Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) - 24 March 2021

mr speaker the last 12 months have been the most difficult for a generation and i know that the thoughts of the whole house are with all those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic i also want to pay tribute to every person in this country for playing their part whether working on the front front line staying at home to prevent the spread of the virus or working on vaccine development and supply it's that vaccination program that has brought hope allowing us to set out the cautious but irreversible road map out of lockdown mr speaker this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others and in addition in addition to my duties in this house i shall have further such meetings later today let's go to stephen farr right stephen thank you mr speaker many independent countries from switzerland to new zealand have bilateral veterinary agreements with the european union and face lower non-tariff barriers than the uk despite our very high standards with the food and drink federation reporting a massive drop in uk food exports over 90 percent in some areas and furthermore sps checks cost you in the main challenge for the northern ireland protocol surely the prime minister should be making it a priority to negotiate a bespoke uk eu veterinary agreement thank you very much mr speaker and that's exactly why we put in the temporary and technical uh measures that we have to allow uh free trade to continue uh across uh the whole of the uk and it's very very important for those who object to the measures that we have taken uh that the uh the the protocol should uphold the principle of east-west uh trade as well as as north north south trade and that's exactly what we're trying to do thank you mr speaker in sussex by the end of this week we will have delivered one million copied jabs well my right old friend join me in paying tribute to the local vaccine heroes in particular adam doyle and his leadership in helsham charlotte luck in upfield and dr susie pageant in cobra and will the prime minister agree with me that the uk success is built on the confidence that people have in the fantastic vaccine technology and should and when our constituents get contacted for a vaccination they should definitely take up the first available appointment well they i can certainly join her uh my honourable friend and paying tribute to adam doll and charlotte luck and dr susie uh for all their efforts and she's completely writing what she says about the foundations of the uk's uh vaccine success and i have my luck my job on friday mr speaker i know that you've had uh yours you certainly have uh but i i know he's had his i i encourage everybody uh everybody to get it we now come to leave the opposition writer of okie thank you mr speaker can i start with joining the prime minister in his remarks about yesterday's day of reflection for the 126 000 people who lost their lives to covid that's a shocking number and behind every one of those numbers is a grieving family as soon as restrictions lift there must be a full public inquiry because that is the only way we can get to the bottom of the many mistakes that were made during the pandemic and find justice for those who've suffered so much mr speaker why did the prime minister promise at the last election that he would and i quote not be cutting our armed services in any form mr speaker uh that was because what we were going to do was actually increase spending on our armed services by the biggest demand since the uh since the cold war 24 billion pounds uh modernizing our armed forces keeping up with no redundancies mrs b keeping our our army at 100 000 if you include the reserves and i must say i take it a slightly amiss from the uh right honourable gentleman when he stood on a a manifesto to elect a man who wanted to pull this country out of nato mr speaker mr speaker he's fighting the last war but um is he is is it is he is he trying is he trying to pretend is he trying to pretend hidden in that answer that the army stands over a hundred thousand the number the prime minister quoted there because it's absolutely clear from secretary of state for defense's statement that i think he made here on monday he was absolutely clear his words i have therefore taken the decision to reduce the size of the army to 72 500 by 2025. only this prime minister could suggest that a reduction from 82 000 to 72 000 is somehow not a cut but the prime minister didn't answer my question which was why did he make that promise he said before the last election prime minister or we're all looking up we will not be cutting our armed services in any form what did he do this week he cut the british army by 10 000 he cut the number of tanks he cut the number of planes for our raf and he cut the number of ships for the royal navy i say he the prime minister didn't have the courage actually to come to the house himself to say what he was doing so let me ask the prime minister a simple question going back to that promise before the election did he ever intend to keep his promise to our armed forces prime minister mr speaker not only not only did we uh keep our promise uh the of the in the manifesto we actually increased spending uh by 14 more than that manifesto manifesto commitment and i again mr speaker i think he is frankly satirical uh to be lectured about the size of the uh of the army when the shadow foreign secretary herself only recently wrote that the entire british army should be turned into a kind of peace corps um mr speaker and uh and when as i say the uh the leader of the of the opposition stood on a