(1 year, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe hon. Gentleman has made his point in his normal way and I am certain it will be picked up by my colleagues in the Home Office.
Veterans employment in this country is strong, with 87% of veterans securing employment within six months after service, helping to deliver on the Government’s priority to grow the economy.
As we celebrate Armed Forces Week, let us celebrate the skills of our armed forces personnel and their value in civilian life. The Army’s life skills policy and holistic approach to transition do just that. Nevertheless, the number of veterans claiming universal credit has risen by 50% in the last year and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers tells me that over half its welfare cases are about employment and finance issues. In these difficult circumstances, why have the Government chosen to halve the number of armed forces employment champions in jobcentres?
On armed forces employment champions in jobcentres, we have gone away from that being a part-time role to having full-time Department for Work and Pensions armed forces champions who cover different areas. They are proving hugely successful in getting people into work. I was concerned about the reports on universal credit and I explored that this week. There is now a different method of accounting and I have asked for more detail on that. The truth is that veteran employment is higher than it has ever been before, but I share those concerns and I will continue to explore the data.
(1 year, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberIt is now 127 weeks of uncertainty, delay and broken promises since the Conservatives took us out of the world’s biggest and most prestigious science fund, Horizon Europe. Our scientists, universities and businesses have paid the price in lost jobs and investment, so will the Minister confirm or deny the reports that negotiations to rejoin Horizon have stalled because his Government are pushing for a reduced fee to reflect what they believe is a lasting reduction in grants won by UK scientists? If they have permanently damaged our success rate, should the Minister not be trying to fix that, rather than claim a discount?
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave a few moments ago. We have negotiated access to Horizon—it was the EU that kept us out. The Prime Minister has unblocked that through the Windsor framework. We have invested substantially through the funding guarantee for all Horizon programmes and through £850 million-odd of additional UK expenditure. We have also increased UK research and development to record levels. We will be at £52 billion by the end of this three years. There is no cutting of UK R&D as a result of this issue. We are actively negotiating to make sure that we get a good deal.
(1 year, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe whole point of having a test is to expose where there are challenges. Subsequent to the test, I met with the chief executive of Three, on which network the principal challenges lay, and I am confident that they have pretty much taken the actions needed to ensure that we will get the fuller coverage that is required. It was a one-off test. I do not see any need for a further such test in the foreseeable future. We will target the system as locally as possible—we can do so at the level of even a mast. It will be used in circumstances where people’s lives are at risk; it is a very high bar for usage.
During a national emergency, it is the most vulnerable who are likely to be the most in need, but they are also the most likely to be digitally excluded. In the absence of a digital inclusion strategy or even target from the Government since 2014, we do not know where those people are. In response to the test, what steps will the right hon. Gentleman take to ensure that those who are digitally excluded will be better included and reached in a national emergency?
The hon. Lady raises an important point. Even under the existing test, we reached 93% of people, so the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom did receive that alert, and by the time we have dealt with the Three issues, it will be a much larger number. We continue to engage with relevant charities and other organisations to ensure that people who still do not have access to mobile phone technology are able to receive appropriate alerts. This sits alongside many other measures that we take to inform people of risks.
(1 year, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberIf the hon. Member writes to me about that specific case, I am more than happy to get back to him and help him.
Perfectly suitable accommodation is not easily available in Newcastle. I know that from the thousands of constituents who write to me desperately seeking it—it is the No. 1 issue. I also know it from talking to Afghan refugees, and Ukrainian refugees for that matter. What will the Minister do after 18 months to magic up this perfectly suitable accommodation, or will he seriously be making homeless those who risked their lives at our sides?
I have covered these points before. I have said that I do not want to make anybody homeless. Clearly the local authority housing fund, which comes into play, will help that process. Am I saying to the House that we will build 6,000 homes by the end of the summer? No, but if we just look at this like we are never going to get there, we will never change anything at all and never meet this challenge. The hon. Lady will know that there is an acute demand for housing across society in such places as Newcastle and Plymouth, and we will do everything we can, including increasing the private rented offer, to make sure that we get these people out of hotels and into communities like hers.
(1 year, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am happy to look at that—I think that list already exists—but the key thing is exactly that: it is less than 3%. It is there in black and white—I am not pretending it is not there—and it is there for the reasons that we discussed earlier today. It is about ensuring that there is no border between Northern Ireland and the Republic and that those Northern Ireland producers and businesses that value it have access to the EU single market. Crucially, even though it is less than 3%, it is there with the consent of the Northern Irish people. That is the most important thing—it is less about whether it is 3%, 5% or 2% than whatever is there being there with consent. It was there with the consent vote next year, but that vote was too blunt.
With the Stormont brake mechanism we have ensured that it is the institutions and people of Northern Ireland who decide the laws that they want to adopt, which is the right way to approach this problem. It respects the balance necessary in Northern Ireland and it respects the needs of all communities and what businesses want. I look forward to discussing it with my right hon. Friend in the coming days.
The issues with the Northern Ireland protocol have damaged our communities, our economy and our democracy, so of course I welcome the agreement and look forward to a better working relationship with the European Union, including on science. When the Northern Ireland protocol delays meant that we could not associate with the Horizon programme, the Government committed that every penny meant for science would be spent on science. Some £2.5 billion was set aside for association with Horizon and £900 million was spent on guarantees, but, last week, £1.5 billion was quietly taken out of the budget and back to the Treasury. Now that the Prime Minister has the deal, will he commit to deliver his promises on science?
Just diverting slightly from the Northern Ireland protocol and the new Windsor framework, the Government have committed to spend £20 billion on research and development. It is a record amount. This Government have created a brand new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology because we care about it so much. I know that that is something the hon. Member will support, and that is how we are going to drive growth and prosperity in every part of our United Kingdom in the coming years.
