15/11/2017 Prime Minister's Questions

clear and we have sensitively

handled that as an exception for

precisely these reasons.

Questions

to the Prime Minister.

Question one.

I am sure

I'm sure all members in the house

will like to enjoy me in congrate

lating Her Majesty the Queen and

Prince Phillip on their plait yum

wedding anniversary coming up. I

know the whole House would wish to

offer them our very best wishes on

this special occasion. This morning

I had meetings with ministerial

colleagues and others and in

addition to my duties in this House

I shall have further meetings today.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, my right

honourable friend's stewardship of

the economy and her predecessor's

excel epted work in making sure this

economy grows, has seen confidence

in our country grow, despright the

troubles and tribulations set before

-- despite the troubles. Our debt

has come down. Will she take this

opportunity to spref in our economy

even more than she is already and

perhaps even take the chance to

build more homes?

My honourable

friend makes a very important point

about investing in infrastructure.

He refers to housing particularly.

But we are doing exactly that. That

is why we have seen over a quarter

of a trillion pounds in

infrastructure spending since 2010

and putting in another £22 billion

from central Government or economic

infrastructure. We are seeing the

rail projects and biggest

road-building programme ever for a

generation that this country, this

Government building a country fit

for the future. THE SPEAKER:

Jeremy

Corbyn

Thank you, Mr Speaker, I join

the Prime Minister in wishing Her

Majesty and Prince I will if I a

happy Platinum wedding anniversary

-- Prince Phillip. The thoughts of

the whole house will be to the

victims of the devastating

earthquake that hit Iraq and Iran on

Monday leaves hundreds dead and

thousands without shelter. I hope

the Government is offering all

necessary emergency help and support

that can be used to save lives. I

also hope, Mr speaker and I'm sure

the House will join me in sending

our sympathies to the family and

friends of the late Karl sergeant,

the Labour Assembly Member in Wales

who tragically died last week.

Mr Speaker, crime is up, violent

crime is up. And police numbers are

down by 20,000. Will the Prime

Minister urge her Chancellor, who I

note this week is sitting absolutely

next to her, so it'll be easier for

her to make this demand on him, to

provide the funding our police need

to make communities safe?

Well,

first of all, can I say to the right

honourable gentleman, he raised

three points. First of all on the

earthquake that took place in Iraq

and Iran we are monitoring this

closely. It's a devastating

earthquake. We know. Our thoughts

are with those who have been

affected. We are looking at the

situation and stand ready to provide

assistance for urge epted

humanitarian needs if requested. --

urgent. The Government will do what

is necessary and we'll stand ready

to help people. I join with him in

offering condolences to the family

and friends of Karl Sargeant. I'm

sure that goes for everybody across

this whole House. He raised the

issue of crime and policing. Crime

is traditional measured by the

independent crime survey are down by

well over one-third since 2010. We

have been protecting police budgets.

We have protected police budgets.

And we are putting more money into

counter-terrorism policing but what

matters is what the police do and

how they deliver and as I say, the

crime survey shows that crime is

down by nearly one-third since 2010.

Mr Speaker, I have been following

some of the tweets from some of her

friends along the front bench over

there. And one of them and I quote

says "Very disappointed and

mystified at the closure of Uxbridge

police station."

CHEERS AND JEERS

For the want of any

doubt, Mr Speaker, that came from

the Foreign Secretary, who is

also...

THE SPEAKER:

I want to hear

about the Uxbridge police station.

Jeremy Corbyn?

I'm very pleased you

do, Mr Speaker, the Foreign

Secretary is so excited, he won't

even hear the answer The real

reason, Mr Speaker is that it's

closing because of a £2.3 billion

cut to police budgets in the last

Parliament. And it gets worse. They

are going to be cut by another £700

million by 2020. Mr Speaker. Under

this Government, there are, in...

There are 11,000 fewer firefighters

in England since 2010. Last year,

deaths in fires increased by 20%. In

the wake of the terrible Grenfell

Tower fire, the Prime Minister was

actually very clear and she said -

this could not be allowed to happen

again and money would be no object

to fire safety. Will she, therefore,

now, back the campaign to provide £1

billion to local councils to retro

fit sprinklers in all high-rise

blocks?

Well, first of all, on the

first question that the right

honourable gentleman raised the

first issue, he might not have

noticed but the Police and Crime

Commissioner in London is the mayor.

