| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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American History TV series First 100 Days as we look at the start of presidential terms. | |
| This week we focus on the early months of President Ronald Reagan's first term in 1981, including the release of American hostages in Iran and the assassination attempt on the president by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30th. | ||
| At 8 p.m. Eastern on Lectures and History, Santa Clara University art history professor Andrea Pappas on the mid-19th century American landscape painting movement known as the Hudson River School. | ||
| And at 9.30 p.m. Eastern on the presidency, Port of Oakland retired CEO Walter Abernathy recounted the storied history of the USS Potomac. | ||
| Franklin Roosevelt used the yacht throughout his presidency, including to arrange a clandestine meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. | ||
| After FDR's death, the Potomac had a colourful history and is now a National Historic Landmark docked in Oakland, California. | ||
| Exploring the American story, watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history. | ||
| British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took questions from members of the House of Commons, addressing several topics, including National Health Service investment, education policies, and support for Ukraine. | ||
| This is about half an hour. | ||
| On Wednesdays, we'll move on to Prime Minister's questions. | ||
| John Slinger. | ||
| Question number one, please, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today's spring statement will showcase the government going further and faster on the economy. | ||
| Greenlighting the lower Thames crossing, investing £2 million to buy 18,000 affordable homes for working families, 60,000 young people being trained the next generation of construction workers and fixing millions of potholes. | ||
| We're undoing a decade of stagnation, driving jobs and opportunities for working people and securing Britain's future. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, tomorrow I'll meet President Mackerel in Paris to discuss further our efforts to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine. | ||
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And may I welcome the delegation from Bring Back Kids Initiative to the gallery. | |
| The abduction of Ukrainian children is grotesque. | ||
| And the UK will play our full part to bring them home. | ||
| It's a stark reminder that any peace settlement must see Russia held accountable for their deplorable actions. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. | ||
| In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today. | ||
| John Slinger. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Under this Labour government, NHS waiting lists are down five months in a row. | ||
| And the Hospital of St. Cross in my constituency of rugby is playing its part. | ||
| But many of my constituents remain concerned about the long waits in ANE that they're experiencing that we inherited from the Conservatives, especially those who have to travel to the general hospital in Coventry. | ||
| So will the Prime Minister set out how our plan for change to bring the NHS back into the heart of government will help us to support the front line, deliver better, deliver better emergency care closer to the community and our constituents of long corporate Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Our plan for change already cut NHS waiting lists by almost 200,000. | ||
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That's five months in a row during the winter months. | |
| The local trust waiting lists in his area are down 93% and he's doing a great job for his community. | ||
| We've already delivered 2 million extra appointments that we promised because of the record investment in the budget. | ||
| The party opposite can't have it both ways. | ||
| If they welcome NHS investment, they can't criticise raising the money to pay for it. | ||
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Leader of the opposition, Kemi Billo. | |
| Mr Speaker, in 30 minutes, we will hear the Chancellor's emergency budget. | ||
| Even the Home Secretary's husband calls it an emergency budget as she scrambles to fix the mess she made last October. | ||
| But first, let's turn to another government minister who is making a mess of her brief, the Education Secretary. | ||
| Why did Labour MPs vote against banning phones in schools last week? | ||
| Prime Minister, because it's completely unnecessary. | ||
| I've got teenage children. | ||
| Almost every school bans phones in school. | ||
| They do it already. | ||
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We need to concentrate on what's really important here, which is getting to the content that children shouldn't be accessing. | |
| That's where I would genuinely like to work across the House, because I think there's a huge amount of work to do. | ||
| But the battle is not with schools already banning phones in school. | ||
| The battle, and this is an important emerging battle, is to work together to ensure that we can ensure that the content that children are accessing, wherever they are, is suitable for their age. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we can look at the content, but if the ban is unnecessary, then why is it that they started a review? | ||
| Just last week, his Education Secretary called the ban a bit gimmick, yet teachers and headteachers say the evidence already shows that schools that ban phones get better results. | ||
| And he's wrong. | ||
| Not all schools do this. | ||
| Only one in ten schools are smartphone-free. | ||
| So will he, you turn on this? | ||
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unidentified
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We need to ensure that all schools do this, but the vast majority do. | |
