Ukraine

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Thursday 24th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I am afraid my right hon. Friend is right. It will mean cost, it will mean inconvenience, it will mean difficulty for us in the UK, but that will be a price worth paying for defeating the objectives of Vladimir Putin and showing that aggression does not pay.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

To follow up on the question from the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely) about the combating kleptocracy cell in the National Crime Agency, may I seek from the Prime Minister a view on whether additional powers and additional resources will be required for the NCA to do its work?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Lady very much for her question. Of course, the NCA has plenty of existing statute, but among its additional powers will be the ability to peel back the façade of ownership, which will be extremely valuable.

Sue Gray Report

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I want to thank all those people for everything that they did, because together they helped us to control coronavirus. Thanks to their amazing actions in coming forward to be vaccinated, we are now in a far better position than many other countries around the world, so I have a massive debt of gratitude to all the people whom my hon. Friend has described.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips), I am not asking for a running commentary, but I would like to know whether the Prime Minister was present in his flat at the event on 13 November 2020.

[The Prime Minister]

I am really grateful to the right hon. Lady, and I understand why people want me to elaborate on all sorts of points, but I am not going to give a running commentary on a matter that is now being considered by the authorities. I have to wait for them to conclude.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly do what I can to support it, although of course, as my hon. Friend knows, such memorials are a matter for local authorities. What the House and the Government can certainly do is ensure that memorials are not desecrated, as they have been across the country, and that we support legislation that penalises those who indulge in such desecration.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Q6. When a Prime Minister is spending his time trying to convince the Great British public that he is actually stupid rather than dishonest, is it not time that he goes, now?

[The Prime Minister]

Mr Speaker, I think that was a question for you rather than me. Look, I have made my point. I think that the British public have responded to what the Government have had to say in the most eloquent way possible. They have beaten covid so far. They have helped to defeat covid so far with the steps that they have taken by getting vaccinated and implementing plan B, and I thank them.

COP26

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One of the most important things is to ensure that we have enough baseload electricity, which is why we are investing in nuclear as well.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

In order to meet our commitments on net zero, the Humber energy estuary will play a vital role. So I am at a bit of a loss to understand why, in all the briefings over the weekend about the integrated rail review, we in the Humber will get nothing in terms of greener, faster connectivity. There will be no coast-to-coast Northern Powerhouse Rail, despite what the Prime Minister has promised in the past, and no benefit from HS2 to the east of Leeds. So, Prime Minister, I just wondered whether you could comment on the fact that the Humber is not getting much—

[Dame Diana Johnson]

I understand and I apologise.

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate the Humber and the whole region on what they are doing in green technology and carbon capture and storage. We will ensure that this country builds on their lead with clean, green technology around the whole country.

AUKUS

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Thursday 16th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is. I am sure that that will be on the agenda.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Maintaining and strengthening our alliances is now more important than ever. I welcome today’s announcement, but can the Prime Minister answer the question posed by the Leader of the Opposition, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), which was how this trilateral agreement sits with our Five Eyes relationships, and whether it will strengthen them and not weaken them?

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

May I wish my hon. Friend a happy birthday? I confirm that we see the education of girls and young women as one of the great achievements of the UK presence in Afghanistan over the last two decades. We do not want that to be jeopardised now, which is why we are working with our friends in the G7 and NATO to make sure that we leave a lasting legacy.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister talks proudly about our commitment to NATO. That, of course, depends on having a strong military in the United Kingdom. Does he regret his decision to break his election promise and cut the armed forces by 10,000?

[The Prime Minister]

We are investing another £24 billion in our defence, with the biggest increase in spending since the end of the cold war, and we are one of the few countries in NATO to contribute more than 2% of our GDP to NATO. We are the party that believes in our armed services. It was only recently that the Labour party was campaigning to put into office a man who wanted to abolish the armed forces.

Integrated Review

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and one of the things that our defence investments can do is help to entrench our Union and build jobs and growth across the whole of the United Kingdom. There is now a steady stream of shipbuilding contracts and many other defence contracts that will drive high-quality jobs for a generation to come.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

Will the Prime Minister explain how building national resilience will include the digital transformation of the security and intelligence agencies, where the resources will come from, and whether it will include industry and international partners?

[The Prime Minister]

As I just said to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), we are investing massively in cyber and in upgrading the cyber-skills of our troops.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for all he does to campaign for the hardest-to-reach areas in rural Cumbria. I know that we are doing all we can because I raise it virtually every day, and we are rolling it out as fast as we can. We have committed about £5 billion to connect those areas, £1 billion for the shared rural network agreement and a voucher scheme to target predominantly rural areas, but we are intending to get everything we can possibly done in the next five years.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

Is the 40% cut to Transport for the North’s budget part of the Prime Minister’s plans for levelling up the north?

