21/03/2018 Prime Minister's Questions

sure that he would welcome the cover

evidence that my humble friends the

Chancellor of extractor mentioned

last week, with regards to specific

issues of tourism in Northern

Ireland.

Questions to the Prime

Minister?

Mr Speaker. Tomorrow,

marks the one-year anniversary of

the Westminster terrorist attack. It

was a sick and depraved attack on

the street of our capital, but what

I member most is the exceptional

bravery of our police and security

services, who risk their lives to

keep us safe. I know members will be

attending the events tomorrow and

over the weekend to mark this tragic

anniversary. Mr Speaker, I am sure

that the whole house wishes to join

me in exerting our sincere

condolences to the family of the RAF

personnel member who died yesterday

tragically. I know that members of

the House is will wish to join me in

congratulating the winner of the

teaching prize. It is a fitting

tribute to everything that she has

done. I look forward to

congratulating her in person. This

morning, I had meetings with the

colleagues and others, and I shall

have further such meetings later

today.

I am sure the whole house

would want to be associated with

Series to ten, Merseyside Police

have lost 1084 police officers.

Crime went up by 18 and a half

percent and there were 21 firearm

discharge is, one of which resulted

in a fatality. Across the forces,

there were 94 firearm discharges

with four fatalities. Local MPs have

met Home Office ministers, but no

extra resources have been provided.

Will the Prime Minister arrange for

the Home Secretary arrange with

local MPs to discuss the additional

support with this serious problem.

Can I say to the honourable

gentleman that in the safety

partnership with Merseyside Police,

crime statistics in the constituency

have fallen since 2010, but can I

say to the Right Honourable

gentleman that he obviously mentions

incidents that are of real concern.

And I'm sure the police are giving

their attention to those incidents.

What we are doing is ensuring that

overall, antique points at my right

honourable friend to ensure that

overall in the next year, not only

are we protecting police budgets we

could see 450 million extra pounds

being available to the forces across

the country.

Can I associate myself

with the prime Mr's earlier

comments. Britain's ability to trade

with the world has been curtailed by

the EU for over 40 years -- Prime

Minister. We have now won the

ability to sign our own trade

agreements around the world. And as

the Prime Minister agree with me

that this is Britain's greatest

opportunity in Brexit and ensures we

can embrace the globe as a truly

proud international country once

again.

My honourable friend raises a

very important point. And it is

something I agree with him when this

is an important opportunity for the

UK posts Brexit. And we need to

forge our own way by signing trade

deals with old friends and new

allies alike. And has he knows we

can bring into force new trade

arrangements around the rest of the

world a clue truly global Britain.

-- for a truly global Britain.

I to

join the primer listing

commemorating the attacks that took

place in Westminster a year ago and

I will be some of the events

tomorrow. We should all remember

this as an attack on democracy

within our society -- join the Prime

Minister. I also join in sending

condolences to the family of the Red

Arrows engineer who sadly died

yesterday and we wish the pilot well

in his recovery. Mr Speaker, I had

the pleasure of meeting Andria who

won the global teacher award and we

should congratulate and the school

in Brent for the great work she does

there. Mr Speaker, today is the

Kurdish New Year, so can we wish all

Kurdish people around the world a

happy day, and particularly for

those suffering so much in the

conflict in Syria, a hope of peace

in the year to come. Mr Speaker,

does the Prime Minister believe that

the collapse of Northamptonshire

Council is the result of

Conservative incompetence at a local

level or conservative incompetence

at an national level.

Can

I first joined the honourable

gentleman in those celebrating

Kurdish people around the world are

happy day. There has been a report

into Northamptonshire County

Council, but let's look at what we

see across the board in counsels. --

in local councils. If you look at

what is happening in councils up and

down this country there is one

message for everybody, and that is

the Conservative councils cost you

less.

Mr Speaker, my question was

actually quite specific to

Northamptonshire. And the Tory

leader of the council said we had

been warning the government since

2013/14 that we could not cope with

the level of cuts we were facing.

