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  • >> Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab):

  • If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 23 October.

  • >> The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson): The whole House will be shocked by the appalling

  • news that 39 bodies have been discovered in a lorry container in Essex. This is an unimaginable

  • and truly heartbreaking tragedy, and I know that the thoughts and prayers of all Members

  • are with those who lost their lives and their loved ones. I am receiving regular updates.

  • The Home Office will work closely with Essex police to establish exactly what happened,

  • and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will make an oral statement immediately after

  • this Question Time.

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

  • in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

  • >> Dr Huq: I completely associate myself with the Prime

  • Minister's remarks about the tragedy in Essex—I do not normally do that, but on

  • this occasion I am completely with him.

  • It is good to see the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Question Time. Until today, I

  • think he had only ever done onein 100 days. We all know that he has a long list of shortcomings,

  • so could heWill he do something about one that he does have some control over and

  • get rid of Dominic Cummings?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I will try to reply with the generosity of

  • spirit that the hon. Lady would expect from me and just say that I receive excellent advice

  • from a wide range of advisers and officials. It is the role of advisers to advise and the

  • role of the Government to decide, and I take full responsibility for everything the Government

  • do.

  • >> Sir Patrick McLoughlin (Derbyshire Dales) (Con):

  • My right hon. Friend achieved what many said was impossible and negotiated a new Brexit

  • deal, which passed through the House last night. Does he share my regret that many in

  • the Labour party, including the Leader of the Opposition, voted once again to delay

  • our leaving with a deal on 31 October, not least given that he told the House on 22 February

  • 2016 that his party welcomed the fact that it was now up to the British people to decide

  • if we remained in the European Union?

  • >> The Prime Minister: As so often, my right hon. Friend has spoken

  • with complete good sense. I do think it was remarkable that so many Members of the House

  • were able to come together last night and approve the Bill's Second Reading. I think

  • that it was a great shame that the House willed the end but not the means, but there is still

  • time for the Leader of the Opposition to do that and to explain to the people of this

  • country how he proposes to honour his promisewhich he made repeatedlyand deliver on the will

  • of the people and get Brexit done. Perhaps he will enlighten us now.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): I join others who have expressed their deep

  • sadness at today's news that 39 people have been found dead in a lorry container in Grays.

  • Can we just think for a moment about what it must have been like for those 39 people,

  • obviously in a desperate and dangerous situation, to end their lives suffocated to death in

  • a container?

  • This is an unbelievable human tragedy, which happened in our country at this time. We clearly

  • need to look at the whole situation and look for answers to what has happened. I do, however,

  • also pay an enormous tribute to those in the emergency services who went to the scene to

  • deal with it. All of us should just think for a moment about what it is like to be a

  • police officer or a firefighter and about what it was like to open that container and

  • have to remove 39 bodies from it and deal with them in an appropriate and humane way.

  • We should just think for a moment about what inhumanity is done to other human beings at

  • this terrible moment.

  • Yesterday, before the Prime Minister decided to delay his own withdrawal Bill, he promised

  • to maintainLet me finish. Before he decided to delay his own withdrawal BillIf Members

  • care to look at Hansard, they will see what it says. The Prime Minister promised to maintain

  • environmental, consumer and workers' rights. Why, then, did he have those commitments removed

  • from the legally binding withdrawal agreement?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I do not think we could have been clearer

  • yesterday in our commitment to the highest possible standards for workers' rights and

  • environmental standards. Indeed, I think that one of the things that brought the House together

  • was the knowledge that, as we go forward and build our future partnership with the EU,

  • it will always be open to Members in all parts of the House to work together to ensure that

  • whatever the EU comes up with, we can match it and pass it into the law of this country.

  • That, I think, commanded a lot of support and a lot of assent across the House.

  • I must say that I find it peculiar that the right hon. Gentleman now wants the Bill back,

  • because he voted against it last night, and he whipped his entire party against it. I

  • think it remarkable that the House successfully defied his urgings and approved that deal.

  • What I think we would like to hear from him now is his commitment to getting Brexit done.

  • That is what the public want to hear, and I am afraid they are worried that all he wants

  • is a second referendum.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn: The Prime Minister does not answer the question

  • that I put to him, which was about environmental, consumer and workers' rights. I am not surprised,

  • because he once said thatemployment regulationwasback-breaking”, and he voted for

  • the anti-Trade Union Act 2016, which stripped away employment protections. The provisions

  • in the Bill offer no real protection at all.

  • Yesterday, during the debate on the Bill, the Prime Minister pledged that the NHS was

  • safe in his hands. If that is the case, will he be backing our amendment in the Queen's

  • Speech debate tonight, which would undo the very damaging privatisation of so much of

  • our NHS?

