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  • >> Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP):

  • If she will list her official engagements for Wednesday 5 July.

  • The Prime Minister (Mrs Theresa May)

  • Today marks the 69th anniversary of the NHS, and

  • last week saw the 80th anniversary of the 999 service. I know that Members on both sides

  • of the House will join me in paying tribute to the incredibly dedicated men and women

  • who work tirelessly to save and improve lives day in, day out.

  • This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties

  • in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today. Later this week I will attend

  • a meeting of the G20, where I will discuss the global economy, counter-terrorism and

  • sustainable development with my fellow leaders.

  • >> Hannah Bardell:

  • Her face smashed with an iPad, her body beaten, and forced to abort a baby girl: that is only

  • some of the domestic abuse that my constituent Lola Ilesanmi has suffered from her estranged

  • husband because she has refused to allow the genital mutilation of her daughter. Lola is

  • educated, has a mortgage, and had a good job with Royal Bank of Scotland until the Home

  • Office revoked her right to work. I have been writing to the Home Office since March, and

  • have got nowhere. Will the Prime Minister now intervene to prevent the family from being

  • deported, and to prevent that three-year-old girl from being subjected to genital mutilation?

  • >>The Prime Minister:

  • The Home Secretary has obviously heard the case that the hon. Lady describes. The issue

  • of female genital mutilation is one on which I think all of us, throughout the House, are

  • agreed. It is an abhorrent activity; it should not be taking place. Great efforts have been

  • made in recent years in strengthening the law on female genital mutilation, getting

  • information out about the issue, and trying to support people in communities where FGM

  • is practised. The message must go out from the House today that we will not accept FGM

  • in this country.

  • >> James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con):

  • In the last few days Iraqi security forces, assisted by coalition airstrikes, have made

  • significant progress in eradicating ISIL fighters from Mosul. That is a significant step forward

  • in the military conflict against ISIL in Iraq, but does the Prime Minister agree that the

  • United Kingdom and the United States, in a broad international alliance, need to work

  • with the Iraqi Government to ensure that there is reconstruction in places such as Mosul,

  • and also to ensure that they are sufficiently strong to withstand the poisonous ideology

  • of ISIL as we seek to defeat it?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • My hon. Friend is absolutely right: in order to keep the streets of Britain safe, we must

  • continue to attack Daesh in Iraq and Syria, and the UK is playing its part as one of the

  • 71 members of the coalition. The RAF has conducted over 1,400 strikes, and over 500 British soldiers

  • are on the ground providing further assistance, but he makes the very important point that

  • it is not just about the military action that takes place; it is about how we ensure there

  • is sustainable reconstruction and rebuilding afterwards. Our troops have helped to train

  • over 55,000 Iraqi security forces personnel, and we are providing more than £169.5 million

  • in humanitarian aid and a further £30 million to help Iraq to stabilise these liberated

  • areas. Together, we must also work not just in Iraq but internationally to ensure that

  • the hateful ideology of extremism is not able to poison the minds of people.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab):

  • May I start by wishing everyone a very happy Pride month, especially those taking part

  • in the Pride march this Saturday and similar marches around the country? We should also

  • be aware that a survey taken by Pride in London found that half of LGBT people in London had

  • experienced hate crime in the past 12 months.

  • I join the Prime Minister in wishing the NHS a very happy birthday, but I was hoping that

  • she was going to say a bit more about NHS staff and their pay during her birthday greetings,

  • because after a week of flip-flopping and floundering, we thought we had some clarity

  • from Downing Street at last. On Monday, the announcement was that the public sector pay

  • cap at 1% remains, and a rare moment of agreement between Nos. 10 and 11 was seen, but yesterday

  • we heard news that firefighters will be offered 2% this year and 3% next year, so can the

  • Prime Minister confirm whether the public sector pay cap will remain for all other public

  • servants until 2020?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • First, may I join the right hon. Gentleman in wishing everybody who is going to take

  • part in Pride London on Saturday an excellent day? I am sure it will be a very good occasion,

  • as it always has been. May I also say that I and all Members of this House value the

  • incredibly important work done by our public sector workers, including, yes, including

  • those in the national health service and others?

