Transcripts For CSPAN2 Prime Ministers Questions Prime Minis

We now come to Prime Ministers questions and im first of all going full on board with rape man chester. Prime minister. Mister speaker, today on Holocaust Memorial day i know that the whole house will want to join me in solemnly remembering the 6 million jewish men, women and children murdered during the holocaust and all other victims of nazi persecution. Last week i had the privilege of hearing from holocaust survivor renee salt, one of the last living british serviceman who limited liberated camp at bergenbelsen. Their courage to share their testimonies will inspire us to never forget the holocaust and to fight against all forms of hatred and prejudice wherever they are found in speaker this morning i had meetings with minister and colleagues and others my duty, i shall further such meetings later today. We will now have a virtual member of the opposition. Thank you mister speaker. Id like to associate myself with all the Prime Minister said. Id like to commend the Prime Minister for all their hard work in these challenging times in delivering on this fascination but my constituents from the wider midway account to would like me to raise their concerns with regards to the availability of the vaccine in our local towns. We have constituents in their 80s, 90s but have not yet had the vaccination and one of the hardest hit areas of the country in kent, north kent as some of the highest. Cant found in short we have the Mass Vaccination Center in midway. Mister speaker, i share my honorable friends sense of restoration about the pace of the vaccine rollout and in spite of the fact we have the fastest rollout anywhere in europe, it is entirely right that a constituency mp should want to see more doneas fast as possible. I can tell him weve vaccinated more than 80 percent of those over 80 across the country and we are looking certainly to largescale vaccinations near here and in the immediate this entity we have done 127,000 vaccines already, mister speaker providing the hope of longterm immunity for the people of medway and gilliam. We had to a virtual leader of the opposition, just hammer. Can i begin by joining the Prime Ministerin his remarks about Holocaust Memorial day. This evening ill be joined in the ceremony and unlike a panel to remember the 6 million jews murdered in the holocaust along course with the other genocides of persecutions that took place around the world. Mister speaker, yesterday we passed the tragic milestone of 100,000 covid tests in the United Kingdom. Behind every death is a grieving family. A mom, dad, sister, a brother. A friend, a colleague, a neighbor. The question on everyones lips this morning is why. The Prime Minister must have thought that question alot. What could he tell us why he thinks that the United Kingdom has ended up with a death toll of 100,000. The highest number in europe. Prime minister. Mister speaker, like the right honorable gentlemen i mourn every death in this pandemic and we share the grief of all those who have been bereaved mister speaker and there can be no doubt that i and government take full responsibility for all the actions i have taken and we have taken during this pandemic to fight this disease and yes mister speaker, there will indeed be a time when we must learn the lessons of what has happened, reflect on them and prepare mister speaker. I dont think that moment is now when we are in the throes of fighting this wave of the new variant and 27,000 people are struggling in our hospitals and i think what the country wants is for us to come together as a parliament and as politicians and work to keep the virus under control mister speaker as we are and to continue to roll out the fastest Vaccinations Program in europe. I think thats where the minds of the public are today. Just hammer. Im sure the Prime Minister regrets the fact that 100,000 people have lost their lives but the question is why . Why as the United Kingdom the highest number of deaths in europe . Why has the United Kingdom a death rate higher thanalmost anywhere in the world . The Prime Minister is going to have to answer that question one day. And he should have the decency to answer it today. A few days ago, the chief scientific officer said prepared to give it now. The lesson he said is you got to go hard, early and broad ifyoure going to get on top of this. Waiting simply doesnt work. Does the Prime Minister agree with that . Mister speaker, when you have a new virus and indeed a new variant of that virus of the kind that we had in this country , when you have delimiters as hard and as heavy as this government has had to face over the lastyear , i must tell the right honorable gentlemen there are no easy answers. A perpetual lockdown is no answer, mister speaker but we will continue to do as i said to the house, as i said to you mister speaker do everything we can to roll out our Vaccine Program and give the public the protections they want and deserve and as i say to you today 6. 