Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Sam Tarry

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Here in England we have a plan when it comes to education, where we are marching up the league tables, and we have virtually eliminated the longest waiting times, but in Labour-run Wales, as he said, education rates are falling and waiting lists over 18 months are more than 10 times higher than in England. It is crystal clear that we should stick to our plan for a brighter future and not go back to square one with Labour.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Q6. According to openDemocracy this week, since 1999 at least 391 people have died at our borders. That is a rate of more than one man or woman per month for 25 years. On top of that, there is the financial cost. The deadly and failed border regime as well as the Prime Minister’s plan for Rwanda are estimated to have cost at least £800 million since 2014. Will he now show that he understands that the people whose lives he is making sick bets on are human beings, and provide them with safe routes to the UK in order to seek asylum, instead of more failed and extreme forms of deterrence?

Israel and Gaza

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Sam Tarry

Monday 23rd October 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

At this point, there are no people leaving Gaza the other way across the Rafah crossing. That includes the people whom the hon. Gentleman points to, but also British nationals. We continue to press for that, and will continue our diplomatic activity to ensure that those who need to come across can do so. As I said, we have pre-positioned Border Force operatives in Egypt, with the logistical support to ensure that once British nationals do get across the Rafah crossing into Egypt, we are able to collect them and bring them home safely. However, there is still dialogue to be had to make sure that can happen.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has now called for a humanitarian ceasefire, alongside Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach; Humza Yousaf, the Scottish First Minister; the UN Secretary-General; and the EU’s High Representative on Foreign Affairs. Will the Prime Minister urgently consider a humanitarian ceasefire on the basis of not just aid, but giving our diplomatic efforts the chance to free those hostages?

[The Prime Minister]

Those hostages should be freed unconditionally—they should never have been taken in the first place. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to ensure not just their wellbeing but their safe release. That is why our conversations with the Qataris, among others, are so important, and evidence that that diplomacy is paying off has been demonstrated in the past few days. However, there is clearly considerable work to do, given how many more hostages are being held against their will. These people were kidnapped from Israel. They are innocent people. They should not be there, and they should be unconditionally released.

Financial Statement

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Sam Tarry

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

We do value carers. There are fewer people in poverty today than when we first came into office—1.7 million people fewer in absolute poverty than in 2010, after housing costs. Also, today we have topped up the household support fund, in order to provide support to the most vulnerable who need help.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

This week it was revealed that 75% of people in my constituency are struggling to pay for basic groceries. The OBR’s analysis following today’s statement has said that we face the largest fall in disposable incomes since the 1950s. Will the Chancellor visit my constituency, sit down with the people who use the local food bank, many of whom are in work, and see just how little the policies announced today will do to support them, to get them into work, and to allow them to live with dignity in their community?

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. Those in work, particularly on low incomes, will benefit disproportionately from the policies that have been announced today. I have given plenty of examples already, but a single mother with two children who is renting, on universal credit, and working full time, earning the national living wage, will be £1,600 better off as a result of all the policies we have announced on taxes and welfare. We are supporting exactly the people the hon. Gentleman talks about.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Sam Tarry

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I am happy to provide my hon. Friend with that reassurance and I hope that his council engages constructively with him, as so many others have and have seen the benefits of that in last week’s announcements. We will open round 2 in due course and it will most likely launch no later than the spring. I can tell him also that we have no plans to change the current way that we assess the priority categorisations, so High Peak should remain as it was.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

Does the Chancellor agree with the Conservative party donor, Mohamed Amersi, who once claimed that the Tories were operating an access capitalism scheme for their major donors, and described corruption as a “heinous crime”, but who was later seen to have been part of a £162 million bribe to the daughter of Islam Karimov, the awful former president of Uzbekistan? If so, can he look at this and bring forward the response to the Pandora papers, particularly the Registration of Overseas Entities Bill?

Economic Update

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Sam Tarry

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank my hon. Friend for his support. With regard to the exhibition sector, those that have physical properties and business rates will be eligible for the scheme that we announced today and the cash grant. I am happy to have further conversations with him as well.

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

The RSA recently pointed out that 32% of workers in this country live on less than £500 a month in terms of savings, and 41% have less than £1,000 in the bank. That means there could be as many as 20 million people living from one pay cheque to the next. From what I have heard tonight, renters, freelancers, gig economy workers and zero-hours contract workers will not be feeling reassured. Will the Chancellor be able to look them in the eye and tell them honestly that he has truly done enough, or are they going to be collateral damage on the scrapheap, like so many with the Government’s already failing strategy over herd immunity?

[Rishi Sunak]

We already took extensive measures last week to strengthen our safety net for vulnerable people. I firmly believe that the best way to help all people through this is to protect their jobs, and that is why the actions we have taken today to support business cash flows provide the best means of doing exactly that.