He is one of ours or one of yours?

The last time I looked, Sadiq Khan

was a Labour Mayor of London.

Although perhaps, perhaps the Leader

of the Labour Party thinks he is not

Labour enough for him and his brand

of Labour. But let's be very clear

about funding for the Metropolitan

Police. There is more money and more

officers for each Londoner than

anywhere else in the country. That's

the reality about funding for the

Metropolitan Police. Now, he asks...

He has asked about the issue of fire

and we absolutely take what

happened, the appalling tragedy of

what happened at Grenfell Tower

seriously and that's why I set up

the public inquiry. It's why my

right honourable friend the

communities' secretary has set up

already in work taking place on the

fire regulations and building

regulations to ensure that we do

have those right. It is why we

continue to support Kensington and

Chelsea Council in ensuring that we

deliver for those who have been

victims of this awful tragedy. But

he asked about sprinklers? We do

want to make sure that homes are fit

for those who live in them. There is

a responsibility on building owners

in relation to that. And some owners

do retro fit sprinklers but there

are other safety measures that can

take place. Perhaps he ought to look

at what Labour councils have said

about this. Har ingay rejected it,

and Lewisham said they want to weigh

up the issues because it can cut

through fire compartmentalisation,

another safety measure. Lambeth

Council said there were issue retro

fitting sprinklers and questions

about how effective they were. Even

Ises council say they need to look

at how effective spripgleers would

be. -- sprinklers.

Mr Speaker at Latmore House said

fitting sprinklers would be right

thing to do, the Chief Fire Officer

said it would be the right thing to

do, those local authorities that

have asked central Government for

support, to retro fit sprinklers

have all been refused by her

Government. Surely we need to think

about the safety of the people

living in socially rented high-rise

blocks. Yesterday I was passed a

letter from a lettings agency in

Lincolnshire, where Universal Credit

is about to be rolled out. The

agency, and I have the letter

here...

The agency is issuing all of its

tennants with a pre-emptive notice

of eviction because Universal Credit

has driven up arears where it's been

rolled out. And the letter, and I

quote says: "GAP Property cannot

sustain arears at the potential

levels Universal Credit could

create." Will the Prime Minister

pause Universal Credit so it can be

fixed? Or does she think it is right

to put thousands of families through

Christmas in the trauma of knowing

they are about to be evicted because

they are in rent arears because of

Universal Credit?

Can I say to the

right honourable gentleman that

there have been concerns raised and

concerns raised in this House

previously over the issue of people

managing their budgets to pay rent.

But what we actually see - what we

see is that over - we see that after

four months the number of people on

Universal Credit in arears has

fallen by one-third. Now, it's

important that we do look at the

issues in this particular case. Now

the right honourable gentleman might

like to send the letter through. I

know, in an earlier Prime Minister's

Questions he raised a specific

constituent's case, of an individual

who had written to him about her

experience on Universal Credit, I

think it was Georgina. As far as I

am aware he has so far not sent that

letter to me, despite the fact I

have asked for it.

Mr Speaker, I am

very happy to give the Prime

Minister a copy of this letter. I

suspect it's not the only letting

agency that is sending out that kind

of letter. She might be aware that

food bank usage has increased by 30%

in areas where Universal Credit has

been rolled out. 3 million families

are losing an average of £2,500 a

year through Universal Credit. The

Child Poverty Action Group estimates

more than 1 million will be in

poverty due to cuts imposed by

Universal Credit. If those aren't

reasons enough to pause the

roll-out, I don't know what there

are. And, Mr Speaker, last week the

Chief Executive...

THE SPEAKER:

Order, order. Mr Morris. Calm

yourself. Behave with restraint. You

are seating in a prominent position.

Quiet. It will be good for your

well-being. Jeremy Corbyn.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. Last week the Chief

Executive of NHS England, Simon

Stevens wrote "The budget for the

NHS next year is well short of what

is currently needed A&E waiting time

targets hasn't been met for two

years, the 62-day cancer waiting

time target hasn't been met since

2015. So, again, account Prime

Minister spend the next week

ensuring that the Budget does give

sufficient funding to our NHS to

meet our people's needs?

