Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not recognise the choice that my hon. Friend sets out. First, as I said earlier, I have not changed my view on a second referendum. I have been clear that I believe this House should be delivering on the result of the first referendum, and I believe that the choice before this House is whether it wants to deliver on the result of the first referendum and on the manifestos on which the majority of the Members of this House stood, which were clear that we want to do it with a deal. We can do that, and we can do it by giving a Second Reading to the withdrawal agreement Bill, by seeing the Bill through the House to Royal Assent, by ratifying the treaty and by leaving the European Union.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q15. Universal credit was today condemned again by the United Nations special rapporteur, who likened DWP policy to creating modern versions of “the 19th-century workhouse”. A leaked memo has revealed that the DWP is doubling down, promoting universal credit with an aggressive public relations campaign, including a BBC documentary and adverts seen in today’s Metro, which DWP officials state“won’t look…like DWP or UC—you won’t see our branding, and this is deliberate.”Prime Minister, how is it right that the DWP is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on misleading adverts that promote a cruel policy, which is driving my constituents into debt, despair and destitution?

[The Prime Minister]

What the DWP is doing is spending not just its resources but its effort—I thank all the staff in the DWP for this—out there, helping people into the workplace and ensuring that when they are in the workplace they are able to keep more of the money they earn.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 15th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, I think that the best way to ensure that people have a good, stable income for their families is to ensure that they are in work. This is the fourth question he has asked me, and in none of his questions so far has he welcomed the fact that employment is at record levels, and unemployment is down at a record low. The way he talks, you would think that inequality started in 2010.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

It did!

[The Prime Minister]

One of the Labour Back Benchers shouts from a sedentary position, “It did!” Who was it who said that the last Labour Government

“ensured that the gap between the richest and the poorest in our society”

became “very much bigger?” Those are not my words; they are the words of the right hon. Gentleman, attacking his own Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 6th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I seem to recall that, back in the 2014 referendum, the SNP were absolutely adamant that Scotland would keep the pound. There have been a few changes since then. They have looked at the option of the euro, then they went back to sterling, and now they are into an independent currency. This Government are working to secure a Brexit deal that protects jobs and our economy. The SNP should focus on that rather than continuing to pursue their independence fantasy.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q13. The Department for Work and Pensions is currently carrying out five reviews into disabled people wrongly deprived of social security support because of the flawed personal independence payment assessment. My constituent, Mr Delaurentis, was given just zero points despite being unable to prepare food for himself or even dress himself. We have recently learnt that over 4,000 people were wrongly deprived of their disability living allowance when reassessed for PIP. Seventeen thousand people have died before their PIP decision was reached, and over 72% of cases that go to an appeal tribunal are overturned in favour of the claimant, so when will the Prime Minister follow Labour’s policy and scrap this discredited and flawed PIP assessment framework?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 30th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am delighted to hear of the increase in performance at Cotmanhay Junior School. The education of children is improving, regardless of where they live or their background, so that they can get the education that they need to fulfil their potential. I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the pupils and staff of that particular school, and of the other schools she referenced across her Erewash constituency that have seen improvements, which are important for the future of those children.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q14. Yesterday evening, MPs from across the House voted against a no deal. The TUC has warned that no deal would be devastating for jobs and it is an outcome which the CBI has this morning said business will be speeding up preparations for. The people hit hardest by a no deal will be the ordinary people in Battersea and across the country, so will the Prime Minister finally listen to this House, trade unions, businesses and our constituents, and categorically rule out no deal?

[The Prime Minister]

The House rejected no deal last night, but I hope that the hon. Lady, when the time comes, will play her part in avoiding no deal and will vote for a deal.

Leaving the EU

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Monday 14th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Scotland’s best economic interests—I suggest the hon. Gentleman looks at the figures—are met by remaining a member of the UK.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Given today’s joint letter to the Prime Minister from Presidents Juncker and Tusk saying that the EU is

“not in a position to agree to anything that changes or is inconsistent with the Withdrawal Agreement”,

is it not the case that the Prime Minister has achieved nothing since pulling the meaningful vote on 10 December? In her own words, “nothing has changed”.

