Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) - 28 April 2021

we're now going to come to the questions for the prime minister i will first call the prime minister to answer the engagements question and then i will call andrea jenkins to ask her supplementary prime minister mr speaker i know the thoughts of members across the house are with the people of india we're supporting india with vital medical equipment and we will continue to work closely with the indian authorities to determine what further help they may need mr speak mr speaker i also welcome last week's court of appeal decision to overturn the convictions of 39 former subpostmasters in the horizon dispute and appalling injustice so when williams is leading an ongoing independent inquiry that will report this summer mr speaker this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and other and others in addition to my duties in this house i shall have further such meetings later today let's go to andrew jenkins andrea you're on youtube have you got the answer tell us more about pmq's i'm sure the prime minister knows the answer prime minister we can't do it what what i'm going to do we're going to try and come back i'm going to go to leader of the opposition [Music] thank you mr speaker can i join the prime minister and his remarks about the humanitarian disaster we're witnessing in india i know the uk has already committed some support but given the scale and gravity of the disaster i hope the foreign secretary will set out today what more the uk will do to help the indian people in their hour of need can i also join the prime minister in his remarks about the post office case and ongoing injustice and of course today is international workers memorial day and this day this year after all the sacrifices our frontline workers have made during the pandemic it's even more poignant than usual i join in solidarity with all those morning loved ones today mr speaker reported this week including in the daily mail the bbc and itv backed up by numerous sources that the end of october the prime minister said he would rather have and i quote bodies pile high than implement another lockdown can the prime minister tell the house categorically yes or no did he make those remarks or remarks to that effect prime minister no mr speaker and i think what i think the right honourable gentleman is a is a lawyer i'm given to understand i think uh that if he's going to repeat allegations like that he should come to this house and substantiate those allegations and say and say where he heard them and who who exactly who exactly is supposed to have said those who exactly is supposed to have said those things mr speaker because uh what i certainly can tell him uh and he asked about the october decisions they were very bitter very difficult decisions as they would be for any prime minister mr speaker because no one wants to put this country uh into a lockdown with all the consequences that means for loss of education for the damage uh to people's life chances to the huge medical backlog that it entails but it was thanks to that lockdown the tough decision that we took mr speaker that thanks to the heroic efforts of the british people that we have got through to the this stage in the pandemic where we find ourselves rolling out our vaccine where we've done 50 percent of the population 25 of the adult population have now had two doses mr speaker and i wanna i lockdowns lockdowns are miserable lockdowns are appalling things to have to do but i i have to say that i believe that we had absolutely no choice well somebody here isn't telling the truth the house will have heard the prime minister's answer and i remind him the minister of code says and i quote ministers who knowingly mislead parliament will be expected to offer their resignation i'll leave it there for now turning to another issue who who will be further on this will be further on this believe you me who initially and prime minister initially is the key word here who initially paid for the redecoration of this downing street flat prime minister mr speaker when it comes to misleading parliament he may recollect that it was only a few weeks ago uh that he said uh that he submitted that he didn't oppose this government uh those countries staying in the uh leaving the european medicines agency the fact that he was then uh forced to retract and leaving the european medicines agency was absolutely invaluable uh for our vaccine rhode island actually it was just last week uh that he that he said that james dyson he said that james dyson was a personal friend of mine a fact that james dyson has corrected uh in the newspaper this morning uh as for as for the the the latest stuff that he's uh that he's bringing up he should know that i paid for uh dining street refurbishment personally uh mr speaker and i can try contrast it uh i can trust it and any any any further declaration that i have to uh make i will if if any of what i will be advised upon uh by lord guys but if he talks about housing costs uh mr speaker then the people of this country can make their own decision in just eight days time because on average labor councils charge you 93 pounds more in vandy uh the conservative councils and liberal democrat councils charge you 120 pounds more that i think is the issue that i think is the issue upon which the british people would like him to focus yes mr speaker normally when people don't want to incriminate themselves they go no comment let me ask this let me give well let's let's explore this bit further prime minister let's ask it a different way either this is the initial invoice prime minister initial invoice either the taxpayer paid the initial invoice or it was the conservative party or it was a private donor or it was the prime minister so i'm making