Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between James MacCleary and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. Projects such as this are essential to building the 1.5 million homes we need, while at the same time creating vibrant and strong communities. In keeping with the Attlee legacy, we are supporting 47 locally-led garden communities to deliver tens of thousands more homes, and of course delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.

[James MacCleary (Lewes) (LD)]

Q3.   On Monday afternoon, a four-year-old girl was seriously injured after being hit by a car on Lewes Road, just off the A259 in Newhaven in my constituency. I can report to the House that she is recovering well in hospital. Residents in Newhaven, Seaford and nearby Sussex coastal towns have been warning about how unsafe these roads are. Indeed, the county council submitted a fully costed plan for safety improvements on the A259 to the Government, but funding remains blocked. So I am appealing to the Prime Minister directly: will he personally intervene to unblock the funding needed to make the A259 and surrounding roads safer, to ensure that there is never a repeat of such an incident?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very sorry to hear of the incident that the hon. Member cites. My sympathies are with the family, and I think I would send the best wishes of the whole House to the family and to that little girl. He speaks about the A259, and I do hear a lot about this road because it runs through the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward). I know that it needs addressing, and I know how strongly they have both been in raising this and campaigning on it. A decision will be set our shortly. I think the hon. Member has met the Roads Minister, but I will make sure he is kept fully updated on developments.

Ukraine

Debate between James MacCleary and Keir Starmer

Monday 3rd March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the quality of our armed forces, and we are all very proud of what they do in the vital defence of our country. I am pleased that we have been able to progress with the deal in Belfast so that those well-paid jobs will be there in Belfast, as well as the jobs in the supply chains that will then feed in to that contract.

[James MacCleary (Lewes) (LD)]

I add my own congratulations to the Prime Minister on this weekend’s successful summit. It was refreshing to see a British Prime Minister not only standing alongside our allies, but working constructively with them and putting us at the heart of Europe, where we belong. Can the Prime Minister tell me how he intends to maintain the positive momentum from this weekend and ensure that Britain’s voice is heard loud and clear, particularly in the European Union, as it continues its own internal discussions on how to support Ukraine and counter the threat from Russia?

[The Prime Minister]

We will continue our discussions with our European allies. They have meetings this week, and further follow-on meetings are planned coming out of yesterday. As the hon. Gentleman will understand, between those meetings, we are in constant touch with each other about how we take forward the plans we are working on.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between James MacCleary and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This incident was horrific and senseless, and I thank my right hon. Friend for raising it. I think the thoughts of the whole House are with the victim’s family and friends, and the school community and wider community who have been impacted by this. We are all grateful to the first responders—the police officers and the medical staff who attended the scene—and it is right that South Yorkshire police are given the time and space to carry out their investigation.

We need to do everything we can to bear down on knife crime. It is too easy to get knives online, and it is too easy to carry knives without proper consequences. That is why we have made it an absolute priority in government to absolutely bear down on knife crime, and I hope that it is a cross-party issue.

[James MacCleary (Lewes) (LD)]

Q5. I know that the Prime Minister will share my deep concern that families in my constituency, particularly those with disabled children, face agonising waits for essential adaptations to council housing. In my inbox, I have cases where delays have left people unable to use the bathroom or even access a kitchen to simply make a cup of tea. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss how we can make sure that councils have the funding they urgently need to build and retrofit homes, to ensure that all children have the start in life they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising what is a really important issue for his constituents and for so many constituents. I am pleased to confirm that we have put down £69 billion for councils—that is a 6.8% cash-terms increase—including up to £3.7 billion in vital additional funding for social care. We have doubled the funding for the disabled facilities grant, with an additional £86 million to allow 7,800 more disabled and elderly people to make improvements that enable more independent lives, and we will continue to do so, working across the House.