Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 3rd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I respect my hon. Friend’s arguments, but the police have to make judgments and, as I have just said, they do not always get those judgments right. Those of us in this House have to think about a potential situation in which a terrorist has attacked our country and is on the run through Europe to other countries, and about how quickly we want to be able to get that person back in front of our courts to face British justice. That is not an imaginary set of circumstances; it is exactly what happened in 2005 after the dreadful London bombings, so we need to think about it. I am all for making sure that powers flow from Brussels to London, and they have done in the case of justice and home affairs, where we have repatriated more than 100 measures. However, I also want to be a Prime Minister who can look the British people in the eye and say, “We will keep you safe from serious crime and terrorism, and we will get people back in front of British courts as soon as possible.”

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q10. We now know that, in the event of separation—

[Lindsay Roy]

That was a good laugh. We know that in the event of separation, we would no longer have a formal currency union with the rest of the UK. In response, the First Minister has said that an independent Scotland would default on its share of the national debt. Prime Minister, what would be the consequences of such a reckless approach for the people of Scotland?

[The Prime Minister]

I think one of the most chilling things that has been said in the referendum campaign is that a separate Scotland would consider defaulting on its debts. We all know what happens if you do not pay your debts—no one will lend you any money unless you pay a punitive interest rate. We all know what that means for home owners—much, much higher mortgage rates. For businesses, it means crippling interest rates. Those are the consequences of what the separatists are proposing. We need to get that message out loud and clear in the coming days.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 11th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in praising his county council. That does sound like a tragic event, and it comes on top of the fact that, as everyone knows, we need to provide more primary school places. I commend the council for its quick action.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q14. Since the Government took office, the United Kingdom has suffered the second biggest fall in wages that we have seen in any of the G20 countries. Does the Prime Minister think that that is evidence that he has saved our economy?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said on several occasions during this Question Time, if we want to see living standards recover properly—and I do—there is only one sustainable way of making that happen. We need a growing economy, we need to keep on top of inflation, we need to ensure that mortgage rates are kept low, and we then need to cut people’s taxes by raising the personal allowance. That is how we can help households with their disposable income. If we listened to Labour and had more spending, more borrowing and more debt, the first things to go up would be interest rates and mortgage rates. For all the talk of the costs that families face, that increase in mortgage rates would wipe out all the hard work that we have done. [Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor says “You wait.” Well, we are waiting—for one single sensible suggestion from a party whose Front Benchers have got it comprehensively wrong in the last three years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend does excellent work on behalf of the taxpayer, partly through all the good questions that he asks. He has raised an important issue, involving not only the cost to the taxpayer but the possible overstatement of benefits to patients. There needs to be more transparency in clinical trials data, and we are committed to ensuring that that happens. The European Medicine Agency’s work in this regard is supported, and from next year there will be a legal requirement to publish summary reports from clinical trials.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q4. This week we learned that, despite assurances that exhaustive checks were taking place, the UK Border Agency had made minimal attempts to trace 124,000 asylum seekers and migrants, and that 150 boxes of mail had been left unopened. Does that not demonstrate that the 20% cut in the agency’s budget has put our efforts to secure our borders at risk?

[The Prime Minister]

I think that this is a week in which to recognise that we said that we would cut immigration, and that, under this Government, net immigration is down by 25%. However, I want us to do far better in chasing up illegal overstayers and illegal migrants. Good work is being done in that respect, which also involves private sector organisations finding these people and getting them to leave. Of course we had to make reductions in the UKBA budget, as we have had to make them in all budgets, but the hon. Gentleman should have noticed by now that government these days is about getting more for less.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I gave my hon. Friend the strongest possible assurance. The point that I have made, and which I made to the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander), is that there cannot be any changes unless there is full public consultation and unless there is the support of local GPs and strong public and patient engagement. In the case of Kettering, that is not on the agenda. As I said, any suggestion by the Opposition is simply scaremongering of the worst kind, and I can see that they are at it again.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q9. The importance of skills in promoting economic growth has been emphasised again and again in all parts of the House, so why did the number of under-19 apprenticeship starts fall last year?

[The Prime Minister]

The number of apprenticeships under this Government is about 900,000; it is a record number and it has hugely increased.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know from having visited the hon. Gentleman’s constituency how important the issue of the hospital is. My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary is fully engaged in this issue. Perhaps I can fix a meeting between the hon. Gentleman and my right hon. Friend to ensure that the issue is dealt with.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q14. The Royal Bank of Scotland recently axed another 300 jobs, mostly in Edinburgh and London. However, the jobs have not gone completely, but have been outsourced to India. The Prime Minister and the Government act on behalf of the biggest shareholder, so when will they stand up to RBS and prevent the needless job losses in the UK?

