10/01/2018 Daily Politics

Morning folks, welcome

to the Daily Politics.

Theresa May has put a newish Cabinet

in place with some difficulty.

And she didn't always

get what she wanted.

The reshuffle of the minions went

a bit more smoothly,

if anybody noticed.

So, another shambles,

or a fresh-faced reflection

of modern Britain?

The NHS.

Housing.

Brexit.

There won't be much of a breather

for the new cabinet -

we take a look at government

priorities for 2018.

Theresa May will square up

to Jeremy Corbyn in the first

Prime Minister's Questions of 2018.

We'll bring you that live

and uninterrupted at noon.

All that coming up in

the next hour and a half.

And with us for the duration two

people doing exactly the same job

now as they did last week -

the Leader of the House of Commons,

Andrea Leadsom, and the Shadow Work

and Pensions Secretary,

Debbie Abrahams.

Welcome.

Happy new year to you both.

Now, if you read the papers

at the weekend, you may have read

that Andrea Leadsom was going be

moved from her post as Leader

of the House in the reshuffle,

but we knew that wasn't going

to happen when we spotted this -

Andrea chopping vegetables in her

very own Leader of the House apron.

I've now got my own apron

and, Debbie Abrahams,

we're going to bullet proof

you against a future

Labour reshuffle with your

very own Shadow Work

and Pensions Secretary apron.

Can we scratch that bit out?

You may

have to change it. Come the time. We

will do that as well. If Andrea can

keep her post wearing an apron, you

can too. Let's talk about the

reshuffle. We learned in 2017 that

when it came to election campaigns,

Mrs May couldn't organise them for

toffee. We have learned already in

2018 when it cops to reshuffle --

comes to reshuffles, it is the a

party in a brewery.

I disagree, we

have a new cabinet focussing on the

Prime Minister's priority,

particularly housing, social care,

we have new female members of

cabinet.

You haven't got any more.

But we have some fresh faces and

let's be clear what the Prime

Minister was setting out to achieve

was to improve the pipeline of

newer, younger MPs who are diverse.

Many more women.

I take that at the

lower levels, but you say it is new,

it is not a new cabinet, the big

beasts haven't changed, we perhaps

include yourself in that. There is

no more women than before. There is

no change in the racial diversity of

the cabinet. There is a net loss of

one LGBT cabinet minister and there

is fewer from comprehensives. Fewer

non-Oxbridge. How is this a new

cabinet for the 21st Century.

That

is to miss the point. The cabinet is

a core part of government, so are

the Whitehall teams.

Why was the

cabinet not changed?

You need to

give people the opportunity to get

experience and understand the

machinery of government and we have

some fantastic new people who are at

under-Secretary of state level.

They're integral to policy

development and thinking and new

ideas. And of course the next step

is with that experience they then

will be looking at cabinet posts.

Some have been around for a while.

You can't just look at the cabinet.

You mentioned the cabinet in your

first answer to my question. You

mentioned the cabinet. Not me. So I

told you what had changed in the

cabinet, which is very little. What

does it say of Prime Minister that

she wasn't strong enough to move her

health Secretary.

I don't think any

of us know exactly what happened in

those conversations.

We do, she

tried to move him and he said he

wouldn't go.

Jeremy Hunt has been

doing an incredibly good job.

So why

try to move on.

He is determined to

take on the challenge of social

care. Great news we are living

longer bs but the challenge is

there. I don't know that she tried

to move him.

You must be the only

person in the country who doesn't.

The press have speculated on it.

Downing Street and Jeremy Hunt's

people have briefed the press. Did

she try to move you?

I had a very

brief and very pleasant conversation

with the Prime Minister where she

told me there is a lot of important

work to do and asked me to stay in

my job and I was delighted to do.

She didn't mention moving you.

No.

Were you nervous she might, you were

tweeting and playing for position.

No, I was relaxed about my position.

All right. On the lower ranks, the

minute yons, there is a big change

in the diversity, and these will

probably be the Tory cabinet

ministers of tomorrow. Does that

worry you?

No, I think we should

welcome any increase in diversity at

all levels within government.

However, you have raised the points

already, in terms of the cabinet

that is not the case. If you compare

that to our Shadow Cabinet which has

50% women a range of ages and then

people from across the groups as

well. It is quite a difference. Your

point around the shambolic reshuffle

is well made. We had Chris Grayling

as chairman and then he wasn't.

That

was a good Tory head quarters,

they're still trying to get to grips

with social media, or the quill pen!

The point around Jeremy Hunt doing a

good job and being retained, look at

it.

We will come on to it. Let me

stop you, not because I don't want

you to talk about that, because we

are coming on to that as you would

expect us.

With the reshuffle done,

it's now time for Theresa May

and her team to get on with the job,

as they say.

There won't be much of a breather

for the new cabinet

as the Prime Minister tries

to refocus onto the domestic agenda.

So what are the Government

priorities for the year ahead?

Here's Elizabeth Glinka

with the details.

Theresa May began the year saying

that fixing the housing crisis

was her "personal mission" -

she promptly added it

to Communities Secretary

Sajid Javid's title.

Jeremy Hunt continues on at Health

amidst a crisis in the NHS.

He was forced to apologise last

week, after he approved

the cancellation of 55,000

non-urgent operations

until February.

He also adds social care

to his brief,

with a white paper

due by the summer.

Meanwhile, the ink was barely dry

on Justine Greening's

social mobility strategy before she

left her post as Education Secretary

this week.

So one question is,

will her successor, Damian Hinds,

pick up where she left off?

But, despite the push on domestic

policy, Brexit will inevitably

dominate this year's agenda.

In the Commons, the Trade Bill

received its second reading

yesterday, and the EU

Withdrawal Bill will be

back in front of MPs

again later this month.

There will be a new Immigration

Bill later this year.

And that is all before

the Government needs

to conclude its negotiations

with Brussels by October if a deal

is to pass all the democratic

hurdles in time for the UK to leave

in March next year.

As the Cabinet only met just before

Christmas to discuss what that final

deal might look like,

the clock is certainly ticking.

First let's look at the

Conservatives and Andrea Leadsom.

Since the election in June last

year, and putting aside Brexit

issues, what has to Government

achieved?

Certainly right across a

range of portfolio areas. To take

the NHS, which is a priority for

everybody in the country, we have

seen huge efforts made to try and

solve the issue of delayed transfer,

so freeing up many more beds for

people.

You have not solved that.

