Living with Covid-19

Debate between Jerome Mayhew and Boris Johnson

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes a good point and I will do anything I can to help her. The national average for adult boosters is now about 71%, so that figure is low and we will do what we can to help.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

The data has proven that Labour and the naysayers were wrong about omicron. How important was the decision not to lock down at Christmas, building resilience in our communities and our economy, to our ability to lift restrictions today?

[The Prime Minister]

We have to be humble in the face of this disease. It remains a dangerous disease and we must continue to be cautious, but we also have to take balanced decisions that are right for the country. It is clear now that the 19 July decision and the decision on Christmas and the new year were correct.

Covid-19

Debate between Jerome Mayhew and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Wales is actually at the forefront of our thoughts and continues to be. We are anxious to continue to support the people of Wales in any way that we can. The salient point that I take from today is that there is £1 billion that the Welsh Labour Government have failed to spend in the way that they could, and I urge them to get on and do that, but the UK Government will continue to support Wales, as we support the people of the whole United Kingdom.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con) [V]]

In Norfolk, those most at risk from covid have already received 27,000 vaccination first injections since 9 December, which are now available in our hospitals and 11 primary care networks, including the excellent Fakenham Medical Practice in my constituency. From Monday, those sites will be joined by many others. We are ready to do whatever it takes to keep up with vaccine supply, so what are the chances of securing more than 2 million doses of vaccine per week?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Jerome Mayhew and Boris Johnson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the hon. Lady may have missed what I said. We are putting up to another £1 billion into supporting local authorities and £500 million into supporting local test and trace and enforcement.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

While rightly moving to simplify the message, does my right hon. Friend agree that flexible local approaches are the best way to tackle outbreaks in order to prevent a total lockdown and minimise the wider economic impact, particularly on low-incidence-level areas such as Broadland?

[The Prime Minister]

That is exactly right. That is the strategy that we have been pursuing for some time now, and that is why it is necessary to intensify the restrictions in some areas.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jerome Mayhew and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have changed the law to ask landlords to provide tenants with at least six months’ notice before eviction. We are not going to have evictions in lockdown areas, there will not be any enforcement of evictions over Christmas and we are putting £180 million into discretionary payments for local authorities to help hardship cases. We are also embarking on a huge programme to build hundreds of thousands more homes, particularly affordable homes, which I hope the hon. Gentleman’s constituents will want to buy and to part-buy.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

The A47 Acle Straight is the main road—in fact the only road—that links Great Yarmouth to the great city of Norwich. It is a bottleneck and it is notoriously dangerous, and there has been a campaign to dual it for at least 30 years, yet the highways authority has just announced that it has no plans even to consider it for upgrade until 2030 at the earliest. What can my right hon. Friend do to give hope to the people of Broadland, and of Norfolk more widely, that this inexplicable decision will be reconsidered?

[The Prime Minister]

I appreciate the temporary disappointment that my hon. Friend is experiencing, but this Government are immensely ambitious for the improvement of our transport infrastructure, and active consideration is now being undertaken of that project again. I understand that parliamentary colleagues are meeting Baroness Vere, the roads Minister, this week to discuss the options for additional schemes from 2025 onwards.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jerome Mayhew and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can tell the hon. Lady that we certainly will be doing as much as we can in the near future to ensure shielded people get guidance about how they can come out of their shielded environment safely, in a way that is covid secure. Her point about furlough is a very important one, and clearly newly shielded people may be asking themselves whether they will be entitled to furlough funds. I have been made aware of the issue very recently. I can assure her that we will be addressing it forthwith.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

The threatened breach of the Sino-British joint declaration for Hong Kong is just the latest evidence of China’s increasingly overt rejection of the rules of international fair play. The Communist party of China expresses derision for the west’s short-termism and lack of unity, so let us prove them wrong. Would my right hon. Friend consider publishing a consultation paper on the development of a long-term strategy for our national and pan-national engagement with China?

[The Prime Minister]

Perhaps it would be helpful in advance of any consultation paper if I just set out my own broad position, and stress that I am a Sinophile. I believe that we must continue to work with this great and rising power on climate change or trade or whatever it happens to be, but when we have serious concerns as a country—whether it is over the origins of covid or the protection of our critical national infrastructure or, indeed, what is happening in Hong Kong—we must feel absolutely free to raise those issues loud and clear with Beijing, and that is what we will continue to do.