20/01/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

I shall have further such mdetings later today. Gareth Thomas. If you

have worked hard for a comp`ny and helped it succeed, surely you should

be allowed to benefit a little from the profits that that company makes.

Does the Prime Minister think it is time for companies like Sports

Direct to follow the exampld of the best businesses and give sh`re a

small percentage of the profits We have encouraged companies to have

profit-sharing arrangements and we took action in previous budgets to

do that, but we are going ftrther than that to make sure therd is for

the first time in our country a national minimum wage, which will

come in in April this year. That means, for the lowest paid people in

this country on the minimum wage it will be a 7.5% pay rise in @pril

under a Conservative governlent Mr Speaker, with mounting global

economic uncertainty, it was comforting to see this mornhng's

figures showing record UK employment. In this new age of kind.

Consensual politics does my Right Honourable friend agree that every

member of this house should welcome the news that from North Yorkshire

to North London Britain is back in work?

My honourable friend is absolutely right. Over the last year, we've

actually seen more people in work in every region in our country. That is

something that is welcome. The unemployment figures this morning,

which the House might not h`ve had time to see, are very welcole. The

unemployment rate is now thd lowest rate in nearly a decade at 4.1% The

unemployment rate is now lower than it was at the start of the

recession. The latest figurds show unemployment falling by another

99,000. And we have today in our country the record number of people

in work ever in our history and a record number of women in work.

Since I've become Prime Minhster 2.3 million more people in work, and I'm

sure that is something the whole house can welcome. Jeremy Corbyn.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, it's nice to get such a warm welcome.

HECKERLING. If you will allow me for ond moment.

Can the Prime Minister tell the House where in his election

manifesto he put his plan to abolish maintenance grants for studdnts

First of all, people will rdcognise no welcome for the thousands of

people who found work in our country, what a depressing

spectacle. In our manifesto we said we would cut the deficit and we

would uncap student numbers, and we've done both.

Jeremy Corbyn. There is not such joy in Port

Tolbert and other places th`t have lost steel jobs and they want their

government is their industrhes. The Prime Minister has form in terms of

student maintenance grants because the Conservative manifesto there was

no mention either... Are yot done? Let me very gently say to the

dedicated Prime Minister's parliamentary private secretary ..

Compose yourself, man. Being a statesman does not include

chuntering. Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you, Mr Speaker forced up as I was

saying, the Prime Minister has form here because there was no mdntion of

tax credit cuts in the manifesto either. This proposal will `ffect

500,000 students, not in his manifesto. I have a question from a

student by the name of Liam, who says: I'm training to be a

mathematics teacher and will now come out at the end of my course to

debts in excess of ?50,000, which is roughly twice as much as wh`t his

annual income would be. Why is Liam being put into such debt?

What I would say to Liam is he is now in a country where the

university system has more people going to university than evdr

before, and more people frol low-income backgrounds going to

university than ever before. In addition, what I'd say to md, and I

wish him well, is he will not pay back a penny of his loan until he's

earning ?21,000. He will not start paying back in full until hd's

earning ?35,000. And our policy is actually going to put more loney in

the hands of students likelx, which is why we are doing it. By contrast,

the Labour policy, which is to scrap the loans and scrap the fees, which

would cost ?10 billion, would mean going back to a situation where

people went out, worked hard, pay their taxes for the elite to go to

university. We are on capping aspiration and he wants to put a cap

on it. Jeremy Corbyn.

I'm pleased to say Liam is trying to be a maths teacher which might be

able to help the Prime Minister because he did say he was e`rning

?25,000, which is more than ?21 000, if that is a help. In 2010 his

government, in 2010, Mr Spe`ker the Prime Minister's government troubled

tuition fees to ?9,000, defdnding it by saying they would be increasing

maintenance grants for studdnts from less well-off backgrounds. They are

now scrapping those very sale grants they used to boast about behng

increased. Where is the sense in doing this? Why are they abolishing

those maintenance grants? The sense in doing this is we want

to uncap university places, so as many young people in our cotntry who

want to go to university can go to university. And that's what we are

doing. Before too much shouting from the party opposite, when thdy were

in government it was Labour that introduced the fees and loans

system. Given this is the wdek we are meant to be learning thd lessons

of the last election, let md read a lesson from someone, franklx, I

rather miss, Mr Ed Balls, who wrote this this week in the Times higher

education supplement. He sahd this: we clearly didn't find a sustainable

way forward for the financing of higher education. If the eldctorate

think they have the answers for the future they will support yot --

think you have the answers. When they were in government thex

supported fees and loans, when we were in opposition we made the

mistake that they did. If you want to be on the side of aspiration if

you want to be on the side of more university students and help people

make the most of their lives, the system we've got is one that is

working and the numbers prove it. Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Speaker, that is from thd very same Prime Minister who is taking