manifesto uh to elect a elector wanted to elect a leader who himself wanted uh to disband the armed services this is a massive investment in our defenses uh and in our future and it's wonderful to hear the the new spirit of uh of jingo that seems to have enveloped uh some of the labour benches uh they they don't like it happen mr speaker let's try this for oppam because um the prime minister might want to avoid the promises he made but i found an interview he gave during the general election campaign under the headline here's the headline no troop cuts tories will maintain size of armed forces it then goes on to quote the prime minister boris johnson has promised that he will not make any new cuts to the armed forces he also promised might want to listen to this prime minister he also promised to maintain numbers at their current level including the army's 82 000. now i know the prime minister's got formed for making up quotes but but can you tell us does he think the newspapers have somehow misquoted him or does he now remember making that promise prime minister yes mr speaker because there will be no redundancies in our armed forces and i said to him if you include if you include reserves where we're even keeping the army at a hundred thousand but on top of that mr speaker we're doing what is necessary to modernize our armed forces taking them into the 21st century building more frigates mr speaker investing in cyber war famously doing all the difficult things that labor shirked during their time in office including mr speaker modernizing and in upgrading our nuclear deterrent which again which again half the shadow front bench would like to remove leaving britain defenseless internationally [Applause] mr speaker i have every respect for our reservists but the ma the prime minister was just playing with the numbers he knows very well that the numbers have been cut the trouble is you just can't trust the conservatives to protect our armed forces that's well let let's look mr speaker let's look at their last manifestos these are the manifestos that those opposites stood on the 20 the 2015 manifesto i'm struggling to hear to lead the opposition and i will hear the leader of the opposition so please i want the same respect to the prime minister i respect for the leader of the opposition thank you mr speaker the 2015 manifesto we will maintain the size of the regular armed services the 2017 manifesto we will maintain the overall size of the armed forces 2019 the prime minister we will not be cutting our um our armed services in any form but the truth is since 2010 our armed forces have been cut by 45 000 and our army will now be cut to its lowest level in 300 years let me remind the prime minister remembers opposite why this matters lord richards former chief of defense staff has warned that with an armed force of this size now we almost certainly wouldn't be able to retake the falklands or stop genocide it says it's rubbish that's lord richards prime minister after 10 years of conservative government is the prime minister not ashamed of that well mr speaker this conservative government is massively proud of the investment that we've made in our armed forces which i say is the biggest uplift since the the cold war and he should look at what the nato secretary general had to say about our investment which is absolutely vital for the future success of the alliance and indeed uh for the security of many other countries around the world a 24 billion pound investment uh investment in the future combat air system and use army special operations ranger regiment uh 1.3 billion pounds to upgrade uh the challenger uh main battle tanks uh massive investment in the typhoon squadrons and so on we're investing in the future mr speaker and yes of course we've had to take some tough decisions but that's because we believe in our defenses and we believe that they should be more than merely symbolic and it's the labour party mr speaker who are consistently historically hilarious to be lectured about the falklands mr speaker consistently uh consistently weak on protecting this country and you and you heard it uh you it was most most visible uh last week mr speaker during the debate on the integrated review when it was playing that the shadow front bench couldn't even agree to maintain britain's nuclear nuclear deterrent absolutely true mr speaker mr speaker what's weaker than making a promise to our armed forces just before the election then breaking it and not being prepared to admit it not having the courage to admit it and there's a pattern here mr speaker he promised the nhs that they would have quotes whatever they need now nurses are getting a pay cut he promised a tax guarantee now he's putting taxes up for families he promised he wouldn't cut the armed forces now he's done just that so if the prime minister is so proud of what he's doing so determined to push ahead why does he at least have the courage to put this cut in the armed forces to a vote in this house prime minister mr speaker i'm proud of what we're doing to increase spending on the armed forces by the biggest amount since the cold war the only reason we can do that mr speaker is because under this conservative government we've been running a sound economy and it's also because we believe in defence we've been getting on with job he talks about nurses and investment in the nhs i'm proud of the massive investment uh that we've made uh in the nhs and actually we have 60 000 more nurses now in training and we've increased their starting salary by 12.8 percent we're getting on with the job mr speaker of recruiting more police 20 000 more people i think