it easy for the prime minister it's now multiple choice there are only four options it should be easier than finding the chatty rats mr speaker so i asked the prime minister again who paid the initial invoice initially voiced prime minister for the redecoration of the prime minister's flat the initial invoice mr speaker i've given him the answer and the answer is i have i have covered the costs and i think most people will find it absolutely bizarre and of course there's an electoral commission uh invested investigating this and i i can tell him that i've conformed in full with the code of conduct with uh and uh ministers ministerial uh code and i've uh officials who have been kept uh uh have been advising me throughout this whole thing but i think people will think it absolutely bizarre that he is focusing on this issue uh when what people want to know is uh what plans a labour government might have to improve uh the life of people in this country and let me tell you if it talks about housing again uh we're helping people on the house i'd rather not spend taxpayers money by the way like the last labour government we spent 500 000 pounds of taxpayers money on the dining street fact i'd rather if i i i would that yes they did yes they did charting it up i i would much rather i would much rather help people on the get on the property ladder and it's this conservative government that has built 244 000 homes in the last year which is a record over 30 years this is a government that gets on with delivering on the people's priorities while he continues to raises i think issues that most people would find irrelevant to their concerns mr speaker he talks about priorities what's he spending his time doing this is a prime minister during the pandemic was nipping out of meetings to choose wallpaper at 840 pounds a rule a roll last week just last week he spent his time phoning journalists to moan about his old friend dominic cummings and he's telling the civil service to find out who paid for the redecoration the cabinet secretary has been asked to investigate who paid for the refurbishments in the flat why doesn't the primes just tell him that would be the end of the investigation mr speaker it's been widely reported that lord brownlow who just happens to have been given a peerage by the conservative party was asked to donate 58 000 pounds to help repay for the cost of this refurbishment can the prime minister if he's so keen to answer confirm did lord brownlow make that payment for that purpose prime minister mr speaker i think i've answered this question uh several times now and and the answer the answer is that i have covered the cost i have met the uh requirements that i've been obliged to meet in full and uh i when it comes to when it comes to the taxpayer and the costs of number ten dining street it was the labor it was the the previous labor come i think tony blair racked up a bill of 350 000 pounds and i think what the people of this country want to see is that is minimizing uh taxpayer expense they want to see a government that's focused on their needs and delivering more homes for the people of this country and cutting council tax which is what we're doing and it's on that basis that i think people are going to judge our parties on may the 6th yes that's the question that's what the public's scream at their televisions every pm fuse answer the question the prime minister hasn't answered the question he knows he hasn't answered the question he never answers the question the prime minister the prime minister will be aware that he's required to declare any benefits that relate to political activities including loans or credit arrangements within 28 days 28 days prime minister yes he will also know that only donation must be recorded in the register of ministers interests and under the law any donation of over 500 pounds a political party must be registered and declared so the rules are very clear the electoral commission now think that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred that's incredibly serious can the prime minister tell the house does he believe that any rules or laws have been broken in relation to the refurbishment of the prime minister's flat prime minister no i don't mr speaker what i've what i believe has been strained to breaking point is the credulity of the public uh he has half an hour every week to put serious and sensible questions to me about the state of the pandemic about the vaccine roller about what we're doing to support our nhs about what we're doing to fight crime about what we're doing to bounce back from this uh pandemic about the economic recovery about jobs for the people of this country and he goes on and on mr speaker about wallpaper when as i've told him umpteen times now i pay for it [Applause] mr speaker can i remind the prime minister of the nolan principles which are meant to govern the behavior of those in public office they're these selflessness integrity objectivity accountability openness honesty and leadership instead what do we get from this prime minister and this conservative government dodgy contracts jobs for their mates and cash for access and who's at the heart of it the prime minister major sleaze sitting there mr speaker meanwhile he talks about priorities crime is going up nhs waiting lists are at record levels of millions of people are worried about their jobs including liberty spear steel mr speaker don't the british people deserve a prime minister they can trust and a government that is mired in sleaze cronyism and scandal mr speaker mr speaker last week he came to this chamber and he attacked me for talking to james dyson about ventilators where we're now sending ventilators to help the people of india and the following day the following day mr speaker uh the labour front bench said that