Oral Answers to Questions

Karin Smyth Excerpts

Wednesday 18th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a fantastic campaigner for the Penistone line rail upgrade. I know that my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary is conducting a corridor development study given the new commitments to services on the Sheffield to Leeds and Sheffield to Hull lines, and, as part of that exercise, will consider enhancing the service on the Huddersfield to Penistone and Sheffield line, and I know that my hon. Friend will discuss this further when he meets the rail Minister.

[Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)]

Q5.   In Bristol South, around a third of children live in poverty, most of them in working households. It is about the same as in Tamworth, where the Conservative candidate for tomorrow’s election made foul-mouthed comments about families struggling to make ends meet. This is the Prime Minister’s Conservative party. Will he condemn that candidate’s comments?

[The Prime Minister]

I am proud of our record supporting people with the cost of living. Thanks to the actions that we have taken, we have paid half of the typical family’s energy bill last winter, frozen fuel duty and boosted the national living wage to record levels, and 8 million people across this country are now receiving direct cost of living payments worth £900. While we are helping people with the cost of living, all Labour’s ideas are doing are costing them a fortune.