Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

6. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

8. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

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[Dr Murrison]

The matter to which the hon. Lady refers is of course primarily the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. I must observe, however, that unemployment among young people in Northern Ireland rose by 35% between May 1997 and May 2010; it has gone down by 3.3 percentage points in this year alone.

[Julie Hilling]

Last week’s labour market statistics show a worrying growth in female unemployment. What are the Government doing to address that imbalance?

[Dr Murrison]

Female unemployment is of course a concern right across the United Kingdom, as is unemployment in general. I would observe the number of apprenticeships being created by this Government. It is important that we get young people, male and female, into jobs for the long term, and not indulge in short-term gimmicks.

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[The Prime Minister]

One of the things we can do is share ideas with the Welsh Assembly Government. One thing we are pioneering here is making sure newly qualified doctors are offered special payments if they become GPs, and this is part of a £10 million plan we have to recruit even more. In England we have 1,000 more GPs working than we did back in 2010, and I hope the NHS in Wales will, while it is underfunded by the Labour Government in Wales, look at creative ideas like this.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

StepChange has reported today that the average debt of Bolton residents is £11,000. Does this not show that my constituents are suffering because of the Prime Minister’s failure to deal with the cost of living crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady’s constituents are benefiting from the fact that the economy is growing, our deficit is coming down and we are creating jobs, but we are dealing with the debt crisis which her Government put in place in our country. That is what is happening, but every day, the British economy and the British country is getting stronger; every day, the Labour party is getting weaker.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

3. What assessment she has made of the potential effect in Northern Ireland of the Government’s proposed further reductions in welfare expenditure.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's welfare reform policies on Northern Ireland.

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[Mr Speaker]

We are greatly indebted to the Minister.

[Julie Hilling]

But does the right hon. Gentleman agree with the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) that Northern Ireland is “getting the best deal” on welfare when changes could potentially take £450 million per annum out of vulnerable people’s pockets?

[Mr Robathan]

I do not recognise the figures that the hon. Lady has quoted. What we wish to see is people in work. Unfortunately, the last Government left this country with the most appalling financial and economic catastrophe. All that the hon. Lady, her Front-Bench team and the Leader of the Opposition can suggest is more spending, more borrowing, more taxes and more debt, which will plunge us back into the disaster they left behind.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I believe it is right to resettle our relationship with Europe to make it more open, more competitive and more flexible, to make us feel more comfortable inside the Union, and then to give the British people the in/out referendum they deserve.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Q11. Can the Prime Minister confirm that 3.4 million families with someone who is disabled will be worse off as a result of his benefit uprating cap? Why is he making life more difficult for these families?

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, I would say to the hon. Lady that disability living allowance is not included in the cap, and disability living allowance is not related to people’s income; it is actually related to people’s needs. If we look as a whole at what we are doing with disability living allowance and the personal independence payment, we see that the overall the amount of money we are spending on disability is going to go up and not down.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can happily give my hon. Friend that guarantee. Let me add that the overseas territories will remain British for as long as the people of those territories want to maintain their special relationship with us, and that the Union flag will continue to fly over the Governors’ residences. We are increasing our assistance to overseas territories—my hon. Friend will be familiar with what we are doing in St Helena with the airport—and, of course, next year is the anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands, which will be a moment for genuine celebration in all overseas territories.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Q8. My constituent Jackie contacted me to ask how she is to manage with a 3% tax on her pension, no pay increase until 2013, and rocketing fuel and food bills. How is she to feed her family? Why is the Prime Minister making people like Jackie pay for his Government’s failure?

[The Prime Minister]

The fact is, I am afraid, that the whole country is having to pay for the failure of the last Government to get on top of debt and deficit, but what I would say to the hon. Lady’s constituent is that we are trying to help. That is why we are freezing council tax, cutting petrol tax, taking 1.1 million of the poorest people out of tax altogether, and increasing child tax credit in the way that I described earlier. We will continue to take all those steps, but I would say to the hon. Lady’s constituent—as I would say to all others—that the most dangerous thing that we could do now is lose control of our debts and see interest rates go up. When this Government came to power, our interest rates were at the same level as Italy’s. Today, Italy’s interest rates are 5% higher. If ours were at the same level, we would see higher mortgage costs and businesses going bust, and we would have a real problem in our country. That, however, is the policy of the Labour party.