any prime minister in my position would have done exactly the same thing it wasn't only a few months ago that they were actually attacking kate bingham saying she was a crony when she helped to set up the vaccine task force that delivered millions of vaccines for the people of this country mr people helping us to get out of the pandemic this is a government that is getting on with delivering on the people's priorities we're rolling out many more nurses 10 000 more nurses in the nhs now than there were this time last year 8771 more police officers on our streets now than they were when i was elected including tougher sentences mr speaker for serious sexual and violent criminals which he opposed mr speaker we're getting on and violent by the way i forgot to mention it i forgot to mention it last night our friends in in the european union voted to approve our brexit deal which he which he opposed which enables us not just to take back control of our borders mr speaker but to deliver free of which it does which he fervently opposed and they enabling us enabling us amongst other things to deal with such threats as the european super league uh mr speaker but it enables us to deliver free ports in places like t-side and above all taking back control of our country has allowed us to deliver the fastest vaccine rollout in europe as he well knows what's up which would not have been possible which would not have been possible if we'd stayed in the european medicine agency which he voted for mr speaker week after week the people of this country can see the difference between a labour party that twists and turns with the wind that thinks of nothing except playing political games whereas this party gets on with delivering on the people's priorities and i hope that people will vote conservative on may the 6th let's give them comment down a little joy morrissey thank you mr speaker the uk is indeed a world leader in covet 19 vaccination may i thank the prime minister for the swift action he has taken to deliver this for our country and will the prime minister join me in thanking the many local volunteers such as kirsty griffith who has been volunteering at the marlow vaccine center and guy hollis and paul bass who who have been volunteering alongside the denim um community health and thank you for the vaccine roll out in south fox should thank everybody involved and it's been a fantastic national effort led uh by the the nhs led by overwhelmingly by gps but also by many others by local council uh officers uh officials uh by the army by many others and of course huge numbers of volunteers in in her constituency and elsewhere and i thank kirsty griffith sky hollis and paul bass very much for everything they've done let's go to the leader of the snp ian blackford thank you mr speaker and can i associate myself with the remarks of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition over the humanitarian crisis in india and the injustice over the horizon issue at the post office mr speaker over 127 000 people have died from covert in the united kingdom people have lost their mothers and fathers their grandparents and even their children nhf staff have given their all fighting to keep people alive that's why so many people find the prime minister's remark that he would rather let their bodies pile high in their thousands than go into lockdown utterly utterly sickening the bbc and itv have multiple sources confirming that this is what the prime minister said people are willing to go under oath mr speaker confirming that the prime minister said these exact words under oath mr speaker now parliamentary rules stopped me from saying that the prime minister has repeatedly lied to the public over the last week but can i ask the question are you a liar prime minister prime minister uh mr speaker i i leave it to you to judge whether the uh iran world gentleman's uh remarks were in order but i what i will say to him is that unfortunately but we're not savory and not what we would expect i'm grateful to you mr speaker uh but what i would say to the uh right honourable uh gentleman is that if he is going to relay that kind of uh that kind of quotation it is up to him in a place like parliament to produce the author uh who the person who claims to have heard it because uh i can't find them uh he says that they're willing to to go on oath perhaps they're sitting somewhere in this in this building i rather doubt it because uh because i didn't say those words what i do believe is that a lockdown is a miserable miserable thing and i did everything i could to try to protect the british public throughout the pandemic to protect them from lockdowns but also to protect them uh from disease and he's right to draw attention to them to the to the wretched uh toll uh that that kovid has has brought and we grieve and i know the whole house breathes for every family that has lost a loved one it has been a it has been a horrendous time but it is thanks to that lockdown and the vaccine rollout combined with the vaccine rollout though we're making the progress we are and i i and i may say we're making progress across the whole of the united kingdom let's go back to your blackfoot yeah thank you mr speaker and of course it's the prime minister's behavior which is not an order this is a prime minister who is up to his neck and a swamp of tony sleeves we've seen contracts with bronies tax for tax breaks and cash for curtains the prime minister has dodged these questions all week and he's dodged them again today but these questions simply are not going to go away so when exactly was money funneled through tory hq into his personal bank account when did he pay back this money was it an interest-free loan and who is the donor or donors who originally funded it is the prime minister aware that if he continues