UK Steel Industry
Debate between Sajid Javid and Steve Rotheram
Sajid Javid
I commend my hon. Friend for how he has approached this issue, which is hugely important to him and his constituents. I hope the Business Minister’s visit last week helped to build confidence and to show that the Government are looking at a variety of ways to help. My hon. Friend mentions business rates, which are an important part of costs, and we have looked at them before. All I can say at this point is that we will continue to keep all taxes under review, particularly in the steel sector, to see what other ways we can help.
Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
The Secretary of State has spoken about looking at all options in regard to saving jobs, so will he assure the House and steelworkers that if he does develop a co-investment package to save jobs, he will include the unions at every stage of its development?
Sajid Javid
Yes, I can assure the hon. Gentleman of that. Again, let me say that the approach of the unions has been very constructive and positive, and it is absolutely key. I highlighted earlier the involvement of the Community union—probably the union I have had most to do with on this issue—with Tata strip. The people who run the union, and its members, understand that there is a role for everyone, and we will of course share information with them.
Contaminated Blood and Blood Products
Debate between Sajid Javid and Steve Rotheram(14 years, 1 month ago)
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Steve Rotheram
I am being encouraged to make a party political point, but as my mum used to say, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” and, believe me, if I were sitting on the Government Benches now I would be saying exactly the same thing. On this issue, it does not matter what political party we are in.
The NHS failed almost 5,000 people. Through using contaminated blood and blood products, it made ill people more ill, sometimes fatally so. It made perfectly healthy individuals—accident victims requiring blood transfusions, for example—unwell for life. Indeed, as many have said this fiasco was, in Lord Winston’s words,
“the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS”.
The state should have gone out of its way decades ago to compensate victims financially and in kind, not only to accept responsibility, but proactively to alleviate the adverse impact of its mistakes. Instead, successive Governments have prevaricated; they have been reluctant to acknowledge fault and loth to carry the can financially.
Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)
Constituents of mine, such as a gentleman, whom I will not name, who contracted both HIV and hepatitis C at the age of five, have made it clear that they do not want Members to consider the issue on a party political basis, and I welcome the fact that the hon. Gentleman is reflecting that wish in his tone. It is incumbent on every Member to put party politics aside and to do all we can to ensure that this matter is treated as a top priority, while also taking into account the constraints on the state.