Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I certainly agree with that. It was a point that I raised recently with the Labour Mayor of London. We agreed on many things—he was very much out of line with the current Labour policy on lockdown, for instance—but I certainly thought that he was wrong about stop and search. We need to make sure that stop and search is part of the armoury of police options when it comes to stopping knife crime. If it is done sensitively and in accordance with the law, I believe it can be extremely valuable.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Q12. Prime Minister, we can save the UK taxpayer £200 million and level up south London’s health service. St Helier Hospital is set to lose its A&E, maternity, intensive care, children’s service, renal unit and 62% of beds to healthy, wealthy Belmont, at a staggering cost of £600 million. But there is an alternative: rebuild St Helier, where health is poorest, and save £200 million. Now, it is not my job to help the Prime Minister sort out his budget, but would not this be a good place to start?

[The Prime Minister]

We are investing in 48 new hospitals and rebuilds. What is the hon. Lady’s job, frankly, is to vote for £36 billion of investment in the NHS, which will allow us to take our health services forward. Why would she not do that?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, because she gave me advance notice of this question. This is really a case for a project speed, and I hope that Highways England, which is currently undertaking a safety study of the A38 between Bodmin and Saltash, will be able to accelerate its work and get on with the Menheniot junction as fast as possible.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Before lockdown, children on free school meals finished education on average 18 months behind their classmates and the gap was getting worse. Schools closed and a quarter of these children did less than one hour’s schoolwork a day. Lockdown was temporary, but the impact could be lifelong. To help these children catch up, and in the spirit of togetherness invoked by the Prime Minister earlier, will his Government give time for my Bill to close the digital divide and give children on free school meals access to the internet in their homes?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady, because she is raising a very important point. Getting kids back into school has been the most important objective that we have had over the last few months, and I am glad that it has got under way, but she is right in what she says about the digital divide. That is why we are investing massively in online education, giving 2,200,000 laptops and tablets, and putting routers in schools across the country. That is what we are going to do, and I want to see a world in which every school in our country has full gigabit broadband, with the equipment that will give pupils the access to the internet that they need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 9th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Every suicide is an absolute tragedy, and my hon. Friend is right to focus on that issue in the way that he does. I am proud that the Government are rolling out record investments in suicide prevention. I also pay tribute to the charitable sector—to Mind, ENGAGE and Davy Orr—for the fantastic work it does to make a difference at that crucial moment and to prevent suicide.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

They herd them on to trains, they shave their heads, they abort their babies. A genocide of the Uyghur people by the Chinese Government is taking place before our eyes. It is easy to criticise the next world superpower, but harder to take action. What action will the Prime Minister take to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang? When will he lead the organisation of an international tribunal, because this time no country can say that it did not know?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is entirely right to draw attention to the plight of the Uyghurs, as both I and the Foreign Secretary have done. We raise these concerns directly with the Chinese authorities and will continue to do so in the G20, the UN and every other context.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

At year 6, children on free school meals are nine months behind their better-off classmates. By GCSE year, that has extended to 18 months. Some 700,000 children have had no access to the internet for schoolwork during the lockdown. If the Prime Minister is sincere about wanting to level up and make this country good for everyone, will he give Government time to pass a cross-party Bill giving internet access and devices to all children on free school meals?

[The Prime Minister]

I passionately support the objective of making sure that there is IT fairness and that all kids have access to the technology that they need. We have rolled out huge numbers of laptops across the country to pupils on free school meals. But the most important thing that I think should happen now is that all pupils in year 6 should now be back in school, and it is still very disappointing that we have not had an unequivocal declaration of support for the safety of schools from the Labour party.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 18th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I wholly endorse what my hon. Friend has said. We will do whatever it takes, and we will beat it together.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Apart from rent arrears, eviction from a private tenancy—a section 21 no-fault eviction—is the biggest reason for homelessness. On Friday, I met a 77-year-old woman who had lived in her home for 15 years, and a couple caring for a sister with Down’s syndrome. Both households were due for eviction today. Will the Prime Minister ask the courts to stop section 21 evictions to take the pressure off hard-pressed councils and these really worried families?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member is absolutely right to raise this matter, and that is why I said what I did to the Leader of the Opposition. We will indeed be bringing forward legislation to address this point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Siobhain McDonagh and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is to rectify matters such as the one to which my hon. Friend draws the House’s attention that this Government are finally bringing in a law to prevent the vexatious prosecution of our hard-working, hard-serving veterans when no new evidence has been produced.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Q10. Yesterday’s press showed the widening health inequalities between the richest and poorest. The money promised to Epsom and St Helier trust could have addressed that issue in my area, but instead the NHS is removing services from the poorest areas and sending them to leafy Belmont, which has the longest life expectancy. St Helier Hospital will become a glorified walk-in centre—no A&E, no maternity unit, no children’s services and 62% of beds gone. Will the Prime Minister reassure me that he will look at this to show that much does not have to always get more?

[The Prime Minister]

In addition to the 40 new hospitals that we are building—[Interruption.] Yes. As part of the £33.9 billion initial investment that we are making—the record investment that we are making in the NHS—I can tell the hon. Lady that Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust will receive £500 million to redevelop its estate and world-class facilities on that site.