CSPAN - Prime Minister's Questions Time
Aired: 2026-04-26
Duration: 38:59


=== Celebrating Englishness Against Hate (04:42) ===

[00:00:00]  It's going to be and congratulations on your very successful career and thanks for being here.
[00:00:04]  Thank you so much.
[00:00:05]  The great David Rubenstein, it's an honor to be here with you.
[00:00:47]  America's Book Club Programming is brought to you by the cable, satellite, and streaming companies that provide C-SPAN as a public service.
[00:00:57]  British Prime Minister Keir Starmer answered questions from members of the House of Commons during the weekly Prime Minister's questions.
[00:01:04]  This session covered increasing fuel prices resulting from the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, as well as criticism regarding Starmer's former aide, Matthew Doyle, who was found to have connections with a convicted sex offender.
[00:01:31]  Mr. Speaker, Queen Elizabeth II devoted her life to public service.
[00:01:36]  As we mark the 100th anniversary of her birth, I'm delighted her extraordinary reign will be marked by a permanent memorial.
[00:01:46]  Mr. Speaker, in recent days, we've seen a series of despicable anti-Semitic arson attacks.
[00:01:53]  With additional funding to deploy specialist officers, a fundamental reset of how we counter extremism, and action to tackle the poison of anti-Semitism in our schools, our colleges and the NHS, we will do everything in our power to keep British Jews safe.
[00:02:10]  And I'm sure the whole House will join me in standing with our Jewish community.
[00:02:15]  There is no place in British life for anti-Semitism.
[00:02:20]  Mr. Speaker, today my thoughts are also with the family of Stephen Lawrence, murdered in a racist attack 33 years ago today.
[00:02:29]  We honour his legacy in the fight against racism and providing opportunity for every young person.
[00:02:37]  Mr. Speaker, this morning I had meetings with Minister Silk Riggs and others.
[00:02:40]  In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.
[00:02:45]  Can the Prime Minister deny that Downing Street considered appointing Matthew Doyle to a diplomatic position?
[00:02:54]  Mr. Speaker, Matthew Doyle worked for many years in public service.
[00:02:57]  For me, as Prime Minister and other ministers, when people leave roles in any organisation, there are often conversations about other roles they want to apply for, but nothing came of this.
[00:03:15]  Today marks the murder, the racist murder of my friend's brother, Stephen Lawrence.
[00:03:23]  Tomorrow is St George's Day.
[00:03:27]  Does my right honourable friend agree with me that now, more than ever, we need to tell the story, the positive story, of Englishness founded in who we are and not of who the far right would like us to be?
[00:03:45]  Can I thank him for raising this?
[00:03:47]  Of course, it was 33 years ago today that that awful murder took place.
[00:03:51]  Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to have worked alongside Baroness Lawrence for many years now.
[00:03:58]  She is an incredibly courageous and inspiring campaigner, notwithstanding all of the injustices that have been thrown to her in the last 33 years.
[00:04:08]  We do celebrate St George's Day.
[00:04:09]  We fly our flag.
[00:04:10]  We celebrate this country's values of service, generosity, and respect.
[00:04:15]  They, Mr. Speaker, are English values, which is why I love this country so much.
[00:04:20]  There are those that seek to divide us, who tell us people are not welcome and try to rip our communities apart.
[00:04:28]  We will never let them, Mr. Speaker.
[00:04:30]  We stand together, united, and against any challenges that we may face.

=== Protecting National Security Through Vetting (15:54) ===

[00:04:42]  Does the Prime Minister stand by his statement at the dispatch box on 10 September last year that full due process was followed in the appointment of Peter Mandelson as our ambassador to Washington?
[00:04:58]  Yes, I do.
[00:05:00]  Mr. Speaker, let me make clear at the outset that the appointment itself was a mistake.
[00:05:06]  It was my mistake.
[00:05:07]  I've apologised to the victims for it, and I do so again.
[00:05:12]  What I said out to the House on Monday is that Foreign Office officials granted security clearance to Mandelson against the recommendation of UK security vetting.
[00:05:22]  Yesterday, Sir Ollie Robbins was asked if he shared that decision with me, number 10, or any other ministers.
[00:05:29]  He gave a clear answer: no.
