07/12/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

My right honourable friend the Prime Minister is in Bahrain. Mr Speaker,

this morning I had meeting with ministerial colleagues and others

and in addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such

meetings in this House later today. Yesterday's signing of a memorandum

of understanding with Houston Space Court and the Rise Space Ince staut

brings the reality of a Prestwick Space Court closer. With the huge

boost that could give to the airspace injury, will the UK

Government support the Scottish Government to get this off the

ground? I can certainly assure the honourable lady that the Government

is looking very keenly at the opportunities to Scotland, indeed

the whole of the UK, arising from the future development of commercial

space operations. The Ayrshire operation that she has described I'm

sure will be examined by closely by most both my ministerial colleagues

who are particularly concerned with this area of policy but we want to

see the UK as a pioneer in seizing these new commercial opportunities.

Perhaps thinking of rail passengers trying to get their their jobs, the

secretary has spoke about abandoned workers and the Unite's Ken

McCluskey is doing a Ukip move, resigning and trying to return. Will

my honourable friend tell the RMT that 250 people will guaranteed

employment should not put the lives and safety of southern rail

passengers at risk? Hype' sure my honourable friend will be speaking

on behalf of many thousands of rail passengers in his constituency, and

many others -- I'm sure, in the south of England. It is deeply

disappointing that some unions are threatening to strike over the

Christmas period. The Government is now investing record amounts in

improving our railways, up to ?40 billion over the next five years and

we need everyone in industry, both management and unions to work

together to secure the best deal for passengers. I have to say that the

RMT's action shows co-ordinated contempt for the travelling public.

And it seems designed to do nothing except bring about the maximum

damage to people's lives. Mr Speaker there is heckling from the bedges

opposite. -- benches opposite. This party, Mr Speaker s on the side of

rail passengers. -- is on the side. I hope that the party opposite will

join me in saying to the rail union leaders - sort it out, put the

travelling public first. Stop the squabbling and tell your members to

get back to work. THE SPEAKER: Emily Thornbury.

CHEERS Nchtsds thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank

you Mr Speaker. I'm sure the whole house will want to join with me in

commemorating the 71st anniversary of the Pearl Harbour attack where

thousands of American service personnel and civilians survived.

Winston Churchill summoned Parliament to debate the British

response. When he z he said this "It is indispensable to aer our system

of Government that Parliament should play its full part in all important

acts of the state." These quords are a vital reminder that even at a time

of crisis, in fact especially at a time of national crisis, the role of

Parliament is central A in that same spirit, we welcome the Government's

decision to accept our motion today, that they will show Parliament their

plan for Brexit, before Article 50 is triggered. So, can I ask the

Leader of the House one central question about this plan? Does the

Government want the UK to remain part of the customs union?

Mr Speaker, can I first of all join the honourable lady opposite in

marking the anniversary of Pearl Harbour, in remembering all of those

who lost their lives at that time, but, also, marking with a sense of

some celebration, even, the fact that Prime Minister Abe is joining

President Obama in going to Pearl Harbour, the first Japanese Prime

Minister so to do, and that sign of reconciliation, putting ancient

conflicts behind is a welcome one. The point about Europe. The

Government has made it clear we would seek to give additional

clarity about our position at the earliest opportunity but it has been

the case as my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said many

times, that one of our core objectives is going to be to secure

the maximum freedom for British companies, both to have access to

and operate within the single European market.

I thank the Leader of the House for that answer but I would respectfully

say to him that surely on this issue, the answer should be

straightforward. We all know that it would be a disaster to British

business if we do not remain part of the customs union.

As the Leader of the House himself said in February, "Everything we

take for granted, trade without customs checks or paper work at

National Front years, would all be up in the air, it is massive what is

at risk." On this side of the House we couldn't agree with him more. Can

he put it beyond doubt, right now, today, tell us - does the Government

want the UK to stay in the customs union?

