Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between James Cleverly and Andy Burnham

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise that Ian is obviously in a very difficult position. I am pleased to say the Exchequer Secretary has announced that we will bring forward a new approach to this issue. We have been working on a solution that will remove VAT as a barrier to free-of-charge donations of innovative medicines. It will be permanent, backdated to 23 June, so that it supports companies to continue to make donations. We will set out the details shortly, and I am sure a Minister will be pleased to meet my hon. Friend, too.

[Sir James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

Q5.  Last week, the Prime Minister was kind enough to pay me a compliment, so let me return the favour. When he was Mayor of Greater Manchester, the Greater Manchester police had more police officers than before he was appointed. When I was Home Secretary, Essex police had more officers than at any point in its history. However, over the last 10 years, the Metropolitan police has failed to recruit, and police numbers have fallen. So what is it that he was able to get right and that I was able to get right, but that Sadiq Khan catastrophically has failed to get right?

[The Prime Minister]

The second round of auditions, Mr Speaker! I saw Essex got a mention this week, but it was still a question about London. I did increase police numbers in my time as Mayor of Greater Manchester, but the right hon. Member will know it is not something you can do from the local level alone; you need Government support as well to do that. Sadly, that support for the Metropolitan police was not forthcoming in sufficient quantity during the period that he was in office—so he cannot come here and absolve himself of any responsibility in his quest to come second to Sadiq next year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between James Cleverly and Andy Burnham

Wednesday 14th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

May I agree strongly with my hon. Friend? I remember bringing the Hillsborough families to meet the Grenfell families shortly after the disaster. It is painful that it has taken so long for charges to be laid, but at least they have been laid now. I know the First Secretary has met with the Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee this week to look at the oversight mechanism that he describes. I am confident that we can develop a model that gives exactly the commitment that he is looking for. I want to leave him and his constituents in no doubt whatsoever: as Prime Minister, I will work to support him every day to get justice for Grenfell.

[Sir James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

The national planning policy framework is 130 pages long. The London plan is over 500 pages long. The mayor’s guidance to the London plan is over 2,000 pages long. Will the Prime Minister concede that because of that, added to the increase in taxes that his Government are putting on businesses and employers, Labour has been a disaster for home building in London, pricing young people out of the market and putting pressure on home counties constituencies, like mine?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman just gave me a moment of déjà vu—I remember standing up in this Chamber auditioning for a mayor’s job many years ago. [Interruption.] He did not do a bad audition, but maybe it needs a little bit of work because the Administration that he worked in left some of that bureaucracy behind in London City Hall. I hope he will show more candour and directness than the Leader of the Opposition if he is ever asked the question, “Has Brexit been good or bad for London?” What is his answer?