Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Western Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right that we need to keep going, but he is also right that we need to find enduring solutions to the challenges faced by the people of Northern Ireland. That is why, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson) mentioned earlier, it is absolutely right that we address the constitutional and legal framework of our arrangements and ensure that we can put in place new arrangements that secure Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Q12. The Prime Minister is no stranger to paying fines. The £2.3 billion he paid last week to the EU after the UK Government allowed Chinese fraudsters to flood Europe with cheap goods is the worst waste of public money. My question is simple: if he can find £2.3 billion to pay a fine, why can he not pay NHS workers and others the pay increases they deserve?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman may not have seen that the Royal College of Nursing is now in talks with the Government about resolving the disputes, and I am grateful to it for entering those talks with a constructive attitude, and for calling off its strikes next week. I urge him and his colleagues to be on the side of working people—that is, to back our laws to introduce minimum safety levels across the NHS and transport, because that is the best way to demonstrate you are on the side of hard-working families.