Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Wednesday 29th April 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

This is a hugely challenging time for nurseries, as it is for schools and other small businesses. The Chancellor has set out the range of support available. It is widespread, covering all sorts of different areas, but of course in relation to nurseries or any other sector that is finding the challenges too much to bear as we go through this crisis, we will make sure we look at them afresh to see what further can be done.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con) [V]]

I would like to begin by echoing the congratulations that have already been given to the Prime Minister and his fiancée on the birth of the baby boy—I hope they are all in good health. There was a double stabbing in my constituency at the weekend. In the light of that, will the First Secretary join me in calling on the police and crime commissioner to reverse his decision to close the local police station? What reassurances can my right hon. Friend give the House that as we emerge from this lockdown we are protecting our communities from the scourge of knife crime?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend for that. It is a tragic but timely warning that some of the persistent social challenges we face on knife crime, or any other kind of crime, will persist and will not just stay at home because of coronavirus, although overall the level of crime has come down. I send my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims in his constituency. May I reassure him that we have committed to recruiting 20,000 more police officers over the next three years? We are making it easier for the police to exercise stop-and-search powers. We are ensuring that more perpetrators go to prison, and for longer. He will know that it is for PCCs to decide how and where to spend their resources, but I pay tribute to him for being a tenacious and doughty champion on crime issues and the policing that needs to take place in his constituency.