[00:05:33]  Mr. Speaker, that puts to bed all the allegations levelled at me by those opposite in relation to dishonesty.
[00:05:43]  Last week they were all saying that it must have been shared with me.
[00:05:46]  Sir Ollie was very clear yesterday it was not.
[00:05:50]  I believe not sharing it was a serious error of judgment.
[00:05:53]  That information should have been shared with me and other ministers.
[00:05:56]  And if it had been, Mandelson would not have been committed to post.
[00:06:03]  Mr. Speaker, it does not put to bed anything.
[00:06:06]  On 11 November 2024, long before any vetting had happened, the Prime Minister received advice from Simon Case, the then Cabinet Secretary.
[00:06:18]  The advice said the appointment would require, and I quote, the necessary security clearances before confirming the Prime Minister's choice.
[00:06:29]  This advice was ignored.
[00:06:32]  So how can the Prime Minister still believe that confirming Mandelson before the security clearances was following full due process?
[00:06:43]  Mr. Speaker, this was looked into by Sir Chris Wormold.
[00:06:47]  I asked him to review the appointment process, including the vetting.
[00:06:52]  He confirmed, Mr. Speaker, his words, appropriate processes were followed.
[00:06:57]  She's put great weight on the order of events.
[00:06:59]  I remember what I remind her what Sir Chris said last November in evidence to the House.
[00:07:04]  He said this, and I quote, when we are making appointments from outside the civil service, the normal thing is for security clearance to happen after appointment, but before the person signs a contract and takes up post.
[00:07:18]  That is what happened in this case.
[00:07:20]  Sir Ollie Robbins himself, Mr. Speaker, also gave evidence and he said, and I quote, as is normally the case with external appointments in his department, the appointment was made subject to obtaining security clearance.
[00:07:34]  Mr. Speaker, on top of that, Sir Ollie Robbins has made clear that the fact that developed vetting was after the announcement made, in his words, no material difference to the conclusion that was reached.
[00:07:47]  Mr. Speaker, I add this, that what Sir Ollie Robbins wrote to the committee yesterday was this, and I quote, when the Prime Minister informed the House that the proper process had been followed in respect of national security vetting, he was correct.
[00:08:08]  It's very interesting that he mentions Chris Warmold.
[00:08:11]  He is relying on advice given to him after Mandelson was sacked by a cabinet secretary the Prime Minister then sacked.
[00:08:20]  That is not relevant.
[00:08:22]  I'm talking about the advice he was given before the appointment.
[00:08:27]  He keeps mentioning Sir Ollie Robbins.
[00:08:29]  Sir Ollie Robbins told us that the Prime Minister even sought clearance from His Majesty the King before the vetting.
[00:08:35]  He'd already got agreement from the US administration.
[00:08:37]  The chair of the Select Committee said that.
[00:08:39]  Mandelson was a done deal.
[00:08:42]  Yesterday, Sir Ollie Robbins said that the focus was on getting Mandelson out to Washington quickly.
[00:08:50]  He said the Prime Minister's team showed a dismissive attitude to vetting.
[00:08:55]  And they even argued Peter Mandelson didn't need any vetting at all.
[00:09:01]  This clearly wasn't proper process.
[00:09:04]  Why was due process not followed?
[00:09:09]  Mr. Speaker, let me deal with this directly, particularly this question of pressure in relation to the decision to appoint and to put into post Peter Mandelson.
[00:09:18]  Sir Ollie Robbins could not have been clearer in his evidence yesterday.
[00:09:22]  He said this.
[00:09:24]  I didn't feel under pressure personally in terms of my judgment.
[00:09:29]  His words.
[00:09:30]  Mr. Speaker, he went on to say, I have complete confidence that recommendations to me and the discussions we had and the decision we made were rigorously independent of any pressure.
[00:09:45]  Mr. Speaker, on top of that, he was asked if any conversations led him to believe that Mandelson needed to take up the role regardless of vetting outcome.
[00:09:57]  He said, I can say with certainty it was never put to me in that way.
[00:10:02]  No pressure existed whatsoever in relation to this case.
[00:10:06]  What is unacceptable is that the recommendation of UKSV was not given to me before Mandelson took up his post.
[00:10:17]  Mr. Speaker, we all heard what Sir Ollie Robbins said yesterday.
