Sue Gray Report

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will continue to work productively with the Government in Scotland, as we did throughout the pandemic, not least in delivering the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe, the furlough programme and everything else that we did together, which shows that we are stronger together.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

In response to the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern), the Prime Minister said that he had not had time to apologise to the cleaning and security staff. Is he telling this House that Sue Gray and no official apprised him of one of the eight conclusions of this report prior to his coming to the House today—or are those staff just not his priority?

[The Prime Minister]

No, since I saw the report this morning I have not had time to identify the custodians or cleaners in question, but as I told her hon. Friend, as soon as I can, I will apologise to them in person.

Living with Covid-19

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that we will retain that capacity.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

In order to have good surveillance, the Prime Minister will need data; in order to get that data, he will need testing, particularly for looking at future variants of the virus. Can he explain where he will get that data to trace the future mutations of covid?

[The Prime Minister]

That is exactly what the ONS survey does.

Sue Gray Report

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Today should have been about contrition and remorse, but it seems that the Prime Minister does not understand the meaning of “sorry”; instead, it has insulted the people who have suffered and sacrificed for the last two years. One question many people want to know is: who is paying for these investigations—the police and Sue Gray’s report—and who is paying for his legal advice? Is it the taxpayer?

[The Prime Minister]

I must say I think the hon. Member is wrong in what she says. As for who is covering the police costs, the police are covering the police costs.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is why we gave another £300 million of funding this December.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Now is not the time for complacency—1,000 people have died over the past week; 438 just yesterday. I am also concerned at complacency about putting everything into the vaccine. I really do encourage everyone to get vaccinated, but according to the Government’s own figures, the depletion rate of the efficacy of the booster vaccine is between 40% and 50% after 10 weeks. So what happens then? What are the next steps, and is it really worth sacking NHS staff for that?

[The Prime Minister]

I totally support what the hon. Lady says about combating apathy. I do think that apathy is our foe now, particularly among people who think that the variant is so mild that they do not need to get vaccinated. As the hon. Member for Ealing North (James Murray) was saying, people need to get their first dose and their second dose, and they need to get their booster.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is not right, because there are many reasons why NHS staff are sadly absent, but an inability to get testing kits is not one of them. They have access to the NHS supply, and to community supplies as well.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Letting covid rip through our communities has come at a serious cost, placing new burdens on business and putting more risk in our health and care system, along with unnecessary risks to lives. In York, infection rates are on a par with London, and are still rising sharply. Can the Prime Minister explain not only why tests have been rationed but why there is a doubling of the contact tracing time released to our local authorities, delaying the vital opportunity to lock down the virus quickly?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that the hon. Lady is pro-lockdown, but I do not think that that is the right way forward. We are taking a balanced and proportionate approach, and that is what this country is going to do.

COP26

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his plug for the Huddersfield-Penistone-Sheffield line. As he knows, I am a passionate enthusiast for new rail schemes, and he will be hearing a lot more in the integrated rail plan later this week.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister was sent to Glasgow to keep 1.5 alive, and left it in intensive care. A year ago he committed himself to the BioYorkshire project, Yorkshire’s green new deal, but in a year not a penny or a green new deal job has been delivered. Will he turn his words into action and support the green new deal?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not think that any Government in history have done more to support green technology and green jobs across the whole country. As I just said to the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Deidre Brock), we are creating 440,000 new jobs as a result of the investments we are making. We are transforming the UK, including Yorkshire, with a green industrial revolution, and that is how we are going to continue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 20th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 20 October.

[The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)]

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, in addition to my duties in this House. I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Rachael Maskell]

David Amess and James Brokenshire were both tragically taken from us. Both served this place with integrity and served their constituents well. As we offer our heartfelt love and prayers to their families, their families have offered us a new path to a new politics, built on kindness and love.