  • >> The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman is showing complete

  • ignoratio elenchi—a complete failure to study what we actually passed last night in

  • that historic agreement. It is very clear that it is open to the House to do better,

  • where it chooses, on animal welfare standards or social protections, as indeed this country

  • very often does. We lead the way: we are a groundbreaker in this country. I am afraid

  • to say that the right hon. Gentleman has no other purpose in seeking to frustrate Brexit

  • than to cause a second referendum.

  • As for the NHS, this is the party whose sound management of the economy took this country

  • back from the abyss and enabled us to spend another £34 billion on the NHS—a record

  • investmentand, as I promised on the steps of Downing Street, to

  • begin the upgrade of 20 hospitals, and as a result of the commitments this Government

  • are making, 40 new hospitals will be built in the next 10 years. That is this party's

  • commitment to the NHS.

  • >> Mr Speaker: Order. Mr Russell-Moyle, you are an incorrigible

  • individual, yelling from a sedentary position at the top of your voice at every turn. Calm

  • yourself man; take some sort of soothing medicament from which you will benefit.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn: Two questions and we are still waiting for

  • an answer, although we could do with a translation of the first part of the Prime Minister's

  • response.

  • I hate to break it to the Prime Minister, but under his Government and that of his predecessor,

  • privatisation has more than doubled to £10 billion in our NHS. There are currently 20

  • NHS contracts out to tender, and when he promised 40 hospitals, he then reduced that to 20,

  • and then it turns out that reconfiguration is taking place in just six hospitals. So

  • these numbers keep tumbling down for the unfunded spending commitments that he liberally makes

  • around the country.

  • The Prime Minister continues to say that he will exclude our NHS from being up for grabs

  • in future trade deals. Can he point to which clause in the withdrawal agreement Bill secures

  • that?

  • >> The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman is completely wrong

  • in what he says about privatisation of the NHS, and I must resist this, because those

  • 40 new hospitals and those 47,000 extra clinical staff, including 17,000 nurses, were not paid

  • for out of private funds; they were paid for by the NHS, and the reason we are able to

  • pay for them is because the Conservative party and this Government believe in sound management

  • of the economynot recklessly putting up corporation tax, not recklessly wrecking the

  • economy and renationalising companies in the way that he would do.

  • The right hon. Gentleman asks about the NHS in any future free trade deal, and I understand

  • his visceral dislike of America and his visceral dislike of free trade.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn: I actually asked the Prime Minister which

  • clause in the Bill protects our NHS, and obviously there is time for him to help us with an answer

  • on that. He should also be aware that no public capital allocations have been made for the

  • funding commitments that he has announced; all he is said is that there is seed funding.

  • I am not sure what seed funding is, but it does not sound like the commitment we were

  • seeking, and it sounds awfully like private finance going into the NHS to deal with the

  • issues it faces.

  • Less than one year ago, the Prime Minister said that any

  • regulatory checks andcustoms controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  • would damage

  • the fabric of the Union”.

  • Given that this deal clearly does damage the fabric of the Union, does he still agree with

  • himself?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I know that this was raised many times in

  • the House yesterday, and I believe that the Union is preserved, and indeed we are able

  • to go forward together as one United Kingdom and do free trade deals in a way that would

  • have been impossible under previous deals. This is a great advance for the whole UK,

  • and we intend to develop that together with our friends in Northern Ireland. But I must

  • say to the right hon. Gentleman and indeed his colleagues on the Front Bench that I think

  • it is a bit rich to hear from him about his sentimental attachment to the fabric of the

  • Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland when he has spent most of his political lifetime

  • supporting the IRA and those who would destroy it by violence.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn: The Prime Minister has a habit of not answering

  • any questions put to him. Northern Ireland will remain on single market rules within

  • the EU on goods and agricultural products, and the rest of the UK will not. As the right

  • hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) pointed out yesterday, that will create a

  • very real border down the Irish sea, which the Prime Minister told a DUP conference,

  • in terms, he would never doand it was not that long ago; it might have been when he

  • was trying to become the Tory party leadCowaner.

  • The Prime Minister told the House on Saturday there would be no checks on goods moving between

  • Northern Ireland and Great Britain, yet yesterday the Brexit Secretary confirmed to the Lords

  • European Union Committee that Northern Irish businesses sending goods to Britain would

  • have to complete export declaration forms. Is the Prime Minister right on this, or is

  • the Brexit Secretary right? They cannot both be right.

  • >> The Prime Minister: Let us be absolutely clear that the United

  • Kingdom is preserved, whole and entire, by these arrangements, and indeed the whole of

  • the UK will be allowed to come out of the European Union customs union so that we can

  • do free trade deals together. There will be no checks between Northern Ireland and GB,

  • and there will be no tariffs between Northern Ireland and GB, because we have protected

  • the customs union. This lachrymose defence of the Union comes a little ill from somebody

  • who not only campaigned to break up the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  • by his support of the IRA but also wants to spend the whole of the next year not just

  • on a referendum on the EU but on another referendum on Scotland. That is what he wants. This is

  • the threat to our United Kingdomon the Labour Front Bench.