First of

all on the first issue the right

honourable gentleman raised, can I

remind him, yet again, Universal

Credit is ensuring that we are

seeing more people in work and able

to keep what they earn. He talks

about Simon Stevens says about the

National Health Service. Let's look

at what he says. "The quality of NHS

care is demonstrably improving.

Outcomes of care more most major

conditions are dramatically better

than three or five or ten years ago.

." He says what has been achieved

"More convenient access to primary

care services, expanding the primary

care workforce. Highest cancer

survival rates ever. Big expansion

in cancer check-ups, public

satisfaction, with hospitals

in-patients at its highest more than

two decades." That's the good news

of our National Health Service.

Well, it's very strange, Mr Speaker.

Very strange, Mr Speaker that the

Chief Executive of NHS providers

says "We are in the middle of the

longest and deepest financial

squeeze in history." I've got a

pretty good idea they know what they

are talking about. Let me give the

Prime Minister another statistic.

The number of people waiting more

than four hours in A&E has gone up

by 557% since 2010. Two weeks ago,

Mr Speaker the Opposition to us, the

Tories over there were very noisy

when I mentioned ... You are the

Government, we are the Opposition,

you are in opposition to us, it is

not complicated. It is not

complicated.

Two weeks ago, Mr Speaker, I raised

the question of cuts in school

budgets. Teachers and parents

telling MPs what the reality of it

was about. The Prime Minister was in

denial. Every Tory MP was in denial.

This week, 5000 headteachers from 25

counties wrote to the Chancellor

saying, we are simply asking for the

money that is being taken out of the

system to be returned. Will the

Prime Minister listen to

headteachers and give a commitment

that the budget next week will

return the money to school budgets,

so that our schools are properly

funded?

Can I say to the right

honourable gentleman, actually, I

think this is a major moment. He has

got something right today. We are

the government and he is the

opposition.

CHEERING.

On the NHS, can we say, there are

1800 more patients seen within the

four hour A&E standard every single

day, compared to 2010. He talks

about school funding. We are putting

more money into our school budget.

We are seeing record levels of

funding going into our schools. And

this government is the first

government in decades that has

actually gripped the issue of a

fairer national funding formula, and

we are putting that into practice.

But you can only put record levels

of money into your NHS and your

schools with a strong economy, and

what do we see as the result of

policies which this Conservative

government has put into place?

Income inequality, down under the

Conservatives, up under Labour.

Unemployment, down under the

Conservatives, up under Labour.

Workless households, down under the

Conservatives, up under Labour.

Deficit, down under the

Conservatives, up under Labour. He

is planning a run on the pound. We

are building a Britain fit for the

future.

Mr Speaker, I would have

thought that 5000 headteachers would

have a pretty good idea about the

funding problems of their schools,

and a pretty good idea of the effect

of government cuts on school budgets

on their staff and their students.

Indeed, the IFS says that school

funding will have fallen by 5% in

real terms by 2019 as a result of

government policies. Mr Speaker,

public services in crisis, from

police to the Fire Service, from NHS

to children's schools, while a

super-rich few dodge their taxes.

Oh, yes. Big up and sit on its hands

as billions are lost to vital public

services. The Conservatives cut

taxes for the view and vital

services for the many. It's not just

that there is one rule for the

super-rich...

Order, order. I

apologised for interrupting the

right honourable gentleman. Both

sides of this house will be heard,

and the idea that, when somebody is

asking a question, they should be a

concerted attempt to shout that

person down, is totally undemocratic

and completely unacceptable, from

whichever quarter it comes and I

would just ask colleagues to give

some thought to how our behaviour is

regarded by the people who put us

here. Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Speaker,

quite simply, isn't the truth that

this is a government that protects

the super-rich, while the rest of us

pick up the bill through cuts,

austerity, poverty, homelessness,

low wages and slashing of local

services all over the country? That

is the reality of a Tory government.

We have taken £160 billion extra in

as a result of the action we have

taken on tax avoidance and evasion.

The tax gap is now at its lowest

level ever. If the tax gap had

stayed at the level it was under the

Labour Party, we would be losing the

equivalent of the entire police

budget for England and Wales. We in

the Conservatives are building a

Britain that is fit for the future,

the best Brexit deal, more high-paid

jobs, better schools the homes that

our country needs. Labour have

backtracked on Brexit. They have

gone back on their promise on

student debt. And they would cause

and lose control of public finances.

