General Election

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I thank the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), for introducing this debate today.

This petition has succeeded already in a very important way: it has brought this debate to Westminster Hall. It is a broader debate than we are often able to have, and it has been passionately argued on both sides, with some important points made.

I was particularly struck by some of the points made by the hon. Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson). He is absolutely right that representative democracy can do some things that social media and other fora cannot. That is why it is so important that we have these debates in this place and that Governments are properly held to account and made to give an account of themselves.

There are always people who are unhappy with the Government, and there are always people who are going to be unhappy with an incoming Government, but the speed of the fall of the current Government really is quite striking. There were very high hopes for this new Labour Government, and they have been very speedily dashed.

In our system, no petition can force a general election. It is the decision of the Prime Minister of the day, or if he or she is forced by a confidence vote. However, I genuinely hope that the Government will reflect on the scale of this petition. We have lots of petition debates and lots of petitions are made to this Parliament, but the scale of this one, and the rapidity with which signatures have been gathered, is truly striking.

In East Hampshire, 5,288 signatures were added by the start of the year. People in East Hampshire feel particularly let down by things like the family farm tax, which is going to undermine the whole structure of agriculture in our area, which underpins the rural economy and society. Then there are the changes to business rates, which were painted as a cut but are actually an increase, particularly for retail and hospitality businesses, which will undermine the small businesses in our market towns and village centres. The same applies to the unrealistic housing targets that are being visited upon the countryside, even while cities like London have their housing targets cut. The hike in employer national insurance contributions was painted as not being a tax on working people, when everybody knows that, in the end, it will only come through as a tax on the wages people are paid or the level of employment, and this will harm jobs locally. Then there is the scrapping of the winter fuel payment, right down to those on very low incomes.

When we judge a Government, we never do it just on what was in their manifesto; we also do it on the things that were not in their manifesto, but which they did anyway. With this Government, so far the most striking of those things has been the winter fuel payment. This was a Blair era reform that has been kept ever since. Through all the years from 2010 through to 2015 and beyond, when we had to make some really difficult decisions—and when, by the way, we faced a £155 billion black hole inherited from the previous Labour Government —one thing that was never touched was the winter fuel payment. That is because it is particularly well-targeted—not in terms of the number of people, but in terms of the exact time of year when they need it—and helps with an expense that falls on older people right in the middle of winter.

At the Budget, we heard for weeks from the Chancellor about the importance of economic growth. That is something that everyone on our side agreed with—it was fantastic to hear. Economic growth is what ultimately matters for driving the economy and affording the excellent public services that we all value so much. There was a reasonable expectation that it would be the most growth-focused Budget that we have ever had in this country, so it was a huge disappointment that there were no major growth-driving measures in it at all. In fact, the Budget saw the forecast for growth actually fall.

Everything this Government have done has continually focused on this supposed £22 billion black hole, which is itself a mix of one-off and recurring items, so it cannot be considered as a single figure at all. In any case, whenever a Government Minister comes into a new Department, on their day one or day two briefing, they get told a long list of unfunded in-year spending pressures. That is not a black hole; it is a management challenge. It is what Government Ministers at any Department or, on a macro level, the Treasury has to deal with. They make choices about how to do it, and they will be held to account for those choices.

Even in this 24-hour media and social media age, government is still not actually a popularity contest. Most Governments will look over a four or five-year period and will try to do the unpopular things in year one—the difficult things—in the hope and expectation that they will yield positive results later. The difference this time around is that, when we look at what this Government have done in year one, it is difficult to see how it will yield great results further down the line.

I talked at the start about high hopes being dashed, and that would certainly be true not only for members of the public but for Labour activists and Labour MPs. There had been a belief that, just by having a Labour Government, things would improve. I wonder if, when they look back, they might regret adopting “Things Can Only Get Better” as their anthem. It is not true. This is all about the decisions that they make. I hope this Government, reflecting on this petition and this debate, will take the opportunity to rethink some of theirs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I spent some time thinking about whether I wanted to speak in this debate. I thought to myself, “On our first day back, when I’ve got a lot to be getting on with, have I got the mental stamina to listen to Conservative Members talk about how, before Labour came to power in July, everything was rosy and bright, our public services were fine and all was glorious?” That is pretty much the sense we have heard from them so far. If their picture were true, they might not be sitting on the Opposition Benches with their party’s lowest ever number of MPs and lowest ever share of the vote.

