Oral Answers to Questions

Keir Starmer Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 16 October.

[The Prime Minister (Keir Starmer)]

Alex Salmond was a monumental figure in Scottish and UK politics. He leaves a lasting legacy. I know that the deepest condolences of the whole House are with Moira, his family and his loved ones.

This week, we also remember our colleague and friend, Sir David Amess, whose kindness and commitment to public service continues to inspire us all. I know how deeply this is felt by those on the Opposition Benches, and I am so glad that his plaque is here in the House with us.

I also wish to acknowledge the extraordinary life of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert whose message of hope showed such courage. May her memory be a blessing. We also extend our sympathies to the family of General Sir Mike Jackson. He was an inspirational leader of the British Army and served with distinction.

I know the whole House will join me in wishing the best of luck to the new England manager, Thomas Tuchel. I will not hold his old job against him, but I wish him well in the new one.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Dr Chambers]

In last week’s maternity services debate, we heard of the devastating impact of the removal of consultant-led maternity services from hospitals. Under the previous Government’s unfunded new hospitals programme, there were proposals to remove consultant-led maternity services from our hospital in Winchester. Can the Prime Minister reassure me and my constituents that, under the new Government, consultant-led maternity and A&E services will remain in Winchester, and will he commit to funding properly the backlog of maintenance issues that has developed in our hospital?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising that very important issue and for championing the voices of women in his constituency. We are committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive safe, compassionate and personalised care through pregnancy, birth and the critical following months. Reconfiguration of the services, as he knows, is a matter for the integrated care boards, which is important, as it allows decisions to be made locally and to be tailored to local interests. All changes should be based on evidence, be clinically led and involve engagement with patients to ensure that they will deliver better outcomes. This is a very important matter.

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

Q3. Whitby InterActive has provided inclusive play schemes and holiday activities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities for 26 years. It has been a lifeline for families continually failed by Conservative Governments, but InterActive is set to close due to a funding shortfall. Does the Prime Minister agree that action to tackle the crisis in SEND provision is urgently needed and that charities, such as InterActive, deserve our support more than ever?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I do, and I know this is a concerning time for families who rely on the brilliant work of Whitby InterActive. Children with special educational needs and disabilities have been failed for too long. It comes up repeatedly in the House, with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. We must raise the standards for every child so that they can succeed in education. We will fix the foundations and ensure that every child can achieve their potential.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

[Rishi Sunak (Richmond and Northallerton) (Con)]

I join the Prime Minister’s words of tribute to Alex Salmond and the Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert, and thank him for his kind words about Sir David Amess, whom we remember fondly. We are thinking of all their families at this moment.

This week, China has carried out unwarranted, aggressive and intimidatory military exercises in the Taiwan strait. Our allies are rightly concerned. After worrying reports that the Government may have intervened to stop a visit to the UK by the former Taiwanese President, will the Prime Minister confirm that the Foreign Secretary will use his meetings in Beijing this week to condemn China’s dangerous escalatory acts in the strait?

[The Prime Minister]

The continued military activity in the strait is not conducive to peace and stability. Stability in the Taiwan strait is in all of our interests. On the wider point that he raises, we will co-operate where we can as permanent members of the UN Security Council on issues such as net zero and health and trade, compete where we have different interests, and challenge—the point he makes is absolutely right—where it is needed to protect national security, human rights and our values. We will put that challenge in.

[Rishi Sunak]

Given what the Prime Minister said—I agree of course that we must engage and should use that engagement for our national interest—I hope that the Foreign Secretary will unequivocally condemn this military escalation and stand up for democracy in Taiwan.

The whole House will be concerned about the fate of the democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai. He is a British citizen who has been wrongly imprisoned in Hong Kong for four years. The previous Government pressured China for his release. Does the Prime Minister agree that this is a politically motivated prosecution and that it is a breach of China’s legal obligations to Hong Kong under the Sino-British declaration?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and that case, as the right hon. Gentleman will understand, is a priority for the Government. We call on the Hong Kong authorities to release immediately our British national. The Foreign Secretary raised this case in his first meeting with China’s Foreign Minister and we will continue to do so.

