PMQs

Question

After the Chancellor’s U-turn yesterday, can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that over 90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will get nothing? The high streets are bleeding out, and the Chancellor is handing out a box of sticking plasters. A senior adviser to Andy Burnham said: “The Chancellor just wants a cheap headline”. Meanwhile, our high streets are being decimated.

Question

You do not make young people better off by putting them out of work. The Deputy Prime Minister’s MPs are already banned from pubs. Where next? Shops, restaurants, hair salons—that might not make a difference to him or to me, but it would for many of them. They should back our plan to scrap business rates, but they have not got the backbone to cut welfare to pay for it. It is not just business rates; under Labour, the cost of hiring is up. Can he tell the House how much more it costs to hire a 21-year-old under Labour?

Question

Mr Speaker, you can feel the Deputy Prime Minister’s frustration. The Prime Minister is away, the Business Secretary is away, and here he is—left-behind Lammy, the designated survivor, having to defend the indefensible. It is very clear that he does not know the answer, so let me tell him. The cost will be up by £3,600 a year. Under Labour, businesses cannot afford to hire, and one in six young people cannot find a job. This Government are blocking people who just want to get on in life—ambitious people like Andy from Manchester, having his dreams crushed by Labour. Could the Deputy Prime Minister explain why unemployment has gone up almost every month that the Government have been in office?

Question

The thing that the Deputy Prime Minister did not want to say is that every Labour Government leave office with unemployment higher than when they arrived. There is a reason for that: they do not understand what it takes to be an employer. They do not understand business. The Government are strangling business with their red tape, and they are about to make things infinitely worse. Will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us his Government’s own estimate of the cost to business of the unemployment Act?

Question

Once again, small businesses across this country will see that the Deputy Prime Minister did not answer the question. The burden to businesses of the Government’s Bill is £1 billion a year. Will the Deputy Prime Minister admit what Members behind him are thinking: that it is not the Prime Minister going to China that is the problem; it is the fear that he might come back?

Question

Elemore Hall school supports more than 200 of County Durham’s vulnerable young people. With an extra school site and PACC extension, Elemore could offer more opportunities locally, saving costs for alternative provision and taxis. Will the Deputy Prime Minister arrange a Department for Education Minister to visit the PACC site and support additional facilities?

Question

While British citizen Jimmy Lai is held captive in prison by the Chinese regime and pro-democracy protesters face bounties on their heads in Britain, the Prime Minister has gone to China for a trade deal. Can I ask what single consequence the Chinese regime will face if they do not stop their campaign of espionage and repression?

Question

With Russia waging war in Europe, Chinese hunting pro-democracy protesters on our streets, and President Trump undermining NATO, we have got to act urgently. Will the Deputy Prime Minister consider issuing defence bonds as per Liberal Democrat plan to raise £20 billion for rebuilding armed forces?

Question

Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that the good work of this Labour Government to get the NHS back on its feet, with waiting lists down by 2,400 in my constituency, could be at risk due to Reform UK supporting privatisation?

Question

This week marks two years since the false claim that there would be no checks or paperwork. Within the first few months of this year, a veterinary medicine border was imposed and a ban on GB cars in Northern Ireland. Now the EU plans to impose a €3 charge on small parcels from July onwards. What sort of Government allows a foreign power to impose taxes on its territory?

Question

When the Prime Minister visited Ely in my constituency recently to launch the UK child poverty strategy, I took the opportunity to discuss with him the much-needed Pride in Place funding that we want in Ely and Caerau. My constituents are telling me that they want important things such as a youth zone and provision for recreational sports activities. Will my right hon. Friend agree to meet me to discuss securing this vital funding for my constituents in Ely and Caerau?

Question

The Met Office reports that climate change is driving wetter winters, but the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement yesterday, on the same day that much of the west country disappeared under floodwater. My part of Devon is submerged, and needs better flood defences. Would the Deputy Prime Minister like to invite his US counterpart on a fishing trip to the south-west?

Question

In my borough, the social housing waiting list exceeds 7,000 live applications. Council housing offers my constituents the safety and security they deserve. What further steps can the Government take to speed up the delivery of the social and affordable homes programme, and build the high-quality social housing that my constituents deserve?

