Engagements

On Monday, we marked the 20th anniversary of the despicable terrorist attacks on 7/7. The painful memories of that dark day are deeply ingrained: 52 people were murdered and many more were injured. We thank our emergency services who ran towards danger with true bravery, and send our deepest condolences to the victims, the survivors and bereaved, and all those forever affected by that appalling day. May I also extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lord Tebbit? We remember his profound courage in the face of terrorism and a fierce devotion to his wife, Margaret. May he rest in peace. We also mark the 30th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica. We remember those lost, and redouble our efforts to fight hatred and intolerance wherever it exists. I am delighted to welcome President Macron to the United Kingdom. Our relationship has never been stronger and we are focused on tough new tactics to tackle illegal migration, on major economic investment to create jobs, and on leading our allies to support Ukraine. This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks? At a recent coffee morning, residents in Southampton Itchen told me how much they still miss the Bitterne NHS walk-in centre, which was shut down a decade ago under the Conservatives. May I begin by welcoming this Government’s 10-year plan and its commitment to neighbourhood health services? Does the Prime Minister agree that, as we put this plan for change into action for my local residents, Bitterne is an excellent location for the first new neighbourhood health centre?

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for making the case for his constituents. I know the Health Secretary will give it every consideration. The 10-year plan will establish neighbourhood health centres in every community and will make a massive difference, starting in the places where the need is greatest and life expectancy is at its lowest. I am proud that we promised 2 million extra NHS appointments in the first year of a Labour Government and we have now delivered 4 million. We should not forget that the record investment in the Budget, which made that possible, was opposed by all the Opposition parties.

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

I echo the Prime Minister’s sentiments about the horrific terrorist attack of 7 July. I was pleased to be at the commemoration service on Monday. In particular, our thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those who had to go on without their loved ones. I would like to pay tribute to Lord Tebbit, who died yesterday at the age of 94. He was a man of iron integrity and conviction, who, by his efforts, helped to save our country from the chaos of the 1970s. We all owe him so much. In its manifesto last year, Labour promised not to increase income tax, not to increase national insurance and not to increase VAT. Does the Prime Minister still stand by his promises?

Yes.

It is rare—[Interruption.] It is rare that the Prime Minister is able to give a clear answer, but I am glad that he has done so now. He also promised—in fact, he boasted—that he had solved the doctors strike. Only a Prime Minister who was so weak would give doctors a 28% pay rise—only for us now to see them vote to strike again. He folds in every negotiation and claims it is a triumph. [Interruption.] Yes, he does. We saw more promises at the Budget: the Chancellor promised that she would lift the freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds, because, in her words, they “hurt working people”. Is that still Government policy?

No Prime Minister or Chancellor is going to write a Budget in advance. We are absolutely fixed on our fiscal rules; we remain committed to them. We remain committed to our manifesto commitments—I realise that sticking to fiscal rules and manifesto commitments is a bit unfamiliar to the Conservatives. It is because of the decisions the Chancellor and this Government have taken that we can update the House: £120 billion of inward investment into this country since we took office; business confidence at a nine-year high—longer than the Leader of the Opposition has been in Parliament; Deloitte this week saying that the UK is now the best place to invest, creating 384,000 jobs. What a contrast to the mess we inherited from the Conservative party.

There was no clear answer there. The whole House will have heard the Prime Minister fail to rule out freezing tax thresholds. He could say yes to the first question—he could promise—but could not this time. What does this mean? He is talking about record investment and more jobs. We know that people are losing their jobs; unemployment has gone up every single month of Labour’s year in office. What does the issue of tax thresholds mean? It means that under Labour, millions of our poorest pensioners face being dragged into income tax for the first time ever. Does the Prime Minister think it is right that struggling pensioners should face a retirement tax?