we've done 7 000 already while they're out on the streets mr speaker demonstrations shouting kill the bill mr speaker that's the difference that's the difference between his party and my party we're pro backs mr speaker we're low tax and when it comes to defence we've got your backs mr speaker can i just say i i genuinely mean this i do not believe any member of parliament would support that kill the bill i've got to be very careful who it was i say we are all united in this house and the support and the protection that the police do offers and nobody will shy away from that mr thank you mr speaker the question prime minister is why not put it and i have the courage to put it to a vote that question of course was avoided prime minister mr speaker like all of the questions and we all know why he won't put it to a vote let me quote his conservative mp chair of the defence select committee because he recognizes and he has experience and respect across the house he recognizes that this review means dramatic cuts to our troop numbers tanks armored fighting vehicles and more than a hundred raf aircraft and he goes on to say your mp prime minister cuts that if tested by a parliamentary vote i do not believe would pass not me his own mps mr speaker can i say this because i want to turn to another issue that affects thousands of jobs in many communities across the country five thousand jobs are at risk at liberty steel with many more in the supply chain the uk steel industry is under huge pressure and the government's failure to prioritize british steel in infrastructure projects is costing millions of pounds in investment so will the prime minister now commit to working with us and the trade unions to change this absurd situation to put british steel first and do whatever is necessary to protect those jobs mr speaker i'll just remind of course happy to cooperate in any way but the steel output halved under the uh under the labour government i share very much the anxiety of families uh who's uh with of steel workers who work in in liberty steel and that's why the uh the my honourable ronald from the business secretary has had i think three meetings just in the last few days with liberty steel to take the uh to take the question forward see what we can uh we can do we are actively engaged uh we're investing uh huge sums in modernizing uh british still making it still plants making them more environmentally friendly but we have a massive opportunity mr speaker because this government is engaged on a 640 billion pound infrastructure campaign uh hs2 the great dogger bank uh wind farms uh hinckley uh all the things that we're now building uh the beaching railway reverses all the things that we're doing across the country they will call for millions and millions of tons of british steel and now mr speaker thanks to leaving the european union we have an opportunity to direct that procurement of british firms in the way that we would want to do whereas i know that the right honourable gentleman would like nothing more than to take this country back into the european union and remove that opportunity for british steel and british steel workers thank you mr speaker last night i spoke with young people in abercrombie about their experiences of 12 months living with lockdowns they were very articulate about the challenges they've overcome and about their concerns for their future finding a job moving to a new university does the prime minister have a message for evie jonas saul and lauren who i spoke with and other young people who are thinking about their future and a life after lockdown yes my message is is just to thank them and to say for what they put up with and to say i'm sorry about how difficult it has been uh for for their generation i i don't think there can be any group of young people who have been put through much we've had to sacrifice so much uh in our in our lifetimes and uh we owe it to them to repair their education and to get them uh into work as fast as we possibly can and that's why we've set out the uh the two billion pound uh kickstart fund and many other schemes which i hope uh will be useful to his constituents let's go to the leader of the smp ian blackford ian thank you mr speaker yesterday my brilliant colleague the member for adrian shots made his final speech to this parliament he is standing for the scottish parliament and is doing the right thing by stepping down as an mp by doing the right thing he will avoid a dual mandate and a separate by-election that would cost the public 175 000 pounds mr speaker the scottish tory leader is also seeking a place in the scottish parliament but is refusing to step down as an mp so as his boss well the prime minister ordered the member for murray to resign his seat avoid a dual mandate and save the taxpayer five thousand pounds or are dual mandates one more tory policy where they think greed is good prime minister i think my honourable friend uh uh the member for marion ross is doing an excellent job of uh of holding the scottish national party to account for their manifold uh failings uh not least on education uh failing to uh deliver on crime and failing in my view to deliver for the people of scotland so caught up as as they are uh in their desire for for independence and another referendum and i'm uh for separation i'm amazed actually that he hasn't uh mentioned it so far but perhaps he will now let's go back to him blackfoot in simply yet again a prime minister failing to answer a question and that charge that greed is good in the tory policies mr speaker we know that tory leaders in scotland have a habit of dodging democracy baroness davison