[The Prime Minister]

We must recognise that the Government put £45 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland on behalf of the country. That is £2,500 for every working family in the country. The most important thing is that we get that money back. We need RBS to return to health. It has to deal with its bad loans and the trouble that it got into, and it has to grow the rest of its business. We will then be in a position to return to people the money that they put into the bank. That is what matters most.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 25th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend speaks very powerfully about this issue, which is why a benefit cap is fair. It is also very important to recognise that we are excluding from that benefit cap those entitled to working tax credit, as well as households with someone receiving disability living allowance. As we have always said, there will be a hardship fund, a grace period and a way of helping those families to cope with the cap, and to make sure, where possible, that we actually get people into work. The real shame is that there are so many millions of children who live in households where nobody works—and indeed, that number doubled under the previous Government.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q9. The Prime Minister has said that it would be “a personal betrayal if banks failed to increase lending to businesses”.Yet last week the Bank of England stated that businesses are still not getting the investment that they need from the banks. Have the banks betrayed the Prime Minister, or has the Prime Minister betrayed businesses?

[The Prime Minister]

What I have done is put in place the Merlin agreement, which actually led to an increase in bank lending last year. What we now have in place is a massive credit easing programme, which the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement, that will kick in this year and make sure that banks are doing what banks ought to do in a free enterprise economy, and lending to businesses large and small.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly join my hon. Friend in doing that. I know that the whole of the south-west—and the whole country—is incredibly proud of the Marines, and we are proud of 3 Commando Brigade, who will be marching through Plymouth. I send my very best wishes for the homecoming parade, and we should also put on record what they have achieved in Task Force Helmand. They carried out 37,000 patrols, found more than 400 improvised explosive devices and trained more than 1,300 Afghan uniformed police patrolmen. They have made a real difference to the safety and security of that country, and to the safety of our country too.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q3. Does the Prime Minister think it right and proper or in any way defensible that the Royal Bank of Scotland, which received a massive bail-out during the crisis, should be paying out more than £500 million in bonuses this year?

[The Prime Minister]

No, I do not think it is acceptable. RBS has not yet set its figures for bonus payments. The British Government are a seriously large shareholder in RBS, and we will be making our views known.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 8th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend was being shouted down because the Labour party does not want to hear what the International Monetary Fund said about the British economy. It said:

“Strong fiscal consolidation is underway and remains essential to achieve a more sustainable budgetary position”—

[Interruption.] Members ask me to read the rest, and I will read the rest. The IMF put the question specifically:

“This raises the question whether it is time to adjust macroeconomic policies”—

the question put by the Labour party—and it said this: “The answer is no”. The IMF could not be more clear in backing the policies that we are pursuing to get this country back on track.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q4. What message does the Prime Minister have for the hundreds of women in my constituency in their mid-50s who feel that they have been unjustly thwarted by the extension of their retirement age, contrary to the coalition agreement?

[The Prime Minister]

What I would say is that the first decision was taken in 1995, when there was all-party agreement that we should equalise men’s and women’s pension ages, and that was done over a long period of time. The second point is that it is right to lift the pension age for men and women to a higher level more rapidly than the last Government decided. However, the key fact is that 85% of the women affected are going to lose one year or less in terms of their pension. The last point that I would make is this. Because we have linked the pension to earnings, people who retire today will be £15,000 better off than they were under the policies of the last Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. This is a very disturbing case, and I am sure that hon. Members will all have heard about it this morning on the news. I think the police will want to do everything they can to get to the bottom of this dreadful crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q7. People in all parts of the House appreciate that there is a mammoth crisis in Japan. Our hearts go out to the people there and we all want to do everything we can to help, including the UK. I appreciated the Prime Minister’s comments on Monday, but will he investigate reports that a British rescue team has recently been turned away from Japan?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s question, and I have asked for a briefing about this, so I can tell the House what happened. The official rescue team that was sent from the UK, in good time, arrived in good time and has already started work. There was also an extra, independent rescue team that did not have the correct documentation and encountered some problems, but we are doing everything we can to make sure it can get access.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend will know that there is a long-standing convention, quite rightly, that a serving Prime Minister does not and cannot order the release of papers that refer to a previous Prime Minister. That is why the Cabinet Secretary will be looking at this issue, which is a matter for him. Anyone unhappy with the conclusions is clearly able to write to Tony Blair to make their views known. For my own part, I hope this inquiry can be as open and clear as possible so that we get to the bottom of the very important issues it is looking at.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q8. As the Prime Minister will be aware, I spent most of my working life in schools and colleges, so I have overwhelming evidence of the benefits of the education maintenance allowance. It brings benefits to teenagers from modest backgrounds in terms of their employability skills and in raising their achievement. May I urge the Prime Minister to go back to the position when he pledged to support EMA, so that we can support our economy as we move forward?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the problem is that we want more people to stay on in school, but we have to look at the working of the current system. The Labour Government commissioned research and found that 90% of those on EMA would have attended school in any event. We also have to look at the context in which EMA was introduced into this country. Let me cite what the hon. Gentleman’s parliamentary colleague, the former Prime Minister said at the time:

“We will fund this major advance in educational opportunity from savings that we have made from our success in reducing… debt.”—[Official Report, 15 July 2002; Vol. 389, c. 29.]