to fail to answer these questions that the electoral commission has the powers to prosecute him well the prime minister published these details today but is he going to wait until the police come knocking at his door yeah mr speaker as i've said i look forward to what the electoral commission has to uh has to say uh but i can tell him that for the rest of it he's talking complete nonsense and uh it is the only thing i will say is that uh it is thanks to our investment uh in uh in policing uh that we're gonna have another 20 000 more officers on this on the street of our of the streets of our country that is a fantastic thing and and we will be making sure that that gets through uh to scotland as well what we want to see what we want to see is a scottish nationalist government stop obsessing about breaking up our country which is all they all they can think about and talk about and talk about tackling crime and using that investment to fight crime which i think what the people of scotland want to see gary if the prime minister was to walk down bristol road south in longbridge today he would see a small army of jcb diggers leveling out the old mg rover westwork site to provide one of the biggest leveling up projects locally uh with 5000 extra jobs an industrial site but what people want to see too is a regeneration of northfield high street with a proper plan and money on the table and so does the prime minister agree with me that we need people like andy streets driven and energetic mayors delivering for the west midlands working with me and local conservative councillors to deliver on this plan because after all mr speaker teamwork makes the dream work yeah mr speaker i i i've lost an admiration for what andy street is doing he's a fantastic mayor of the west midlands and he's got a fantastic vision for transport for jobs for growth and recovery and i hope everybody votes for andy street on may the 6th right let us go to liz savile roberts list i think it's worth repeating the ministerial code seven guiding principles selflessness integrity objectivity accountability openness honesty and leadership the prime minister has spent the week ticking them off on his don't do list at the same time he tries to play down allegations of saying let the bodies pile high given that the sole judge on questions relating to the conduct of ministers and the conduct of the prime minister is the prime minister himself what happens when a prime minister goes rogue mr speaker the people of this country have a chance to uh make their own minds up on on may the 6th and they when they look at what's happening in wales uh mr speaker they have a chance to um make a choice between a uh uh well i'm afraid they're continually failing welsh labor government uh or welsh conservative uh administration uh in cardiff i i believe has a fantastic vision 65 000 uh high skill high paid jobs doing up there finally addressing the problems of the a55 getting 5 000 more teachers 3 000 more nurses into into the welsh nhs uh solving the problems of the m4 which i've spoken about so movingly many times in this chamber before mr speaker i hope uh the people will avoid voting uh for for for play conrad and that they will vote uh for welsh conservatives on may the sixth in wales duncan baker mr speaker as probably the only former subpost master in parliament the last sun last friday's ruling was the beginning not the end yes it would cost a lot of money and yes it would take time and there was more compensation that is needed but does the prime minister agree with me that only a proper judge-led public inquiry can really bring justice to those victims of this a horrendous accounting scandal and also hold to account those involved behind the scenes uh i i i share i'm so i'm grateful to my honorable friend for uh his expertise in this matter and uh thank him for uh for what he has just said because he's totally right i think that uh what happened to those post office uh workers the postmasters and some postmasters was appalling it was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in our history uh mr speaker and we are looking indeed at uh uh the issues uh involved and uh the former high court judge sirwin williams will be making uh recommendations about what further actions what further apologies uh we need to make let's go to howell williams hello thank you mr speaker the pm uh just raised the master of the last general election well in march last year this united kingdom conservative government intercepted the deal between wales and the roche pharmaceutical company for 5 000 daily covet tests instructing the company to reserve all additional covert tests to england those tests would have been crucial to saving thousands of lives in wales so as we go to the polls next week will the prime minister tell us why welsh lives meant so little to him uh mr speaker i'm afraid he the the honourable government is completely wrong in what he says about tess but i can tell him uh i can tell him that he's right about one thing which is that wells has made an amazing contribution to our national our uk fight back against covid and it was incredible to again to go uh to the wockart factory in wrexham uh to go to that site and it's it's work working together with oxford biomedica that has enabled us to roll out the oxford astrozenica vaccine mr speaker that has made such a difference and i i want to say a massive thank you again to those uh those welsh scientists all those people working in that factory because they have helped to save countless lives across the uk thank you mr speaker the integrated review confirms the vital role the atomic weapons establishment in berkshire will play in our future nuclear capability i want to pay tribute to them and particularly to the senior female employees who have won a