[00:10:21]  The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister spent a lot of time telling us just how furious he was to learn that Mandelson failed the vetting, the same Prime Minister who was trying to get into Washington without any vetting at all.
[00:10:35]  It's just unbelievable.
[00:10:36]  The reason the Cabinet Secretary advised the Prime Minister to carry out full vetting before the appointment, this is common sense, Mr. Speaker, carry out full vetting before the appointment was to protect our national security.
[00:10:50]  The due diligence document said Mandelson remained on the board of the Kremlin-linked defence company Sistema long after Putin's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
[00:11:04]  The Prime Minister told us on Monday that he'd read that due diligence report.
[00:11:10]  Why did the Prime Minister want to make a man with links to the Kremlin our ambassador in Washington?
[00:11:17]  Mr. Speaker, let me deal with the first allegation she put in that question.
[00:11:21]  It was always the case that it would be developed vetting in this case.
[00:11:24]  That was the understood process.
[00:11:26]  That was carried out.
[00:11:28]  It was reviewed by Sir Chris Warmold and he said it was the appropriate process.
[00:11:34]  Sir Ollie was absolutely clear that nobody put pressure on him to make this appointment, either whatever the sequence, or developed a vetting.
[00:11:45]  In relation to what was in the due process, any issues of national security are dealt with in the developed vetting process.
[00:11:53]  I knew that.
[00:11:54]  Peter Mandelson received clearance through that process.
[00:11:58]  The problem was, as I said to the House, I was unaware that UKSV recommended against clearance.
[00:12:05]  That is information that should have been brought to my attention.
[00:12:10]  Mr Speaker, they recommended with red flags that there shouldn't be clearance and it was high concern.
[00:12:21]  That information should have been made available to me at the time and subsequently.
[00:12:27]  The fact that it wasn't was a very serious error of judgment.
[00:12:34]  I don't know what planet the Prime Minister is on, Mr. Speaker.
[00:12:37]  Appointing someone with known links to the Kremlin is not full due process.
[00:12:43]  If anybody had brought that sort of name to me when I was the Secretary of State, I would have said no way.
[00:12:49]  The Prime Minister thought someone with Kremlin links was still probably okay.
[00:12:53]  Let's do some vetting.
[00:12:55]  Why does this matter?
[00:12:56]  He keeps leaning on Sir Ollie Robbins, a man he sacked.
[00:12:59]  He keeps leaning on him.
[00:13:00]  Sir Ollie Robbins said yesterday that Peter Mandelson was given access to highly classified briefings even before he'd received clearance.
[00:13:12]  That was a clear national security risk.
[00:13:16]  How can the Prime Minister still maintain that full due process was followed?
[00:13:23]  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House of Lords and Privy Councillor, and in accordance with guidance, documentation could have been provided to him and was provided to him.
[00:13:36]  Strap material comes after developed vetting.
[00:13:40]  But because he was a Privy Councillor, he could have access to other material before developed vetting.
[00:13:47]  This is a joke.
[00:13:48]  He says, a member of the House of Lords, does he mean people like Matthew Doyle?
[00:13:52]  I'm amazed.
[00:13:53]  I'm amazed.
[00:13:54]  Yes, I am amazed at the level of chantering from Labour MPs.
[00:14:00]  He promised them probity.
[00:14:02]  What he's given them is cronyism and an old boys' club where Matthew Doyle is being proposed as an ambassador.
[00:14:10]  It's ridiculous.
[00:14:12]  Mr. Speaker, we all heard Sir Ollie Robbins' testimony yesterday.
[00:14:16]  The head of the Foreign Office was sacked for the Prime Minister's own failings.
[00:14:24]  His backbenchers know that is not fair.
[00:14:28]  Even his most loyal cabinet members won't defend it.
[00:14:32]  The Prime Minister did not follow the process the Cabinet Secretary set out in November 2024.
[00:14:40]  He knows he did not follow due process, yet he told the House he had.
[00:14:46]  Mr. Speaker, I cannot accuse the Prime Minister of deliberately misleading the House, but everyone can see what has happened here.
[00:14:55]  This was not due process.
[00:14:57]  Everyone knows the price of misleading the House.
[00:15:01]  Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility and go?
[00:15:08]  Mr. Speaker, let's be absolutely clear.