It

is not solved, but it has gone a

long way to being solved.

Hold on,

you have cancelled 55,000

operations.

That is a different

issue. The delayed transfer of care

is the issue sometimes known as bed

blocking.

Because you have not

resolved enough of that, you have to

cancel operations.

The key thing to

remember is that the demands on the

NHS in the winter are always

increased. That is an inevitable

part. So always what the NHS staff

seek to do is prioritise the urgent

over the routine operations and that

is so in winter it is difficult. We

have been...

Winter is never a

surprise. It does come around every

year and doesn't go to maybe late

March. The one thing that isn't

seasonal is the situation in which

one in ten nursing posts are vacant.

One in ten. Why?

Since 2010 there

has been an increase in the numbers

of nurses on wards. I don't know

where that figure you have got has

come from.

They're official figures,

one in ten, there are...

10,000.

You

may may have, there are 45,000

unfilled roles and 40,000 are in

nursing. If you name the NHS ace an

achievement -- as an achievement,

why?

The numbers you're giving, I'm

not sured if you're talkeded about

registered to nurse.

Qualified

nurses. A 50% rise in the number of

nurses quitting compared to 2014.

I

think there you're talking about

deregistering.

No I'm talking about

nurses quitting. Let he bring it

down to a practical example. A

prestige hospital in Oxford is now

talking, is saying it will have to

stop giving chemotherapy or reduce

chemotherapy to people who are

dying.

That is... Incredibly

worrying. But you will also be aware

that that commissioning group has

said they're not in fact doing that

at all. It was apparently a leaked

e-mail.

What they're saying is that

that is in the plan to do it,

because of... The reason I bring it,

it is staff shortages. They're down,

this is a hospital, these are not

global figures, this is a real

hospital, one of the richest parts

of country too, 40% of the

establishment nurses are down.

They're down 40% on what it should

be. Which is why they have had to

talk about delaying chemotherapy,

which is... A terrible thing to go

through any ware and to be told it

is delayed.

I agree it worrying, but

I say again that trust have said

that is not the case. So just to be

clear about...

They have said this

what is they will have to do if the

staffing shortage doesn't change. It

has not happened yet. You're right.

Exactly.

It was bigged up in the

times story. The head of the

hospital has said that they will

have to make cuts to treatment of

the terminally ill.

They have not

said that. Just to be clear, there

are 10,000 more nurses now than

there were in 2010.

Still one in ten

vacancies.

We have a huge

recruitment drive for nor nursing

staff and GPs and there is much more

support for people wanting to come

into the profession and it is right

to do that. But nevertheless, just I

want to say...

This, we got to this,

because I asked you other than

Brexit and everything associated

with what what the Government's

achieved, you surprised me by

mentioning the NHS. Having heard the

figures, would you reconsider that?

The NHS is doing an incredible job.

We have just been again for the

second year in a row, called the

best health system in the world.

That is by... The common wealth fund

is an American fund that wants

America to adopt a British system.

So it always finds the British

system. You're saying it is health.

It sees health through a particular

British focus. There is no harm in

that, but it is one reason why we

don't come out best in others. You

talk about the NHS with Labour Party

it is just more money.

I no, but

your right we have the lowest level

of funding since 1951. It is

chronic. It is not me saying that,

there is a host of peer reviewed

articles in the BMJ and other such

publications.

Over all funding is at

a record level.

In terms of cash.

In

real terms.

But in percentage of GDP

it is not. We are again as we were

in the nineties below the EU average

and this is having a significant

impact. I reiterate the articles in

the BMJ showing this is the real

issue. Impacting on clinical posts,

100,000.

I'm sticking with the NHS because

it's such an important subject for

everybody, we all depend on it, but

other than putting more money in,

and the government would say that it

has put more money in, what single

big change would you make to make it

function better?

We need to make

sure that we keep transforming the

NHS. Particularly in terms of, we've

had for a number of years a

purchaser provider relationships,

and that is impacting...

Would you

reverse that?

We know there are 20

billion contracts that have gone to

the private health sector since

since the dreadful privatisation.

A

slow rate of growth, down under the

last Labour government.

That's not

the case. If you look...

You would

reverse all privatisation?

We know

that evidence is that privatisation

of the health system... Can I

finish? It reduces access to health

care. It increases inequality.

If

you need an operation and the NHS is

paying for it, but you have to go to

a private hospital to get it, why

would you care as long as you get

it? How could the NHS cope if none

of these operations were then done

in the private sector?

The evidence

is that, when you have a privatised

or market iced system, the

inequalities in terms of access, and

this is in terms of...

But at the

moment the NHS is struggling with

capacity. Part of that is met by

getting other hospitals outside the

NHS offered free at the point of

useful to help the NHS take these

operations on?

We have always had a

plural health system and, where

there is need around capacity, we'd

want to make sure that people have

access. There was an open letter in

one of the national papers today

about a woman with cancer who has

had her operation postponed.

I saw

that. I think you would perhaps

agree that we have put these issues

to them.

Yes, you have, robustly.

We're nothing if not

fair on this programme.

As we've already outlined

the challenges facing

the Government in 2018,

now it's Labour's turn.

Here's Elizabeth again.

Labour will also have to wrestle

with questions about Brexit,

with one prominent backbencher -

Chuka Ummuna - reportedly walking

out of the Parliamentary Labour

Party meeting on Monday

when leader Jeremy Corbyn

restated his position that the UK

cannot leave the EU while remaining

in the single market

and the customs union.

More than 20 of Labour's MPs have

signed an amendment to keep the UK

inside the customs union.

The party is also battling

to maintain economic credibility,

after Shadow Education Secretary

Angela Rayner used some colourful

language to describe

what she called the party's

"high-risk" economic strategy.

Meanwhile, the internal war

between different wings

of the party continues,

with voting for the National

Executive Committee this week.

Momentum founder Jon Lansman

is up against

comedian and activist Eddie Izzard.

And that fight continues to rumble

in local parties across the country

over the reselection of councillors.

Selections for parliamentary

candidates in 75 key targets have

been pushed back to April.

So perhaps the question for Labour

this year is whether the party -

which is still matching

the Conservatives in the polls -

can keep the peace sufficiently

to make gains at the local elections

in May.

Thank you. Debbie Abrahams, it's a

New Year, new policies? So what is

Labour's latest position on

membership of the single market?

We

have said that we want to retain the

exact same benefits of being in a

customs union, not necessarily...