| Look, it is really important that we focus on the battle we have to have with mobile phones, which is the content that children are able to access. | ||
| And we need to ensure that that is controlled wherever they are. | ||
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unidentified
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So it's a question of having the right battle on the right issue, not wasting time on something where almost all schools are already banning mobile phones. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I'm surprised that the Prime Minister would say this. | ||
| His own government evidence says that phones disrupt nearly half of GCSE classes every single day. | ||
| Discipline is the number one issue in many schools. | ||
| Under the Conservatives, schools became twice as likely to be good or outstanding after going through our behaviour programme. | ||
| So why did the Education Secretary abolish that programme? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, she talks about the record of the last government. | ||
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Under their watch, a third of children started school without appropriate level development, and that not being able to use a knife and fork. | |
| A quarter left primary school without the required standard of reading, writing and math, and one in five was regularly absent. | ||
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unidentified
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That's why we're pushing up standards, more information from offset, transparency for parents, more interventions where schools need it. | |
| Mr. Speaker, he's not answering the question about discipline in schools because he doesn't care about discipline in schools. | ||
| Everything he does is ideological and his decisions are costing schools so much. | ||
| The national insurance hike means every state school in the country has to pay more for teachers. | ||
| The Education Secretary promised to compensate schools in full for the jobs tax. | ||
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unidentified
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Why hasn't it happened? | |
| Mr Speaker, it was Labour that introduced academies. | ||
| We pushed up standards and this is not ideological. | ||
| I'm a parent of two teenage children, both of whom go to a state school. | ||
| So I'm vested in this and it matters hugely to me. | ||
| Ideological about it. | ||
| That is why we're driving up standards as we always have done. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, he didn't answer the question about compensating schools for the jobs tax. | ||
| That is costing schools a lot of money. | ||
| The CEO of the United Learning Group says the grant that they gave is 20% short. | ||
| Some schools will face shortfalls of up to 35%. | ||
| Can he guarantee that no teacher will lose their job as a result of his jobs tax? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this government at the budget has put a record amount into our schools, just as we put a record amount into our NHS and into our public services. | ||
| We utterly failed under the last government. | ||
| But yet again, yet again, she wants all the benefits, the NHS, but she can't say how she's going to pay for it. | ||
| That's what got us into the mess in the first place. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the whole House will have heard that he could not guarantee that teachers' jobs are safe. | ||
| Not only is he taxing schools, he's also lowering standards. | ||
| He talks about our record. | ||
| I'll tell him what our record was. | ||
| Under the Conservatives, English schools shot up the international league tables while schools in Labour-run Wales standards fell. | ||
| Academy freedoms led to the biggest improvement of standards in a generation. | ||
| But the Education Secretary is attacking them with her reforms. | ||
| Can the Prime Minister point to any evidence, any evidence at all, that these discredited academy reforms will improve school standards? | ||
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unidentified
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Prime Minister. | |
| Yes, take the example of schools going into academies. | ||
| The vast majority of schools are already academies. | ||
| Therefore, we need to think again about what we do about failing schools that are already academies. | ||
| We need to go on to the next chapter. | ||
| They never take the big decisions, and that's why we ended up their record. | ||
| Open borders, which she was the cheerleader for, a crashed economy, mortgages through the roof, the NHS on its knees, followed out armed forces. | ||
| And what have we got already under this government? | ||
| Two million extra NHS appointments, 750 breakfast cups, including one in her constituency, record numbers of people being returned who shouldn't be here, a fully funded increase in defence spending. | ||
| That's the difference a Labour government makes. | ||
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Chris Mince. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I recently visited Harlow College and saw the work they were doing training the bricklayers and electricians of the future. | ||
| Would the Prime Minister agree with me that work that FE colleges like Harlow College do is vital for the housebuilding that we need for future generations? | ||
| And what will his government do to support Harlow's next generation? | ||
| He's a great champion for his constituents. | ||
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We are investing £600 million to train up to 60,000 more skilled housebuilders so we can support the next generation and deliver 1.5 million new homes. | |
| We're creating technical excellence colleges and investing in Stansted Airport, creating 5,000 jobs nearby, which will create more opportunities for young people in Harlowe. | ||
