Outcome of the EU Referendum

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Certainly. I mentioned Wales in my statement, and I have spoken to Carwyn Jones, the First Minister. Indeed, I appeared on a platform with him and the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), but, sadly, that trio, brilliant though it was, was not enough to convince the people of Wales to vote to remain. It is important that we make sure that the Welsh voice is heard loud and clear. Wales has benefited from a lot of inward investment from companies that want to come to invest in Britain because we are in the single market. I would say to all those businesses that it is worth making sure that their voice is heard as we work out the best plan for the future.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

As well as jobs in the ceramics industry, many of my constituents rely on the logistics sector—indeed, all our constituencies need that sector. Given that there has already been a lot of concern about what is happening in Calais to hauliers coming across, what assurance can the Prime Minister give to the haulage industry that the border will remain in Calais, and will not find itself in Folkestone or Dover?

[The Prime Minister]

We support continuing the treaty that was established that has the border in Calais, and we will do everything we can to persuade the French to keep to their side of the bargain and continue as we are.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

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

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to the British embassy staff who were killed and injured in Kabul following the horrific bomb attack last week. Our thoughts are with their families and their friends at this time. We will not allow such inhumanity to deter us from building a stable future for the Afghan people. We have nothing but admiration for the staff of the embassy, British and Afghan, who work together, at great personal risk, to help achieve that.

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.

[Robert Flello]

I would like to associate myself and my constituents with the Prime Minister’s remarks about our brave staff, not just in the embassy in Kabul but, of course, across the world in very dangerous places.

The Prime Minister promised to balance the books by 2015 and to cut the debt. Despite punishing the poorest with cuts, the deficit has barely been touched, and borrowing has been greater in the last four years than it was in the previous 13. Does this country not desperately need a Labour Government?

[The Prime Minister]

We have got the deficit down by a third because we have taken tough and difficult decision after tough and difficult decision, and they have all got one thing in common: each and every decision was opposed by Labour.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 5th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have never been someone who wants to stand against the House having a say on any of these issues, and I have always been early on making sure that Parliament is recalled to discuss important issues. Let me stress, as I did on Monday, that no decision has been taken to arm the rebels, so I do not think that this issue arises. However, as I said, I supported holding the vote on Iraq. In my premiership, on the issue of Libya, I recalled the House as soon as I possibly could and allowed the House to have a vote. As I said, this issue does not arise at present because we have made no decision to arm the rebels.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q3. Yet again we have no answers from the Prime Minister, who blames everyone but himself and denies that there is a crisis in A and E. Let me give him one more chance to try to give an answer. Why does he not admit what everyone in the health service knows—his £3 billion reorganisation has diverted attention and resources from patient care and he has betrayed his promises? May we now have an answer?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 24th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is obviously important that all such issues are properly looked into, but I am sorry to disappoint my hon. Friend. We are frequently in agreement, but on this issue, I believe that, if people in Essex want good value for money, it is important that they back the Conservatives.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q14. The Prime Minister believes that food banks are a good example of the big society. Last year, 7,400 people across Stoke-on-Trent, including 2,600 children, needed food banks just to stop them from starving. From this week, owing to his welfare changes, food banks have been forced to restrict food to families with children and people over the age of 65. Is it not true that the Prime Minister has failed Britain, and that his big society is overwhelmed?

[The Prime Minister]

I am disappointed in what the hon. Gentleman says, because in 2003, the previous Government gave the Trussell Trust, the organisation behind Britain’s food banks, a golden jubilee award for voluntary service. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett), whom I am glad to see in his place, said that the Trussell Trust’s

“outstanding voluntary activity has enhanced and improved the quality of life and opportunity for others in the community.”—[Official Report, 4 June 2003; Vol. 406, c. 10WS.]