Question

The Scottish press is full of stories about the plot by Scottish Labour MPs to bring down the Prime Minister. One Scottish Labour MP said he is terrible, another Scottish Labour MP said the handling of the Budget had been incompetent, and yet another Scottish Labour MP predicted that Scottish Labour will be slaughtered in May’s election. They are not wrong, are they?

Question

As the UK’s first borough of sanctuary, Lewisham has a proud history of welcoming people fleeing conflict, persecution and instability. Our council works closely with support organisations to help those people integrate and contribute to our community. How will the Deputy Prime Minister ensure that the proposed reforms to the asylum system support, rather than undermine, the positive outcomes already being achieved in boroughs like mine?

Question

Six in 10 families say their pay is going backwards, with the lowest earners £73 a week worse off and middle earners worse off too. Will the Deputy Prime Minister admit that his Government have broken their promise to improve living standards?

Question

I want to put on the record my condemnation of President Trump’s plain wrong comments that so undermine the commitment of our brave British servicemen and women at home and abroad, which the Deputy Prime Minister has rightly recognised. This Government have launched the Valour system to ensure that our veterans’ support offer on housing, health, welfare and work is fit for purpose—fully backing our forces. That is in stark contrast to the leader of Reform, the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who happily takes cash to champion the IRA. My local armed forces charities want to know if the Deputy Prime Minister can set out what urgent action is being taken by this Government to house homeless veterans under Valour.

Question

Violence is again escalating in north-east Syria—Rojava. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding and the city of Kobane is under siege yet again. Will the Deputy Prime Minister commit to working with our allies to hold the Syrian regime to the March 2025 agreement by securing protection for Kurdish civilians, pushing for a meaningful and immediate ceasefire, opening humanitarian corridors into Kobane and supporting constitutional recognition for Kurdish regions?

Question

I hope you get well soon, Mr Speaker. Lillia Jakeman is 19 years of age and has been given a devastating diagnosis of motor neurone disease. When she was told that she has a very rare form of the disease that can be treated with a groundbreaking new drug called tofersen, her family were given hope. They have since discovered that although the drug is being made available to the NHS free of charge, her local trust has declined to deliver it. This afternoon, her family will be arriving at Downing Street, having walked from Southampton, to highlight this injustice. Will the Deputy Prime Minister work with me, MPs from across the House, Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS bosses to deliver fair access to tofersen for all living with this rare form of motor neurone disease?

Question

G R Carr is a business in Burnt Mills in my constituency with more than half a century of experience in steel manufacturing and fabrication. It is exactly the kind of medium-sized business that builds this country and that we should be championing. Following my visit to the business last week, I was disturbed to find out that many of our contracts, from our flagship deals in Teesside to our nuclear programmes, go offshore, such as the 7,000-tonne order for steel from China and the more than 200 km of fabricated pipework from Germany. That is exactly the kind of investment that should be made in the UK. How does sending it offshore play into the Government’s growth plans?

Question

At a time when the Government are promoting a duty of candour to ensure that all public servants, including Ministers, have a legal duty to act with transparency and frankness, and when the Scottish Government have indicated that they hope that that legislation will apply in Scotland too, does the Deputy Prime Minister support calls for the current First Minister, a former First Minister and a former Health Minister to appear before the inquiry into the deaths of adults and children as a result of contaminated water at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow, a scandal widely thought to be the worst since devolution began?

Question

The UK’s nuclear deterrent has kept this country safe for over five decades. As the Deputy Prime Minister will know, it is operationally independent, but it still relies on US defence supply chains. Given the shaking of traditional alliances, could the Deputy Prime Minister reassure the House and the country that the UK has sufficient stockpiles of the component parts of the Trident II D5 missiles in our nuclear submarines, and ensure that the supply chain remains resilient and able to cope with any change in the White House, whether positive or negative?

Question

I am gravely concerned about Bobi Wine, opposition activists and British citizens in Uganda. What can we do to safeguard those people and ensure that we do not see violence and bloodshed on the streets of Uganda?

Question

Will the Deputy Prime Minister take concrete steps to ensure that antisemitism is driven out of our country?