| The British drama adolescence has shone a much-needed spotlight on the enormous damage being done by social media to the minds of many of our young people, especially teenage boys. | ||
| We've argued social media giants should be much more toughly regulated and pay more tax so we can defend our young people from this harm. | ||
| We've had disturbing reports that the government is considering scrapping the digital services tax and watering down Britain's online safety legislation to appease President Trump and his co-president, Elon Musk. | ||
| So will the Prime Minister today categorically rule out both of these things and make it clear that he will guarantee that British laws on tax and social media will be written in this House and not the White House? | ||
| Well yes, of course, as he well knows. | ||
| On the point he makes about online safety, it is important. | ||
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unidentified
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There are new measures coming in in the next few months which are very important under the Act and we need to see whether we can go further on this issue because there are concerns as to whether they go far enough. | |
| But will the laws be made in this place? | ||
| Of course they will. | ||
| Shared David. | ||
| Well I'm grateful for the Prime Minister's reply on the social media laws but he didn't answer the point on the digital services tax and we will come back to that. | ||
| But moving on Mr Speaker, after President Trump's national security adviser accidentally added a journalist to a group chat that was discussing military action in Yemen, and given all the concerns that we share about President Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin and JD Vance's insulting disdain for Britain and our armed forces, | ||
| will the Prime Minister make it clear that he will order an urgent review into the security of the intelligence that we share with the United States? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we work with the United States on a daily basis and I think the honourable gentleman would like to think of himself as sort of reasonable and when he's not jumping in Windermere, quite serious. | ||
| But unpicking our relations with the US on defence and security is neither responsible nor serious. | ||
| Thank you Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Medina from Liming in my constituency is registered blind and she recently told me how she had been failed by the broken social security system left behind by the Conservatives. | ||
| She faced great difficulties in getting support from access to work, which is essential across my Ashford constituency, and was not helped to find paid employment. | ||
| It is so important that disabled people who want to work are supported to do so. | ||
| What is the Prime Minister's message to Medina and others like her who have been abandoned and shut out of employment for far too long? | ||
| Every person should have the right to work and we will always protect the most severely disabled and those with lifelong health conditions. | ||
| For Medina and the 200,000 others like her who can work and want to work, we need to support them. | ||
| That's why we're investing £1 billion in personalised tailoring employment programmes and introducing the right to try work guarantee. | ||
| The party opposite failed over presided over a failed system that didn't help them and then blamed them. | ||
| We will never do that. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, those who know me well know that I don't talk of this often, but for half of my adult life I was physically disabled. | ||
| Indeed, when I first walked through the doors of this chamber, I did so with a crutch in my right arm to support my body weight. | ||
| I know how it feels. | ||
| Right now in Scotland, some 55% of children living in poverty have a member of their household who is a disabled person. | ||
| So can the Prime Minister explain to me actually no, can the Prime Minister explain to those children how the Labour Party making mum and dad poorer will lift them out of poverty? | ||
| Well I'm grateful to him for sharing his personal experience on this and his right to do so. | ||
| My family has had living with disability for many years as well, so I do understand the human element of this. | ||
| We do need to give support to those that need it. | ||
| We do need to help those who want to work into work, and we need to be clear that those who can work should work. | ||
| In England, we inherited a failed system that couldn't be defended, but it's also failing in Scotland. | ||
| 84,000 young Scots, he focuses on young people, that's 15% of young Scots not in employment, education, or training. | ||
| That is terrible. | ||
| Almost 300,000 Scots economically inactive due to temporary or long-term illness. | ||
| Now, what we're doing is taking the steps to help people into work, a billion pounds of employment support. | ||
| They have record funding under the government, under the budget. | ||
| What are they going to do to help the young Scots who have been failed by their government? | ||
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unidentified
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Andrew Ranger. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The Wrexham and Flintshire Investment Zone is one of the flagship examples of how when this government talks about kick-starting economic growth, it means it. | ||
| This £160 million plan will breathe new life into the local economy, create 6,000 good local jobs, meaning that for young people in Wrexham, they will be able to find more opportunities on their doorstep. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister join with me in welcoming this important development for North Wales and the potential it unlocks? | ||
| Yeah, yeah, yeah. | ||
