Oral Answers to Questions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes a very important point. Every world leader has said that Gaddafi should go and that his regime is illegitimate. If at the end of this he is left in place, that will send a terrible message—not only to people in Libya, but, as she says, to others across the region who want to see greater democracy and greater openness in their societies. That is why it is right for Britain to play this leading role at the UN and elsewhere. I am not arguing that a no-fly zone is a simple solution to this problem—of course it is not—but I do think that it is one of the steps we need to take to isolate and pressurise that regime, and to say that we stand with people in Libya, who want to have greater democracy and greater freedom, such as we take for granted in this country.

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

Q6. Does the Prime Minister have any sense of the current mood of bewilderment and betrayal felt by rank and file police officers?

[The Prime Minister]

I strongly support the British police. They are the finest force in the world. What the police and other public servants know is that we were left a deep Budget deficit that we have to deal with. If we want to keep police officers on the streets, it is necessary to have the pay freeze that we are talking about. It is necessary to look, as Tom Winsor has done, at the allowances that they receive and to work out how we can make sure that we have well-paid, well-motivated police officers doing a great job in our country. Again, if the Labour party is just going to stand against every reform, every change and every improvement and say there is nothing we can do about any one of these problems, not only will it be irrelevant, but the British public will work out that it is irrelevant.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve McCabe Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Commons Chamber

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

Q12. Following the previous question, how does the Prime Minister view the prospect of prisoners electing the new police and crime commissioners?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman raises yet another reason—[Interruption.]