Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Shaun Bailey

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman very much. The whole House wants to do as much as we can as fast as possible, but what he says about the UK is, I am afraid, completely wrong, because we have visa centres open in Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Rzeszów in Poland, Chi inău in Moldova, Bucharest and elsewhere. We have already got 1,000 people in under the existing scheme. That number will climb very sharply. Look at what we have done already—15,000 from Afghanistan, 104,000 applications from Hong Kong Chinese, and I think there were about 25,000 from Syria. No one has been turned away. That is simply—[Interruption.] We want to be as generous—[Interruption.] It is important to have checks. Let me make this point to the House because I think people need to understand.

There are some people who would like to dispense with checks altogether and simply to wave people through—[Interruption.] I hear the voices on the Opposition Benches, and I think that that is irresponsible and is not the approach that we should be taking. The Schengen countries have a different arrangement. We must be in no doubt, as I said in answer to a previous question, that the Kremlin has singled out this country for the approach that we are taking, and we know how unscrupulous Vladimir Putin can be in his methods. It would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risk and we will not do it. We are going to be as generous as we can possibly be, but we must have checks.

[Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Con)]

My community in Tipton came together on Sunday to commemorate the 100 years since the devastating explosion at the Dudley Port munitions factory and the 19 girls who were recklessly murdered by the owner of that factory. In the Black Country, it is vital that we acknowledge both the pride and the pain of our industrial heritage. May I ask my right hon. Friend, therefore, to reaffirm his commitment today to the Black Country to ensure that we honour the legacy of those girls from that factory in Dudley Port 100 years ago? The one way that he can do that for my community in Tipton is to come to Tipton to see that beating heart of the Black Country, and we will welcome him with open arms.

[The Prime Minister]

Long ago, when I was a reporter, Tipton was on my beat—many years ago—and wild horses could not keep me away from Tipton. I’ll be back.

Health and Social Care

Debate between Boris Johnson and Shaun Bailey

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much. We are setting out the plan today on the caps and floors and how to deal with social care. We are setting out the plan on nurses’ pay and dealing with the backlogs. What we will also be doing is setting out the finer detail of the integration between health and social care in the ways that I have described: everybody should have electronic records for both health and social care; there should be movement between the two services; community nurses and adult social carers should not be doing these radically different professions with different pay spines—there should be an integration; people should be having care in the appropriate setting; and there should be a single budget holder. Those are some of the things that we will be discussing in the White Paper.

[Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Con)]

Additional investment is welcome, but that has to come with assurance. My constituents in Tipton, because of the Labour party, are getting turfed out of their care home, despite a £2 million underspend by Sandwell Council on adult social care. Can my right hon. Friend assure my constituents in Tipton that their campaign to save Walker Grange care home is not in vain? Will he ensure that assurance comes with the investment to stop the Labour party turfing out some of the most vulnerable people in my community?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, Mr Speaker, and I think my hon. Friend speaks to the profound indifference of the Labour party to this issue for decades. That is why we are taking the decisive action that we are to address the problems in the whole social care system, to support care homes and to support those who must face the cost of social care.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Shaun Bailey

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point about the self-employed. As she knows, we have provided very considerable support as part of the overall package of £120 billion—I think we have given £22 billion altogether through the furlough scheme for employed and self-employed people. Her further suggestion for a universal basic income is one that we have looked at. The best way forward for our country is to get the disease under control in the way that we are doing; get our people back into work; build, build, build; and take this country forward.

[Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Con)]

It was great to have my right hon. Friend in the Black Country announcing his new vision yesterday. Perhaps next time he is in the Black Country, he will come five minutes down the road to Tipton, where we can sort him out a pint in the pie factory. I was recently contacted by two students in my constituency, Elliot Wilkes from Sandwell Academy and Will Gill from Q3 Academy Tipton. They want reassurance from the Prime Minister that his announcement yesterday means that, after years of neglect and being overlooked, our communities in Wednesbury, Oldbury and Tipton will finally get the recognition that we deserve.

[The Prime Minister]

I am trying to stick off the pies at the moment, but my hon. Friend can tell his communities in Tipton that we are investing massively not just in education, with, as I say, £14 billion more into our schools, but in infrastructure that will reach every corner of the country, particularly the west midlands. I am delighted that West Bromwich will receive at least £500,000 from the Stronger Towns Fund this year to support its high street and local community.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Shaun Bailey

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. She can take it that we will ensure that we abide by the judgment and take account of the Paris convention on climate change, but I do not believe for one second that that will be an impediment to our delivery of an infrastructure revolution across this country.

[Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Con)]

Q9. Communities like mine in West Bromwich West are grateful for this Government’s commitment to 366 police officers for the west midlands. Will my right hon. Friend reaffirm that, unlike the Labour police and crime commissioner, who is decimating communities like mine in Tipton with the closure of our police station, this Government are committed to keep our communities safe through investment in the police and tougher sentences for the criminals who are ruining the lives of my constituents in Tipton?

[The Prime Minister]

That is precisely why my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is working so hard to recruit 20,000 more police officers and to enhance stop-and-search powers. That is why we have set out plans to build more prisons and keep violent and sexual offenders in prison for longer. I am delighted that the west midlands, thanks partly to my hon. Friend’s lobbying, is receiving another 366 police officers.