| Well, it is really important that we unleash the economic potential of North Wales, including kick-starting the investment zone, backed by major businesses, Mr. Speaker, like Airbus and JCB, to leverage £1 billion of private investment, investing £975 million to benefit aerospace workers at Broughton, where I met the fantastic young workers there, and securing £1 billion investment in Shotton Mill, securing 300 jobs on Deesside. | ||
| We put a record amount of money into the Welsh Government at the budget, a budget decision which was opposed by Plyde. | ||
| Sir Julian Lewis Clutton. | ||
| Question number three, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| The Right Honourable Member asks about shale gas. | ||
| There are very real economic and environmental consequences to fracking, and communities have clearly said no. | ||
| Sir Julian. | ||
| I'm sorry, but that answer had nothing to do with my question, which was to ask why the government are ordering the permanent sealing of Britain's only two shale gas wells. | ||
| The government is perfectly entitled on environmental grounds to not exploit such wells in normal conditions. | ||
| But does he not recognise that in a desperate situation such as an international conflict where other sources of power were cut off from us, taking a decision now to concrete these things over so that a future government could not use them is an extremely irresponsible and wretched, He knows there are real consequences of fracking as I've set out. | ||
| But what we need to do to secure our independence and lower bills on the next generation of jobs is move at speed to renewable energy. | ||
| And that's why I'm pleased there's record investment coming into renewable energy so that tyrants like Putin can't put his boot on our throat. | ||
| Now, if the party opposite don't want to support that investment, they should say so. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Would the Prime Minister join me in thanking colleagues from across the House and the excellent clerks and staff who have spent the last few months working on the Assisted Dying Bill Committee? | ||
| And would he agree with me that if the law is to change on assisted dyeing, it's extremely important that it is implemented as soon as it is safe and practicable to do so. | ||
| Can I congratulate all colleagues working on this bill and taking part in the debate? | ||
| It is an important issue on which there are different views across the House and within parties. | ||
| The bill is a matter for the House, but it is the government's role to ensure every piece of legislation that passes through Parliament is effective and workable. | ||
| So we'll continue to work with my honourable friend as the bill sponsor to do that in the same way we would for every private member's bill which passes second reading. | ||
| And if Parliament chooses to pass this bill, the government will implement it in a way that is safe and practicable. | ||
| Thank you Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Acorn's Children's Hospice provides compassionate care to very young cancer patients and their families across Bronzegrove and the villages, yet it faces a staggering £416,000 increase in national insurance contributions as a result of choices made by this government. | ||
| With no exemption for hospices and no uplift in non-capital funding, this means that the charity will have to draw from charitable donations made by the public and this will affect frontline services. | ||
| This is not right. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to right this wrong and exempt hospices from this tax? | ||
| We are investing £100 million for adult and children's hospices to improve facilities, equipment and accommodation, as well as £26 million in funding through the Children's Hospice Grant. | ||
| But their cries and moaning would have a lot more value if they started their questions with an apology for crashing the economy in the first place. | ||
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unidentified
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Jacob Collier. | |
| Thank you Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Roads in Burton, New Toxett and across Staffordshire are littered with potholes. | ||
| Local people are forking out thousands because of the Conservatives' neglect and incompetence. | ||
| And that's despite this Labor government giving Tory Staffordshire County Council £39 million to get the job done. | ||
| Does the Prime Minister agree with me that the people of Staffordshire deserve better than roads with more dimples than a Staffordshire oak cake? | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| Look, he's right, potholes are a real nuisance. | ||
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unidentified
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And if you're using your car for work or your van and you hit a pothole, you're looking at a bill of several hundred pounds, which is unbudgeted for so many working families. | |
| That's why we're handing the West Midlands Combined Authority an additional £8.6 million to help repair their roads, part of a record £1.6 billion invested across the country. | ||
| On top of that, Mr. Speaker, every council must now publish how many potholes they've filled so we can show that we're making progress and that we're delivering something that didn't happen under last government. | ||
| John Cooper. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, thank you. | ||
| When he was Director of Public Prosecutions, the right honourable gentleman would not, I think, have sat comfortably in the cabinet of Prime Minister Cameron. | ||
| But incredibly, in Scotland, we have a situation where the head of prosecutions there, the Lord Advocate, does sit in cabinet. | ||
| This has been thrown into sharp focus lately with a police probe into the finances of the SNP. | ||
| It's further been thrown into sharp focus because ultimately, although not personally involved, the Lord Advocate does ultimately sit at the head of the investigation into the former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. | ||
