PMQs

Question

My constituents are reeling from the 9% contraction of the economy since March this year. Unemployment has sky-rocketed and joblessness in Haringey is the highest in the capital. Unfortunately, we are at the same time facing the idea that there could be a congestion tax forced on an extra 4 million Londoners by this Government. These Londoners are already facing the double whammy of covid and financial ruin. Will the Prime Minister please immediately stop the imposition of this dreadful plan? I look forward to his answer.

Question

People the length and breadth of the country have made many sacrifices over the last few months to try to suppress covid-19, but infection rates are increasing fast and Buckinghamshire may soon find itself in tier 2. Can my right hon. Friend tell the people of my Aylesbury constituency how long we would be expected to stay there, what additional help there would be for local businesses, and, crucially, what the route out would be?

Question

Prime Minister, how does an area which goes into tier 3 restrictions get out of those restrictions?

Question

If the infection rate, R, in a tier 3 area has not come below 1, will it be possible in any circumstances for that area to come out of tier 3—if the R has not come below 1?

Question

I am now confused by the Prime Minister's answer. If it is not the R rate under 1, what is it? Millions of people want to know the answer to that question. Millions of them are in tier 3 and millions more are likely to go into tier 3. They really need to know. On Friday, the chief scientific officer said that tier 3 on its own certainly is not enough to get the R rate below 1. On the same day, the Prime Minister himself said that there was only a chance of getting infection rates down. That goes to the heart of the issue in Greater Manchester and elsewhere. The widespread fear is that tier 3 is the worst of all worlds: it brings significant economic harm without getting the virus sufficiently under control to exit tier 3. So instead of being a solution, tier 3 is a gateway to weeks and weeks, or more likely months and months, of agony from which there is no likely exit. Can the Prime Minister not see the problem if there is not a clear exit?

Question

I am concerned about the current situation in Greater Manchester where the R rate remains above 1, leading to increased infections, hospital admissions, and deaths. With thousands of people facing job losses or reduced incomes next Friday, why can't the Prime Minister provide more support instead of dividing communities?

Question

This Prime Minister can allocate millions for consultants, a garden bridge that was never built, but cannot find £5 million for Greater Manchester's workers and businesses facing hardships under Tier 3 restrictions. Why not support Labour's motion for clear national criteria and proper job support?

Question

With all age groups seeing rising infection rates across the country and no confidence in R rate reductions under current measures, there is a need for a circuit breaker approach. Why not implement this before half term to avoid prolonged hardship?

Question

After recent positive progress, covid has disproportionately and adversely affected participation levels in female sport and physical activity. To help to reverse that, will my right hon. Friend lend his support to the development of the first ever women's and girls' football national centre of excellence in Winsford in my constituency—a £70 million project that he has previously expressed enthusiasm for—and help to build female grass-roots sport back better?

Question

My thoughts are very much with the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi). I hope she makes a speedy recovery. Next week, just as the pandemic is worsening, the Tory Government will scrap the furlough scheme in a move that will cause a wave of mass redundancies across the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, behind closed doors the Prime Minister is complaining that he cannot get by on his £150,000 salary. If the Prime Minister is finding life such a struggle, how on earth does he expect many workers to get by on just £5.84 an hour when the Tory cuts to furlough sink in?

Question

I am afraid the Prime Minister just does not get it. Yesterday, we saw his total disregard for the people of Greater Manchester—a Tory attitude that people in Scotland are all too familiar with. Millions of families are struggling to get by and this Tory Government want to cut their incomes in the middle of a pandemic. It is clear that the Prime Minister has made a deliberate decision to let unemployment soar, just like Thatcher did in the 1980s. Time is running out. With one week left, will the Prime Minister finally U-turn on his cuts to the furlough scheme and invest in our communities? Or will he leave millions of people on the scrap heap?

Question

I congratulate the Prime Minister and his negotiating team on their strong stance in the negotiations with the EU. Does he agree that the EU's position on fishing and the European Court of Justice demonstrates that it is not treating us as an independent state, that it is not acting in good faith to deliver a free trade agreement and that, in international law, the UK is therefore entitled to leave the withdrawal agreement and make its own arrangements regarding the UK's internal market?

Question

Mikey is severely disabled. He turned 18 last month, so he is one of the first to see his child trust fund mature, but Mikey's disabilities mean that he cannot manage his own finances, so he cannot access the savings. Government rules on child trust funds mean that his parents cannot access them either without paying expensive legal fees. This is Mikey's own money. He wants to use it to buy a specially adapted tricycle. Will the Prime Minister look at the proposals that Mikey's father has shown me to end this injustice for disabled young people and let Mikey buy this trike?

Question

Thank you, ground control. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will be well aware of the negotiations going on between the Department for Transport and the current Mayor of London on a further bail-out for Transport for London. The current Mayor is demanding an eye-watering £5.65 billion to keep TfL running for the next 18 months, yet he refuses to accept any economies because that would offend his union paymasters. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the Government have not required the current Mayor of London to expand the congestion charge to the north and south circular roads?

Question

Financial support packages, tackling homelessness, rail nationalisation and honouring Marcus Rashford—there is plenty that this Government have done on covid that I applaud, but with winter set to bite and no end to the virus in sight, may I ask the Prime Minister to reconsider the arbitrary end to many of his schemes, which were set months ago when we knew so little? Three million self-employed people were completely left out of all of these measures, a number of whom are now set to face destitution when the minimum income floor ends next month. Furthermore, school dinners for 3,272 kids in his own seat and 2,016 in mine are in the balance.