  • >> Jeremy Corbyn: I really do wonder whether the Prime Minister

  • has read clause 21 of his own Bill. The Good Friday agreement was one of the greatest achievements

  • of this House, led by a Labour Government at that time. The Prime Minister unlawfully

  • prorogued Parliament. He said he would refuse to comply with the law. He threw Northern

  • Ireland under a bus. He ripped up protections for workers' rights and environmental standards,

  • lost every vote along the way and tried to prevent genuine democratic scrutiny and debate.

  • He once said thatthe whole withdrawal Bill, as signed by the previous Prime Minister,

  • is a terrible treaty”, yet this deal is even worse than that. Even if he is not that

  • familiar with it, does the Prime Minister accept that Parliament should have the necessary

  • time to improve on this worse-than-terrible treaty?

  • >> The Prime Minister: It is this Government and this party that

  • deliver on the mandate of the people. I listened carefully to what the right hon. Gentleman

  • just said, but has he said it before. They said we could not open the withdrawal agreement,

  • and we did. They said we could not get rid of the backstop, and we did. They said we

  • could not get a new deal, and we did. Then they said that we would never get it through

  • Parliament, and they did their utmost to stop it going through Parliament, but we got it

  • through Parliament last night. This is the party and this is the Government that deliver

  • on their promises. We said we would put 20,000 more police officers on the streets of this

  • country, and we are. We said we would upgrade 20 hospitals, and we are. We said we would

  • upgrade and uplift education funding around the whole country, and, even more than that,

  • we are increasing the minimum wage, the living wage, by the biggest amount since its inception.

  • This is the party that delivers on Brexit and delivers on the priorities of the British

  • people.

  • >> Hon. Members: More!

  • >> Mr Speaker: Order. There will be morecolleagues can

  • be entirely assured of that.

  • >> Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con): What plans he has to (a) encourage investment

  • in and (b) improve the transport infrastructure of northern Lincolnshire.

  • >> The Prime Minister: We will invest in infrastructure in every

  • corner of the UK, including spending £13 billion on transport in the north of the country.

  • >> Martin Vickers: I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply.

  • Three things that would encourage investment in northern Lincolnshire and boost the local

  • economy are free port status for the Humber ports, improved access to those ports by upgrading

  • the A15 between Lincoln and the A180, and improved east-west rail freight connections.

  • Will my right hon. Friend confirm his support for those proposals?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I can indeed confirm support for those proposals.

  • I well remember meeting my hon. Friend and his constituents in a corridor in Portcullis

  • House, and they raised with me the issue of the railway crossing at Suggitt's Lane.

  • I assure my hon. Friend that Suggitt's Lane is never far from my thoughts and that, in

  • addition to the other pledges I have made today, I have undertakings from the Department

  • of Transport that it will seek to find a solution and a safe means for pedestrians to cross

  • that railway line.

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

  • The loss of life that we have learned about this morning in Essex—39 people taken from

  • this earthshould distress us all, and we need to dwell on the fact that it happened

  • in the United Kingdom: people put themselves in such situations in the search of a better

  • life. We must not just brush it off as an incident. We have to learn the lessons of

  • why it happened. Our thoughts and prayers must be with everyone, including those from

  • the emergency services who have had to experience this most shocking sight this morning. We

  • need more than just warm words and that being the end of it. As a humanity, we must learn

  • from this terrible, terrible tragedy.

  • Within the last hour, the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales joined forces to oppose

  • this Tory Government's damaging Brexit Bill—a Bill that risks jobs, opportunities and our

  • entire economic future. Scotland did not vote for this toxic Tory Brexit or any Brexit.

  • It voted overwhelmingly to remain. Will the Prime Minister stop ignoring Scotland and

  • confirm today that he will not allow this Bill to pass unless consent is given by the

  • Scottish Parliamentyes or no?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I note carefully what the right hon. Gentleman

  • has to say, but, as he knows, the Scottish Parliament has no role in approving this deal.

  • On the contrary, it is up to the Members of this Parliament to approve the deal. I am

  • delighted to say that they did, although it did not proceed with the support of many Scottish

  • nationalist MPs—[Interruption.] Or any of them. But if he really still disagrees with

  • this deal and with the way forward, may I propose to him that he has a word with the

  • other Opposition parties and joins our support for a general election to settle the matter?

  • >> Ian Blackford: There we have it. The legislative consent

  • of the Scottish Parliament is meaningless in the Prime Minister's eyes. So much for

  • the respect agenda, and so much for the message in 2014 that we were to lead the United Kingdom

  • and that this was a Union of equalstorn asunder by the disrespect of this Prime Minister—[Interruption.]

  • Well, Conservative Members do not like the truth, but the people of Scotland have heard

  • it from the Prime Minister today: our Parliament does not matter. That is what this Prime Minister

  • thinks of our Government in Scotland.