Three years ago Mr Speaker, that

Council, Brent, it was pioneering an

easy council model. It then

proceeded to outsource 96% of its

council staff and transferred them

to News service providers run by

private companies paying dividends.

Now that counsel has gone bust. So

does the Prime Minister really

believe that the slash and burn

model for local government is really

a good one?

Can I say to the right

honourable gentleman it would be

helpful if he first accurately

reflected the independent statutory

inspection which concluded last week

where the report was clear that

Northamptonshire's failure was not a

case of underfunding. So his claims,

indeed Northamptonshire's core

spending power is set to rise by

£14.5 million. I say to the right

honourable gentleman the attack that

he is making that this is all about

the amount of money that government

is providing is not correct. What we

are ensuring is that councils are

able to provide good service is up

and down the country that is what we

see with councils, Conservative

councils, up and down the country

costing people less than Labour.

The

problem is that Northamptonshire has

gone bust and it is caused by the

Conservative government and counsel.

And it is a model used by Barnett

counsel, until recently run by the

Conservatives, where capita holds

councils with an estimated value of

£500 million. Government cuts mean

councils across England face a 5.2

million funding gap by 2020, so does

the government believe it was right

to prioritise tax cuts for the

super-rich and big business.

The

house is becoming overexcited. I say

that the Prime Minister's answer

must be heard, and the right

honourable gentleman must also be

heard, and it will be, however long

it takes. Mr Snell you are behaving

in a most undignified manner.

There

seems to be a lot of concern among

Conservative members about my

suggestion that the government had

prioritised. And put it as something

more than funding for social care

for bin collection or street

cleaning.

Can I say to the right

honourable gentleman he talks about

bin collection, but people in

Birmingham living under a Labour

council saw thousands of tonnes of

waste on the street because they

were failing to collect the bins.

And we all know he talks about

payments, but we all know he talks

about tax, and the top 1% of

taxpayers are paying the highest

burden of tax than they ever paid

under Labour. And we all know what

Labour would mean for council

taxpayers, because just this week,

the Shadow Communities Secretary.

Could it be that he does not want

people to know he is supporting? He

has supported a plan to stop local

taxpayers to have the right to stop

tax hikes. He supported a plan. To

have a land value tax, tax on your

home and garden, and wants to

introduce a new hotel tax and we all

know what would happen under Labour,

more taxes on ordinary working

people and they would pay the price.

Mr Speaker, the shadow Secretary for

local government supports councils

and thinks they should be properly

funded and doesn't think they should

be a vehicle for privatisation. Mr

Speaker, the leader of Surrey County

Council, who just happens to be a

conservative says, we are facing the

most difficult financial crisis in

our history and he did not mince his

words. He went on to say that the

government cannot stand idly by

while Rome burns. Council funding

has been cut by half since 2010.

Households in England now face

council tax rises of £1 billion. The

Tory leader of the local government

Association says councils will have

to continue to cut back services or

stop some altogether due to

government cuts. So, as people open

their council tax bills, isn't it

clear what the Conservative

messages? Pay more to get less.

The average council tax for bands

deep property is £100 less and

Conservative than Labour. He says

his Shadow Local Government

Secretary is supporting councils

foresaw I wonder if he is supporting

these councils, Haringey, whether

Labour leader was forced out?

Brighton, where the Labour leader

was forced out? Cornwall, where the

Labour group leader was forced out?

What are these people done? They

have supported building more homes,

providing good local services, and

tackling anti-Semitism in the Labour

Party. So the message is clear. If

you believe in good local services,

if you want to see more homes built,

and if you want to tackle

anti-Semitism, there is no place for

you in the Labour Party.

Jeremy

Corbyn.

Mr Speaker, Labour councils

build houses. Conservative councils

privatise.

Order. Order. There is a

very raucous atmosphere. I will say

it again. Backbench members should

seek to imitate the Zen like calm of

the father of the House, an example

to us all. Jeremy Corbyn.

We all

admire Zen, Mr Speaker. Pay more for

less is what the Conservative

message is. In Leicestershire, the

County Council is pushing through

£50 million worth of cuts. And

cancel increases of 6%. -- council

tax increases. They blamed

chronically low Government funding.

That is the message, pay more to get

less. It's not just households. The

average small shop will see their

rates bill increase by £3600. Empty

shops suck the life out of the high

streets and local communities. So

why is the Prime Minister presiding

over a Government that is tearing

the heart out of our local high

streets?

First of all, we have

provided extra support for small

businesses in relation to business

rates. Secondly, it talks about

Labour councils building homes but

actually we have built more homes

under this Government run under 13

years of a Labour Government. And he

talks about local level councils.

Yesterday two Labour councillors

from Ashfield joined the

Conservatives. What did one of them

say? They said both locally and

nationally, the Labour Party has

been taken over by the hard left.

They are more interested in fighting

internal ideological battles than

standing up for the priorities of

working men and women. Conservatives

will always welcome people who care

about their local area at and we

will always stand up for people in

their local area.

Jeremy Corbyn. Mr

Speaker, half a million businesses

will see their rates rise this year,

some by 500%. Even Mary Porters, who

led the Government's says the

high-tech campaign, said it was

simply a PR campaign which looked

like we are doing something and

hoped it might kick-start something,

but it didn't. This Conservative

Government has slashed public

services. They cut funding and

expect councils to build up the

pieces. The result of this is

children's centres are closing,

schools are struggling, fewer police

on the streets, older people and

left without care and dignity. And

refugees turning women away. --

refuges. It's unsustainable. And

doesn't that tell you everything you

need to know? Doesn't that tell you

everything you need to know about

this Government, that it demands

households and businesses to pay

more to get less?

This Government is

spending more on our schools and our

NHS than ever before. We are able to

do that because of a balanced

approach we take to the good economy

and because of the strong economy we

see under the Conservatives. But I

notice the right Honourable

gentleman in his six questions is

not mentioned today's unemployment

figures. Employment is at a joint

record high. Unemployment has not

been lower since 1975. Economic

inactivity is at a record low. That

is a strong jobs market. Utilising

benefits for a market, Labour

members of Parliament?

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I can only assume that the

Leader of the Opposition has not

read the report but Northamptonshire

County Council. Worldwide, I want to

focus on a different issue today.

Worldwide, every minute millions of

throwaway paper copy cups go to

landfill in order to solve it we

need industry consumers and

Government to work together. In that

spirit, a company in my constituency

have developed a fully recyclable

alternative cap that can be easily

recycled, unlike the current option.

Will my right honourable friend join

me in welcoming that innovation and

perhaps I might be able to give one

to her if she's around afterwards?

LAUGHTER

Well... I'm very happy... I'm very

happy to say to my honourable friend

that if you would like to come along

and see me afterwards...

LAUGHTER

He has raised an important point

and, as he knows, we are committed

to wanting to leave our environment

in a better state than we found it

and I would like to congratulate the

innovation. This is an important

example of working with industry to

ensure that we are dealing with this

issue of plastic waste. We are clear

in our environment plan we want to

do and that's a very good example of

that.

Thank you. Can I also talk

about the remarks about the

terrorist atrocity in Westminster a

year ago, our thoughts are with

those who gave their lives and of

course the work of the emergency

services. I want to associate myself

with the remarks. Does the Prime

Minister agree that subverting the

democratic political process in any

country is totally unacceptable?

Well, we certainly believe in

ensuring that democratic processes

are able to continue, people seek

free and fair elections and I think

that everybody in this House would

accept.

Can I thank the Prime

Minister for that answer? The parent

company of Cambridge analytic is to

check laboratories, run by a

chairman of Oxford Conservative

Association, and its founding

chairman was a former Conservative

MP. A director appears to have been

donated over £700,000 to the Tory

party. A former Conservative Party

treasurer is a shareholder. We know

about the links to the Conservative

Party and they go on and on. Will

the Prime Minister confirmed to the

House her governments connections to

the company?

Can I say, the right

honourable gentleman has been

talking about two companies, the

parent company and he also referred

to Cambridge analytic, and I can say

as far as I'm aware the Government

has no current contracts with

Cambridge analytic or the other

group. What we have seen in

Cambridge analytic are the

allegations clearly very concerning,

and it absolutely right that they

should be properly investigated. It

is right that the information

Commissioner is doing exactly that.

People need to have confidence in

how their personal data is being

used. And I would expect Facebook,

Cambridge analytic and all

organisations involved to comply

fully with the investigation taking

place. I'm pleased to say of course

the bill we are bringing forward on

data protection will strengthen

legislation on this and give the ICO

the information Commissioner office

tougher powers to ensure

organisations comply and I hope it

will be supported from everybody

across this House.

We have a lot of

backbenchers questions to get

through. Gordon Anderson.

Some

London boroughs are renting houses

in Kent including Sittingbourne for

use as temporary accommodation for

homeless families. My local

authorities are then expected to

provide those families with the

support they need. This is putting a

strain on Kent's schools, hospitals

and social services who receive no

extra funding to provide that

support. Would my right honourable

friend agree with me that the London

Mayor and London boroughs should

provide more homes in the capital so

London families can be looked after

by them instead of placing the

burden on hard-pressed council

taxpayers in Kent?

Can I say to my

honourable friend that he is right

to speak up on behalf of his

constituents on this issue for some

London authorities must secure

temporary accommodation within their

own borough as far as is reasonably

practical. But we've also change the

laws so the council must take into

account the impact a change in

location would have on a household.

He's absolutely right, we do want to

see the London Mayor and boroughs

being able to build more homes. The

London Mayor has had money provided

to him to build affordable homes.

It's a pity he has not been building

as many as we would like to see.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. School cuts

in Portsmouth under this Government

will reach 3.3 by 2019 and

classrooms will be starved of

resources they need including

textbooks and basic stationary. At

the same time, 40,000 children in

the south-east rely on food banks.

If the Prime Minister was a teacher,

who had been under a pay cut for

eight years, what would she buy a

struggling child in one of my city's

classrooms, a textbook or a square

meal?

Can I say to the honourable

gentleman, he raises the issue of

school funding. As I said earlier,

actually, the amount of money we are

spending on schools is greater than

it has ever been before. What

matters is the quality of education

provided in schools for Sabato is

why I'm sorry he didn't welcome the

fact that we now see over 20,000

children at a good school in his

area, 9000 more than in 2010.

We

should all recognise and welcome the

employment figures announced today.

I'm sure we all welcome that, but

given the latest report that there

are an acceptably high levels of

youth unemployment among ethnic

communities in Britain, will my

right honourable friend explained to

the House what the new 19 limp and

fund will do to help young people

into work?

He raises are very

important point. We know these

figures because of the racial

disparity ordered which I

commissioned when I became Prime

Minister, it shows there's been

progress, but we do need to do more

because 16-24 -year-old in ethnic

groups are likely to be twice

unemployed than their white peers.

And £90 million I have announced

will help to tackle those

inequalities in youth unemployment

and it is an initiative which will

be run by the big lottery fund, and

it will identify the barriers to

employment for those young people

and help them to overcome those

barriers. I think that is incredibly

important and I was very pleased to

visit Birmingham, which is doing

excellent work in this area.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. The war in Syria

has now entered its eighth year. In

recent weeks, over 1000 people have

been killed in eastern provinces and

hundreds of Kurds lie dead and

200,000 civilians are fleeing for

their lives. Even the hospital has

been attacked. What will the

Government do to help ring urgent

humanitarian relief to those in such

despair?

Can I say that we take the

situation in eastern provinces in

Syria very seriously indeed and it

is an issue which has been raised at

the United Nations Security Council.

The Foreign Secretary has raised

this issue with others as well. We

need to ensure that we are very

clear about what needs to happen to

ensure people could be protected,

humanitarian aid could get in and

for those whom it was necessary, for

them, because of their condition, to

be given a safe passage to do so and

we will continue to press this case.

We recently interviewed a panel of

university vice chancellors on the

education select committee who

failed to recognise their salaries

are outrageous, being twice that of

the Prime Minister, and mainly

funded by the taxpayer and student

debt. Given that these outrageous

salaries are paid in the poorest

performing universities, were the

Prime Minister confirmed this will

be looked at in the post education

review

I think she has raised a point

others are concerned about as well.

Universities are autonomous from

governments and with up to them how

they set their pay levels but they

should recognise students and

taxpayers are continued into the

higher education system and expect

value for money. The office of

students which has been set up will

be acting to ensure greater

transparency in relating to senior

staff pay full stop and requiring a

justification for total enumeration

package awarded to the providers

most senior staff so we will start

to see a light beam shone very

clearly on the issue.

Last week, the agriculture and

fisheries secretary, and Ruth

Davidson said that the Prime

Minister has been clear, Britain

will leave the CFP as of March 20

19. Now the UK is staying in the

fisheries policy but with no say on

quotas. The worst deal imaginable.

What changed between last week and

this week?

Can I say to the

honourable gentleman that we will be

working with the fishing industry,

both fishermen and fish processors,

that we do see a bright future for

the freshening industry -- fishing

industry. We will take back control

of the waters and make sure we do

not see British fishermen unfairly

denied access to other waters and we

want to rebuild our fishing

industry. That is a Conservative

Party that is committed to coming

out of the Common fisheries policy.

His party wants to stay in the

Common fisheries policy.

Mr Speaker,

char well is really proud to be

building three houses a day, and

construction traffic is playing

havoc with our road surfaces. Will

the Prime Minister meet with me to

discuss what more national

government can do to help with

inevitable growing pains

can either say to my honourable

friend to congratulate Charwell for

the homes they are building.

I

recognise that this brings with it

other challenges and at budget we

more than doubled the housing

infrastructure fund with another

£2.7 billion, and earlier today my

right honourable friend, the Housing

Secretary announced a further 44

areas for infrastructure projects

with the potential to deliver

400,000 more homes, so I recognise

the important role infrastructure

plays.

The Prime Minister was right to

prevent members of the Royal family

and government ministers from

attending the football World Cup in

Russia. But what is being done to

safeguard everyday football fans in

what was in my view is already a

dangerous place to watch football.

Even before the incident in

Salisbury. What advice will be given

to travelling English supporters,

many of whom have already bought

their tickets? And if she confident

that adequate cooperation between

our police and the Russian police

will protect English fans?

I

recognise the important issue the

honourable gentleman has raised

because we want British football

fans to be able to be safe when they

are enjoying watching the England

team. And we are currently working

with the police and they are looking

closely at what arrangements will be

in place to support the England

football fans who travelled to

Russia and the Foreign Office will

be carefully monitoring the

situation to make sure advice is

available to football fans so they

are aware of the circumstances that

will be in Russia and what support

will be available.

My right

honourable friend will be aware that

I mentioned Jackie Woodcock, a

terminally ill constituents of mine

who set up the dying to work

campaign. Santander, her mortgage

brokers have been incredibly helpful

in freezing her payments and will

take it from her estate when she

dies, but now they have gone even

further and are not increasing the

interest payments either. So would

my right honourable friend agree

that other banks should follow the

cover -- caring and compassionate

example set by Santander and

encourage them to look after

terminally ill people in the same

way?

Can I say to my honourable

friend that she has raised an issue

about which she cares deeply, and

I'm certainly happy to join her in

congratulating Santander and the

support they have provided to Jackie

Woodcock. Obviously she has raised a

wider issue and it is important for

employers to be aware of and to

fulfil their legal obligations

towards their employees, including

the terminally ill employees, and

I'm sure others will look at the

excellent example Santander has set.

The Sunday Times said this week that

affordable housing and easy access

to London in Bedford has made it one

of the best places to live in the

UK. But Bedford constituents are

worried about and concerned about

the school funding cuts and services

cuts, the impending closure of the

only walk-in centre, the big

increase in homelessness and the

loss of peak-time rail services to

London. My question to the Prime

Minister is, why is the government

ruining the prospects of our great

town?

