Business of the House

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Thursday 6th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

The hon. Lady shouts from a sedentary position, “Name names”. My concern, and that expressed by many Members across the House, has in fact been that Members who have lost their seats, particularly this time around, have in some cases genuinely struggled. The Leader of the House role comes with an ability to feed into the policies for Members’ pay and expenses. The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, but I think he will find that Members from across the House are in fact concerned that Members who lose their seats are not being fairly treated—that is quite the opposite of the point he is raising.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

I am sure that Members from both sides of the House would want to wish a happy 69th to the NHS, which clocked up that milestone yesterday, but local provision seems to be less and less healthy. My area has lost two accident and emergency facilities and if the current transformation plan goes ahead, there will be more beds in an average DFS than in Ealing hospital. May we therefore have an urgent debate, in Government time, on the future of this cherished, Labour-created institution, because, after all, we cannot give it the bumps?

[Andrea Leadsom]

The hon. Lady will know that this Government are totally committed to the NHS and are funding it to a far greater extent than the Labour party’s manifesto pledged. Under this Government, we have seen millions more operations and A&E visits. We have seen enormous strides forward in medical science and technology which enable people to have far better treatments. The Commonwealth Fund says that the NHS is one of the best health services in the world—that is not the UK but the Commonwealth Fund saying that. The Government are absolutely committed to the success of the NHS, and all Members should do more to support the excellent work of our NHS staff, who do so much to support all of us.