This Labour Government inherited public services on their knees, kneeling on rotten floorboards, on top of crumbling foundations, maybe with some subsidence as well. Tough decisions were always going to be needed to deal with that and to deliver the change we were elected to deliver. This Government have an immense mandate to deliver that change and to fix the foundations of our economy and public services, as more than 400 constituencies elected a Labour MP—many for the first time, including my constituency of North West Cambridgeshire.

The truth is that there are no easy fixes for the deep-seated issues that the Conservatives have left us. They ignore that, which is why we still see that short-term attitude from the Conservatives and Reform UK, which pretend that there are simple solutions that we just are not taking. The Conservatives also continually admonish us for bringing up that legacy; they literally groan every time we mention their £22 billion black hole. [Interruption.] There we go! It does not surprise me; I would not want to talk about it either if I were them, which is exactly why we will continue to do so until this mess is fixed.

Of course, they are a bit busy fighting one another right now, which the country plainly sees. A weird Christmas argument over membership numbers between Reform and the Conservatives is just the latest episode in a long-running saga, which I have no doubt will continue. Long may it continue, as it will just help more and more of the British public to see how totally unequipped to solve Britain’s problems either of those parties are. Speaking of Reform, I note that the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) is present, so may I take the opportunity to offer him my sympathy over the apparent loss of a very large donation for his party from overseas, following some of that recent right-wing in-fighting? It is a very sad consequence.

I turn to the petition. I know that there is frustration in this country—lots of it—about politics not delivering for people; I met so many people during the election campaign, and beforehand, who expressed that sentiment to me. People have been let down for so long, and restoring their trust requires us to show that we can make a difference. We will. The new Government have already taken significant steps forward in fixing the foundations of our public services after the Conservatives left them in decay and decline.

For a start, we have delivered a Budget that has stabilised the economy, preventing a return to austerity, after the Conservatives left the worst inheritance for a new Government since world war two. We have announced a much-needed £22 billion increase in our NHS budget after we were left with record waiting lists. Just today, we are announcing a plethora of measures to slash those record waiting lists, just as we did last time we were in government. We have set up Great British Energy to put us on the path to clean, home-grown power, tackling climate change while many in right-wing Opposition parties deny its existence of it or at the very least the urgency of the issue.

We have appointed a border security commander to strengthen our border security after the Conservatives so abjectly failed to do so; that is one of the areas that angers me most about their record. They presided over the growth of a staggering backlog of asylum cases, diverting resources away from actually dealing with the issues in order to put them towards the totally unworkable Rwanda scheme, to try to win political capital.

Our new planning and infrastructure Bill will completely reform the planning system to ensure that we can build the homes that are needed, tackling head-on the housing crisis, which is causing so much frustration. Our Renters’ Rights Bill will finally rebalance the relationship between tenants and landlords, finally reforming the private rented sector after the Leader of the Opposition admitted, in essence, that she had given up on the idea. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 will bring railways back into public ownership when existing contracts with private operators expire, reforming our transport network and improving services for passengers.

In ending tax breaks for private schools, the Government are putting the additional revenue right back into our state schools to fund 6,500 new teachers, which is where the resource is sorely needed. If the Conservative party disagrees with that, I suggest that it put into its next manifesto that it will cut 6,500 state school teachers and use the money to subsidise private education, and see how that does.

[Damian Hinds]

Does the hon. Gentleman know by how much the number of teachers in this country increased during the last Parliament?

[Sam Carling]

I do not have that figure to hand, but we are going to recruit 6,500 of them, and we need them.

