Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

11. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on low-income families in Wales.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

13. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on low-income families in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Justin Tomlinson)]

Universal credit is available in every jobcentre in Wales. Our welfare reforms are incentivising work and supporting working families. In the past 12 months alone, the employment rate in Wales has increased by 3.4 percentage points, the largest increase in any area of the UK.

--- Later in debate ---

[Justin Tomlinson]

It is not right that those of working age should be accessing pensioner benefits, but this Government have delivered the triple-lock pension support, which has given pensioners an extra £1,600 a year.

[Marsha De Cordova]

Will the Minister set out what discussions he is having with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on making it easier for private-rented sector tenants in Wales to have the housing element of universal credit paid directly to their private landlord?

[Justin Tomlinson]

I can confirm that I have regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on this subject, about which she is incredibly passionate. We are making it easier, particularly for those on legacy benefits who already have direct payments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Wednesday 30th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am delighted to hear of the increase in performance at Cotmanhay Junior School. The education of children is improving, regardless of where they live or their background, so that they can get the education that they need to fulfil their potential. I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the pupils and staff of that particular school, and of the other schools she referenced across her Erewash constituency that have seen improvements, which are important for the future of those children.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q14. Yesterday evening, MPs from across the House voted against a no deal. The TUC has warned that no deal would be devastating for jobs and it is an outcome which the CBI has this morning said business will be speeding up preparations for. The people hit hardest by a no deal will be the ordinary people in Battersea and across the country, so will the Prime Minister finally listen to this House, trade unions, businesses and our constituents, and categorically rule out no deal?

[The Prime Minister]

The House rejected no deal last night, but I hope that the hon. Lady, when the time comes, will play her part in avoiding no deal and will vote for a deal.

Leaving the EU

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Scotland’s best economic interests—I suggest the hon. Gentleman looks at the figures—are met by remaining a member of the UK.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Given today’s joint letter to the Prime Minister from Presidents Juncker and Tusk saying that the EU is

“not in a position to agree to anything that changes or is inconsistent with the Withdrawal Agreement”,

is it not the case that the Prime Minister has achieved nothing since pulling the meaningful vote on 10 December? In her own words, “nothing has changed”.

[The Prime Minister]

As I said earlier in response to a number of hon. Members, the concern that was expressed was about ensuring—[Interruption.] I am trying to answer the hon. Lady’s question. The concern people had within the House, overwhelmingly, was one of ensuring that the backstop would be temporary if it ever came into place. That is in the withdrawal agreement already, but the further assurances that we have received further confirm that. As I have said, the December Council conclusions do have legal force.

Exiting the European Union: Meaningful Vote

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

I have had the honour and pleasure of serving Battersea for little more than 18 months, but it is clear to me, as it is to Members across the House, that the behaviour of this Government is unprecedented—unprecedented in their chaotic approach to managing Brexit, unprecedented in their contempt and disregard for Members of this House and the people we represent, unprecedented in their Ministers saying one thing and then going on to do another. At each stage of their handling of Brexit, the Government have attempted to avoid scrutiny and duck responsibility. They have tried to deny us a meaningful vote on the deal, they have tried to withhold legal advice, and they have tried to keep the economic impact assessments out of the public domain, and now the Prime Minister has pulled the meaningful vote just days after promising she would not do that, and just hours after her Government Ministers said she would not do it. It is a shameful record for any Government, but especially for this dysfunctional Government confronted with the magnitude of the political issue of Brexit.

I am angry not just because the Government are undermining parliamentary procedure, but because I know that my constituents are both angry and alarmed at what they see happening. I have received thousands of pieces of correspondence from constituents calling on me to reject the Prime Minister’s deal, and I have written back to each and every one of them saying I will vote against it; what do I tell them now? We are told that the vote will come before 21 January 2019, but that will only heighten fears of a no-deal scenario. My constituents need reassurance, but with this Government and this Prime Minister that is not something I can give.

My constituents need a Government who will not only sort out this Brexit mess but solve the other crises facing our country: the housing crisis, the crisis in social security, the crisis in our NHS.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

In pulling this vote, the Government continue to betray our children, our hospital patients and our much valued NHS workforce. The Prime Minister is running scared, unable to face a debate either in this House or on the television. Does my hon. Friend agree—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry to be unkind to the hon. Lady, but a large number of colleagues want to speak, so interventions should be brief.

[Marsha De Cordova]

My hon. Friend makes a good point.

Yesterday the Prime Minister again said that she wants to tackle social injustices, so may I recommend that she begins by reading and then accepting the conclusions of the UN report on extreme poverty? Eight years of her Government’s austerity policies have devastated our communities and devastated disabled people.

