Ukraine

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Just to be absolutely clear, I know that the House wants us to hit Putin with absolutely everything that we have today, but what we want to do is prioritise unity among the alliance and among our friends and work in lockstep with them. There will be more to come.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

I welcome the statement from my right hon. Friend, because sanctions from countries all around the world will without question hurt Russia. However, given the events overnight, Russia appears to feel that this is a price worth paying. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, with increased deployments to Poland, Estonia and Cyprus, we will do whatever is necessary—including militarily, if needed—to support NATO and our friends in Ukraine as this crisis develops?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes of course we will, because what is at stake is not just the future of Ukraine but our principles and our values.

Living with Covid-19

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right to draw attention to the immunosuppressed and those who are particularly vulnerable. They will continue to have access to free testing, plus the therapeutics that I have described.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

The British sequencing regime is one of the best in the world, with more than 13% of all tests sequenced here in this country. Can my right hon. Friend say what steps are being taken to ensure that despite reductions in testing, our sequencing capacity in this country will stay one of the best in the world?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that we will retain that capacity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 23rd June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As I said to the right hon. and learned Gentleman—and I fought to have tougher action against rapists and sexual offenders throughout my time as Mayor of London; and, of course, to all the victims of rape and sexual violence, all the victims and survivors, of course I say sorry for the trauma that they have been through, the frustration that they go through because of the inadequacies of the criminal justice system. We are fixing that. We are fixing that by investing another £1 billion in clearing the court backlogs and ensuring that they have people that they can listen to and trust who will help them through the trials of the criminal justice experience. But above all, we are helping them by getting our courts moving again. The fastest, most efficient way to do that, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, is to get our country moving again, which is what we are doing with the fastest vaccination roll-out anywhere in Europe. We are getting on with the job. They jabber, we jab. They dither, we deliver. They vacillate and we vaccinate.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con) [V]]

The levelling-up fund is a superb opportunity for local areas like Calderdale Council to improve infrastructure and relieve the misery in local areas. With that aim, will my right hon. Friend take a serious look at Calderdale’s submission, which lacks support, has no consultation nor consensus with partners, and instead of relieving infrastructure problems, ploughs on with one of the council’s failed and doomed projects, which does nothing at all to level up and has no support locally?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The levelling-up fund has the potential to do massive good for Calderdale, and indeed the whole country, and I hope that Calderdale Council has listened to his strictures this afternoon and will act.

Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can see that there is a concerted attempt to make a point about this issue today, but I must say that the Government made every effort to secure PPE as fast as we possibly could, and I think that is what the people of this country wanted. We ended up with 32 billion items of PPE and, thanks to Lord Deighton, the PPE taskforce and others, we now have the capability, which I think will reassure the hon. Lady’s constituents more than anything else, to make 70% of our PPE needs in this country.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con) [V]]

It is brilliant news that we have now vaccinated one in three adults in the UK—it is a huge testament to British science; to the NHS; to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) and his whole team; and to everybody involved in the vaccination programme, not least my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree that because of his swift roll-out of the vaccine programme, we are now in a much stronger position to start to ease restrictions and put ourselves back on the path to some form of normality much sooner than we would have been able to without a vaccination roll-out programme?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, of course. My hon. Friend is completely right and I thank him very much for what he just said. The only reason why this road map is possible—we are one of a tiny number of countries around the world that have been able to set out a road map with dates and milestones this far ahead—is the vaccination roll-out programme.

Covid-19

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con) [V]]

I have been contacted by several dentists and dental assistants who have been told locally that they do not qualify as health workers for early priority under the vaccination roll-out. I am aware that my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford), a dentist himself, has campaigned tirelessly for dental teams to be in category 2 with other healthcare workers. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister advise, for clarity, whether dental teams are in fact in priority 2 with other healthcare workers for the vaccination roll-out?

[The Prime Minister]

Like my hon. Friend, I am a big fan of our colleague, our hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford), the great dentist. I can tell him that all dentists in patient-facing roles, and members of their dental teams who may have social contact with patients, are eligible to be offered the covid vaccine. We encourage them all take it if they are offered it.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I very much sympathise with the hon. Lady’s constituents in Lancaster and Wyre, and I thank them for the efforts that they have gone to in helping to bring the virus down in their area. It is very difficult, as I said earlier, to draw up the boundaries of these regions in a way that is satisfactory, but I hope that people will work together to get the test, to kick covid out and to drive down the virus, thereby—hopefully—to reduce the restrictions in their area.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend tell us exactly what the criteria will be for moving up and down the tiered system, and how often a review of each area will take place?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. The criteria are as I have set out a couple of times now. The areas will be reviewed every 14 days.

Transport Infrastructure

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We will certainly examine very carefully the proposal that the hon. Lady makes, and whether it qualifies under our £1.5 billion Beeching plan.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend knows, Calder Valley has been hit again by flooding, with the third most devastating flood in seven and a half years. Getting across the Pennines is a struggle at the best of times, let alone after flooding, so the news about Northern Powerhouse Rail is fabulous for us in Calder Valley. But can he assure the House that we will not wait for HS2b to be determined before we start Northern Powerhouse Rail?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Craig Whittaker and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue. We are already investing a record £48 billion in rail services, excluding HS2. It is right that we should look at the value that this country could get from a scheme as costly as HS2, with estimates now rising to £100 billion. I assure the hon. Lady that the Oakervee report will indeed be published in full in due course.

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

Q13. Misery is a polite word to explain the daily commuting experience of those using the Calder Valley train line. It is not just about cancelled, late or even broken-down trains; it is about infrastructure. Will my right hon. Friend sit down with me and the trains Minister to see how heads can be knocked together finally to clear the bottleneck in the £3.9 billion trans-Pennine upgrade, which is at a standstill?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, following on from the question from the hon. Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch). We are indeed committed to improving the trans-Pennine route and will be investing very considerable sums to ensure that that is done.