Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his creativity in introducing that point, which I am sure will have been heard by the relevant Secretary of State. He raises an important point about the opportunity and need to talk up the UK economy and to talk up the opportunities to increase business and trade links across the UK internal market once we leave the EU.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

7. If he will bring forward legislative proposals to maintain welfare mitigation payments in Northern Ireland after March 2020.

[Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Ind)]

8. If he will bring forward legislative proposals to maintain welfare mitigation payments in Northern Ireland after March 2020.

[Steve McCabe]

I am—[Interruption.] I am sure that the people of Selly Oak would like the welcome that the Prime Minister just received.

In view of the importance of this issue, will the Minister consider amending the Bill, because it is clear that if the people of Northern Ireland face this welfare cliff edge, there will be major problems from March next year?

[Mr Hurd]

This is an incredibly serious issue. Thousands of people in Northern Ireland benefit from these mitigations, and there is a sunset provision for the end of March 2020. The hon. Gentleman will know that alternative mechanisms are available to the devolved Administration to extend the mitigations, but that is not ideal. The best way would be to change the legal framework, which is best done in Northern Ireland by a Northern Ireland Executive, and the day when it is restored cannot come too soon.

Priorities for Government

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend and congratulate him on the heroic campaign he has waged to promote alternative medicines and therapies of all kinds. I feel sure that it would be to the benefit of my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary, who is not in his place—he has gone off to solve social care. I think it very important that we have an open mind about Ayurvedic medicine and other such therapies, but we should approach it on the basis of science first.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister’s guarantee for EU citizens extend to EU children in the British care system? If so, how will he achieve that without changing the existing arrangements?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I believe it does. We will ensure that local authorities are aware of their responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising what is obviously a very important issue for him and his constituents. I recognise that there are concerns about the Future Fit programme and services in Shropshire. I understand that my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary has referred the programme to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, and the Department of Health and Social Care will study that advice carefully before making a decision. We have the simple view that clinicians should take these decisions, because it is clinicians who know best the services that should be available for his constituents and others.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Q2. I often disagree with the Prime Minister, but I respect the fact that many of her intentions are honest and decent. When she raised the hopes of millions of carers by promising them statutory leave entitlement, they were thrilled. So far, we have had reference to a committee. Is that a failed promise, or does the fact that it is a manifesto pledge mean she is assured that the honest and decent thing for her successor to do is deliver it?

[The Prime Minister]

The issue of carer’s leave is one on which we have been consulting. That is in the system, and I have every expectation that whoever succeeds me will take that forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree that, carried out in the right way, stop-and-search is an effective tool for our police forces. We recognise the concern felt about violent crime—the hon. Gentleman has raised the specific issue of knife crime—which is why the Home Secretary published the serious violence strategy, and why we established the serious violence taskforce.

Let me reiterate that we want the police to use stop-and-search properly and lawfully. It is a vital and effective policing tool, but when they use it, we expect them to do so lawfully.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Q6. I am sure you recall, Mr Speaker, the halcyon days when the Prime Minister was telling a rapturous Tory conference that she would put an end to rip-off energy companies once and for all. On Thursday Ofgem relaxed the energy price cap, and on Monday E.On announced a 10% price increase. Now we discover that the number of households in official fuel poverty has risen to more than 2.5 million. How does the Prime Minister think she is doing?

[The Prime Minister]

It was, of course, this Government who introduced the energy price cap. That was not done by the previous Labour Government. The cap has protected 11 million households, and energy suppliers will no longer be able to rip off customers on poor-value tariffs. It will save consumers £1 billion a year. Citizens Advice has previously said:

“the cap means people are paying a fairer price now, and will continue to pay a fairer price even if the level of the cap rises”.

Exiting the European Union

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have been making those preparations, we continue to make them, and, as I indicated earlier, we have been stepping them up, but on the impact of no deal, it is not just a question of what preparations we make in the UK; what happens at the border also depends on others, and we cannot determine what action others will take. There will be consequences if we leave with no deal, particularly if we leave with a sense of ill will between us and the European Union and without having made any decisions to mitigate the impact of no deal. It is not just about what we do here; it is about what others do.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

If the only thing the Prime Minister has heard is that a few tweaks to the backstop arrangement will do the trick, is it not obvious that once again she is not listening hard enough?