The honourable lady and I - she's right Mr Speaker, the honourable

lady and I both argued passionately for the Remain cause during the

referendum. What separates us now is that I am part of a Conservative

Government, which is working together to respect the democratic

verdict... CHEERS And to secure the best-possible

outcome for the prosperity and security of the entire United

Kingdom, from those into,s. Whereas the honourable lady, even just two

months ago was telling us that she wanted to go back to the British

people in some way. She needs to decide whether she accepts the

democratic verdict or not. Of course we accept the democratic decision of

the British public. Of course we do, but the difference

between our side of the House and that side, is that we want to leave

the European Union on behalf of 100%, on behalf of the whole of this

nation. Now, we really need to have a straightforward answer to a

straightforward question. Because leaving the customs union would mean

having to check every container coming in at Dover. It would mean UK

firms having to prove their origin tests, whenever they export to

Europe T would mean chaos and it would mean grud lock for

cross-border supply chains and as the Leader of the House -- gridlock.

And as the Leader of the House said in lamb and beef exports, they go

Taif-free, they go without any extra checks, you cannot guarantee any of

that if we are outside. Now, again, on this side, we agree with what he

said six months ago. The question is - does he still agree with himself?

I thought it hadn't escaped the honourable lady's attention that

there has been a significant referendum since February and that

changes the context in which we are now having to operate. We face

achallenging, yes, very wide-ranging negotiation and it would be harmful

to the national interest for me or another ministers to engage in the

sort of detailed expedition of our negotiating position that she is now

pressing upon me. None of the other 27 governments is doing that, nor

should we. Dear oh dear, we are not asking for

details. We are asking about a central plank of the negotiation. If

he can not give us an answer on the customs union as a whole... THE

SPEAKER: Order, order. Both the questions and the answers will be

heard. So, if the juvenile behaviour can stop, that would be really

#4e7ful to the scrutiny process. Emily Thornbury -- really helpful.

We don't get an answer on the whole of the customs union. Can I ask him

about one specificp point. Since 1993 there have been no customs

checks between the land border between Northern Ireland and the

Irish Republic. In May when visiting Northern Ireland, the right

honourable gentleman said - if the UK was in the part of the customs

union, then there would have to be custom checks at the border and he

said, for anyone to pretend otherwise would be "flying in the

face of reality" can he confirm that is the position and if he is right,

he must make it clear this is something that the Government is

determined to avoid? The Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland

Secretary have repeatedly made it clear that we, as indeed has the

Irish Government, want to see the very long-standing common travel

arguments and the free trade arrangementings across the Irish

border continue. We are actively engaged in talking both to the

Northern Ireland Executive and to the Government of the Republic of

Ireland, about those matters. There is goodwill on all those sides to

try and reach a solution that works for the people, north and south of

the border. The Leader of the House has made the

familiar argument that he can't give answers, that it is all to be

resolved through a negotiation. Brexit means Brexit, Brexit means

breakfast, but that is not what the Secretary of State for Brexit

himself said when he was asked about the customs union in September,

because he said "We have looked at this matter carefully and that is

exactly the sort of decision that we will resolve before we trigger

Article 50." So, if the Government is going to decide the position on

this issue before March 31st, account Leader of the House confirm

-- can the Leader of the House confirm that the British people and

the British Parliament will be told some answers to my questions before

they tell the rest of Europe? Mr Speaker if the answers sound

familiar t maybe that we need constant repetition before the

honourable lady will understand and appreciate it. The Government is, at

the moment, engaged in a consultation with more than 50

sectors of United Kingdom business, to ascertain precisely which aspects

of European Union membership work well for them, which they see as

harmful, where the opportunities beyond EU membership lie. We will

come to a decision and we will go into negotiations on behalf of the

full 100% of the United Kingdom population and all four nations of

the United Kingdom. The fact is and he knows t we all

know it. He can -- he knows it. He can consult as much as he likes the

answer will come back, we should be part of a customs union. It is

hugely disappointed that on a day when the Government is committing to

its greater transparency on plans for Brexit we get the usual stone

walling. We have a Government promising to tell us the plan, while

refusing to give us the answers to the most basic of questions. We have

a Government promising to give Parliament a spend when they are

spending we don't know how much of tax payers' money across the road in

the Supreme Court trying to stop Parliament having a say on this. In

short, we have a Government that cannot tell us the plan, because

they do not have a plan. They do not have a plan. In February, the Leader

of the House said when he was hearing about the Leave campaign,

was "confusing, contradictory nonsense" my final question is this

- are we hearing anything different from this Government today? Mr

Speaker, we will publish, before Article 50 is triggered, a statement

about our negotiating strategy and objectives, as the Prime Minister

has said yesterday. But the honourable lady seems, again, to be

in a state of utter denial about the consequences that flow from the

referendum decision. No other EU Government is seeking to reverse or

question the legitimacy of that vote in the way that she and a number of

her colleagues are still trying to do but I'm afraid that just

indicates how distant the Labour Party now is from any aspiration to

be back in Government again. We watched them in action - it's like,

quarterlying like Mutiny on the Bounty reshotly the Carry On team.

THE SPEAKER: Order, I want to hear the words flowing.

There is no reason why the chair should be denied these words. They

are rudderless, drifting on Europe as on so many other aspects of

policy. No wonder that decent working people who for generations

have looked to Labour as their champions have given up in despair

and looked to this party as the authentic voice of working families.

Mr Speaker, in 1943, a 16-year-old girl was forcibly taken to

Auschwitz, where she witnessed the horrors of the death camps. On

liberation she came to this country with her mother, where she raised a

family and became a nurse. She dedicated her life to making sure

that the people of this country and beyond know the horrors of the

Holocaust. Last week, that lady turned 90. And Kitty Hart-Moxon is

with us today at Prime Minister's Questions.

APPLAUSE Will my right honourable friend join

with me, and I think the whole house in wishing her a very happy belated

birthday and thanking her for her lifetime of dedication to raising

this important issue and also pay tribute to the Holocaust educational

trust, who do everything possible so that we all remember and witness the

horrors of the worst part of the 20th century? First of all, Mr

Speaker, I am grateful to my right honourable friend for raising this

important issue and I would like to join him in marking the achievements

of Kitty Hart-Moxon and of the Holocaust Educational Trust. I can

never forget the impact of discovering as a schoolboy that two

of the boys in my class had fathers who had survived Auschwitz. It's

only a couple of generations ago that Europe was plunged into this

unspeakable horror and it is important that not just the

educational trust but all of us play our part to ensure that the memory

of the Holocaust lives on and that the wider lessons of this dark

period in our history are learned and I think I would be grateful to

all members right across the House and all political parties for their

support in working together to ensure this vital work continues. Mr

Angus Robertson. Some of the most deprived communities in the country

are in Glasgow and today we learn apparently that the government plans

to close job centres in those very communities, in Parkhead,

Easterhouse, Castlemilk, Anniesland and Maryhill. Is it true that the

government are planning to close these offices and add misery to the

lives of thousands of people in Glasgow who currently use these

centres? Clearly the Department for Work and Pensions like every

government department does like from time to time at the number of

offices it has but the right honourable gentleman makes a

perfectly reasonable point on behalf of people in Glasgow. I will ask my

right honourable friend the Work and Pensions Secretary to contact him

with the details he is seeking. I'm sorry, Mr Speaker, that is not good

enough. Absolutely! Being tackled when dealing with

communities that are deprived does not behove Tory members well in

Scotland. -- being tackled. The leader of the house is correct to

say that the Department of work and pension has plans to cut the state

by 20%. The DWP is planning to cut Glasgow by 50%. Why is this

government planning to disproportionately cut vital job

centres in some of the most deprived communities in our country, why? The

key element in any such decision that a government department has to

make is not the raw number of offices that there should be but

about how accessible the offices and the services that they provide

continued to be to the people who need to use them. And I am

absolutely confident that it is that criterion that is at the heart of my

right honourable friend's thinking. Planning for the future of offices

in Scotland and everywhere else in the UK. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Passengers of the chaser of mine face chaos and misery in the autumn

and this year it's been worse than ever. Delayed and overcrowded trains

leave passengers stranded at stations and being late for work and

school. Well my right honourable friend outline what measures the

government is taking too penalised poor performing train operators?