[00:15:11]  Before Mandelson took up his post, UKSD recommended with red flags that clearance should be denied and there was high concern.
[00:15:21]  That that was not brought to my attention or the attention of the Foreign Secretary at the time or subsequently is a very serious error of judgment and anyone in my position would have lost confidence in the former Permanent Secretary.
[00:15:36]  But Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition claimed on Friday that Mandelson could not have been cleared against security advice.
[00:15:44]  She was wrong about that.
[00:15:46]  She said that ministers must have been told.
[00:15:48]  She was wrong about that.
[00:15:50]  She claimed there was deliberate dishonesty.
[00:15:52]  She was wrong about that.
[00:15:54]  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
[00:15:56]  She rushed to judgment as she always did, just like the Iran war.
[00:16:01]  Mr Speaker, I was elected by the British people because they let the country down for 14 long years.
[00:16:11]  Whatever she says, whatever noise they make, nothing is going to distract me from delivering for our country.
[00:16:21]  In contrast to the preoccupations of the Leader of the Opposition, my constituents are more concerned with the NHS and waiting lists.
[00:16:30]  Thanks to this government, across England, waiting lists are coming down.
[00:16:34]  In my part of the country, waiting lists have fallen by 13,000 in the past year alone.
[00:16:41]  After years of Tory failure, we're getting the NHS back on its feet.
[00:16:47]  Can the Prime Minister share with me what further plans we've got to get waiting lists down even more and to make sure that we've once again got a health service to be proud of?
[00:16:56]  Well, the party opposite should hang their heads in shame at the state they left our NHS in.
[00:17:01]  And I'm proud that this Labour government is fixing our NHS across the country.
[00:17:06]  Waiting lists, Mr. Speaker, the lowest for three years.
[00:17:09]  Best A ⁇ E waiting times for five years.
[00:17:11]  Fastest ambulance respond times for half a decade.
[00:17:14]  Cancer patients getting diagnosed in the shortest time on record.
[00:17:18]  Lots done, more to do.
[00:17:20]  That's why we're delivering neighbourhood health centres in every community to speed up care.
[00:17:25]  We did that because we invested.
[00:17:27]  What did they do?
[00:17:28]  They broke the NHS and then they opposed the investment that we put in.
[00:17:33]  David, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
[00:17:36]  Mr. Speaker, can I associate myself, my party, with the comments of the Prime Minister on our wonderful late Queen?
[00:17:43]  Can I also agree with him on the need to confront anti-Semitism wherever it is in our society and also remembering Stephen Lawrence and his family?
[00:17:52]  Mr Speaker, I'm sure many of us in this House were shocked by the new revelations from Ollie Robbins yesterday.
[00:17:59]  He said number 10 told him to find a plum job for Matthew Doyle, another Labour crony, friends with a convicted sex offender.
[00:18:09]  Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister was asked on Monday whether Number 10 had proposed any political appointments other than Mandelson.
[00:18:17]  Perhaps the last few hours have jogged his memory.
[00:18:20]  Will he confirm today, did he know his office was lobbying for a diplomatic job for Matthew Doyle?
[00:18:28]  And were they doing it on his authority?
[00:18:32]  Mr Speaker, as I said earlier, Matthew Doyle worked for many years in public service for me as Prime Minister and other ministers.
[00:18:40]  When people leave roles in any organisation, there are very often conversations about other roles they may want to apply for.
[00:18:48]  In this case, nothing came of it.
[00:18:52]  David, Mr Speaker, the House and the public watching will note the Prime Minister failed to answer my questions.
[00:19:02]  But Mr Speaker, the chaos in this government mustn't stop us from focusing on the cost of living crisis hitting our country.
[00:19:10]  President Trump's idiotic war with Iran has already pushed up inflation in our country to 3.3%.
[00:19:17]  And the Prime Minister knows there's far worse to come for the British people here on inn.
[00:19:22]  They need help now.
[00:19:24]  So will the Prime Minister follow other countries and use the Treasury's extra revenues from higher fuel prices to cut rail and bus fares and slash prices of the pump by 12p a litre?
[00:19:38]  Mr Speaker, everybody can see that the conflict is causing serious economic damage in this country and countries around the world.
[00:19:46]  His claim of a windfall for the government are politically misleading and economically illiterate.