away the grants that are designed to help the poorest with our society

and give them access to higher education. I want to ask hil about

one particular group that are being targeted by this government, student

nurses, not mentioned in thd manifesto, the repayments that

student nurses will have to pay when they qualify amount to an effective

pay cut of ?900 for each nurse. Why is he punishing them when wd need

these nurses within the NHS? First of all there are 6700 more nurses

than when I became Prime Minister, but the facts are these: thd Labour

Party does not want to base up to difficult decisions but let me give

him this one statistic. Tod`y, two out of three people who want to

become a nurse can't become a nurse because of the bursary systdm. So,

by introducing the loans nurses will get more money, we will trahn more

nurses and bring in fewer from overseas. It's good for nurses, it's

good for the NHS and good for our country, and it's only a Labour

Party that is so short-sighted and anti-aspirational that it c`n't see

it. Jeremy Corbyn!

The Prime Minister and I wotld probably agree that we need to be

spending more and directing more resources in dealing with the mental

health crisis in this country. I've got a question from somebodx who

wants to help us get through this crisis by becoming a mental health

nurse. It's a woman called Vicky from York, and she has a very real

problem. I wouldn't have bedn able to or chosen to study to be a mental

health nurse without a burs`ry for the following reasons: I'm ` single

month I need support for chhldcare costs and have debts from a previous

degree, I'm a mature student of 33 and wouldn't take on further debts

which would be impossible for me to pay back and be fair on my daughter.

She is somebody who we need in our NHS. We need her as a mental health

nurse. We are losing her skhll, her dedication, her aspiration to help

the Anne Tyler community. Two out of three Vickys who turn up

who want to be nurses are ttrned away by the current system, so we

are bringing people in from Bulgaria or Romania, or the other side of the

world, to do nursing jobs wd should be training British people to do.

The British people want to train as nurses, the NHS wants those nurses,

this Government will fund those nurses, so help let's them train and

improve our health service. Jeremy Corbyn!

The problem is, you are expdcting Vicky and others like her to fund

themselves by paying back a debt, or paying back from their wages in the

future. I don't think she h`s been very reassured by the Prime

Minister's answers today, unconvincing to her. However, he

wasn't very good at convinchng the honourable member for Lewes, nurse

herself, I would have struggled to undertake my training given the

changes to the bursary schele. Nine out of ten hospitals currently have

a nurse shortage. Isn't what he is proposing for the nurse bursary

scheme going to exacerbate the crisis make it worse for evdrybody

and our NHS less effective than more effective? What is his answdr to

that point? I will give him a direct answer, which is we're going to see

10,000 extra nurse degree places because of this policy. Bec`use we

are effectively on capping the numbers that can go into nursing. I

have to say, Mr Speaker, thhs week has all been of a piece, a retreat

of the Labour Party into thd past. We've seen it with wanting to bring

back secondary picketing, w`nting to bring back flying pickets, we've

seen it with the idea of wanting to stop businesses paying dividends and

with the absurd idea that ntcleus of rings should go to sea without their

missiles. Anyone watching this Labour Party, and is not thd leader,

it's the whole party, they `re a risk to national security, ` risk to

economic security, a risk to our health service and to the sdcurity

of every family in our country. CHEERING

SPEAKER: Edward Aga. Yelena Gloucestershire and the East

Midlands continue to be a powerhouse of jobs and growth attracting

investment from the UK and beyond and we are rightly proud of the

success of our local businesses in Charnwood. Does the continudd

ability to attract foreign investment help -- be helped or

hindered if secondary picketing were reintroduced? The East Midl`nds is a

powerhouse of our economy and we've seen employment in the East Midlands

go up by 17,000. When busindsses look at whether to invest in

Britain, whether their overseas businesses, or indeed British

businesses, they want to know we are going to have good labour rdlations

and not a return to the 1970s of secondary strikes and flying

pickets. It is extraordinarx for a party that spent so long trxing to

cast off that image of being in favour of these appalling industrial

practices has now elected a leader and is backing a leader who would

take us right back to the 1870s will stop

SPEAKER: Angus Robertson. Thank you very much, Mr Spe`ker

World attention on the conflict in the Middle East is focused on Syria

and Iraq, and much less so on the catastrophe in Yemen causing

thousands of people to lose their lives and millions of peopld to lose

their homes. Can the prime Linster tell the House what the UK

Government is doing to support peace in Yemen?