  • Last night, the Prime Minister was yet again defeated by this House. He said that he would

  • pull his Bill, but he has not. He wants Scotland to trust him, but how can we? Fired twice

  • for lying, found unlawful by the courts, the Prime Minister has sold Scotland out time

  • and again. Parliament and Scotland cannot trust this Prime Minister. If he so desperately

  • wants an election, Europe is willing and waiting, so what is stopping him? He must now secure

  • a meaningful extension and bring on a general election. Let the Scottish people decide our

  • future in Scotland.

  • >> The Prime Minister: Well, what an exciting development! Perhaps

  • the right hon. Gentleman might pass some of his courage down the line.

  • On the point the right hon. Gentleman raises about our commitment to the Union, he should

  • know that, thanks to Scotland's membership of the Union, Scotland this year received

  • the biggest ever block grant—£1.2 billionwith £200 million more secured for Scottish farming

  • thanks to the hard work of Scottish Conservative MPs. Who is letting down Scotland? It is the

  • Scottish National party, with its lackadaisical Government: the highest taxes anywhere in

  • the UK; declining educational standards; inadequate healthcare; and a European policy that would

  • take Scotland back into the EU and hand back control of Scotland's fish to Brussels.

  • If that is their manifesto, I look forward to contesting it with them at the polls.

  • >> Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con): When my right hon. Friend was seeking to become

  • leader of the Conservative party, I was possibly the only one of our colleagues who asked him

  • for anything in return for their support. [Interruption.] I am being charitable. I asked

  • him for three things: first, that he would get Brexit done; secondly, that he would make

  • me a duke, because my wife fancies becoming a duchess; and, finally, something on which

  • the Leader of the Opposition certainly agrees with me, which is that Southend becomes a

  • city. When will these things happen?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his

  • support. I can say to him that our policy remains unchanged: we should leave the EU

  • on 31 October, at the end of this month. We will leave the EU on 31 October if Opposition

  • Members will comply. That is what I will say to the EU, and I will report back to the House

  • in due course. On his other two requests of a—

  • >> Mr Speaker: A duchess and a city.

  • >> The Prime Minister: On a duchess and a city, may I undertake to

  • report back to the House on the progress we are making, Mr Speaker?

  • >> Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): I wonder whether the Prime Minister has seen

  • the heart-breaking images of children being killed, mutilated and seriously injured on

  • the Syrian border. Given that the Turks are members of NATO and old allies of ours, that

  • we have fought with the Kurds, who are good and trusted friends, and that the United States

  • is a major ally of ours and the Prime Minister has a good relationship with Donald Trump,

  • will the right hon. Gentleman step up to the plate and show that the British Government

  • care about this and are willing to do something about it?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I thank the hon. Gentleman; he is absolutely

  • right to raise this issue. If I may say so, this is an appalling state of affairs, and

  • the House will be aware of what is happening in northern Syria. The British Government

  • have actively deplored this, and I have spoken twice to President Erdoğan on the matter,

  • both last weekend and this most recent weekend. I urged him to cease fire and for a standstill.

  • Everybody in the House shares the hon. Gentleman's feelings about the loss of civilian life.

  • It is particularly unsettling to see some of our close allies at variance. The UK is

  • working closely now, as he would expect, with our French and German friends to try to bring

  • an understanding to President Erdoğan of the risks that we think this policy is running,

  • and of course to persuade our American friends that we cannot simply turn a blind eye to

  • what is happening in Syria. The hon. Gentleman is entirely correct in what he said.

  • >> Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con): I am grateful for Members' comments about

  • the tragic events that unfolded in my constituency this morning. To put 39 people into a locked

  • metal container shows a contempt for human life that is evil. The best thing we can do

  • in memory of those victims is to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Will

  • my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to all those who attended the scene this morning

  • and showed incredible leadership and professionalism? Let us remember that the scenes they witnessed

  • will stay with them forever.

  • >> The Prime Minister: I entirely agree with what my hon. Friend

  • and, indeed, other colleagues in the Chamber have already said. As the Leader of the Opposition

  • said, it is hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those members of the emergency services

  • as they were asked to open that container and expose the appalling crime that had taken

  • place. I share my hon. Friend's strong desire that the perpetrators of that crimeindeed,

  • all those who engage in similar activity, because we know that this trade is going onand

  • all such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice.

  • >> Brendan O'Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP): In a dispute, diametrically opposed outcomes

  • cannot be equally beneficial for both sides. If the Prime Minister's great deal is so

  • good for Northern Ireland's seafood producers because it allows them access to the single

  • market and customs union, how would he describe his deal for the shellfish producers of my

  • Argyll and Bute constituency, who fish in the same waters for exactly the same catch

  • but will not have access to the single market and customs union? One has a great deal; what

  • does the other one have?

