Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 1st May 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking people up and down the country, including his constituents, for their fantastic work in supporting the Ukrainian community in the face of Putin’s illegal invasion. We remain steadfast in support of Ukraine.

In total, since the war began, we have pledged over £12 billion of aid to Ukraine. Last week, we announced an additional half a billion pounds of funding, which will be used to deliver much-needed ammunition, air defence and engineering support and drones. More importantly—President Zelensky welcomed this—we are now able to say, because of the historic increase in our defence spending, that we will continue with this level of support for as long as it takes. It is crystal clear that, on the Government Benches, we can say that our support for Ukraine will never waver.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

Q10. In 1969, my constituent Georgina Jacobs gave birth to a baby boy whom she named Robert. Sadly, Robert was born asleep. In those days, the hospitals would ask the father to collect the baby’s body, take it to the cemetery and leave it there for burial. For 53 years, Georgina did not know exactly where Robert was buried. When she eventually found him, she shared her story on social media, and other mothers who had been through the same experience got in touch. Since then, she has located over 60 babies on behalf of grieving parents and has deservedly been presented with the Wirral award for her achievements. Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating Georgina on her award and on having brought comfort to so many parents and families? Will he, on behalf of all previous Governments, apologise for that former practice, which left grieving parents with nowhere to visit their buried children?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank and commend the hon. Lady for raising that case, and I pay tribute to Georgina for what she is doing. I often say that one of the most incredible things about doing this job is meeting people like Georgina, who have suffered tragedy in their lives but used that to campaign, inspire and bring about a better life for everyone else. She is a prime example of that, and she deserves nothing but our praise and admiration. I am so pleased that she has brought comfort to so many other people, too.