Is it any surprise that we are having to look at these spending programmes and work out how to get better value for money to clear up the mess we have been left?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know that a strong case is being made, not least by my colleague, the Mayor of London, for this sort of change. I am very happy to look at the arguments for it, because I want to make sure that we have a fair body of union law in this country. I think the laws put in place in the 1980s are working well. We do not currently have proposals to amend them, but I am happy to look at this argument, because I do not want to see a wave of irresponsible strikes, not least when they are not supported by a majority of people taking part.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q14. Nye Bevan, a man of great vision and remarkable foresight, once said: “The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flamboyant labels on empty luggage.” Is this Prime Minister’s so-called bonfire of the quangos one such example, because it has turned out to be a damp squib?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not accept that for a moment. The bonfire of the quangos is going to make sure that we rationalise all the non-governmental bodies and it will save billions of pounds in the process. It is a very sensible process of asking what should be part of Government, which should be properly accountable to this House, and what does not need to be done and therefore can be taken away. As I say, it will save billions of pounds—and a very good thing, too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 1st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right to raise that issue. People who are victims of terror, whether at home or overseas, deserve our support, as he says. People might not know, but my hon. Friend’s brother was tragically killed in the Bali bombing—that horrific attack that took place some years ago. We are looking at this very difficult issue of trying to make sure that, when we consider criminal injuries compensation and what has been proposed for injuries overseas, we have a fair and reasonable system. The Justice Secretary is looking at that, and we will come forward with proposals.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q3. The Prime Minister’s Government are spending £4 billion so that councils can promote wellness, £2 billion on reorganising the NHS, £100 million on electing police commissioners and £2 million on a happiness survey. Does that not demonstrate that the Prime Minister has lost touch with reality?

[The Prime Minister]

No, it does not. Let me take—[Interruption.] Generally speaking, I think the hon. Gentleman should cheer up a bit. Let me take the issue of NHS reform. Even with the settlement that we have set out for the NHS, which involves real-terms increases each year, if we stand still with the NHS and keep the current system, we will find it running into very severe problems each and every year. So, it is necessary to reform the NHS, it is necessary to cut out bureaucracy and it is necessary to reduce management costs, so that we have a system where we actually try to create a healthier nation and, therefore, reduce the demands on our NHS. That is what our reforms are all about.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We will certainly do that. As I said in answer to an earlier question, as we look through the last Government’s points system and immigration policy, we really do believe that it will not be difficult to achieve much better immigration control without disadvantaging business. For example, things such as inter-company transfers should not be included in what we are looking at. I do not think we will have a problem. Given the very broken system that we inherited, there should be no problems improving it.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q8. In almost every answer at PMQs, the Prime Minister unfairly blames the challenges facing our country on the previous Government. Will he tell us about his biggest mistake as Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

I will leave others to judge the many mistakes that I am sure I will make in this office. I am sure that, as a talented former head teacher, the hon. Gentleman would always say to his pupils, “You have to accept your responsibilities”, and it is about time that that lot accepted theirs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Many hon. Members will have football clubs in their constituencies that sometimes struggle financially, and seeing one owned by its supporters is a very positive move. I hope she will not mind if I spend more of my time on another football bid, which is the very important bid to make sure that England hosts the World cup in 2018.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q4. I have already briefed the Prime Minister on the likely impact of the interim cap on migrant workers on a leading-edge company in my constituency. The one graduate sponsorship licence issued has suddenly been withdrawn. Can the Prime Minister assure me that he will review this case urgently, as this expert is pivotal to growth and jobs in our community?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his question. I will arrange for the Minister for Immigration to look urgently at this case. The point is that we have consulted business and other interested parties on how the limit should work. We have also asked the Migration Advisory Committee to consult on what the actual limit should be. The consultations are closed and we will announce the findings in due course. The reason for an interim cap is that it was important to have a temporary limit to ensure that there was no closing-down sale, as it were, before the final limit was introduced. I will make sure that the Minister for Immigration gets in touch with the hon. Gentleman about this case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Roy and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 14th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. Yes, we have to take difficult decisions but, when we look at the NHS, we know that there are expensive drugs coming down the track, expensive treatments and an ageing population, and more children born with disabilities and living for longer. There are cost pressures on our NHS that mean that even small real-terms increases will be an heroic thing to achieve. I think that the Opposition have completely lost touch and lost their senses to think that you can somehow cut the NHS.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

As a former head teacher, I endorse the commitment given by the Prime Minister to improving discipline in schools and in education more widely. May I ask him what special measures he, as the Head of Government, plans to invoke in relation to his Education Secretary, who has failed to do his homework properly on five occasions in the past week?

[The Prime Minister]

In the week of the Mandelson memoirs—to get a lecture on ill discipline. We used to say that the Labour Government were dysfunctional and shambolic and that they were all at each other’s throats, but we were wrong—it was much, much worse than that.