Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Robinson and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I believe it is best for communities when their leaders have skin in the game. Helen Godwin grew up in Stapleton, went to college in Filton and has a great record fighting for the community where she is raising her family. Our plan for change has delivered record funding for the west of England: more money for better buses, potholes and getting young people into work. That is the difference a Labour mayor working with a Labour Government delivers for the west of England.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

The Prime Minister will know that many in the House will be assuaged by his suggestion that he will act in the national interest in relation to tariffs, but most will not have considered that, in acting in the national interest, what occurs in Northern Ireland is no longer solely in his control. He knows that exports from Northern Ireland are UK exports, and rightly so, yet imports to Northern Ireland could be affected as a consequence of EU retaliatory action. In keeping all his options open, now we have to live in a world of the consequences of the last Government with his support. Will he indicate whether he is prepared to take steps either to exempt Northern Ireland from EU action or to take retaliatory action if the EU does not do so?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising this issue, which is of real importance to his constituents and to everybody in Northern Ireland. It is a very serious issue. That is why we need to be calm and pragmatic, and that is what workers and businesses in Northern Ireland would want to see from this Government at a time like this. We are, as he would expect, looking carefully at the details of any retaliatory tariffs announced by the EU, if they are announced, and what impact they might have on businesses. As he knows, where goods do not enter the EU, businesses can claim a full reimbursement of any EU duties paid, but I reassure him that the interests of Northern Ireland are at the forefront of our decisions. He may want to know that this morning the Business Secretary spoke to the Northern Ireland Executive, because this is a serious issue and we need to work together to resolve it in the interests of everybody in Northern Ireland.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Robinson and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. I know she is deeply concerned about this issue and campaigns on it. The rise in poverty caused by the mismanagement of the economy by the Conservative party is unacceptable. Our approach to social security will ensure that work is accessible to as many people as possible, as a route out of poverty. That includes the new Connect to Work programme, which is expected to help 100,000 disabled people find and stay in work.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

I thank the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for their sterling support for Northern Ireland over the past few days in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which is greatly appreciated and demonstrates how well the Union works.

On 15 August 1998, the fragile peace in Northern Ireland was shattered when the Real IRA detonated a bomb in Omagh town. Twenty-nine people died, and two unborn twins never saw this world. Through the dignity and the stoic campaigning of Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died, a public inquiry was secured through the courts, which recommended in 2021 that the Irish Government should similarly hold an inquiry to understand what could have been prevented, given the cross-border nature of the atrocity—the bomb was prepared in and transported from the Irish Republic. Will the Prime Minister use his good offices to ensure that truth is delivered and justice arrives for the families of those who so needlessly lost their lives to Irish republican terrorism?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I assure the right hon. Gentleman that we will continue to work with the leaders in Northern Ireland to ensure that we deal with the storm, which has been devastating for very many people who are still without power and who have all the associated problems.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising the Omagh bombing inquiry. It was a heinous and cowardly terrorist attack, and it shocked the world. Our thoughts are with the family members who are taking part in commemorative hearings this week. I welcome the Irish Government’s commitment to co-operating with the inquiry. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has raised with the Irish Government the importance of working together on addressing these and all legacy issues, and I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising this very serious and important issue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Robinson and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Under the Conservative party, we saw child poverty increase by 700,000. This is a Budget that not only invests in our NHS and our schools, but ensures that working people will not face a penny extra in their payslips or at the petrol pump. That is because when it comes to the tough decisions on tax, we have not touched national insurance, income tax or VAT, just as we promised, on working people. We also gave 3 million of the lowest paid a pay rise, something that the Conservative party seems to be opposing.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

Lebanon is in crisis, and my constituent Catherine Flanagan is in despair. Her three-year-old son David Nahle has been out of her care for the past two years. The Belfast High Court has indicated that he should be returned to his mother and has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of his father. However, when my constituent fled domestic violence in Beirut, she got no help or assistance from the UK embassy, and when she has sought assistance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to be reunited with her son—to see her son again, and for this British citizen to come back to the UK—she has not received the assistance that she, or I and our community, expect she should. Will the Prime Minister engage with this issue and, at the very least, ask the Foreign Secretary to assist my constituent in her earnest desire to see her three-year-old son again?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Member for raising this case, and for all he is doing on behalf of Catherine and David—I hope they get some comfort from knowing that they have an MP working so hard on their behalf. It is a complex and difficult situation, but of course I will make sure that the relevant meetings are set up with the relevant Ministers to ensure the right hon. Member gets the answers he needs on behalf of his constituents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Robinson and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 4th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and for her work on the all-party parliamentary group on hormone pregnancy tests. I am sympathetic to the families who believe their children suffered from those tests, and committed to reviewing any new evidence that comes to light. At the moment, the Department of Health and Social Care is reviewing a publication from Professor Danielsson, and we will follow the results of that review. I am happy to ensure that the Health Minister meets my hon. Friend to discuss this matter further.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

I thank the Prime Minister for visiting Northern Ireland within the past fortnight, and particularly for the time he spent with injured officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He will know of their courage, but he will also know of the dogged determination of our chief constable, Jon Boutcher, in his desire to see adequate resourcing for his officers who not only stand for law and order in Northern Ireland, but stand in the face of racism, violence, and an ongoing national security threat from dissident republicans. May I therefore ask the Prime Minister to earnestly and urgently engage in a discussion about uplifting the national security grant afforded to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and to ensure that the PSNI can face the challenges that we need them to face head on?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. It was important for me to go to Belfast to meet the injured officers and simply to say thank you for what they are doing, and of course, to recognise the impact on their families. I recognise the difficult financial position that the PSNI faces, and the chief constable and I have spoken about this issue on more than one occasion, as Members would expect. Predominantly, it is for the Justice Minister and the Executive to set the PSNI’s budget, and how the chief constable allocates that budget is an operational matter for him, but I have been talking to him about what further support might be possible, because I realise just how important it is to him, to the PSNI and to Northern Ireland more generally.