Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The funding settlement for next year provides extra money for policing, which means that West Midlands police will receive an increase of £9.5 million. Of course, as my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) says, it is up to the West Midlands police and crime commissioner—a Labour commissioner—to decide how he spends that money, but I know that police forces can be more effective and productive, and I am sure my hon. Friend will make his case very strongly to the Labour commissioner.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

Yesterday the Brexit Secretary assured the country that Brexit will not plunge Britain

“into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction.”

Does the Prime Minister not feel that the Brexit Secretary could set the bar just a little bit higher?

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, we are very clear that we are going to ensure that, when we leave the European Union, we are able to take back control of our borders, our money and our laws. The only fiction in relation to Brexit and the European Union is the Labour party’s Front Bench, who cannot even agree with themselves on what their policy is.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

One of the Prime Minister’s former Brexit Ministers in the other place warned her that Britain will be walking a “gangplank into thin air” if she does not decide what she actually wants on leaving the European Union.

In his speech, the Brexit Secretary also said that fears about a deregulatory “race to the bottom” were “based on nothing”. Why, then, did his own Department’s exit analysis state that there could be opportunities for Britain in deregulating areas such as environment and employment law?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman talks about what we actually want to achieve when we leave the European Union. I will tell him what we want to achieve: we want to ensure that this is a country that can negotiate free trade deals around the rest of the world; we want to ensure that we have a good trade agreement with the European Union, and that is what we will be starting to negotiate; and we want to ensure that we have a good security partnership with the European Union, as I set out in detail in my speech in Munich last week. But we also want to ensure that this country takes the opportunities that will be open to us outside the European Union to boost our economy and to ensure that we develop the economy of the future and jobs for the future—more high-paid, high-skilled jobs for the people in this country. We are putting the people first.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

In December, the Foreign Secretary and the Environment Secretary were briefing that the working time directive would be scrapped. The CBI and the unions are very clear that they are not looking for a bonfire of regulations—quite the opposite. The only party that wants to scrap workers’ regulations and protections is the party opposite.

In her Lancaster House speech a year ago, the Prime Minister clearly stated:

“I also want tariff-free trade with Europe”.

Now, a year on, she has downgraded that aim to “as tariff-free as possible”. Businesses and workers want tariff-free access to protect jobs, so why have the Government abandoned that for “as tariff-free as possible”?

[The Prime Minister]

I have to say to the right hon. Gentleman that the Government have not abandoned their negotiating position in relation to this; we will be ensuring that we get that good, comprehensive trade agreement—new economic partnership—with the European Union. He also mentions workers’ rights. I have been clear since I became Prime Minister that this Government will not only protect workers’ rights, but enhance them. Let us just look at the Conservatives’ record in government. Which Government took action on zero-hours contracts? It was a Conservative Government, not Labour. Which Government got Matthew Taylor to report on the new economy, so that we ensure workers get the highest rights? It was a Conservative Government, not Labour. Which Government are ensuring that workers’ voices are heard on the boards of companies? It is a Conservative Government, not Labour.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I do not know whether the Prime Minister has had a chance to read The Daily Telegraph today, but 62 of her Back Benchers want a bonfire of regulations and to destroy workers’ rights in this country. When the Government’s EU exit analysis was published, the Brexit Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, the hon. Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), said:

“It does not consider our desired outcome”—[Official Report, 31 January 2018; Vol. 635, c. 835.]

Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity now to tell the House and the country: what is the Government’s desired outcome?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to: a bespoke economic partnership.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Okay. So, given that the Prime Minister ruled out any form of customs union post-Brexit, can she explain how she expects then to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman and others have asked this question previously. I have already pointed out in this Chamber that the Government published papers last summer that showed how we can deliver exactly that—no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and a bespoke economic partnership with the European Union.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Foreign Secretary recently made a speech about Brexit and found time to mention carrots, spam, V-signs, stag parties and a plague of boils. There was not one mention of Northern Ireland in his speech. We are halfway through—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) must calm himself. It is not good for your health. It is only Wednesday, man—you have the rest of the week to get through. I am trying to help you. You should appreciate my kindness.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

We are halfway through the six speeches we were told would set out the Government’s negotiating position. So far, all we have had is waffle and empty rhetoric. Businesses need to know. People want to know. Even the Prime Minister’s Back Benchers are demanding to know, but it is not clear from today’s exchanges. This Government are not on the road to Brexit—they are on the road to nowhere.

[The Prime Minister]

I think I have mentioned to the right hon. Gentleman before that his job is actually to ask a question, but I am perfectly happy to respond to the points he made. He said that we have not set out any detail. May I suggest to him that he needs to think very carefully about the security partnership that we want with the European Union when we have left? I set out in my speech in Munich last week exactly what we want that security partnership to cover, because we believe in ensuring that we are maintaining the security and safety of people here in the UK, but also in Europe. We are unconditionally committed to the safety and security of Europe. But may I congratulate him, because normally he stands up every week and asks me to sign a blank cheque? I know he likes Czechs, but really that is terribly depressing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this matter on behalf of his constituents. I understand that Thanet District Council has not adopted a local plan since 2006, which is why my right hon. Friend the Housing Secretary has written to the district council to begin the formal process of considering intervention. This is a very serious step that shows that the council has not been doing what it should be doing in relation to a local plan. So my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering whether to intervene, and he will make an announcement in due course.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in paying tribute to Captain Dean Sprouting from Jarrow on his death and in offering our condolences to his family on the terrible incident that happened.

It is of course the anniversary of women first getting the right to vote in 1918, and I pay tribute to all those who campaigned all over the country to achieve that right. We should understand that our rights come from the activities of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to bring about democracy and justice within our society, and those women who suffered grievously, being force fed in Holloway prison in my constituency, and those who suffered so much need to be remembered for all time. Working-class women as well as many other women fought for that right, and it is one we should all be proud of.

With crime rising, does the Prime Minister regret cutting 21,000 police officers?

[The Prime Minister]

May I first say to the right hon. Gentleman that we should be saluting all those who were involved in that struggle to ensure that women could get the right to vote? I was very pleased yesterday to have the opportunity to meet Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, and to see that that memory is being kept going. As I said yesterday in my speech, I heard about the suffragettes’ fight from my late godmother, whose mother was a suffragette and both of whose parents knew the Pankhursts.

The right hon. Gentleman raises the issue of police numbers and crime. What we actually have seen from the crime survey is that crime is now down at record low levels. That is what has been achieved, and it has been achieved by a Conservative Government who at the same time have been protecting police budgets.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Recorded crime is up by one fifth since 2010 and violent crime is up by 20%, and during the period when the Prime Minister was Home Secretary £2.3 billion was cut from police budgets. Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary warns that neighbourhood policing risks being eroded and the shortage of detectives is a “national crisis”. Does the Prime Minister think the inspectorate is scaremongering?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman mentions the issue about recorded crime, and one of the challenges we have seen in the police in recent years is ensuring we get proper recording particularly of certain types of crime. I am pleased to say that we have seen improvements over the past seven to eight years in the recording by the police of certain types of crime.

The right hon. Gentleman also talks about the issue of police budgets. As I have said, this is a Government who are protecting police budgets, and I might remind him that the Labour party’s former shadow Home Secretary, now the police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester, himself said that the police could take an up to 10% cut in their budgets.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The inspectorate also found that the police are failing to properly record tens of thousands of offences, and in addition to cutting 21,000 police officers, the Government have cut 6,700 police community support officers. The chief constable of Bedfordshire says:

“We do not have the resources to keep residents safe... The position is a scandal.”

Too many people do not feel safe, and too many people are not safe. We have just seen the highest rise in recorded crime for a quarter of a century. The chief constable of Lancashire said the Government’s police cuts had made it much more difficult to keep people safe. Is he wrong?

[The Prime Minister]

On the issue of recording crime, the right hon. Gentleman mentions HMIC, and when I was Home Secretary, I asked HMIC to look at the recording of crime to ensure that police forces were doing it properly. Indeed, some changes were made as a result, so we now see better recording of crime. We also see £450 million extra being made available to the police. Over the past few years, we have also seen the creation of the National Crime Agency, and our police forces are taking more notice of helping to support vulnerable victims and doing more on modern slavery and domestic violence—taking seriously issues that were not taken seriously before.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

If you ask the inspectorate to look at unrecorded crime and it tells you what is going on, the least you could do is act on what it tells you. I want to quote something that may sound familiar to the Prime Minister:

“The first duty of the Government is to protect the public and keep them safe, and I have to say to the Government that they are not putting enough focus on police resources.”—[Official Report, 18 January 2018; Vol. 634, c. 5.]