First of all can I express my sympathy to my right honourable

friend -- tonight honourable friend and all passengers who have come

across these problems on the Chase Line. It is clearly not acceptable

and it is important that the operator works hard to secure rapid

and sustained improvement, the government has introduced new rules

to make sure that rail passengers will soon be able to claim

compensation if their train is more than 15 minutes late but as the

Transport Secretary said yesterday more needs to be done and we want to

see closer work across the industry so that this problem can be resolved

more swiftly than in the past. Thank you, Mr Speaker, does the leader of

the house agree with the north-east member for Somerset that Brexit

offers an opportunity to remove pesky emissions standards? In the

red, white and blue Brexit will he still commit to tackle this will

tackling global warming just become a of hot air? The government remains

utterly committed to both national and global ambitions and targets

when it comes to climate change. Indeed my right honourable friend,

the current Home Secretary, in her previous job, played a key role in

brokering the Paris agreement last year, the first ever global

agreement on climate change. The honourable lady, I hope, would

welcome the fact that we will now be ahead of our targets and ambitions

in delivering on the proportion of electricity provided by renewables

in this country and in continuing to work to get our carbon emissions

down. Thank you, Mr Speaker. There has been much talk recently about

paying for access to a tariff- free single market. I think that is a

very good idea. Given that the United Kingdom is the fifth biggest

economy in the world, and we have a ?70 billion trade deficit with the

EU, would be excellent acting Prime Minister... Tell the House how much

the European Union should pay for tariff - free access to the UK

single market? I suppose I should say, thank you to my honourable

friend for the upgrade! Although I hope that is limiting the

compliment. He makes a good point in that a settlement at the end of our

negotiation which maintains maximum access to and freedom to operate

within the European market for UK companies elsewhere in Europe and

for European companies here is an our mutual interest about that will

inspire negotiators on both side. Mr Speaker, how does closing miracle

job centre, one of the most deprived parts of the country, help my

constituents find a job? Does he accept that travelling to other

centres will mean higher costs for those on low incomes and increasing

sanctions, why does this government continued to target the poorest and

most vulnerable? If the government has been targeting the poorest it is

in getting them back to work in record numbers. And it has been in

providing a boost to the pay of people on low pay through the

introduction and increase in the national living wage. I wish that

the honourable gentleman was prepared to celebrate this

achievements. Thank you Mr Speaker, as we are about to commence the most

important negotiation for decades does my right honourable friend

agree that the government being forced to disclose its negotiation

strategy at this stage is rather like showing your hand at cards to

your opponent before a game of poker, and can I urge him to take no

advice from the party opposite? They only have one card to play on this

and it is always the Joker! Mr Speaker, we have said we will come

forward with more details about our strategic aims going into the

negotiation but it would harm the national interest if we were to go

into the kind of detailed explanation of our negotiating

position that the opposition urges upon us. That is not how any of the

other 27 governments acting of thinking and we should learn from

bad example. Does the leader of the house agree that tonight's vote on

the Prime Minister's Amendment, which we fully support, is a vote of

the highest significance and great importance because for the first

time honourable and right Honourable members of this House will have the

opportunity to vote on whether they respect the will of the people of

the United Kingdom, and whether they will get on with implementing it,

people will be able to read in Hansard tomorrow who stands by

respecting the will of the people of the UK? And will he also agree...