9 Million People in our country have had the vaccine. We are on target if we can get the supply to deliver the target of the jcb i won before the most vulnerable groups of subarea and i hope very much to be in the next few weeks to be setting out in much more detail how this country can exit now from the pandemic. Mister speaker, the problem with the Prime Minister avoiding thequestion of why is that vital lessons will be learned. The reality is this the planet was slow into thefirst lockdown last march. It was slow getting protective equipment to the front lines. Slow to protect first care homes, slow on testing and tracing. Slow into the second lockdown. Slow to change the christmas mixing rule. Slow again into this third lockdown, delaying 13 days from 22 december before implementingit. And i fear that he still hasnt learned that lesson. The latest example is the continued delay insecuring our borders. Weve known about the variance of the virus since early december when it was announced in the house of commons. We know some of those variants are coming from abroad. But we dont know the route. Surely the Prime Minister can see that what is required now is that everybody coming into the country from anywhere in the world should be tested and subject to quarantine in a hotel. Why cant that be put inplace today . Mister speaker, throughout this pandemic its been the habit of the opposition first to support one approach and then to attack it and to twist and to turn. Recently the shattered transport was saying quarantine measures should be relaxed mister speaker. We have oneof the toughest regimes in the world. Our people test 72 hours before they fly, they have to locate before theyre kicked off the flight and they already have to quarantine for 14 days and my right honorable friend will be setting out later today to wait for that even tougher measures for those red list countries where we are particularly concerned about the new variant and i think what the people of this country wants for us now to do is to come together as a government, as aparliament and get this thing done. The Prime Minister complains about the operation opposition but the greatest criticism of the Prime Minister of the moment in relation to borders is coming from his own home secretary. Shes telling anyone who will listen the Prime Minister didnt do enough in relation to the borders last year. And i fear the Prime Minister is repeating the same mistake in relation to the new variants of the virus. Mister speaker, everybody agrees that reopening our schools should be a national priority. But that requires a plan. But the Prime Minister hasnt got a plan. The first step, does he agree with me that once the first four categories of the most vulnerable have been vaccinated by midfebruary , he should bring forth the vaccination key workers and use the window of the february february half term to vaccinate all teachers at all school staff. Mister speaker, of course it follows that all teachers in jcb i groups 1 to 9 will be vaccinated in a matter of priority and i pay tribute by the way to what the huge efforts that parents are making across the country, struggling to help educate their kids. I know how frustrating it is the extra burden to be placed on families by closing the schools and no one has worked harder than my own secretary for education to keep schools open. We all want to open schools mister speaker. What we want to hear from the leader of the opposition is that he will say loudly and clearly what hes refused to say so many times mister speaker and what the public needs to hear is that schools are safe. Absolutely critical that he says that. Hammer. Im sorry mister speaker, im on the wiser as to whether the Prime Minister agrees with me that School Teachers and school staff to be vaccinated, taking advantage of the february half term. Thats two or three weeks away and a fantastic opportunity and im no wiser as to whether the Prime Ministerthinks its a good idea or a bad idea. In the meantime, the government has got a duty child can learn from home. Without access to a laptop or computer or the internet, that canthappen. The government challenged on this last summer, challenged on it last autumn and here we are nearly at the end of january. The best part of the year into this pandemic and a third of families say they dont have enough laptops or home computers. For 400,000 children still cant get online at home. Does the Prime Minister realize how angry many families are they still havent got togrips with this. Mister speaker as i said just now i do fully understand the frustration and impatience with families across the country who are educating their kids at home and i know how frustrated teachers are with educating Remote Learning as well. To why we provided 1. 3 million laptops and why we provided a 1 billion pound ketchup fund and i will make a statement to the house in just a few minutes mister speaker setting what more we propose to do with the reopening of schools and the way forward with schools and what more we propose to do with escorting teachers and parents if he would wait a few minutes but hes missed his opportunity once again to say what i think people need to hear if we are to get schools to reopen because that is the best thing for people and the bestthing for families across the country. Id like to hear from the leader of the opposition in defiance of his union paymasters that schools are safe. I remind the post that his Prime Ministers questions. Every week the Prime Minister comes with his preprepared lies and i think when 100,000 people have died he should take the time to answer the question. When one in three families say that they dont have enough laptops or computers , the answers are simply not good enough. Where nearly ayear into this pandemic. This hasnt happened in the last few weeks and one in three families say they dont have the wherewithal. Those children are going without homeschooling thats the question the Prime Minister should be answering. Mister speaker, if the first country in europe to record 100,000 covid deaths we also have thedeepest recession of any major economy. Our borders are open. And my biggest concern is that the Prime Minister still hasnt learned the lessons of last year and i fear that as a result we will see more tragedy and more grim milestones. This afternoon, i will be speaking to families who lost loved ones to covid. The