is fleeing the house of lords and the current tory leader is too feared to stand in a constituency no wonder this morning's daily record declared that the scottish tories have exposed themselves as shameless as nasty and just plain daft they are led by a man so devoid of imagination that when asked what he would do if he was prime minister for a day he replied i would like to see tougher enforcement against gypsy travelers does the prime minister really have confidence in a scottish tory leader who doesn't even have the courage to put himself before the voters in a scottish constituency of course mr speaker and uh the right the right honourable gentleman represents a party that's so devoid of imagination that it can't come up with any workable uh solutions to help the people of scotland uh improve their education uh improve uh the fight against crime cut taxes in scotland where they're the highest in the in the whole of the of the uk they're so devoid of imagination mr speaker they're the one track record uh all they can talk about is a referendum uh to break up the united kingdom that's that's the that's their song i'm amazed actually it's twice he hasn't mentioned it maybe he's getting nervous of singing that particular song how do you know he's rather curious mr speaker he's not coming back is he but but next week let's see after easter let's see if he remember he mentions it again baroque thank you mr speaker as my right honourable friend has already said and the steel industry is fundamental to our future in the uk and we can't reach our net zero commitments or our infrastructure targets without steel but stocks bridge speciality steel in my constituency does have an uncertain future because of the funding challenges faced by liberty group and the stockbridge works is a strategic asset of national importance so what assurances can my right honourable friend give my constituents that the government will do what it takes to safeguard jobs and livelihoods and secure the future of steel making in the uk i i thank my honourable friend and she's a a passionate and uh successful advocate for her constituents and for steel making in this country in which this government passionately believes and that's why as i was saying to the right honourable gentleman we're supporting uh the uk steel industry uh with uh with more than 500 million of relief but also uh with huge investments to make uh our steel making more greener and more competitive uh and we will we will do everything we can mr speaker uh to ensure that we continue with uh british jobs for producing british steel uh with the infrastructure investments that i've mentioned and directing uh those of that procurement at british jobs in the way that we now can the prime minister talks about restoring freedoms as we emerge from the lockdown it is pushing a bill that will restrict one of our most fundamental freedoms the right to peaceful protest and peaceful assembly and tomorrow he is asking for another blank check to restrict everyone's freedoms until september even though we now know the vast bulk of the coronavirus act is not needed to tackle the pandemic so will the prime minister for once match his actions to his words drop these draconian laws and instead publish a roadmap to revive civil liberties and freedoms in our country i i sympathize very much with his uh desire to see freedoms restored and i i i want to do that as fast as we possibly can that's why we've set out the uh the cautious but we hope irreversible road map that we have which i hope that he supports i hope the right honourable gentleman uh also supports that you can uh never tell uh mr speaker but what we also want uh to do is to make sure that uh we're able to deal with the very considerable backlog uh that we faced because of the pandemic so uh making sure we have powers still uh to accelerate uh court procedures uh with uh with zoom courts to make sure that we allow uh allow volunteers uh to continue to help in the nhs retired staff to come back to the colors uh powers that are necessary in education it is it is important to be able to continue with those special measures uh for the for the months ahead and that's why we've set out the bill as we have lucia thank you mr speaker my constituent tracy felstead is at the court of appeal today along with 41 other sub postmasters she is seeking to clear her name in a grotesque miscarriage of justice the post office horizon scandal the court has heard that the institutional imperative to back a flawed i.t system and to convict sub-postmasters destroying lives of decent men and women in a ruthless determination to protect the post office come what may taxpayers will be picking up the bill for this multi-million pound reckless wrongdoing does the prime minister agree with me that in order for justice to be truly done that those responsible for this failure and its cover-up they must be held to account does he agree that heads should roll uh well mr speaker we've certainly uh i i totally understand the uh the uh my honorable friend's uh strong feelings on this issue and i um and her campaign is one i think that is uh shared by many members across the across this house and that's why we launched the post office post office horizon i.t