We can with all the people taking part in this conflict to encourage

them to get round a negotiating table, as they have done recently in

order to bring about what btsiness is Aryan Yemen, a government that

can represent all of the people You've got to make sure that both

Sunni and Shia are properly represented in their countrx and

that's the only way we can leet our national interest to back a

government in Yemen that will drive the terrorists, including Al-Qaeda

meet Arabian Peninsular, AQ@P, out of Yemen, because they have been and

they are a direct threat to the British citizens of Britain.

Angus Robertson. Thousands of civilians have been killed hn Yemen

including a large number by the Saudi air force using British built

planes with pilots trained by British instructors dropping British

made bombs and co-ordinated by the Saudis in the presence of British

military advisers. Isn't it time for the Prime Minister to admit that

Britain is effectively taking part in a war in Yemen that is costing

thousands of civilian lives, and he has not sought Parliamentarx

approval to do this? I think the right honourabld

gentleman started in a serious place but then seriously wandered off It

is in our interests that we back the legitimate Government of Yelen and

it's right to do that. We h`ve some of the most stringent arms leasures

controlled in the country anywhere in the world but to be absolutely

clear, we are not a member of the Saudi led coalition. Additional two

personnel are not directly hnvolved in the coalition operations,

personnel are not carrying out strikes, directing or conducting

operations in Yemen or selecting targets and not involved in the

Saudi targeting decision making process but, yes, do we provide

training and advice and help in order to make sure countries do obey

the dorms of humanitarian l`w? Yes, we do. Thank you. The recent floods

in the North of England havd caused untold misery to people,

householders, farmers, livestock and also what we need is a long,term

strategy for floods, and I know the Prime Minister has done a lot of

work across the country, sole rivers need to be dredged, some nedd to be

slowed down and we need to lanage the floodwaters in a better way

Along with our long-term economic plan, can have a long-term plan on

floods? We absolutely can do and that's exactly what the envhronment

and agriculture secretary is doing. We have an unprecedented six-year

commitment of ?2.3 billion but as important as the money, is laking

sure we have a joined up approach to dredging in some places, buhlding

flood barriers in others, m`naging the water in landscapes, including

farming practices in a holistic way to use all the resources we had to

reduce the likelihood of floods There is concern on all sidds about

the recent rather patchwork approach to constitutional reform. Wd need a

new act of union, one which sets out the rules and responsibilithes so

that the process of devoluthon by consent will be both fairer and more

comprehensive. Really meet with me and other members of the

constitutional reform group to discuss the new union? We come from

all the parties including experts such as Lord Lisvane, the former

clerk Robert Rogers. I'm very happy to meet with the honourable lady.

She has great expertise in this area. What I believe, I think there

would be common interest in what we're trying to do with the

Government is find a devolution settlement that works for all of the

devolved nations of the UK. Including importantly for England as

well. I think we've made sole very good progress with a further

devolution measures we've h`d in Scotland and in Wales, the

maintenance of a devolved assembly in Northern Ireland, if a ftrther

mother measures we can take I'm happy to see them. I don't believe

simply writing things down hn one place will solve the problel but I'm

happy to meet with her. Does he agree with me that our nucldar

deterrent only works against our nation 's enemies if our nuclear

submarines are equipped with nuclear missiles? And those who do not

believe that have a defence policy inspired by the Beatles's ydllow

submarine and while they max twist and shout, their current le`der

certainly needs help. I congratulate my honourable friend on his

ingenious question. There is a comic element to sending submarinds to see

without missiles in but it hs absolutely serious because the

deterrent has been on a cross-party basis, a key part of our defence and

making sure we have got the ultimate insurance policy which we stpport on

this side and should vote on in this House and all I can say, whdn it

comes to the Beatles, I suspect the Leader of the Opposition prdfers

back in the USSR. CHEERING

. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just under two weeks ago, a 16-year-old boy was

murdered in a knife attack hn my constituency. I'm sure the whole

House will want to join me hn sending our deepest condolences to

Charlie 's friends and families Given that knife crime in London

rose last year and the numbdr of teenage deaths peaked to its highest

level in seven years, what `ction will be taken to make sure we don't

return to the days when knife crime in London are affecting young people

is merely a fact of life? Hd speaks for the whole House and I'm sure the

whole House will want to be with in spirit, the family and friends of

Charlie who lost his life in this attack for that there's nothing

anyone can say that will give them the comfort that they seek. What I

would say is we have toughened the law in terms of knife crime offences

and the level of custodial sentences people are getting for thosd crimes.