I can say to the honourable

gentleman that the prospects of his

great town are being improved by the

fact we see thousands more children

in good and outstanding schools in

Bedford and we have in the local

authority than we have gone before

and when we came into power and it's

being improved, and then more

funding in Bedford, but it's also a

government that is ensuring we have

a strong economy providing jobs for

people in his constituency.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. Financial services

are of critical importance both to

thousands of my constituents in

Hitchin and Harpenden and also to

the country as a whole. Will the

Prime Minister take this opportunity

to update the house on progress made

on ensuring that our future trade

deal with the European Union

includes an agreement on financial

services?

Can I say to my honourable

friend that I'm well aware of the

importance of financial services

both for the United Kingdom and

constituents in his constituency and

elsewhere but also the important

role the City of London plays in

terms of the financial sector for

the whole of the European Union.

This is a matter in which we are in

discussion with the European Union

about and there is a recognition of

the significant role the City of

London plays and the importance of

ensuring that we may access to

finance across the European Union.

Mental health issues affect one in

ten children who on average have to

see their GP three times borate --

before referral with many waiting

for up to 18 months for treatment.

At a time when national funding in

the area is being constantly cut,

including a 5% reduction in funding

to Lewisham, is this not another

example of the government saying one

thing but doing another with our

NHS?

May I say, that the government

is putting more funding into mental

health provision and have already

made available an additional £1.4

billion to improve children and

young people's mental health

services. And we have committed that

70,000 more people will have access

to mental health care. I will say

this to the honourable lady that she

rightly raises mental health issues,

particular she is raised if young

people, but across the board we need

to give more attention to mental

health. We are putting more money

into it and we want to see parity of

esteem between mental and physical

health in the National Health

Service. It is something the Labour

Party in 13 years of government have

failed to do.

The EU agreement

published this week has left

fishermen from Amble and the

north-east anxious. Why we will gain

control in the fermentation period,

which is great news, there is real

concern in case EU colleagues try to

take advantage of us losing our

voice in the CFP bike changing quota

rules during the implementation

period, so will the Prime Minister

consider asking deference to prepare

a financial mitigation plan to

protect the fleet should we need to

do so?

There needs to be the

certainty to operate on the same

basis until we reach a new

partnership we are renegotiating. As

I said earlier, the new partnership

means we want to take back control

of the waters and ensure British

fishermen are not unfairly denied

access to other waters and ensure

that we cannot -- we can rebuild the

fishing industry, which I think is

important. What has been agreed is

the stability key not being changed,

so the quotas that British fishermen

will operate under will not be

changed. I know that deaf are

looking actively at how we can

ensure that we are not only

maintaining the fishing industry but

that and rebuild it -- I know that

Defra are looking actively.

This

week every party in Westminster took

part in an international summit to

challenge violence against women in

politics. Online abuse dominated

discussions. Last year her

government considered a statutory

practice for social media

corporations for the abuse of

content they publish. Will the Prime

Minister say if she remains content

with a toothless, voluntary code, or

will she give it a digital guard dog

that both barks and bites?

Can I say

to the honourable lady that she

raises an important point. On all of

these issues we have taken the view

that we sit down with the industry

and work with them to see what they

are willing to do on a voluntary

basis but they know if that doesn't

actually work we will look at

legislation. The abuse that was

undertaken, she referred to the

abuse and political campaigning. I'm

afraid that is a sorry state of

affairs we have reached in this

country and we want to see the free

and fair election and people having

the confidence to be to go out and

put their views forward without

feeling they will be abused.

The

clinically led future fit programme

for Shropshire seeks to improve and

modernise hospital services across

Shropshire and we have been waiting

for a decision on this issue for

many years. Could the Prime Minister

use her good offices to ensure that

this vital scheme is supported in

the coming weeks so we can secure

the vital investment for Shropshire

NHS?