I say to the right honourable

gentleman, he may have given

momentum to his party but he'd bring

stagnation to the country.

CHEERING.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. In April

2015, the residents of browns over

saw their only GP surgery closed in

an area of rock B that once had

significant challenges but, thanks

to the great work of local

councillors, has been regenerated.

-- an area of rugby. My constituents

had short-term pain for the

regrettably, the surgery still has

not been started on, so I wonder if

the Prime Minister might meet on me

and the local patients' action group

to consider the slippage in this

much-needed facility.

My honourable

friend is right to important issue

for his constituents and I had been

assured that, in this case, all

local health organisations remain

fully committed to this project.

They are confident it will bring

benefits to the local population in

the long term, but fully understand

the frustration my honourable friend

has at the delays that has taken

place. I understand he will meet

representatives of NHS England and

NHS property services later this

month, and it is those two

organisations that are in the best

position to insure that this project

is progressed as quickly as

possible, and I hope there will be

some positive news coming out of

that meeting but, as my honourable

friend has raised the issue of

access to local health services, I

would like to take this opportunity

as well to say how important it

is... No, this is an important issue

for people around this house and

outside of this house. Health

services, I want to make sure that

everybody who is entitled to a flu

jab this year goes and gets one. I

have had one as a type one diabetic

and I hope everybody in this house

is encouraging their constituents

who are entitled to those flu jab is

to get them.

Thank you. Can I join

with the premise that and the leader

of the Labour Party in

congratulating the Queen and Prince

Philip for the impending platinum

anniversary of their wedding, and

I'm sure the house would want to

join me in welcoming the presiding

officer of the Scottish Parliament,

who is in the gallery today. Does

the Prime Minister agree with me

that we should be incredibly proud

of our emergency services, that they

do a heroic job, often putting

themselves in danger to keep us all

safe?

First of all, can I join the

right honourable gentleman in

welcoming the presiding officer of

the Scottish Parliament to see our

proceedings today. As I have said

previously in this chamber, I am

happy to confirm it, our emergency

services do an amazing job. I was

very pleased at the pride of Britain

awards to be awarding, posthumously

awarding an award in the name of PC

Keith Palmer, who worked to keep

this place is safe, but other police

officers, the Leader of the

Opposition and the leader of the

Liberal Democrats gave to other

police officers who had also done

what they do and other emergency

services do, they run towards danger

when most of us would run away from

it.

I associate myself with the

remarks of the Prime Minister, but

Scottish fire and police are the

only forces in the UK to be charged

VAT, depriving front line services

of £140 million since 2013. The SNP

has now raised this issue 30 times

in this chamber. Will the UK

Government now gives Scotland's

emergency services back £130 million

and scrap the VAT? This has been a

long-standing SNP campaign and we

will not give up.

As the chief

secretary has made clear, officials

in HMRC will look at this and report

on it in due course. I am pleased to

say that constructive

representations have been made by my

Scottish colleagues on the

Conservative benches on this

particular issue. But let's be

clear. Because the right honourable

gentleman knows this, that before

the Scottish Government made the

decision to make Scotland's police

and Fire Services national rather

than regional bodies, they were told

that this would mean that they would

become ineligible for VAT refunds,

and they pressed ahead despite

knowing that.

Grandparents have a

vital role to play in the upbringing

of their grandchildren, something

that, at a time of rising life

expectancy, they are better equipped

than ever to fulfil. Does the Prime

Minister agree with me that we

should send a strong signal from

this does, not only that they should

be a presumption in their favour

when it comes to adoption but that

they should be intimately involved

in those decisions, something that

has been sadly lacking in my

constituency.

Can I say to my

honourable friend that, like him, I

have seen grandparents in my

constituency, through my surgery,

who have been concerned about

decisions that have been taken in

relation to their grandchildren,

when they themselves were willing to

provide that home and support for

them, so he has raised an important

issue. There is already a duty on

local authorities in legislation to

ensure that, wherever possible,

children are raised within their

family, and the statutory guidance

makes particular reference

grandparents, but adoption agencies

must also consider the needs of the

child first and foremost. Each case

will be different but I think the

message he is giving grandchildren

being able to be brought up in their

family wherever possible is a good

one.