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank the Prime Minister for that answer. As he knows, China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine, now supplying the vast majority of Russia’s imported military micro-electronics and components and worsening the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Will the Prime Minister confirm that he is prepared to sanction any Chinese business or individual involved in aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including imposing secondary sanctions on financial institutions?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. We have called for that in the past and we continue to do so. I hope that this is an issue where we can have unity across the House.

[Rishi Sunak]

Yes, I assure the Prime Minister of our support. It is something that the last Government began. The United States recently expanded their sanctions and I hope the new Government will continue to look at doing the same.

The last Government also established a new system of registration and monitoring to protect the UK from interference from foreign states, including China, Russia and Iran. The foreign influence registration scheme was described as essential by MI5 in the fight to help to keep Britain safe, but since the Prime Minister took office, he has halted its implementation. Why?

[The Prime Minister]

That is not correct.

[Rishi Sunak]

That is very clearly what the Government have said. Only last week, the Prime Minister said at the Dispatch Box that he would give the security forces

“the powers that they need”.—[Official Report, 9 October 2024; Vol. 754, c. 297.]

If he is to fulfil that promise, I urge him to get up to speed on this issue and implement the scheme.

Furthermore, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has warned that British universities are increasingly a rich feeding ground for China to exert political influence over us. That is why we passed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, with new powers to help to defend universities from that threat, but the new Education Secretary has since blocked it. Can the Prime Minister tell us how, without that tool, the Government will prevent Chinese influence over our universities?

[The Prime Minister]

I really do not think that party political points on security and intelligence—[Interruption.] Throughout the last Parliament, we stood with the Government on all questions of security and intelligence, because it was important to the outside world that we did so. I worked with the security and intelligence services for five years prosecuting cases. I know at first hand, as a lawyer, the work that they do. I have known at first hand, as the Prime Minister, the work that they do. We support them in everything that we do, and the right hon. Gentleman knows that.

[Rishi Sunak]

The FIR scheme and the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act were new tools—new sets of powers—that the previous Government passed in order to give our universities and security services the powers that they need to tackle a growing threat. The Opposition will of course continue to support the Government in protecting our national security, but we believe that those tools are needed, and we are concerned by reports that the new Government have paused their implementation or indeed scrapped them.

Finally, the Chinese Government have sanctioned multiple Members of our Parliament for championing human rights. As a result, they have faced intimidation, abuse and surveillance. I commend you, Mr Speaker, for your defence of the right of every Member of this House to speak out on crucial issues without fear of retaliation from foreign states. I know that the Prime Minister will agree with that too, so this week will the Foreign Secretary in his meetings not just raise the issue but tell the Chinese Government to lift those sanctions on our colleagues?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes—we speak with one voice. The right hon. Gentleman speaks about the record of the last Government. That record was 14 years of failure. Six years of austerity, three years of Brexit logjam, then Johnson, Truss and the present Leader of the Opposition—utter failure. This Government were elected to do things differently, make fairer choices, and most importantly, give Britain its future back. We will fix the foundations, with a long-term plan to grow our economy, protect working people and rebuild our country.

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

Q8. Two years ago, Thurrock Council was led into effective bankruptcy by the then Conservative Administration, in no small part due to an investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in a solar farm scheme run by a conman. Given the Prime Minister’s commitment to integrity in public life, will he support my call, and those of my constituents, for a public inquiry, so that those responsible can finally be held to account?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question, because years of underfunding have left councils facing huge budget pressures—[Interruption.] Opposition Members yawn; they do not know the impact that it has on working people up and down the country, who rely on public services. What has happened in Thurrock is shocking. We are committed to resetting the relationship, and helping those under intervention to recover and reform. Fourteen years is a long time of destroying local services, and it is clear that it will take time to fix them. We will get councils back on their feet by providing multi-year funding settlements, but ultimately we have to grow our economy. I am surprised that the Leader of the Opposition did not welcome the £63 billion of investment that we were able to announce on Monday.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

[Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

I echo the Prime Minister’s tributes to Alex Salmond, Sir David Amess and Lily Ebert.

I welcome the news that Ministers are going to review the carer’s allowance repayment scandal, after campaigns by carers organisations, The Guardian and the Liberal Democrats, culminating in our motion on the Order Paper today, but does the Prime Minister agree that the evidence needed for the review is already long established, and many of the decisions self-evident? Will he and his colleagues vote for our motion today, so that we can write off the overpayments, end the crazy cliff edge to the earnings limit now, and have a fuller review of the support that carers deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that really important issue, which is affecting a number of people. We have launched an independent review into the carer’s allowance overpayments, to look at the circumstances of the overpayments and see what went wrong and what can be done to put it right, because carers must get the support that they deserve. I am grateful to him for raising it and I am glad that we have been able to take this action today to go forward on that really important issue.