slew of national awards for their work in defence science engineering and nuclear security given the government's significant investment in all these sectors would my right honourable friend say how he plans to improve women's participation in these fields where they've been historically under-represented and could i invite him to the awe to illustrate our success yes i i i will be uh honored to take up her invitation here as soon as i i can uh in terms of the female representation in that sector that she should of course knows that alison atkinson became the chief executive officer and managing director of awe in in may 2020 and there are huge numbers of opportunities uh for women to join our our armed services thanks mr speaker above all to the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war let's go to sir mate thank you very much mr speaker i welcome uh the prime minister's commitment last week to include aviation and shipping into our target emission emissions but surely the prime minister knows that we will miss this target if we proceed with a third runway at heath road and furthermore that that would undermine the progress that this government hopes to make towards net zero so will the prime minister take this opportunity to commit to amending the airport's national policy statement in light of these commitments mr speaker the the third runway at heathrow is as she knows a a private sector uh venture it's up to them to produce the the capital to do it i don't see any immediate sign of that particular project coming off i think what we should be looking at instead and what we are looking at is the prospect of jet zero aviation mr mr speaker of flying uh without carbon emissions uh or with far lower carbon emissions and uh it is in that area that uh the department of the bays uh and the dft are working together with the manufacturers so this ca this country leads in guilt-free flying thank you mr speaker right now in every part of the country levels of business optimism are higher than they have been since the start of the pandemic with many firms planning to hire more staff and create more apprenticeships for our young people and there's one factor more than anything else that underpins that optimism and that is the success of the uk vaccination program so does my right honourable friend agree with me that there's never been a more important moment for voters in scotland and in wales to reject the negativity and the divisiveness of the nationalists and instead look forward to a brighter and stronger future as one united kingdom [Music] absolutely i don't know why the uh the the shadow uh leaders uh pbs is shaking her head because uh surely she would agree with that uh we we want to work together across the whole of the uk and i i pay tribute to as i as i've just said to the incredible work of the of the whatcart factory in wales but there's also the valniva uh factory uh in scotland uh and the whole of the united kingdom coming together uh represented by our armed services and above all by our nhs helping to deliver that vaccine roll out to protect the country and take it forward let's go to janet david janet thank you mr speaker it is absolutely shocking that we have heard the editorial commission is investigating funding of the prime minister's downing street flat saying there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence why does the prime minister think all of these stories about sleaze corruption and dishonesty keep happening to him and his conservative government i tell you what mr speaker i think it's because people are absolutely determined uh to find anything they can hang on to uh to talk about except the vaccine rollout accept our plans to unite and level up across the country accept our plans to fight crime and give people the opportunity to buy their own homes because they don't want to discuss those issues because they can't win on those issues mr speaker because they've got absolutely nothing to say and that's what's become clear over the last year let's go to nick fletcher nick thank you mr speaker before i ask my question may i first ask the prime minister to join me in thanking all the staff at doncaster royal infirmary and the emergency services for dealing swiftly with a major water leak yesterday fortunately no one was hurt and all patients have been moved safely to other wards however back to my original question the local elections are only days away i would therefore like to ask the prime minister if he would offer his full support to doncaster conservative mayoral candidate james hart james like me is a local businessman and will shout out for our town and work closely with me on delivering the government's leveling up agenda hi minister well look i'm my my honorable friend is absolutely right first of all he's he oh hang on he's right mr speaker uh to want to thank all the staff of doncaster royal infirmary uh for what they did for the emergency services in dealing with the incident uh last night and i i'm glad to take that opportunity but i'm also glad to take the opportunity uh to support him uh in his campaign for james hart and i do hope that the people of doncaster will go out to vote vote and support him on may the 6th let's come to christian matherson speaker the prime minister promised in a series of texts to fix a tax issue for his mate to james dyson at that dispatch box last week he promised to publish those texts because he's not made good on that promise so when will he publish them yeah mr speaker i promise to publish the account of my dealings with james which is exactly what i have done and i can't believe they don't learn their lesson mr speaker uh they they attacked they attacked the government uh for having any kind of discussions uh with a british ventilator maker uh last week or