Oral Answers to Questions

Scott Benton Excerpts

Wednesday 10th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The last time that we put this to a vote, the right hon. and learned Gentleman voted against it, as I said before. We are increasing pay for nurses. We are massively increasing our investment in the NHS. We are steering a steady course, whereas he weaves and wobbles from one week to the next. One week he is attacking us and saying that we should be doing more testing, and the next week he is denouncing us for spending money on testing. One week he calls for a faster roll-out of PPE, and the next week he is saying that we spent too much. He has to make up his mind. One week, he calls for a faster vaccination roll-out when he actually voted—although he claims to have forgotten it—to stay in the European Medicines Agency. Perhaps he would like to confirm that he voted to stay in the European Medicines Agency, which would have made that vaccine roll-out impossible. We vaccinate and get on with delivering for the people of this country. We vaccinate, he vacillates, and that is the difference.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

The incredible success of our vaccination programme, for which the Prime Minister and this Government deserve immense credit, now means that tourism businesses in Blackpool can look forward to a successful summer season when the economy reopens. When the time is right, will the Prime Minister support a campaign encouraging people to holiday here in the UK this summer, and will he join me in Blackpool to launch that campaign and to showcase everything that we have to offer?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look very carefully at my diary to see whether I can actually get up to Blackpool. I have many happy memories of joyful evenings spectating at the illuminations of Blackpool. I know that Blackpool will play an important part in the tourism recovery that we hope to see this summer if we continue on our road map.