I'll come to that, but stick with

the single market.

Access to the

single market.

Is Labour policy to

stay members?

We want the same

benefits.

How can you have that if

you're not a member?

We need to have

a deal and we need to negotiate it

in the same way that Keir Starmer

has been advocating.

If the EU says,

all right, you can stay members, but

with membership comes a price, one

is free movement, would you agree to

that?

No, we have been very clear...

So you can't be members of the

single market. Who is a member that

has that?

It doesn't meet mean that

it can't happen with us.

Angela

Merkel has made it clear yesterday

that you can't cherry pick parts of

the single market without having the

obligations.

Negotiations need to

take place, and I appreciate what

Angela Merkel had to say, she isn't

in the most stable position at the

moment, but we need to have robust

negotiations and that isn't what

happening at the moment.

Maybe, but,

if you stay a member of the single

market, the European Court of

Justice as judicial sovereignty over

you. Would you agree to that?

I

think we have seen from the

government side, Theresa May is

agreed that, particularly in the

transitional period...

If you stay

members, across the remit, it has

judicial sovereignty. Would you

agree to that?

We need to make sure

there is an arbiter that can resolve

issues that come up but whether that

is the ECJ or another body, at some

stage. During the transition stage,

and it would be interesting to hear

Andrea's position on that,...

Andrea's position on that,...

Let's

stick with Labour.

This is the

government, to be fair!

You said you

were a government in waiting. Mr

Corbyn said that, he said he'd be

Prime Minister by last Christmas, so

it's only bake you should have

policies on this. Are you, as I read

in the Times about to change your

position on the customs union again?

We discussed it at Shadow Cabinet

yesterday, and no.

So would you want

Britain to remain a member of the

customs union or not?

We have set a

customs union for the we are not

hung up about the model. What we are

focusing on is a negotiated

settlement that will have benefits

and protect jobs and the economy.

On

the overall tone of British

politics, which I think that but

Davidson after recently, but Labour,

Rayner in particular, played quite a

seminal role in helping to get Toby

Young to quit, because he tweeted a

lot of things that range from the

juvenile to the offensive. Why does

it mean that he had to resign but

it's OK for Jarrod O'Mara to remain

a backbench Labour MP, sitting on

your benches?

As I understand it,

Jarrod O'Mara have had the whip

removed.

Angela Rayner says she has

read the charge against Toby Young

and she says she is happy to sit

alongside him for that this is a man

who called a woman a bitch, who

called other women slags, who wanted

in orgies with girls aloud, and

referred to

referred to simply as a poofter. Why

is he still there?

Unacceptable

language, and there is an

investigation going on.

Why the

lynch mob for Toby Young? Plenty of

people would say that it's not right

for him to do that, but why not with

Jarrod O'Mara?

He has had the whip

removed and investigations are

ongoing.

ongoing.

But talking about lynching,

John McDonnell, your Shadow

Chancellor, he's talked about

lynching Esther McVey. Why is he

Shadow Chancellor? But Toby Young

can't be one member of an obscure

higher education quango?

I think

everybody needs to be responsible

for the language that they use. That

seems very out of character for

John.

He revelled in assassinating

Margaret Thatcher.

We all need to be

careful of our language, we really

do.

He called Esther should --

Esther McVey a stain on humanity.

I

repeat what I've just said.

But he's

still there, the number two man in

your party, and Mr Young has gone,

and people would say rightly, but

just trying to look at that. A lot

of this language is used to bully,

and you have announced in the

Commons a new initiative on

bullying. Is that right?

Yes.

Not

just for MPs but everybody in

Parliament. These tell us about it.

The Prime Minister established this

working group, cross-party, with all

the other party leaders, who have

all signed up to participate in it,

and we took a lot of evidence before

Christmas, we now have a draft

report that proposes serious

sanctions for any form of bullying

and harassment, and separate

sanctions and investigation for

sexual harassment in particular. I

am determined to stamp this out for

them I hear what Debbie is saying,

and I'm embarrassed for her. It's

unjustifiable to a lovely colleague,

such as Esther McVey for the other

people, it's extraordinary, it has

to stop.

I think you gave an

interview to BBC Radio 5 Live on

this initiative, so people who want

to know more can get back.

Now, I want to talk

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I'm talking about this.

The Environment Secretary has

decided to get himself

an ever-so-responsible

reusable coffee cup,

having been denounced for sipping

from the disposable

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It's coming up to midday here -

just take a look at Big Ben -

and that can mean only one thing.

She is there in all of her glory,

despite the scaffolding.

Yes, Prime Minister's

Questions is on its way.

And that's not all -

Laura Kuenssberg is here.

Happy New Year to you. We were green

while we ran that quiz that it's

hard for Mr Corbyn to avoid the NHS.

I think it is, and I suspect he will

either be pushing Theresa May on the

performance of the NHS in the last

few weeks, stories emerging of not

just individual cases with awful

consequences of experiences in

hospitals but also stories like

we've seen today on the front of the

Times, suggesting that at one

hospital you were talking about

earlier, and also because tomorrow

sees the latest set of statistics

published by NHS England on the

performance of hospitals last week.

When you talk to people familiar

with the health world, everybody

expects those figures tomorrow to

not be pretty, and the Prime

Minister was asked about the NHS at

the weekend and she drew criticism

for how she responded, by saying

that nothing is perfect, but what a

lot of people in Westminster would

say is that it's not just a question

of not being perfect but the NHS is

reaching a point where there has to

be some bigger thinking of how it

copes and evolves in the future.

The

risk we face at PMQs is that Mr

Corbyn says NHS apples and Mrs May

says NHS pears.

Yes, we've been

there before, statistics, the prime

ministers say more people are

treated than ever before, true, the

population is growing, and Jeremy

Corbyn save the NHS has missed all

of its targets for the first time in

modern history, also true, but we

get a lot of heat and not a lot of

light. But the images is a political

issue that really cuts through to

people's everyday lives. That is why

it is a core campaign issue.

I was

to get a detailed survey that had

been done by a prestige public

opinion group, and it found that,

outside Westminster, Brexit wasn't a

big deal for most people, they

didn't really care, but that the NHS

was moving up the agenda, probably

now clearly at the top of that is

why I say that Mr Corbyn has to go

with that.