For a Prime Minister or a Chancellor to say we are not going to write a Budget in advance is not a Labour thing or a Tory thing—every single Prime Minister and Chancellor says that they will not do that. We will stick to our manifesto commitments; we will stick to our fiscal rules. This is a language the Conservatives do not understand, and that is what got us into the problem in the first place. The Leader of the Opposition comes here every week to talk the country down, but that record investment—£120 billion—will mean good, well-paid jobs across the country. This investment is from foreign investors who can choose whether to invest in this country; they are choosing to invest in this country now, because they have confidence in what this Government are doing.

Investors are fleeing the country. The Prime Minister says he will stick to his manifesto promises, but Labour promised not to put a tax on working people and then we got the jobs tax, and all we have seen are jobs disappearing. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised “not a penny more on your council tax”. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that council tax bills will now rise at their fastest rate in 20 years. Will the Prime Minister admit that under him council tax is set to soar?

No, of course it is not. It soared under the last Government. Here she goes again: the Leader of the Opposition is back on familiar territory. She comes here every week complaining about the national insurance rise, and when she is asked whether she would have the courage to reverse it, what is her answer? [Hon. Members: “No!”] No, and I will tell you for why, Mr Speaker. She is too embarrassed to say that she does not want the investment that we have put in. That investment went into the NHS. The Conservatives want that investment, but they cannot say how they would pay for it. That is what got us into the problem in the first place.

The Prime Minister still does not understand, so I am going to make it very simple for him: this is a mess of his own making—he should not be asking how we would clean it up. The fact is this Government raised national insurance through the jobs tax, and that is why they have to put up council tax. The truth is that his catastrophic Budget has created a domino effect that he cannot now control. We on the Conservative Benches know that you cannot tax your way to growth, but now he is flirting—[Interruption.] Labour Members are all muttering, but I remember that Budget. They were laughing and cheering; they had no idea of the mess that they were creating. They should go and explain to their constituents why unemployment is going up. What is more worrying is that now the Prime Minister is flirting with Neil Kinnock’s demand for a wealth tax. Let us be honest about what that means: it would be a tax on all our constituents’ savings, on their houses and on their pensions. It would be a tax on aspiration. Will the Prime Minister rule this out?

The right hon. Lady says that we should not be asking them for advice on the economy. She is absolutely right about that; we will not be asking for their advice. What we did in the Budget was stabilise the economy through the measures taken by the Chancellor. What has that led to? Four interest rate cuts. For mortgage holders, that is hugely important. Compare and contrast that with what happened under the Liz Truss mini-Budget. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in the first quarter of this year; wages were up more in the first 10 months of a Labour Government than in the 10 years under the Tories. So no, we do not need lessons from them.

The Prime Minister says that he has stabilised the economy. Has he spoken to any farmers recently? It is time for him to take responsibility for the mess that he is making. He has been in office for a year, and all we see is him congratulating himself on what a fantastic job he has done. [Interruption.] Nobody out there believes it—not even Labour Members. What a weak cheer! He is congratulating himself, but we can compare records. He talks about the fastest growing economy. We left him the fastest growing economy of the G7. We cut the deficit in every year until the pandemic, and we got inflation down to 2%. On his watch, taxes are up, unemployment is up, inflation is up and this weak Prime Minister has been forced into a series of chaotic U-turns. Yesterday, the Office for Budget Responsibility said that our economy is being eroded under Labour: doctors strikes; tax bombshells; the wealthy leaving in droves. Is it not the truth that, under him, he is dragging us back to the 1970s?

We are responsible for 4 million extra appointments in the NHS; we are responsible for a 10-year plan on the future of the NHS after the Conservatives broke it; we are also responsible for free school meals being rolled out in a way that has never been done by anybody—breakfast clubs being rolled out, family hubs being rolled out, transport across the country, and migration coming down. We take responsibility and we are proud of that.