  • I understand why people feel strongly about the issue of their pay, but perhaps I can

  • just set out. For the information of the House, perhaps I can just set out what the current

  • position is. Three public sector pay review bodies reported in Marchthey covered doctors

  • and dentists, NHS staff including nurses, and the armed forcesand the Government

  • accepted the recommendations of all three. The firefightersaward is not determined

  • by the Governmentit is determined by the employersand is not subject to a pay review

  • body. There are outstanding pay review body reports that cover teachers, prison officers,

  • police officers and those on senior salaries. The Government will consider those reports

  • very carefully and respond to them, but while we do that, we will always recognise that

  • we must ensure that we take decisions with regard to the need to live within our means.

  • The right hon. Gentleman and I both value public sector workers and our public services;

  • the difference is that I know we have to pay for them.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • The public sector pay cap causes real shortages in nursing, teaching and many other professions,

  • as well as real hardship. I had a letter last week from a teacher called David. It’s all

  • right: he is a teacher; he is doing a good joball right? He says:

  • “I have been teaching for 10 years. I have seen my workload increase. I have seen more

  • people leave the profession than start, and no form of pay increase in seven years. The

  • only thing holding the education system together is the dedication to struggle on for the students

  • and staff.”

  • He goes on to say that that dedication isstarting to run out”. I say to the Prime

  • Minister that what we are doing through this pay cap is recklessly exploiting the good

  • will of public servants like David. They need a pay rise.

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • The Leader of the Opposition refers to the number of nurses and teachers working in the

  • public sector. Of course we now have more nurses in our hospitals than we had in 2010,

  • and we have more teachers in our schools. But let me remind the right hon. Gentleman

  • why it has been necessary for us to exercise restraint in public spending, including by

  • capping public sector pay. It is because we inherited the biggest deficit in our peacetime

  • history. We have acted

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order. I noticed earlier, Mr Mahmood, that you seemed to be in a very hyper condition

  • today. I recommend that you take some sort of soothing medicament or go and lie down

  • for a little while. You will feel better at the end of it.

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • We acted to bring the deficit down by a quarter and then a half, and it is now down by three

  • quarters. At the same time, we have seen the economy grow and record levels of people in

  • employment. Our policy on public sector pay has always recognised that we need to balance

  • the need to be fair to public sector workers, to protect jobs in the public sector, and

  • to be fair to those who pay for it. That is the balance that we need to strike, and we

  • continue to assess that balance.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • We have had seven years of tax cuts for the richest and tax breaks for the biggest corporations.

  • Last year, there was a net loss of 1,700 nurses and midwives to the NHS, and in the first

  • two months of this year alone, 3,264 have left the profession altogethernot a great

  • birthday present for the NHS, is it? Last week, the Chancellor said:

  • We all value our public services and the people who provide them to us.”

  • He went on to laud his own economic record by saying that we had a “fundamentally robust

  • economy”. The Prime Minister found £1 billion to keep her own job; why cannot she find the

  • same amount of money to keep nurses and teachers in their jobs? After all, they serve all of

  • us.

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • The right hon. Gentleman talks about the number of nurses. In fact, I think he was talking

  • about the number of nurses who are registered in the United Kingdom. There are about 600,000

  • nurses registered in the United Kingdom; about half of them—300,000—work in the NHS in

  • England. Contrary to what he says, we have 13,000 more nurses working in the NHS today

  • compared with 2010. I understand that it has been hard for people who have been working

  • hard and making sacrifices over the years as we have been dealing with Labour’s mismanagement

  • of the economy, but let me remind the right hon. Gentleman of what happens when you do

  • not deal with the deficit. This is not a theoretical issue. Let us look at those countries that

  • failed to deal with it. In Greece, where they have not dealt with the deficit. What did

  • we see with that failure to deal with the deficit? Spending on the health service cut

  • by 36%. That does not help nurses or patients.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • I hope that the Prime Minister is proud of her record of controlling public sector pay

  • to the extent that hard-working nurses have had to access food banks in order to survive,