If she casts her eyes to the far Conservative Back Benches, she will see the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), and that is what he said about her Government and what they are doing. Gun crime has increased by 20% in the past year, and the chief constable of Merseyside recently said:

“So have I got sufficient resources to fight gun crime? No, I haven’t.”

Does the Prime Minister think he is crying wolf?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman cannot get away from the fact that the Government are protecting police budgets. In fact, we are not just protecting police budgets, but increasing them with an extra £450 million. We are also ensuring that our police have the powers that they need to do the job that we want them to do. I seem to remember that the right hon. Gentleman does not have that good a record when it comes to increasing the powers for the police to do their job.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Since 2015, direct Government funding to the police has fallen by £413 million, and Chief Constable Dave Thompson of West Midlands police said:

“The current flat cash settlement for policing means force budgets will fall in real terms.”

In addition to police cuts, other public service cuts are clearly contributing to the rise in crime: 3,600 youth workers have lost their jobs; 600 youth centres have been closed and boarded up; the probation service has been cut and privatised; and reoffenders are committing more offences. When it comes to tackling crime, prevention and cure are two sides of the same coin, so why are the Government cutting both of them?

[The Prime Minister]

We have put in place various pieces of work on anti-knife crime, on serious violence and on issues such as domestic violence. But I come back to the point I made in my last response: the right hon. Gentleman voted against changing the law so that anyone caught carrying a knife for a second time would face a custodial sentence. He has called for much shorter sentences for those who break the law. He might want to reflect on the fact that knife crime fell when there was a Conservative Mayor in London, but knife crime is going up now that there is a Labour Mayor in London.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I am very clear that crime is of course wrong. The way to deal with it is by having an effective probation service, by community service orders and by the rehabilitation of offenders. What the Prime Minister said goes to the heart of her record: she was Home Secretary for six years, but crime is up, violent crime is rising, police numbers are down and chief constables are saying they no longer have the resources to keep communities safe. After seven years of cuts, will the Prime Minister today admit that her Government’s relentless cuts to the police, probation and social services have left us all less safe? The reality is that we cannot have public safety on the cheap.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman really needs to reflect on what Labour would be doing if it was in government. You can only pay for our public services if you have a strong economy. What would we see with the Labour party? We do not need to ask ourselves what we would see, because the shadow Chancellor’s adviser told us at the weekend:

“We need to think about the obvious problems which might face a radical Labour government, such as capital flight or a run on the pound”.

That is what Labour would do: bankrupt Britain. The police would have less money under Labour than under the Conservatives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to give my hon. Friend that commitment from the Government. He is absolutely right: it is very pleasing to see the figures the Office for National Statistics produced last week, which showed that production has now grown for eight months— the longest streak since 1994—and manufacturing output is at its highest since February 2008. And earlier this month, we saw that productivity growth has had its best quarter since 2011. That shows that our economy remains strong and that we are continuing to deliver secure, better-paid jobs. We will continue to do that and support our manufacturing sector.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

In the last six months, the Government have awarded more than £2 billion-worth of contracts to Carillion. They did so even after the share price was in freefall and the company had issued profit warnings. Why did the Government do that?

[The Prime Minister]

It might be helpful if I just set out for the right hon. Gentleman that a company’s profit warning means it believes it will not make as much profit as it had expected to make. If the Government pulled out of contracts, or indeed private sector companies pulled out of contracts, whenever a profit warning was issued, that would be the best way to ensure that companies failed and jobs were lost. It would also raise real issues for the Government about providing continuing, uninterrupted public services. Yes, we did recognise that it was a severe profit warning, which is why we took action in relation to the contracts that we issued. We ensured that all but one of those contracts was a joint venture. What does that mean? It means that another company is available to step in and take over the contract. I say to the right hon. Gentleman that this was not just about the Government issuing contracts; actually, we see that the Labour-run Welsh Government issued a contract after the profit warning last July, and only last week a public sector body announced that Carillion was its preferred bidder. Was that the Government? No—it was Labour-run Leeds City Council.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

For the record, Leeds has not signed a contract with Carillion. It is the Government who have been handing out contracts. It is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that Carillion is properly managed.

Between July and the end of last year, Carillion’s share price fell by 90% and three profit warnings were issued. Unbelievably, the Government awarded some contracts even after the third profit warning. It looks like the Government were either handing Carillion public contracts to keep the company afloat, which clearly has not worked, or were just deeply negligent of the crisis that was coming down the line.

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to answer questions when the right hon. Gentleman asks one. He did not.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I asked the Government whether or not they had been negligent. They clearly have been very negligent. [Interruption.] Tory MPs might shout, but the reality is that as of today more than 20,000 Carillion workers are very worried about their future. For many of them, the only recourse tonight is to phone a DWP hotline.

The frailties were well known: hedge funds had been betting against Carillion since 2015, and the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland was making provision against Carillion last year. The Government are supposed to protect public money through Crown representatives, who are supposed to monitor these powerful corporations that get huge public contracts. This is a question that the Prime Minister needs to answer: why did the position of Crown representative to Carillion remain vacant during the crucial period August to November, when the profit warnings were being issued, the share price was in freefall, and many people were very worried?

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid I have to say to the right hon. Gentleman that of course—

[The Prime Minister]

I will indeed answer the question, but I know that the shadow Foreign Secretary has herself praised Carillion in the past for its work.

To answer the right hon. Gentleman, there is obviously now a Crown representative who has been fully involved in the Government’s response. Before the appointment of the Crown representative to replace the one who had previously been in place, the Government chief commercial officer and the Cabinet Office director of markets and suppliers took over those responsibilities, so it was not the case that there was nobody from the Government looking at these issues. That is standard procedure, and it ensured that there was oversight of Carillion’s contracts with the Government during the appointment process for the Crown representative.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Well, they clearly were not looking very well. Carillion went into liquidation with debts that we now understand to be £1.29 billion and a pension deficit of £600 million. At the same time, the company was paying out ever-increasing shareholder dividends and wildly excessive bonuses to directors. From today, 8,000 Carillion workers on private sector contracts will no longer be paid, but the chief executive will be paid for another 10 months—one rule for the super-rich, another for everybody else. Will the Prime Minister assure the House today that not a single penny more will go to the chief executive or the directors of this company?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I say to the right hon. Gentleman that this is obviously a situation that is changing as decisions are being taken, but my understanding is that a number of facilities management contractors have now come to an agreement with the official receiver that means that their workers will continue to be paid. It is important to say that the official receiver is doing its job and working with those companies.

The right hon. Gentleman raises the issue of bonuses, and people are of course concerned about the issue and are rightly asking questions about it. That is why we are ensuring that the official receiver’s investigation into the company’s business dealings is fast-tracked and that it looks into not just the conduct of current directors, but previous directors and their actions. In reviewing payments to executives, where those payments are unlawful or unjustified, the official receiver has the powers to take action to recover those payments. It is important that the official receiver is able to do its job.