[00:19:58]  Mr Speaker, poor housing and temporary accommodation is having a devastating impact on families, their life chances, our schools and communities.
[00:20:08]  Will he put the full weight of government behind ensuring that new developments in London are delivering for Londoners, not private investors and landlords, including on the Billingsgate market site in my honourable friend's Poplar and Limehouse constituency?
[00:20:24]  I thank her for a question.
[00:20:25]  We inherited a housing crisis in London, including record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation, because the party opposite failed to build the homes that we need.

=== Housing Crisis and Police Presence (08:26) ===

[00:20:37]  Mr Speaker, we're building those homes and I'm looking forward next week when Labour will deliver more security for tenants through our Renters' Rights Act.
[00:20:45]  Can I commend Hackney Council, her council, on getting on with building affordable homes?
[00:20:50]  What a stark contrast to the Green Party, who've opposed 42,000 new homes across the capital and counting.
[00:20:58]  Mr Fenton-Glenn, I'm glad you've phoned your feet because I could hear you shouting early.
[00:21:02]  So we won't do it next week.
[00:21:04]  Dr. Ellie Chunge.
[00:21:06]  Thank you.
[00:21:07]  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister appointed Mandelson in a desperate and doomed attempt to pander to Donald Trump, despite knowing about his friendship with the paedophile Epstein and his links to foreign states.
[00:21:20]  The Prime Minister resisted and then took a dismissive and extraordinarily incurious attitude to vetting, compromising national security.
[00:21:29]  And now he's thrown a civil servant under the bus to save his own skin.
[00:21:34]  All this from a Prime Minister who pledged to restore trust and integrity in government, but who's repeatedly betrayed the trust of voters and let the country down.
[00:21:45]  Does the Prime Minister not recognise that the best thing he can do to restore trust and integrity is to take true responsibility and resign?
[00:21:55]  Mr. Speaker, let me just correct what she said.
[00:21:57]  There was no dismissive attitude to develop vetting.
[00:22:00]  I knew the post was subject to developed vetting.
[00:22:02]  It was subject to developed vetting.
[00:22:04]  What didn't happen was I was told the UK SV recommendation.
[00:22:08]  That was a serious error of judgment.
[00:22:11]  Had I been told, the appointment wouldn't have gone ahead.
[00:22:13]  Well, Tim Rubbs.
[00:22:15]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:22:17]  In my constituency of Glasgow North, local people in Somerset experiencing anti-social behaviour tell me that what makes the greatest difference is visible local police officers on the beat.
[00:22:28]  However, since 2017, local police numbers in Glasgow have fallen by 9%, leaving 214 fewer local officers serving communities.
[00:22:36]  Does the Prime Minister agree with me that visible local policing is essential to tackling anti-social behaviour and restoring confidence in our communities?
[00:22:46]  My honourable friend, Scotland deserves safer streets and more visible policing.
[00:22:51]  In England and Wales, Mr Speaker, Labour has put 3,000 more neighbourhood police officers on our streets, delivering a named police officer for every neighbourhood.
[00:23:00]  The SNP government has already had two decades and record funding to invest in public services.
[00:23:06]  If they knew how to do it, they'd have done it by now, but they haven't.
[00:23:13]  We know that the Prime Minister has been playing fast and loose with the ministerial appointments in his chamocracy, so I want to ask him about the first one.
[00:23:22]  Mr Speaker, their booze mean nothing to me, Mr Speaker.
[00:23:24]  I've seen what makes them cheer.
[00:23:28]  Jonathan Powell was appointed as the Prime Minister's special envoy to the British Indian Ocean Territories on the 6th of September, but throughout August he held meetings with FCDO officials and was given access to classified information including a meeting minute between the Prime Minister and the then Foreign Secretary sat next to him on the front bench today.
[00:23:43]  So my question is very simple.
[00:23:45]  When was Jonathan Powell appointed as the Prime Minister's special envoy to the British Indian Ocean Territory and what security clearance did he have upon that appointment?
[00:23:54]  Let me say that Jonathan Powell is doing an excellent job for this government, is respected across the world and playing a significant part in dealing with the huge challenges that we face.
[00:24:06]  Jenny Reynolds Carpenter.
[00:24:12]  Thank you Mr. Speaker.
[00:24:14]  Fertiliser prices are spiralling and it's not just down to the war in the Middle East.