  • and of frozen wages for teaching assistants, paramedics and council workers. But this is

  • not just in the public sector. Across the economy, wages are rising by 2.1% while inflation

  • is at nearly 3%. Six million workers already earn less than the living wage. What does

  • the Prime Minister think that that tells us about seven years of a Conservative Government

  • and what they have done to the living standards of those people on whom we all rely to get

  • our public services and our health services delivered to us?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I will tell the right hon. Gentleman what has happened over the past seven years. We

  • have seen record numbers of people in employmentnearly 3 million more people in work. We have seen

  • the introduction of the national living wagenever done by Labour, but introduced by a Conservative

  • Government. We have seen 4 million people taken out of paying income tax altogether

  • and a cut in income tax and a change in the personal allowance that is the equivalent

  • of £1,000 a year to basic rate taxpayers, including nurses. That is a record of good

  • management of the economyyou only get that with the Conservatives.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • The Prime Minister simply does not get it.

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order. We have plenty of time. I am quite happy to run on for some considerable period

  • of time. People who are making excessive noise should try to calm themselves and perhaps

  • just give a moment’s thought to whether they would like to be viewed by their constituents

  • shrieking their heads off. It is very downmarket.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • There is a low-pay epidemic in this country, and it has a terrible effect on young people.

  • Those in their 20s will earn £12,500 a year less than the generation before. They are

  • the first generation to be worse off than the last. They are less likely to be able

  • to buy their own home, more likely to be saddled with debt, and more likely to be insecure,

  • low-paid work. Except for more misery, what do the Prime Minister and her Government actually

  • offer the young people of this country?

  • >> Hon. Members:

  • Jobs!

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • To echo the words of my colleagues, we offer young people more jobs, more homes, and the

  • opportunity to own their own home. Let me just tell the right hon. Gentleman what is

  • not fair: it is not fair to refuse to take tough decisions and to load debts on to our

  • children and grandchildren; it is not fair to bankrupt our economy, because that leads

  • to people losing their jobs and their homes; and it is not fair to go out and tell people

  • that they can have all the public spending they want without paying for it. Labour’s

  • way leads to fewer jobs, higher prices and more taxes. Labour’s way means that everyone

  • pays the price of Labour.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn:

  • When Tories talk of tough choices, we know who suffers: the poorest and most vulnerable

  • in our society. Young people employed on zero-hours contracts are more likely to have worse mental

  • and physical health. Students who have worked hard at university graduate with £57,000

  • of debt that will stay with them until they retire. Let me spell it out to the Prime Minister:

  • this is the only country in which wages have not recovered since the global financial crash;

  • more people are using food banks; 4 million children are living in poverty; there is record

  • in-work poverty; young people see no prospect of owning their own home; and 6 million people

  • are earning less than the living wage. The low-pay epidemic is a threat to our economic

  • stability. Will the Prime Minister take some tough choices and instead of offering platitudes,

  • offer some real help and real support to those in work and to young people, who deserve better

  • and deserve to be given more optimism, rather than greater inequality?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • We actually now see that the proportion of people in absolute poverty is at record lows.

  • The right hon. Gentleman asks for help for those who are low paid, and I reiterate to

  • him the help that we have given to people who are low paid: we introduced the mandatory

  • national living wagethe lowest earnersfastest pay rise in 20 years; we have cut

  • taxes for basic-rate taxpayers and taken people out of paying income tax; and we are doing

  • what is important for this country, which is ensuring that there are jobs and an economy

  • providing those jobs for people, because the best route out of poverty is being in work.

  • I know that he has taken to calling himself a “Government in waiting”. Well, we all

  • know what that means: waiting to put up taxes; waiting to destroy jobs; and waiting to bankrupt

  • our country. We will never let it happen.

  • >> Hon. Members:

  • More, more.

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order. I understand that the House is excited about hearing the right hon. Member for Loughborough

  • (Nicky Morgan).

  • >> Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con):

  • Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I know that the Prime Minister and her Ministers, and

  • many other Members of this House, are committed to better mental health care for everyone.