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting that exciting proposal. He is a fantastic advocate for Portland and South Dorset. Eden Portland is a hugely exciting project. I cannot confirm funding allocations yet, but our £240 million growth mission fund should support transformative projects that give local leaders real investment to deliver real change. He makes a compelling case in relation to the fund.

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

May I associate myself and my party with the Prime Minister’s comments about the horrifying terrorist bombing of 7/7 here in London? Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and our emergency services. May I also join in sending condolences to the family of Lord Tebbit. He was a man of service—in the RAF, in politics and as a carer for his wife, Margaret. He will be greatly missed. After years of Conservative neglect, the special educational needs system is in desperate need of repair, but with parents understandably worried, we already hear Labour MPs planning another rebellion, so may I make this offer to the Prime Minister? If he genuinely wants to fix the problem and not strip away the rights of children and parents in some cost-cutting exercise, we have 72 votes to help. Will the Prime Minister look at the five tests for SEND reform that we have published today and work with us to make it happen?

It is telling that when the right hon. Gentleman asks about the broken SEND system, the Tory Back Benchers laugh; that is how seriously they take their responsibility. It is an absolute shame. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, every week in this House, Members raise the issue with me—I think it has been raised with me more times than anything else. Everyone knows that the SEND system is broken; guess who broke it, along with everything else? The system does not work for parents and it lets down children, so we need to reform and change it. It is not about saving money; we have already invested an additional £1 billion in SEND. It is about creating a new system that truly supports every child. We are developing proposals, and we want to work with parents and teachers to get this right. I would expect the right hon. Gentleman to welcome that.

I thank the Prime Minister for his reply. We want to work across the House to fix the mess that the Tories left, but we do not want another welfare-style mess this time; we have to fix the system properly for parents and children. The Conservative Government badly undermined the security of our borders by ripping up the returns agreement that allowed us to send migrants back to Europe. I hope that the Prime Minister can secure a new returns agreement with France that acts as a real deterrent and stops the boats. The Conservatives also sent hundreds of millions of pounds to France and got nothing in return. Does the Prime Minister agree that any new funding to the French Government must be conditional on them agreeing a returns deal and doing their bit to stop the boats?

We are working closely with the French on this issue. We will only provide funding that delivers on our priorities. We are working together closely, and we share information to a much greater extent than was the case before. We have a new specialist intelligence unit at Dunkirk, and we are the first Government to persuade the French to review their laws and tactics on the north coast in order to take more effective action. I will be discussing this at meetings with President Macron today and tomorrow.

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, and I hope it was heard by those on the Conservative Benches. It is an absolute scandal that failed personal protective equipment contracts were handed out by the Conservatives, costing taxpayers £1.4 billion. We are focused on getting our money back. I can confirm that the commissioner is now investigating fraud involving bounce back and business support loans, and we will continue to go after the fraudsters, grifters and con artists, no matter who they are or where we find them.

The main reason—[Interruption.]

Order. Some of you want to get in later. If this takes forever, you will not get in.

The main reason why that this country wisely voted for Brexit back in 2016, including millions of Labour supporters, is that we wanted to take back control of our borders, so that we alone decide who comes and settles in our country. Does the Prime Minister understand that this demand is even greater today than it was back in 2016, and that we demand—the country demands—[Interruption.] Does the Prime Minister understand that the country demands that he says to the French President that we will not accept undocumented males coming across the English channel, and that he is not dictated to by an increasingly arrogant, anti-Brexit French President?

We are fixing the mess that we inherited, and we are working with other countries to ensure that we take the measures necessary to stop people crossing the channel. They are serious answers to serious problems. For 10 years, the hon. Member’s proposal—the tail wagging the Tory dog—has been to break everything and claim that it is how you fix things, and to stick two fingers up at our neighbours and then expect them to work with us. He voted against the borders Bill, which gives more powers to our law enforcement to deal with security at our border. The reason for that is that he has no interest in fixing the problem; he wants to milk it and exploit it. That is the truth about him and his party.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We have discussed this before; he is a brilliant champion for Exeter. Every child should have support to realise their potential. The Conservative party tore up Sure Start and took it out of our communities—an act of vandalism that abandoned families and deepened inequalities. We are delivering 1,000 Best Start family hubs across the country. That is in addition to free childcare being rolled out, and expanding free school meals. That is the change that a Labour Government make.