[Damian Hinds]

I will help the hon. Gentleman: it was a lot more than 6,500.

[Sam Carling]

No, that will do, thank you.

In six months, Labour has achieved more than the Conservatives did in 14 years. Barely a single achievement comes to mind when thinking of the Governments from 2010 to 2024. If anyone has a right to feel short-changed, lied to and let down, it is those who voted for the Conservatives in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019, not those who voted for Labour in 2024.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ben Coleman]

Forgive me. Thank you very much, Mrs Harris—I appreciate that reminder. I apologise to those in the Public Gallery for turning my back on them, if I may say that through you, Mrs Harris.

As we are accused of not keeping our promises, I will boringly quote from the manifesto. On new homes, we said:

“Labour will get Britain building again…We will immediately update the National Policy Planning Framework”

to enable us to build 1.5 million homes. We are bringing in the new planning and infrastructure Bill.

We said that we will

“build an NHS fit for the future…Labour’s immediate priority on health will be to get a grip on the record waiting list.”

I will not list all the things we have done; hon. Members can read tonight’s news. We have done masses and masses, including putting £25.7 billion into the NHS from money raised in the Budget. I appreciate that not everybody has liked the way we raised money in the Budget. They do not have to like it—there will always be differences of opinion—but we have taken the money we have raised and put £26 billion into the NHS.

We also said in the manifesto that we would improve inclusivity for children with special educational needs, ensure that

“special schools cater to those with the most complex needs”,

and improve mainstream education for disabled children. Not everybody likes the way we raised the money in the Budget, but £1 million of that money has gone into improving education in mainstream schools for disabled children and children with special educational needs.

We have a problem that people do not have enough money to live on, and the minimum wage is all that many people rely on, so we said:

“Labour will…make sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage. We will change the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so for the first time it accounts for the cost of living. Labour will also remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage”.

We have raised the national minimum wage and the national living wage; that is a pay boost for 3 million people. We said in the manifesto that we would do it and we kept our promise: we have done it. We have asked the Low Pay Commission to end the discriminatory age bands and to look at including the cost of living. We have talked about Great British Energy; we made pledges there, and we have delivered them by establishing Great British Energy. We said:

“Labour will fund free breakfast clubs in every primary school, accessible to all children.”

We are doing that; we are introducing free breakfast clubs. I am sorry to quote from the manifesto at such length.

[Damian Hinds]

What does the hon. Gentleman think should happen with free breakfast clubs in secondary schools?

[Ben Coleman]

I am not here to say what should happen to the free breakfast clubs in secondary schools—we can have that debate another time. I am here to respond to anybody in this Chamber who says that the Labour party is not keeping its promises; I am reading out those promises word by word.

I will talk about sewage, of which there is plenty. The manifesto says:

“Britain’s coasts, rivers, and lakes are being polluted by illegal sewage dumping… Labour will put failing water companies under special measures to clean up our water.”

We have brought in the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which has had its Second Reading and will strengthen regulation. Water companies and bosses can be fined; we can ban bonuses; and there will be new environmental standards. It is all there in our manifesto and in what we have done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Schools (Damian Hinds)]

I should be happy to. We want all children to reach their full potential.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

T2. Will the Minister clarify when the right moment is to move on from a Tory donor calling for an MP to be shot in the context of hating all black women? Is it when there is an apology for rudeness? Is it when £5 million more has arrived in Tory coffers? Is it when she tires of explaining racism to her party? Or is it when the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) says that justice has been done?

Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Wednesday 26th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Kenny MacAskill (East Lothian) (Alba)]

T3. The Ministry of Justice has made welcome changes on transgender prisoners, excluding those guilty of not only sexual offences but violent offences from the general women’s estate, as well as those who are still physically male, and so accepting the vulnerability of females on the basis of sex at birth. Does the Minister accept the need, not just in justice institutions but across other Departments, for both single-sex spaces and single-sex services, based on the criterion of sex at birth?