inquiry which has made actually quite fast progress and yes we do want to learn the lessons yes we do i want to make sure that the right people are held to account for what happened and that the post office never repeats a mistake like this let's go to allan dollars alan thank you mr speaker and good afternoon subject to certain conditions being met the northern ireland act of 1998 allows for the secretary of state of northern ireland to call a referendum on irish new unification and for northern ireland to leave the united kingdom within seven years of a previous referendum these conditions for referendum have all been more than met in scotland since the independence referendum in 2014 seven years ago we are allegedly a union of equal nations so why is the democrat or the prime minister not agreed to a section therapy order enabling the democratic will the people of scotland to be measured is it because he's fearful of the likely outcome prime minister mr speaker i knew it wouldn't be long there they are uh the reason mr speaker there's a couple of reasons first of all as uh senior members of his party said it was a once in a generation uh event in 2014 i think the point of view that is shared uh across the uh the house uh and quite and quite rightly but but the other reason uh which is absolutely plain to most people in this country is that we're all trying to uh build back better uh get out of a pandemic uh and i think that is the priority uh for the british people i think it's the priority for the whole country and i think they'd i think people are frankly amazed uh to hear the scottish nationalist parties still in these circumstances banging on about their constitutional obsessions let's go to john thank you mr speaker scottish rugby legend doddy weir lives in my constituency and has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease and dory's foundation the my name's dordie foundation is camping campaigning alongside the research community patients mnd scotland and mnd association for the government to invest 50 million pounds over five years to establish a virtual mnd research institute now i understand positive discussions have already taken place with the health secretary but it's important to ensure other priorities such as this are not lost in the pandemic will the prime minister commit the government to supporting this initiative so we can work towards finding a cure to this devastating disease i i thank my honourable friend very much for raising this uh important question and for uh for championing research into intermittent your own disease and uh i thank him also for raising the excellent work of the uh the my name's dottie uh foundation and uh we've we've spent 54 million pounds uh in the in in the last five years towards uh this cause mr speaker and we're looking now uh to ways significantly to boost uh the research uh that we're supporting let's go to absolute calm absolutely uh mr speaker a year into this crisis and more than 126 000 lives have been lost behind this staggering figure are millions grieving their loved ones in my family we have lost an entire generation i couldn't hold my mom's hand as she lay dying and i recently lost both my father and mother-in-law within just days of one another grieving families like mine want and deserve to understand what happened and if anything could have been done to prevent this tragedy so will the prime minister today commit to launching a full public enquiry into the handling of the pandemic as soon as current restrictions are lifted mr speaker i want to say to the honorable gentleman that i know that the whole house uh shares my sympathies and my sorrow for for your loss for his loss and uh we sympathize also with your entire his entire family mr speaker and i know that uh his experience is one as he rightly says that he's been shared by far too many families up and down the country and that is why we are of course committed uh as soon as it's uh right to do so as as soon as uh it wouldn't be an irresponsible diversion of the energies of the key uh officials involved uh we are of course committed uh to an inquiry to learn the lessons to make sure that something like this can never happen again i'm just trying to push us through to get through the list andrew jones thank you mr speaker on the third of may wembley is scheduled to host the finals of the fa vaz and fa trophy not from this season but delayed a year from the last one but that date means that no fans can go even though a trip to wembley to follow their team is like a holy grail especially for the smaller clubs the mps for the clubs involved that's the members for northwest durham jarrow castle point and myself have raised us with the fa will the prime minister join us in encouraging those scheduling the matches to do all they can to move the date so that fans can attend i i hope very much mr speaker that the uh the football association will have listened uh carefully uh to what my honourable friend has to say and uh uh they they do what they can and i look forward to to may the 17th uh when uh spectators uh according to the road map uh may return ronnie collins yeah very much mr speaker 17 months ago prime minister i stood in this place and asked you what you're going to do to get medical cannabis to children suffering from rare forms of epilepsy and you said to me you recognized their desperate difficulties and that you'd take it up personally with me their differences are still desperate you've not taken this up personally with me in the interim we've developed new medicines distributed around the country given to people who need them free of charge why are we discriminating against your children what are they are they worth less than the general public and the prime minister moved to make medical cannabis available to children with epilepsy and if you could please prime minister take this of me personally five minutes of your time today could go a long long way well i'm i'm very happy to do whatever we can to uh to uh meet with the honorable uh gentlemen