  • >> The Prime Minister: The fishing communities of Scotland will have

  • a fantastic opportunity, by the end of next year, to take back control of their entire

  • coastal watersall 200 miles of themand to manage their fisheries in the interests

  • of Scotland and thereby drive an even better deal for even better access to European markets.

  • That opportunity would be wantonly thrown away by the abject, servile policy of the

  • SNP, which would hand back control of Scottish fishing to Brussels.

  • >> Mr Kenneth Clarke (Rushcliffe) (Ind): Yesterday, my right hon. Friend achieved the

  • first landmark of his premiership by getting the House to vote, by a comfortable majority,

  • in favour of Brexit. If he now proceeds in the reasonable and statesmanlike way I would

  • hope for, he can go on to deliver Brexit in a month or two's time, before having a general

  • election on the sensible basis of a mandate for a Government on the fuller negotiations

  • that will follow. Will my right hon. Friend get over his disappointment and accept that

  • 31 October is now just Halloween, devoid of any symbolic or political content, and will

  • rapidly fade away into historical memory? Having reflected, will he let us know that

  • he is about to table a reasonable timetable motion, so that the House can complete the

  • task of finalising the details of the withdrawal Bill? We can then move on, on a basis that

  • might begin to reunite the nation once again for the future.

  • >> The Prime Minister: My right hon. and learned Friend makes a reasonable

  • case; alas, we cannot know what the EU will do in response to the request from Parliament—I

  • stress that it was not my request but a request from Parliamentto ask for a delay. We await

  • the EU's reaction to Parliament's request for a delay.

  • I must respectfully disagree with my right hon. and learned Friend, perhaps not for the

  • first time, because I think it would still be very much in the best interests of this

  • country and of democracy to get Brexit done by 31 October. I will wait to see what our

  • EU friends and partners say in response not only to the request for a delay from Parliament

  • but to Parliament's insistence that it wants a delay. I do not think the people of this

  • country want a delay and I do not want a delay. I intend to press on, but I am afraid we now

  • have to see what our EU friends will decide on our behalf. That is the result of the decision

  • that the Leader of the Opposition took last night.

  • >> Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op):

  • The National Farmers Union reported this week that 16 million apples have rotted away, because

  • the immigrant workers that normally pick them for the country have chosen not to come. Immigration

  • was clearly a big part of the EU referendum, and the Prime Minister has promised a points-based

  • system, but that is not going to allow for people coming here to pick fruit. What does

  • he intend to do to stop the scandal of British food rotting away in the fields?

  • >> The Prime Minister: To the best of my knowledge, there are more

  • EU nationals living and working in this country than ever before, and, in many ways, that

  • is a great thing, but we have, as the hon. Gentleman knows, the EU national settlement

  • scheme to encourage people to come forward to register if they are in any doubt about

  • their status. We will bring forward an Australian-style, points-based immigration system to make sure

  • that all sectors have access to the labour they need.

  • >> Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con): I congratulate the Prime Minister on achieving

  • so many things that the establishment said were impossible. In the light of that, may

  • I ask him to instruct the Cabinet Office to examine how we can bring an end to male primogeniture

  • and the ridiculous rules in the honours system that value women less than menhopefully

  • before he makes good on his undertakings to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West

  • (Sir David Amess)?

  • >> The Prime Minister: Speaking as the oldest son who has never seen

  • any particular benefits from that rule, I understand completely what my right hon. Friend

  • says. I will reflect on her request. I think that she speaks for many people around the

  • country who wish to see fairness and equality in the way we do these things

  • >> Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde) (SNP): There are families across the United Kingdom

  • who have children suffering from epilepsy. Many have found that medical cannabis is a

  • great help, but they have been driven either to act unlawfully or to pay huge sums of money

  • to gain access to medical cannabis. The Secretary of State for Health stated on 19 March that

  • in several months' time it will be made available. End Our Pain wrote to the Prime

  • Minister on 19 September and is still to receive an answer. When will the Prime Minister take

  • the necessary action required to ensure that those children can access medical cannabis

  • legally and at no cost?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I understand that people who require the medical

  • use of cannabis are going through desperate difficulties, and, of course, it is right

  • that we have changed the way we do things. The chief medical officer and NHS England

  • have made it clear that cannabis-based products can be prescribed for medicinal use. It must

  • be up to doctors to decide when it is in the best interests of their patients to do so.

  • I can tell that the hon. Gentleman does not find my answer satisfactory, so I will take

  • up the matter personally with him and with the Secretary of State for Health so that

  • he gets the satisfaction that he needs, and, more importantly, his constituent gets the

  • reassurance they need.

  • >> Sir Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton) (Con): When a high-profile person has been wrongly

  • accused of a sexual crime and has had his livelihood and reputation destroyed, following

  • which the police, it seems, would rather fight him in court than compensate him, might the

  • Prime Minister consider making it clear to the police that it is their duty to address

  • injustice rather than create and perpetuate it and that they should pay compensation rather

  • than waste taxpayers' money on malicious litigation designed to avoid doing so?

