Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 10th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly confirm that we will do everything we can, and I know that the settled will of most people in this House is to get our schoolchildren back on 8 March, if we possibly can. I will be setting out for my hon. Friend as much as we can say on Monday, and then in the week of 22 February, we will be setting out a road map and the way forward for schools. We have to make sure that we keep this virus under control. It is coming down, but we cannot take our foot off its throat.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab) [V]]

Having sat on the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill Committee for 15 months, I was a sceptic as to the economic benefits of the project for the north-east, but HS2 is going ahead, at least in the south. It is therefore crucial that the eastern leg of HS2 goes ahead, not just for Yorkshire and the east midlands, but for the north- east. The Prime Minister has made repeated promises to the people of the north-east of his intention to level up and to connect and create opportunities for people here, in places like Gateshead. As we strive to recover from the damage done to so many families and businesses by the pandemic, will the Prime Minister commit to beginning the work on the eastern leg of HS2, starting in the north-east and to run simultaneously with the construction in the south, so that our region is not forced to wait another couple of decades for 21st-century rail connectivity?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly confirm that we are going to develop the eastern leg as well as the whole of the HS2. The hon. Gentleman will be hearing a lot more about what we are going to do with our national infrastructure revolution and about what we will do to improve not just rail transport, but road transport in the north-east.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have supported the aviation sector throughout, through the time to pay scheme and others, and we have just introduced particular support for airfields with runways that are not in as much use as they could be. However, as the hon. Lady knows, the best way to get that sector and all others bouncing back is to continue on the path we are on, drive the virus down, vaccinate the population and open up sensibly.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab) [V]]

I should declare an interest, as I am a chair of school governors and trustee of a joint schools board. In my youth, I was a Scout, and our motto was “Be prepared.” I congratulate school leaders and their staff on keeping schools open for vulnerable children and children of key workers where possible during the lockdown. Could the Prime Minister get his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education to share with school leaders as soon as possible his plan for the reopening of schools—because he tells us he has a plan—so that those school leaders will be prepared to put in place the measures necessary to reopen schools fully, in such a way that parents, children and school staff can have confidence that their schools will be ready and truly safe for everyone?

[The Prime Minister]

I very much join the hon. Gentleman in congratulating schools on what they have done to make themselves covid-secure, and the incredible amount of work they are doing to educate the 14% of kids who are in school now, to say nothing of all the home learning that is going on thanks to the efforts of teachers. I thank our schools for that.

I think you would agree, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I have set out a little bit today about what we plan to do to get schools back—the extra support we are giving, and the timetable. However, of course, as the hon. Gentleman suggests, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education will say more in due course.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab) [V]]

Would the Prime Minister confirm that the north-east is at tier 2? Can I recommend to the Prime Minister a document published this weekend by the Association of Directors of Public Health called “Protecting our communities”? This document suggests a comprehensive national strategy that embraces locally led responses. However, for these local interventions to work, directors of public health in local authorities in the north-east need the much heralded, but as yet not forthcoming, resources, so that with their local leadership working together with the communities they serve, we might have a real chance to turn back the tide of this virus. But we need the money—real money, not promissory notes from the bank of empty rhetoric.

Covid-19

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, the intention of these measures is collectively to depress the R but to keep the economy and education functioning. That is what we are trying to do.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

Can the Prime Minister, for the sake of absolute clarity and to remove any doubt about potential mixed messaging, please confirm that the measures he has announced today in the national context do not supersede or dilute the more stringent measures announced last week for Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham, where case numbers have, sadly, been growing rapidly, despite a local reduction in testing capacity? Will he also confirm what additional support he will put in place for businesses and workers in the north-east in sectors where activity has been greatly reduced by covid restrictions?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is completely right in what he says about the areas currently in local lockdown measures. We are, of course, giving them extra support to get them through lockdown, as he would expect.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can indeed. That is why we are supporting the Ashington to Blyth to Tyne rail line—the start of our £500 million investment in connecting towns whose stations were closed during the Beeching cuts. That is among many other benefits that we will bring to the people of Blyth. I thank my hon. Friend for his support. We are going to repay the trust and confidence of those people by investing in their communities.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

Q5. Karbon Homes, a registered social landlord, has over 30,000 homes in the north and north-east. Detailed research that it has conducted shows that the five-week delay in universal credit payments ensures that many families amass huge rent arrears before receiving anything and are trapped in debt for years. Some 72% of its tenants on universal credit are now in significant rent arrears, with over half of them technically destitute. The Prime Minister’s mantra that work is the route out of poverty is true only if there are jobs that are full time, permanent and decently paid. When will he stop this deliberate policy of inflicting impoverishment and destitution on tenants of Karbon Homes and other registered social landlords in the north-east?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to study the particular case that the hon. Gentleman raises. Universal credit is available from day one—[Interruption]—and I stick firmly to my belief that the best route out of poverty is not benefits but work, and what this Government have achieved is record low unemployment and record gains in employment across the country. Wages are now rising—[Interruption.] They don’t want to hear it, but the truth is that wages are now rising for the low-paid as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise the concerns of the people of Shrewsbury. Everybody can see how serious the problem now is with the Severn. I will ensure that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, working with the Environment Agency, takes the necessary steps.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

Q15. Sir Michael Marmot’s damning findings outline the devastating impact that a decade of this Government’s cuts has had on a constituency such as mine in Gateshead. Since 2010, Gateshead Council’s spending power has been cut in real terms by around 50%, or £160 million a year. Our local safety net has been removed. What does the Prime Minister intend to do as a matter of urgency to reduce the stark and worsening health and life expectancy inequality between north and south, rich and poor, so that people in the poorest areas of my constituency can expect to live as healthily and as long as those in the most affluent areas of his constituency?

[The Prime Minister]

Actually, I have the highest respect for Professor Marmot and did a lot of work with him in London—we did a huge amount there to reduce health inequalities and inequalities in life expectancy—but I do not deny that there is more to be done. That is why this Government are absolutely committed to uniting and levelling up across our country, with the biggest ever investments in the NHS and massive investments in education and early years provision. I make absolutely no apology for the campaign for levelling up that we are about to undertake. Let me repeat this point to the House: there is only one way we can fund and achieve this aim, and that is to have a strong and dynamic economy. I would rather have a country and a society where we believed in hope, opportunity and the importance of work, rather than welfare and benefits, and that is our approach.