  • I am a founder of the Loughborough Wellbeing Project, and I recently visited the CAMHS––child

  • and adolescent mental health serviceseating disorder service in Leicester. As a result

  • of this Government’s careful financial management, £1.4 billion more is going into mental health

  • services. How can the Prime Minister ensure that that money is getting to frontline NHS

  • services consistently?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • First, let me commend my right hon. Friend on the work she has done in setting up the

  • Loughborough Wellbeing Project, and I am happy to join her in paying tribute to the work

  • of the eating disorders service in Leicester. As she says, it does incredibly important

  • work, and we must do more to transform the mental health services that we provide for

  • young people and mental health in general. That is why, as she says, we are putting more

  • money into mental health, and our spending on mental health reached a record £11.6 billion

  • last year. We do need to make sure that that funding gets through to frontline services.

  • One example of that is the work we are doing to ensure that teachers and staff in schools

  • are trained to better identify and better deal with mental health problems when they

  • are present in children. I saw that when I visited Orchard School in Bristol last week,

  • where excellent work is being done, really improving the quality of services for young

  • people with mental health problems.

  • >> Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP):

  • As we meet here today, the funeral is taking place at St Peter’s Free church in Dundee

  • of the former leader of the Scottish National party and Member of Parliament for Dundee

  • East from 1974 to 1987. I am sure the House would like to join me in commemorating the

  • life and contribution to politics of the late, dearly missed friend and colleague Gordon

  • Wilson.

  • The UK government have not announced any measures to address rising inflation and slowing wage

  • growth, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies has described asdreadful”. As workers

  • face more than a decade of lost wage growth, and endure the worst period for pay in 70

  • years, does the Prime Minister think she is looking out for thejust about managing”?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • First, may I say to the hon. Gentleman, as I did last week, that I am sure all Members

  • of this House will wish to offer our condolences to the friends, family and colleagues of the

  • late Gordon Wilson, and recognise the role he played in politics in the United Kingdom,

  • including in this House.

  • I say to the hon. Gentleman, as I have said to the Leader of the Opposition, that what

  • is important is that we ensure that we have an economy that is increasing the number of

  • jobs, because the best route out of poverty is for people to be in work. That is what

  • we are doing. We have seen nearly 3 million more jobs being created over recent years.

  • That is important for people. We also help people by, for example, cutting taxesthat

  • is exactly what we have done for people who are lower paidand introducing the national

  • living wage. Those are measures that are giving people real help.

  • >> Ian Blackford:

  • Of course it is the forecast of a rise in in-work poverty that should concern us, in

  • particular, the likely increase of young people in poverty over the lifetime of this Parliament.

  • Since the 2010 general election, the FTSE 100 has risen by 39.6%. Monetary policy, not

  • least quantitative easing, has helped drive up financial assets, while workers have paid

  • the price for austerity. Workers will earn no more by 2021 than they did in 2008. Will

  • the Prime Minister give workers a pay rise?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I would have thought that the hon. Gentleman, particularly with his background, would have

  • recognised the role played by monetary policy, including quantitative easing, in ensuring

  • that we have the jobs in the economy that are so important to people.

  • >> Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam) (Con):

  • Will my right hon. Friend tell me what steps the Government are taking to drive value for

  • money and efficiency in the aid budget, to ensure that the taxpayersmoney is used

  • to promote global peace and security in the national interest?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I am proud that the Government are committed to honouring our international commitments

  • on aid. That is important for this country, because that money is saving lives and building

  • a more stable and prosperous world, and that is firmly in our UK national interest. Nevertheless,

  • my hon. Friend is absolutely right that we need to make sure that the money we are spending

  • is being spent properly and efficiently. I assure him that my right hon. Friend the Secretary

  • of State for International Development is driving value for money and efficiency in

  • the aid budget, focusing on greater transparency, boosting payment by results, and driving value

  • for money from DFID suppliers. In 2011, we set up an independent aid watchdog, together

  • with stronger systems and controls in DFID. It is important not only that we are committed

  • to that money, but that we make sure it is spent well.

