Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Tuesday 7th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Soaring rent costs are the biggest reason why my constituents in Bath are struggling. The average monthly rent in Bath and north-east Somerset has risen by more than £200 in the past three years. What support will the Government give to people who rent in the private sector?

[Jeremy Hunt]

That is why we need to build more houses. The hon. Lady will be reassured to know that we are building record numbers of houses—in fact, more in the last year than in any single year under the previous Labour Government.

Autumn Statement

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. I am in constant discussion with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about the importance of housing policy creating new houses for people on low incomes. However, on wages overall, the £4.7 billion for the social care sector, for which she advocates, will make a significant difference in that area.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

The Chancellor’s statement is forcing everybody to pay the price for the puncturing of the economy by his Conservative Government, and I put Brexit very much at the core of the problem. Everybody is paying except the big oil and gas companies, because there are still massive tax loopholes for companies drilling for new fossil fuels. Let me ask him this serious question: who is his statement benefiting—the renewable energy companies or the fossil fuel sector?

[Jeremy Hunt]

The renewable energy companies and people in the traditional energy sector are paying a windfall tax, and as a result, we can have more money for doctors, nurses and people in social care up and down the country. That means that we are investing in the NHS in a way that was not possible when we were in coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

The ongoing tensions between Iran and the US concern many of my constituents, particularly those who would like to see a world without nuclear weapons. Is the Secretary of State considering making the UK a signatory to the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons?

[Mr Hunt]

We are strong supporters of nuclear non-proliferation. We think it is one of the biggest and most important things achieved since the nuclear non-proliferation treaty of 1970. In this area, we take a different approach from the US, and I raised those concerns very openly with Mike Pompeo yesterday.

Yemen

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Wednesday 19th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is right that this is the biggest geostrategic risk from the conflict in Yemen, but the sense I had when I went to both Riyadh and Tehran is that neither side wants to perpetuate it and both sides would like to see it concluded, if for no other reason than that the appalling humanitarian consequences of this conflict have become all too apparent. I think they feel a sense of responsibility for what is happening to fellow Muslims and want to do something about it.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

We are approaching Christmas and I understand that one of the three wise men in the Bible story was the King of Sheba, which is modern Yemen. Christmas is very much a peace story, so it is very significant that we are talking about how we can bring peace to a country that is very disturbed. I thank the Foreign Secretary for his efforts, but I want to ask again, at which point will the Government consider suspending arms trade with Saudi Arabia? The question has been asked before, but I did not really understand exactly what the Government are doing.

[Mr Hunt]

Let me repeat it, then. We have one of the strictest arms control regimes in the world. We also have an independently run process that assesses the risk of a breach of international humanitarian law, and we follow that process.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Wednesday 5th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I suggest to the hon. Lady that she should have conversations with the leave voters in her constituency, and ask them whether they agree with that view. I think that leave voters have a very simple message: they just want us to get on with it. We must ask ourselves whether it would truly settle the issue in their minds were we to go back and ask people the same question again, or a similar question.

[Wera Hobhouse]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Mr Hunt]

I will give way once more, and then, perhaps, make some progress.

[Wera Hobhouse]

Is the Secretary of State not neglecting the people who voted to remain in the European Union and who are not being listened to now? They are angry too.

[Mr Hunt]

I think it is a world first for me to praise the Liberal Democrats from the Dispatch Box, but they, at least, have been completely consistent from the start in saying that they want to reverse the result of the referendum. I am afraid that other Members have been hiding behind various devices, and saying that they do not want to reverse the result when they actually do. I think that, leave or remain, this is a moment when we have to remember that we are above all a democracy in this country, and it would be incredibly dangerous if we were not to listen to what people have asked us to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Wera Hobhouse

Tuesday 19th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I sincerely hope so, because Scottish NHS patients are currently 30% more likely to wait too long for their elective care.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

What comparison has the Minister made of the cost of preventing children and young people’s mental health issues by tackling adverse childhood experience in the first few years of life, rather than letting them develop into much costlier issues for school-age children?