Had the Prime Minister accepted

my invitation to the Universal

Credit summit in Inverness, she

would have heard harrowing

constituency from and multiple

agencies, including Macmillan cancer

care partnership, who told not only

of patient dying while awaiting

payments but they are now forced to

self declared that they are dying

even if they did not want their

doctor to tell them their fate. Will

she stop this weight and end this

cruel condition?

I made the point

earlier about the importance of

Universal Credit. We have made

changes in its implementation and we

are listening to the concerns that

are being raised. We are making more

advanced payments available. But the

honourable gentleman might also like

to recognise that, thanks to the

unprecedented devolution of powers

to Scotland that we have given,

including over welfare, the Scottish

Government have the ability to take

a different path, if they wish, so

that action in Hollywood might be

there.

We are leaving the EU and, as

the EU Withdrawal Bill goes through

the House of Commons, does the Prime

Minister agree with me that it's

part of our job as Members of

Parliament, some might even say that

it's our duty, scrutinise that

legislation, to debate considered

amendments which seek to improve the

bill and which are constructive, and

which seek to ensure that a smooth

transition of our laws and the EU to

the UK? Importantly, that we come

together and deliver Brexit for our

country and the British people?

My

honourable friend is right. We will

be leaving the European Union on the

29th of March 2019 and there is a

lively debate going on in this

place, and that is right and proper

and important, and there are strong

views held on different sides of the

argument about the European Union,

on both sides of this house. What we

are doing as a government is

listening to the contributions that

are being made. We are listening

carefully to those who wish to

improve the bill. And I hope that we

can all come together to deliver on

the decision that the country took,

that we should leave the EU.

It's

been almost a year since I stood in

this chamber and told my personal

story and asked for a children's

funeral fund to be established. The

leader of the house recently

expressed sympathy for such a fund,

and I have written to the Chancellor

and urged him to include such a fund

in next week's budget. Will the

Prime Minister added her voice to

mine and ask her Chancellor to make

this provision a reality?

The

honourable lady has been a

passionate campaign on this issue

and has very thoughtfully shared her

personal experience with this house,

and we recognise what an incredibly

painful experience it is to lose a

child, and I know that the whole

house are in sympathy with those who

do experience such a tragedy each

year, sadly, thousands of families.

Now, what has happened is that we

have put in place a piece of cross

government work to look at this

whole question of how we can improve

support for bereaved parents in a

variety of ways. That piece of work

is being led by the state for youth

justice. We are already supporting

the private members bill on parental

treatment that might honourable

friend, the member for Thirsk and

Malton, is introduced. We are making

it easier for parents to apply for

financial support and we are also

ensuring that support from across

government is brought forward so it

is easily accessible for bereaved

parents at a difficult time.

With

the premise to join me in craving

the work of the community transport

partnerships like those provided

across the country, and can she

intervene to sort out the threat

that threatens their services going

forward and, in the meantime, can

she issue guidance that confirms

there was no need for local councils

to take enforcement action until

that consultation is complete?

We strongly believe they provide

vital services connecting people and

communities and reducing isolation.

I was very pleased to visit a number

of weeks ago to actually visit and

take a ride on one of the community

buses provided within the Wokingham

borough which services part of my

constituency. The Department for

Transport remains committed to

supporting community transport

operators, has no intention of

ending the permit system and to

support this, we have written to all

local authorities in Great Britain

to explain how they can comply with

the regulations without neglectively

impacting on all operators and

passengers. THE SPEAKER:

Progress is

slow. Let's try to speed up

The

Prime Minister is aware that a

supplier to the energy sector, has

entered administration, this would

putm 1,400 jobs in Scotland and

elsewhere under threat. Can I ask

the Prime Minister to work with the

company, the Scottish Government and

the council to do all she can and

what specific action they can take.

I'm happy to gift honourable

gentleman that assurance, I was able

to discuss this matter briefly with

the First Minister of Scotland

yesterday when I met her and I'm

pleased to say that my honourable

friend the member for devises, as a

minister there, speak to the

relevant minister in the Scottish

Government, yesterday about this

issue and we stand ready, Baize, HMT

and Government stand ready to work

with the Scottish Government and

others to ensure the best result can

be achieved.

Thank you, Mr speaker.