and take the matter forward but the the dutch government i'm told has uh confirmed they will allow the continued supply of bedrock and oil against uk prescriptions uh until uh at least the summer and the until until july as he rightly says and i my rival friend the health secretary is working to find a permanent solution i have no doubt that he'll be very happy uh to meet with the honourable gentleman let's go to director thank you mr speaker given the past 12 months i like many others would not want the job of prime minister even for all the tea in china however the job does give opportunities to directly improve the lives of people who are very very sick march is brain tumor awareness month and over a hundred thousand people have signed a brain tumor research petition calling for the government to match brain tumor research funding with other devastating cancers and we know through covered that properly funded research really can bring improved care treatment and a cure will my friend the prime minister meet with me to receive the petition when it is safe to do so yes indeed mr speaker and i thank him for what he's done congratulating what he's doing to champion uh research into into brain cancer and uh i know from activists in my own constituency where the centre of hope uh runs the hillingdon uh brain tumor injury group how vital it is uh because uh too often people don't appreciate uh the number of people who are the victims of brain tumors and we've put another 40 million into brain tumor research and uh we are certainly going to put more and i i look forward to meeting my honourable friend let's go to emma louis emma thank you very much mr speaker my constituents ronald and julia sheriff's daughter danielle currently lives in gran canaria last year aged just 33 she suffered an aneurysm danielle remains deeply unwell into her family are crowdfunding to bring her back home to live they have been advised that when she does return home she won't be eligible for the treatment that she needs on the nhs please can the prime minister support the crowdfund for danny and give his personal assurance that she will receive the care that she needs from our nhs i i thank her very much for raising the the case and i my deepest sympathies with uh uh with danielle and uh and her her family and we'll make sure that uh the relevant health minister uh meets her to discuss the case as fast as possible right let's just go to kelly thomas kelly thank you mr speaker 40 years on from my predecessor dane peggy fenner's opposition to the closure of chatham dockyard with the loss of thousands of jobs i am now opposing the closure of what today is chatham dots with the loss of over a thousand skilled jobs this regionally important asset home to successful marine and construction businesses all growing in spite of kobe to make way for flats short-term profit for the landowner at the expense of long-term economic and environmental benefit does my right honourable friend agree with me local councillors and the save chatham docs campaign that coastal infrastructure plays a significant role in the growth of our local economies creating jobs and clean marine technology contributing to our next zero ambition yes mr speaker one of the reasons why we put 24 billion pounds into defense alone is that it drives 400 000 jobs around the country uh including the building of uh of new frigates uh and new ships of of all kinds and i hope very much that uh chattan will benefit from the 100 million uh funding we put in in the 24th of december to rejuvenate uh coastal uh coastal towns the matter she raises uh the planning issue she raises is a matter for the uh for the local council but i do hope a solution can be found which gives the benefits that she describes for the local community let's go to paul blanfield paul thank you mr speaker last night i met again with leaseholders whose lives have been torn apart by the cladding and building safety scandal now the prime minister will recall that he told the house on the third of february and i quote no leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects but they did not cause and are no fault of their own no ifs no buts an unequivocal pledge now the government's measures so far fall well short of fulfilling it so could the prime minister say now not what has been done but what he will do to deliver his promise uh mr speaker where in addition to the to the three and a half billion uh of investment uh that were provided to to remediate the the cladding uh and the and the 1.6 billion that we we've already done we're providing a new scheme for leaseholders in in the lower risk buildings of i think the kind that he's describing uh to pay for unsafe remediation over the long term and there will also be a new levy and tax on developers so that they also contribute to the remediation costs so mike penny thank you very much mr speaker before the prime minister became prime minister we had a discussion to do with the prescribed medical use of cannabis and how it was helping to save really seriously ill children not hundreds of thousands but about 150. we changed the law in november 2018 to make it legal for these prescriptions to be written descriptions written by top consultants today we have three children that have it free on the nhs and 100 run around 150 children that have to beg and borrow their families and remortgage their homes so that they can actually pay around about two thousand pounds a month promise that this is wrong as a father like i am you would do everything possible for your families and these families are doing everything possible for their children can we have a