Sarah Everard and Claudia Lawrence were both from York. Right now, women are feeling unsafe—many women are unsafe—and the very people who should be protecting us are telling us to engage with potential perpetrators to identify them, to flag down a bus or to know the laws of arrest better. That has taken a toll on confidence in the police. As women, we are confident and determined to change that, so that every girl and every woman can live at home without fear, can go to school or work without harassment, can go online without objectification and can walk our streets safely again. What steps will the Prime Minister take to ensure that women with lived experience can lead on this work, and by when?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much for her question. She raises a most important issue—one of the most important issues that this country faces. I want all people in this country, particularly women, to feel confident in our police force, and I believe that they can and should. What we are doing now, to ensure that women in particular feel safe at night, is investing in safer streets, better street lighting and more CCTV, but as I think the whole House understands, what we must also do is deal with the systemic problems in the criminal justice system. We must ensure that men—I am afraid it is almost always men—get prosecuted for rape and for crimes of serious sexual and domestic violence in the way that they should, that we secure the convictions that we should, and that when we secure those convictions, those individuals get the tough sentencing they deserve. That is what this side of the House believes in.

AUKUS

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Thursday 16th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, that is exactly right, and I thank my hon. Friend. The UK leads the world in some of these technologies. The factories, plants, ports and docks that make this stuff are distributed across the United Kingdom. There are opportunities for high-wage, high-skilled jobs that will last a generation and more.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The human rights atrocities against the Uyghur people in China have yet to abate. They continue with such brutality. While co-operation is welcome, how will this new strategy make protecting human rights more possible since escalation of operations can have a chilling impact on diplomacy?

[The Prime Minister]

I think it is very important that we continue to engage with our Chinese partners, but to engage very firmly on the points that we care about, whether it is human rights in Hong Kong, democracy in Hong Kong or the treatment of the Uyghurs. The UK, as the hon. Lady knows, has imposed sanctions on those who exploit forced labour in Xinjiang and taken many other steps besides.

Health and Social Care

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is spot on, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will set out later how we will ensure local councils get the support that they need.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister failed to say a word about the broken private care market that fleeces the frail and suppresses the wages of the workers. Why has he failed to lay out plans to end this broken market and introduce a public national care system?

[The Prime Minister]

I know that the Labour party wants to nationalise everything, which would be typically insane since the vast majority of care is provided by the private sector. What we are doing is lifting people’s wages with the national living wage, investing in training and putting half a billion pounds into progression of the caring workforce, and we will also make sure that local councils get the funding they need to support a fair cost of care.

Afghanistan

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, there are many difficult cases, but I thank my right hon. Friend for drawing attention to those particular individuals who are at risk. I will ensure that the relevant Foreign Office Minister is in touch with him about the specific cases that he raises.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

We know that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the region is growing by the hour. A famine is expected and of course it will be difficult to get aid through. So what specific steps has the Prime Minister taken already to ensure that the famine is averted, but also that the region receives the international development aid that it requires to avert a further crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

Immediately that the crisis broke, I spoke to UN Secretary-General António Guterres about what the UN should be doing and what the UK was going to do to support. As the hon. Member knows, the UN continues to be in-country in Afghanistan and we have doubled our humanitarian support. We will be working with friends and partners at the UN General Assembly and beyond to ensure that we tackle the humanitarian crisis as well.

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend, and I know how much he cares about this; I remember campaigning with him on this myself. We have supported at least 15.6 million children in the last five years or so to get an education—8.1 million of them were girls. We are going to be spending, as I said, more than £400 million getting girls an education over the next five years.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Every day, we are hearing of more and more horrific experiences of violence against women and the wider Uyghur Muslim community, including the disappearance of children in the Xinjiang region of China. The scale of these atrocities has not been met by the Prime Minister’s report of the G7 and, therefore, what discussions did he have about extending economic and trade sanctions, about using his powers under the Magnitsky measures, and about calling for a special meeting at the UN to find a mechanism to hold those responsible for these crimes to account?

