Oral Answers to Questions Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts
Wednesday 5th March 2025

(1 month, 3 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Keir Starmer Portrait The Prime Minister
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue, because it is a duty to increase our spending on defence and security, but it also provides an opportunity for jobs across the country—good jobs, well-paid jobs, skilled jobs, as he rightly identifies, and jobs with a real sense of pride, and we are working on that.

Emma Lewell Portrait Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Q15. My lovely grandad John Henry Richardson passed away in 1998 from work-related asbestos exposure. Today, in South Shields, we have one of the highest death rates from this silent killer in the United Kingdom. Will the Prime Minister look at introducing a national digital register so that we know where the asbestos is, and commit to a phased removal of it from public buildings?

Keir Starmer Portrait The Prime Minister
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am sure that I speak for the whole House when I say that I am very sorry to hear what happened to my hon. Friend’s grandfather. These are just awful cases, and the deaths are terrible. I have no doubt that he was a wonderful man, and he would have been very proud to have seen her in her place today. I will ensure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister.