07/02/2018 Prime Minister's Questions

Commission and the UK makes it

absolutely clear that the Belfast

Agreement remains in tact and all of

it is part of the -- will remain

intact.

And the house will join me in KGB to

Dean sprouting in Iraq, his death

was not the cause of enemy activity.

The house will join in offering

condolences to his family and

friends at this difficult time.

Yesterday, winning one the right to

vote. I know the whole house, well,

from a sedentary position, Labour

say someone, I'm pleased to say that

universal suffrage did come for

women ten years later under a

Conservative government. But I'm

sure Mr Speaker, the whole house

will want to join me in marking the

heroic and tireless struggle that

led to women having the vote because

it forever changed our nation's

future. Mr Speaker, this morning I

had meetings with ministerial

colleagues and others, in addition

to my duties in this house, I shall

have further such meetings later

today.

My constituent, Natasha,

suffers from Hank Hanley anaemia, a

debilitating disease which carries

with it a high risk of cancer.

Natasha was on lifetime disability

living allowance which was removed

following her T20 assessment. When

she appealed, she was told because

she has a degree she does not need

as much support. I'm sure the Prime

Minister is aware that disease and

cancer are no respect is of

disability and qualifications. --

following her PIP assessment. I'm

asking the Prime Minister what

urgent action she will take to

improve the quality and the standard

of PIP assessments?

Obviously, the

DWP is constantly looking at the

standard of PIP assessments that are

being made. I'm sorry to hear the

case the honourable lady has set

out, I think those people would be

very concerned at hearing that case

and I'm surprised at the judgment

that was given in relation to that

individual, can I suggest she sent

in the detail and I will make sure

it is looked into?

Mr Speaker, my

right honourable friend will be

aware of the Ukip led Thanet

Council's broken election promise to

support the reopening of minced and

airport. On the basis that the site

was to be redesignated as mixed use

with thousands of houses, the plan

was sensibly rejected by local

councillors and I salute them for

doing so. And she give me her

assurance that Thanet should now be

given as miserable a time as

necessary, perhaps under a new

administration. -- as reasonable

time is necessary, perhaps under a

new administration, to get it right.

My honourable friend is right to

raise this matter on behalf of his

constituents. I understand that

Thanet District Council has not

adopted a local plan since 2006.

That is why my right honourable

friend the Housing Secretary has

written to the District Council to

begin the formal process of

considering intervention and this is

a very serious step which shows that

the council has not been doing what

it should be doing in relation to a

local plan so my right honourable

friend the Secretary of State is now

considering whether to intervene and

he will be making an announcement in

due course.

Jeremy Corbyn.

Thank you

Mr Speaker, I joined the Prime

Minister in paying tribute to

captain Dean Sprouting from Jarrow

on his death and his family,

hopefully they will accept our

condolences after this terrible

incident. It is of course the

anniversary of women first getting

the right to vote in 1918. I pay

tribute to all those that campaign

all over the country to achieve that

right. We should understand that our

rights come from the activities of

ordinary people doing extraordinary

things to bring about democracy and

justice within our society. And

those women that suffered

grievously, being force-fed in

Holloway prison in my constituency,

and those that suffered so much,

need to be remembered for all time.

Working-class women as well as many

other women fought for that right

and it is one we should all be proud

of. Mr Speaker, with crime rising,

does the Prime Minister regret

cutting 21,000 police officers?

Can

I first of all said to the right

honourable gentleman that we should

be saluting all of those who were

involved in that struggle to ensure

that women could get the right to

vote. I was very pleased yesterday

to have an opportunity to meet Helen

Pankhurst, the great granddaughter

of Emmeline Pankhurst and to see

that the memory is being kept going

and as I said yesterday in my

speech, I myself heard about the

fight by the suffragettes from my

late godmother, whose mother was a

suffragette and both of whose

parents knew the Pankhurst family.

He raises the issue of police

numbers and crime. What we actually

have seen from the crime survey is

that crime is now down at record low

levels. That is what has been

achieved and it has been achieved by

a Conservative government that at

the same time has been protecting

police budgets.

Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr

Speaker, recorded crime is up by a

fifth since 2010. Violent crime is

up by 20% and during the period the

Prime Minister was Home Secretary,

£2.3 billion was cut from police

budgets. Her Majesty 's Inspectorate

of Constabulary warns neighbourhood

policing risks being eroded and the

shortage of detectives is at a

national crisis. Does the Prime

Minister think the Inspectorate is

scaremongering?

The right honourable

gentleman mentions the issue about

recorded crime. One of the

challenges we have seen in the

police in recent years is ensuring

that we get proper recording of

particularly certain tribes of crime

-- types of crime and I'm pleased to

say we have seen improvements in the

last seven or eight years in the

recording by police of certain types

of crime. He also talks about the

issue of police budgets. As I have

said, this is a government that is

actually protecting police budgets

and I might remind the right

honourable gentleman that the Labour

Party's former Shadow Home

Secretary, now the police and crime

commission for greater Manchester,

Intel said the police could take an

up to 10% cut in their budgets.

Mr

Speaker, the Inspectorate also found

that the police are failing to

properly record tens of thousands of

offences and in addition to the

gutting of 21,000 police officers,

the government has also cut 6700

police community support officers.

The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire

says, "We do not have the resources

to keep residents safe. The position

is a scandal"

to keep residents safe. The position

is a scandal". Too many people don't

feel safe and too many people aren't

safe. We have just seen the highest

rise in recorded crime for a quarter

of a century. The Chief Constable of

Lancashire said, "The government's

police cuts have made it much more

difficult to keep people safe". Is

he wrong?

Can I say to the right

honourable gentleman, on the issue

of recording crime, he mentions Her

Majesty 's Inspectorate of

Constabulary, it is precisely

because when I was Home Secretary, I

asked the Inspectorate of

Constabulary to look at the

recording of police crime to make

sure that police forces were doing

it properly and indeed, some changes

were made as a result of that so we

now see the better recording of

crime. We also see £450 million

extra being made available to the

police but what have we also seen

over the last few years? The

creation of the National Crime

Agency, our police forces taking

more notice of helping to support

vulnerable victims, doing more on

modern slavery, doing more domestic

violence, taking issues seriously

that they were not taking seriously

before.

Mr Speaker, if you ask the

Inspectorate and look at unrecorded

crime and they tell you what is

going on, the least you could do is

act on what they tell you. Mr

Speaker, if I could quote something

at the Prime Minister, it might

sound familiar to her, "The first

duty of the government is to protect

the public and keep them safe. I

have to say to the government they

are not putting enough focus on

police resources". If you cast their

rise to the bar back benches of the

Conservative Party, she will see the

member for Shipley. That is what he

said about her government and what

it is doing. Gun crime, Mr Speaker,

has increased by 20% in the last

year. The Chief Constable of

Merseyside said recently, "Have I

got sufficient resources to fight

gun crime? No, I haven't"

got sufficient resources to fight

gun crime? No, I haven't". Does the

Prime Minister think he is crying

wolf?

The right honourable gentleman

can't get away from the fact that

what the government is doing is

protecting police budgets, in fact,

not just protecting police budgets,

but increasing with £450 million

extra. What we are also doing is

ensuring that our police have the

powers that they need to do the job

that we want them to do. I seem to

remember the right honourable

gentleman does not have that good

record when it comes to increasing

the powers for the police to do

their job.

Mr Speaker, since 2015,

direct government funding to the

police has fallen by £413 million.

The Chief Constable of the West

Midlands, Dave Thompson, said, "The

current flat cash settlement for

policing means force budgets will

fall in real terms"

policing means force budgets will

fall in real terms". As well as

police cuts, other public service

cuts are clearly contributing to the

rise in crime. 3600 youth workers

have lost their jobs. 600 youth

centres have closed and been boarded

up. Probation service cut and

privatised. Re-offenders committing

more offences. When it comes to

tackling crime, prevention and cure

our two sides of the same coin. So

why is the government cutting both

prevention and cure?