What is also important is that the Government’s job is to ensure that public services continue to be provided, and that is what we are doing. The right hon. Gentleman said earlier that it was the Government’s job to ensure that Carillion was properly managed, but we were a customer of Carillion, not the manager of Carillion— a very important difference. It is also important that we have protected taxpayers from an unacceptable bail-out of a private company.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

When Carillion went into liquidation, many contractors were still unpaid. The company was a notorious late payer, taking 120 days to pay and placing a huge burden on small companies. That is four times longer than the 30 days in the prompt payment code that Carillion itself had signed up to. Why did the Government allow a major Government contractor to get away with that? Will the Prime Minister commit to Labour’s policy that abiding by the prompt payment code should be a basic requirement for all future Government contracts?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we look at the behaviour of companies that we contract with in relation to payments. The question of prompt payments has been brought up in this House for as long as I have been in this House, and work is always being done on it, but the right hon. Gentleman has raised an important point about the impact of Carillion’s liquidation on small companies. That is why the Business Secretary and the City Minister held a roundtable with the banks this morning to discuss credit lines to small and medium-sized enterprises and to make it clear that SMEs are not responsible for Carillion’s collapse. The Business Secretary has also held further roundtables today with representatives of small businesses, construction trade associations and trade unions—workers’ unions—to ensure that we are on top of the potential effects on the wider supply chain. It is right that we look at those very carefully and that we take action. It is also right that, through the Department for Work and Pensions, we put in place support for any workers who find themselves no longer employed as a result of this.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

It is a bit late for one subcontractor. Flora-tec, which was owed £800,000 by Carillion, has already had to make some of its staff redundant because of the collapse. This is not one isolated case of Government negligence and corporate failure; it is a broken system. Under this Government, Virgin and Stagecoach can spectacularly mismanage the east coast main line and be let off a £2 billion payment, Capita and Atos can continue to wreck lives through damaging disability assessments of many people with disabilities and win more taxpayer-funded contracts, and G4S can promise to provide security for the Olympics but fail to do so, and the Army had to step in to save the day. These corporations need to be shown the door. We need our public services to be provided by public employees with a public service ethos and a strong public oversight. As the ruins of Carillion lie around her, will the Prime Minister act to end this costly racket of the relationship between Government and some of these companies?

[The Prime Minister]

I might first remind the right hon. Gentleman that a third of the Carillion contracts with the Government were let by the Labour Government. What we want is to provide good-quality public services delivered at best value to the taxpayer. We are making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that the workers in those public services are supported and that taxpayers are protected. What Labour opposes is not just a role for private companies in public services but the private sector as a whole. The vast majority of people in this country in employment are employed by the private sector, but the shadow Chancellor calls businesses the real enemy. Labour wants the highest taxes in our peace-time history, and Labour policies would cause a run on the pound. This is a Labour party that has turned its back on investment, on growth and on jobs—a Labour party that will always put politics before people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend talks about passionate embraces; I do not think that he has ever had the kiss that he once asked for. He is absolutely right: we are determined to deliver a Britain that is fit for the future. That means that we need to get Brexit right and do a lot more. He references house building; yes, we are committed to building the homes that this country needs. That is why we have made £15 billion of new financial support available over the next five years, and why we scrapped stamp duty for 80% of first-time buyers. We are also improving school standards—there are 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools today—and we are protecting our natural environment. We are building a Britain that can look to the future with optimism and hope.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

Mr Speaker, may I wish you, all the House and all our staff a very happy new year? [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Everybody is agreed? Yes? Thank you. I know it seems a long time ago, but just before Christmas, I asked the Prime Minister about the 12,000 people left waiting more than half an hour in the back of ambulances at A&E departments. She told the House that the NHS was better prepared for winter “than ever before.” What words of comfort does she have for the 17,000 patients who waited in the back of ambulances in the last week of December? Is it that nothing is perfect, by any chance?

[The Prime Minister]

I fully accept that the NHS is under pressure over winter. It is regularly under pressure at winter time. I have been very clear: I apologised to those people who have had their operations delayed and to those people who have had their admission to hospital delayed, but it is indeed the case that the NHS was better prepared this winter than ever before. [Interruption.] Yes. It might be helpful if I let the House know some of the things that were done to ensure that preparedness. More people than ever before are having flu vaccines, and 2,700 more acute beds have been made available since November. For the first time ever, urgent GP appointments have been available across the Christmas period across this country, and more doctors are specialising in treating the elderly in accident and emergency.

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the last exchange we had in this House. In our last exchange, he said mental health budgets have been cut; that is not right. Simon Stevens from the national health service has made it clear that mental health spending has gone up both in real terms and as a proportion of the overall spending. So will the right hon. Gentleman now apologise for what he previously said?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Prime Minister knows full well that child and adolescent mental health services budgets have been raided and many people who need help are not getting that help. We saw on “ITV News” the other night that nurses are spending their entire shift treating people in car parks because of backed-up ambulances. We know the Prime Minister recognises there is a crisis in our NHS because she wanted to sack the Health Secretary last week but was too weak to do it, and if the NHS is so well resourced and so well prepared, why was the decision taken last week to cancel the operations of 55,000 patients during the month of January?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the right hon. Gentleman—[Interruption.] Members on the Labour Front Bench say “Apologise”; if they had listened to the answer I gave to their right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, they would have heard me make it clear that I have already apologised to those whose operations have been delayed, and we will make sure they are reinstated as soon as possible. We are putting record funding into the NHS and record funding into mental health, but the right hon. Gentleman keeps on about the preparations for the NHS and I was very pleased last week to be able to go and say in person a thank you to staff at Frimley health trust from both Frimley Park and Wexham Park hospitals for the work they have been doing to deliver for patients across this period of particular pressure across the winter. Our NHS staff—not just doctors and nurses, but support staff such as radiographers, administrative staff, porters: everybody working in our national health service—do a fantastic job day in and day out, and they particularly do that when we have these winter pressures. In terms of being prepared, this is what NHS Providers said only last week:

“Preparations for winter in the NHS have been more extensive and meticulous than ever before.”

[Jeremy Corbyn]

We all thank all NHS staff for what they do, but the reality is that the 55,000 cancelled operations mean that those 55,000 people join the 4 million already waiting for operations within the NHS.

Perhaps the Prime Minister could listen to the experience of Vicki. Her 82-year-old mother spent 13 hours on a trolley in a corridor, on top of the three hours between her first calling 999 and arriving at hospital. Vicki says:

“A volunteer first responder from Warwickshire heart service whose day job is in the Army kept mum safe until paramedics arrived.”

Her mother had suffered a heart attack just a week before. This is not an isolated case. Does the Prime Minister really believe the NHS is better prepared than ever for the crisis it is now going through?

[The Prime Minister]

Nobody wants to hear of people having to experience what Vicki and her mother experienced. Of course we need to ensure that we learn from these incidents, and that is exactly what we do in the national health service. I am very happy to ensure that that particular case is looked at, if the right hon. Gentleman would like to provide me with the details. But week in and week out in the run-up to Christmas, and now today, he has been giving the impression of a national health service that is failing everybody who uses it. The reality in our NHS is that we are seeing 2.9 million more people going to accident and emergency, and over 2 million more operations taking place each year. Our national health service is something that we should be proud of. It is a first-class national health service that has been identified as the No. 1 health system in the world. That means that it is a better health system than those of Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Germany and the United States of America.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

We on this side of the House are all very proud of the principle of the national health service—healthcare as a human right—but the reality is that, in the past year, 565,000 people have spent time on trolleys when they should have been being treated. The number of elderly people being rushed into A&E from care homes has risen by 62% since the Tories took power, and Care Quality Commission figures suggest that nearly a quarter of care homes need improvement. This is not only robbing older people of their dignity, but putting pressure on A&Es and ambulance services. So why, instead of dealing with the social care crisis, has the Prime Minister rewarded the Health Secretary with a promotion and a new job title?

[The Prime Minister]

There are many voices across the House, including from the right hon. Gentleman’s party, who have been encouraging me to ensure that we have better integration between health and social care. I am pleased that we have recognised this by making the Department of Health now the Department of Health and Social Care. That has been recognised by Age UK, which has said that this is a

“welcome and long overdue recognition of the interdependence of health and social care”.

I saw for myself last week at Frimley Park the good work that is being done by some hospitals up and down the country, working with GPs, care homes and the voluntary sector, to ensure that elderly people can stay at home safely and do not need to go into hospital, with all the consequences of them coming into hospital beds. That is the way forward, and we want to ensure that we see the integration of health and social care at grassroots level. From the way in which the right hon. Gentleman talks, you would think that the Labour party had all the solutions for the national health service—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

If the Labour party has all the answers, why is funding being cut and why are targets not being met in Wales, where Labour is responsible?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Prime Minister leads a Government who are responsible for the funding of national Governments, such as the one in Wales, and she knows full well what has been cut from Wales. She is also directly responsible for the NHS in England, and giving the Health Secretary a new job title will not hide the fact that £6 billion has been cut from social care under the Tories. Part of the problem with our NHS is that its funds are increasingly being siphoned off into private companies, including in the Health Secretary’s area of Surrey—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Shelbrooke, calm yourself, man! You are supposed to be auditioning to become an elder statesman, but on present evidence, there will be many more auditions to come. Calm yourself; it will be good for your health.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Even more money is being siphoned out of our NHS budgets into private health companies. In the Health Secretary’s area of Surrey, a clinical commissioning group was even forced to pay money to Virgin Care because that company did not win a contract. Will the Prime Minister assure patients that, in 2018, less NHS money intended for patient care will be feathering the nests of shareholders in private health companies?

