Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Catherine Fookes and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do understand the concerns of those who save to send their children to private school because they believe in aspiration and opportunity. Every single parent shares that aspiration to opportunity, whichever school they send their children to. Under the last Government, we did not have enough teachers in basic subjects in our state secondary schools. The Tories were prepared to tolerate that. I am not.

[Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire) (Lab)]

Q13. Three million people across the country, including an estimated 70,000 in Wales, will benefit from Labour’s Budget measures on the minimum wage and the national living wage. Members should contrast that with the Leader of the Opposition, who said that the minimum wage was hurting businesses, or the shadow Chancellor, who called the minimum wage a “burden”. Does the Prime Minister agree that those comments underline that the Tories have no interest in protecting working people or boosting the income of the lowest paid?

[The Prime Minister]

It was the last Labour Government who introduced the national minimum wage—in the teeth of opposition from the Tory party. I am proud that this Government have now increased it by over 16%. That means an increase of over £2,500 a year for a full-time worker aged 18 to 20. Whether it is our Employment Rights Bill or decisions at the Budget, this is a Government who are proudly on the side of Britain’s working people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Catherine Fookes and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Catherine Fookes (Monmouthshire) (Lab)]

Q7. As the Chancellor said last week, we were left a toxic legacy by the previous Government, including rivers filled with polluted waste. Will the Prime Minister put the River Wye into special measures by designating it a water protection zone, and will he meet me and the excellent cross-border Wye Catchment Partnership to deliver its plan to clean up the Wye?

[The Prime Minister]

The River Wye is one of our most important and iconic rivers, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government on that pressing issue. The destruction of our waterways should never have been allowed. That is why we have launched a water commission to attract investment and speed up infrastructure delivery, and why we have introduced legislation to enable tougher penalties and severe fines to crack down on polluters. I will ensure that my hon. Friend gets a meeting with the relevant Minister.