[The Prime Minister]

We did discuss many times over the last few days what has happened in Xinjiang, the suffering of the Uyghurs and particularly the crimes against women that the hon. Lady describes. The difficulty with the UN Security Council approach, as she will understand, is that China is a member.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 26th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

I have asked the Prime Minister a series of questions about charities. In November, he promised support. By March he had turned his back, but this month, he broke that promise, giving them nothing this winter. His words and deeds are as unfaithful as his principles and beliefs. He has neither the commitment to honour his word, the capacity to care, nor the compassion to act. Does the Prime Minister really believe that charity is all about supporting him and his lifestyle or recognise that charities now £10 billion in debt and struggling to survive need Government support to help people in real need?

[The Prime Minister]

I think charities perform an amazing and invaluable role in our society and in our lives, and we need them. That is why we have supported charity shops throughout the lockdown with restart grants—the road map means that those shops are now able to open again—but, in addition, we had a £750 million targeted package of support for charities, helping more than 14,000 organisations across the country, including funding for hospices, homelessness charities, shelters for victims of domestic abuse and many others.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can give my hon. Friend, who is a doctor, every possible assurance. This is a struggle that many of us face. I am afraid that we are one of the fattest countries in Europe, if not the fattest, and that has medical consequences. It is extremely costly, both medically and financially.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

In November, in response to my question on funding for charities throughout covid-19, the Prime Minister said in this Chamber:

“We will be doing much more over the winter to support the voluntary sector”.—[Official Report, 2 November 2020; Vol. 683, c. 41.]

He has delivered nothing—absolutely nothing—over the winter. Now, £10 billion in debt and with tens of thousands of jobs gone, charities are scaling back and closing, and our communities are suffering, so will he tell the House why he made that empty promise and what he will not just say but do to support our charities now, at this critical time?

[The Prime Minister]

We have had huge support for businesses of all kinds—premises, cuts in business rates, cuts in VAT and furloughing. The single best thing that we can do for charities is getting non-essential retail opened again, as we did, and allowing our economy to come back. The British people give huge amounts to charity. We are one of the most generous countries in the world. I have no doubt that that instinct has been there throughout this pandemic and will continue.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 27th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

The evidence shows that the Government’s approach to easing the lockdown before Christmas meant that crowds of people came to York despite my warnings, spreading infection in the retail, hospitality and transport sectors because they could travel to a lower tier and were off guard in my community. The result has been devastating. It was completely unsafe and completely avoidable. Will the Prime Minister commit not to return to a tiered system where people can freely move the infection from one place to another? What steps will he take to avoid this catastrophe from happening again? Can I meet one of his Ministers to discuss York’s tragic experience over Christmas?

[The Prime Minister]

As soon as we were informed of the extra transmissibility—50% to 70% faster—of the new variant, we took all the action we could. I would just remind the hon. Lady that the best thing we can do for the people of York now is to ensure we keep the virus under control with the tough measures we have and ensure we all come forward for the vaccine. I urge her to get her constituents to come forward and take that vaccine. They are going great guns in Yorkshire. My memory is that in Yorkshire I think they have taken more vaccine than virtually anywhere else in the country. I congratulate the people of Yorkshire on what they are doing. We are now coming into the last furlong of the JCVI one to four and it would be great to get 100% of the people of Yorkshire in the course of the next few days.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Absolutely. I thank my hon. Friend for the campaigns that he is running to support veterans. We support schemes such as that run by Gerry Hill and his team at Hire a Hero, and we are encouraging businesses to hire veterans with a new national insurance tax break for businesses that do so and, of course, making it easier for veterans to join the civil service.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