I am really not going to take advice from a party that put forward £80 billion of unfunded commitments at the last election; that is the sort of thing that got us into the problem in the first place. We cannot just tax our way to growth; we need to ensure that we put in place the necessary measures. We are putting in place planning reforms to drive growth. The hon. Member voted against that, and the Opposition voted against that.

I am proud that we will give 15 million workers—half of all workers—stronger rights at work. We are ensuring sick pay for up to 1.3 million of the lowest paid, tackling sexual harassment, and providing bereavement leave for families who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Compare that to the Leader of the Opposition, who thinks that maternity pay is “excessive”, and the leader of Reform, who wants working people to pay tax so that there can be tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Both of them vote against reform and better protection of workers at every turn. They always have, and they always will. They offer nothing for working people.

May I join the right hon. Gentleman in thanking the veterans here today, and all veterans? He knows that this is a serious issue, and the end of his question did not really reflect that seriousness. The scheme set up by the Conservative party was found to be unlawful in the courts, and he knows it. It was not supported by communities. It would have meant, as he knows, immunity from prosecution for those who committed the most appalling terrorist crimes, and that is why it did not have support in the communities or from any political party in Northern Ireland. That was among the reasons it was found to be unlawful. We have to tread carefully, and we have to get this right. I will work with the right hon. Gentleman on that, but we do not get there by cheapening the debate. [Interruption.] This is not about political point-scoring. I have worked in Northern Ireland, I have spoken to many of the people affected, and I know that we must get this right. I want to do so, and I want the House to do that together, if we possibly can, because it matters; but we have to do this in a serious way, and address the issues of the past in a way that has the support of victims and survivors. That is a key test for me, because without their support, it is very hard to come up with something that will have the confidence of everybody in Northern Ireland. That is why we have to work in this way. In advance of the new legislation, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland continues to engage with veterans and their communities to ensure that legacy mechanisms are fair, lawful and proportionate. I will continue to work with the right hon. Gentleman and others in the House, because the most important thing is not scoring points, but getting it right.

The Conservative party failed to give children the support they need. The 10-year plan that we have put forward will rewire our NHS and transform mental health services, with 85 dedicated mental health A&E departments, giving 24/7 support; specialist mental health professionals in every school and college, benefiting 1 million young people this year alone; and an extra 8,500 mental health staff to tackle long waits. That is only possible because of the decisions that we took to invest in our NHS—decisions that the Conservatives opposed.

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this issue. I know it is of concern to her, and to many people across the House. The system we have is broken; it does not serve anyone well. We have to reform it, and I set out in an earlier answer the steps that we are taking. We will share those with the House, and I hope that we can get the greatest support possible for the reform that I think everybody here knows has to happen.

It is so good to see a strong Labour MP standing up for Wales and her constituency. She makes her case; I cannot confirm the plans yet, but we will consider recommendations from the Burns commission, which includes a proposal for a new station in her constituency. I am delighted that just this week we set out our major road and rail schemes across the country, including the A66, the Newark bypass and the midlands rail hub, creating tens of thousands of jobs, new homes and better journeys for millions of travellers.

It is another shameful legacy of the Conservative party that one in four adults struggles with NHS care and that tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admissions for children aged five to nine—that happened on their watch. We are fixing this, and I can set out what we are doing. We are rolling out 700,000 urgent and emergency appointments, reforming the dental contract, and recruiting more dentists and newly qualified dentists, who will practice in the NHS for a minimum period. All of that is made possible only by the investment we put in in the Budget, which the Conservatives all opposed.