[The Prime Minister]

As I said earlier in response to a number of hon. Members, the concern that was expressed was about ensuring—[Interruption.] I am trying to answer the hon. Lady’s question. The concern people had within the House, overwhelmingly, was one of ensuring that the backstop would be temporary if it ever came into place. That is in the withdrawal agreement already, but the further assurances that we have received further confirm that. As I have said, the December Council conclusions do have legal force.

Leaving the EU

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The withdrawal agreement is legally binding. The political declaration is not a legal text, because the European Union cannot sign a legal text in relation to trade matters with a country that is a member of the European Union. It can only do that when we are outside the European Union.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

It is increasingly clear that the Prime Minister’s deal does not have the support of the House. It is a bad deal: it is bad for my constituents and it is bad for the country. So I ask the Prime Minister, and she has not answered this question yet, what is her plan B when this deal inevitably falls?

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave earlier.

Progress on EU Negotiations

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Thursday 22nd November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The British people gave us their view on our membership of the EU in June 2016, and we are delivering on it.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

For all the Prime Minister’s bluster, this political declaration underlines that 18 months of shambolic negotiations have produced embarrassingly little. Parliament looks set to be asked to vote and agree to a blind Brexit and to a deal that, despite what she claims, does not protect jobs, rights or the economy. When will she wake up to the reality that any deal she brings to the House cannot command the support of the House and will leave the country poorer?

[The Prime Minister]

This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote while protecting jobs, livelihoods, security and our Union.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 4th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The intention behind this increase in the NHS budget is that we will see it directed to frontline and primary services. We need a long-term plan. The NHS is developing that long-term plan itself. The budget will have increased by 2023-24, with an extra £20 billion a year in real terms compared with today, and it is through the 10-year plan, which will be led by doctors, that we will make sure we are delivering world-class care for everyone and that every penny is well spent.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q7. This morning, the head of the National Audit Office took the unprecedented step of writing an open letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, setting out how the right hon. Lady has misled Parliament in three respective statements she has made on universal credit. The ministerial code is very clear that:“It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister”.Has she?

June European Council

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Monday 2nd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The focus in these questions is usually on our future economic partnership, but the security partnership is equally important. As he suggests, that covers not only terrorist activity across borders but the activity of organised crime gangs and others, as well as online activity, as I have just said. We are confident that we will be able to reach a partnership on our security relationships because that is in the operational interests of all the EU27 states as well as of the UK.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Over the past weeks, Airbus, BMW and Siemens have echoed the warning of the trade unions that the Government’s Brexit strategy is putting thousands of jobs at risk. Will the Prime Minister listen to business and to the trade unions, and commit to keeping the UK in a customs union?

[The Prime Minister]

I have said on many occasions that we will be leaving the customs union, but we will of course be putting in place customs arrangements with the European Union that will match the ambition of our trade relationship in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Theresa May and Marsha De Cordova

Wednesday 7th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I and, I am sure, everyone in the House will be happy to join my hon. Friend in praising the emergency services for the tireless work that they have been doing to help people during the severe winter weather that we have experienced. She is right to raise concerns about the A379 on the behalf of her constituents, and I am pleased to announce that my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary will shortly confirm that we will provide financial assistance to ensure that repairs to the road are undertaken as quickly as possible.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Q13. Battersea power station is a £9 billion development pushed through by Tory Wandsworth Council with only 9% so-called affordable homes. Eighty-five per cent. of homes in the development have been snapped up by foreign investors, which is an insult to the thousands of people on the Wandsworth housing waiting list. Is the Prime Minister embarrassed that a Tory council is siding with developers’ profits over the residents of Wandsworth?

[The Prime Minister]

This is a site that was derelict for 40 years. [Interruption.]