[The Prime Minister]

As I said earlier, I recognise that the issue raised about the backstop is a genuine concern for many Members across the House. That is why I believe it is right that we address it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I thank him for raising that issue. Inward investment in the UK is important because it supports jobs here, and we want to ensure that we remain an attractive place for that investment. We also want to encourage it through the deals that we are doing with countries around the world. Free trade deals mean greater choice, lower prices for British consumers, more export opportunities for British businesses, and increased investment here in the UK. Leaving the European Union gives us an opportunity to forge even better relationships and even better connections with the rest of the world, to encourage that inward investment and bring yet more jobs to the UK.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Q2. Even the Prime Minister’s fiercest critics—I believe she has a few—must be full of admiration for the way in which she manages her diabetic condition and holds down such a tough and demanding job. I understand that she benefits from a FreeStyle Libre glucose monitoring system. Wouldn’t it be nice if she did something to make that benefit available to the half a million people who are denied it because of NHS rationing? Perhaps we could call it “help for the many, not the few”.

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. I do use a FreeStyle Libre, and it is now available on the national health service, but it is not the only means of continuous glucose monitoring that is available on the NHS. Yesterday I saw a letter from a child—a young girl—who had started on the FreeStyle Libre, but, because of the hypos that she had been having, had been moved to a different glucose monitoring system. There is no one system that is right for everyone; what is important is that those systems are now available on the NHS.

Pairing

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

My hon. Friend is right, and I am grateful to her for acknowledging that while mothers who are Members are rightly at the forefront of our concern, we also have paternity leave. That is one area where I had some fellow feeling with what the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) said last week. I can remember being in the delivery suite with my wife for the birth of one of our sons and being interrupted through the night at 90-minute intervals by the Government Whips Office asking when I was going to be available to come into Westminster.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I am sorry, but what most people out there are asking is simple: is there any rule that a Minister in this Government cannot get away with breaking?

Syria

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Monday 16th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Everybody should think very carefully about the role that Russia is playing in a number of ways—not just in Syria, but in its activities across Europe and elsewhere—through destabilising activities, propaganda, cyber-attacks and the like.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I support the Prime Minister’s action and I am sure that the decision weighs heavily on her shoulders. Does she accept that her Government still have a job to do to convince millions of people in this country that they can show the same resolve and commitment to the search for an end to this conflict that she has been able to show over the way she has dealt with this matter?

[The Prime Minister]

It is absolutely right that, seven and more years on, we have not been able to find a resolution to this conflict. We retain our determination to do so, but it is not just about the UK’s determination; it is about the determination of a whole variety of parties, including the Syrian regime and its backers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I say to my hon. Friend that I understand the Government have already raised this issue with the Poles. What we should be doing is ensuring that nobody forgets the holocaust—nobody forgets the horrific inhumanity to man that was shown through the actions taken by the Nazis in the holocaust. The Holocaust Educational Trust does very important work. The education centre and memorial that is going to be placed here at Westminster will be a long-standing memorial to people, and will also do the important job of educating people about the past to ensure that we never see such horrific crimes being committed again.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Q14. How would the Prime Minister feel if someone pinched her car and it then cost her £200 to get it back? That is what is happening to hundreds of people. Why does she not allow the police to use proceeds of crime returns to recover legitimate costs and put an end to this state-sponsored secondary mugging of innocent victims?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the hon. Gentleman that a lot of work has been done on what proceeds of crime can be spent on. He will have noted that the Home Secretary has heard the question he has raised, and I will ensure that the particular issue he has raised is looked into.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 20th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course countries around the world can trade. The question is, on what terms are they trading? We want to see a free trade agreement negotiated with the European Union. We also want to see free trade agreements negotiated with countries around the rest of the world. We are believers in free trade, because we believe that it brings growth, prosperity, jobs and a secure future to this country.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Q11. May I wish the Prime Minister a merry Christmas? As she sits down to her Christmas dinner, will she spare a thought for the 1 million youngsters who, the Children’s Society calculates, are set to lose their school dinners because of the Government’s universal credit plans? In the season of good will, why does she not offer to fix that?