The police have done a huge amount to try and crack down on knhfe crime

and that's why it has fallen by 17% since 2010 but there's still more in

terms of educating children and young people about the dangdrs of

carrying a knife. The carridr of this crime ends up the victhm of the

attack often so we also need better education. Does the Prime Mhnister

agree with me that encoding people in this country to learn thd English

language has a unifying effdct? It AIDS integration and helps to create

national identity and social cohesion and therefore should be

promoted. He is absolutely right. I think the most important thhng in

our country is to make sure that everybody can take advantagds of the

opportunities in our countrx to work, get training, go to

university. This is an opportunity country but there's no opportunity

for people if you don't spe`k the language. That's why we are

targeting money at those people very often women who have been stuck at

home sometimes by the men in the House and make sure they can get

their English language skills they need. Let me make one other point

because this is so important. When I sat in a mosque in Leeds thhs week,

a young person said how important it is that in mammas speak English

speakers if you have young people, sometimes it's big English

themselves but not Arabic, they need someone to guide them away from ices

and their poisonous rhetoric so speaking English is important for

Avril and, in mammas includdd. Young people in Southampton have seen

themselves frozen out of thd living wage and housing benefits and face

the downgrading or closure of the colleges and sixth form colleges

many of them get their qualhfication from and now we see the endhng of

maintenance grants for thosd young people who want a good univdrsity.

-- Imams. Whatever primers they got it into young people trying to make

their way in life? We have record numbers going to university, record

numbers taking on apprenticdships, record numbers in work for that

today the unemployment figures show a record low in the unemploxment

rate amongst those people who have left school and I would say one of

the reasons why a Labour MP in this south of England is as rare as hen

's teeth as big as they talked down our country and opportunity in it. I

would like to thank the Prile Minister for launching the delivery

board on Monday evening at number ten, men and women experts hn their

sectors coming together to deliver the 3 million apprenticeships by

2020. Does the Prime Ministdr agree with me that it will be a great

thing if, when students across our country log onto the websitd, they

are informed about the opportunities of degrees as well as the more

traditional agrees? That's Lac degrees. One reason is if you become

an apprentice, that is not locking out a chance of doing a degree later

in your career. The opportunities for learning and learning are

getting great. The second rdason it's so important, in schools,

teachers are very well equipped to tell people about degree

opportunities because that's the route that they've taken, A,levels

and suchlike. But we need to improve the information in schools so people

can see the opportunities for apprenticeships, in some cases, then

leading onto degrees. My 24,year-old constituents Loria is in nedd of

stem cell donor. The campaign is attracting global support and on

Saturday, the O2 Centre in Manchester will run a drive to get

as many people as possible on the bone marrow register. When the Prime

Minister join me at this evdnt on Saturday and send a message of

support to those working to keep her alive? I certainly will join the

honourable lady in supporting this campaign. It had meetings whth the

bone marrow organisations in number ten Downing St to support the

matching campaign and I'm stre, by her raising it in this way, many

others will want to come to this event and support it in the way she

suggests. The Prime Minister is aware that a number of colldagues

and I await his response to our request made in November for a

meeting regarding his Ewood negotiations to discuss the

importance of this Parliament being able to stop any unwanted t`xes

regulations or directives which goes to the core of the issue like the

Borders control, business regulation. Will he meet with us

prior to the next meeting? H'm having a range of meetings with

colleagues about the Europe`n issue. I'm sure that I will be covdring of

many in our Parliamentary p`rty as possible. I've always felt he has

slightly made up his mind already and wants to leave the EU whatever

the result. I don't want to take up any more of this time than hs

necessary. LAUGHTER

Mr Jonathan Edwards. The UK Government is a cheerleader for

China to be awarded market dconomy status because it wants the City of

London to become a major tr`ding centre for the Chinese currdncy It

would be nigh on impossible to impose tariffs on Chinese ddals

despite their strategy. If there's not a classic case of once `gain the

Westminster Government putthng the bankers of London before

manufacturing workers in Wales and the rest of the UK? I think the

honourable gentleman is wrong both on content and approach. Thd two

issues are separate. There `re market economies that Europd still

puts dumping tariffs on, we did that recently with America and wd've done

in the past with Russia, so we should take these issues separately

and continued to pursue robtst action against China, exactly what

we are doing, based on the lerits but in terms of a close abl`tion

ship, trading relationship with China, I want to help the Wdlsh

businesses including companhes like air bus to break into Chinese

markets and make sure we get the best of British jobs, manuf`cturing,

exports. That's what we want in our relationship with China. Spdaking of

Airbus, the Mersey region which straddles the England Wales border,

is one of the most dynamic industrial areas of the country

Will my right honourable frhend welcomed the establishment of the

all-party Mersey group which has been formed to promote the dconomic

success of the region and rdally urge his ministerial colleagues and

the Welsh Government to cooperate with the group and its work? First

of all, let me join my honotrable friend in welcoming this new group.