  • >> Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab):

  • My young constituent paid a £300 house-reservation fee to Pattinson estate agents, but the agents

  • will not refund it after their landlord client withdrew from the contract because my constituent

  • refused to pay 12 monthsrent in advance. She faces having to pay another agent non-refundable

  • fees of £650 to secure a different property. When will the Prime Minister act to put an

  • end to these rip-off fees and stop these agents capitalising on young people and others? [900219]

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • The hon. Gentleman should look at the Queen’s Speech, in which we referred to what we are

  • doing in this area. We recognise these issues. He saysWhen?”, but he will recognise

  • that in this House we need to ensure that we get right any legislation that we introduce,

  • so that it actually works. We recognise the problem and we are going to do something about

  • it.

  • >> Bill Wiggin (North Herefordshire) (Con):

  • In 2008, I tried to amend the Animal Welfare Act to extend sentences for cruelty to animals

  • from weeks to years. Will my right hon. Friend see what can be done to ensure that people

  • who are wilfully cruel to animals are punished far more severely?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. We all share a high regard for

  • animal welfare and it is important to have in place strict laws to ensure that we deal

  • properly with people who are not looking after animals. Anyone who is cruel to an animal

  • or does not provide for its welfare needs may be banned from owning animals, given an

  • unlimited fine or, as he says, sent to prison. My hon. Friend is right that sentencing is

  • an issue, which is why the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regularly

  • holds discussions with the Ministry of Justice on sentencing policy for animal welfare offenders.

  • >> Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC):

  • With the civil service reportedly having to explain in crayon to the Cabinet that there

  • is nohave your cake and eat itBrexit option, will the Prime Minister come clean

  • and admit that she is prioritising her own absolutist red lines, not people’s jobs

  • and wages?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I am afraid the hon. Gentleman and others will have heard the answer before: we want

  • to negotiate the best possible deal for the United Kingdom that ensures we have a comprehensive

  • free trade agreement, that we can continue to trade with our European partners, that

  • we have a new deep and special partnership with the European Union, and that we are growing

  • our economy. But it is not just about our relationship with the European Union; it is

  • about the trade deals that we will do with countries around the rest of the world and

  • it is about ensuring sound management from a Conservative Government.

  • >> Mrs Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con):

  • Looe harbour commissioners have highlighted to me the valuable contribution that retired

  • police sergeantand now special constableRuss Hall has made to maritime policing. Does my

  • right hon. Friend believe that joined-up working with other agencies is essential and can make

  • a positive contribution to beating crime in small harbours and helping to protect our

  • borders?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I join my hon. Friend in recognising Special Constable Russ Hall’s contribution in her

  • constituency. She makes an important point; indeed, when I was Home Secretary I brought

  • together various agenciesthe police, the Border Force and othersto look at how we

  • deal with protecting our borders. That joined-up working can make a real and positive contribution.

  • As she will know, what matters is not only how we do that but ensuring that we have an

  • impactand crime has fallen by a third since 2010, to a record low.

  • >> Mr Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr) (Lab):

  • Thank you, Mr Speaker, for advising me about my blood pressure. When I go to the hospital

  • to see my consultant on Monday, I am sure that he will give me the same advice. My blood

  • pressure rises when I go into hospitals and see all those nurses who are overstretched,

  • overworked and underpaid, and having to use food banks. The Prime Minister pays lip service

  • to them and will not look at ending the public sector pay cap. I now make a plea to her;

  • she should listen not to my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, but to those

  • nurses and do something about the public pay sector cap.

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I set out my position in response to an earlier question by the Leader of the Opposition.

  • People may not realise that there is not only the overall public sector pay increase, but,

  • for many nurses, increments or progression pay as well. A typical band 5 nurse will receive

  • 3.8% over and above the 1%.