follow-up meeting for the one in 2018 where i will bring one of the mothers who actually gets it free not to stop her getting it free but allow to explain to the prime minister how wrong this is that children's lives are being going to be lost if we have to go through the process that the nhs is proposing uh well mr speaker is the second time i've asked i thank my uh on my mother friend very much and he's right to to raise it uh and uh we will make sure that uh we have a a proper meeting with the uh with the tibetan health uh so that we can resolve the issue of how to make sure that the can or the uh the uh the cannabis based products that are coming uh from holland uh that supply uh can be made uh secure and can and can continue thank you very much mr speaker mr speaker can i personally thank you for your support for parliament's covered memorial quilt prime minister after uh pm keys i will be presenting my cross party private members build the coronavirus number two bill to parliament it's based on scientific advice sage guidance and lessons learned will the prime minister please commit to reading this bill and please provide me with response a written response maybe by tomorrow i know that's a bit of a long ask but if not within the next two weeks thank you i'm very happy to make that commitment mr speaker davis phillip thank you mr speaker to thank you mr speaker to paraphrase um the late great much missed eric fourth uh mr speaker uh i believe in individual freedoms and individual responsibility i believe that individuals make better decisions for themselves their families and their communities than the state makes for them i loathe the nanny state and i believe in cutting taxes prime minister am i still a conservative yes mr speaker let's go to dave duggan dave mr speaker we learned today unfortunately from the media rather than a minister that the treasury has informed the veteran's office that their budget is to be cut by 40 from 5 million to 3 million now this cannot be right mr speaker it's just yesterday graham day the sap scottish government's veterans minister announced a further 1 million pounds to support scottish veterans alone these disparate positions are irreconcilable this is a tale of two governments so will the prime minister follow the snp's lead and assure the house today that he will not allow this cut to uk funding for veterans prime minister uh not only was this the first government to create a veterans minister specifically with the charge of looking after veterans mr speaker we've not only have we invested in them uh but we've also taken steps to protect our armed service veterans from vexatious uh litigation uh pursued by lefty lawyers uh mr speaker uh of a kind sitting not a million miles away from me uh today uh who pursue them long after long after uh they have served that served uh queen and country and when no new evidence has been provided we tried to protect them mr speaker we have protected them and that party voted against it mr speaker let's go to andrew bridgen andrew bridgen thank you mr speaker the prime minister has always enjoyed his visits to my constituency of northwest leicestershire whether it's ashby de la zeus on the eve of the historic referendum or castle rock school coalville last august he will therefore be pleased but not surprised that uh leicestershire county council for the last three years has been the most productive county authority in the country despite also being the lowest funded can my right honorable friend assure all the residents of leicestershire that our conservative control county council will imminently benefit from fairer funding and the government's leveling up agenda so that it can continue to deliver excellent public services all right yes mr speaker i thank uh lester shakarni council for uh the way they're uh conducting themselves and for delivering value for money and that is what uh the elections that are coming up in may are all going to be about mr speaker invariably it is conservatives who deliver better value or deliver better services and lower taxes and that is uh what leicestershire county council has done and i congratulate them on it and i fully agree with what my honourable friend has said crystal very very grateful mr speaker the government has said that the community renewal fund is a fantastic opportunity for wales yet bridgend county is not listed as a priority place for the fund and on the 10th of february at the dispatch box the prime minister invented and i quote a world-leading battery plant for bridgeend in response to the significant job losses we've faced across my county borough in the last two years except when the prime minister has still refused to apologize to my constituents before when will he stop treating my constituents as an afterthought keep true to his promise of not a penny less for wales and ensure that he brings real investment to my constituents well in i can tell that uh the ronald mcdonald in in ogden across wales uh the people of wales and the welsh government will receive an additional 5.2 billion pounds of resource funding on top of uh the spring budget funding of 2020-21 uh 800 million of the leveling up fund is going to uh the devolved nations and each local authority in wales each local authority in wales will receive 125 000 pounds in capacity funding and i look forward to working with him and with welsh uh local government to deliver those improvements that's the final question i'm now suspending the house for three minutes to enable the necessary arrangements before we start the next business order

2021-03-26 03:23

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