And I am sure that he will... The more red white and blue he makes it

the better the us and the Unionist benches! The right honourable

gentleman as so often makes a powerful and important point. The

vote tonight will be the first opportunity for members of this

house to decide whether or not they support the government's timetable

of triggering Article 50 by the end of March 20 17. And any Right

Honourable member who votes against that motion will, in my view, be

seeking to thwart the outcome of the referendum in most undemocratic

fashion. Mr Speaker, this country's nuclear deterrent is our ultimate

defence and must be maintained at all costs, yet hundreds of my

constituents who could at the atomic weapons Establishment are currently

on strike or work to rule over pensions. These are people who more

often than not have devoted their working lives to tending our nuclear

defence and to whom promises were made during privatisation. Can I ask

that the leader of the house commits to sit down with the promised and

review the situation to ensure that those promises are being kept? I

will certainly ensure that the Prime Minister is informed about this

matter and my honourable friend is right to raise these concerns on

behalf of his constituents. My understanding is that the proposed

changes to the atomic weapons Establishment pensions scheme are a

matter for the company as the employer but I can assure my right

honourable friend that the Defence Secretary has been in close contact

with AWE throughout the process and has also met the trade unions and is

carefully considering recent developments to see what can be

done. Thank you, Mr Speaker, I know the House will join me in sending

their sympathies to the family of David Brown who aged 18 took his own

life. The inquest into his death has heard that he did so on the day he

was due to sign on at the job centre after saying that he felt belittled

by staff despite actively looking for work and seeking an

apprenticeship. Shortly before taking his own life he told his mum,

the way that the job centre treat people, it's no surprise that people

commit suicide. Will the leader of the house and take a review into

this case and also undertake to take stock of six years of brutal welfare

reform and look at the way that the DWP treats it most vulnerable... Mr

Speaker, can I first also express and reserved sympathy for the family

of David Brown. No parent, no family, should have to go through

that kind of shocking experience. Clearly human beings in any

organisation sometimes take decisions that get things wrong and

I will ask the work and pensions department to look at the case she

has described. But I do have to say that I think the principle remains

right that while staff should always behave with courtesy towards people

seeking to claim benefits, it is also right that we should expect

people who are receiving benefits to be subject to the kind of

disciplines that apply to people in work, even if they are on low pay,

there is a principle of fairness here that lies behind the approach

that DWP takes. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I applaud the Prime