I think it's a logical

conclusion that he will today, and I

also think in number ten they are

well aware of that. It is set in

number ten circles when you talk to

people that work there that they

know the next election, as they see

it, will not be won lost on Brexit

but on bread and butter issues and

people's experiences of their own

lives in the country. It's not

necessarily yet clear whether people

are, everybody up and down the

country is finding their own

experience of the NHS is dreadful.

Hugely varied. But it is an issue

that sort of is climbing the charts

of political relevance, if you like,

and I think that we can expect

Jeremy Corbyn to go on that today.

But you never know, there have been

plenty of times when he has alighted

on another issue, but particularly

with Jeremy Hunt having fought to

stay in his job and expanding his

brief a bit, the Health Secretary, I

just wonder if somehow the politics

of the NHS are going to become even

more febrile and more centrestage in

the next few months, in a way that

maybe we haven't seen for a while.

We haven't yet seen any sign,

looking at the screen, of the

government thinking, we'd better

draw a line under this and we'd

better do something that moves it on

in a substantial way. It's still

fighting hand to mouth, week to week

on this.

Yes, there hasn't been any

new big thinking on the NHS from

this government in recent times,

partly because what they did put

forward in the manifesto, the idea

on social care, which is absolutely

interlinked and a critical part of

why the NHS is having such problems,

and that idea went up like a balloon

and popped almost immediately and,

since then, there has been very

little coming forward. Sources have

told me that Damian Green was meant

to be working on this social care

green paper, but really not much of

the work had been undertaken yet.

We'll see therefore in the next

couple of months what Jeremy Hunt

comes up with, and I understand that

he is off of you, as is the Prime

Minister, that there has to be an

exhilaration -- acceleration of the

integration of the NHS and social

care, and I think that Labour

probably agrees, but not how they

are going to do it.

There are real

issues around accountable care

organisations. It's an Americanised

approach. We have a privately funded

NHS, privately funded social care.

Because they are mainly privately

owned.

Absolutely, and under a Tory

government bringing them together

doesn't bode well pulled

but one

thing that Tory politicians will

also say that money isn't always the

answer was that you look at

different parts of the country and

some parts of the country have

social care and local hospitals and

GPs pretty joined up, and the

statistics show that people get

better care and attention and, in

other parts, where the service isn't

so joined up it isn't working as

well. So I think they want to focus

much more on that, but also most

people privately, including in the

Tory party, acknowledged that

somehow more money is going to have

to go into the system, and the

question is how you do it. Various

ideas have been knocking around,

last week with some of the terrible

stories about the current pressures

on the NHS were emerging, and we

went back to some of the questions

about whether there should be a

royal commission.

Another tax.

But

you wonder, yes, in a sense, we have

been here before, this debate

happens roughly once a year, but you

get a sense that maybe we are

tiptoeing towards a moment where,

actually, it will not just be a

debate but decisions

as you point

out, Laura, a lot of the good work

being done in the NHS is driven by

the fact that, under this

government, we sought to put local

health care managers in charge, and

they are finding a way, for example,

to work with the social care budget

to give a much better outcome for

patients.

But not everyone.

Jeremy

Hunt is focused on enabling local

health care managers to own the

problem, to make decisions about

which parts of the estate they need,

where they want to invest, and there

are amazing advances in technology,

robotics and so on, which really

have the potential to transform

operations.

That is tinkering around

the edges though. The 2012 at said,

I'm sorry, we don't want you to

collaborate, because the whole point

of it was competition, and it's

prohibited people from...

I have to

interrupt you. The speaker has

started question time late.

Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you Mr Speaker. I hope it is

not too late to wish all members and

staff in the house a very happy New

Year. Mr Speaker this morning I have

meetings with ministerial colleagues

and others in addition to my duties

in this house I will have further

such meetings later today.

I too

would like to wish members of staff

a happy New Year. At least 1.4

million households across the UK

have been victims of unfair

practices in the leasehold market

including my constituent Emily

Martin. In advance of intended

legislation what commitment will be

Prime Minister make to ensure Emily

and thousands of people tied into

this scandal are compensated by

developers now?

I say to the

honourable gentleman that we are

concerned when we hear of unfair

practices taking place. I am sure

the Housing Secretary will be happy

to hear of the particular case as an

example of this. We are looking to

see what action the government can

take to ensure people are secure in

their homes and that they are not

subject to practices they should not

be subject to.

Thank you Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker, in

December when the Brexit secretary

met Michel Barnier they hugged. In

that spirit would my right

honourable friend the Prime Minister

passionately embrace, not me Mr

Speaker, but would she passionately

embraced the agenda she set out last

year to build a Briton fit for the

future, to encourage home ownership,

to encourage education and life

chances and leave this country in a

better place than when we find it?

I

have to say to my honourable friend

he talks about passionate embraces

but I do not think he has ever had

the kiss he once asked for! But if I

may say he's absolutely... He's

absolutely right. We are determined

to deliver Britain which is fit for

the future and that does mean we

need to get Brexit right but it

means we need to do a lot more. He

references house-building and we are

committed to building the homes this

country needs. That is why we have

put 15 billion of new financial

support available over the next five

years and why we scrap stamp duty

for 80% of first-time buyers. We are

also improving school standards, 1.9

million more children in good or

outstanding schools

outstanding schools today and we are

protecting our natural environment.

We are building a Briton which can

look to the future with optimism and

hope.

Mr Speaker could I wish you

and all the house and all the staff

a very happy New Year. Everyone is

agreed, yeah? Thank you.

CHUCKLES

.

.

Mr Speaker, I know it seems a long

time ago, I know it seems a long

time ago but just before Christmas I

asked the Prime Minister about the

12,000 people left waiting more than

half an hour in the back of an

ambulance at accident and emergency

departments. She told the house the

NHS was better prepared for winter

than ever before. So what words of

comfort does the Prime Minister have

two the 17,000 patients left waiting

in the back of and allowances in the

last week of December? Is it that

nothing is perfect by any chance?

I

fully accept that the NHS is under

pressure over winter, it is

regularly under pressure at winter

times. I have been very, I have been

very clear, I apologise to those

people who have had operations

delayed and those people who have

had admissions to hospital delayed.

But it is indeed the case that the

NHS was better prepared this winter

than ever before and it might be

helpful... Yes...

Order!

It might be

helpful if I let the house now some

of the things which were done in

order to ensure that preparedness.

