Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 13th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Well, no, Mr Speaker. What we have—and I know that every single one of the candidates will want to deliver this—is a Bill to fix the problem of the protocol. I accept that there is a problem, and I hope that the whole House will support the Bill.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

Q6.   As this is probably the last time that I will get to address this Prime Minister at the Dispatch Box, may I say on behalf of the people of Redcar and Cleveland how grateful we are for the support that he has given us and for delivering on the will of 17.4 million people in taking us out of the EU? Is he as optimistic as I am about our future as a free and independent nation?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to my hon. Friend that, if anything, I am even more optimistic. I have only one anxiety. We all know that there are people around the world who hope that this will be the end of Brexit. [Interruption.] I can see them all! Look at them! Did my hon. Friend notice those on the Labour Front Bench? That is them. They are wrong, Mr Speaker, and we will show that they are wrong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the hon. Lady needs to bring this particular case to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, but I can tell the House—[Interruption.] I know, by the way, that many hon. Members are showing a lead by having Ukrainians to stay in their own homes, and I thank all hon. Members who are doing that, thanks to the scheme that the UK Government have put in place. I think we should be very proud of what we are doing.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

The Prime Minister knows from his visits to Redcar and Cleveland that we enjoy miles of beautiful, uninterrupted coastline. However, since October last year, we have seen thousands of dead and dying crustaceans being washed ashore. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs conducted an investigation into that, leading to the theory that algal bloom is the primary cause of these deaths. However, the report does nothing to support the fishermen left devastated by this freak event through no fault of their own. Will the Prime Minister look at how he can support this vital industry to get them back on its feet?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend and I were walking together on the seafront in Redcar—eating a lemon top, actually—when somebody raised that very point with us. I can tell him that we have ruled out chemical pollution, but we are making another £100 million of investment, including in communities such as his, and working with the fishing industry to help it to recover from this problem.

Easter Recess: Government Update

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I understand the feelings of his constituents, but I must direct him to what I said earlier on.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

May I welcome the Prime Minister’s renewed focus on nuclear energy and its power to transform our energy independence? Does he also recognise that we need not just energy independence, but independence in our foundation industries such as chemicals and steel?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have accepted the advice of the JCVI on at-risk five to 11-year-olds, and we will be rolling it out later this month.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

I welcome the announcement of no new restrictions and of the changes to testing for travel, which will make it far easier and cheaper for families to go abroad, but many immunosuppressed people in Redcar and Cleveland are unsure about what they should be doing in the face of omicron. Can the Prime Minister give a message to those who were previously shielding?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has raised the issues of the immunosuppressed before, and I understand the points that he makes. We have contacted 1.3 million of them with a view to giving them treatment with antivirals.

Afghanistan

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid the right hon. Gentleman is in error. ISIS-K—ISIS Khorasan Province—is a subset of Daesh. It is part of Daesh. As he knows very well, one of the bitter ironies of the situation is that the Taliban themselves are no friends to ISIS-K, and whatever Government there is in Kabul will need help to fight them.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

We are proving our immense generosity by supporting those in dire need in Afghanistan with safe passage to the UK, but our ability to do so is strained by the continuing uncontrolled illegal migration across the English channel. What more can the Government do to prevent it?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right. The issue is that, very sadly, our friends across the channel in France are faced with a very difficult problem: large numbers of people who want to come to this country. We are doing everything we can to encourage the French to do the necessary and impede their passage. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is working round the clock to ensure that we not only encourage the French to stiffen their sinews and stop people making the journey but use every possible tactic available to us.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 9th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and all the changes that the hon. Lady mentions will be consulted on in the usual way. I note that Dr Shahid Wahid, the executive medical director of the trust, was recently quoted in the Shields Gazette as saying:

“This is about improving surgical services…It is not about downgrading anything”.

The hon. Lady mentions cuts: this Government, this year alone, have given another £92 billion—£92 billion—to support our NHS, on top of the huge commitments that we have already made.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

Yesterday we had the fantastic announcement of £25 million of investment into Redcar town centre, which will allow us to build a new water sports facility at Coatham, a new indoor activity centre on the Esplanade and give the town a much-needed lift. I am working with the council on other bids for Eston, a tier 6 area, but in the meantime may I invite the Prime Minister to come to the mighty Redcar and see our plans for levelling up our area—and I will even treat him to a lemon top?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is a fantastic advocate for the people of Redcar. Thanks at least partly to his advocacy, we have announced a town deal to benefit Redcar and the levelling-up fund will help secure local investment in infrastructure and communities in Redcar. As and when my diary permits, I will be thrilled to join him for what I think he described as a lemon top.

Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We will continue to look after people throughout the pandemic.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

Our vaccine roll-out has been an amazing success so far, and I want to thank those in the Eston primary care network, Redcar Hospital, James Cook University Hospital and the Government for their efforts in delivering it. We are hitting targets and reaching new milestones each day, and soon we will have the Novavax vaccine, made in Teesside, to help us as well. When does the Prime Minister expect this new Teesside vaccine to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency?

[The Prime Minister]

I was thrilled to go up to Teesside to see the site where the Novavax vaccine will be made and look at one of the bioreactors that will be used. I cannot give my hon. Friend an exact date by which the MHRA will give approval, but we are pretty confident that it will be forthcoming before too long.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will, of course, ensure that there is a proper meeting with the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues on this subject, which is extremely important. I know that our friends in the EU will be wanting to go further to improve things not just for musicians, but for business travellers of all kinds, because there is a mutual benefit.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

For the first time in my lifetime, we are now a fully sovereign and independent nation, so I would like to thank the Prime Minister, on behalf of the people of Redcar and Cleveland, for getting Brexit done. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards) pointed out, one key benefit of Brexit is our ability to create 10 new free ports. In Teesside, we have the largest brownfield development site in Europe, the deepest port on the east coast, a fantastic Tees Valley Mayor in Ben Houchen and a plan to create 15,000 jobs over the next 20 years. So does the Prime Minister agree that the best place for our first post-Brexit free port is Teesside?

[The Prime Minister]

There has been a bit of a theme to the interventions from my brilliant free port campaigners behind me. They are absolutely right. We do not hear about it from the Labour party, but Mr Hydrogen, as I think my hon. Friend is now known, makes an excellent point. As I said earlier, the bidding process is under way and it would be wrong of me to comment any further.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member makes an important point but, with respect to her, we are aware of that phenomenon—data showing where students, or anybody, are registered with their GP, rather than where the transmission is taking place—so we obviously aim off for that.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

The Health Secretary has confirmed that parts of Teesside, including my constituency, will also enter tier 2 restrictions from Wednesday. I desperately wish that these restrictions were not necessary, as they will understandably place a great strain on the mental health of my constituents, who will now be limited in their interactions with friends, families and partners. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that the people of Redcar and Cleveland, who put their trust in the Conservative party for the first time in December, are at the forefront of his mind, and that we will lift those restrictions at the earliest opportunity?

[The Prime Minister]

I share my hon. Friend’s views entirely and I desperately wish that these measures were not necessary. The better and more united way we can enforce them, the faster we will be able to lift them, and in Redcar, and across the country, we will be able to get on with our agenda of uniting and levelling up. By the way, we have not forgotten about that—we are continuing to do it, irrespective of this crisis, as I think the people of Redcar would expect.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are making sure that everybody in our society gets all the protections they need. I am aware of the easements in the Care Act 2014 that the hon. Lady refers to. It was necessary to put them in temporarily, and we now need to make sure we give everybody the protection that they need. That is what this Government will do.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement of the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub in Teesside, which will see the UK embrace a hydrogen-fuelled future and put Redcar and Cleveland at the heart of developing that vital new energy source. Does he agree that that is exactly how we will build back better and greener under this Government, creating new jobs and putting Britain at the forefront of this world-leading industry?

[The Prime Minister]

I am hearing a lot of good stuff from the Government Benches about the clean, green future—the green industrial revolution that this country is embarked on. I am delighted that Tees valley will be the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub, and I look forward to joining my hon. Friend there before too long.

Global Britain

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are getting on with the business of governing this country, improving our international performance and making sure that the UK is able to speak with a single, powerful voice overseas. That is vital now in this crisis, and it is going to be vital as the crisis comes to an end.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

I fully welcome this change. We are reassessing our role in the world, and this is the perfect time for it. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that, as we take this bold step as a new global Britain, we have a lot to learn from our CANZUK—Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom—partners?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, we do. I thank my hon. Friend, and he is bang on the money. We are simply coming in line, as I say, not just with what Australia, Canada and New Zealand already do, but with 28 out of 29 OECD countries.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jacob Young and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 12th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman has raised this with me before, and I have undertaken to meet him on the matter. We will certainly look at the case he mentions to see what exactly our response should be. He is right to draw attention to this injustice, and we will do all we can to remedy it.

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

On Thursday last week, two people were stabbed in Redcar in broad daylight. Another person was injured in a horrific knife crime on Saturday evening outside a busy nightclub. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice in January show that the Cleveland force area has the highest number of knife and offensive weapon offences per head of population in all of England and Wales. What additional support can my right hon. Friend give to Cleveland police to tackle this problem, and when will we start to see more police on the streets of Teesside?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. Knife crime is intolerable, and its recent rise must be combated. That is why we brought in knife crime prevention orders, which give police the powers, where they suspect a knife crime is about to be committed, to make the interventions that are needed. That is why we are putting 20,000 more police on our streets, with the encouragement and the political support they need to carry out stop and search.