[The Prime Minister]

First, this Government have given more money to the Welsh Government. It is a decision of Labour in Wales to deprioritise funding for the national health service in Wales. On the issue of the private sector and its role in the health service, under which Government was it that private access and the use of the private sector in the health service increased? [Interruption.] No, it wasn’t.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, we have put more money into Wales, but the Labour Government in Wales have decided to deprioritise funding for the national health service. Secondly, the increase that was seen in private sector companies working in the health service did not happen under a Conservative Government; that was under a Labour Government of whom the Leader of the Opposition was a member.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

My hon. Friend the shadow Health Secretary is auditioning to be Health Secretary, and he shows real passion for our NHS.

Under this Government, Virgin Care got £200 million-worth of contracts in the past year alone—50% up on the year before. The Prime Minister needs to understand that it is her policies that are pushing our NHS into crisis. Tax cuts for the super-rich and big business are paid for—[Interruption.] Yes, Mr Speaker, they are paid for by longer waiting lists, ambulance delays, staff shortages and cuts to social care. Creeping privatisation is dragging our NHS down. During the Health Secretary’s occupation of the Prime Minister’s office to keep his job, he said that he would not abandon the ship. Is that not an admission that, under his captaincy, the ship is indeed sinking?

[The Prime Minister]

This Government are putting more money into the national health service. We see more doctors and nurses in our NHS, more operations taking place in our NHS, and more people being treated in accident and emergency in our NHS, but we can only do that if we have a strong economy. What would we see from the Labour party? We have turned the economy around from the recession that the Labour party left us with. What do we know about the Labour party’s economic policies? Well, we were told all about them in a description from the shadow Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), who I see is not in her place on the Front Bench today—

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 20th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue on behalf of his constituents. As he will know, a local authority may alter a green belt boundary only in exceptional circumstances. In our housing White Paper, we were very clear that this means

“when they…have examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting…identified development”

needs. Of course, that includes looking at and building on brownfield sites. In the case of Guildford, I understand that the local plan was submitted for examination earlier this month, and of course it will be examined by an independent inspector for soundness in due course. I can assure my hon. Friend that he is absolutely right that we want to ensure that green belt is protected.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

Could I take this opportunity, Mr Speaker, to wish you, all Members of the House, all our public servants and all our armed forces a very happy Christmas and all best wishes for 2018?

I pay tribute to our very hard-working national health service staff, many of whom, unlike us, will not get a break this Christmas. Is the Prime Minister satisfied that the national health service has the resources it needs this winter?

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, I join the right hon. Gentleman in his comments about those NHS staff who will not get a break a Christmas and will be working very hard. Of course, it is not only our NHS staff who will be working hard this Christmas; it is also those in our emergency services and many others who go to work on Christmas day so that others can enjoy their Christmas day. We thank all of them.

The right hon. Gentleman asks about preparations for winter. I can say this to him:

“The health service has prepared more extensively for this winter than ever before. These plans are helping to ensure safe, timely care for patients”.

As it happens, those are not my words—they are the words of the chief executive of NHS Providers.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Well, Simon Stevens did say that the NHS needs £4 billion next year just to stand still, and the reality is that the Government have given the NHS less than half of what he asked for.

The Prime Minister talks about the money that the NHS needs, but 50,000 people were left waiting on trolleys in hospital corridors last month. Last week, more ambulances were diverted to other hospitals because of A&E pressures, and 12,000 patients were kept waiting in the back of ambulances because there was no room at the A&E. So I ask the Prime Minister again: has the NHS got the resources it needs this winter to deal with this crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that NHS funding is at record levels, and in the autumn Budget we put some extra funding into the NHS for this winter, in addition to the £6.3 billion extra that is going into the NHS over the coming years.

Time and time again, the right hon. Gentleman comes to this House and complains about what is happening in the health service. Can I just tell the House what is happening in the health service? We see now 7 million more diagnostic tests than seven years ago, 2.2 million more people getting operations, and survival rates for cancer at their highest ever level. Those are figures, but what does that mean? It means more people getting the treatment they need. It means more elderly people getting their hip operations. And it means that today there are nearly 6,500 people alive who would not have been if we had not improved our cancer care.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

In the first three weeks of this winter, 30,000 patients were left waiting in the back of ambulances for more than half an hour. These delays risk lives. If the NHS had the resources it needed, we would expect it to be meeting its key treatment and waiting time targets. Can the Prime Minister give us a cast-iron pledge that all those targets will be met in 2018?

[The Prime Minister]

In 2018, we are looking, yes, to improve the standard of care that we provide in our health service, and to ensure that we improve on the figures that I have just given the right hon. Gentleman so that more people are treated in our health service and we have better survival rates for cancer. That is why we have been putting the extra money into the national health service. But it is not just about putting extra money into the national health service; it is about the proper integration of health and social care at grassroots level. That is what the sustainability and transformation partnerships in many areas are about—opposed by the Labour party. That is why we have lifted the cap so that there are more nurse training places—opposed by the Labour party. It is about ensuring that our NHS has the staff and the capability to deliver the first-class, world-class service that is our NHS. We should be proud of our NHS. We are, and we are going to make it even better.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

A&E waiting time targets have not been met for two and a half years. Cancer treatment targets have not been met for two years. Our A&E departments are bursting at the seams because the Government have failed to ensure that people can get a GP appointment when they need one. The Government promised to recruit an extra 5,000 GPs by 2020. Where are they?

[The Prime Minister]

We are seeing more training places for our GPs. The right hon. Gentleman talks about A&E, and if he wants to look at targets, let us talk about what has happened in Wales. The standard on A&E in Wales was last met in 2008. Let me just think: which party is in government in Wales? Is it the Conservatives? No, it is the Labour party. On cancer care, the standard was last met in June 2008 in Wales. The right hon. Gentleman should look at what the Labour party is actually delivering before he comes to this House and complains.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Welsh Government rely on a block grant from England that has been cut by 5% to 2020. Despite that, 85.5% of cancer patients in Wales start their treatment within 62 days, which is a rate higher than that achieved in England.

My question was about GPs. Perhaps the Prime Minister is not aware that there are 1,000 fewer GPs than there were on the day she became Prime Minister. It is not only the lack of GPs; another issue that is driving people into A&Es is the £6 billion of cuts made to social care budgets. Some 2.3 million older people have unmet care needs. Does the Prime Minister regret the fact that the Chancellor—he is sitting right next to her—did not put one penny in his Budget into social care?

[The Prime Minister]

We put £2 billion of extra money into social care in the spring Budget. The right hon. Gentleman started his question by referencing the record of the last Labour Government on health. The last Labour Government’s NHS legacy was described as a “mess”, and we are clearing that up and putting more money into the NHS. Who described Labour’s NHS legacy as a “mess”? It was the right hon. Gentleman. When he is running for leader, he denounces the Labour party, but now he is leader of the Labour party he is trying to praise it.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I can quote something the Prime Minister might be familiar with:

“If government wants to reduce the pressures on the health service and keep people out of hospital in the first place, then it needs to tackle the chronic underfunding of care and support services in the community, which are at a tipping point.”

Who said that? Izzi Seccombe, the Conservative leader of Warwickshire County Council.

The question was on social care, but the issue is about the NHS as a whole. It is there to provide care and dignity for all if they fall ill, but our NHS goes into this winter in crisis: nurses and other workers—no pay rise for years; NHS targets—not met for years; staff shortages; and GP numbers falling. The reality is mental health budgets have been cut, social care budgets have been cut and public health budgets have been cut. The Prime Minister today has shown just how out of touch she is. The truth is our NHS is being recklessly—I repeat, recklessly—put at risk by her Government. That is the truth.