[Ed Davey]

I thank the Prime Minister for that answer, and ask him that Ministers listen to the voices of carers throughout the review.

Let me turn to the middle east. Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich has said that starving 2 million people in Gaza might be “justified and moral”. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir called settlers who killed a 19-year-old on the west bank “heroes”. After my visit to Israel and Palestine last February, having witnessed the damaged that those extremist Ministers in the Netanyahu Government are doing, I called on the last UK Government to sanction them. They refused, but we now learn that the former Foreign Secretary was considering it. Will the Prime Minister now sanction Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich?

[The Prime Minister]

We are looking at that, because those are obviously abhorrent comments, as the right hon. Gentleman rightly says, along with other really concerning activity in the west bank and across the region. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire: the death toll has surpassed 42,000 and access to basic services is becoming much harder. Israel must take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties, to allow aid into Gaza in much greater volume, and to provide the UN and humanitarian partners the ability to operate effectively. Along with France, the UK will convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address that.

[Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)]

Q9. It has been an honour to meet my constituent Tom Morton, a young person in care who cares so deeply about politics and communities—he is sat in the Public Gallery today. Young people in care are at disproportionate risk of criminal and cynical exploitation by drug barons through county lines. Will the Prime Minister tell Tom and the House what steps the Government will take to prevent vulnerable children in care from becoming involved in county lines operations?

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome Tom to the House. It is encouraging to see young people engaging in democracy. County lines is a real problem, and all of us will have experienced its effect and impact in our constituencies. Our county lines programme focuses on preventing young people from being exploited and lured into criminal gangs, which is far too common, and we are committed to introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation—that is long overdue. We will also create a network of Young Futures hubs, staffed with professional youth workers, mental health support workers and career advisers, to provide focused support for young people, helping them to fulfil their ambitions and preventing them from being drawn into crime.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Plaid Cymru, too, pays tribute to Alex Salmond and Sir David Amess.

One in five people in Wales are on an NHS waiting list. The Secretary of State for Wales says that a new cross-border NHS plan would bring down Welsh surgery waiting lists, but the Labour First Minister of Wales contradicts her and denies that it has anything to do with bringing down waiting lists. Are they making it up as they go along?

[The Prime Minister]

The difference is that we now have a Westminster Government who want to work with the Welsh Government to deliver for the people of Wales. For 14 long years the Welsh Government were in a position where the then UK Government were in conflict with them. Now, we will work together, collaborate and ensure that we deliver across Wales.

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q10. Will my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister join me in praising our Labour police and crime commissioner for Cleveland, Matt Storey, who is working with me to tackle knife crime, drug crime and antisocial behaviour in Stockton North, and will he assure my constituents that under this Labour Government we will see more police officers in Stockton and Billingham?

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s work with the new Labour police and crime commissioner. It is sad to say that in Cleveland, the number of full-time equivalent police officers fell by over 12% under the last Government; when you fail on the economy and growth, those are the types of things that happen across the country. As part of our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we will put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers back on our streets and ensure that every community has a named local officer. Through our safer streets mission, we will tackle illegal drugs, halve knife crime and crack down on antisocial behaviour, and go after the gangs that lure young people into violence.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Q2. As evidenced by some earlier questions, issues surrounding SEND, local government finance and adult social care affect all of our constituents. Let us be honest: for too long, both parties have ducked and dodged taking the difficult but necessary decisions. In order to give certainty to our constituents and confidence to those who provide those vital services, does the Prime Minister share my assessment that there is considerable merit in formal cross-party working on those issues, so that we can share taking those difficult decisions in order to improve outcomes for our constituents?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the question of SEND, because it is a really important issue—I think this is the fourth time in two Prime Minister’s Question Times that it has been raised, by Members on both sides of the House. I quibble with his suggestion that it is both parties, since his party was in power for 14 years, but the spirit in which he proposes that this work should be cross-party is something that we should take up, because SEND is such an important issue. It affects so many children and parents, so notwithstanding that quibble, I am very happy to work across the House on an issue as important as SEND.

[Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)]

Q11.   The Fairways Networking Group is a group of small businesses in my constituency, all of which operate on tight margins. Can my right hon. and learned Friend help me to reassure this group that not only do they have nothing to fear from the Employment Rights Bill, but they have plenty to gain as exemplar employers?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes: the Employment Rights Bill is pro-worker and pro-growth, and proudly so. I do not believe we can build a strong economy by having people in insecure work. The Conservative party goes against every protection for workers—it was against the minimum wage, and it is against these new protections—but the vast majority of businesses, large and small, already know that investing in their human capital and treating people properly at work is what produces growth. Here is the big political divide: the Conservatives always oppose workers’ rights, and we will always champion them.

[Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)]

Q4. I associate the Green party with the Prime Minister’s tributes to Alex Salmond and Sir David Amess. Some 99.7% of new patients in the east of England are unable to find an NHS dentist—it is the worst-affected area in the country. My constituents want urgent action, so when will the Government begin the critical negotiations on dental contract reform so that no one in the 21st century has to pull out their own teeth? Will it be by the end of this year?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman raises a really important issue. Dentistry was left in a shocking state by the last Government: I was shocked to hear that the commonest cause of A&E admission for six to 10-year-olds in this country’s children’s hospitals is to have teeth taken out, because of the failure of the last Government. That is shocking on any analysis, and we will put it right; we will take the necessary steps, and we will work across the House to do so as quickly as possible.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Wyre) (Lab)]

Q12. Last night in this House, we took the first steps in abolishing the hereditary principle of privilege in the other place. I was hosting the Let’s End Poverty coalition at a meeting upstairs, where we heard that for many, the experience of poverty feels hereditary too. Will the Prime Minister meet with me and those with lived experience of poverty to find ways in which we can hear from those with that lived experience and break the cycle of poverty?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. The Conservative party wants to get rid of maternity pay, but keep hereditary peers. It is the same old Tories. This is an important issue that she has raised. The letters are honest, powerful and important, and I think they hold up a mirror to our country. We will deliver a Budget that drives economic growth, improves the lives of working people, fixes our public services and rebuilds our country with a decade of national renewal.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Ann Davies.

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

Q5. Diolch, Llefarydd. My constituent Janette Crawford suffers from ME and chronic pain. The cold, damp conditions of a Welsh winter are going to mean a lot more muscle soreness and fatigue for her. She has lost her winter fuel payments due to having a very small savings pot. With 86% of pensioners in poverty, or just above that line, to miss out in Wales, will the Prime Minister establish a social energy tariff to help people like Janette?

[The Prime Minister]

On this issue of winter fuel payments, we have inherited a £22 billion black hole. [Interruption.] Conservative Members should be apologising, not groaning, for leaving the country in such a state. We are committed to the triple lock. The point about pensions is really important, and the triple lock means that the pension will increase again by £460 next year. That means pensioners under Labour will be better off, because we are going to stabilise the economy after that lot lost control of it.

[Shaun Davies (Telford) (Lab)]

Q13. In Britain, the biggest killer of men under 50 is suicide. We have some of the worst paternity leave in Europe, and boys are 50% less likely than girls to pursue higher education. I know that my right hon. and learned Friend takes this very seriously, and his commitment on reducing suicide rates is very welcome. Can the Prime Minister update the House on this work, and does he agree with me that it is vital that we tackle these issues head on because of the increasing alienation and mental health issues among young men?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this vital issue. The statistics on male suicide are truly shocking. I went to an event a few years ago here in this place, where everyone in attendance was asked if they had lost someone to suicide, and I then reflected on my own experience, which was profound—as it was, I could see, for everybody across the room, and will be across this House—so reducing deaths from suicide is a vital part of our health mission. We are recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers specially trained to support people at risk of suicide to provide faster treatment and ease pressure on our services.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

Q6.   Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl had an exemplary career with the RAF until she was forced to resign for refusing to implement illegal recruitment orders. Despite inquiry after inquiry vindicating Lizzy on every count, the RAF and MOD have failed to offer her fair compensation, and those responsible have walked away. Shamefully, during the election purdah period, in what I believe was an attempt to subvert ministerial oversight, she was offered a derisory £2,000 by officials. I have documents proving beyond doubt that the former Chief of the Air Staff lied to the then Defence Secretary about her case. The Prime Minister says he believes in righting wrongs, so will he meet Lizzy, and help ensure that those responsible do not just walk away and that Lizzy gets the justice she so very much deserves?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising what is obviously a very important case, and she is right to do so. I am not across the individual details of it, but it obviously does need to be looked into. So we will commit to look into it, and I will make sure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to lay out such details as she has and to get some answers as to our inquiries.

