Oral Answers to Questions

Kirsten Oswald Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Well, Mr Speaker, I am not surprised to say that my hon. Friend is completely right. This Government are determined to give the people of this country the homes they need. We are building record numbers of homes, but we owe it to our kinder, gentler politics to be accurate about what is going on in our constituencies. This Government do not set local housing targets. I understand that the draft Bassetlaw local plan is subject to consultation. I encourage him and his constituents to make their views known.

[Kirsten Oswald ( East Renfrewshire) (SNP)]

Q2. Tomorrow, at 2.50 pm, my constituency will fall silent as we mark exactly 50 years since Scotland’s largest peacetime explosion ripped through Clarkston Toll in East Renfrewshire. Ten shops were demolished by the ignition of gas, which had escaped from a fractured gas main beneath the shops. A passing bus was caught up in the blast. Twenty-two people died, mostly women, and over 100 were injured. Tomorrow, 50 years on, the community and the families will come together for a memorial service. Will the Prime Minister join me in acknowledging the terrible losses that many families locally suffered and the continuing sorrow in the community, and in reflecting that the victims of the Clarkston disaster must never be forgotten?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this anniversary. She is right to commemorate the victims of the Clarkston disaster. Our thoughts and our condolences continue to be with the families of those who lost loved ones. Of course, we must do everything in our power to make sure that no such tragedy is repeated.