More people than ever before having

flu vaccines, 2700 more acute beds

being available since November. For

the first time ever, for the first

time ever, we have seen GP, urgent

GP appointments are available across

the Christmas period across this

country. More doctors specialising

in treating the elderly in accident

and emergency. The right honourable

gentleman mentions the last exchange

we had in this house. In our last

exchange he said mental health

budgets have been cut. That is not

right. Simon stevens from the

national health service has made

clear that mental health spending

has gone up both in real terms and

as a proportion of the overall

spending. So will he now apologise

for what he previously said?

Mr

Speaker, the Prime Minister knows

full well that budgets have been

raided and that many people who need

help are not getting that help. And

Mr Speaker we saw on ITV news the

other night that nurses are spending

the entire shift treating people in

car parks because of backed up

ambulances. We know the Prime

Minister recognises there is a

crisis in our NHS because she wanted

to sack the Health Secretary last

week but was too weak to do it. And

if the NHS is so well resourced and

so well-prepared, why was the

decision taken last week to cancel

the operations of 55,000 patients

during the month of January?

I say

to the right honourable gentleman...

Well, from the front bench the

Labour Party say apologise but

actually, listen to the answer I

gave to his right honourable friend

the Leader of the Opposition I have

made clear that I have already

apologised to those whose operations

have been delayed and we will make

sure that those operations are

reinstated as soon as possible. We

are putting record funding into the

NHS and record funding into mental

health. But he keeps on about the

preparations from the national

health service, I was very pleased

last week to be able to go and say

in person thank you to the staff at

Frimley health trust from both

Frimley Park and webs Park hospitals

for the work that they have been

doing to deliver for patients across

this period of pressure across the

winter. Our NHS staff, and that is

not just doctors and nurses, it is

support staff, administrative staff,

porters, it is everybody working in

our national health service, they do

other than plastic job every day and

they particularly do that when we

see these winter pressures -- they

do a fantastic job every day. This

is what NHS providers said only last

week. Preparations for winter in the

NHS have been more extensive and

meticulous than ever before.

Mr

Speaker we all bank all NHS staff

are what they do. But the reality is

that the 55,000 operations cancelled

means that those 55,000 people join

the already 4 million waiting for

operations within the NHS. Perhaps

the Prime Minister could listen to

the experience of Vicky. Her

82-year-old mother spent 13 hours on

a trolley in a corridor, that was on

top of the three hours between her

first calling 999 and arriving at

hospital. Vicky says, and I quote,

"Is a volunteer first responder from

Warwickshire heart service whose day

job is in the army kept mum safe and

tell paramedic arrives". Her mother

then suffered a heart attack just a

week before. This is not an isolated

case. Does the Prime Minister really

believe the NHS is better prepared

than ever for the crisis it is now

going through?

First of all can I

say to the right honourable

gentleman that nobody wants to hear

people having to experience what

Vicky and her mother experienced.

And of course, we need to ensure

that we learn from these incidents.

That's exactly what we do in the

national health service. I am very

happy to ensure that that particular

case is look that if you would like

to provide me with the details of

that particular case. But a week in

and week out in the run-up to

Christmas and now today what the

right honourable gentleman is doing

is giving the impression of a

national health service which is

feeling everybody who goes to use

the NHS. The reality and our NHS is

we are seeing 2.9 million more

people now going to accident and

emergency. We are seeing over 2

million more operations taking place

each year. Our national health

service is something we should be

proud of. That is why it is a first

class... It is a first-class

National Health Service that has

been identified as the number-1

health system in the world. That

means it's a better health system

than Australia, the Netherlands, New

Zealand, Canada, Switzerland,

Sweden, France, and the United

States of America!

We are all proud on this side of the

house of the principal of the NHS,

health care as a human right about

in the last year 565,000 people have

spent time on trolleys when they

should be treated. The number of

elderly people being rushed into A&E

from care homes has risen by 62%

since the Tories took power. Care

Quality Commission figures suggest

that nearly a quarter of homes need

improvement. Not only is this

robbing older people of their

dignity, but it's putting pressure

on A&E and Ambulance Services. So

why, instead of dealing with the

social care crisis, as the Prime

Minister rewarded Health Secretary

with a promotion and a new job

title?

Can I say to the right

honourable gentleman that I think

there are many voices across the

house, including those from his own

party, who have been encouraging me

to ensure that we see better

integration between health and

social care. I am pleased that we

have recognised this by making the

Department of Health the Department

of Health and social care, and that

has been recognised by Age UK, who

has said that this is a welcome and

long overdue recognition of the

interdependence of health and social

care but I saw for myself last week

at Ferney Park the good week that is

being done by some hospitals up and

down the country, working with GPs

and care homes and the voluntary

sector to ensure that elderly people

can stay at home safely and do not

need to come into hospital, with all

of the consequences of them coming

in to hospital beds. That is the way

forward. That is what we want to do,

ensuring that we think that

integration of health and social

care at the grassroots level. But

the way right honourable gentleman

talks, you would think that the

Labour Party had all the solutions

for the NHS. If the Labour Party...

If the Labour Party have got all the

answers, why is it that we see

funding being cut, targets not being

met in Wales, where the Labour Party

is responsible?

Mr Speaker, the

Prime Minister leads a government

that is responsible for the funding

of national governments, such as in

Wales. She knows full well what has

been cut from Wales. But she is, Mr

Speaker, directly responsible, she

is directly responsible for the NHS

in England, and giving the Health

Secretary a new job title will not

hide the fact that 6 billion has

been cut from social care under the

Tories. Part, Mr Speaker, part of

the problem with the NHS is that its

funds have been increasingly

siphoned off into private companies,

including in the Health Secretary's

area of Surrey foot

order! Calm

yourself, Mr Sheldon. You are

supposed to be auditioning to become

an elder statesman, but there are

many more auditions to come, on

present evidence. Calm yourself, it

will be good for your health.

Even

more money is being siphoned out of

NHS budgets and into private health

companies. Even in the Health

Secretary's area of Surrey, the

clinical commissioning group was

forced to pay money to Virgin Care

because it didn't win a contract.

Will the Prime Minister sure

patients that, in 2018, less NHS

money intended for patient care will

be feathering the nests of

shareholders in private health

companies?

First of all, an Wales,

this government has given more money

to the Welsh government. It is a

decision of Labour in Wales to

de-prioritise funding for the NHS in

Wales and, on the issue of the

private sector and its role in the

health service, under which

government was it that private

access and private use of the

private sector in health sector no,

it wasn't. Iron order!

it wasn't. Iron order!

-- order! I

say to the shadow secretary of state

for health, he is also supposed to

be auditioning for something.