[00:24:20]  It's also because of the choices of the previous Conservative government who let the UK's last ammonia plant based in Billingham close in 2023.
[00:24:30]  They failed to see it as a nationally critical site that was critical to the UK's food production and instead that we are now more reliant on volatile imports.
[00:24:38]  If we don't tackle this head on, higher fertiliser costs will mean higher food prices in the UK.
[00:24:43]  Can I ask the Prime Minister what this government is doing to support British farmers and does he agree with me that all options to bring down the cost of fertiliser should be on the table including securing British homemade ammonia once again in the UK?
[00:24:57]  Well clearly the Middle East conflict is placing real pressure on farmers.
[00:25:01]  That's why it's very important that we de-escalate.
[00:25:04]  Today the UK is hosting military planners as work continues with France and other countries to help get the Strait of Homoose open once the ceasefire holds.
[00:25:15]  We've instructed the CMA to look more closely at fertiliser and red diesel to ensure farmers are getting a fair deal.
[00:25:21]  We're overhauling regulations around fertiliser to diversify supply.
[00:25:26]  On her particular case we've also taken the decision to open the carbon dioxide plant in Teesside to protect supplies because we will always act to secure our economy.
[00:25:37]  Thank you Mr. Speaker.
[00:25:39]  Leaders can delegate responsibility but we cannot delegate accountability.
[00:25:45]  Lord Carrington learned this in the army and he lived it as Foreign Secretary when Argentina invaded the Falklands.
[00:25:52]  In 1982 he held himself accountable for the failures of Foreign Office officials and resigned even though he was later cleared of responsibility.
[00:26:02]  Does the Right Honourable Member not believe in ministerial accountability?
[00:26:08]  Mr. Speaker, I've set out in terms what I wasn't told in relation to this process.
[00:26:14]  It's clearly information that I should have been given.
[00:26:16]  A UK SV recommendation with a double red flag should have been brought to my attention.
[00:26:22]  It was a serious error of judgment that it wasn't, but anyone in my position would have taken exactly the decision that I took in relation to the permanent secretary.
[00:26:32]  Thank you Mr. Speaker.
[00:26:34]  Housing is one of the biggest issues in my constituency.
[00:26:37]  Lewisham Council is working hard to improve this, bringing its housing stock back in-house.
[00:26:43]  Non-decent homes have fallen from one in four to one in ten.
[00:26:47]  The repairs backlog has reduced by almost two-thirds and call waiting times have fallen from 70 minutes to four.
[00:26:56]  However, leaseholders and those with cladding issues still need support.
[00:27:01]  So can the Prime Minister update the House on what this government is doing in these two very vital areas?
[00:27:10]  Mr. Speaker, we're tackling the injustice of leaseholds and fixing building safety, as she rightly highlights.
[00:27:18]  I can thank her for campaigning on this over many, many years.
[00:27:21]  Mr. Speaker, we're capping ground rents at £250 to cut costs for almost £4 million leasehold properties.
[00:27:28]  We're investing over £5 billion to remove dangerous cladding, including over £1 billion for social housing.
[00:27:34]  In Lewisham and across the country, I'm determined that everyone should have a safe and secure home.
[00:27:39]  Lincoln Job.
[00:27:44]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:27:45]  Last Thursday, a man was arrested in Laylam in my Spelthorne constituency.
[00:27:51]  He'd been approaching children at the primary school, having been warned by the police not to do so.
[00:27:58]  He was taken into police custody and, after further examination, he was detained under the Mental Health Act.
[00:28:05]  Unbelievably, he was living in an unlicensed HMO supported by the Home Office, a stone's throw from the primary school.
[00:28:15]  What I would like to know, Prime Minister, is who was responsible for the risk assessment that put him there.
[00:28:21]  Was it the Home Office?
[00:28:23]  Was it Spelthorne Borough Council?
[00:28:25]  Who screwed up and who can I hold accountable?
[00:28:29]  Can I thank him for his question?
[00:28:31]  Obviously, this is a live police investigation, as he will appreciate.
[00:28:34]  I know the Asylum Minister is looking very closely at this case, and obviously I can provide him with any further information as that emerges.
[00:28:42]  Can I reassure him that all accommodation must meet contractual standards?
