PMQs

Question

From the sound mixing desks made by Calrec in Hebden Bridge to the valves made by Blackhall Engineering in Brighouse, Calder Valley's specialist manufacturing is recognised the world over. However, with one third of engineers over 60, the last Government left our manufacturing workforce facing an existential crisis. Will the Prime Minister please work with me to ensure that the new growth and skills levy will support good-quality manufacturing jobs in Calder Valley and across the country?

Question

Our bases in Cyprus and Bahrain have now been attacked. The US has taken offensive action to destroy missile launch sites to defend British territory. Why will the Prime Minister not allow the RAF to do the same?

Question

That was not the question I asked the Prime Minister. Nobody wants to see an escalation. The fact is that our bases have already been attacked. Iran is trying to kill our servicemen and women, and the Prime Minister is catching arrows rather than stopping the archer. Why is he asking our allies to do what we should be doing ourselves?

Question

The Prime Minister has read out a long list—it is not enough. He says that we are pre-deploying; the one ship that we are sending, HMS Dragon, is still in Portsmouth. The fact is that the Type 45s cannot take out incoming missiles. This is not enough—he has read out a long list, but the people who understand know that it is not enough. He should be doing more.

Question

In June last year, the Government promised that their plan for funding our armed forces would be ready by autumn. In autumn, they promised it would be ready by the end of 2025. It is March 2026 and still nothing. Can the Prime Minister tell the House when his defence investment plan will finally be published?

Question

The Prime Minister does not want to talk about the defence investment plan because he does not know. He does not know what is going on in respect of any policy, so he reads pre-prepared statements irrespective of the question, and the whole country can see it. The fact is that, because the Government spent money on welfare, there is no defence investment plan, and because there is no defence investment plan, they are not ordering enough missiles. This crisis goes beyond defence spending; it is also about the cost of living. This war is interrupting the supply of oil and gas, which is dragging up the cost of petrol and making it more expensive to heat our homes, yet the Prime Minister is stopping drilling in the North sea while importing the same oil and gas from Norway. Does he think that, at a time of geopolitical crisis, it makes sense to kill our oil and gas industry and give up that ready supply of energy?

Question

The Prime Minister, again, does not understand the energy transition. You do not need to stop drilling for oil and gas to get renewables. This is basic stuff. The Prime Minister does not understand his policy. He has a sea of orcs and goons who have no idea at all how anything is working.

Question

May I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership and his cool head on the situation in Iran? The leasehold system is legalised extortion. Last week I met dozens of my constituents who are leaseholders, and their tenants' and residents' associations. They are all telling me the same story: every single month they are paying hundreds of pounds while their service charges keep skyrocketing. They are trapped between bad managing agents and a system that is broken. Can the Prime Minister tell me what this Labour Government are doing to right this wrong once and for all?

Question

May I associate myself with the Prime Minister's remarks on Sarah Everard and the need to do far more to tackle violence against women and girls? May I also associate myself with the Prime Minister's remarks on Iran? As we rightly debate how to make tax exiles pay their fair share, it is absolutely right that the Government do everything they can to get all British citizens to safety. Experts are warning that families could see their energy bills rise by £500 a year as a result of Trump's illegal war, but millions of families and pensioners are already struggling to keep their heads above water, thanks to years of a cost of living crisis. When Putin invaded Ukraine, the Prime Minister and I campaigned for months to get the Conservatives to act on energy bills. This time, will the Prime Minister save families that anxiety and give a cast-iron guarantee today that he will not let energy bills rise by £500 this year?

Question

I thank the Prime Minister for his reply, but I hope he will act if energy bills do go up by £500. Donald Trump's war on Iran has not only brought more chaos across the middle east, but increased the threat to our national security here at home. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps has previously plotted several failed terrorist attacks in the UK, targeting Iranian journalists, British Jews and Members of this House. It is now more desperate and dangerous than ever. We have called for the IRGC to be proscribed as terrorists for years. The last Government failed to do it, and so have this one. Will the Prime Minister table emergency legislation to better protect our country from Iranian terrorists, and will he do it this week?

Question

The surge in the global cost of oil and gas has the risk of pushing up food and energy prices, which is a real concern for my constituents in Bishop Auckland, just as we are turning a corner on the cost of living crisis. Does this not show the importance of ignoring the opposition parties, and of investing in secure renewable energy that we control and backing our farmers to produce the food for our nation, such as those I am hosting here today from County Durham? Will the Prime Minister ensure that both energy and food security are a core mission of this Labour Government?