(1 year, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am confident that our legislation will deliver the asylum system that we want to see, and I can tell my hon. Friend that it will come very early in the new year. We want to crack on and solve the problem, and I look forward to having his support.
When my mother fled war and famine in Biafra in the 1960s with her three small children, the cargo plane on which we travelled—the only form of transport available—landed first in Lisbon, as Portugal was the only country that recognised Biafra at the time. Does the Prime Minister think that we should have been obliged to remain in that relatively safe country, or does he agree with my mother that it was better to travel on to Newcastle, where my grandmother lived?
This country has and always will have a proud tradition of welcoming people here. We need to ensure that we can do that, but we cannot do that if our system is under unsustainable pressure from people who should not be here. By having proper control of our borders and ensuring we create a deterrent effect for those coming here illegally, we will be in a position where people do not have to travel through other countries to get here. We can work with the UN, the Red Cross and others to provide sanctuary for them wherever they are. In the long run, that is the fairest and most sustainable solution to this problem.
(1 year, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe Government’s mishandling of the Northern Ireland protocol negotiations is acting as a barrier to trade deals and scientific collaboration. The Prime Minister says that he was much influenced by his time at Stanford, so surely he understands the key role of science and scientific research in driving economic growth, which we sorely need. Will he really exclude British scientists from the world’s biggest scientific research programme, Horizon?
No one can doubt my commitment personally to ensuring that the UK remains, as it is, a scientific and technological superpower. That is why we have increased the R&D budget. That is why we are deregulating to support innovation. That is why we are reforming our capital markets to get money to all the companies that need it. We will hear more from the Chancellor about that, but I can give the hon. Lady every assurance that innovation is the way we drive growth, and that is what the Government will deliver.
(1 year, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberMy right hon. Friend is right about the devastation that climate change is causing, not least in Pakistan where 30 million are impacted as an area the size of the entire United Kingdom is now under water, with disease rife through the water. He knows that I remain committed to supporting our armed forces, and that will always be the case.
The Prime Minister gives oil companies who are already making billions in excess profits 90p in tax breaks for every £1 they invest in oil and gas, literally fuelling the climate change that will bring more flooding to the north-east, destroying our agriculture, lives and livelihoods, prospects and prosperity. Yet he refuses to invest in the north-east’s transport infrastructure, industry, green technologies, people and skills to combat climate change. Why does he treat the oil companies with such largesse and leave the north-east with nothing?
The hon. Lady is simply not right. It is not realistic or practical to think that we do not need to use oil and gas for the foreseeable future as a transition fuel. The choice for Opposition Members is: would they rather have that from here at home or import it at almost double the carbon footprint? It seems to me relatively straightforward that we should support domestic oil and gas production in the short term.
The hon. Lady talks about new investments in renewable energy in the north-east as if they are not happening. She might want to visit Teesside. Whether it is offshore wind, hydrogen or carbon capture and storage, that is where the future is, and it is happening in the north-east.
(1 year, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberMy constituents face intolerable delays in A&E, for an appointment, for referral for mental health treatment, or for an ambulance. Those who work in the NHS face plummeting morale, effective pay cuts and staff shortages. The Secretary of State’s response is to aspire to a GP waiting time that is seven times longer than Labour actually achieved. Is it not the case that the NHS is not, has not been, and never can be safe in Tory hands?
(1 year, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe people of Newcastle have always held a strong and proud sense of our own identity as Geordies, as working people, as citizens of the United Kingdom and, for seven decades, as subjects of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Her death leaves us bereft in ways we cannot fully comprehend.
Queen Elizabeth cared about the things that we Geordies care about. She was, like so many Geordies, a veteran of our armed forces, devoted to our servicemen and women. I am proud that the Queen’s Own Yeomanry are headquartered in my constituency. The Queen loved her sport, as we do. We remember with great affection when she presented Newcastle United with our last FA cup trophy in 1955. We look forward to King Charles III making a similar presentation in the near future.
Like the majority of my constituents, I never met Her late Majesty, but her presence graced our city. She first came to Newcastle Central in 1954—a day she said she would never forget. I remember when she opened Eldon Square in 1977 and our Metro in 1981, and I regularly look upon the plaque commemorating her opening of our beautiful city library.
As Head of State, Queen Elizabeth was a profoundly important global figure. She could have tried to retain the imperial aura of the monarchy’s past or faded into the background as a distant symbol. Instead, she found a way to be a point of constant stability for our parliamentary democracy—a forceful presence, reassuring us that our unwritten constitution had a human embodiment beyond those of us who sit for a time here in Westminster, and that, should it come to it, our ancient liberties and our modern rights had a formidable guardian.
When I heard the news, I was disorientated, in awe of the Queen’s service and unable to understand my country without her. But I also thought of when, as a young woman in the 1980s, I was devoted to the cause of ending apartheid in South Africa, at a time when many British institutions were entangled with that evil in a way that made me doubt whether I belonged in the country of my birth. The Queen stood in solidarity with the Commonwealth in the face of apartheid South Africa. Her love for the Commonwealth as a community of equals, and her fundamental understanding that racism and fascism are evil, ensured esteem from Newcastle Central to Newcastle, KwaZulu—across our Commonwealth.
I end where I started, in Newcastle. The Queen’s platinum jubilee was celebrated with enthusiasm in our leafy avenues and in our less-cared-for council estates. I particularly remember a tea party at the Holly Court retirement home in Blakelaw. The love, respect, enthusiasm and laughter we shared that afternoon in the Queen’s honour were so sincere and so genuine, and they were made all the more poignant because the organiser, Mrs T, had just received a British Empire Medal for services to the community and was so, so proud.
We miss the Queen, we are grateful to her and we say, God save the King.