My honourable friend is right

to speak up for Shropshire in the

way he has done and he will be

pleased to see that the Right

Honourable friend the Secretary of

State for Health and social care

purred to his comments and we will

contact him about this issue.

Mr

Speaker, the review made a big

difference in improving services for

children with communication needs.

Communication is the key life skill

for children to learn and thrive,

yet a decade on, the latest report

shows much more needs to be done. So

will the Prime Minister commit to a

cross government strategy that puts

this issue at the heart of policy

and gives all our children the best

possible start in life?

My

honourable gentleman has raised an

important issue and the Department

for Education will be considering

the report carefully because we do

not want to see any child held back

from achieving their potential which

includes ensuring those children

with speech, language and

communication needs are given the

support that they need and that

there has been particular training

for teachers to support children who

require additional help to

communicate. But we will introduce

the education health and care plans

to make sure children with

additional needs receive the right

support to succeed in school in the

future but we will look carefully at

the report and respond in due

course.

Unlike the SNP, I do not

want to see Britain rejoin the

disastrous Common fisheries policy.

But I do have some concerns about

the fisheries aspects of the

transitional agreement which has

been provisionally agreed with the

European union. Before she travels

to the European Council, can the

Prime Minister assure the house and

fishing communities around the UK

that we will absolutely and

unequivocally take back full control

of our waters from 2021?

As I said

earlier, the point about the

fermentation period is that it is

the period during which people are

allowed to move to make the changes

that the new economic partnerships

we have and it will ensure that

businesses, fishermen included,

don't face to changes on the cliff

edge in the way that they are

operating. By definition because it

is maintaining the status quo so

people don't have to make those

extra changes, it is, I recognise

not the same and won't be the same

as the end state when we have a

future economic partnership and have

that new relationship. As I said

earlier one of the elements we will

be looking for in reassuring the

visiting industry is to ensure that

we do take back control of our

waters.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I

associate with myself with the Prime

Minister, the Leader of the

Opposition and the leader of the SNP

by offering condolences to the

family of the RAF engineer who was

killed tragically in my constituency

yesterday. The RAF has been part of

my constituency for over 75 years

and they are a tight-knit group of

aircraft men and support staff on

the ground. And whilst they are

grieving, will the primaries to join

with me in paying tribute to the

Royal Air Force and whilst they

commemorate their century of

dedicated service to our country.

I

am very happy to join the honourable

gentleman in saying what a great job

the Royal Air Force does for us, and

he sees it at first hand in its

connection with his constituency,

but we should recognise the valour

of all of those serving in our Armed

Forces, and particularly in this

100th year of the Royal Air Force,

those who serve in the Royal Air

Force, and we thank them for it.

May I welcome the government's

decision to create a medical school

at Canterbury in East Kent but to

clean my honourable friend the

Member for Faversham who has been

indefatigable in the fight for this.

Does not underline the importance of

training more doctors and nurses to

ensure our health services in the

region is well staffed and well

looked after?

My honourable friend

is right. I'm pleased to welcome the

new medical school in Canterbury and

the four other schools set up around

those parts of the country and he's

also right this is about ensuring we

are training a workforce for the

National Health Service and we have

raised significantly the number of

training places, the biggest the NHS

has ever seen.

Thank you. Given that

mesh can shrink in a woman's body,

will she supported proposals to

this?

This is a very important issue

and this has caused concern to

women. And I will look in detail at

it. I'm happy to write to her about

it but I recognise the concern is

about this particular issue and I

will write about what the NHS will

be doing on it.

Thank you. Will she

congratulate the remarkable start of

Prince Alexander Hospital in Harlow

to ensure they are out of special

measures today? Will she support our

campaign for a new hospital to

ensure the staff is fit for the 21st

century?

Can I congratulate the

local hospital in Harlow he is

referring to four coming out of

special measures? That's very

important and I know will give added

confidence to his constituents. He

tempts me to support a new hospital

in his area and I'm sure as he will

know the Secretary of State has

heard his request in relation to

that. What we do know is we are

putting more money into