Covid-19: UK Border Health Measures

Debate between Priti Patel and Chris Elmore

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. She has just emphasised the need to protect the British public from a second wave, and that is the purpose of all the measures—the public health measures—that the Government have been bringing forward, because at the end of the day, we do not want to lose the gains that we have made in recent weeks. We are past the peak of this virus and that is something that we still need to continue to double down on and make great progress on.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Constituents who are due to be travelling in the next two to three weeks have emailed me asking specifically about using public transport or whether family can collect all of them from Heathrow airport. The Home Secretary does not seem to have answered the question despite being asked, “What will the guidance be?” My constituents need to know now, not in several days’ or weeks’ time.

[Priti Patel]

All guidance will be published in advance of 8 June. Of course, the guidance will come from other Government Departments specific to airports, transport and, obviously, public health measures. The guidance will be made available.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Priti Patel and Chris Elmore

Monday 23rd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend raises an essential question about the safety and security of the public and our communities at this time. It is fair to say that we have seen incredible resilience among the British public. In all constituencies, people are behaving in a generous and community-minded way. That helps and it is what we want to see. At the same time, we are seeing organisations and individuals coming together and working with our local police, our local authorities and our local resilience forums, and we will continue to encourage that.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

At the weekend, I was horrified to receive calls from constituents telling me that some pub landlords were trying to let customers come in through the rear entrances to their pubs, leading to my local authority having to send licensing officers to ask those people to leave the pubs. What punishment will be given to the landlords if they continue to flout the law and break the licensing conditions set out by the Prime Minister?

[Priti Patel]

Fines will be put in place, but licensees also run the risk of losing their licence and their livelihood.

Points-based Immigration System

Debate between Priti Patel and Chris Elmore

Monday 24th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I recall our great visit to Tiptree and the fruit farms there. He is absolutely right to speak about how we can invest in not only people but technology. That is the ambition of this Government as a whole. We will take new approaches and make sure not only that we have the brightest and the best but are a place of great innovation.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I have been approached by someone who has been a carer since 1996. She has specialised in dementia and end-of-life palliative care, and she has comforted people who have lost their loved ones over the course of her 25-year career. She is on a register and can be struck off, just like a doctor, but her pay defines her, by the Home Secretary’s own criteria, as low-skilled. The carer in question is my mother and I am deeply proud of the work she has done over those 25 years. The reality is that the Home Secretary is pinning carers as low-skilled because she will not tackle the issue of low pay in the care sector. She should do the right thing and resolve the pay and conditions of those working in the care sector throughout the country.

[Priti Patel]

On the contrary, I define care as a good quality and it is—

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Elmore]

Low-skilled. You said it.

[Priti Patel]

No, it is not low-skilled.

[Chris Elmore]

You said it.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order.