[00:28:46]  The Home Office works with the police to manage all sites safely.
[00:28:50]  Local authorities are consulted prior to any accommodation being procured and can object to any proposal.
[00:28:57]  Where there's strong evidence a site is not suitable, it will not proceed.

=== Addressing Poverty and Homelessness (09:30) ===

[00:29:03]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:29:04]  One of the main concerns North Durham residents raise with me is the vitality of local high streets.
[00:29:10]  So I'm delighted that in the last year a series of new independent businesses has opened in Chesley Street, Front Street.
[00:29:17]  Willows Bakehouse, Paper and Park bookshop, Pretty Busy Blooms, Kira Sushi Restaurant, and just this weekend, the Black Rabbit Bar, which I'm looking forward to visiting.
[00:29:28]  Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating these new businesses and outline the measures he is taking to support further regeneration of our high streets?
[00:29:39]  I'm delighted to hear about the new businesses in his area.
[00:29:42]  Our high street strategy, backed by £301 million, will set out further plans to rejuvenate high streets across the country.
[00:29:51]  We are putting power into the hands of local communities through our Pride in Place scheme, including £20 million for Stanley South in his constituency.
[00:29:59]  That is only possible because his community has a hard-working Labor MP and a Labor government.
[00:30:07]  Mr. Speaker, some six months ago in this House, I mentioned a little boy called Teddy Jackson.
[00:30:13]  Sadly, Teddy will be forever seven because he died last week from MLD.
[00:30:18]  MLD is a horrendous condition that stole Teddy's ability to walk, talk and even smile.
[00:30:24]  What makes this tragedy more profound is that here in the UK we have a treatment, we have a cure, but it's only effective if the condition is identified by the simple heel prick at birth and treated immediately.
[00:30:37]  Because when symptoms appear, it's too late.
[00:30:40]  Just a few weeks ago, the UK screening committee recommended it remain excluded from the heel prick.
[00:30:47]  So we have a treatment, we have a commissioned service in Manchester Royal Hospital, Children's Hospital, but yet children like Teddy are still dying prematurely.
[00:30:57]  Prime Minister, despite all that's going on in the world, I know he is in politics to make a change.
[00:31:04]  In Teddy's memory and in the memory of all those who have died prematurely, make the change and add MLD to the simple heel prick.
[00:31:14]  I do remember her raising Teddy's case very well and I'm very saddened to hear of his passing and I think my thoughts and I'm sure of the whole House are with his family and his loved ones.
[00:31:26]  I will do precisely as she asks.
[00:31:28]  I'll make sure we look at this again in light of the information she's now given to me in the course of this session.
[00:31:33]  Birthday boy Oliver Royale.
[00:31:35]  Thank you.
[00:31:36]  Thank you Mr. Speaker and happy St George's Day for tomorrow too.
[00:31:40]  In Burnley Paddy and Briarfield we have a large number of ex-industrial derelict landsites crying out for regeneration and redevelopment.
[00:31:47]  They're blighting communities and many are a fire risk.
[00:31:50]  Our area in Britain needs housing, social, affordable, family aspirational.
[00:31:55]  We have the sites if he has the will.
[00:31:57]  So will he back my campaign for a new regeneration housebuilding programme for Burnley Padiam and Briarfield, tackling these derelict sites to get us building, growing and housing local people?
[00:32:08]  Can I start by wishing him happy birthday and I'll make sure ministers meet him to hear more detail about his particular proposal.
[00:32:17]  We are committed to delivering 1.5 million homes this parliament.
[00:32:20]  We're prioritising development of brownfield sites, ensuring default answer to brownfield proposals is a yes.
[00:32:26]  We will go further and faster now.
[00:32:28]  Our Planning and Infrastructure Act is now law, despite being opposed by every party opposite.
[00:32:34]  A coalition of blockers.
[00:32:36]  Tessa Ma.
[00:32:37]  Thank you Mr. Speaker.
[00:32:39]  The Prime Minister may be aware that in December, for the first time in over three decades, Defence Ministers met the families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook crash on the Mullock and Tyre.
[00:32:50]  The Ministry of Defence promised, quote, ongoing dialogue with them.
[00:32:54]  Is he also aware that despite receiving pages of new evidence presented at that meeting which show that Chinook was not airworthy, the MOT chose not to keep its word and contacted instead the Press Association saying no new evidence had been presented about the cause of the crash.