| She faced potential criminal charges. | ||
| This situation has been created by the SNP. | ||
| They will not fix it. | ||
| Does it sit with this House to amend this situation? | ||
| Well, I'm going to protect this. | ||
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unidentified
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This is a really important issue. | |
| And Labour in Scotland are being clear that they'd separate this role. | ||
| That's the right thing to do for the reasons that have just been articulated. | ||
| It's the obvious thing to do. | ||
| That's obviously what we do in England and Wales. | ||
| Now, there have been calls for a review on this since 2021, but the SNP has not acted fast on those reviews. | ||
| They really do need to bring forward proposals now to deal with the problem. | ||
| It's been sitting there for a very, very long time. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Can I join the Prime Minister in welcoming the delegation from Bring Back Kids who are trying to return the tens of thousands of children abducted by Vladimir Putin, an act of pure evil? | ||
| The Prime Minister will be aware that they've been working with the Yale University Humanitarian Lab, who were tracking thousands of those children inside Russia until recently. | ||
| I say until recently, because they've had their long-term funding removed. | ||
| Will we consider using our existing contributions to the Partnership Fund for Resilient Ukraine to restore that important work that they're doing and, in doing so, restore the hope that those children can be returned to their anguished families? | ||
| I'm grateful to him for emphasising this again. | ||
| Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children is sickening. | ||
| I think across the House we would all agree on that. | ||
| A peace settlement in Ukraine must see Russia held to account and the children reunited with their families. | ||
| In specific reference to his question, the UK is playing our full part in international efforts, including funding the Bring Kids Back initiative through the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine. | ||
| I want to reassure the whole House we'll do everything we can to see these children returned and reintegrated as safely and as quickly as is possible. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The seven-year-old adoptive daughter of my constituent, Sarah, suffered immense trauma in her early years. | ||
| Thanks to support from the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, she's been able to access much-needed therapy that's helped her progress. | ||
| But she and thousands of others don't know if they'll be able to get more help because in just five days that fund ends and ministers have repeatedly refused to confirm whether it will continue. | ||
| So can the Prime Minister give a cast-iron guarantee to vulnerable children, adoptive parents and kinship carers that he won't cut this fund? | ||
| And so that, in Sarah's words, she can give her daughter the absolute best second chance in life she deserves. | ||
| We will set out details just as soon as we can on the basis of the principles that I've set out earlier. | ||
| The scheme overall in terms of welfare is not defendable on terms, but it must be a scheme that supports those that need it. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| While our nation was being engulfed last year by racist riots in Slough, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, people of faith and no faith openly declared that if anybody tried to attack a mosque in our town, we'd stand in solidarity with our local Muslim community to protect it. | ||
| However, since then, many have become more fearful with a rise in Islamophobic attacks, including this month at a mosque in Aberdeen. | ||
| So can my Honourable friend the Prime Minister confirm to the country what steps is the government taking to tackle such hate crime and promote community cohesion so that those seeking to divide our British society are not allowed to succeed? | ||
| I thank him for his question. | ||
| He does great work to bring our communities together, especially in Slough. | ||
| Look, any form of racial or religious-based hatred is abhorrent and has no place in society. | ||
| We have set aside over £50 million to protect faith communities and freedom of worship. | ||
| That's the right thing to do. | ||
| It's a shame that we have to do it. | ||
| And our £15 million Community Recovery Fund has been supporting communities affected by the disorder last summer. | ||
| The right thing to do, but it's a shame that we have to do it. | ||
| Sir Roger Go. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the problems faced by Heathrow earlier in the week have highlighted again the fact that since the closure of Manston Airport in Kent, South East lacks a major diversion facility. | ||
| One diversion facility would not, of course, have compensated for the closure of Heathrow and Major Hub Airport. | ||
| But would the Prime Minister agree that with the reopening of Manston, planned for October 2028, there will be a significant contribution to resilience of aviation in the southeast? | ||
| Well, look, he's right to raise the concern about the situation in Heathrow. | ||
| I think everybody is very concerned by what happened last week. | ||
| There are clearly questions that need to be answered on a number of fronts in relation to what happened, and an investigation is ongoing. | ||
| But I'm not going to announce particular parts of our policy and strategy here at this stage. | ||
| Thank you, Mr Speaker. | ||
| In my constituency of North Ayrshire and Arran, the SNP ferry fiasco is having a devastating social and economic impact on our drosson and the Isle of Arran. | ||
