Oral Answers to Questions

Mel Stride Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

For the simple reason that as we get the rate of infection down, with the efforts that we are making as a country, it is vital that we avoid reinfection from elsewhere. That is why we are doing it.

[Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con)]

Q6. When my right hon. Friend attended the Liaison Committee last week, he very kindly committed to me to speak to the Chancellor about the possibility of including self-employment income received by way of dividend in the calculation of furlough support. I wonder whether my right hon. Friend has had the opportunity to have that conversation and whether he has some good news for the House, because there are hundreds and thousands of self-employed people up and down this country who need that support.

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who raises a very important point. I have an answer of fantastic complexity here before me, but the gist of it is that at present HMRC would be forced to rely on all sorts of information that it would not be able to verify very easily in order to comply with his wishes. I am happy to discuss it more fully with him and to write to him in detail.