[Jake Richards (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

Q14. Children’s social care in this country is now in crisis. Vulnerable children are regularly placed hundreds of miles from home, often in unregulated and unsafe accommodation. Meanwhile, private companies are making record profits on the backs of struggling and desperate local authorities. Frankly, this is an issue—a national scandal—that does not get enough attention. Today, I will be presenting my private Member’s Bill, which will offer modest reform in this area, but will the Prime Minister reassure me and thousands of families across the country that it is a priority of his Government to fix the social care crisis and our family courts?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue and being a champion on it. He is absolutely right about the appalling inheritance: one in four children in absolute poverty—that is a terrible inheritance—and too many vulnerable children in unregulated accommodation. Through our children’s wellbeing Bill, we will put children and their wellbeing at the heart of the education and social care systems. We will also provide a home for all young care leavers to ensure that they are not homeless, and remove the barriers to opportunity so every child can thrive in safe and loving homes.

[Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

Q7. During the election campaign, the now Prime Minister made a hell of a lot of promises, some of which I am sure he will remember. Of particular importance to my constituents in Andover and North West Hampshire was a promise made on 18 June during a campaign visit to Basingstoke, when he made an unequivocal, unconditional commitment to rebuild our local hospital. Is that a promise on which we can rely?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising that; it is obviously of huge importance to his constituents and he is right to do so. As he knows, we are reviewing the programme. The programme that the last Government put in place for 40 new hospitals had a number of flaws: they were not all hospitals, they were not new, and they were not funded, so we are reviewing it. He is right to raise this matter, and I will ensure that he has a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss the development in his constituency. It will matter to his constituents who are listening to this, and it is important that they know where the failure lay.

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

I welcome the Government’s historic investment in carbon capture and storage technology for Teesside and Merseyside. This week I have been at the sector’s conference, and the feeling there is that this is a Government who are delivering after years of delay. Will the Prime Minister recognise the unique potential that Teesside has for jobs, prosperity and economic growth into the future?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and you will have observed, Mr Speaker, that on Monday we had a very successful investment summit, with £63 billion coming into this country, jobs in every part of the UK, and a clear message from businesses that they are prepared to invest now under this new Labour Government. Part of that was a £22 billion commitment to carbon capture, usage and storage, creating the first clusters in the world including, as my hon. Friend points out, in various parts of the country. We will support those jobs and investment. We will grow our economy and rebuild our country.

[Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)]

Q15. North Cornwall is an amazing place to live and work, but a top-down approach from Westminster has failed us. Public services are chronically underfunded, with young people forced to move away to pursue careers elsewhere, and affordable housing is a promise that is simply never kept. Will the Prime Minister meet all six Cornish MPs to discuss devolution for Cornwall, with a Cornish assembly that recognises our unique culture, language and national minority status, so that we can finally unleash Cornwall’s economic potential?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising that. I do believe in transferring power out of Westminster and into the hands of leaders who know their communities best. Those with skin in the game know what is best for their communities. We are already making steps in the south-west by signing the devolution agreement for Devon and Torbay, and I encourage local authorities to work with their neighbours to pursue deeper and wider devolution for their area. I will ensure that the hon. Member has the meeting that he is asking for.

[Blair McDougall (East Renfrewshire) (Lab)]

As the Prime Minister works for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages, he will have the support of Members across the House. He will have noted the comments from the White House calling for urgent action to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and for the Netanyahu Government to increase access to aid and the amount of aid getting through. Does the Prime Minister agree with those comments from the White House, and what representations is he making on that matter?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I do agree with those remarks, and we are constantly making representations on this with our partners. There is an urgent need, as there has been for a long time, for more aid to get into Gaza. It is a desperate situation, and Israel must comply with its international humanitarian law obligations. That is why we are convening a session of the UN Security Council, with others, to address that issue.