Of course, these are difficult times—food bank use went up 10 times under Labour—but I think we should praise people who play a role in our society rather than sneer at them.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Inquiry)

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that guarantee. The whole tenor of this report is that quality patient care must come before anything else, including targets, no matter how important they can sometimes be. I join him in praising those in his own local hospital who have been working hard and delivering accident and emergency services. If anyone wants to understand just how badly the target chasing and obsession got at Stafford hospital, they can see on page 108 in volume I some chilling evidence that staff just felt they could not complain about quality because they were being chased so hard on the targets that everything else was put to one side.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has said that the concerns of patients’ families were ignored, but in fact they and representatives were lied to. One consequence of what happened at Mid Staffordshire is that, despite nobody suggesting that there is a widespread problem throughout the NHS, people have a real fear: whenever there is a case of poor care in one of our hospitals, people immediately jump to conclusions and ask, “Is this a wider problem?” I look forward to hearing the Prime Minister’s comments in a moment, but I hope that this report will go some way to alleviating people’s very real fear that when they see one of their loved ones treated in a way that falls way below or slightly below the standard they were expecting, they can have the confidence to know that it is not Mid Staffs all over again.

[The Prime Minister]

I listened carefully to what the hon. Gentleman said, and I am sure he is right; I do not think we are looking at other problems across our NHS of a Stafford-style scale, where this went on for year after year and potentially hundreds of people lost their lives prematurely. However, we do know that there are problems in parts of our NHS and problems in individual hospitals. One of the things we have to learn from this report is that when that happens we must not say that everything is fine and we must not have a culture of complacency. Instead, let us have a proper way of dealing with the problems. That is the big change that needs to come out of this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 23rd January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. For many years public health budgets were raided in order to deal with issues and problems in the NHS. Because we put in place an increase in the NHS budget—we have also ring-fenced some of the public health budgets—we are able to make sure that we tackle some of the real problems, such as smoking, diabetes and other issues, that will put enormous pressures on our health service in the long run.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q13. The House has heard that the Prime Minister is looking forward to meeting people from national and international banks in the next few days. When will he visit a food bank?

[The Prime Minister]

First of all, let me once again praise what food banks do in our country and let me point out to the hon. Gentleman that the use of food banks increased 10 times under the last Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this case, which is particularly tragic because, as he says, the girl’s parents have both died. Of course we will do everything we can, but above all it is for anyone who knows anything about this case to talk to Kent police, because in the end it is their responsibility to try to solve the case. As for taking action to deal with appalling knife crimes such as this, as my hon. Friend knows, the Government have taken a set of important actions.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q8. Thirty-nine people suspected of serious child sex offences who fled the country have been brought back to Britain quickly under the European arrest warrant to face justice. Sadly, many of the Prime Minister’s Back Benchers want to scrap the European arrest warrant, making it easier for paedophiles to escape justice. Will he today categorically rule that out?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have the opportunity to work out which of the home affairs parts of the European Union we want to opt out of and which ones we want to opt back into. That is rightly being discussed in the Government and in the House, and I am sure they will listen very carefully to his arguments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. After all, the Leader of the Opposition said back in January that unemployment would go up. That was his prediction—he stood at the Dispatch Box and said that. The fact is that unemployment has come down, employment has gone up and we have seen a record fall in youth unemployment in the last quarter. All of those things are welcome, particularly as we are seeing growth in the private sector, because everyone knows that we have to have a rebalancing of our economy whereby we shed some jobs in the public sector but grow the private sector, and that is what is happening.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q5. Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. [Interruption.]People realise, now, that the Prime Minister has a Dickensian vision for the UK: grandeur for the few, workhouse for the many. Why is he limiting welfare benefits for parents caring for adults with disabilities? Could we have an explanation from Ebenezer?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the hon. Gentleman that it is probably a case of merry Christmas and happy speaking opportunities in the new year.

We have not restricted disability benefits; what we have done is put more money into disability benefits. That is what this Government are doing. We have taken difficult decisions to increase tax credits by 1%, to increase public sector pay by 1% and to increase out-of-work benefits by 1%. Those were tough decisions that needed to be taken.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, may I commend my hon. Friend on the good, valuable and dedicated work he has done on this issue of making sure that all these institutions get to the truth? To be fair to the BBC, I believe that the two inquiries it has set up qualify as independent inquiries. The inquiry into the “Newsnight” programme is being carried out by the former head of Sky News, Nick Pollard, and the second—and more important, in many ways—review into the culture and practices of the BBC going back many years is being led by a former Appeal Court judge, Dame Janet Smith. As my hon. Friend says, it is very important that the BBC makes it clear that these inquiries can go where the evidence leads, have access to all the paperwork and be able to be truly independent and get to the truth on behalf of all the victims of Jimmy Savile.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q12. Caught out, the Prime Minister refused to answer a question last week, so will he now tell us why he will not publish the e-mails, texts and other correspondence between himself, Rebekah Brooks, News International and Andy Coulson, so that we can judge for ourselves? What is he frightened of: scandal, embarrassment—or is there something more damning that he is frightened of?