  • >> The Prime Minister: Yes, I completely agree. There is obviously

  • a very difficult balance to be struck, because clearly we do not wish in any way to discourage

  • the police from investigating and prosecuting offences, wherever they may be and no matter

  • how high in office the people in question may be. None the less, where the police do

  • get it wrong and where they have manifestly got it wrong, there should be a duty on them

  • not just to apologise, but to make amends.

  • >> Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab): When is the Prime Minister going to sort out

  • the difference between the BBC and the Government in relation to his party's manifesto commitment

  • at the last general election to maintain free television licences for the over-75s? When

  • is something going to be done about this?

  • >> The Prime Minister: The BBC has the funds, as the hon. Gentleman

  • knows full well, and it should be funding those free TV licences. We continue to make

  • that argument vigorously with the BBC. The hon. Gentleman asks me to put the screws on

  • the BBC. Believe me, we certainly will.

  • >> Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con): Telford needs its A&E and its women and

  • children's centre. The town will have a population of 200,000 within the next 10 years.

  • It is a new town—a former mining townwith pockets of deprivation and poor health outcomes

  • and, while funding is being pumped into the affluent county town of Shrewsbury some 20

  • miles away, Telford is losing vital services. Will my right hon. Friend reverse the decision

  • of the Health Secretary to approve this plan, and urge him to listen to the needs and concerns

  • of my constituents and the representatives of the local area?

  • >> The Prime Minister: As I have seen myself, my hon. Friend is a

  • battler for the people of Telford; she does a great deal of good work for them. As a first

  • step, my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary has called on the A&E at the Princess

  • Royal Hospital to stay open as a local A&E, but has asked the NHS to come forward with

  • further proposals for better healthcare in Telford. However, I will certainly take up

  • my hon. Friend's further points with him.

  • >> Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab): The elderly and vulnerable are more at risk

  • from scamming than ever before, and just this week Age UK has highlighted that the Government's

  • decision to scrap free TV licences for the over-75s will put them at further risk of

  • scamming; it is expecting fraudsters to collect the licence fee, door to door, once the Government's

  • decision has been implemented. Will the Prime Minister please prioritise the economic crime

  • that scamming is, give the police the funding they need to investigate and prosecute these

  • crimes, and reverse his decision to scrap free TV licences for the over-75s?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I must correct the hon. Gentleman, who just

  • said this is our decision. It is the decision of the BBC. [Interruption.] No, come on, Opposition

  • Members should be clear about what is happening. It is up to the BBC to fund these licences.

  • The hon. Gentleman's point about scamming is a reasonable one. We will ensure that we

  • give people the protection and security they neednot least through another 20,000 police

  • officers on the streets of our country.

  • >> Mr Speaker: Given that there is widespread sadness that

  • the very popular and respected hon. Member for Watford (Richard Harrington) will be standing

  • down at the next general election, it gives me great pleasure to call him now.

  • >> Richard Harrington (Watford) (Ind): Thank you, Mr Speaker; it gives me great pleasure

  • to be called. As you have pointed out, this may unfortunately be my penultimate Prime

  • Minister's questions and will unfortunately be your penultimate Prime Minister's questions,

  • but I hope that it will not be my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's penultimate

  • Prime Minister's questions.

  • Is the Prime Minister aware that many Members who, like me, voted for his Bill last night

  • but voted against the programme motion would be delighted to accept a reasonable compromise

  • for the proper scrutiny of the Bill, and that this was not a vote for revocation in disguise?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I thank my hon. Friend for his support. I

  • thought he was going to ask about the hospital in Watford, which I am delighted to say is

  • going to be rebuilt, along with many others across the country. I congratulate him on

  • being the Conservative Member of Parliament for Watford. I am delighted with all the work

  • he has done for his constituency.

  • On the Bill, I am delighted that the House voted in favour of it. Unfortunately, as I

  • say, it willed the end but not the means. The House of Commons has, alas, voted to delay

  • Brexit again. We must now see what the EU says about that request for a delay, and I

  • will be studying its answer very closely to see how we proceed.

  • >> Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab):

  • Last Saturday, Haringey Borough football club players experienced racist slurs, were spat

  • upon, and experienced the most disgusting behaviour during a grassroots football match.

  • Will the Prime Minister congratulate the manager, Tom Loizou, on taking the players off, which

  • was a very courageous decision, and can he explain to the House why bigotry has been

  • emboldened under the current Government?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I was with the hon. Lady until her last point.

  • I certainly think that racism in football is utterly disgusting and should be stamped

  • out at every possible opportunity. She will have seen what happened in Bulgaria. I am

  • delighted to say that the head of the Bulgarian football association was dismissed from his

  • position as a result of what happened in that match. We will certainly be making sure that

  • we do everything we can to stamp out racism of any kind, wherever it takes place in this

  • society and whatever form it takes.