LAUGHTER

He is normally a very amiable

fellow, but he is gesticulating in a

very eccentric fashion. He must calm

himself. It isn't good for his

image.

I say to the right honourable

gentleman, first of all, we have put

more money into Wales, but the

Labour government in Wales has

decided to de-prioritise funding for

the NHS, and the increase that was

seen in private sector companies

working in the health service wasn't

under the Conservative government

but under a Labour government, of

which the right honourable gentleman

was a member.

My honourable friend,

the Shadow Health Secretary, is

auditioning to be Health Secretary,

and he shows real passion for our

NHS. Mr Speaker, under this

government, virgin Care got £200

million worth of contracts in the

last year alone. 50% up on the year

before. Mr Speaker, the Prime

Minister needs to understand that it

is her policies that are pushing our

NHS into crisis. Tax cuts for the

super-rich and big business are paid

for... Yes, Mr Speaker, they are

paid for by longer waiting lists,

ambulance delays, staff shortages

and cuts to social care. Creeping

privatisation is dragging our NHS

down. He Health Secretary... The

Health Secretary, during his

occupation of her office to keep his

job, said, he won't abandon the

ship. Isn't an admission that, under

his captaincy, the ship is indeed

thinking? --

thinking? -- sinking?

This

government is putting more money

into the NHS, we have more doctors

and nurses in the NHS, more

operations taking place on more

people being treated in accident and

emergency. But we can only do that,

we can only do that if we have a

strong economy. What would we see

from the Labour Party? We have

turned the economy round from the

recession that the Labour Party left

us with. What do we know... What do

we know about the Labour Party's

economic policies? We were told all

about them from the description from

the Shadow Education Secretary, icy

isn't in her place on the front

bench today. -- who icy isn't in her

place oh, I do apologise. No, I

didn't realise, Mr Speaker. I did

not realise the Shadow Education

Secretary was herself undergoing

medical treatment, and I apologise

unreservedly for that comment. But I

have to say that she did describe

the economic policies of the Labour

Party in unparliamentary terms,

including the word bust, but she did

say that the Labour Party's economic

policy was high risk, which means

high risk for taxpayers, high risk

for jobs in high risk for our NHS,

and that's a risk we will never let

them take.

On a positive note on the

NHS, my NHS Trust, Morecambe bay, is

turned around from being one of the

worst trusts in the country to one

of the best. That was because of

injections of huge amounts of cash,

but the staff there were amazing.

They turned that hospital round.

Jackie Daniels...

Can I gently

invite the honourable gentleman to

be sensitive to time. What we want

is a long spiel but a short question

with a question mark at the end.

Jackie Daniels received a game hood

for turning around Morecambe bay

trust, very positive, along with the

staff -- received a damehood. Could

the Prime Minister wish Jackie well?

I'm happy to join my honourable

friend in paying tribute to the work

of the staff at the Morecambe Bay

trust, and in particular to wish

Dame Jackie well and to pay tribute

for the work she has done in turning

that trust around. It's another

example of the huge gratitude we owe

to the NHS staff who worked so

tirelessly on our behalf.

Can I wish

you, all staff and members a good

New Year. The government's EU

Withdrawal Bill is simply not fit

for purpose, and it must be changed.

These are not my words, these are

the words of the honourable member

for East Renfrewshire. Does the

Prime Minister agree with her

colleague that we

colleague that we must amend clause

11, which is nothing more than a

power grab from Scotland?

The

honourable gentleman knows full well

that we have said we will look to

improve clause 11. Indeed, if he was

in his place when my right

honourable friend, the Chancellor of

the Jack Stephens Ashbrook of the

Chancellor of the Duchy of

Lancaster, answered questions

earlier, he made it clear that we

would continue to look to amend

clause 11. We are however, as we

discussed before Christmas, we are

looking to work with the devolved

administrations to ensure we put the

right frameworks in place so that,

when we come to bring any amendment

forward, it is done in the best

possible way, in the interests of

all concerned. I thought that has

been accepted by the SNP, but we

will be looking to bring forward

amendments in the Lords.

That simply

isn't good enough. The Secretary of

State for Scotland promised a power

bonanza for Scotland and, crucially,

amendments would be tabled ahead of

next week's debate. Yesterday it was

revealed that no amendments would be

launched. The Tories always promised

Scotland everything and deliver

nothing. The Prime Minister has one

last chance. Will she assure the

house that these amendments will be

tabled ahead of next week, as

promised?

The SNP say they want to

work with us on the frameworks, the

future frameworks, and we are doing

exactly that. They say they want

clause 11 amended, and we are doing

exactly that. My right honourable

friend is intensifying his

discussions with the Scottish

Government and, indeed, with Wales,

as part of this. We will be bringing

forward amendments. At the

honourable gentleman says this is a

government that never delivers for

Scotland. £2 billion extra as a

result of the budget? That is

delivering for Scotland.

Speaking of

delivering

delivering for Scotland, Eastleigh

and Clackmannanshire city regime

deal is a massive investment in

Scotland's economy. -- Stirling and

Clackmannanshire. With projects like

the UK institute for art and

culture, and a national centre which

will have a UK wide impact. Will the

Prime Minister confirmed to me today

now that the UK Government is ready

to sign off the agreement with the

Scottish Government and the local

councils so that we can get to work?

I am very happy to give that

commitment to my honourable friend

and to say this is another example

of this is a government delivering

for Scotland. I know the importance

of this particular deal, Stirling

and Clackmannanshire. It will be

transformative. My honourable friend

has transformed this cause --

championed this cause since he was

elected, he is doing a great job for

his constituents and we are working

to get agreement as quickly as

possible.

I have been contacted by

11 constituents who are frightened

and many of them suicidal because

they have been told by Ivor Hull or

East Riding CCG that they're

desperately needed pain infusion

treatment will be stopped. This is

the cruel reality of the NHS having

to Russian treatment due to funding

cuts. Will the Prime Minister

personally intervene to ensure that

Hull and East Riding CCG review

their decision and guarantee them

the additional funding to allow them

to deliver it?

We are putting extra

money into the NHS. We are not

cutting funding for the NHS. CCGs

will be taking individual decisions

about how they apportion their

funding, but to stand up and suggest

we are cutting funding to the NHS is

plain wrong.

plain wrong.

