Security Vetting

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Keir Starmer

Monday 20th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I did know the difference.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

After years of sleaze and scandal under the previous Government, the Prime Minister promised integrity and accountability, but my constituents in Stratford-on-Avon are not seeing change; they are seeing more of the same—a continuity Government in which warnings are ignored and standards slip. Why should anyone believe that the Prime Minister is still capable of delivering the change that he promised?

[The Prime Minister]

I made sure that the relevant inquiries were made so that I could put the full picture before the House. That is the approach I have taken, as Members have seen this afternoon.

Middle East

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Keir Starmer

Monday 13th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This matter came up in all the conversations that I had, and I assure my hon. Friend that there was absolute clarity among all the leaders with whom I spoke that there must not be any conditions or tolls, or anything that increases the chokehold over the strait of Hormuz in particular, which is very important to the Gulf. We have fought for the principle of freedom of navigation for many, many years, and for good reason.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

At the beginning of Trump’s illegal war in Iran, we witnessed the bombing of a school that killed at least 168 people, including 110 children. Can the Prime Minister tell the House whether the UK Government have agreed a no-strike list of civilian infrastructure that must not be hit by US planes launching missions from UK military bases?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me be really clear about this: there must be a lawful basis for anything we do, and that includes what happens from our bases. That is why we have been very clear about the use of the bases and why we are monitoring the use of the bases on the terms that we set out.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 4th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to how my hon. Friend is bringing people together to deliver better care in the community that meets the needs of his constituents. The proposals for the health campus will be open to public consultation. I urge the whole community to input into that, to ensure the strongest investment case is put forward. I am pleased that waiting lists in his local trust have fallen by a fifth since March 2024, because of the investment that we have put into the NHS. That, of course, was opposed by the parties on the Opposition Benches.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

Q7. Over the past few months, I have been meeting care providers in my constituency of Stratford-on-Avon who deliver essential and expert care to some of my most vulnerable constituents. However, like so many small businesses, they are under huge financial pressures, and the hike in national insurance is yet another burden many cannot afford. I welcome the Government’s partial U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts following pressure from those on the Liberal Democrat Benches. When will the Prime Minister offer relief to care providers and other small businesses and U-turn on the punitive hike to national insurance?

[The Prime Minister]

We announced £502 million to support local authorities to manage the changes in NICs. We have put in £3.7 billion in additional funding for social care, doubled the disabled facilities grant and introducing the first ever fair pay agreement for professional carers, including minimum standards for pay. I gently say to the hon. Member that her party opposed the Budget that provides the money for the funding. They cannot keep asking for more spending and oppose a Budget that raises the money.

UK-EU Summit

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Keir Starmer

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her important question. We will work as quickly as we can on that issue, because, whichever way people voted, they did not vote to stop creatives and sportspeople crossing national boundaries to showcase their talent—in whatever way that may be—so we do need to resolve it.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

The impact of the Creative Europe programme between 2014 and 2019 on the UK arts, film, publishing and other creative sectors was hugely beneficial, and not just for practitioners and organisations but for the country as a whole. Will the Government look into the possibility of participating again in this creative programme to further boost the economic potential of our creative industries?

[The Prime Minister]

We set out yesterday the areas where we had reached agreement. We will now have annual summits, but we will approach that matter on a value-for-money basis.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this. The decision on the mineworkers’ pension scheme reversed a historic injustice, and I am so pleased that we were able to do it in the Budget. As I think he knows, I met some of the Orgreave campaigners and listened very carefully to what they had to say. They are entitled to the truth, and we are carefully considering the next steps to deliver it for them.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

Q5. Next month marks two years since the death of Cody Fisher, a young man from my Stratford-on-Avon constituency. Cody was a talented footballer with a bright future, whose life was tragically cut short when he was stabbed in a nightclub in Birmingham. His mother, Tracey, has campaigned tirelessly in his memory for legislation to require venues to have bleed kits and metal detectors. In the light of the Government’s commitment to tackling knife crime, will the Prime Minister meet Tracey and me to discuss these vital proposals to better protect young people like Cody from the devastating impact of knife crime?