PMQs

Question

I very much welcome the A66 northern trans-Pennine project from Penrith to Scotch Corner. That £1 billion investment will improve safety and congestion and help to level up our region, supporting jobs, essential services and tourism, but we have to get the project right. Will my right hon. Friend ask his Department for Transport, Ministry of Defence and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to work together pragmatically and reasonably with suggested route amendments to ensure that local communities such as Warcop, Musgrave and Sandford are not left blighted by the current plans?

Question

I applaud the efforts of the UK presidency under the COP26 President-designate, but I want to direct the Prime Minister's attention to the issue of this decade. On the eve of COP, a report warned that we are on course to reduce emissions by only about 7.5%. Does he acknowledge how far away we are from the action required in this 10-year period?

Question

I will correct the Prime Minister on one point: it was the second half of the century that was set out in Paris. The problem is that Australia's 2030 target would head the world towards approximately 4° of global warming. Can I urge him not to shift the goalposts when it comes to Glasgow? It is about the emergency we face this decade.

Question

Let me tell the Prime Minister that what this summit needs is statesmanship, not partisanship. He should not be trying to score party political points on such an important issue facing our country and our world. Let me ask him about climate finance for developing countries. The reason Paris succeeded was a coalition of vulnerable countries and developed ones pressuring big emitters like China and India.

Question

Let me ask him about his actions regarding climate finance for developing countries. Has it not made it much harder to deliver on that promise that we are the only G7 country to cut the aid budget in the run-up to this crucial summit?

Question

It is one thing for the Prime Minister not to know what is in the Paris agreement, but another for him not to know what is in his own Budget. He has cut the aid budget; of course he has cut the aid budget. He has abandoned the bipartisan belief in the aid budget across both these Houses, but it is not just on aid where the Government face both ways. They have a trade deal with Australia where they have allowed the Australians to drop their temperature commitments. They are telling others to power past coal while flirting with a new coal mine, and they are saying that we have to move beyond fossil fuels but open the new Cambo oilfield.

Question

The thing the Prime Minister has underestimated throughout these last two years is the fact that COP26 is not a glorified photo opportunity; it is a fragile and complex negotiation. The problem is that the Prime Minister's boosterism will not cut carbon emissions in half. Photo opportunities will not cut carbon emissions in half.

Question

My hon. Friend and I have both lobbied for funding for better training and skills provision for young people in Wolverhampton. The youth unemployment rate was unacceptably high pre-pandemic; now, sadly, it is the highest rate nationally. Will the Prime Minister urgently look at how the Government can level up opportunity so that young people in Wolverhampton can get the skills and the confidence they need to find work?

Question

My thoughts and prayers are with Walter Smith, who passed away yesterday. The focus now is on the Chancellor's Budget after PMQs. However, before we turn to domestic matters, I think it's right to raise Afghanistan's dire humanitarian situation, where more than half the population faces acute food insecurity, and 3.2 million children under five could suffer from malnutrition.

Question

There is a humanitarian crisis and people are in need today. The Government's actions on the ground now are not tangible. In August, allies withdrew responsibilities in Afghanistan, leaving promises to Afghan citizens about resettlement broken. When the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme was announced on 18th August, the Government talked about resettling up to 20,000 people over coming years, but more than two months later, there have been no updates or commitments.

Question

Did the Prime Minister know that eating cheddar from Somerset can reduce one's cheese consumption carbon footprint by 55%? Will he support the dairy industry and enjoy a carbon-neutral cheese toastie today?

Question

Does the Prime Minister accept that conditions now exist to trigger article 16 of the protocol if current negotiations with the EU fail? The protocol was recognised as unsustainable by the Government's July Command Paper.

Question

The Prime Minister knows the hospital's application and that it requires urgent consideration due to its age and condition. How can the PM ensure Airedale General Hospital gets one of the 48 new hospitals being built by this government?

Question

How many more women and girls will be hunted or excluded before the Prime Minister finally takes decisive action? The Government is failing women on various fronts, including rape prosecutions and lack of support for victims.

Question

Will the Prime Minister visit the Eden Project site in Morecambe, which is part of an initiative to propagate goodwill around the world?

Question

I am sure that the whole House will want to send my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition their best wishes. Also, it is good to see a few more Conservative MPs heeding the Health Secretary's plea to wear a mask. Given that we have had far, far higher covid infection, hospitalisation and death rates than any other western European country for several weeks now, was it a mistake to abandon all those precautions back in July? If not, why are our figures so bad?

Question

My constituent Sophia Dady has composed a song about the positive action we can each take to combat climate change, which emphasises the need to “clean, repair and protect”. Will the Prime Minister join me in encouraging all UK schools to follow the lead of Fairfield Prep School in Loughborough and other schools across the world from Hawaii to Norway in raising awareness of this important issue through learning the song?

Question

This week, it was revealed that fossil-fuel companies, interest groups and climate denialists had donated £1.3 million to the Conservative party and its MPs since 2019. So, a simple question, no waffling or dodging the issue: on the eve of COP26, will the Prime Minister demonstrate that he is serious about tackling the climate emergency by paying back that money and pledging that his party will never again take money and donations from the fossil-fuel companies that are burning our planet? Yes or no?

Question

This week is UK Wind Week, and later this afternoon I will be welcoming some young people from my constituency who see their futures in the renewable energy sector that has done so much to level up the Grimsby, Cleethorpes and north-east Lincolnshire area. Will the Prime Minister give an assurance that the Government will continue to invest in the skills and development of our young people in order to benefit the renewable energy sector?

Question

A thriving steel industry is the foundation of a more productive and resilient Britain, yet bickering between the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is blocking the chance to tackle the sky-high energy prices that our steelmakers have been facing since long before the current price spikes. With the pathway to net zero being dependent on steel firms using more electricity, not less, will the Prime Minister urge his colleagues around the Cabinet table to put in place a wholesale energy price cap, along with long overdue reductions in network connection costs? COP will not work without a cap.