I have to say

to the right honourable gentleman,

we have put in place various pieces

of work on anti-knife crime, on

serious violence, on issues like

domestic violence but I come back to

the point I made in the last

response, the Leader of the

Opposition, the right honourable

gentleman voted against changing the

law so that anyone caught carrying a

knife for a second time would face a

custodial sentence. He has called

for much shorter sentences for those

who break the law and he might want

to reflect on the fact that when

there was a Conservative mayor in

London, knife crime went down. Now

there is a lay-by mayor in London,

knife crime is going up.

Jeremy

Corbyn.

-- and labour mayor in

London.

Mr Speaker, I am very clear

that crime is of course wrong but

the way you deal with it is by an

effective probation service, is by

community service orders, is by the

rehabilitation of offenders. And

what she said goes to the heart of

the Prime Minister's record. She, Mr

Speaker, was Home Secretary physics

years. Crime is up, violent crime

rising, police numbers down and

Chief Constable saying they no

longer have the resources to keep

communities safe. After seven years,

seven years of cuts, will the Prime

Minister today admit that her

government's relentless cuts to

police, probation services and

social services have left us less

safe? The reality is, you can't have

public safety on the cheap.

Well,

the right honourable gentleman

really needs to reflect on what

Labour would be doing if they were

in government. You can only pay for

our public services if you have a

strong economy and what would we

see, what would we see with the

Labour Party? Well, we don't need to

ask ourselves what we would see with

the Labour Party because the Shadow

Chancellor's adviser told us that

the weekend. He said this, "We need

to think about the obvious problems

which might face a radical Labour

government, such as capital flight

for a run on the pound"

government, such as capital flight

for a run on the pound". That's what

Labour would do, bankrupt Britain

and the police would have less money

under Labour than under the

Conservatives.

Thank you Mr Speaker.

Travelling around the country and

meeting people from diverse

communities, members of the Jewish

and Muslim community have raised the

point for the coroner's act to

specifically take into account

people's faith considerations, as in

their faith, loved ones must be

buried within 24 hours. Will the

Prime Minister join me and the

honourable member for Maidstone and

faith communities to look at this

important matter.

Can I say to my

honourable friend, I would like to

thank him for raising this point

because he's doing so on behalf of

communities across the country and

he does so from a unique position

with his own experience and

understanding of these issues. It is

important that we take into account

specific requirements of someone's

faith, especially when they have

lost a loved one and are grieving

and I know that although, as he will

be aware, coroners are an

independent judicial office, I

understand the Ministry of Justice

is speaking to the Chief coroner

about this point, to see what more

can be done and I am sure my right

honourable friend the Lord

Chancellor will be happy to meet and

discuss this issue further with my

honourable friend.

Yesterday it was announced that ten

Royal Bank of Scotland branches in

Scotland have been -- that were

earmarked for closure are to be

reprieved, news for which I am

grateful, on the back of community

pressure under the leadership shown

by the Scottish National Party.

On three occasions I have asked the

Prime Minister at Prime Minister 's

questions to bring Ross McEwan

entered ten Downing St. For the

Prime Minister to accept

responsibilities given that we on

RBS. Well the Prime Minister Colin

Ross McEwan and join us and call for

all the branches to remain open? --

call in Ross McEwan?

As I have said

before of course it is important for

customers, especially those

vulnerable, to be able to call on

the services they need. I welcome

the decision from the Royal Bank of

Scotland, and commercial decision

for them. But if the right

honourable gentleman is so keen on

ensuring that communities and people

perhaps in remote communities have

access to the services they need,

they should ask himself why it is

the Scottish government has been

such a failure in ensuring people in

remote communities have broadband

access to online banking. They need

to get their act together because

quite simply Scotland under the Nats

is getting left behind.

Mr Speaker,

that was pathetic. The Prime

Minister hasn't answered. We have

saved the banks. Yesterday we

celebrated the achievements of the

suffragette movement, which was

about democracy, equality and

fairness for women. However today in

the United Kingdom, 3.8 million

women are not receiving the pension

they are entitled to. A vote in this

house last November received

unanimous cross-party support, 288

to zero, calling on the Government

in London to do the right thing.

Will the Prime Minister do her bit

for gender equality, and end the

injustice faced by 1950s women?

I

say to the right honourable

gentleman that as people are living

longer it is important that we

equalise the retirement leader

pension age between men and women

and we are doing that and doing it

faster -- Villa pension age between

men and women. We are giving greater

protection to the women involved and

an extra £1 billion has been put in

to ensure no one will see their

pension entitlement changed by more

than 18 months. That was a real

response to the issue that was being

addressed, but I think if he wants

to talk about equality, then he has

to recognise the importance of the

equality of the state pension age

between men and women.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I never

thought I would see the day when

where I read the Leader of the

Opposition follows -- where I lead.

There is clearly hope for them yet.

LAUGHTER

Last year the Government advertised

for the post of disability

Commissioner. Lord Shinkwin, my

noble friend, applied for the

position and was appointed. Yet only

a few weeks later he was told by the

equality and human rights commission

that the post had been abolished

altogether. Was the Prime Minister

consulted about that decision? Does

she agree with the decision to

abolish that post, and if not can I

urge her to urge the commission to

reinstate the post of disability

Commissioner and reinstall Lord

Shinkwin to his rightful place on

it?

Can I thank my honourable friend

for raising this point? Firstly, can

I say I have known the noble Lord,

Lord Shinkwin, for many years and he

has been a valiant champion for the

rights of disabled people over those

years and I think his own experience

and the example he set in his work

in public life, and particularly in

the other place, are a fine example

of how disabled people can actually

be standing up, speeding up, and

ensure they are taking their

rightful place in public life --

speaking up. The HRC is an

independent body and it was their

decision to abolish the disability

Commissioner. The question is what

is being done to help disabled

people and how can we ensure we are

helping disabled people? That is why

we are committed to tackling the

injustices that disabled people

face. We are spending over £50

billion a year on benefits to

support disabled people and people

with health conditions, a record

high. But of course we do want to

ensure and I would urge the HRC to

ensure that in their work they are

paying proper attention to the needs

and rights of disabled people,

because that is an important part of

their remit.

Mr Speaker, my

constituent's son was killed by a

learner driver taking a lesson. With

one in four young drivers being

involved in an accident within the

first two years of starting to

drive, and 400 deaths or serious

injuries on our roads involving

young drivers each year, will the

Prime Minister meet with me and my

constituents to hear their story and

consider the introduction of a

graduated licensing system for the

UK as they have another countries?

The honourable lady has obviously

raised an important issue and I will

certainly look at the request that

she has made. And I will also ask

the Department for Transport to look

at this as an issue. As she says

there are too many people who suffer

a loss and tragedy at the hands of

learner drivers in these

circumstances and we will certainly

look at that.

The Royal Marines are the most

adaptable of our elite infantry,

central to our amphibious capability

and they provide much of our special

forces. Does the Prime Minister

agree with me that producing them

further at this stage would be

inconsistent with this Government's

strong record on defence and

security?

Can I say to my honourable friend

that the Royal Marines do indeed

play a vital role in defending our

country and I pay tribute to them

for all that they do.

Detecting the UK is of course our

priority and as my honourable friend

will know, we have in place a

review, and organising defence

programme, about ensuring the

defence capabilities we have meet

the rapidly changing and evolving

threats that we face. I think that

is the right thing for us to do, but

of course any comments that have

been made, any suggestions made,

about cuts to defence or purely

speculative. I would remind my

honourable friend and other members

of this House that in fact we are

committed to increasing our spending

on defence.

In offering him best

wishes for his birthday on Sunday, I

call Mr Dennis Skinner.

I didn't

know about that.

LAUGHTER

I don't celebrate things like that.

I don't think you should celebrate

age.

Anyway...

LAUGHTER

There are another group of people

that need help, and they are the

people who work in the National

Health Service. And what they told

me last week was the best period

that they ever experienced was in

the Labour Government when they had

the money increased from £33 billion

in 1997 to £100 billion in 2010.

That was a golden period. Why did

they do it? How did they do it? The

Chancellor of the Exchequer but 1%

on the national insurance, and in

hypothecation terms it went directly

to the health service, and it is

called long-term stability. Under

this Government they don't know

whether they are coming or going. It

is high time this Government did the

same as we did between 97 and 2010.

Yes, and happy birthday, Dennis.

Can I say to the honourable

gentleman, he says why were the

Labour Party in that position of

being able to spend more on public

services. I will tell him. Because

the Conservative Government had left

the golden economic legacy.

a golden economic legacy.

Regardless of how popular you are...

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The

Conservative lead District Council

have refused the proposed expansion

of the enormous logistics part in --

Logistics Park in my constituency.

Given the Prime Minister's recent

welcome remarks about sustainable

developments, will she please

arrange for me to meet the relevant

Government ministers to discuss the

creation of a national planning

framework for the future location of

these enormous Logistics Park 's?

My

honourable friend has raised an

important point, and obviously it is

a matter of considerable interest to

his constituents. Of course we need

the right balance between enabling

development and growth to take place

while continuing to protect and

enhance our natural environment. And

the purpose of the planning system

is to contribute to achieving that

sustainable development, but

regarding the very specific issue

about these logistics parks, I'm

sure one of the ministers from

housing and communities and local

Government, indeed possibly my right

honourable friend the Housing

Secretary, will be happy to meet and

discuss it with them.

Is the Prime Minister were ever

Universal Credit claimant forgets

their username or password they must

attend a face-to-face interview at

the job centre to have them reset?

The Secretary of State can't give a

date when this will be fixed so will

the Prime Minister to commit to know

for the job centre closures until

Universal Credit claimants can

access basic online functions as a

available with HMRC?

I'll ask the

Secretary of State responsible to

look carefully at identifying a date

when that change will be made.

Mr Speaker, according to statistics

around 3400 people in my

constituency last year were

diagnosed with cancer. Cancer

survival rates have meant there are

7000 people alive today who may not

have been if the rates of 2010 were

still in place. Does my right

honourable friend see this as a

testament to the NHS and that she

recognised...

Well, I absolutely

agree with my honourable friend. It

is very good news there are 7000

more people alive today. Cancer

sufferers alive today, than would

have been had we simply continued in

the way we were in 2010. I am very

happy to join him in welcoming the

news. Cancer survival rates have

increased year-on-year. Of course,

we want them to increase even

further.

Last year we had 7 million more

diagnostic tests than in 2010 and

290,000 patients started treatment

for cancer, 57,000 more than in

2010, but he is absolutely right. We

should welcome the improvement that

has been made, we should

congratulate and thank the NHS staff

for all they have been doing, but

there is more for us to do and that

is why we are backing up our plans

for cancer with a further £600

million to implement the cancer

strategy for England.

The Prime Minister, as we have just

heard, continues to be in denial

about the rising level of crime and

following police numbers. Despite

her repeated assurances budgets have

not been protected for my local

police force, with 80 million and

1000 police officers lost already.

Will she meet with me and a

delegation of small businesses that

do so much for my local economy yet

have seen significant rises and

Brechins in crime as a result of

these Tory cuts?

-- break-ins.

Obviously I will look at his request

but for those concerned about the

way in which policing is being

undertaken in their area, they

should actually speak to the local

police, who make operational

decisions about what is happening.

We protected overall police spending

and we continue to protect it, and

indeed more money is being put into

the police. I remind the honourable

gentleman that it was a Labour

Shadow Home Secretary who said that

the police budgets could be cut by

10%.

NHS figures show that in the

south-west NHS funding, the growth

in NHS funding, is 2.2% less than

the national average. It is also

true that it is more challenging in

the south-west with an ageing

demographic and sparsity. Does the

Prime Minister agree with me that

providers in the south-west, that

they deserve their fair share of NHS

funding, and will she take action to

address this inequality?

Let me say to my honourable friend

that the National for me which is

the basis for calculating funding

does take into account a large

number of factors including being

rural and the demographics which

other factors he has suggested needs

to be considered. NHS Curnow saw an

increase in their funding this year

and will see a further increase in

their funding next year, taking

funding to over £760 million. This

is part of our commitment to

ensuring we are putting extra

funding in the NHS but of course, we

continue to look at ensuring the

distribution of that funding takes

account of all the factors that need

to do.

Leila Moran.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker, under the 1824 rate --

vagrancy act, rough sleeping is

illegal and the act was used nearly

2000 times last year to drag

homeless people before the courts.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have

already repealed it is so will the

Prime Minister support my bill that

consigned this heartless Dickensian

law to the history books across the

whole of the UK?

What we are doing

is recognising we need to take

action in relation to rough

sleeping. That is why we are putting

more money into projects to reduce

rough sleeping and indeed, projects

like housing first, which are being

put into place in a number of places

in the country to ensure that we can

provide for those rough sleeping.

None of us want to see rough

sleepers on the street. That is why

the government is taking action.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Today is the

anniversary of the signing of the

Maastricht Treaty. We have come a

very long way. May I congratulate my

right honourable friend on her

approach to the customs union? May I

also mention the fact that in the

liaison committee last December, I

warned her about ultimatums from the

EU and again in my question only

last week. Would she be given to be

very robust when discussing these

matters in the Brexit committee as I

am sure she will be, in order to we

repudiate any of these EU threats?

I

can assure my honourable friend the

first, I suspect that at the time

that the legislation was going

through in this house, there were

not many who would have thought that

my honourable friend would be

standing up recognising the signing

of the anniversary of the Maastricht

Treaty. I suspect he only feels able

to do so because we are coming out

of the European Union and I can

assure you we will be robust in our

arguments. As I have said right from

the very beginning, we will hear

noises find all sorts of things

being said about positions being

taken. What matters is the positions

we take in the negotiations, as we

sit down and negotiate the best

deal. We have shown we can do that.

We did it in December and we are

going to do it again.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Kirklees Council, who serve

my constituency, have already had

their budget cut by nearly £200

million, with a possible £45 million

of cuts to come. Which of the

following things would the Prime

Minister recommend they cut next?

Care for an older person with

dementia, emptying the bends,

providing hot school meals for

vulnerable children, libraries,

leisure centres or museums, or

supporting the 24% of children

living in poverty? Your choice,

Prime Minister.

I would have thought

that the honourable lady should have

been welcoming the improvements that

have taken place in her

constituency. She should have

welcomed them any more children who

are in good for outstanding schools

as a result of this government -- be

many more children. She should have

welcomed the extra help landing and

more people...

The Prime Minister is

in the middle of giving her answer,

order, members must not shout at the

Prime Minister when she's giving her

answer. OK.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Recent reports have suggested the

European Commission is asking that

we enter into certain limited

legally binding agreements in

relation to bits of our exit in

isolation. Could the Prime Minister

confirm it remains the government's

policy that nothing is agreed until

everything is agreed and therefore,

we will only enter into a legally

binding agreement in relation to the

entire exit agreement and not just

part of it as Jamaat

my honourable

friend is right and it was reflected

in the joint report that was

published in December that nothing

is agreed until everything is

agreed. The negotiations that are

now taking place firstly, to put

greater detail into the definition

of the implementation period, and we

expect to do that by the March

European Council. Alongside that,

there is looking at the legal basis

of the withdrawal agreement which of

course will have to come to this

parliament for agreement for both

the withdrawal agreement and the

implementation built in due course.

At that stage, I would expect to

have the future relationship set out

in a way so people are able to look

at the whole package when they come

to make the decision.

Sir Vincent

cable.

The Prime Minister knows that

one of the key objectives of

American trade negotiators in any

future deal after Brexit is to

secure access for American companies

to business in the NHS. Can she give

an absolute guarantee that in those

negotiations, the NHS will be

excluded from their scope? And can

she confirmed that in her

conversations with President drunk,

she has made it absolutely clear to

him that the NHS is not for sale

question mark -- with President

Trump.

I want to say to the right

honourable gentleman that we are

starting the discussions with the

American administration, firstly

looking at what we can do to

increase trade between the US and UK

already, even before a possibility

any free trade agreement and he does

not know what they are going to say

their requirements for the free

trade agreement, we will go into the

negotiations to get the best

possible deal for the UK.

Mr

Speaker, a recent report by open

doors highlights the top countries

that suffer horrific persecution

against Christians. We need to take

action and send a signal to other

nations. These are countries that

are often associated with luxury

holidays. Will the Prime Minister

consider it a marking a specific

fixed percentage of international

aid to go towards tackling religious

persecution?

Yes, well, I have to

say to my honourable friend that

this is an issue that I of concern

to many members of this house and I

was pleased a matter of weeks ago to

meet Father Daniel from miniver and

Idlib, who talked about the very

real persecution is congregation

were suffering and had suffered in

the past. He presented me with a

Bible which was burned, which had

been rescued when a church had

actually been set on fire. This is a

real issue. We are, all of our aid

is distributed on the basis of need

to ensure civilians are not

disconnected against on the basis of

race, ethnicity or religion. --

discriminated against. We are

working with governments, the

international community and the UN

to support the rights of minorities

and that our aid reaches those in

need but we will of course further

explore Whatmore support we can give

-- what more support we can give to

work against persecution of

religious minorities.

The Prime

Minister will be aware that all free

trade agreements involve some custom

checks and therefore infrastructure

at frontiers which would be

completely incompatible with

maintaining an open border between

Northern Ireland and the republic.

As the Cabinet subcommittee has

apparently today finally got around

to discussing this, could the Prime

Minister explain to the house why

she is so opposed to the UK

remaining in a customs union with

the EU when not only would this be

better for the British economy than

a vague deep and special

partnership, whatever that is but

would help to ensure that the border

remains as it is today which is

everybody wants? Wright UK is

leaving the European Union. That

means we are leaving the single

market. We are leaving the customs

union.

If we were full members of

the customs union, we would not be

able to do trade deals around the

rest of the world and we are going

to have an independent trade policy

and do those deals. He asks me about

customs arrangements but I have to

say to him that I suggest he looks

to the paper that was published by

the government last summer.

Thank

you Mr Speaker. Headway, the brain

injury charity, says that a family

recent had to pay £1500 over 15

weeks for hospital car parking

charges, Clic Sargeant said families

that have children with Baghdad to

pay £100, despite the government

misses, hospital staff, nurses and

Borders have to pay car parking

charges, given unanimous motion last

week in the House of Commons, will

my honourable friend address this

social injustice and abolish

hospital car parking charges once

and for all?

I recognise this is an

issue my honourable friend has been

campaigning on for some time. As he

says in his question, we have of

course set strong guidance -- sent

strong guidance to hospital trusts

on the issue of car parking charges

and we of course look to ensure that

those are being met. Of course,

individual hospitals are taking

their own decisions in relation to

this matter but I think it is right

the government has set very clear

guidelines to hospitals as to how

they approach this.

Mr Speaker, the

Prime Minister has done much to

tackle modern slavery but my

constituent was trafficked here as a

child, sold at least once on the

long journey and then forced to work

in the dark in a cannabis factory

for years. Now the Home Office is

proposing to send him back to

Vietnam. Will the Prime Minister

intervened, not just in this case

but in this complex and confused

area of the law?

I recognise as the

honourable lady says that there are

cases which are complex in terms of

the legal application. My right

honourable friend the Home Secretary

has heard the case the honourable

lady as set out and I'm sure we will

look at that particular issue, both

the individual case but also the

wider point that the honourable lady

is making. I am sure we all want to

ensure that actually, as we know,

the best possible solution for this

is people like her constituent not

to be trafficked into the UK in the

first place to be working in

cannabis factories.

Like many, I'm

delighted to note the good progress

made in lifting the ban on beef

exports to China. What is my right

honourable friend doing to ensure

that we are able to export Scotch

beef and other Scottish products

like whiskey to other parts or all

parts of the world?

Can I say to my

honourable friend I was very pleased

when I was in China last week, we

were able to work with the Chinese

government towards that opening up

of the Chinese market, particularly

to beef products and also to dairy

products, which are two key issues

for the UK. But also, I'm pleased to

say the Chief Executive of the

Scotch Whisky Association was on the

business delegation with me and was

doing everything that she does most

ably to promote the interests of

Scotch whiskey and of course, the

answer to his question is what we

are doing is making sure we can have

an independent trade policy,

developing trade deals around the

rest of the world which means that

good Scottish products and indeed

good products from the rest of UK

can be sold around world.

Mr

Speaker, the centuries-old UK in, a

world-class company, Britain's third

biggest engineering company is

facing a hostile takeover by

Melrose, leading to break up,

sell-off, closures and redundancies.

That would be to make a mockery of

industrial strategy. Can I ask the

Prime Minister this, that government

has the power to intervene because

of the defence work carried out by

GKN? Will the Prime Minister act in

the national interest and block this

unwanted takeover?

I can say to the

honourable gentleman that of course

the business department will be

looking closely and have been

following closely the issue he has

raised and I can assure him that I

and the government as a whole will

always act in the UK national

interest.

With the largest

undeveloped brownfield sites in the

country located in my constituency

at Stanton, will my right honourable

friend explain to the house at the

new housing infrastructure fund will

help residents buy a new home?

Can I

say to my honourable friend that I

think the housing infrastructure

fund is a very important

development, one of the major

complaints that constituent often

have and residents have when they

see the possibility of development

in their area is lack of

infrastructure. What the housing

infrastructure fund enables is

infrastructure to be built and put

in place so it can support of

elements in a way that helps support

local residents. -- support

developments. I'm pleased the

announcement of nearly £900 million

which the Housing Secretary

announced last week, we are seeing

real interest in the housing

infrastructure fund, which is making

a difference and enabling more homes

to be built and more of her

constituents to be able to buy her

own -- their own homes.

My

constituent is 58, she has the

beauty, four pins in her leg, a

walking frame and is just out of

hospital after having clot her long

billy dragged along, she got exactly

do the job centre, having found the

government posted on Friday, will

she apologise for not having told

any of the constituency Bridgestone

whose job centres were being closed,

will she refund my constituent the

£10 she spent on a taxi and Wilshere

apologise for this absolutely

ridiculous situation?

I say to the

honourable lady that yes, we are

seeing some job being closed in

Scotland. There's not going to be

any decrease in the level of service

offered to the people of Scotland.

We are increasing the number of work

coaches across the country. What we

are doing is ensuring that we can

continue to provide a good service

to the people of Scotland.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. Intimidation on

social media is a growing issue for

many people across the country and

yesterday, highlighted especially

for women standing for election. Can

my right honourable friend update us

on the progress being made and does

she agree we should take no lessons

from a party whose Shadow Chancellor

has called for violence against

women?

Yes, can I say to my

honourable friend that I think this

issue is a particularly important

one. I announced yesterday, I said

yesterday, as indeed my right

honourable friend the Home Secretary

said at the weekend, we are

consulting on a new offence of

intimidation of election candidates

and campaigners. That follows the

report from the committee about the

degree to which intimidation was

done to at the last election,

particularly women, BME and LGBT

candidates. This is an absolute

disgrace, it has no part in our

public life and I would urge the

Shadow Chancellor once again come he

keeps refusing to do this, to

apologise to the Secretary of State

for Work and Pensions for saying she

should be lynched.

Order.