Question

My colleagues and I support our armed forces, but we lament how diminished the UK has appeared over the past week among our allies and within the middle east. The Prime Minister is not responsible for our armed forces being able to squeeze into Wembley Park and Ibrox, but he is responsible for our posture. He is responsible for ignoring the request to deploy a Type 45 destroyer to the region two weeks ago, and we now learn that HMS Dragon will not leave, has not left and will not be in place to defend Cyprus for over a week. Will the Prime Minister understand that I welcome the commitment for increased defence spending, but if we are planning only to get to 2.5% by 2027, it is not enough? It needs to be reconsidered. He needs to go faster where others before him did not, and he needs to take these steps not just for the protection of our values across the world, but for the protection of our consumers who are impacted by this conflict today.

Question

Like the Prime Minister, I had the transformative benefit of a music education as a young person, although he had his some while before I had mine. [ “Ooh!”] After more than a decade of decline in music in schools, the Government's new national centre for arts and music education and measures coming through the curriculum review will ensure that more young people benefit from the opportunities that my right hon. and learned Friend and I both had. Can he tell us how the new national centre will make a difference for our young people, and what are the Government doing to address the funding shortfalls currently facing England's music education hubs, including mine in Derbyshire?

Question

In my constituency, the Liberal Democrat-run Three Rivers district council has failed for years to submit an adequate local plan. It now has a ministerial direction, and prime green-belt land faces a serious threat from this Government's harmful planning policies. How does the Prime Minister expect me to explain to my constituents that, while I consistently defend our green belt, the Liberal Democrats' incompetence has made it vulnerable to destruction by this Labour Government?

Question

The suitability and financing of temporary accommodation needs addressing urgently. Children arriving on my shifts in A&E with breathing problems due to mouldy rooms in their temporary accommodation has become a grim reality. Since 2019, 74 homeless children have died due to the conditions of their temporary accommodation. Meanwhile, councils face a huge funding black hole of £4 billion if the Government subsidy remains frozen. Every death is a tragedy, so does the Prime Minister agree that an urgent review is necessary to investigate the financial shortfall and to help guarantee safe homes for every child in the country who is in temporary accommodation?

Question

I visited Woking high school where I saw classrooms built in the 1960s being held together by gaffer tape. A music classroom was condemned due to a hole in the roof and mold. Will the Prime Minister come to Woking high school to see the conditions and ensure the school receives urgent financial support?

Question

After decades of failing policies, my constituency has a chance to break the cycle of youth unemployment through the DWP youth initiative. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss this issue and support making Ayrshire a priority for a DWP youth hub?

Question

Does the Prime Minister believe that his dithering and equivocal response to events in the Middle East has made the US-UK relationship stronger or weaker?

Question

Will the Prime Minister recognise that families are still paying around £1,300 a month due to conflicting guidance from multiple agencies and commit to working with the Secretary of State for Health to secure £2 million for an observational study to relieve these families of this burden?

Question

Will the Prime Minister assure us that if enough people call for change through groominggangjustice.uk, the final terms of reference will reflect concerns about race, religion, and the need to investigate all cases?

Question

At the start of Endometriosis Action Month, will the Prime Minister commit to reducing diagnosis wait times and ending the lost decade for women living with endometriosis?

Question

After his inept and failed coup against the Prime Minister, Anas Sarwar last week announced Scottish Labour's new campaign slogan—not “Into the abyss”, but, rather, the inspiring “Hold your nose and vote Labour”. But with the stench of the Mandelson scandal still in their nostrils and the stink still emanating from the Labour Together affair, as well as the general whiff of rot hanging over this doomed Prime Minister after his hammering in Gorton and Denton, is it not the case for Scottish voters that some smells are simply too unpleasant to ignore?

Question

Last week, in my constituency of Watford, several amazing charities held their annual sleep-out to raise awareness of homelessness. People sign up to sleep outside at Watford football ground. More than 120 people raised over £15,000 of vital funding and more than 200 attended including the volunteers. Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust, New Hope, Herts Young Homeless Group, One YMCA, DENS and Hand on Heart did a fantastic job. Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist Electric Umbrella was on hand to give a performance to participants. Will my right hon. Friend congratulate them on their efforts and outline what the Government are doing to end the scourge of homelessness?

Question

My constituent, Hannah, tragically ended her life using a substance purchased from overseas. Following her death, the coroner issued a prevention of future deaths report containing specific recommendations. Since 2019, the Molly Rose Foundation has identified at least 65 similar cases in which coroners have made recommendations to separate Government Departments. Progress on these issues has been slow and vulnerable people continue to be left at risk as a result. Will the Prime Minister set out what steps the Government will take to ensure systematic oversight of coroners' reports and their findings? Will he support proposals for an independent, national oversight mechanism to track trends of preventable deaths and ensure that lessons are learned so that future lives can be saved?