| As well as building a Kalmak ferry that doesn't fit into the existing harbour, the Fraser and Hallander Institute estimates that the disrupted ferries cost the Isle of Arran £170,000 of lost revenue per day. | ||
| Does the Prime Minister agree with me that the SNP government needs to find a rapid solution to swiftly address this serious situation? | ||
| I thank her for fighting SNP incompetence on behalf of her constituents. | ||
| Yet again, the SNP are failing island communities. | ||
| Hospital appointments are being missed and livelihoods destroyed. | ||
| And Scotland has a proud history of shipbuilding and engineering. | ||
| The SNP should be supporting Scottish workers and focusing on delivering for our communities. | ||
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unidentified
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Vicky Sleeve. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Cancer Maggie, in my constituency, has proposed as a site for a new energy from waste incinerator, which will burn 260,000 tonnes of waste a year, more than the whole of Dorset's use. | ||
| And I'm concerned that as we reduce our levels of waste with the brilliant new plans to recycle more, we're going to end up having to feed the monster. | ||
| The area already has 95% of the capacity. | ||
| So does the Prime Minister agree with me that we shouldn't allow new plants where we already have sufficient capacity or where carbon capture is not going to be included? | ||
| I hope she'll forgive me. | ||
| The details of the particular incinerator she speaks of, I don't know the details. | ||
| I'm not across that. | ||
| But I will make sure that she gets an answer to her question in written form as soon as possible. | ||
| Ms. Mike Donald. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Can I commend my right honourable friend for his leadership on Ukraine, ensuring that the UK is once again at the forefront of protecting democratic freedoms? | ||
| Does he agree with me that as our defence spending increases, we need to support our supply chain companies to increase their capability, creating good jobs and apprenticeships in places like Stockton North and across the country? | ||
| And will he meet with me and our Teesside Defence and Innovation Cluster that I've established, which is helping to create that new defence capability for the UK? | ||
| Prime Minister. | ||
| Well, Mr. Speaker, this is a once-in-a-generation moment for security of our country and our continent. | ||
| We've set out that fully funded increase in defence spending to 2.5% in 2027, the biggest sustained boost since the Cold War. | ||
| But that must benefit British jobs and British businesses. | ||
| And that's why I'll make sure that he gets the meeting that he wants with the relevant minister. | ||
| Jerome Mayo. | ||
| Taber last year the Chancellor delivered a massive tax borrow and spend budget. | ||
| Now her plans have collapsed around her ears with an emergency budget to cut that spending. | ||
| So has the time now come for the Prime Minister to state in public that he has full confidence in the Charter. | ||
| I have full confidence in the Chancellor. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Albion Rovers has been a football institution in Cokebridge since 1882. | ||
| However, following relegation and the lack of financial support for teams leaving professional leagues, it now faces a deeply perilous situation, risking the very future of one of Scotland's oldest football clubs. | ||
| Does my Right Honourable Friend agree that clubs like Albion Rovers are integral to the fabric of our communities? | ||
| And will he join me in encouraging all parties to be solution-focused on this matter and encourage football authorities to strengthen our clubs in the lower leagues to help protect their future? | ||
| He's a superb local champion, and regardless of which club any of us support, they share a love of the game and they are at the heart of our communities. | ||
| Albion Rovers is exactly that, a huge point of local pride. | ||
| I'd encourage all efforts to secure the future of the club. | ||
| Final question, Dr. Kieran Muller. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| We're joined in Parliament today by Katie Brett, whose 16-year-old sister, Sasha, was raped and stabbed to death. | ||
| Aisha Hussain, whose cousin Jan, was killed by a sex offender and stored her body in a freezer. | ||
| Paula Hudgell, whose adopted son Tony lost his lower legs as a result of child cruelty. | ||
| And Becky and Glenn Newens, whose daughter, Violet Grace, was killed by a hit and run driver who spent barely more time in prison than she was alive. | ||
| Supporting them are Jeremy and Susan Everard, who received justice for the murder of their daughter, Sarah, but who know too many others do not. | ||
| They've come together to say with one voice that it's time for us to start ensuring sentences truly deliver justice for victims and their families. | ||
| Will the Prime Minister agree to meeting with them in future to hear their stories firsthand? | ||
| Can I thank him for raising this issue? | ||
| The courage of these campaigners after simply appalling cases is astounding and I find it humbling. | ||
| I'm pleased the Minister for Victims will be meeting the group I think today and I look forward to meeting them in the future because we must prioritize victims and make sure sentences punish offenders and protect the public. | ||
| So thank him for raising this really important set of cases. | ||
| That completes primary questions with that front bench changeover. | ||
| Earlier today, the National Transportation Safety Board shared a preliminary report on the deadly plane and helicopter collision at Ronald Reagan National Airport, facing questions from lawmakers about the country's dated air traffic control systems. | ||
| You can watch that Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing tonight, starting at 9 Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
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