  • >> Kirstene Hair (Angus) (Con): Connectivity across Angus is one of the most

  • urgent issues in my constituency and I want to see full coverage: mobile roll-out throughout

  • my constituency. I therefore wholeheartedly support the shared rural network initiative,

  • which is a joint initiative between the Government and the four main mobile providers ensuring

  • that we have masts innot spotareas and reciprocal agreements between the operators

  • to ensure that my constituents, and constituents across the United Kingdom, have that access.

  • Will the Prime Minister assure me that he understands that connectivity is a top priority

  • in Angus, and will he ensure that the funding that needs to go into this initiative to get

  • it going will be given?

  • >> The Prime Minister: Once again, the voice of Scotlandthe voice

  • of Angus. I thank my hon. Friend very much. We are indeed engaged in not just levelling

  • up the provision of gigabit broadband across the whole of the country but improving the

  • 4G mobile signal as well. It is our ambition to have 95% of the UK covered by the 4G mobile

  • signal. We have made changes to the regulations and the planning laws to make it easier for

  • the infrastructure to be put in placeand my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has just

  • assured me that her particular request is going to be addressed.

  • >> Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): The Mayor of London has cut air pollution

  • in central London by a third in the first six months of his ultra low emission zone.

  • Does the Prime Minister support the Mayor's plan to expand that zone and does he still

  • oppose the third runway at Heathrow that will reverse these gains?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I am as scandalised as the hon. Gentleman

  • about the failure of the Mayor of London to improve air quality, if that is what I understood

  • him to have just said. When I was Mayor of London, just to pick a period entirely at

  • random, we cut NOxnitrous oxideemissions by, I think, 16% and we cut particulates by

  • 20%. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that this Government have the most far-reaching ambitions

  • of any society in the EU to improve air quality. As for the Heathrow third runway, it remains

  • the case that I have lively doubts about the ability of the promoters of that scheme, as

  • I think he does, to meet standards on air quality and noise emissions, and we will have

  • to see how the courts adjudicate in that matter.

  • >> Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con): In this House, we defend forever the right

  • to peaceful protest, yet on 15 August, and just three weeks ago, pro-Pakistani organisations

  • held violent protests outside the Indian high commission. This Sunday, there is the threat

  • of 10,000 people being brought to demonstrate outside the Indian high commission on Diwalithe

  • most holy day for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. What action will the Government take to prevent

  • violent protests this Sunday?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I join my hon. Friend, who speaks strongly

  • and well for his constituency, in deploring demonstrations that end up being intimidating

  • in any way. He will understand that this is a police operational matter, but I have just

  • been speaking to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, and she will be raising it

  • with the police. We must all be clear in this House that violence and intimidation anywhere

  • in this country are wholly unacceptable.

  • >> Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab): Eight consultations on, and millions of people

  • are still caught by the leasehold scandal. At what stage are the Prime Minister and his

  • Government going to get a grip and end this feudal system once and for all?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I thank the hon. Gentleman, because he raises

  • something that is of great importance to all our constituents. We are delivering a strong

  • package of reforms. We will legislate to ban new leasehold houses, reduce future ground

  • rents to zero in all but exceptional circumstances and close the legal loopholes that currently

  • subject leaseholders to unacceptable costs. He raises a very important issue, and believe

  • me, we are on it right now.

  • >> Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): A toxic and carcinogenic bromate plume is

  • threatening my constituency. There are plans to drill a new gravel quarry in Smallford,

  • which may disturb the plume and cause it to enter the watercourses. Will the Prime Minister

  • use his good offices to ensure that the Environment Agency does not allow quarrying on this gravel

  • pit until the toxicity of the bromate plume has been fully assessed?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point

  • about the toxic bromate plume, which reminds me of the emanations we sometimes hear from

  • parts of this House. I will get on immediately to the Environment Secretary and ensure that

  • she takes it up.

  • >> Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab): Women who face sexual abuse often stay silent

  • and suffer alone. They blame themselves for the shame and guilt that they feel. They break

  • down and cry alone because they feel that no one will ever believe them, and they fear

  • repercussions if they speak out. The fear of not being believed means that brave women

  • put on a smile and go about their daily lives, an example of which we heard from my hon.

  • Friend the Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield). That silence provides the perpetrators of

  • the abuse with the get-out-of-jail card they need. Today, I ask the most powerful man in

  • the United Kingdom one simple question: does he agree that any woman who is subjected to

  • sexual abuse of any kind should be believedyes or no?

  • >> The Prime Minister: The hon. Lady raises a crucial issue that

  • many people in this country feel is not being sufficiently addressed. That is one of the

  • reasons we have expanded the provision of independent domestic violence advisers and

  • independent sexual abuse advisers. Every woman in this country who is a victim or a potential

  • victim of domestic violence or sexual abuse should have the certainty of knowing that

  • there is somewhere she can go and someone she can turn to for reassurance and support.