Our NHS is a national treasure and

we must be bold to protect T each

week my constituents struggle to get

an appointment with the their

doctors. Whilst our fantastic

doctors are stretched to the limit

and practices are struggling to

recruit. To safe guard or NHS, will

the Prime Minister look at making

medical students sign a contract,

committing them to working within

the NHS for the first five years?

Stopping the brain drain of our

newly-qualified doctors overseas?

Well, this is an important issue and

my honourable friend is right, we do

need more GPs. That's why we are

increasing the number of places at

medical school by 1,500 and the

first 500 of those will be available

next September. On the specific

point she raises about committing

people who've been trained to work

in the NHS, this is - the Department

of Health has been looking at ways

on which we can maximise our

investment in medical education and

have asked Health Education to look

at this point and report back early

next year

The Foreign Secretary told

this house he has seen no evidence

of Russian interference in UK

elections in the referendum. Yet on

Monday the Prime Minister warned

Russia not to meddle in Western

democracies and today the Times'

reports that fake Russian Twitter

accounts turned out thousands of

messages in an ato influence the EU

referendum result. Has the Foreign

Secretary been kept in dark of the

intejerks not read it or willfully

blind and will she stop dragging her

feet and set up the intejobs and

security committee to look urgently

into the Kremlin's attempts to

undermine our democracy?

The

honourable lady is right, I spoke on

Monday about the issue of Russian

interference in elections. We have

seen that in a number of countries,

taking place in a number of

countries in Europe. Well it is all

very well Labour members pointing to

the Foreign Secretary, he made a

specific point about what was

happening in the United Kingdom and

if they care to look at the speech I

gave Monday they will see the

examples I gave of Russian

interference, were not in the United

Kingdom. But she raises issues about

the Intelligence and Security

Committee and it is being

established today.

Mr Speaker, the

harmful aspects of the internet are

now causing a series of social

policy emergencies, particularly

amongst young people. While parents

across the country will welcome the

engagement of the Home Secretary

with the industry on these issues,

could the Prime Minister tell us

when we can expect legislation with

real teeth that recognises that our

children only have one chance at

childhood?

Well, my honourable

friend, I know has taken a

particular interest in this issue

and in ensuring we are giving

support on security and safety for

young people on the internet that as

he says, is so necessary. We are

considering a range on options on

this issue, later this month - sorry

last month we published our internet

safety strategy. We are consulting

on a number of measures like a

social media code of practice,

social media levy and transparency

reporting but we do need to take

action to protect internet users,

especially young people, and that

includes considering a sanctions

regime to ensure compliance, as we

indeed said in our party manifesto.

Thank you Mr Speaker. Prime

Minister, in the past month, Adam

and Tommy have been fatally stabbed

in my constituency. This is part of

an increase in violent crime of 20%

in the last year. Since 2009

Merseyside Police have lost over 1,7

under flooint staff. That includes

over 1,000, that's more than one in

five, police officers. 82 million

have been cut up to now, with more

for 2020-2022. How can you increase

the budget for more police on

streets. Merry side's Budget has not

been protected. -- Merseyside.

I am

esure the sympathies and thoughts of

the whole House will have been with

those injured and stabbed in the way

the honourable lady has referred to.

Of course, we are concerned about

criminal acts of this sort that take

place. The question, as I said

earlier, in other answers, we have

been protecting the police budget.

We have been protecting police

budgets and of course... We do see a

higher percentage of police officers

now actually on the front line.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. In July 2016

a 20-year-old Mane rived in my area

from Romania. Three weeks later in

broad daylight he held a shard of

glass to a 14-year-old schoolgirl,

forced her into bushes and raped

her. Efs sentenced to nine years' in

prison last week. Can the Prime

Minister explain what efforts she is

making in people like this entering

the done triand can she ensure that

the Brexit situation, will not

result in the weakening of security

operations with the EU

He also

raises an appalling and horrific

crime and thoughts of members across

the House with the victim and her

family. I can assure him in the

specific case the Home Office will

be ensuring deportation action

against the individual. I understand

he met my right honourable friend

the Home Secretary and she will be

writing to him with further details

shortly. He makes a wider point,

though, about the continued work we

will have and partnership and

cooperationship we will have the EU

27 once we have left the European

Union. I'm very clear, as I was in

my Florence speech, we want to

maintain that cooperation in

security and on criminal justice and

law enforcement matters, it is

important to us all

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. The Child Poverty Action

Group recently published some

figures that showed as a consequence

of the cuts to Universal Credit and

the benefits freeze, single parents

with children stand to lose, on

average, 2,380 pounds per annum from

the family. I would ask the Prime

Minister, when she is sitting down

with her Government ministers,

planning this, whether today she

feelings a sense of shame?