potential ventilator maker last week and and then and then the following day they did a a u-turn and said that any prime minister would do it and they've now done another a w term mr speaker and they're trying to bash me again which is it do you do you believe the government should be supporting british manufacturing delivering that ventilators yes or no that's the question for labour let's go to dr luke evans luke mr speaker my constituency is best for bachelor of bosworth but we also have many other attractions like twice zoom mallory racecourse um garbage common and thorton reservoir now these attractions all support superb cafes and pubs with the bank holiday weekend coming up does the prime minister have any plans does he want to pop up to bosworth but more importantly what is the government doing to support these attractions and domestic tourism as we go into the summer i want to thank my uh honorable friend i want to tell him that no matter how many pints i joined him in lifting in the pubs of bosworth but i i could not do as much uh for the economy of bosworth as what we're already uh doing with the 56 million pound welcome back fund uh probably even more welcome than my presence in uh in bosworth i eventually i venture to suggest uh the hotly contested perhaps uh and uh and that we've extended the cut in d.a.t for tourism and hospitality uh to five percent right the way through uh until the end of september let's go to lillian greenwood lillian thank you mr speaker thank you mr speaker isn't the truth behind all of this the sleaze the scandals the jokes for your mates the cash for kerns that the prime minister thinks that rules laws and decency are for other people the sort of people who shop at john lewis or ikea or argos who don't have wealthy donors to fund their lifestyle not for people like him and his ministers prime minister and mr speaker i think what people think is that the labour party are losing all the arguments uh across british politics they've got nothing to say uh they've got no plan uh for our future and no vision for our country they see a conservative government that is getting on with uniting and leveling up with the most ambitious agenda any government has had for generations and i think that's what they're listening to let's go to ben bradlee ben i minister next week residents here in nottinghamshire will go out to vote for the first time since that incredibly successful 2019 election where they elected a full slate live to them across every constituency in this county despite that success many areas like mansfield and much of the new blue wall across the midlands and north will still have mainly labour councils at a local level there's no right on brooklyn to have a message for not your voters who have the opportunity next week to elect a conservative local team that can work with our mps to deliver for nottinghamshire i i want to ask i do and i want to thank him for all the wonderful work that he does for his constituency my message would be yes i hope that uh people of nottinghamshire will uh get out and vote conservative because if we who share your priorities on crime on the nhs on investment in infrastructure and on leveling up across our country so i hope you'll vote conservative on may the 6th right let us go to rachel hopkins rachel thank you mr speaker when was the prime minister and his chief of staff first made aware of the plan for a european super league i i first was made aware of a plan for a european super league on i think the sunday night and uh we acted decisively using using the the arsenal of legislative freedoms that we now have thanks to leaving the european union which he opposed of course was reacted decisively uh to make clear that the uk that the uk government the uk government took a dim view took a dim view of this matter uh mr speaker and the same goes for my chief of staff thank you mr speaker my constituency of stroud recently won the best place to live and there is much to visit there including a historic lamp standard that was erected to celebrate queen victoria's diamond jubilee and next year our own queen will mark her succession to the throne of 70 years and i would ask the prime minister will he join me in supporting the gift being proposed by parliament to mark her majesty's platinum jubilee i i i want to thank my honourable friend for a wonderful uh proposal and i would certainly encourage all colleagues to support and to contribute to her project we're now going to go back to andrea jenkins andrey thank you mr speaker next week we will affect health less torture now does the prime minister agree with me that for far too long labour have taken our northern heartlands for granted on thursday the 6th of may will have the opportunity to elect patriotic hard-working northern that like matt robinson then houchin and jill morton were in heartland they will be strong voices and champions for infrastructure and housing and jobs we must seize this chance to build back better after the pandemic and that only the conservatives will deliver on this uh well mr speaker i i they don't like that sort of thing do they they don't they don't like focusing they don't like focusing on the issues that actually matter to the to the british people and the people of of west yorkshire i thank my honourable friend she's absolutely right i hope they will go the people on may 6 will go get out and vote for a party that believes in supporting our nhs that believes in fighting crime not being soft on crime and uh that will bring jobs and regeneration across the entire country and i hope that they will vote conservative on may the sixth order i'm now suspending the house for three minutes to enable the necessary arrangements for the next business

2021-04-30 16:29

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