Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have already set up a taskforce to put that vigour in place, as well as introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, abolishing no-fault evictions, reviewing the decent homes standard, adopting Awaab’s law and having a plan to make work pay. Before the right hon. Gentleman lectures everyone else, he should explain why, since the SNP came to power, there are 30,000 more children in poverty in Scotland.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Q8. I am pleased to see the Government’s swift action in officially calling for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, a rapid increase of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the restoration of funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, as well as their commitment to comply with potential International Criminal Court arrest warrants and to recognise a Palestinian state, but too many innocent people are still dying every day. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, so what further pressure can the Prime Minister apply to bring about an urgent ceasefire?

[The Prime Minister]

Both the Foreign Secretary and I have set out the urgent need for a ceasefire to Prime Minister Netanyahu. We want a pathway to a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable, sovereign Palestinian state. I used my first overseas trip as Prime Minister, particularly at NATO, to raise this subject with world leaders. Under a Labour Government, it will be discussed, negotiated on and fought for at the highest levels on the world stage. The alternative is protesting on street corners. Ultimately, only one of those will deliver change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab) [V]]

Public Health England and the joint biosecurity centre are undergoing a deep dive in Bedford to understand why the infection rate in my constituency is so high. The pillar 2 commercial mass-testing cases are still not being included in the individual totals for England. How does the Prime Minister know that the people of Bedford and Kempston are safe to embrace his new lockdown-easing measures when he does not know how many people are infected with coronavirus?

[The Prime Minister]

As I think the Leader of the Opposition himself confirmed just now, we do have a pretty good estimate of what is happening in the country. Overall, we think the numbers have moved down from, say, one in 400 four weeks ago to maybe one in 1,700 today. The incidence continues to decline across the country. Where there are particular outbreaks and particular hotspots, such as in Bedford or elsewhere, we now have the resources of our test and trace operation and the joint biosecurity centre, which are getting better and better the whole time, to implement those local crackdowns and cluster-busting operations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a distinguished lawyer and she is right to stick up for the immense value of our legal system. We must protect judicial review. It is a vital part of our system, but we should also ensure that it is not abused to conduct politics by other means or to create needless delay.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Q8. For many years, Bedford has been promised a new in-patient mental health facility, especially since provision at Weller Wing was closed in 2017, yet patients are still travelling 20 miles to access services. Will the Prime Minister explain how that demonstrates the parity of esteem for mental health care that his party promised in 2012?

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 21st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has raised an issue that I know she cares about very deeply. I am certainly happy to join her in congratulating Santander on the support that it has provided to Jacci Woodcock. Obviously, my hon. Friend has raised a wider issue. It is important for employers to be aware of and to fulfil their legal obligations to their employees, including terminally ill employees, and I am sure that others will look at the excellent example that Santander has set.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Q11. The Sunday Times said this week that Bedford’s relatively affordable housing and easy access to London have made it one of the best places to live in the UK, but Bedford constituents are concerned about the school funding cuts, court services cuts, the impending closure of our only walk-in centre, the big increase in homelessness and the loss of fast peak-time rail services to London. My question to the Prime Minister is, why are her Government ruining the prospects of our great town?

[The Prime Minister]

The prospects of the hon. Gentleman’s great town are being improved. They are being improved by the fact that we see thousands more children in good or outstanding schools in Bedford local authority than when we came to power. They are being improved by the fact that extra funding is going into the health service in Bedford. They are also being improved by the fact that this Government are ensuring we have a strong economy, providing jobs for people in his constituency.