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman is wrong because NHS funding has gone up. He is wrong because social care funding has gone up. But not that long ago, he was saying that he would be Prime Minister by Christmas. Well, he was wrong; I am, and the Conservatives are in government. Not that long ago, he said we would not deliver on phase 1 of the Brexit negotiations. Well, he was wrong; we have made sufficient progress and we are moving on to phase 2 of the Brexit negotiations. And not that long ago, he predicted that the Budget would be a failure; in fact, the Budget was a success, and it is delivering more money for our national health service. Labour—wrong, wrong, wrong; Conservatives—in government, delivering on Brexit, with a Budget for homes and the health service: Conservatives delivering a Britain fit for the future.

European Council

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I thank the Prime Minister for an advance copy of her statement.

On Jerusalem, I also condemn the actions of the United States President. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to maintaining a maritime presence in the Mediterranean, but as a humanitarian mission to save lives.

As I said last week in response to the Prime Minister’s previous statement, we welcome progress to the second phase of negotiations but that should not hide the fact that this agreement comes two months later than planned and many of the key aspects of phase one are still unclear. These negotiations are vital for people’s jobs and for the economy; our future prosperity depends on getting this right.

The agreement reached on phase one was clearly cobbled together at the eleventh hour after the Democratic Unionist party vetoed the first attempt, as is evident in the vagueness of the final text, which underlines the sharp divisions in the Cabinet. As we head into phase two, the truth is that the Government must change track. We cannot afford to mishandle the second stage. The Prime Minister must now sort out the contradictions. We were told last week that the Prime Minister’s humiliating loss on giving Parliament a final say on a Brexit deal made her weak, and the Daily Mail, which previously branded the judiciary “enemies of the people”, is now whipping up hatred against Back-Bench rebel MPs. Threats and intimidation have no place in our politics, and the truth of it is that it is division and in-fighting in her own Cabinet and their reliance on the DUP that makes them weak. So will the Prime Minister welcome Parliament’s vote to take back control?

We have already seen Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, such as the Brexit Secretary and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, give the impression that the agreement can be changed or ignored—that it effectively does not amount to a hill of beans. It is not very reassuring that this is the end product of eight months of negotiation. Will she set out which parts of the financial settlement agreed between the UK and the EU will be paid if a final deal between the EU and the UK cannot be struck? Given the delays to the phase one deal, can the Prime Minister now see that cementing in statute a time and date on which Britain will leave the European Union could hinder negotiations?

I am glad that the Prime Minister now seems determined to follow Labour’s call for a transition period to create stability—[Interruption.] In case Government Members do not want to hear it, Mr Speaker, I will repeat the sentence. I am glad that the Prime Minister now seems determined to follow Labour’s call for a transition period to create stability as we leave the European Union. It is necessary that we remain in the single market and customs union for a limited period, allowing a smooth transition for British business. However, there was more Government confusion on this over the weekend. Will the Prime Minister clarify whether we will remain subject to the rules of the single market and the customs union during this transition period? Does she envisage that the UK will also remain a member of the common agricultural policy and common fisheries policy, and can she clarify whether it will be possible under the phase one agreement to sign trade deals during the transition period?

There were also worrying reports over the weekend about what some senior Cabinet Ministers will demand from the Prime Minister to support a phase one deal. These demands were reported to include that Britain should leave the working time directive. Can the Prime Minister state now, categorically, that she will face down this push from some in her Cabinet and that Britain will maintain the standards of the working time directive both during a transition period and beyond? Will she also guarantee that the Government will not seek to use Brexit to water down any other working or social rights in this country? Will she commit to maintaining access for UK students to the Erasmus programme beyond the current budget period?

These issues are important to people’s jobs and living standards. It is becoming clear that many on the Government Benches want to use Brexit to rip up rights at work, environmental standards and consumer protections, and to deregulate our economy. For many of them, Brexit is a chance to make Britain a tax haven for the super-rich. Let me be clear: Labour will do everything in our power to stop that.

The choice is becoming clear: a Tory Government who will use Brexit to protect the very richest, slashing corporation tax and the regulations that protect working people, or a Labour vision that would protect jobs, the economy and investment by building a relationship with our closest trade partners, and not starting a race to the bottom in which people’s jobs and living standards will suffer.

[The Prime Minister]

First, I welcome the fact that the Leader of the Opposition has said that threats and intimidation should not form part of our political life. I agree with him, but what he said will seem a bit rich to those of my colleagues who were candidates in the general election, and who suffered from the Labour party.

The right hon. Gentleman asked a number of questions about the date of our leaving and phase 1. He said that the phase 1 agreement was vague. In fact, it is the result of significant work over a number of months. If the right hon. Gentleman looks at it carefully, he will see that it is detailed in relation to citizens’ rights. It gives reassurances to EU citizens here in the United Kingdom and UK citizens living in the EU 27 that they can carry on living their lives as they have done, and that their life choices will be respected.

The right hon. Gentleman claimed that the transition period—the implementation period—was somehow a Labour idea. He should look at the Lancaster House speech, in which I was very clear about the need for a smooth departure from the European Union. The financial settlement that we agreed in phase 1 is in the context of agreeing the final deal and reaching the final agreement. He talked about dates for our leaving. I note that he said that we should have triggered article 50 the day after the referendum. That would have meant that there was no time to prepare our negotiating position and we would be leaving the EU in six months without having done the proper work to make sure that there was that smooth and orderly progression, and that we did not disrupt our economy in the ways that the right hon. Gentleman has talked about.

The right hon. Gentleman asked whether trade deals could be signed. I referred to that in my statement. He asked about the transition period, and about the common fisheries policy and the common agricultural policy. We will be leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019, and we will therefore be leaving the common fisheries policy and the common agricultural policy on that date. The relationship that we have with the European Union on both those issues continuing through the implementation period will be part of the negotiation of that period, and work will start very soon.

Then, of course, the right hon. Gentleman asked about workers’ rights. Again, I set out in my Lancaster House speech, and have confirmed on a number of occasions since, that this Government will not only maintain but enhance workers’ rights. If the right hon. Gentleman is so worried about workers’ rights, why did the Labour party vote against the very Bill that brings workers’ rights in the EU into UK law?

Brexit Negotiations

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I would like to thank the Prime Minister for an advance copy of the statement. Eighteen months on from the referendum result, the Prime Minister has scraped through phase 1 of the negotiations after 18 months, two months later than planned, with many of the key aspects of phase 1 still not clear.

This weekend, Cabinet members have managed to contradict each other. Some have managed to go even further and contradict themselves. We respect the result of the referendum, but due to the Government’s shambolic negotiations it is getting increasingly difficult to believe this is a Government who are even capable of negotiating a good deal for Britain. These negotiations are vital for people’s jobs and for our economy. Our future prosperity depends on getting them right. So let us hope that today we can elicit some uncharacteristic clarity from the Prime Minister.

First, on the financial statement, can the Prime Minister confirm the figure quoted by the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union that we will pay between £35 billion and £39 billion in exit payments? After this weekend’s confusion, can the Prime Minister clarify whether this payment is conditional on securing a final deal, as the Brexit Secretary said, or whether it is an obligation for the UK to pay, as the Chancellor said? If it is conditional, how much is it? When can the Prime Minister publish a full breakdown of the settlement, and does she agree that the settlement should be audited by the National Audit Office and the Office for Budget Responsibility? Does she yet have any indication of what level of ongoing payments the UK will make to the EU for ongoing participation in joint EU programmes and ongoing membership of EU agencies?

Secondly, on the issue of citizens’ rights, can the Prime Minister confirm that the Government have agreed that the European Court of Justice will oversee the deal on EU citizens’ rights for the next eight years, and that the UK courts will have “due regard” to ECJ decisions indefinitely? Can she therefore update the House on her red line that there will be no future role for the ECJ? What will that mean for trade negotiations?

Importantly for British citizens living in EU countries, can the Prime Minister confirm that the Government’s negotiations mean that they will maintain all their existing rights indefinitely? Will she confirm today that UK pensions will continue to be paid and uprated for all British citizens?

