Public Services

Charlie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ms Abbott]

I have a great deal of respect for the right hon. Lady, and I would have hoped that she would do better than that. It was not enough money. That is why we did not vote for that measure, and we have said that over and over again. I must say that I am a little surprised to hear Government Members talk about a new broom at the Home Office, someone who is going to really stand up for the police; I think that in a way that dismisses the right hon. Lady’s record.

The Prime Minister told this House on Monday, channelling a former Prime Minister whom I knew, that he was going to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. I have to ask how, coming from him, that can be taken seriously. The Prime Minister has no intention of making good all the public services that Tory or Tory-led Governments have slashed—and of course we have not forgotten the role of the DUP and the Lib Dems, who facilitated Tory austerity, but the organisers of this entire failed project were the Tories.

The Government talk tough on crime, but that is all talk. They made all the causes of crime worse and cut all the public services trying to tackle it. Let us take the Domestic Abuse Bill. There are good things in the Bill, and Members on both sides of the House worked hard on it. But where is the money? Where is the funding for the police, NHS workers and social workers, and the funding to improve their training? Where is the funding for women’s support groups, information campaigns and women’s refuges? The Government have cut all of them. The money simply is not there. Without the funding, however good the text or the wording of the Bill are, they are just another wish list.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Ind)]

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Abbott]

I need to make progress, because I must leave time for those on the Treasury Bench.

The Government need to understand just how disappointed and frightened the Windrush victims are. It is almost as if, because they are an elderly cohort, the Government feel that if they string this out—[Interruption.] That is what they feel; go and meet some of them—[Interruption.] The Home Secretary is not dealing with it quickly enough, and I think that only a Labour Government will give justice to the Windrush generation.

I was interested to hear the Home Secretary talk about protecting our borders, because if we leave the EU we will lose the European arrest warrant and access to some very important databases of criminals and missing persons, as well as the level of co-operation we get as members of the EU. I would not talk so much about protecting our borders when we are losing some of the elements and instruments that would help the Government keep the people safe.

Before I conclude my remarks, I want to say a word about the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign, because I am a WASPI woman—I was born in the 1950s, and I was very disappointed that there was nothing about the WASPI women in the Queen’s Speech. We spent most of our adult lives assuming that we got a pension at the age of 60, and when these women understood that they would not, for most of them it was too late to change their working arrangements and arrange their pensions and their insurance. You have left a cohort of women who helped to build this country helpless and frightened, and I think that is a shame.

In conclusion, it is not enough to make wish lists of what you want to do with the public sector, because the public will find you out. The public know how long it takes to get a hospital appointment. The public know how long it takes to get a policeman to come to the site of a crime. The public know about the public sector and what the result of the statements from the Government are, because it is part of their lived experience. You will be found out. You will be—

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Williamson]

We have already explained that we have secured an extra £66 million for early years in the Budget. We will make further announcements on how we do this in the near future and we will address the issue of maintained nurseries, which we recognise play such an important role. However, I say to Labour Members that if they want to drive up standards in every one of our schools, ensure that children are safe in council care, and that the very best is delivered for our children, getting rid of the independent inspectorate that delivers those high standards is not the way to do it.

[Charlie Elphicke]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the shadow Home Secretary’s speech does not add up—not for the first time—not only on scrapping Ofsted, which has been instrumental in ensuring that there are improvements in 27 schools in my constituency, but on police numbers, because Labour went into the previous election saying that there should be cuts in the police, whereas this Home Secretary has been supporting more officers on our streets?

[Gavin Williamson]

It is fair to say that there is a lot that does not add up from the Labour party. Put simply, the concept of getting rid of Ofsted to drive up standards is absolutely farcical. We need Ofsted; it plays a vital role in ensuring the very best for our children.