My hon. Friend is right to highlight this issue. In March, we saw a major crackdown against criminals using high street businesses to launder money at almost 400 properties, which involved securing freezing orders over bank accounts totalling more than £1 million and arresting 35 individuals. There is much more to come, and I thank her for highlighting this really important issue.

We are fixing the problem that they—[Interruption.] The Conservatives said they would take control of the borders and they lost it. We are working hard with our allies. We want to bring forward more powers for law enforcement on our borders, through our borders Bill, to give them the powers they need to take on the job and deal with the problem. And what did the Conservatives do? They voted against it—a confected argument.

Tomorrow evening sees the annual national police bravery awards. Three of the officers nominated this year are three of those who were first on the scene of the tragedy in my Southport constituency last summer. Will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to Sergeant Gregory Gillespie, Constable Luke Holden and PCSO Timothy Parry, who are with us in the Gallery today, for their immense bravery in the face of evil? Does he agree that, just as our brave officers will always protect and defend us when we need them to, this Government will always support our brave officers in return?

Can I start by saying that the thoughts of the whole House are of course with the families of those who lost their little girls and with all those affected by this terrible incident? I would like to put on the record our heartfelt thanks to all those who responded and those who are with us today—Sergeant Gregory Gillespie, PC Luke Holden and PCSO Timothy Parry. These officers ran towards danger to protect young lives. I have met a number of them, and it is truly humbling to see the bravery and professionalism that they brought to their job that day and every day. Southport is a wonderful and loving community. In difficult days, they have shown kindness, empathy and courage. I thank my hon. Friend for all that he has done in relation to those values.

I thank the hon. Member for raising this particular case, which saw a grave miscarriage of justice. The statutory test for compensation has been raised in the House before, and I have undertaken to look at it. I know he is working with the Minister responsible on the particular case he raises.

I thank the Prime Minister for leading from the front in promoting the importance of his role as a father and keeping time for family life. I am delighted that in the past week, the Government have launched a review into parental leave and started to rebuild the legacy of Sure Start by launching our Best Start family hubs. Both of those will make a huge difference to my constituents in Ribble Valley. Can he commit to the parental leave review creating some truly ambitious outcomes, so that we can make the UK not only a world-leading place to live and do business, but the best place in the world to live a rewarding family life?

The first full review of parental leave and pay is a landmark moment. The current system is simply out of date and too complicated. One in three dads do not take paternity leave, often because they cannot afford to do so. That is a great loss to them and their children. I want parents to be able to give their child the best care, and I want to make the system work better for employers.

What an invitation! I am grateful for the invite to join the medieval festival, but if I wanted to see a load of people stuck in the past and fighting each other, I would probably go to the next meeting of the shadow Cabinet. I will consider it—thank you.

That completes Prime Minister’s questions.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During PMQs, my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) asked what I thought was quite a reasonable question. I knew what the question was going to be, but during PMQs, I could not hear a single word—like other Members in the Chamber, I am sure—because the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed), who is behind me, and others never shut up all the way through it. We in Reform UK do not subscribe to that sort of dog-whistle politics. Will you please advise us, Mr Speaker, of how to stop this behaviour in the future?

I think Mr Farage is capable of dealing with his own battles, as we have seen on many occasions. I would say that this is about the respect and tolerance that we should show each other. What we do in here is reflected outside, so please let us show common sense and respect for each other.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At Prime Minister’s questions, the Prime Minister claimed in response to my question that the Green party had made unfunded spending commitments in our general election manifesto. He also said that to me at last week’s Prime Minister’s questions. That is clearly untrue; our manifesto was fully costed, including through proposals for the wealth tax that I was calling for. Will you outline, Mr Speaker, how I might correct the record? Should I send a copy of our manifesto to the Prime Minister?

I will not continue the debate from Prime Minister’s questions, which I have ended. The hon. Gentleman has corrected the record with what he has stated, which is now on the record.