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. As I said in answer

to a number of questions on

Universal Credit, I believe that the

introduction of Universal Credit is

very important in helping people get

into work, helping more people get

into work and also in ensuring that

people can earn more of what they

pay. Of course we looked at the

implementation and the impact the

implementation is having and we have

made a number of changes in that.

But Universal Credit itself is the

right thing to do, because it is

enabling more people to get into the

workplace and helping them when they

are in the workplace.

With recent

events in Zimbabwe and total

electoral chaos in Kenya will the

Prime Minister join me in

celebrating the hugely successful

elections this week in Somaliland

and with direct help from this

country, from our Government, the

national Election Commission in this

country has conducted a template

election described by the

international observer mission as

"Peaceful, transparent, fair and."

What's more the winning candidate

has announced one of his first acts

will be to legislate against FGM as

a direct consequence of the work of

a British campaigner who serves...

My honourable friend raises an

important issue. This Government is

pleased at the work we have done to

support the Government in Somalia to

ensure that we can see those

elections taking place in the way

that my honourable friend has said

and we continue to do that. I was

pleased myself to Chair the Somalia

conference that took place here

earlier this year. I'm very pleased

to hear of the intention to deal

with the issue of female genital

mutilation. It is an important issue

raised by a number of members across

this House. We want to see it dealt

with, not just in Somalia but here

in the UK. As well.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker, a couple in my constituency

have had their application for

Universal Credit delayed because the

mum doesn't have any photo ID. She

can't afford a passport and she

doesn't drive so. They now have to

wait for both her dentist and her

doctor who provide identification.

Now, with all the other chaos of

Universal Credit, will the Prime

Minister step in, show some common

sense and transfer legacy

identification from legacy benefits

over to Universal Credit, so these

unnecessary delays don't give my

constituents more pain and

suffering?

Can I say to the

honourable lady, I'm sure she will

appreciate that it is important in

dealing with the benefits that we

ensure it is those who are entitled

to them who are receiving them and

we do look and continue to look at

how we are implementing Universal

Credit. And I'm sure that if she

would care to invite the point she's

making to the Secretary of State for

Work and Pensions he will look at

it.

Businesses at the Dover flooint

are now preparing to leave the

European Union. Will the Government

consider earmarking at least £1

billion in the upcoming Budget to

make sure we are ready on day 1,

deal or no deal, and prepared for

every single eventuality?

I thank my

honourable friend for his question.

Obviously in his constituency, this

issue of preparations for the

position when we leave the European

Union is very, very tightly-felt and

there is a great focus on it and I

appreciate why that is the case. We

have already madep funds available

for the preparations and work that

is necessary across Government, in

preparations for Brexit, and, of

course we will be looking at what

further work is necessary to ensure

that we are ready. We hope we're

going to get that good deal and

we're working to get that good deal

but either way there will need to be

some changes from a Government point

of view and we're ensuring the

resources are there to do that.

Yesterday the Brexit secretary gave

a pledge in the City that freedom of

movement would be preserved for

bankers and other members of the

financial services industry. Why

can't the same pledge be given to

other key economic sectors like

manufacturing and agriculture?

As we

look towards the immigration rules

that will be introduced once we

leave the European Union, we are

very clear about the need to ensure

we take into account the needs of

our economy - that's precisely why

my right honourable friend the Home

Secretary has asked the independent

migrationly committee to look at

this issue and make recommendations

to the Government. Given the recent

reports

P of Zimbabwe. What support

can Her Majesty's Government give to

Zimbabweans to help their country,

economically but also in terms of

the democratic systems of

Government?

My honourable friend

raises an important point. We have

all seen what has been taking place

there. We are mob tore the

developments carefully Dobb

monitoring the developments

carefully. The situation is fluid.

We urge rep strants on all side. We

want to avoid violence. Our primary

consider is of British nationals in

Zimbabwe. We would recommend British

nationals in Harare to remain safely

at home until the situation becomes

clearer but on the point my

honourable friend has specifically

raise we are providing by lateral

support of over £80 million and part

of it is to support economic reform

and development as he says.

