Oral Answers to Questions
Steve Brine Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
As the hon. Lady knows, there are processes and procedures in place for ensuring professional standards across Government. With regards to training, I am pleased that we are rolling out the lifelong learning entitlement to ensure that people can, at any stage in their career, get access to years of Government-subsidised financing. That will ensure that we have a workforce who are fit for the future, and that everyone can realise the opportunities that are there.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
Owen Carey died just across the river from here, underneath the London Eye, after suffering a severe allergic reaction while out celebrating his 18th birthday. He had simply eaten a chicken burger at a restaurant. Unbeknown to him, and despite his asking, it had been marinated in buttermilk. Owen’s sister, Emma, who is my constituent, was in Parliament last week with her dad and brother for a debate on food labelling and support for those with allergies. They are fighting for Owen’s law, which is, among other things, a campaign to change the food information regulations on allergy labelling in restaurants. It has attracted huge support. Will the Prime Minister meet me and Owen’s family to see how we can ensure that something positive comes of that tragic loss of a young life?
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for raising Owen’s case, and I know that the whole House will join me in expressing our condolences to Emma and all of Owen’s family for what happened. I will absolutely ensure that my hon. Friend gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss appropriate food labelling so that we can ensure that such things do not happen.
Oral Answers to Questions
Steve Brine Excerpts(1 year, 10 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
I have taken responsibility and I have made the right decision in the interest of the country’s economic stability.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
Every single Member of this House will have constituents waiting for treatment in the covid backlog. The Health and Social Care Secretary’s priorities are absolutely right, including her B—tackling the backlog. Can the Prime Minister reassure me that the Government are committed to the series of elective hubs that we have promised, including at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in my Winchester constituency?
The Prime Minister
My right hon. Friend the Health and Social Care Secretary has set out her plans to deliver on dealing with the covid backlog. She will continue to work on that and make sure that we deal with what was a massive pandemic that created a backlog. We will deal with it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Steve Brine Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
I think that was a veiled attempt, again, by the SNP to ask for another referendum, which is its habitual refrain. That is all it seems able to talk about: wrangling about democracy and its desire to be separated and to break up the country. I do not think that is the right way forward. I think we need strong defences. That is what the people of this country voted for and that is what we are going to deliver.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con) [V]
The Prime Minister
Of course, I thank the NHS in Hampshire, and indeed around the country, for the amazing job it is doing in rolling out the vaccination programme—it has been truly stunning. Perhaps the best thing I can say about the Oxford-AstraZeneca programme is that I have finally got news that I am going to have my own jab very shortly; I am pleased to discover that. I do not know whether the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) has had his. [Interruption.] He has had his. It will certainly be the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab that I will be having.
Oral Answers to Questions
Steve Brine Excerpts(8 years, 1 month ago)
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The Prime Minister
On the economic record, 2.5 million more jobs, the deficit cut by two thirds, 2.9 million apprenticeships, a million more businesses, and a growth rate that has been at the top of the developed world are all because of the choices that we made. Because we did that, we have been able to back our NHS with a 10% funding increase, which is more than £10 billion in real terms in this Parliament. As for Europe, we have to settle these issues. It is right that, when trying to settle a really big constitutional issue, you not just rely on Parliament, but ask the people as well. We made a promise and we kept a promise.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
Q12. I am very sorry that this turns out to be my last question to the Prime Minister. I want to thank him for everything he has done for my constituency, where every school is now good or outstanding and the jobless total is down 64% since he took office. As he prepares to leave Downing Street, I encourage him to return to the big society agenda that I know he is so passionate about. Does he remember saying, shortly before becoming Prime Minister, that politicians are a mixture of egotism and altruism, and that“you just hope that the”right one“wins out and that people do the right thing rather than the politically convenient thing”?It seems to me that he has stayed on the right side of that divide in the past six years, not least in the manner of his departure. I think that this country is going to miss him a great deal.
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. When it comes to education, there is a very strong record to build on. We have 1.4 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. We have seen the free school movement really take off, with over 300 free schools open. I visited one yesterday that is outstanding, as a quarter of them are, which is an amazing record when we think how little time they have had to get going. I think that we should build on that record.
As for the big society, yes, we should use a stronger economy to build a bigger and stronger society. One thing we are doing is introducing the National Citizen Service. Some 200,000 young people have taken part in that programme and I hope that, by the end of this Parliament, it will be the norm for 16-year-olds to take part. We talk about the soft skills that are necessary to give people real life chances. Many people do not get those chances, and the National Citizen Service will help them.
Oral Answers to Questions
Steve Brine Excerpts(9 years, 8 months ago)
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The Prime Minister
I will tell the hon. Gentleman how it feels to lead a Government who have created 2 million private sector jobs. I will tell him how it feels to lead a Government who have turned round the British economy, and I will tell him how it feels to have an economy in Britain in which businesses right around the world want to invest. That is the record of this Government: recovering from the complete shambles and mess that the hon. Gentleman left when he was part of the previous Government.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
As he may well remember, the Prime Minister experienced this summer the congestion regularly faced by my constituents at junction 9 of the M3 motorway. May I thank him on behalf of the people I represent for the comprehensive package of improvements announced by the Transport Secretary earlier this week? Does he share my view that my constituents can benefit from this kind of investment only because we have a taken the decisions to get our economy in a place that we can?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I know about the importance of the M3 improvements that he mentions. The fact is that all these things—whether it be improving our road network, investing in our NHS, building new railway stations and electrifying railway lines—can be done only if we have a successful and growing economy, a long-term economic plan and a demonstration that the public finances are under control. With this Chancellor and with this Government, we have all of those things in place. That is why we have been able over the previous days to talk about improving our NHS, investing in our transport infrastructure, building the flood defences that this country needs and putting in place all the infrastructure—whether it be ports, airports or energy—that a modern economy needs in order to sustain a level of growth that can deliver the prosperity and security that the British people deserve.