last time i didthis , i asked the Prime Minister what he would like me to sayto them on his behalf. He replied with a preprepared childish gag. I could tell the Prime Minister just how badly that went down with those families when i spoke to them later that afternoon. Ill ask him again and i hope this time he will have the decency to answer them properly. What would you like me to say to those bereaved families on his behalf this afternoon . Mister speaker, im grateful to the right honorable gentlemen for meeting the families of the bereaved as i have done and as i know members of the house have done throughout the pandemic and its important that we do that. The message i would give those families is the same as ive given everybody ive met and its that i have course deeply personally regret the loss of life, the suffering of their families mister speaker but i think the best thing that we can do to honor the memory of those who have died and to honor those who are currently grieving is to Work Together to bring this virus down. To keep it under control in the way that we are and mister speaker, throw out this pandemic im sad to say that the leader of the opposition has never failed in his effort to try to score political points when i think he could be doing just that and he has twisted and he has turned and one week he calls for tougher border measures after they shattered counsel secretary called for looser quarantine, calls for schools to go back and he wont even say this morning that schools are safe. He tries to associate himself now with the Vaccine Program when he senses that may be going well but one bundles the pharmaceutical companies mister speaker that made those vaccines possible and he actually attacked the vaccines, i tried to make this point last week, he even attacked the vaccine transports saving 675,000 pounds on an effort to discover whether hardtoreach groups would take the vaccine and i cannot think of a better investment right now of public funds and i hope that the right honorable gentlemen may think of apologizing for what he did and for thatattack on the vaccine transport. The right honorable gentlemen can go on making his little points, we will go on with or without his help taking this country forward, fighting the pandemic and getting coronavirus down. The lady from the derby shire. The importance of leveling up to constituencies like mine is critical as we look to build back better from covid. Can the Prime Minister commit to delivering the hs two in full, treating 150,000 jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the midlands of the north as well as unlocking the capacity for local transport in derbyshire in which cycling and walking must play a crucial part . My honorable friend is right and shes right to be militating plans early this year and im delighted that the transforming cities fund for nottingham and derby includes 10 Million Pounds for a new cycle route between nottingham and east midlands airport and i look forward to cycling with my right honorable friend. I now go to scotland to be in black, leader of the smp. I ask is it myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister on the holocaust, we all remember the 6 billion jews who lost their lives in the most terrible crime against humanity. We should never forget that nor indeed those that have fallen to the genocidearound the world. Mister speaker, last night the Prime Minister claimed we truly did everything we could to avoid the deaths of 100,000 people across the uk uk from covid19 but we know thats not true. The uks government was designed by a lack of leadership, makes message and policy. All of this is having an effect on the scale of the pandemic. Weve said nearly a quarter of all deaths have occurred in the last month. Prime minister, you promised to always follow the advice of scientists. This morning scientists have said this government is responsible for the legacy of your decisions during this pandemic. Does the Prime Minister still agree with the scientists . Mister speaker is right at all unscientific advice and done everything we can to minimize disease and suffering through the country and the right honorable would have heard my answer to the leader of the opposition. There are no easy solutions mister speaker when you are facing the dilemmas as tragic as the ones being confronted by countries around the world but i think everywhere in the uk if i may say so mister speaker can be proud of the efforts now being made by the nhs, by the army, by mrs. To roll out this program in europe. Thatis something the government must do, is doing and will do. Ian blackwood. Mister speaker i must respectfully say this is not about honest mistakes but it is about learning lessons from a Prime Minister has repeatedly ignored the scientific advice. When we call on the Prime Minister to introduce border controls last spring he refused. When we told the Prime Minister was a mistake to end lockdown prematurelyand push millions of workers back to the office, heignored. When we set tougher restrictions , he left it too late. People have been making huge sacrifices by his government. At least we now deserve financial certainty. Tell people straight Prime Minister, will this uk government extend funding, maintain the universal credit uplift and finally , finally offer support for the 2 million included or will he leave families struggling with the uncertainty of these delays. Mister speaker on the subject of dithering and laying im delighted the british army is helping the Scottish Government National Party government to roll out the vaccine faster and i think thats extremely important and one of the benefits of the union of the uk if i may say so and o