Next

week will mark six months since the

tragic attack at the Manchester

Arena, will the Prime Minister join

me, once again, paying tribe Bute to

all of those who responded so

brilliantly to the aftermath? The

Prime Minister will also be aware

that the costs associated with this

attack, now imposed on the city, are

well in excess of £17 million. Costs

which the Government agreed to meet.

Yet, as of today, these monies have

yet to be reimbursed. Would she

today give a clear and categoric

commitment that these monies will be

reimbursed at the earliest

opportunity?

Our thoughts continue to be with

those all of those who were affected

by this terrible attack that took

place in Manchester. I myself, as

well as meeting some of the victims

immediately after the attack, I also

met some of the victims and those

who were involved in a matter of

weeks ago and talked to them about

the long-lasting this has on them,

and she has raised an important

issue, but I can say to her, in

relation to this funding, we will be

responding in full by the end of

next week, but I would expect that

responds to confirm that the

majority of funds will be made

available.

The Prime Minister

represents a constituency in the

green belt, so will she issue of the

house that the government she leaves

will never weaken protection for the

green belt?

We have been clear about

our position in relation to the

green belt and, indeed, we have

confirmed that in the housing White

Paper we set out, where we were

clear about that. We want to see

more homes being built in this

country and it's important that we

see more homes being built

particularly in London, but there

are many opportunities to do that

which don't affect the green belt.

Earlier in the year, the Prime

Minister told the country she was

the only person that could offer

strong and stable leadership in the

national interest. With her Cabinet

crumbling before her eyes, can she

tell us how it's going?

Let me say

to the right honourable lady, what

we see this government delivering. I

spoke about some of the things

earlier, deficit and unemployment

down, we have seen record sums going

to our health service and schools,

and a government determined, with a

clear plan, as set out in my

Florence speech, a clear plan to

deliver the best Brexit deal for

this country. She is a member of a

party that can't even decide what it

wants from Brexit, let alone set a

plan for it.

No serious negotiation

would normally allow one side to try

and dictate financial terms before

the wider terms were known. In

preparing to embrace the world when

it comes to trade through WTO rules,

will she please ignore the siren

voices and defeatist voices who got

project fear one wrong and our need

to join the Euro wrong? WAG can I

say to my honourable friend, what we

want to do is to negotiate a good,

close partnership, a special

partnership with the remaining EU

27, so we can continue to see good

trade, as far as possible, tariff

free and frictionless, between

companies here and in the UK and

those in the EU 27, but we also want

to have trade deals around the rest

of the world, to ensure that we are

taking advantage of the

opportunities those trade deals

give, because it means more

prosperity and jobs in the UK.

Being

good neighbours, the Prime Minister

and I, from Maidenhead in Slough,

I'd like to place on record my

immense gratitude the Prime Minister

and half of her cabinet for having

come my aid recently to increase our

majority from 7000 to 17,000. I

couldn't have done it without you.

Mr Speaker, constituents, businesses

and unions in my constituency feel

very aggrieved that various

government announced initiatives

have seen little or no progress. The

electrification of the train line

between Slough and Windsor has now

been deferred...

Order. I'm trying

to be accommodating to colleagues

and I want to hear the honourable

gentleman, but the rest of the

question must be just that I'm a one

sentence, and a question mark at the

end.

Could the Prime Minister

assuage the concerns of my

constituents and reassure them that

the western rail link to Heathrow

will be treated as a priority

matter, so that it is dealt with

immediately?

I'm pleased to say to

the honourable gentleman that we are

putting significant sums of money

into transport infrastructure and

rail infrastructure, crucially, of

course, we are electrifying the

great western mainline, which will

be of benefit to Slough and

Maidenhead.

Will the Prime Minister

join me in welcoming the decision by

the people of Australia to vote in

favour of same-sex marriage? Does

she share my hope that the

government of Australia will quickly

legislate to introduce it and follow

the lead set by this house?

I am

happy to join my honourable friend

in welcoming the green welcoming

that vote in Australia. I was proud

when we passed legislation in this

house to enable same-sex marriage in

the UK, and I hope the Australian

government will indeed take that

vote and act on it very