  • >> Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con):

  • It is a strong economy that powers this Government’s investment in the NHS and a strong economy

  • that allows this Government to create 1,500 new medical school places and some new medical

  • schools. Does the Prime Minister agree that Lincolnshire’s unique rurality and sparsity

  • makes a compelling case for a new medical school in this great county?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • My hon. Friend makes an important point, which is that we can pay for our public services

  • only if we have that strong economy. That is absolutely the basis of it. As he said,

  • we will train 1,500 new doctors every year to ensure that the NHS has enough doctors

  • to continue providing that safe compassionate care that we all want to see. The Department

  • of Health is currently looking at how to allocate these places, and will publish its consultation

  • response shortly. It is also looking at the possibility of new and aspiring medical schools

  • bidding for those places. I am sure that, as he has always been a champion for his constituents

  • and his constituency, he will continue to make an excellent case for Lincolnshire.

  • >> Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab):

  • On Saturday, the shadow Chancellor and I joined staff from Picturehouse Cinemas outside the

  • Ritzy in Brixton who are striking because their employer refuses to pay the London living

  • wage and has outrageously sacked their trade union representative. Will the Prime Minister

  • join me in calling on Picturehouse Cinemas, which made a profit last year of more than

  • £80 million, to pay its staff the London living wage and to reinstate the local reps

  • immediately?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • That is about a relationship between employers and their employees. Overall, what is of importance

  • is that the Government are taking the right decisions to ensure that we are growing the

  • economy and providing those jobs for people in the first place.

  • >> Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con):

  • I thank the Prime Minister for taking time during the general election to come up to

  • Banchory and campaign in my constituency where we did rather well. Does she agree that it

  • is utterly shameful that the Scottish Government have, for the second year in a row, had to

  • go pleading to the European Commission for an extension to the farm payment deadline?

  • Is that not proof, if further proof were needed, that the Scottish National party is failing

  • rural Scotland?

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order. We are fascinated to hear the answer, but I should just say that, although I am

  • very interested to hear the answer and we will, the Prime Minister is not responsible

  • for the Scottish Government.

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I welcome my hon. Friend to his place in this House. I very much enjoyed my visit to Banchory

  • during the election campaign. What he says is absolutely right. Time and again in this

  • Chamber, we hear the Scottish Nationalists demanding more powers for Scotland, yet what

  • do we see? We see that they are failing to deliver for the Scottish people with the powers

  • that they already have. Yet again, Scottish schools are now outperformed in every category

  • by schools in England, Northern Ireland, Estonia and Poland. Powers are kept in Edinburgh rather

  • than being devolved to local people and, as he says, yet again we see farmers waiting

  • months for their subsidy payments. The simple fact is that the SNP’s policies are not

  • in the best interests of the people of Scotland.

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order. I say to the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald), who persists

  • in gesticulating in an extremely eccentric manner, that he seems a little discombobulated

  • from the world he inhabits, which is a very unhappy state of affairs that cannot long

  • continue.

  • >> Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD):

  • The Southern rail dispute is causing real damage to the economy of Eastbourne and the

  • south-east. My constituents have had a dreadful time, with a shocking service providedor

  • not providedover the past 18 months. This simply cannot go on. Will the Prime Minister

  • enlighten me, my constituents and the House as to why the Department for Transport and

  • the trail operator will not meet the unions at the same time and in the same room together

  • to negotiate a deal?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I recognise the problems that have been experienced by Southern rail passengersthe matter has

  • been raised by a number of colleagues in the House, including my hon. Friend the Member

  • for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), who raised it last week. I am very disappointed that ASLEF

  • and the RMT have called more industrial action, which is completely unnecessary; all that

  • it will do is cause more disruption and frustration for passengers. The recent independent Gibb

  • report said that the main cause of widespread disruption on Southern rail has been union

  • action, so I urge the unions to call off the strikes, work with the operator and deliver

  • the services that passengers need.