Minister 's vision for a government for all. As chair of the all-party

committee on community engagement, the FTSE 150 has less than 4% of

individuals from an ethnic minority on its board. Will the government

support the vision to help to increase that to 10% by 2021? It is

very clear that boardrooms need to do more to reflect the reality of

modern Britain and the government supports the principle of increasing

the diversity of boards. That is why we should support the initiative

chaired by Sir John Parker and we encourage businesses to act on his

recommendations. Thank you, Mr Speaker. A recent FOI showed that

Pinderfields Hospital placed ambulances and divert to do is

prehospital 61 times in the past 12 months. One hospital scheduled for

downgrade next year. In light of evidence showing that this hospital

currently can't cope will the leader of the house pledge urgent support

from the government to keep Dewsbury A E open? The NHS is certainly

busier than it ever has been in its history, which is why it should be a

matter of thanks and tribute to hard-working NHS staff that 90% of

people going to A E are still being seen within the four our

target. The point about the Confederation of local services in

any part of the country is that these need to be driven by local

clinicians working together with the CCGs who are the people who actually

manage what is needed in each locality. The local authority to its

health committee has the right to call in proposed changes to services

and refer them to the secretary of State if they are uncomfortable with

them. Messi thank you, Mr Speaker. I know my right honourable friend will

share with me the importance of the creative sector and that in

conjunction with the Welsh language makes S4 see in my constituency

hugely important to Welsh and British culture and economy. Will he

confirm this government 's commitment to protect S4C why we

review its future? We fully committed to the future of Welsh

language broadcasting and to S4C. I'm pleased to see the licence fee

settlement we have agreed has given financial certainty protecting its

funding at more than ?74 million a year for the next five years and we

are committed to ensuring that the channel continues to make

first-class programmes and serve Welsh audiences in the constituency

of my honourable friend and right across the UK. Is the leader of the

House aware of reports of children being massacred and thrown into

fires, women being raped and houses razed to the ground and what

representations have this government made to the Burmese authorities or

the militaries in this regard? Yes, those reports are extremely

concerning as the honourable lady knows, there is a long history of

discrimination against these people in Burma, both British ministers and

the British Embassy and officials in London make our concerned very clear

to the Burmese authorities. Following the revelations in the

panorama programme Clinton has in my constituency is closed and three

other care homes run by the same group have been rated inadequate and

is CQC and two others are currently under inspection. Concerns have been

raised about these homes figures and cannot be acceptable that it took

the BBC to provoke the action desperately needed. Does the leader

of the has agreed that it is now time to urgently review the role of

the CQC to ensure that in future concerns raised by residents, family

and staff are properly and promptly addressed? I think that old and

vulnerable people deserve the highest quality care possible, no

excuse for services that fall short of expectations in the way that my

honourable friend has described. This CQC does have extensive powers

in law to ensure that no one in the chain of responsibility is immune

against legal accountability. And I would expect this CQC to exercise

those powers in full, in this case but he's made some criticisms of the

CQC and the government has been looking into ways to improve its

processes and increase its efficiency and my right honourable

friend the Minister for community health and get discussed this issue

with the CQC today. 6% of methane from fracking is leaked from

fugitive emissions. Given that methane is 86 times worse than

carbon dioxide for global warming over 20 years will he support the

Council for Europe's call for banning fracking or at least a

maximum of 0.1% fugitive emissions at the well head? No, Mr Speaker,

the government took its decision to give the go-ahead to fracking after

extensive consideration of both the economic and environmental risks and

opportunities involved. We are confident that it can be carried out

in a way that is saved, that does not harm the environment but which

also provides job opportunities for this country and makes this country

less dependent on imported energy. Mr Speaker, I expect my right

honourable friend will be astonished if not aghast to learn that a

succession of journalists from the BBC have contacted me seeking to

manufacture stories of backbench rebellion! On the issue of the EU. I

want to hear about these activities! Will he agree with me that on this

controversial issues the BBC should stick to its charter obligation for

accuracy and impartiality instead of seeking to create problems with the

government! Mr Speaker, I am sure that my honourable friend is shocked

at the thought that anybody could look to him as a source of

information about rebellion against the government! I hope that he will

be able to find some comfort in the fact that the new Royal Charter

agreement requires the BBC to deliver impartial news, the first

time impartiality has been enshrined in the BBC's mission. Having

received a response from the Prime Minister to my request for a

children's funeral fund I was disturbed to be told that the fund

can provide, and simple respectable funeral, this response totally lacks

any understanding of my request. As the leader of the House any

authority to facilitate a meeting between myself and other bereaved

mothers so we can explain to the Prime Minister exactly what we are

asking for? This request is important to us as parents. Too many

in this house and from my postbag very many people and organisations

throughout this country. Burying a child must be an incredibly painful

experience for any family, and I think all of us would want to pay

our respects to and have enormous sympathy with the honourable member

for Swansea Is. And she speaks on behalf of, she says, thousands of

parents who go through that anguish. As the Prime Minister said, there

are mechanisms in place for financial support from central

government to be available and local authorities are of course free and

many of them to waive funeral fees for child burials. -- many of them

do. I will speak to my ministerial colleagues about the request from

the honourable lady for meeting and I am sure she will receive a

response. Good train links are vital for constituents to get to work so

it's incredible frustrating that cross-country operates 63 services a

day between Birmingham and Bristol yet only three stop at Gloucester.

Would my right honourable friend ensure that ministers, in extending

the franchise of the train operators, do not allow cross

country to go on treating Gloucester like a letter to be avoided at all

cost and oblige them to deliver a service that every city deserves.

Any of us who have been to Gloucester know that it's a place

that you want to be able to visit frequently and easily. The

government is investing record amounts in improving railways and as

regards his case, transport ministers are working with

cross-country and great Western to see how the service can be improved.