[The Prime Minister]

There has been no such cut, and we intend to invest massively in Northern Powerhouse Rail, and in railways in the north and across the entire country.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course my hon. Friend is right to raise that. I thank him, but I will just repeat what I said earlier to the right hon. and learned Gentleman, the Leader of the Opposition. It follows from everything that I have said that teachers are in that list of vulnerable groups 1 to 9; police officers are in those groups, as are supermarket workers, cashiers, and people with learning disabilities. They are our priority because it is by vaccinating them that we will be able to reduce—I am afraid—the tragic death toll that we would otherwise see.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

Staff at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital have been magnificent during this pandemic. They are used to making people better, however, and the number of deaths is taking its toll on staff, who are physically exhausted. What is the Prime Minister planning to do to support exhausted staff in dealing with the ever-growing waiting list that they will face once the covid threat has subsided?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much. I think it was Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, who put it best yesterday when he talked about the best thing that we can do for our NHS staff. She is absolutely right in what she says about the stress and the pressure that the NHS has been operating under in these past few weeks. The best thing that we can do is to keep this infection rate going down, to roll out the vaccination programme and, indeed, to make sure that all NHS staff are vaccinated. As she knows, they are in the JCVI 1 to 4 group and are our priority for 15 February.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Care homes should follow their own instincts about the wellbeing of their residents. They should follow all the procedures that we have set out and make use of lateral flow testing and other types of protection to ensure that people can see their loved ones and hug them. That is what the people of this country want and that many families across this country want to see. That is what this Government are providing for.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

Hull has had the highest covid infection rates in the United Kingdom. Two weeks ago, it was promised 10,000 lateral flow tests, but today they still have not arrived. When governing during a global pandemic, should the Prime Minister not focus on delivering on the ground what has already been announced, rather than on grand new promises lifted from the Downing Street public relations grid?

[The Prime Minister]

I will take up immediately the hon. Lady’s point about Hull and try to understand why it has not got the lateral flow tests that she rightly wants to see.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are generally well disposed towards any business or organisation that allows its activities to take place in a covid-secure way. We will proceed with our plans to do that for sporting events as soon as we possibly can. As for the car boot sale in my hon. Friend’s constituency, I urge everybody attending it to observe social distancing and stop the spread of the virus.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

This morning, Professor Van-Tam said that the resurgence in covid-19 cases among young people is being spread to the older generation. We know that the World Health Organisation’s mantra is, “Test, test, test”, but the test, trace and isolate system is not good enough. Does the Prime Minister think that universities such as Hull University in my constituency should set up their own testing facility for all their students, including asymptomatic students, as the University of East Anglia and Cambridge University are now doing?

[The Prime Minister]

I believe the hon. Lady has mentioned the issue of Hull University’s testing facilities before—perhaps it was another hon. Member—but I will certainly find out what the obstacle is to Hull’s testing facilities. There is no reason in principle why that university should not be testing in the way that the other universities she mentioned are doing.

Covid-19

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is spot on. That is why we have to take action now to avoid the risk of having to take more drastic action later on that would do greater economic damage. That is the key point of what we are doing today.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

Can the Prime Minister explain why a new test centre opening today on Hull University land for students and the local community—a centre that of course I welcome—will be run by private firms Deloitte and G4S with no accountability to local bodies with statutory public health responsibilities to the local community, or to the university, which is of course responsible for its students? How does this silo approach that the Prime Minister has created around testing help us to have the joined-up approach that we all want in Hull to tackle this pandemic?

[The Prime Minister]

I will study what the hon. Lady says about the testing unit at Hull University. Everywhere across the country, NHS Test and Trace has been working hand in glove with local authorities to get testing done and hand in glove with Public Health England and of course all our public services. I am surprised by what she says about the testing unit at Hull University, but I will certainly ask NHS Test and Trace to give her a full explanation. In my experience, everything is done to enlist and mobilise the expertise of local government to get the testing done.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. I know how valuable the theatre sector—and the whole entertainment sector—is to our economy. My hon. Friend should be in no doubt that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is talking to those sectors right now to see what we can do to help them, while ensuring that they can come back in a covid-secure way.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab) [V]]

What is the public health message that the Prime Minister is conveying by opening pubs ahead of the full opening of schools?

[The Prime Minister]

I think that most people will understand that we want as much of our business sector and economy to open as possible, in a covid-secure way. The hon. Lady will also understand that we want our schools to open in a safe way. That is why we have done what we have done and made the announcements that we have made. It has only been possible to open schools to some classes before the summer break, alas; but we are ahead of many other countries in Europe in doing so. As she will know, there are other countries that are not opening any of their schools. I must say that I welcome the logic of what she is saying, because if she is now actively going to encourage kids to go back to school and stop the long silence of the Opposition on this matter, that will be a great thing.

Global Britain

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is right. It was one of the absurdities of the rules of the Disasters Emergency Committee that vulnerable island states in the Caribbean were not eligible for ODA, and we had to fight to get that change. Now with this new super-Department we will be able to argue as one across our friends and partners around the world for new perspectives on those problems, and work together to tackle them.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

At this time of national crisis, would it not be better if the Prime Minister used what he described as our megawattage to sort out some of our domestic problems, such as the 20,000 job losses in the caravan industry around Hull, the threat to Hull Trains’ open access service—130 jobs—or getting a grip of the education shambles that his Education Secretary has been leading on so that we can get our kids back to school safely?

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure that the hon. Lady would want to join me in encouraging all parents to send their kids back to the schools that are open and waiting to receive them. I am sure that she and the Leader of the Opposition will want to join everybody in saying it is safe to go back to school.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

From the 31st of this month, we will begin the process of negotiating free trade agreements not just with the EU, but with friends and partners around the world, so Bracknell will be at the epicentre of global free trade.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Q12. The Prime Minister has said that he wants to be known as a Brexity Hezza, and so, on that basis, will he commit to giving the Humber docklands the sustained support that Michael Heseltine gave to the London docklands to transform it from the 1980s onwards?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point. That is among the schemes that we are certainly looking at and, as you know, Mr Speaker, we are looking also at the potential for free ports around the country, which can deliver a great deal of benefit to coastal communities.