  • It is vital that, as a society, we ensure that. I do not believe that, as a country,

  • we are doing enough to bring rapists to justice. The level of successful prosecutions for the

  • crime of rape is frankly inadequate, and I wish to raise that with the criminal justice

  • system, because I have looked at the numbers, and they are not going in the right direction.

  • Women must have confidence that crimes of domestic violence and sexual abuse are treated

  • seriously by our law enforcement system.

  • >> Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con): I know that the Prime Minister, like me, is

  • a big supporter of Spaceport Cornwall, where we aim to launch satellites into space from

  • Europe's first horizontal spaceport by 2021. To achieve that, we need Government agencies

  • to ensure that the contracts and regulations are in place. Will he ensure that the UK Space

  • Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority have the resources they need and work at pace to

  • make the most of this exciting opportunity?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I congratulate my hon. Friend on what he is

  • doing to promote the prospects of the new spaceport in Newquay which this Government

  • are constructing; he is doing an outstanding job. I think we all have a favourite candidate

  • for the person who is best placed to trial one of the new vessels that we propose to

  • send into space. If it is a horizontal spaceport, I am anxious that it will take off at a horizontal

  • trajectory, in which case, even if we were to recruit the right hon. Member for Islington

  • North (Jeremy Corbyn) to be the first pilot, there is a risk that he would end up somewhere

  • else on earthmaybe Venezuela would be a good destination.

  • >> Stewart Hosie (Dundee East) (SNP): Mr Speaker,“I would vote to stay in the

  • single market. I'm in favour of the single market,”and if the European Union did not

  • exist, we would have toinventit. Those are not my wordsthey are the Prime Minister's.

  • What was it about the trappings of power that led him to abandon reason, embrace Brexit

  • and put so many jobs, so much trade and so much prosperity at risk across these islands?

  • >> The Prime Minister: As I said in the House on Saturday, there

  • are clearly two schools of thoughttwo sides of the British psychewhen it comes to this

  • issue. The House has been divided, just as the country has been divided. I happen to

  • think that, after 47 years of EU membership, in the context of an intensifying federalist

  • agenda in the EU, we have a chance now to make a difference to our national destiny

  • and to seek a new and better future, as a proud, independent, open, generous, global

  • free-trading economy. That is what we can do. That is the opportunity that this country

  • has, and I hope very much that the hon. Gentleman will support it and help us to deliver Brexit,

  • deliver on the mandate of the people and get it done by 31 October.

  • >> Douglas Ross (Moray) (Con): Last week saw damaging US tariffs applied

  • to many iconic Moray products such as single malt Scotch whisky and shortbread. These industries

  • have nothing to do with the dispute between the US and the EU, so what are the Government

  • and the Prime Minister doing to get those tariffs removed as quickly as possible?

  • >> The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend campaigns valiantly on that

  • issue, and he is absolutely right. Both the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I have raised

  • the matter personally with our counterparts in the United States. It is a rank injustice

  • that Scotch whisky is being penalised in this way, and we hope that those tariffs will be

  • withdrawn as soon as possible, but it has been raised repeatedly at the highest level.

  • >> Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): I would like to associate myself and my Liberal

  • Democrat colleagues with the remarks made earlier about the horrific deaths of 39 people

  • in Essex.

  • It is good manners to say thank you when our friends help us out, so would the Prime Minister

  • like to express his gratitude to the 19 Labour MPs who voted for his deal last night and

  • to the Leader of the Opposition for meeting him this morning to help push through his

  • bad Brexit deal?

  • >> The Prime Minister: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving

  • me that opportunity, and I do indeed express my gratitude, as I think I did last night.

  • I am happy to repeat that today, for the avoidance of doubt, to all Members of the House who

  • have so far joined the movement to get Brexit done and deliver on the mandate of the people.

  • I do not think I can yet count her in that number. Perhaps I could ask her, in return,

  • to cease her missions to Brussels, where, to the best to my knowledge, she has been

  • asking them not to give us a deal. That was a mistake. They have given us an excellent

  • deal, and I hope that, in the cross-party spirit that she supports, she will endorse

  • the deal.

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

  • On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

  • >> Mr Speaker: I say to the hon. Gentleman in all courtesy

  • that points of order come later. I am playing for time, as Members beetle out of the Chamber,

  • before I call the Home Secretary. I merely note en passant that there is a distinguished

  • orthodontist observing our proceedings today, accompanied by his splendid wife—I wish

  • them a warm welcome to the House of Commons; it is good to see them. Momentarily, when

  • Members have completed their beetling out of the Chamber quickly and quietly, we will

  • be able to proceed with the statement by the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

>> Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab):

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總理的提問。2019年10月23日 (Prime Minister's Questions: 23 October 2019)

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