Thirdly, on the complex question of the Irish border, there are again conflicting statements—this time between the Brexit Secretary and, of course, the Brexit Secretary. Can the Prime Minister confirm whether the deal reached last week is legally enforceable? Article 46 of the agreement seems pretty clear that it

“must be upheld in all circumstances, irrespective of the nature of any future agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom.”

What does regulatory alignment mean? Does it mean the exact same rules, or different rules with similar outcomes? If it is the latter, who will adjudicate on whether those different rules are similar enough? Which policy areas are covered, and how long will regulatory alignment last? Is it only for the transition—the implementation period, as the Prime Minister calls it— or is it permanent?

Finally, on deadlines, the Government wasted time on phase 1, partly with a general election that I am sure the Prime Minister now regrets calling. The Government originally aimed for phase 1 negotiations to be complete in October. Then everything was ready for an announcement last Monday. Ultimately, we saw a rather fudged agreement late last week. Has this experience given the Prime Minister reason to consider dropping the unnecessary exit date of 29 March 2019 from the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill? I am sure the whole House—indeed, I think probably the whole country—would rather get the best possible deal a little bit later if it meant a better deal for people’s jobs and the economy.

The second phase of negotiations will have a huge impact on our relationship with our largest trading partner. The Brexit Secretary committed to deliver the “exact same benefits” as now. Does that remain the Government’s aim? I assume it does, as the Prime Minister has just said that the UK will maintain full alignment with the rules of the internal market and the customs union.

I have left the trickiest question till last. Can the Prime Minister explain what the Brexit Secretary actually meant when he said that he wanted to have trade relationships in the future that are CETA-plus-plus-plus? Can she explain what on earth he was talking about? [Interruption.] The Foreign Secretary is trying to bring clarity to the situation. I wish the Prime Minister well in adjudicating that debate.

I hope the next crucial phase of negotiations is not punctuated by the posturing, delays and disarray that have characterised the first phase. I am sure the whole country would welcome clarity from the Prime Minister on exactly what has just been agreed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 6th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for his constituency, and he has been a great supporter of the CITB at Bircham. I am very happy to support his campaign; I wish him well, and I am happy to meet him.

My hon. Friend asked about Brexit, and what we are doing in the Brexit negotiations is ensuring that we can indeed build those houses and build the country for the future that we want to see. The principles that we are working to are that the text that is currently being discussed is a report on the progress of the negotiations, on which basis the European Commission will decide whether sufficient progress has been made to enable us to move on to the next stage of talks. It is for those future talks to agree precisely how we ensure cross-border trade while maintaining the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom. We are leaving the European Union, and we are leaving the single market and the customs union, but we will do what is right in the interests of the whole of the United Kingdom, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in expressing condolences about the police officer and the passenger who lost their lives in the tragic event yesterday. I also join her in paying tribute to the late Jimmy Hood, who represented Clydesdale and, later, Lanark and Hamilton East. He was a good friend of all of us, and he was a great fighter for the coal industry and the mineworkers union during the strike and after that, during his time here. We thank Jimmy for his work for the labour movement.

In July, the International Trade Secretary said that the Brexit negotiations would be

“the easiest in human history”.

Does the Prime Minister still agree with that assessment?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very pleased to report to the right hon. Gentleman that the negotiations are in progress, as I have just said, and very good progress has been made in those negotiations—[Interruption.] What the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) has been focusing on is the trade negotiations for the future. Indeed, because we are already a member of the European Union, when we leave we will not have the same relationship with it as, say, Canada had in negotiating a trade agreement. We therefore expect to be able to get the deal that is right for the whole of the United Kingdom. To be able to do that, we need to move on to phase 2. If the right hon. Gentleman is so concerned about easing negotiations, why did his MEPs vote against enabling us to do that?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Prime Minister can always look behind her. She has not succeeded in convincing many people. Yesterday, one Tory donor told the papers:

“Yesterday proved beyond doubt that”

the Prime Minister

“is not only weak but that it’s her incompetence that is hobbling the UK.”

He was not very kind about the rest of her Front Benchers either, describing them as a

“bunch of jellyfish masquerading as the cabinet”.

This is truly a coalition of chaos. At the start of the week it all seemed to be going so well: the Prime Minister had scheduled a lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker, followed by a press conference, and then was to return triumphantly to the House to present her deal. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let me make it clear for the umpteenth time—[Interruption.] I know what is going on. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner), but I can look after these matters. No one in this Chamber is going to be shouted down. It will not happen. If people think that they can sit where I cannot see them and make a raucous noise, they are very foolish, because I know where they are and I know what they are up to, and it is not going to work—end of subject.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

On the Prime Minister’s way back to Britain, someone forgot to share the details of the Irish border deal with the Democratic Unionist party. Surely there are 1.5 billion reasons why the Prime Minister really should not have forgotten to do that.

[The Prime Minister]

It was a little difficult to detect a question within that interruption. As President Juncker said on Monday, there are still a couple of things that we are negotiating, and he is confident that we will be able to achieve sufficient progress. But if the right hon. Gentleman wants to wonder about plans for negotiations, perhaps he should look at his own Front Bench. The shadow Chancellor used to say that staying in the single market was “not respecting the referendum”, but now he says that it is “on the table”. The shadow Trade Secretary used to say that staying in the customs union was “deeply unattractive”, but now he says that it “isn’t off the table”. We now know from the shadow Chancellor what their approach really is: it is not to have a plan at all. When asked what the Labour party’s plan was, he said, “Well, that’s difficult for us.” As we all know, the only thing that the Labour party is planning for is a run on the pound.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Prime Minister was unable to support her Brexit Secretary when he tried to explain that a deal was supposed to have been done in October but still has not been done by December. The leader of the DUP told Irish television that she got sight of the deal only on Monday morning, five weeks after she first asked for it. Two months after the original deadline for the first phase of talks, and after Monday’s shambles, is the Prime Minister now about to end the confusion and clearly outline what the Government’s position is now with regard to the Irish border?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to outline to the right hon. Gentleman the position that I have taken on the Irish border with Northern Ireland; it is exactly the same position that I took in the Lancaster House speech, that I took in the Florence speech and that we have taken consistently in the negotiations. We will ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. [Hon. Members: “How?”] We will do that while we respect the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, and while we respect and protect the internal market of the United Kingdom. [Hon. Members: “How?”] I say to those Labour Members shouting “How?”, that is the whole point of the second phase of the negotiations, because we aim to deliver this as part of our overall trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and we can only talk about that when we get into phase 2. We have a plan; he has none.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Eighteen months after the referendum, the Prime Minister is unable to answer the question. On Monday, as she thought she was coming here to make a statement, it was vetoed by the leader of the DUP—the tail really is wagging the dog here.

The Brexit Secretary told the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show” in June:

“In my job I don’t think out loud and I don’t make guesses… I try and make decisions. You make those based on the data. That data is being gathered. We’ve got 50—nearly 60—sectoral analyses already done.”

This House voted to see those analyses, but today the Brexit Secretary told the Brexit Committee that the analyses actually do not exist. Can the Prime Minister put us out of our misery? Do they exist, or do they not? Have they done the work, or have they not? That is surely one question she can answer after 18 months.

[The Prime Minister]

May I make a gentle suggestion to the Leader of the Opposition? He asked me a question on the Northern Irish border, and I answered the question. He then stood up and said that I had not answered the question. Perhaps he should listen to the answers that I give.

The House requested, as I understand it, 58 sectoral impact assessments. There were no 58 sectoral impact assessments; there was sectoral analysis. Over 800 pages of sectoral analysis have been published and made available to the Select Committee, and arrangements have been made available for Members of this House to see them. We are very clear that we will not give a running commentary on negotiations as they proceed, but what we will do is work for what this country wants. We will ensure that we leave the European Union in March 2019. We will leave the internal market; we will leave the customs union at the same time; and we will ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland when we do it.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

This really is a shambles. All the Government have done is offer a heavily redacted, abbreviated version, which has not been widely shared. The Brexit Secretary said in September that a £50 billion divorce payment was “complete nonsense.” The Foreign Secretary rejected any payment and said that the EU could “go whistle.” Can the Prime Minister put before the House a fully itemised account of any proposed payment that could be independently audited by the Office for Budget Responsibility and the National Audit Office?