This Government have no answers to the challenges we face on Brexit or anything else. Their only achievement is to unite people in opposition to them. It is downright shameful that they have pulled the meaningful vote. Parliament must be given a meaningful vote on the deal. The Government must provide that guarantee. I know that many Members on the Conservative Benches share that view, so when the Prime Minister returns with no significant changes—as Jean-Claude Juncker said this morning, there is “no room whatsoever” for the Prime Minister to renegotiate her deal, and I understand that Angela Merkel has said almost the same thing—if this House finally gets the right to reject the deal, given the chance I urge Conservative Members to support a no- confidence motion.

Leaving the EU

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The withdrawal agreement is legally binding. The political declaration is not a legal text, because the European Union cannot sign a legal text in relation to trade matters with a country that is a member of the European Union. It can only do that when we are outside the European Union.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

It is increasingly clear that the Prime Minister’s deal does not have the support of the House. It is a bad deal: it is bad for my constituents and it is bad for the country. So I ask the Prime Minister, and she has not answered this question yet, what is her plan B when this deal inevitably falls?

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave earlier.

Progress on EU Negotiations

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Thursday 22nd November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The British people gave us their view on our membership of the EU in June 2016, and we are delivering on it.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

For all the Prime Minister’s bluster, this political declaration underlines that 18 months of shambolic negotiations have produced embarrassingly little. Parliament looks set to be asked to vote and agree to a blind Brexit and to a deal that, despite what she claims, does not protect jobs, rights or the economy. When will she wake up to the reality that any deal she brings to the House cannot command the support of the House and will leave the country poorer?

[The Prime Minister]

This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote while protecting jobs, livelihoods, security and our Union.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Wednesday 4th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The intention behind this increase in the NHS budget is that we will see it directed to frontline and primary services. We need a long-term plan. The NHS is developing that long-term plan itself. The budget will have increased by 2023-24, with an extra £20 billion a year in real terms compared with today, and it is through the 10-year plan, which will be led by doctors, that we will make sure we are delivering world-class care for everyone and that every penny is well spent.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q7. This morning, the head of the National Audit Office took the unprecedented step of writing an open letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, setting out how the right hon. Lady has misled Parliament in three respective statements she has made on universal credit. The ministerial code is very clear that:“It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister”.Has she?

June European Council

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Monday 2nd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The focus in these questions is usually on our future economic partnership, but the security partnership is equally important. As he suggests, that covers not only terrorist activity across borders but the activity of organised crime gangs and others, as well as online activity, as I have just said. We are confident that we will be able to reach a partnership on our security relationships because that is in the operational interests of all the EU27 states as well as of the UK.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Over the past weeks, Airbus, BMW and Siemens have echoed the warning of the trade unions that the Government’s Brexit strategy is putting thousands of jobs at risk. Will the Prime Minister listen to business and to the trade unions, and commit to keeping the UK in a customs union?

[The Prime Minister]

I have said on many occasions that we will be leaving the customs union, but we will of course be putting in place customs arrangements with the European Union that will match the ambition of our trade relationship in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Oliver Dowden)]

This Government are committed to locating economic activity outside London and the south-east. Since 2016, 12 new public bodies have been located outside London, and indeed in the south-west to which my hon. Friend refers. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has set up a regional centre in Bristol, which employs 1,600 people.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

T4. An RNIB report on the general election of 2017 shockingly found that one in four blind and partially sighted people were unable to vote independently and in secret. With just five weeks to go until the upcoming local elections, what steps are the Government taking to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can vote independently and in secret?

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chloe Smith)]

There are already measures in place. For example, there are improvements to the way that the certificate of visual impairment can be shared with local authorities. I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Wednesday 7th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I and, I am sure, everyone in the House will be happy to join my hon. Friend in praising the emergency services for the tireless work that they have been doing to help people during the severe winter weather that we have experienced. She is right to raise concerns about the A379 on the behalf of her constituents, and I am pleased to announce that my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary will shortly confirm that we will provide financial assistance to ensure that repairs to the road are undertaken as quickly as possible.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q13. Battersea power station is a £9 billion development pushed through by Tory Wandsworth Council with only 9% so-called affordable homes. Eighty-five per cent. of homes in the development have been snapped up by foreign investors, which is an insult to the thousands of people on the Wandsworth housing waiting list. Is the Prime Minister embarrassed that a Tory council is siding with developers’ profits over the residents of Wandsworth?

[The Prime Minister]

This is a site that was derelict for 40 years. [Interruption.]