[The Prime Minister]

I hate to disappoint the hon. Gentleman but it was this Government who set up the Leveson inquiry, and have co-operated with it and given it all the information it has asked for.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 14th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. We need reform, as the current system is too slow and bureaucratic, and it does not give local people enough of a say. We are replacing a vast, 1,000-page bureaucratic guide with something that is much shorter. Local development plans will mean that local communities and local people have a far greater say in what is developed and where, and we are not changing the rules on national parks, on the green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Let me just say this to everyone in the House, because I think there should be cross-party support on this issue. Today, the first-time buyer with no support from their family is aged 37. I think that is wrong. We need to build more houses, to help more young people to get on the housing ladder.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Q3. Last week, the Prime Minister told the House:“There are 25,000 police officers in back-office jobs”.—[Official Report, 7 September 2011; Vol. 532, c. 353.]

Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary says that there are fewer than 8,000 police officers and police community support officers in back-office roles. Week after week, the House hears a litany of evasion, inaccurate answers and arrogant put-downs from the Prime Minister. We want a proper answer. Let us give the Prime Minister a chance today: is it the inspectorate or is it the Prime Minister? We won’t get an answer.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is confusing two things: the number of police officers who are not on front-line duties, and the number of police officers who are in back-office roles such as IT or HR. Those are the figures that I gave, and those are the figures that are right. What makes the Opposition complacent is that they are not prepared to consider any reforms to try to get more police on to the front line and on to our streets.

Public Disorder

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend speaks powerfully about this. It will be a wake-up call to the police on the way they work with communities, and will make them even more determined that even low-level disorder and violence must be punished quickly. We must look for good things to come out of this situation, and one good thing should be that the police will connect themselves even more deeply to communities, some of whom do feel let down.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to all the public sector workers we rely on time and time again, and in particular those in Staffordshire. Over many months, I have had letters from serving police officers concerned about the Winsor report and the knock-on effect on morale, and about A19 and losing senior officers. Now they are concerned about the fact that having been called on at our time of need—out on the streets, putting themselves in the firing line—they are having their leave cancelled and having to give up holidays due to overtime requirements. It was an hour and a half before we heard the words “Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary”, and we have heard nothing about Mayor Boris Johnson’s view about policing cuts. Will the Prime Minister finally get to his feet and address the loss of 16,000 jobs?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robert Flello and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 27th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is an absolutely vital point. It was this Government’s changes that took the British economy out of the danger zone, and since the election we have seen interest rates coming down in Britain, whereas in some other countries they have been going up. Why? Because they have not taken the necessary action to get their budget and their deficit under control. What we are now seeing is businesses throughout the world recognising that this is a great country to invest in, because we are sorting out the mess that we inherited.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister will be aware that by 7 July the Education Secretary would have already understood the financial situation and the “state of the books”, as the Prime Minister is so keen to keep stating, so why on 7 July, in this House, did the Education Secretary say:

“One announcement that I was able to make on Monday was that Stoke-on-Trent, as a local authority that has reached financial close, will see all the schools under Building Schools for the Future rebuilt”?—[Official Report, 7 July 2010; Vol. 513, c. 490.]

Is there some confusion between the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary?

[The Prime Minister]

We were left a complete mess in terms of Building Schools for the Future. Here was a programme that took up three years and hundreds of millions of pounds before a single brick was laid. The cost of building those schools was twice what it should have been, so we have scrapped that programme and made available £15 billion for the next four years. That means that school building will be higher under this Government than it was under the Labour Government starting in 1997.