BioYorkshire will place York at the heart of the global bioscience economy. It will cut carbon by 2,800 kilotons, create 4,000 green-collar jobs, upskill 25,000 workers and return £5 billion to the Treasury. The Government are supportive but are delaying investment until at least the devolution deal. Unemployment in York is soaring. We need this investment now. Will the Prime Minister start the recovery by investing in BioYorkshire?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, the Government are committed to the 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, which will generate 250,000 jobs across the country just in the immediate term. I hope very much that BioYorkshire will be among the beneficiaries, and I cannot see any reason why it should not be.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The rationale is very simple: it is to reduce the overall spread of the virus and get the R down below 1. That is the rationale.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Charities have never been more needed. As fundraising opportunities have dried up and retail stores are closing down, charities are predicted to have a £10 billion deficit, and yet they are providing more and more services. What additional resources will the Prime Minister provide to ensure that they can deliver vital services at this time?

[The Prime Minister]

I mentioned the support that we have been giving to mental health charities across the country. We will be doing much more over the winter to support the voluntary sector, which, as the hon. Lady rightly says, does a fantastic job of helping in this crisis.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 16th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I thank my hon. Friend for sticking up in the way that he does for Cornwall Airport Newquay—a vital airport, which I have happily used many times. We will continue to consider applications for public service obligations on routes into Newquay and elsewhere. We will certainly look at air passenger duty, although it would be wrong of me to make any fiscal commitment at this stage.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister holds the power to save jobs or sacrifice the livelihoods of my constituents. Currently, 17,700 people living in my constituency of York Central are furloughed; their future rests in his hands. Next month, 22% of my constituents could lose their jobs and futures unless furlough is extended. Reformed, yes; more flexible, a must; targeted, absolutely. Extend and review is the only way forward. My question is: will the Prime Minister do that?

[The Prime Minister]

I hope the hon. Lady is not saying that she simply wants to extend the furlough scheme, because I do not believe that that is the right way—the hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) is shaking her head. I do not think that is sensible. We need to get people off furlough and into work, and that is what the Government are doing. That is why we have the £2 billion kickstart fund, in particular to help young people into work, and why we have the job retention bonus to encourage employers to take people back on and continue to employ people. To answer the point of the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) directly, we will continue to apply, as I said just now, the maximum creativity—as we have—in putting our arms round the workforce of the UK.

Global Britain

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and at the heart of the mission of the new Department will be 12 years of quality education for every girl in the world, which I think is probably the single best thing you could do for the future of our planet.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

We are in the midst of a pandemic crisis, a trade agreement crisis and an economic crisis. While the Prime Minister is struggling to respond to each of these, why has he decided that now is the time to distract his attention with this internal reorganisation to water down aid, as opposed to addressing the crises sitting on his desk?

[The Prime Minister]

We are getting on with the business of governing this country, improving our international performance and making sure that the UK is able to speak with a single, powerful voice overseas. That is vital now in this crisis, and it is going to be vital as the crisis comes to an end.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 3 June.

[The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)]

Tomorrow, I will open the global vaccine summit; the UK-hosted, virtual event will bring together more than 50 countries, as well as leaders of private sector organisations and civil society, to raise at least $7.4 billion for Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. Tomorrow’s global vaccine summit should be the moment when the world comes together to unite humanity in the fight against disease.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Rachael Maskell]

As the Prime Minister obfuscates over his adviser, the real scandal of the coronavirus pandemic has been exposed in the Public Health England report published yesterday on inequality and poverty. If you are black or Asian, if you are poor, if you have a low-skilled job, the mortality risk is up to double that of the rest of the population, with the poorest having the greatest exposure, risk and fate. Now the Government are seriously increasing that exposure and risk with their easement announcements. Why will the Prime Minister not publish a full health and economic risk assessment for scrutiny, to protect us all from this deadly virus?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. This Government commissioned the review from PHE and we take its findings very seriously, because there obviously are inequalities in the way the virus impacts on different people and different communities in our country. The Minister for Equalities, my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Kemi Badenoch) will be looking at what next practical steps we need to do to protect all our country from coronavirus.