Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Torcuil Crichton

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising this important issue. A commitment was made to properly compensate the victims of this scandal. Unfortunately, the Conservative Government, having made that commitment, regrettably did not allocate any money. Her constituents will be pleased to know that we have changed the approach. We have set out the compensation within the Budget—a transparent, accountable Budget—and we will make the payments as soon as we can.

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

Q14. I echo the Prime Minister’s sentiments towards that other son of Lewis—although I wish that I had woken up today in the Isle of Harris. My constituents there face long delays, cancellations and loss of service because of the SNP’s incompetent handling of ferry procurement. In last week’s Budget the Scottish Government received a record settlement. May I urge the Prime Minister to tell Scottish Ministers to use that to improve public services in Scotland, to invest in the NHS in Na h-Eileanan an Iar, to build schools in places such as Barra and finally to fix the ferry fiasco?

[The Prime Minister]

Last week in the Budget we delivered the largest settlement for the Scottish Government in real terms since devolution. That includes £3.4 billion through the Barnett formula, a fuel duty freeze and an increase to the national living wage, benefiting my hon. Friend’s constituents and all those across Scotland. The result of the Budget is now clear. The SNP in power in Scotland have the powers and they now have the money, so they have no more excuses.