Oral Answers to Questions

Kate Hollern Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid my hon. Friend is absolutely right in what he says. He is right to stress the particular urgency of the situation, and he is right in what he says about hybrid warfare and all the other interventions. We face a particular crisis on the border with Ukraine, where Russian troops have been massing for some time, as the House knows. I told President Putin on Monday that I think everybody in the G7 and more widely is agreed that, if Russia were so rash and mad as to engage in an invasion of the sovereign territory of Ukraine, an extremely tough package of economic sanctions would be mounted by the UK and our friends around the world. Of course, there would also be support for Ukraine, and there would inevitably be a build-up of NATO forces in the periphery regions. As I told President Putin, I believe any such action would be catastrophic not just for Russia and Ukraine but for the world.

[Kate Hollern (Blackburn) (Lab)]

Q8. The Prime Minister made an address to the nation on Sunday about covid booster jabs, and he said that every eligible adult“will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year.”That is roughly two weeks away. However, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and our national health leaders have said otherwise. We know that those who deliver our health service were not adequately consulted and that the infrastructure to deliver it was not prepared. Will this be yet another broken promise, Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, this is a massive national effort and, yes, it will be incredibly hard to achieve, but do I believe that our NHS, our GPs and our volunteers can do it? Yes, I do. That is the spirit in which the hon. Lady and the whole House should approach it. Rather than talking down our approach, I advise all Labour Members and all colleagues in this House to tell our constituents to get boosted now.