Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend could add to the good weather the fact that Andy Murray won Wimbledon and England retained the Ashes—much good news was to be had over the summer. It is important that we recognise what brought about the good news to which he refers. Parties had to make a key judgment on whether, in this Parliament, to get to grips with the deficit and take the tough decisions we needed to turn our country around. The Government parties made those tough decisions; the Labour party ducked every single one of them.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q8. The Government are right to extend free nursery provision to disadvantaged two-year-olds, but figures show that four in 10 councils will not have sufficient places. Can the Prime Minister guarantee that all those children promised a place will have one?

[The Prime Minister]

We have put in place the funding to provide that for the disadvantaged two-year-olds and I am confident that they will receive the services they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 5th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. There has been some more welcome news about the economy continuing to heal. We saw the services figures out today, the construction figures out yesterday and the growth figures in the economy. We are making progress, but we have to stick to the plan and the difficult decisions that we are taking and avoid the complete chaos and confusion being offered by the Labour party.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q13. We know that before the election, the Prime Minister said that there would be no more top-down reorganisations in the NHS and that he later went on to say that he would not lose control of waiting times in A and E departments. Why does he keep making promises that he just cannot keep?

[The Prime Minister]

What we promised was that we would not cut the NHS—we would put extra money in. We are putting in £12.7 billion extra. Let me say it one more time: Labour’s official policy is to cut the NHS. They said that our policy—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which is that we have consistently lifted the personal tax allowance—the amount of money that people earn before they start paying tax—starting at around £6,000 and now rising all the time, so that over 2 million people have already been taken out of tax altogether. If he is sitting comfortably for the next half an hour, he may hear some further news.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q9. Does the Prime Minister agree with his hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) that his Government’s focus should be on looking after people who are struggling to pay their mortgages, rather than protecting those in £2 million houses?

[The Prime Minister]

We should be helping people who are paying their mortgages, and that is why it is so vital that we stick to our plans. We have low interest rates in this country because we have a plan to get the deficit down. That is absolutely key. The other point I would make to the hon. Lady is that if we look at the funding for lending scheme from the Bank of England, it has now successfully reduced mortgage rates and also made sure that people who do not have access to a large deposit are able to look at buying a house. We are making progress, but there is a lot more to do.

Phone Hacking

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. No regulatory system in the world can protect against all bad practice, and a sense of social and moral responsibility is vital, whether one is a banker, an MP or a journalist. I am sure that we can do better than the current system, because on the evidence of what has happened over the past 10 years and the warnings that have been ignored, it is clear that the Press Complaints Commission is not set up in the right way, and has not worked.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

There has been serious disquiet about whether it was appropriate for former senior public servants to take up roles with News International. One example is Andy Hayman, who took a job with News International very soon after leaving the Metropolitan police; another is the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Macdonald. Will the inquiry be able to consider the appropriateness of that, given the damage that it does to public confidence?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, in politics we have huge levels of transparency in relation to jobs that former Ministers can go into, and we also have a committee dealing with appointments to ensure that there is an appropriate gap. However, she has made a good point, and I am sure that the committee of inquiry will want to consider it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 17th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely can do that, because we made some difficult choices in the spending review to say that we are going to put more money into early-years education for two-year-olds from deprived families. That was previously not available. We are going to fund extra hours for three and four-year-olds in nursery education. We are going to make sure that there is a pupil premium, never dreamed of by a Labour Government in 13 years in office, that is over and above the per-pupil funding in our schools. Then we are going to carry that through to university so that children on free school meals will get some time at university for free and will not have to pay the student premiums. All those things will make a big difference, and they show that this is a Government who have made some progressive choices in education, even though we inherited a mess that we had to clear up.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q12. Does the Prime Minister agree with his Business Secretary that the scrapping of regional development agencies has been “Maoist and chaotic”?

[The Prime Minister]

Given that my right hon. Friend is implementing the policy, that is not his view. We all take the view that the RDAs wasted a vast amount of money. Many of them were not popular with the businesses in their area, and the local enterprise partnerships will do a much better job. I suggest to the hon. Lady that instead of complaining about it, she works with her local authorities to get a good local enterprise partnership in her area to start backing business, jobs and economic revival.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 9th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is a good idea, on that performance. It is great to welcome my hon. Friend back to the House of Commons. He is right that Lord Myners, who was hand-picked by the last Government to be a Treasury Minister, put his finger on the button when he said:

“There is nothing progressive about a Government who consistently spend more than they can raise in taxation, and certainly nothing progressive that endows generations to come with the liabilities incurred by the current generation.” —[Official Report, House of Lords, 8 June 2010; Vol. 719, c. 625.]

Those words are absolutely right, but what a pity he did not say it when he was in office and had the chance to do something about it.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q3. I would like to thank the Prime Minister for writing to me today to tell me that the decision on the Nissan grant will be fast-tracked. Waiting for this decision is causing huge economic uncertainty to the north-east economy. I hope that the Prime Minister can help me with a similar cause of concern to my constituents—the issue of whether the rebuilding of Hetton school will go ahead as planned.

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, having written the hon. Lady a letter, I can now go a bit further and confirm, with respect to the specific grant for Nissan that she raised last week, that the money will go ahead and the investment will be going in. Before Opposition Members jump to their feet, let me explain what the problem is with some of the grants. Before the last election, Lord Mandelson had a giant cheque book, which he went all round the country opening up, spending tens of billions of pounds, which he promised to 200 projects, two thirds of which were conveniently located in Labour marginal seats. Given that so much money was spent, it is only right for a responsible incoming Government to review those decisions one by one and make sure that the money is well spent. Fortunately for Lord Mandelson, someone else is now getting out their cheque book to pay for his memoirs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 2nd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. By having transparency, we are able to see for the first time who is earning what in the public sector. That will create pressure on top people’s pay in the public sector, to keep that pay down. That is the first thing. In the NHS specifically, as he knows, our plans are all about removing the centralised bureaucracy, partly by removing many of the centralised targets that have caused that bureaucracy to grow. Our ambition is to ensure that the priority is the people on the front line—the nurses, the doctors, the people involved in clinical care—instead of the endless increase in management that we have seen in recent years.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Q8. Many of my constituents are employed by Nissan and in supply chain jobs. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the £20 million grant awarded to Nissan under the previous Government in March will be honoured, in order to develop the next generation of electric cars?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me welcome the hon. Lady to her place and say that I, too, have visited the Nissan plant near Sunderland. It is an absolute wonder to see the incredible investment that has gone in there and the many jobs that have been created, not just at that plant but in the supply chain. I want to see electric cars being developed, and when I was at Nissan we discussed that specifically. As for the grant, I do not have a specific answer for her—[Hon. Members: “Ah!”] It’s a funny old thing: I’m going to give accurate answers, rather than make them up on the spot. I shall be delighted to let the hon. Lady know via a letter as soon as possible.