Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 6th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend very much. Freedom of religion or belief is integral to people’s identity, their sense of themselves and their personal security. I thank her for her work as my envoy on this subject, and for the wonderful conference she has organised. It was great to talk to her about it yesterday.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

11. Will the Prime Minister join me in expressing my deepest condolences to those injured and affected by the explosion in a block of flats on Redwood Grove in Bedford on Monday that has sadly led to the death of one resident, with others yet to be accounted for? This is a timely reminder of the dangerous work undertaken by the fire service. Will he join me in praising the emergency service workers who were at the scene, and will he reconsider his 2% pay offer when firefighters have endured a 12% real-terms pay cut over the last decade?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman very much, and I share very much his support for the firefighters of our country. They do an incredible job, and overall it is a testament to their work that deaths from fire over a long period have, on average, been decreasing, thanks to the work that they put in. We will look at the public sector pay review body offer and do our best to fund as much as we can, but everybody knows the inflationary pressures that this country is now under. We do not want to have pay increases that are simply swallowed by price increases.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a very important point. As he knows, on 10 May we set out our plan for cautiously getting our economy open again, and we will be saying more later this week about the next steps and the timetable we hope to follow.

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

A care home owner in my constituency was told that if it refused to accept the return from hospital of a covid-positive patient, they would be discharged to an unfamiliar home. The procedure that the owner was obliged to follow was this Government’s, so rather than point the finger at care workers for his failures, will the Prime Minister do the right thing, apologise and pay tribute to the professionalism of the care home owners, managers and staff in Bedford, who went above and beyond this Government’s guidelines in order to save lives?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman and renew the points I made earlier and the tributes I pay to care home workers. The particular case he raises is important and troubling, so if he would be kind enough to write to me with details, setting out exactly what happened, I would be very happy to reply.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 6th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As my hon. Friend will know, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union was recently back in Brussels for a further round of negotiations. Those negotiations have been productive and constructive, but of course we want to see the discussions moving on to the future relationship. What the Government have done over the summer, and will be continuing to do, is to publish a set of position papers that set out options and ideas for how that deep and special partnership can be taken forward. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that this is not just a question of what suits the United Kingdom; it is actually in the interests of the European Union to have that good, deep and special partnership.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

What action is the Prime Minister taking to ensure that my constituents, many of whom are paying in excess of £5,000 to travel to London every year, get a better service, not the one that the new plans under her Government will introduce? Under those plans the people of Bedford will lose the inter-city rail services.

[The Prime Minister]

If the hon. Gentleman looks at the record of this Government, he will see that we recognise the importance of rail services—

[Mohammad Yasin]

No, you don’t.

[The Prime Minister]

He says that we don’t, but I suggest he just look at the funding we are putting into improving rail services across this country. That is a sign of our recognition of the importance of those services.