Oral Answers to Questions

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. That is why the strategy, which I urge her to wait for, will be one that she can support. It is our duty to ensure that the Government have the tools to tackle the threat that she rightly identifies and highlights. This is absolutely not about silencing those with private and peaceful beliefs, and nor will it impact free speech, which we on this side of the House will always strive to protect.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Q2. Children deserve the right to breathe clean air, but many schools are in areas with high levels of air pollution. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has announced a pilot for 200 of London’s most impacted schools to access air quality filters so that children can breathe clean air in their classrooms. Does the Prime Minister support that pilot, and will he implement similar measures across our country?

[The Prime Minister]

I am pleased that the latest published figures show that air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010, partly due to our legally binding targets to reduce concentrations. They will continue to reduce over the following years. On top of that, we have also provided almost £1 billion to help local authorities across the country to implement local plans to reduce nitrogen dioxide and to ensure that we can help those impacted by those plans.

Oral Answers to Questions

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 18th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has been a long-standing champion for Cleethorpes, and particularly for the importance of strong regional transport connections. Network North will see Hull fully connected to the northern powerhouse network, which I know he will welcome, and north-east Lincolnshire will share in a brand new £2.5 billion fund to support local transport connections, perhaps including many or some of the ones he mentions. I know he will have been delighted to see LNER run a test service to Cleethorpes earlier this year, and I can assure him that the Department for Transport is continuing work to see a direct service to London reinstated.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Q2.   Government Members have said the way to fix the economic crisis that they have caused is to cut state spending by £200 billion and to freeze NHS budgets. When will the Prime Minister stand up to the extremists in his party and condemn those ideas?

[The Prime Minister]

Weeks after I became Prime Minister, we announced a significant increase of almost £14 billion for the NHS and social care. We followed that up with the first long-term workforce plan in the NHS’s history, to ensure that we train the doctors and nurses we need for the future. That demonstrates our commitment to the NHS. We also, I am pleased to say, reached a settlement with over 1 million NHS workers, including our nurses, for a full, fair and affordable pay rise.