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Damian Hinds)]

Yes, of course safety must come first. Although it is true that more than 90% of transgender women prisoners are in the male estate, it is right that we have further strengthened our policy for those who have committed sexual or violent offences, and for those who retain their birth genitalia, who can be housed elsewhere only in truly exceptional circumstances, on a case-by-case basis.

The Prime Minister was asked—

Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Feryal Clark (Enfield North) (Lab)]

9. For what reason he triggered Operation Safeguard in November 2022.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Damian Hinds)]

There was an unprecedented short-term rate of growth in the requirement for places in adult male prisons in October and November, and Operation Safeguard creates a contingency to maintain headroom should it be needed. Meanwhile, we press on with our programme of estate modernisation and expansion.

[Clive Efford]

I am grateful for that answer. The Prison Officers Association says that the lack of staff is exacerbating the crisis in prison places. The Police Federation says that Operation Safeguard puts its members and the public in danger. Napo says that there is a link between the lack of prison places and the workload crisis, which is leading to an increase in the number of recalls. If Operation Safeguard fails, where on earth will the Government go next?

[Damian Hinds]

As I said, Operation Safeguard is a contingency that provides additional headroom; we are not currently housing prisoners in cells as a result of Operation Safeguard. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to identify that physical capacity is one side of the coin and staffing is the other, which is why we are putting so much emphasis on recruitment and retention in the prison service.

[Feryal Clark]

Napo has said that the insufficient capacity to hold prisoners is directly linked to staffing and workload crises in probation, as my hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) said. Does the Minister agree with Napo’s view that there is a workload crisis in probation services? If so, who caused it?

[Damian Hinds]

That is similar to the point of the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford). Of course, all the services are linked, but as with the Prison Service—it is a fact across many different occupations in the public and private sector—there is a very tight labour market with high rates of employment and low rates of unemployment by historical standards. Recruitment is a challenge, but we are putting a huge emphasis on recruitment into the Prison Service and probation, which fundamentally drives workload. The other side of that is, as always, making sure that we retain staff.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I do not blame my right hon. Friend for triggering Operation Safeguard—in the circumstances, it was sensible—but he would not have needed to if the 12% of the prison population who are foreign national offenders had been imprisoned in their countries of origin. The top three groups are made up of 1,300 Albanians, 800 Polish nationals and 750 Romanians. Can we have more compulsory prisoner transfer agreements so that those people are sent to jail in their own countries?

[Damian Hinds]

My hon. Friend is correct that there are a large number of foreign national offenders in our prisons, and facilitating the movement back to their home country is important. We have had the prisoner transfer agreement with Albania since May 2022, and we are looking at more.

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow) (Lab)]

7. What recent estimate he has made of the size of the backlog of criminal court cases in Jarrow constituency.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Damian Hinds)]

I am delighted to hear that result and I totally agree with my hon. Friend on the importance of youth offending teams. They have been a great success since 2010 in reducing the number of under-18s who are locked up. They are fundamental to helping to put young people on a better path and stopping them getting on to the path of incarceration and reoffending.

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

T4.   Women eligible for early release from prison are being denied that opportunity due to the lack of safe move-on accommodation. Many of those women are mothers and a safe home would allow them to re-engage with their children. Will the Secretary of State please look urgently at investing more money and innovation in developing safe community accommodation like that available through the Hope Street Project, to allow more women across the country to benefit from early release?

[Damian Hinds]

We are also locking up fewer women and that is right where it is possible to avoid incarceration. We are investing large amounts of money into an increased accommodation offer. I will absolutely look at the particular project the hon. Lady mentions and am happy to discuss it.

[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

T8. Robert Brown murdered his partner Joanna Simpson. He battered her to death before burying her in a pre-dug grave. This dangerous man is due to be released from prison in November after serving only 13 years of his sentence. Will the Lord Chancellor urgently review that decision? The family and friends of Joanna Simpson are terrified for their lives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I agree that it is great news that the Cabinet Office, among other Government Departments, is relocating jobs to Scotland. We have a hub in Glasgow; the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and many other Departments also have a Scottish hub. That is good news. I have been assured that our UK apprenticeship programmes are available across the UK, and I believe that we are in dialogue with the Scottish Government. Where we can work together to provide good apprenticeship opportunities across the public sector, that must be a good thing.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to reduce public sector fraud.