I think is important, when xou look at the development of the Wdlsh

economy, to think about how the North Wales can benefit frol growth

in the north-west of our cotntry and the links between the North West and

Wales, which this group will examine. HS2 and what happens crew

will be of vital part of th`t process but I'm happy to talk

further with him. Will the Prime Minister operate and speak for the

whole of the House, the unconditional unequivocal stpport of

the British people for the people of the Falklands Islands to thdir

rights, their British right, to self-determination and that will not

be undermined in any way by some kind of accommodation or

negotiations in which the pdople of the Falkland Islands may have an

enormous say and have no veto. They should have a right to determine

their own future. CHEERING

The honourable gentleman has put better than I could. The people of

the Falkland Islands have spoken in-out referendum and will laintain

the status quo and as long `s they want that, they have a guar`ntee

from me and I find it quite extraordinary that the Labotr Party

now want to look at trying to change the status and giveaway somdthing

people absolutely considered to be their right and that will ndver

happen as long as I'm in Downing Street. Thank you. As a forler Cub

Scout leader, I'm pleased to say that Scouting is thriving in Harrow.

This year marks the centenary of the formation and founding of Ctb

Scouting across the UK. Will my right honourable friend join me in

congratulating the 150,000 xoung people who participate in Ctb

Scouting every week in the TK, congratulate and thank the leaders

who give up their time voluntarily to enable young people to h`ve

adventures in a safe environment and call on more people to volunteer as

leaders as part of the big society movement? I absolutely agred with my

honourable friend, the Scouts are a great part of the big society and we

provided them and other uniformed youth groups with over ?10 lillion

of funding since I've been Prime Minister to help them do thd

excellent work they do. I h`d a letter recently from their grills,

the chief scout himself, looking at what we can do the welcome has

centenary and give this fantastic organisation a big centenarx boost.

-- Bear Grylls. The Prime Mhnister should be aware that Sheffidld

Masters announced this mornhng and last of 100 jobs in this crhsis hit

industry. Many of those jobs will be in my constituency. We have had lots

of words, hand wringing and crocodile tears from the Prhme

Minister and the ministers hn this chamber. About the job lossds across

the steel industry. Can you tell me when he's actually going to do

something to support world-class companies like Sheffield 40 Masters?

First of all, we have taken action including the action on energy bills

which will save these industries ?400 million in this Parlialent The

honourable gentleman chose to inject a bit of politics into this, let me

inject some back. When the Labour Party were in power, what h`ppened

to employment in the steel hndustry? It was cut by 34,000, cut in half.

Where were the carve outs from the energy bills them? Where were these

special arrangements for taking votes in Europe we put in place

Where were the rules for making sure that we buy which steel herd when it

comes to public procurement as we will for HS2, the carrier programme

and also if he is interested in Sheffield 40 Masters, he might want

to have a word with his leader about something called a Trident

submarine. CHEERING

Mr Speaker. We don't yet know who will headline Glastonbury the summer

but we do know that, as things stand, they will not have anywhere

to do their banking as this world-famous town is to losd all

three of its remaining banks within 12 weeks of each other. Will he join

me in encouraging those banks to think again and otherwise to make

sure that they need their responsibilities under the banking

protocols? I will certainly make sure that happens and arrange a

meeting with the Treasury mhnister to discuss this issue. We h`ve huge

challenges because of the growth of Internet banking but import`nt in

towns, market towns I represent we have a physical presence on the high

Street. The Prime Minister lay be aware about Julie Pearson, xoung

Scottish woman who died in November and was allegedly beaten and raped

before her death. I've met the family recently and I hope the House

will offer condolences. Thex are struggling to get authoritids to get

the autopsy report. Will he look at this case to put pressure on the

Israeli Government and authorities and the family than can movd on and

get justice for Julie? I'm not aware directly of this case, but H will

certainly take it up on her behalf with the Israeli authorities because

important our constituents get answers on this matter. Perhaps I

could have a meeting with Foreign Office minister so they can discuss

it but we have good relations with Israel and use them to make sure

when people need answers, they get them. Order.

We have a number of questions for the honourable lady, two to be

precise. I look forward with anticipation to hearing the

honourable lady after a couple of points of