  • >> Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con):

  • If she will list her official engagements for Wednesday 5 July. Businesses across my

  • constituency will be cock-a-hoop to hear that their calls for better broadband are being

  • answered by the digital infrastructure investment fund, which will unlock about £1 billion

  • for full fibre service and help them create jobs, particularly in rural areas. Does the

  • Prime Minister agree that that is exactly the sort of infrastructure spend we need to

  • get our country Brexit ready?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • My hon. Friend makes a very important point. This country is already a digital world leader,

  • and we are committed to ensuring that we remain so. We already see 93% of the UK accessing

  • superfast broadband, and we are on track to reach 95% by the end of the year, but we want

  • to see more commercial investment in the gold-standard connectivity that full fibre provides, which

  • is why we have launched the digital infrastructure investment fund. Companies across the UK,

  • including in Brentwood and Ongar, will be able to apply for match funding for projects

  • and see fibre delivered right to the doorstep. Yesterday we also announced 100% business

  • rate relief for those businesses rolling out new fibre. This is important. We want to continue

  • to be a world leader in digital, and the actions that the Government are taking will ensure

  • that we will be.

  • >> Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC):

  • Police officer numbers in Wales have dropped by 10% since the Prime Minister’s party

  • came to power. If policing were devolved, as it is in Northern Ireland and Scotland,

  • Welsh police forces would have extra funding worth £25 million at their disposal, which

  • would more than replace those lost officers. What justification is there for refusing to

  • devolve policing?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • We have been around this discussion before. Let me address the central issue of what the

  • hon. Lady is talking about, which is police budgets and the number of police officers.

  • We have been protecting police budgets since 2015, as I believe is acknowledged across

  • the House. We are also ensuring that the police have the capabilities they need to deal with

  • new types of crime, by creating the national cybercrime unit and the National Crime Agency.

  • Those are all important steps to ensure that the police can do their job of cutting crime,

  • and crime is at a record low.

  • >> Scott Mann (North Cornwall) (Con):

  • I thank the Prime Minister for introducing the trade, agriculture and fisheries Brexit

  • Bills in the Queen’s Speech, which will be welcomed right across the west country.

  • However, we are facing significant challenges with our rural post office network at the

  • moment, with the transition from community branches to community village stores and community

  • buildings. Some of those moves have been smooth and some have not. Will she take a look at

  • that to see whether there is anything more the Government could do to help my constituents?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • My hon. Friend makes an important point. It is right that we should recognise the role

  • that post offices play in rural communities, and not only in places such as Camelford and

  • St Minver in his constituency, but in the constituencies of other hon. Members. We have

  • invested more than £2 billion in the network up to 2018. The number of post offices is

  • actually at its most stable for decades. But he is absolutely right. I urge the Post Office

  • to help make it as easy as possible for shops that want to take over postal services to

  • be able to do so.

  • >> Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab):

  • Some 2,400 people have died as a result of the NHS contaminated blood scandalmore

  • than Hillsborough and all the other disasters over the previous few decades put together.

  • On 25 April, the former right hon. Member for Leigh presented compelling evidence to

  • Parliament of a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale, so will the Prime Minister now do the

  • right thing and order a public inquiry for the whole United Kingdom?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • The hon. Lady raises an important issue. I know that Membersthoughts will be with

  • all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy of contaminated blood. Serious allegations

  • have been made, and Ministers at the Department of Health will obviously look at information

  • that has been brought to the House. If any hon. Member has any further information or

  • evidence that they believe is important, it should go to Ministers so that they can properly

  • investigate it. We are providing more compensation than any previous Government, and we committed

  • £125 million extra funding last July for those affected by the contaminated blood tragedy.

  • The Department of Health will look at any new evidence that is brought forward.

  • >> James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East) (Con):

  • Rather than celebrating the NHS, the Labour party has rather shamelessly tried to weaponise

  • it as a mere tool for political campaigning. Will the Prime Minister assure me that decisions

  • on services such as the 999 service will be clinical decisions, not those of politicians

  • who are trying to weaponise our public services?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is very important that decisions relating to

  • services provided by the NHS are taken on a clinical basis by those who understand the

  • needs and requirements of people in different areas. That is why we set up NHS England,

  • which has a plan for developing services in the NHS over a five-year period. It is important

  • that politicians allow clinicians and others in the NHS to make the decisions they need

  • to.

