered chips and a pint of Holden’s Golden Glow, all after he has reviewed the arrangements that the museum has made to become a covid vaccination centre.

[The Prime Minister]

I am thrilled that the Black Country Living Museum is in line to be a covid vaccination centre. I have had many happy meetings with my hon. Friend in the Black Country, and as a proud former resident of Bilston, I look forward to returning before too long.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is an incredibly good question. In Liverpool, 37% or more of the population has now been tested, and a lot of asymptomatic positives have been found. I have to stress that it is not the only thing—it can make a big difference, but to be absolutely certain that it is playing a decisive part in getting the R down, we need a bigger proportion of the population to take tests, and we need more community buy-in. That is why we are working with local leaders across the areas that may be going into tier 3 to help them with that and to get mass testing programmes going, not just like in Liverpool but even more ambitious.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con) [V]]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in praising all our care workers, our staff at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley and, in particular, staff at the Barchester Broadway Halls care home, who went out of their way to enable residents Stan Plawecki, aged 94, and Myra Staves, aged 87, to be part of our Armistice Day commemorations at this very difficult time?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to pay tribute to the work of those remarkable staff for what they did to allow Remembrance Sunday commemorations to go ahead and allow people to attend them. I thank them personally, and I thank all care home staff for the unbelievable service they have given and continue to give.

Integrated Review

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One reason why I am so excited about going up to 2.2% of our spending on defence, as the hon. Gentleman points out, is that it will allow us to do more on peacekeeping. By the way, he is right to draw attention to the fact that the UK could do more on peacekeeping. I am proud of what we are doing, for instance, in Mali, but this programme, this investment, gives us the scope to do even more.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con) [V]]

This is a hugely important announcement, which, as a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Trust, I know will be much welcomed by our armed forces. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that it will in fact strengthen our global influence and secure jobs across a range of supply chain industries, some of which are located across the Dudley borough and the Black Country?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. This will be big for the Black Country. The west midlands, once again, is at the cutting edge of technological change and the new industrial revolution. The technologies that we will need and that are foreseen in this spending package will certainly drive jobs in the west midlands and around the whole UK.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Every child with symptoms should automatically get a test—that is, everybody with symptoms should get a test. I can tell the hon. Lady that we are massively expanding testing across the country. I repeat the points that I made earlier: it is one of the few things for which we can be thankful in this epidemic, that the virus affects children and young people—the youngest of all—much less than older people, and there is much less evidence that they pass covid on in the way that other people do.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to support our heroic staff at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, as well as care staff and indeed residents in care homes, is to reinforce the central message of washing our hands, maintaining social distancing and wearing face coverings where appropriate?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend puts it very well and very succinctly, and I really could not add anything to what he said.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Marco Longhi

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue of flooding in Wales. Of course it is a devolved matter, but none the less the Government are committed to working flat out with the Welsh Administration to ensure that everybody gets the flood relief that they need. Yes, of course, that cash certainly will be passported through.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

Dudley is set to receive £25 million investment via the Government’s towns fund, and we are looking to use the money to secure a university campus near the town centre. Will the Prime Minister lend his support to this scheme in order to level up and generate greater opportunity for Dudley people and the greater Black Country?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what he is doing to champion Dudley and the Black Country, and I will certainly look at what I can do—is it to be there in person? Is that what he is asking for?

[Marco Longhi]

indicated assent.

[The Prime Minister]

Be careful what you wish for! I will look at what I can do to be there in person and support what sounds like an excellent scheme.