[Mr Speaker]

Who wants it? Come on!

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Jeremy Quin)]

I was so entranced by the brilliant advocate of civil service jobs in Scotland, the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier), that I had forgotten my old friend, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). I apologise to him and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The Cabinet Office co-hosts the new Public Sector Fraud Authority with His Majesty’s Treasury. It will work with public bodies to better understand and reduce the impact of fraud against the public sector. In its first year, it will deliver £180 million in outcomes and agree targets with other public bodies. I hope that was worth waiting for.

[Damian Hinds]

It was well worth waiting for; I warmly welcome the Paymaster General to his place.

There is a lot of commonality between different types of public sector fraud and between public sector fraud and regular consumer fraud. Often, there are the same professional enablers, there can be the same criminal gangs, and of course, there are the same routes out for money laundering. Can he reassure me that he and his Department will continue to seek every possible synergy between what different Departments are doing, and between the Government and law enforcement?

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

On behalf of my constituents in East Hampshire, I want to convey our sincere sympathies to the royal family and express our heartfelt thanks for the life of Her late Majesty.

My own first consciousness of the Queen, like that of many others of roughly my age who have spoken, was in 1977, although unlike others who have spoken, I was not actually in the same place as the Queen at the time. My consciousness was just through the street parties, the bunting, the mug—which by the way I still have—and, if people remember them, the little round badges that we got to sew on to our Cub uniforms. I did not yet quite know how, but for the first time I got that sense that as Britons we are especially blessed.

I could not possibly have known that, decades later, I would have that rare opportunity, as others have mentioned, to meet the Queen. It was the honour of my life to be admitted to the Privy Council, but most especially to be able to attend one of those lunches at Windsor castle, which have come up a few times today, and to have the opportunity to talk directly with our monarch about the subject that I was representing, which was education. I have to say that the level not only of her knowledge about current issues, but of her interest to discuss it further, was remarkable.

Speaking of education, I find when I visit primary schools in East Hampshire that there are actually three questions that are guaranteed from the kids. The first is, “What is your favourite colour?”, the second is, “What’s the Prime Minister like?”, and of course the third is, “Have you met the Queen?” I love that opportunity, because it is wonderful to talk to those children, the next generation, about her values, and I always take away a lot from it too.

We have heard some wonderful tributes today—some beautiful tributes, actually—to Her late Majesty, but I think probably the biggest tribute of all that any of us could pay, particularly those of us in this place, is to seek to learn from and to emulate her example: her selflessness; her steadfastness; her commitment above all to service; her readiness to forgive; her appreciation of every individual she met; and her valuing of custom and tradition, but equally her adaptability and openness to change.

Our constitutional monarchy is unique and special—I found myself last night trying to explain to my own children exactly why and how. This family, through no choice of their own, carry a great burden and the unity of nationhood, and a much, much wider world role. Of course, with her passing that role carries on. The Crown endures.

So we mourn our beloved Queen Elizabeth, and we celebrate, too, her life of service.

“Eternal Rest grant unto her, O Lord,

And let perpetual light shine upon her”.

And may the Lord bless and guide our sovereign King Charles. God save the King. Long may he reign.

Contaminated Blood Scandal: Interim Payments for Victims

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

My officials are working hard on this matter with the Department of Health and Social Care and across Whitehall. There are 19 recommendations, and we had Sir Robert Francis’s very detailed and forensic evidence only last week. The matter is being given the fullest, speediest and most expeditious consideration, and I ask the hon. Lady to bear in mind that officials across Whitehall feel just as passionately as I do, and as the House does, about getting this right and doing the right thing for all those infected and affected.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

I very much welcome Sir Robert’s comprehensive work, including the recommendation on expedited payments. I have corresponded with the Minister on this on behalf of my constituents, and I am grateful to him for his reply and for expressing his understanding of the time sensitivity. I join others in urging him to look not only carefully but urgently at the case for expedited payments to people who will receive moneys through the compensation scheme anyway, given the passage of time and given how much these people have suffered through no fault of their own. They have been let down by the system.