  • >> Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op):

  • I know that the House will be thinking of my constituents Connie Yates, Chris Gard and

  • Charlie at this incredibly difficult time. It is clear that if Charlie remains in the

  • UK no further treatment is available and that life support will be switched off. There are

  • differing views about the chances of the nucleoside bypass therapy, which other childrenalbeit

  • with less severe forms of Charlie’s conditionshave benefited from. I understand that the chances

  • of improvement for Charlie are low, but the doctors would be able to say within three

  • months whether Charlie was responding and whether that change was clinically beneficial.

  • If there is any room for discretion in the court rulings for Great Ormond Street to allow

  • Charlie to leave and to transfer his care to doctors at Columbia University, and if

  • he is sufficiently stable to receive treatment, would the Prime Minister do all she can to

  • bring the appropriate people together to try to make this happen?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • The hon. Lady is right to raise the concerns of her constituents in this matter. I am sure

  • that the thoughts of all Members of the House are with the family and Charlie at this exceptionally

  • difficult time. It is an unimaginable position for anybody to be in, and I fully understand

  • and appreciate that any parent in these circumstances would want to do everything possible and explore

  • every option for their seriously ill child. I also know that no doctor ever wants to be

  • placed in the terrible position of having to make such heartbreaking decisions. The

  • hon. Lady referred to the fact that we have that court process. I am confident that Great

  • Ormond Street hospital has considered, and always will consider, any offers or new information

  • that have come forward along with the wellbeing of a desperately ill child.

  • >> Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) (Con):

  • When the Prime Minister and I left our comprehensive schools to go to university, we entered a

  • privileged elite. Will she confirm that as a result of tuition fees, introduced by Labour

  • and improved by the coalition, more young people from working class and poor backgrounds

  • are now going to university than ever before? Some people say that there are fewer. Are

  • they right or are they wrong?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I am very happy to join my right hon. Friend in recognising that she and I left comprehensive

  • schools and went to universities at a time when the number of people going to university

  • was significantly lower than it is today. I am also grateful to her for reminding the

  • House that, actually, it was the Labour party that said it would not introduce tuition fees

  • and then, when it got into government, introduced tuition fees. Under the current system, we

  • are seeing more young people than ever going to university, and cruciallyto address

  • the point she raiseddisadvantaged 18-year-olds are 40% more likely to go to university now

  • than they were in 2009.

  • >> Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab):

  • The Prime Minister herself commissioned Bishop James Jones to report on the experience of

  • the Hillsborough families. Given the painful evidence before us that parts of the state

  • still do not know how to treat bereaved families or the survivors of catastrophe, will she

  • now give me the date when she will publish Bishop Jones’s report?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • I have not myself yet seen Bishop Jones’s full report. I am not able to give the hon.

  • Lady a date when I will publish it, but she raises a very important point. The reason

  • why I asked Bishop James Jones to undertake this work was precisely because I was concerned

  • about the way in which the bereaved families at Hillsborough had been treated over far

  • too many years, and obviously we have seen the result of the Crown Prosecution Service

  • decisions last week. This is why we have committed in the Queen’s Speech to introducing an

  • independent public advocate who will be able to act on behalf of bereaved families in cases

  • of public disaster. It is important that they are able to have that support alongside them,

  • because too many families have to fight over many years to get justice, as we have seen

  • in Hillsborough. I want to ensure that they have help and support in doing that.

  • >> Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con):

  • Given the Government’s record in freezing fuel duty, will the Prime Minister resist

  • recent siren calls to raise it, because this hurts the lowest paid the most? Will she also

  • do everything possible to make sure that when the international oil price falls, that price

  • is properly reflected at the pumps so that we can have a Britain that works for every

  • motorist?

  • >> The Prime Minister:

  • May I first commend my right hon. Friend, who has been championing this issue for all

  • the years that he has been in the House? The work that he has done as a great campaigner

  • on this and, indeed, other issues has been recognised by the Government in changes the

  • Government has made. As he knows, I am pleased that we have been able to do what we have

  • done in relation to holding down fuel duty. I think he is trying to tempt me down a path

  • which I will not go down, because, as he knows, decisions on these matters are taken at the

  • time of fiscal events.

  • >> Mr Speaker:

  • Order.

>> Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP):

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首相の質問。2017年7月5日 (Prime Minister's Questions: 5 July 2017)

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