Telford is a rapidly

growing new town, where thousands of

new houses are built every year, and

people come to Telford to buy their

home on a new build estate and live

their dreams. But, for far too many,

the reality is unfinished communal

areas, an adopted roads,

non-compliance with section 106,

developers failing to take

responsibility, and the local

passing the buck. Colleagues across

the health see similar problems in

their constituencies. Will the prime

ministers agree to strengthen the

rights of homeowners on new build

estate so that people can come to

Telford or any other new-build area

and by a new-build home, confident

they can live their dream?

Yes, I am

happy to say to my honourable

friend, of course, we recognise the

concern that she has raised. I think

it was a similar issue that the

honourable member for Weaver Vale

was racing in the first question he

asked. I understand it is Telford's

50th anniversary, I congratulate

Telford on that. We are committed to

legislating in relation to the

factors she has identified, because

it is only fair that freeholders

should have the same rights as

leaseholders to challenge the

service charges they are submitted

to.

On a scale between one to ten,

how does the Prime Minister think

that Brexit is going, with ten being

purposely, we know what we want to

achieve and how to get it, and one

being chaotic cluelessness? I know

what I would give the Prime

Minister, but what would she give

herself?

Can I say to the honourable

gentleman...

Order!

gentleman...

Order! Let me just say

to the honourable gentleman, who I

have known for a long time, I think,

when he comes to reflect on his

conduct, he will know he can do

better than that. Prime Minister.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I say to

the honourable gentleman that I

think anybody who saw the success we

had in negotiating phase one of

Brexit and getting that sufficient

progress will say that actually this

is a government that knows what it

is doing, it's getting on with the

job and it's doing well.

Environmentalists across the UK were

absolutely delighted with the

announcement of cooperation with the

Woodland Trust to develop the new

northern forest. Will the Prime

Minister give assurances that plans

to create new landscapes will not

obscure the need to protect existing

areas of outstanding natural beauty,

come and will she confirm her

commitment to protect the Chilterns

AOM B as we pursue the government's

economic and housing development

plans?

I would like to congratulate

my honourable friend on becoming a

game. It is very well deserved. I

can assure her that we are

continuing to commit to root AONBs

and, as regards the Chilterns, I

enjoy walking in the Chilterns, I

recognise the value of that

particular environment, and we are

committed to protecting AONBs.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. I was a teacher and

a head teacher for 34 years, so know

that I speak on behalf of thousands

of teachers and support staff when I

ask, Prime Minister, in light of the

recent announcement of a falling

teacher training applications by a

third, will the government listen to

professionals and fully and fairly

fund our schools and colleges, and

the toxic culture of targets and

tests, deliver a broad and balanced

curriculum, and most of all, return

the joy of teaching and learning

back to our classrooms?

Can I say to

the honourable lady that we are

putting record sums of money into

our schools. We are ensuring... More

than that, we are ensuring that we

are seeing increasing standards in

our schools. That is why today their

1.9 million more children in good or

outstanding schools than in 2010 and

I hope she would welcome that.

The

Prime Minister will be aware there

was great potential in the

south-west to increase prosperity

and productivity, and would she

confirm how her government will be

backing the south-west, in

particular, the need to invest in

roads, rail and digital

infrastructure?

My honourable friend

is right, and he is a great champion

for the needs of the south-west, and

we want to increase prosperity of

productivity there and across the

country, but we are taking some

particular steps. Obviously, across

the country, we are committing

significant sums of money in

relation to infrastructure

investment, road investment

strategy, and we are committed to

creating an expressway to the

south-west. I think this will be

part of an important development,

investing more than 400 million into

the rail network in the area, and

over 600,000 homes and businesses in

the south-west now have access to

superfast broadband, as a result of

our programme. There is more we can

do for the region and I look forward

to working with my honourable friend

in doing that.

The Health Secretary

said that the government wanted to

be the best in the world for cancer

diagnosis, treatment and care.

Today, according to a memo from the

head of chemotherapy at Oxford

Churchill hospital, terminally ill

cancer patients will have their

chemotherapy cut because of a

massive shortfall in specialist

nurses. Would the Prime Minister

apologised to cancer patients and

their families for this appalling

situation?

I say to the honourable

lady that the trust has made clear

there are no plans to delay the

start of chemotherapy treatment or

reduce the number of cycles given to

cancer patients. What Simon seasons

Leeds Stevens has said is happening

is that, over the past three years,

the highest cancer survival rates

ever, and latest figures show an

estimated 7000 more people surviving

cancer, after successful NHS cancer

treatment compared to three years

prior, and we see 3200 more

diagnostic and therapeutic

radiographers than in 2010, so we

will continue to look at this and we

will continue to put the funding in

that enables us to improve treatment

for cancer patients.

With record

funding, our NHS is doing more than

ever, but when the UK is in the

bottom third of countries for heart

attack deaths, when we have

significantly worse survival for

strokes and in France and Germany,

and when our closest match for

cancer survival is Poland, isn't it

time to act across this house, back

this week by the Centre for Policy

Studies, to establish a royal

commission on health and social

care, in the 70th anniversary year

of our most cherished national

institution?

My honourable friend is

right that we need to continue to

look at the NHS and ensure that we

are continuing to improve the

performance in a variety of areas.

The independent Commonwealth fund

has been clear that the NHS is the

best health service in the world,

it's better than systems in Germany

and France in a list of other

countries that I quoted earlier, but

of course we need to do more to look

at what we can do, and that is why

we are putting in more funding and

looking at the better integration of

health and social care underground.

It's about making sure we make a

change now and doing that

integration now, because that is

when it will make a difference to

people.

The Prime Minister said

she'd reshuffled her ministers so

they looked more like the country

they seek to represent. I am not

quite sure about that, but in that

spirit, would she acknowledge the

massive problems we have with the

private rented sector, with absentee

private landlords? And will she

commit to come and visit Easington

to give her an appreciation of the

scale of the problems facing many

working-class communities? In the

spirit of goodwill, would she

support and give free passage to the

bill on homes fit for habitation

being promoted by my honourable

friend for Westminster North?

I say

to the honourable gentleman that I

have fond memories of the time I

spent in the north-east when I was a

candidate, but we do need to ensure

that

that we have a good private rented

sector in this country. I have to

say to him that the one set of

policies which would damage the

private rented sector is the set of

policies put forward by his Leader

of the Opposition.

I was delighted

to hear the Environment Secretary

last week confirming this

government's commitment to

supporting farmers after we leave

the EU. Can my right honourable

friend assure me that, when

designing a future system, the

unique needs of Scottish farmers and

crofters will be taken into account

in any such new system?

