Oral Answers to Questions

Debbie Abrahams Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that encouragement. I think the free schools policy is a great success, as we see a number of really high-quality schools coming in across our country, and it is depressing to see the attitude of the Opposition towards this policy. What we had was a new shadow Education Secretary, who in the first flushes of the job, said that he would support free schools, but as soon as Unite picked up the phone to him he had to drop that altogether. Do you want to know what their policy is now, Mr Speaker? He said:

“What I said…is we oppose the policy…but…some of them are going to be really good”—

schools—

“run by really good people and we’re not going to put ourselves in a position as a Labour Party of opposing those schools”.

So, they oppose the policy but they support the schools. What a complete bunch of hypocrites.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Can the Prime Minister explain why his Secretary of State for Health was able to make concessions to the Liberal Democrats on the Health and Social Care Bill in the other place last night, but was unable to recognise the need for those changes when it was debated here? Is that not more about doing political deals rather that doing what is right for our NHS?

[The Prime Minister]

We are doing what is right for our NHS, and that is why average waiting times for in-patients are down, average waiting times for out-patients are down, hospital infections are at their lowest level ever, the number of mixed-sex wards is down by 91% under this Government, the number of managers is down and the number of doctors is up. If the hon. Lady wants to see further improvements to the Health and Social Care Bill, she will have plenty of opportunities.