[The Prime Minister]

We are at the point of progressing on to the next stage. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, so the final settlement will not be agreed until we have got the whole deal agreed. The right hon. Gentleman asked me earlier about hard borders. Half the Labour party wants to stay in the single market and half the Labour party wants to leave the single market. The only hard border around is right down the middle of the Labour party.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Eighteen months since the referendum, there are no answers to the questions. Today, the Government have not yet concluded phase 1, and there are no answers to the questions and the DUP appears to be ruling the roost and telling the Prime Minister what to do.

Whether it is Brexit, the national health service, social care, our rip-off railways, rising child poverty, growing pensioner poverty or universal credit, this Government are unable to solve important issues facing this country. In fact, they are making them worse. The economy is slowing; more people are in poverty; and the Brexit negotiations are in a shambles. This Government are clearly not fit for the future. If they cannot negotiate a good deal, would it not be better if they just got out of the way?

[The Prime Minister]

Week in, week out, the right hon. Gentleman comes to this House making promises he knows he cannot deliver, and Labour Members keep doing it. At the election, he told students that they would write off their student debt, and then he said, “I did not commit to write off the debt.” But what is the Labour party doing? It is putting around leaflets that say, “Labour will cancel existing student debt”. It is time he apologised for the grossly misleading Labour leaflets.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that grandparents do play an important role in the lives of their grandchildren. We can all, I am sure, sympathise with those who experience the anguish of being prevented from seeing their grandchildren if a parental relationship ends. Of course, when making decisions about a child’s future, the first consideration must be their welfare, but the law already allows family courts to order that a child should spend time with their grandparents. I understand that my hon. Friend has recently seen the Minister of State for Justice, and I am sure that the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education will consider these points carefully.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in congratulating the new Usher of the Black Rod. I am really pleased that it is at last a woman who has got that position.

I hope that the whole House will join me in sending solidarity following the atrocious suicide bombing that killed 50 people in eastern Nigeria. We should express sympathy to those who have lost loved ones for the obvious trauma they are all going through.

The Irish Prime Minister, who has discussed Brexit with the British Government, says:

“Sometimes it doesn’t seem like they have thought all this through”,

so can the Prime Minister reassure him by clearly outlining the Government’s policy on the Irish border?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has welcomed the new Lady Usher of the Black Rod. I hope it will not be 650 years until the Labour party has a female leader. He also referred to the attack that has taken place in eastern Nigeria. Of course, I am sure that the thoughts and condolences of the whole House are with those who have been affected.

The right hon. Gentleman asked me to outline our policy in relation to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. I am very happy to do so; I have done so on a number of occasions. We are very clear that in relation to the movement of people, the common travel area will continue to operate, as it has done since 1923. On trade, and the movement of goods and services across the border, we will not see the introduction of a hard border. We have been very clear that we will not put physical infrastructure at the border.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary said:

“There can be no hard border. That would be unthinkable”.—[Official Report, 21 November 2017; Vol. 631, c. 848.]

Maybe, but the Government have had 17 months to come up with an answer to this question, and there still is no answer, because they have not engaged with the negotiations properly.

There is another person who does not think that the negotiations are going too well: the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood). He was a very enthusiastic campaigner for Brexit, but he also—he is a busy man—finds time to be the chief global strategist for Charles Stanley investments. He recently advised clients to invest elsewhere, as the UK is hitting the brakes. Does the Prime Minister take advice from the right hon. Gentleman, and does she agree with him?

[The Prime Minister]

On the first issue that the right hon. Gentleman raises, we have been engaging fully in the negotiations in relation to Northern Ireland and other issues, and indeed significant progress has been made. That is why, for example, I have said that we have got agreement on the operation of the common travel area for the future. He says that we have not put out any ideas about the border, but I have to say to him that we published a paper back in the summer on possible customs arrangements. We are very happy to move to further detailed discussions of the customs and trading relationship that will exist not just between Northern Ireland and the Republic, but between the United Kingdom and the European Union. That does mean moving on to phase 2, so the question for the right hon. Gentleman is: if he thinks that is so important, why did his MEPs vote against it?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The EU’s chief negotiator said this week that the UK financial sector will lose its current rights to trade with Europe. It seems as though neither EU negotiators nor the Government have any idea where this is going. Last week, the Brexit Secretary said that he would guarantee free movement for bankers post Brexit. Are there any other groups to whom the Prime Minister believes freedom of movement should apply? Nurses; doctors; teachers; scientists; agricultural workers; careworkers—who?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very interested that the right hon. Gentleman has found that his appearances at Prime Minister’s questions have been going so well that he has had to borrow the question that the leader of the Liberal Democrats asked me last week. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should pay a little more attention to what happens in Prime Minister’s questions.

We have been absolutely clear that we will introduce new immigration rules. As we introduce those immigration rules, we will take account of the needs of the British economy. That is why my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has asked the Migration Advisory Committee to advise, as it always does, on the areas in which we need to pay particular attention to migration into the United Kingdom.

We want to get on to deal with the question of our future trading relationship with the European Union. I am optimistic about the opportunities that will be available to this country and about the deal that we can get from the negotiations. The right hon. Gentleman cannot even decide whether he wants to be in the customs union or out of it, and whether he wants to be in the single market or out of it. He needs to get his own act together.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

In April, the Brexit Secretary was confident that the European Banking Authority would be staying in London; now he cannot even guarantee that banks will have a right to trade with Europe. Last week, the Government voted down Labour amendments to protect workers’ rights. The Foreign Secretary has described employment regulation as “backbreaking”, and has repeatedly promised to “scrap the social chapter”. Why will not the Prime Minister guarantee workers’ rights—or does she agree with the Foreign Secretary on these matters?

[The Prime Minister]

We have guaranteed workers’ rights: we introduced a Bill in the House of Commons to guarantee workers’ rights, and the Labour party voted against it.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The record is clear: this Government voted down our amendment to protect workers’ rights. The Environment Secretary said he wanted a “green Brexit”, but yet again Conservative MPs voted down Labour amendments to guarantee environmental protection.

On 5 December, the European Finance Ministers summit will address the issue of tax dodging, as exposed by the Paradise papers. There are three proposals on the table: blacklisting tax havens like Bermuda; new transparency rules for tax intermediaries; and mandatory country-by-country reporting for profit. Will the Prime Minister back those proposals, or is she still threatening to turn Britain into a tax haven?

[The Prime Minister]

I will take no lectures from the Labour party on dealing with tax avoidance and tax evasion—£160 billion more has been taken as a result of action taken by Conservatives in government; there are 75 new measures to deal with tax avoidance and tax evasion; and recently, I am pleased to say, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs won an important case on tax avoidance in the Supreme Court, which means a further £1 billion coming to the United Kingdom. The right hon. Gentleman may talk about tax avoidance and tax evasion; it is this Government who take action and make sure we collect it.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The right hon. Lady’s predecessor blocked EU-wide proposals for a public register of trusts; again, Conservative MPs voted down Labour amendments to deal with tax avoidance.

When it comes to Brexit, this Government are a shambles. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Far too many Members on both sides of the House are gesticulating in a frenetic and, frankly, outlandish fashion. [Interruption.] Order. I say to the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil) that he should seek to imitate the Zen-like calm and statesmanship of the Father of the House.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I have much in common with Zen, Mr Speaker.

Seventeen months—[Interruption.] I understand that these days the Tory Whips are choreographing who shouts at whom in the Chamber—they are making a very bad job of it.

Seventeen months after the referendum, the Government say there can be no hard border, but have not worked out how. They say that they will protect workers’ rights but then vote against it. They say they will protect environmental rights but then vote against it. They promise action on tax avoidance, but vote against it time and time again. Once again, the Foreign Secretary has offered his opinion, as has the Environment Secretary, saying that “insufficient energy” is going into these Brexit negotiations—their words, not mine. Is not the truth that this Government have no energy, no agreed plan and no strategy to deliver a good Brexit for Britain?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman talks about voting against tax avoidance measures, but it was the Labour party that refused to allow tax avoidance measures to go through in a Bill before we called the general election, so he should look at his own record.