My

honourable friend is right that, as

we leave the European Union, we will

be able to put in place our own

policy of support for farmers. We

want that to be a policy that

recognises the particular needs of

farmers across all parts of the UK,

and that will include the needs of

farmers in Scotland. My constituency

office and local citizens advice

bureau are receiving ever-increasing

complaints about Pip claims.

Assessments are being refused and

65% of claims are overturned at

tribunal. This means that tribune is

taking longer, anything between four

seven months. Can I ask the Prime

Minister if she agrees that the

assessment service is flawed, and

what she can do to help avoid

unnecessary stress and hardship

being caused to my constituents and

those across the country?

I

understand the point the honourable

gentleman is taking about ensuring,

as we want to, that these

assessments are conducted as well as

they can be, and that people are

getting the awards that they in fact

should be getting and are entitled

to. In fact, since we introduced the

personal independence payment, we

have carried out around 2.9 million

assessments. 8% of those have been

appealed, but only 4% of those

decisions are changed following an

appeal, and in the majority of cases

it's because new evidence is

presented at the Peel than was

presented when the original case was

put forward. -- presented at the

appeal. The DWP continues to look at

ensuring that, when assessments are

made, they are done properly and

people get the right results.

people get the right results.

My

constituent Justin Bartholomew was

just 25 when he committed suicide

late last year. His family are

convinced is intake of high energy

drinks over 15 cans a day, increased

his anxiety and contributed to his

death. Given the increased safety

concerns around the high energy

drink market and the actions of

people like Jamie Oliver and

Waitrose, would the Prime Minister

consider introducing a national ban

on the sale of these energy drinks

for the under 16 's?

My honourable

friend has raised a tragic case, and

I know the thoughts and sympathies

of the whole house will be with

family and friends of Justin

Bartholomew. We have introduced the

soft drinks industry levy and

recognise that the issues around

drinks that are high in sugar, and

we know that those drinks can be

damaging to children's health. We

are supporting schools and parents

to make healthier choices and to be

able to identify those through

clearer labelling and campaigns, but

this is an issue that the Department

of Health and social care will

continue to look at, and they will

continue to look at the scientific

evidence in relation to these

drinks.

I have a constituent that

escaped an abusive relationship and

has been passed from pillar to post

between a support agency and new

child maintenance service. After

four and half years, she has been

told by the CMS that she has to

start the process all over again

and, on top of that, they are

insisting she passes on a personal

and bank details to her ex-partner

to receive payment. We were promised

agreed to help me resolve this

problem, -- will the Prime Minister

agree to help me resolve this, and

look at the system that is allowed

this situation to develop?

I

recognise that there are

arrangements in place which would

ensure that an individual would not,

as I understand it, have to pass

their bank details on directly. The

fact that her constituent has been

asked to do that should be looked

into, and I'm sure that if she

passes those details to the

appropriate department they will

look into it.

Does the Prime

Minister welcomed the findings of

the social research survey that the

majority of Scots believe the rules

on trade and immigration should be

the same in Scotland as in the rest

of the UK? It looks like they agree

we are better together.

I think my

honourable friend has raised an

important point. People across the

UK want to see controlled

immigration, and that is people in

Scotland as well as the rest of the

UK. As we leave the we will be able

to introduce our own immigration

rules and control that immigration

to Britain from Europe. The only

point of differentiation is that we

have

have a Scotland only shortage

occupation list to recognise the

particular labour market needs in

Scotland but, for the most part,

that has matched the UK wide

shortage occupation list, and I

think that shows this is an issue

for the whole UK and we need the

same policy approach.

In March 2005

in an interview, the Prime Minister

said, not getting things done and

seen people's lives hurt by

government bureaucracy makes her

depressed. In light of this comment,

can the Prime Minister tell me

whether she considered it reasonable

and acceptable for the DVLA to

withhold my constituent, Mr Coleman

toss license for over 18 months, is

despite evidence showing he was fit

and able to drive, as she has not

responded to my letter the 5th of

December?

I will ensure that the

honourable lady receives a response

to that letter. She has raised a

particular case in this house and

I'll need to look at the details,

and I will respond to the letter.

Last week, 230 job losses were

announced in my constituency, which

is devastating for Loftus and the

community, where the mine is the

largest employer. Local members are

agreed it would be incredibly

helpful if some of the funds

remaining for the 2015 SSI rescue

package could be we furnished to

support people here? Will the Prime

Minister agreed to look into this

with the Business Secretary and will

she commit that agencies will do

everything they can to support

people affected?

My honourable

friend is right to raise this case

and it's obviously a worrying time

for the workers affected by the

announcement for Cleveland potash,

and I say to him that we will be

helping people find other work in

supporting people affected through

the DWP's rapid response service,

and we will coordinate with the Tees

valley combined authority to ensure

that we are working together to get

the best possible support and make

sure that support is aligned. The

department for business, energy and

industrial strategy will look at the

situation is the specific issue he

has raised.

Ava has been a foster

carer for years. When her privately

rented home failed the electrical

certificate needed to continue

fostering, a landlord evicted her

because he didn't want to do the

repairs. So now she and the kids are

living in council temporary

accommodation in a converted

warehouse in the middle of a working

industrial estate in Mitcham, and

the same council who plays her there

are going to withdraw her right to

foster because her accommodation

isn't good enough. Can the Prime

Minister tell Ava, kids in care who

need foster carers and the

overworked British taxpayer how this

makes sense?

As the honourable lady sets it out,

it doesn't appear to make sense we

will be losing somebody who has been

a foster carer. I would pay tribute

to the work her constituent has done

in foster caring. We owe a debt of

gratitude to those who care as

foster parents and I'm sure has she

has raised this, the local council

will want to look at this again.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. While most of

us were celebrating over New Year,

the crews of Poole-based tug and the

lifeboats were battling seas and

70mph winds off the coast of Dorset

to prevent a cargo ship from being

blown on to the rocks. Thanks to the

skill of the tug's crew and the tow

was fixed.

was fixed. Will she join me in

praising those involved, not least

the volunteers.

I'm happy to do

that. Both the tug crews and those

in the RNLI. Those volunteers in the

RNLI do a fantastic job around the

coastlines and we owe them a huge

debt of gratitude.

I'm shocked it has finished. We were

right, Jeremy Corbyn went on the NHS

and talked about the problems this

winter. Mrs May shot back with