[Michael Ellis]

My right hon. Friend’s point, and the strength of it, is noted.

Covid-19

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very grateful to the right hon. Lady. I will immediately look into the matter that she raises about oxygen at Queen’s Hospital. It had not been drawn to my attention before, but we will make sure that we get back to her as soon as we can.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con) [V]]

Of course, the invisible shield goes first around the most vulnerable, and the JCVI determines that sequence. Once the highest-risk groups have been vaccinated, however, I encourage my right hon. Friend, with the JCVI, to look again at prioritising key workers, including teachers, because of the special role that teachers play in our society and because we prioritise education.

Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

What recent discussions the Government have had with local leaders on tackling the covid-19 outbreak.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

What recent discussions the Government have had with local leaders on tackling the covid-19 outbreak.

[Darren Henry (Broxtowe) (Con)]

What recent discussions the Government have had with local leaders on tackling the covid-19 outbreak.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in commending the strong local agency working and local resilience forums, such as our own in Hampshire? Will the Government commit to working with local areas to really understand the pressures that, sadly, will persist even after this time? I am thinking in particular of areas such as children’s services.

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am very pleased to join my right hon. Friend in sending thanks to Hampshire LRF and all the LRFs around the country, which are doing an incredible job in such difficult circumstances. We very much understand that they are in the frontline of this fight, and communications with them and with local authorities are vital. That is why we put in liaison officers at the early stage of the crisis. We know and understand very well the additional pressures that they are under, particularly, as he says, with regard to children’s services, and children going into care or being in care for prolonged periods because of pressures on the family courts.

Public Health

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

This, of course, is the eventuality that we all had hoped to avoid. I hate even contemplating a curtailment of freedoms in the way that my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Sir Graham Brady) set out, but no responsible Government could sidestep what this Government are faced with.

We have spoken a lot in the last few days about the “overwhelming” of the national health service. It is worth dwelling on that word and thinking about what it means in practice. As my hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) outlined, it means people who need other essential treatments just not being able to get them in the way that we have come to expect we will always be able to rely on the national health service. Of course, this time, unlike the previous lockdown, we are approaching winter, with all the stresses and strains on the national health service that that brings in any case.

This is a global pandemic, but we often speak about it as if we were the only country involved. In fact, every one of the five major countries of western Europe had a steep rise in covid cases during the course of October, and now there are new restrictions coming across the continent, perhaps most notably in France and Germany, the other two large economies of Europe. They have very different political traditions, different health systems and different experiences with test and trace. Both of them, like us, sought to exhaust the possibilities of a localised and a regional approach, and now they are returning to a national programme.

It is true that in different parts of our country there are different rates of prevalence of this virus, but the trend is upwards pretty much everywhere, with the rate above 1. Of course, as the Prime Minister outlined earlier, when one hospital gets full, it moves patients on to another hospital; staff have to move on in order to shore up the system. Ultimately, we are one nation and we have one national health service.

This lockdown is not going to be the same as the previous one, in particular because education will remain fully open. I really thank the Government for that and welcome that approach. I acknowledge that prioritising schooling involves some trade-offs, and we must acknowledge that any time people get together there is a risk of transmission of this virus, but I would ask for special reconsideration in two areas: non-contact outdoor sports and, as so many colleagues and others have mentioned, religious services. Obviously, not everyone has faith, but for some who do, the solace that they receive from attending church or another place of worship with other people is as important for their mental health as other mental health services, which we rightly prioritise and will keep going come what may.

I welcome the business support. I hope the Government will also use this time to make sure that there are medium-term support packages for the most affected sectors. Nobody wants to be doing this, but I will be backing the measures this evening.