Kerry McCarthy
Main Page: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)Department Debates - View all Kerry McCarthy's debates with the HM Treasury
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Kerry McCarthy Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Michael Ellis
What I say to Frances and her brother, and to the constituents of all hon. Members on both sides of the House who have suffered loss, is that my heart and sympathies go out to them. I deeply regret the personal loss, tragedy, bereavement and distress that has befallen tens of thousands of people in the country. That is what I offer; I hope that it is accepted. All I can do is say that we are all working extremely hard to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and we will continue to do that.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
I, too, have constituents’ accounts from around that time. One said:
“My aunt committed suicide a few weeks ago and I could not hug my mum (who found her body) at her funeral”.
Another was not able to visit a brother with stage 4 throat cancer or visit her 87-year-old housebound mother.
With all due respect to the Paymaster General, my constituents do not know who he is. They are not interested in hearing about his regret, his distress, his sorrow; they want to hear from the Prime Minister. Unless Mr Speaker has it in his power to extend Prime Minister’s questions to 7 o’clock tomorrow, there will not be time for all of us. The Prime Minister should come before this House and every single one of us should have the opportunity to stand up and read out all our long lists of cases. The Prime Minister ought to show some empathy himself.
Michael Ellis
The Prime Minister will be here tomorrow. The proceedings of this House are well established and the Speaker controls the proceedings of this House. The Prime Minister is here weekly to answer questions and will do so in the normal way tomorrow.