Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. We will know the answers to these questions when the commercial negotiations are concluded, but I will draw the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland to the specific issue that she has raised in relation to her constituency.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

The Government have a visibly strong relationship with Airbus in respect of its presence in north Wales. What representations is the Secretary of State making to ensure that there is equivalent investment for the Spirit AeroSystems workers in Belfast?

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[Fleur Anderson]

I thank the hon. Member for raising the issue of the Public Service Transformation Board. As he says, the interim board has a £235 million budget for transformation. Several major projects—on health, special educational needs and justice—are now being sent to the Northern Ireland Minister of Finance for agreement, and I have pushed for the full board to be set up by the end of this financial year. I agree that it needs to move ahead and get those projects done.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)]

The Executive have warned of very serious pressures facing the NHS in Northern Ireland, which has the worst waiting times in the United Kingdom—more than six years for some surgeries. Labour’s manifesto committed to improving public services in Northern Ireland, and it is clear that money alone is unlikely to solve the problem. What other tangible support will the Government offer the Executive to reduce waiting times for people in Northern Ireland, or will they just devolve and forget?

[Fleur Anderson]

The hon. Member is correct to raise the issue of public services, especially health services. The winter pressures on hospital care and other areas have been shocking to see, and I am grateful to health workers for their work on the frontline at the moment. This week, I met the UK Government’s Health Minister to talk about how we can provide tangible support, and we have already done so. As the hon. Member says, funding is not the only answer; it is also about sharing best practice and expertise. This Government have committed to doing that through the Public Service Transformation Board, but there are other practical ways in which we can work together on the best ways to reform.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)]

A&E waiting times in Northern Ireland now exceed 12 hours in some hospitals, patients are being treated in the back of ambulances because of a lack of beds, and Dr Alan Stout, the chair of the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland council, has told the Northern Ireland Committee today that Northern Ireland is in a particularly bad place when it comes to health services. What conversations have the Secretary of State and Minister had with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that they have the resources that they need to cope with this immediate crisis? Are Ministers convinced that the 124% fiscal floor is adequate for addressing this issue in the long term?

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[Hilary Benn]

As I said a moment ago, the process of reconciliation and coming to terms with the past is a difficult and itself a troubled process. Lots of people have been on a journey and we need to continue to see that journey followed. People will express their views about the stance that different people have taken, but since the hon. Gentleman has mentioned the First Minister, I welcome the fact that, for the first time, she attended the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

I would like to return to the question that has just been raised by the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Sir Julian Smith). When the previous Government passed their legislation, the Labour party was in favour of the amendments made in another place that ruled out compensation to people such as Gerry Adams and others similarly detained in the 1970s. Why have the Government now changed their position?

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Fleur Anderson)]

There are many pressures on businesses that we are constantly assessing and talking to businesses about. The hon. Member is right to raise the subject of job creation in Northern Ireland; it is a priority for this Government. We are supporting businesses in many ways, including through Invest Northern Ireland’s fund for small businesses, and by directly supporting jobseekers through our funding for employment support schemes.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Ashley Fox. [Interruption.]

[Sir Ashley Fox]

I am grateful for the warm welcome. How does the Minister expect businesses in Northern Ireland to grow and invest in their communities, given that they have to pay the enormous tax increases imposed by the Chancellor?

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[Hilary Benn]

I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s concerns. This is a product of the failure of the old Harland and Wolff. It now falls to Navantia to decide which of the invoices it wishes to pay, but it will want to secure a relationship with suppliers contributing to the fleet solid support ship programme.

[Mr Speaker]

Before we come to Prime Minister’s questions, may I welcome the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania, Elisa Spiropali, who is in the Public Gallery?

The Prime Minister was asked—

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[The Prime Minister]

Skilling up the next generation is vital to kick-start economic growth. Our plan for change will rebuild Britain by delivering 1.5 million new homes. That is why we have established Skills England, and are reforming our planning system and training the workforce. I will ensure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting that she wants with the relevant Minister.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (North West Essex) (Con)]

On Friday, while borrowing costs hit levels not seen since Labour was last in government, I met business owners and their employees in Chesterfield. One of them told me that his business will not exist in four years’ time because of this Government’s policies. It might not even exist next year. The Prime Minister may try to blame his inheritance, or blame global factors, but why should anyone trust a word he says over what businesses are saying again and again—that his Budget means fewer jobs, lower growth and higher borrowing costs?

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[Mrs Badenoch]

There is no one the Prime Minister can blame for this dud deal except himself. At the Budget, Labour was congratulating itself for having the first female Chancellor, instead of ensuring that the country had someone actually qualified to do the job. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear the Leader of the Opposition.

[Mrs Badenoch]

The Prime Minister claims he has full confidence in the Chancellor, but the markets clearly do not. Yesterday, the Chancellor repeated her promise to have “just one Budget per year” to provide businesses with certainty. The talk in the City is that she cannot meet her fiscal rules, and that there will need to be an emergency Budget. Does the Prime Minister stand by the Chancellor’s commitment that there will be only one Budget this year?

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[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that matter and I am deeply sorry for those receiving inadequate care in his constituency. The previous Government left the NHS in a critical condition. We cannot deliver growth with record waiting lists and 2.8 million economically inactive people. Through our plan for change we will invest in NHS diagnostic centres. I will, of course, consider his invitation.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

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

May I echo the words of the Prime Minister about President Biden? I hope that his team and the team of President-elect Trump can work together to bring the peace in Gaza that we so desperately need so that the hostages can be released, we can get aid in, and the killing can stop.

As the hon. Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) just said, patients are suffering through the worst NHS winter crisis on record. Last month alone, 54,000 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E. Over 63,000 were stuck in ambulances for over an hour before they could even get into hospital. There is no doubt that the flu season has made the winter crisis worse, but we see these winter crises year after year, following years of neglect of the NHS by the Conservatives. NHS leaders say that we will never put an end to these winter crises unless we fix the crisis in social care. I asked the Prime Minister this question last week, and I was disappointed by his reply, so I will try again. Will he scrap the three-year timetable that he has given the Casey commission so that we can fix social care this year, implementing reforms by the end of this year at the latest?

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[The Prime Minister]

I am sure that Margaret would be pleased to see the incredible investment going into the area and the 4,000 jobs that are growing the economy. The state of our local councils was left completely damaged by the last Government. She knows that, and everybody knows that.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Grahame Morris.

[Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

Q13. You can never have too many Morrises, Mr Speaker.To their credit, in their first Budget the Labour Government transferred the mineworkers’ pension scheme investment reserve fund, benefiting nearly 4,000 former miners and miners’ widows in my constituency. However, almost 700 British Coal staff superannuation scheme pensioners in my constituency were excluded. Will the Prime Minister correct that injustice and ensure that BCSSS beneficiaries—many of them are now elderly and in very poor health—are treated equally to their co-workers in the MPS?