The right hon. Gentleman talks about people having different opinions. I might remind him that on Monday, in the Bill—[Interruption] Perhaps the shadow Chancellor would like to listen to this. On Monday, when we were putting through that important piece of legislation on customs, taxation and Europe, 76 Labour MPs voted in a different Lobby from his and the Leader of the Opposition’s Front Benchers. The party in this Commons that has no clue on Brexit is the Labour party. But week in, week out, the right hon. Gentleman comes to this House and talks down our country and is pessimistic about our future. Well let me tell him that I am optimistic about our future. I am optimistic about the success we can make of Brexit. I am optimistic about the well-paid jobs that will be created. I am optimistic about the homes we will build. That is the Conservatives building a Britain fit for the future—all he offers is a blast from the past.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Corbyn Excerpts

Wednesday 25th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue, and this is something that we have been looking at very closely over the past year since my right hon. Friend the First Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) commissioned work on it in September last year, when he was Work and Pensions Secretary. I can confirm that we will be publishing our response to that consultation on Tuesday 31 October, and it will look at a wide range of issues. We need to ensure that the funding model is right so that all providers of supported housing can access funding effectively. We need to look at issues such as the recent significant increases in service charges, making sure that we are looking at cost control in the sector.

I can also say today that as part of our response to the review, we will not be applying the local housing allowance cap to supported housing; indeed, we will not be implementing it in the wider social rented sector. The full details will be made available when we publish our response to the consultation.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I join the Prime Minister in wishing the rugby league team all the very best in the competition. I hope they win it.

Last week, the House voted 299 to zero to pause the roll-out of universal credit. Will the Prime Minister respect the will of the House?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said before, we acknowledge the fact that people have raised concerns with universal credit. That is why, as we have been rolling it out, we have been listening to those and changes have been made. Perhaps I could just update the House on where we are on the roll-out of universal credit. Currently, of people claiming benefits, 8% are on universal credit. By January of next year, that will rise to 10%. The roll-out is being conducted in three phases, and the intention is that it will be completed by 2022, so it is being done in a measured way, and I am pleased to say that four out of five people are satisfied or very satisfied with the service that they are receiving. Universal credit helps people into the workplace and it makes sure that work pays, and that is what the welfare system should do.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I would have thought that if only 8% of the roll-out has taken place and 20% of the people in receipt of it are dissatisfied with it, that is a cause for thought and maybe a pause in the whole process. Last week, only one Conservative MP had the courage of their convictions to vote with us on suspending the universal credit roll-out. Then a Conservative Member of the Welsh Assembly, Angela Burns, said:

“For the life of me I cannot understand why a 6 or 4 week gap is deemed acceptable.”

She called universal credit

“callous at best and downright cruel at worst”,

and concluded by saying she is “ashamed” of her Government. Can the Prime Minister ease her colleague’s shame by pausing and fixing universal credit?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said to the right hon. Gentleman, we have been making changes to the implementation of UC as it has gone through the roll-out, but let us be very clear about why we introduced universal credit. It is because it is a system—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

We introduced universal credit as a simpler, more straightforward system that ensures that work pays and helps people into the workplace. Let us look at what happened in the benefits system under Labour. Under Labour, the low-paid paid tax and then had it paid back to them in benefits. Under Labour, people were trapped in a life on benefits for years. Under Labour, the number of workless households doubled, and Labour’s benefit system cost households an extra £3,000 a year. What the Conservatives have done is given the low-paid a pay rise, given the workers a tax cut and ensured we have a benefit system that helps people into work.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Under Labour, 1 million children were lifted out of poverty. Under Labour, we introduced the principle of the national minimum wage—opposed by all Tories over there.

If the Prime Minister is not prepared to listen to Angela Burns, perhaps she could listen to the architect of universal credit, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), who said:

“One of the reasons I resigned from Government was I didn’t actually agree with the additional waiting days. This is something the government needs to look at”.

Does the Prime Minister agree with him?

[The Prime Minister]

This is the answer that I have given not just three or four times in this PMQs but in previous PMQs: as we look at universal credit roll-out, we look at how we are introducing it. The right hon. Gentleman talks about what happened under Labour, and I am happy to talk about what happened under Labour—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman is talking about rolling out new benefit systems, but let us think about what happened when Labour rushed to introduce tax credits. I was not the only Member of Parliament who had people in my constituency surgery who had filled the forms in properly and given information to the authorities only for the Government to come back years later and land them with bills for thousands of pounds. That is what happens when you rush into a system rather than introducing it properly, as we are.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I thought that we had passed a threshold last week and that the Prime Minister was going to answer questions, but we obviously have not achieved that yet. Labour introduced working tax credits to help people on low pay out of poverty and it made a very big difference. The sad truth is that universal credit is in such a mess that councils are forced to pick up the Bill. Let me give an example. Croydon Council, which piloted the scheme, is now spending £3 million of its own budget to prevent tenants from being evicted due to rent arrears caused by universal credit. Does the Prime Minister think that it is right or fair that hard-pressed local authorities, having their budget cut by central Government, should have to dip into what little money they have left to prevent people from being evicted when they know full well that it is this Government and their system of universal credit that are causing the problem?

[The Prime Minister]

Labour introduced working tax credits and then clawed thousands of pounds back from people who were working hard. The right hon. Gentleman raises the issue of rent arrears and I know that Members have concerns about people who are managing their budgets to pay their rent. For the vast majority of people on universal credit, managing their budgets is not an issue. After four months, the number of people on universal credit who are in arrears has fallen by a third, but we recognise the issue so we are working with landlords. We have built flexibility into the system so that landlords can be paid directly, and I want to be clear that nobody can be legally evicted from social housing because of short-term rent arrears. That is an important point for us to get across to people, but I come back to the essential point about universal credit: this is about a welfare system that helps people into work, makes work pay and does not trap people in a life on benefits for years.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I note that the Prime Minister could not say anything about people being evicted from the private rented sector because of universal credit problems. The costs in the benefit system are being driven by low pay and high rents. In 2015, the then Chancellor, her former friend, promised a £9 an hour living wage. However, in the March Budget it was sneaked out that the Government’s minimum wage would reach only £8.75. The welfare state was not created to subsidise low paying employers and overcharging landlords, so will the Budget in November put the onus back—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Hoare, I expect better of you. You were much better behaved when you were at Oxford University—what has happened to you, man? Calm yourself.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

My question is this: will the Budget in November put the onus back on to employers to pay a decent wage so that workers can make ends meet?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we want to ensure that there are higher-paid jobs in this country. That is precisely why we are investing in the economy for the future. It is precisely why we are investing in our infrastructure and investing in skills for young people, and it is why we are introducing a modern industrial strategy. The right hon. Gentleman says the welfare system was not created to subsidise employers who are paying low wages. That is exactly what Labour’s working tax credits system did.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The Government’s own Social Mobility Commission reported that low pay was endemic in the United Kingdom. One in four workers are permanently stuck in low-paid jobs. That is why Labour backed a real living wage of £10 per hour to make work pay. The Government do not really know whether they are coming or going. The Conservative party and the Government say they have full confidence in universal credit, but will not vote for it. They say they will end the NHS pay cap, but will not allocate any money to pay for it. The Communities Secretary backs £50 billion of borrowing for housing, but the Chancellor says it is not policy. The Brexit Secretary says they are planning for a no-deal Brexit. The Chancellor says they are not. Is it not the case that the Government are weak, incompetent, divided and unable to take a decision—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I said that the responses from the Prime Minister would be heard and the remarks of the right hon. Gentleman will be heard. You can try to shout him down and other Members can try to shout the Prime Minister down. It will not work. End of.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Is it not the case that this Government are weak, incompetent and divided, and unable to take the essential decisions necessary for the good of the people of this country?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we want to see people earning higher wages. Of course we want, as we are doing, to be able to ensure we can invest in our public services. But the way to do that—the way to have a higher standard of living, to have higher wages, to invest in our public services, to have a better future for people in this country—is to build and continue to build that stronger economy. You do not build a stronger economy by losing control of public finances. You do not build a stronger economy by uncontrolled borrowing. You do not build a stronger economy by hitting people with the highest taxes in our peacetime history. You do not build a stronger economy by voting against progress in our Brexit negotiations. You do not build a stronger economy by planning for capital flight and a run on the pound. That is what Labour would do and we will never let it happen.