[00:33:09]  The Prime Minister knows, because the families have written to him, as the MOD does too, the families are not seeking a public inquiry into the cause of the crash, but to know the reason why their loved ones were placed on board an aircraft, which, according to the MOD's own test pilots and engineers, was described as positively dangerous, unairworthy, and not to be relied on in any way whatsoever.
[00:33:32]  And those are quotes.
[00:33:33]  Will he agree to meet the families to rebuild trust and to offer the promised dialogue the MOD clearly finds so difficult to achieve?
[00:33:42]  Can I thank her for raising this?
[00:33:45]  And I will make sure this is looked at again in light of what she's raised just a moment ago.
[00:33:50]  I'll make sure that the families get the relevant meeting.
[00:33:57]  Between 2010 and 2024, the number of children living in poverty increased by 700,000, with Tower Hamlets having one of the highest rates in the country.
[00:34:05]  This Labour government's child poverty strategy will lift over half a million children out of poverty.
[00:34:12]  Given the economic pressures caused by external shocks and its impact on the cost of living, there's a long way to go.
[00:34:17]  Does the Prime Minister agree that the government should also look at setting a clear target to end child poverty for good?
[00:34:27]  Can I start by thanking her for a long record campaigning against child poverty?
[00:34:33]  Child poverty stifles opportunity.
[00:34:35]  It makes it harder for kids to get on in life.
[00:34:38]  And we, this government, will not stand by.
[00:34:40]  This is a moral mission for this government.
[00:34:42]  We will make sure that no child or family is left behind through lifting the two-child cap, expanding free school meals, free breakfast clubs, extending free childcare.
[00:34:52]  More than 6,000 children in her constituency alone will benefit from the action that we are taking.
[00:34:58]  And what would tourism reform do?
[00:34:59]  They would plunge those children straight back into poverty.
[00:35:03]  That is a disgrace.
[00:35:06]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker today.
[00:35:08]  Vigils are being held across Westminster for the 22 women who are diagnosed with lobular breast cancer every day.
[00:35:15]  And, Mr. Speaker, I think we're privileged to say that some of those extraordinarily brave women are in the gallery this afternoon.
[00:35:21]  When I raised this issue with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, she promised to take action and not just commit words.
[00:35:29]  So, would the Prime Minister today commit to the Lobula Moonshot Project's plan to fund lobular breast cancer?
[00:35:38]  Can I thank him for drawing the House's attention to the vigils and the campaign, and can I acknowledge those in the gallery who are here today?
[00:35:47]  I will make sure that this is looked at to see what further we can do and that any relevant meetings are set up.
[00:35:54]  Rachel Blaskall.
[00:35:55]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:35:56]  In 1777, Boothen Park Hospital was given in trust to the people of York.
[00:36:03]  Since it closed in 2015, NHS Property Services has squandered £5.5 million, almost at sale price, keeping the building empty and threatening to sell it for a luxury complex our city does not want.
[00:36:18]  This much sought-after community space for charities and services will significantly benefit York residents.
[00:36:24]  So, will the Prime Minister now release this site so public land can be used for public good and we get Bootham back?
[00:36:34]  I know that this site is of huge significance to the people of York, and I understand the site is under offer.
[00:36:40]  Ministers are happy to work with the Council and my honourable friend to find the right deal for the site, taking into account the points she's made.
[00:36:47]  Sarah Bochin.
[00:36:48]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:36:50]  Every day that the Prime Minister fails to act or even acknowledge Pakistani grooming gangs that rape and torture vulnerable white girls, more victims continue to suffer.
[00:37:05]  Whilst he spends his energy forcing friends of paedophiles into top jobs, why not use that energy to stop this national disgrace?
[00:37:15]  Mr. Speaker, I spent many years prosecuting paedophiles who are now in prison, so I really don't need lectures from reform about this.
[00:37:23]  Final question, Sonia Kumar.
[00:37:26]  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[00:37:27]  In 2022, my constituent, Massey Simbanda, dropped her 14-year-old son, Noah, off to nursery like any other day.
[00:37:37]  Tragically, this will be the last time Massey would see her son alive.
[00:37:42]  A staff member at Fairytale Nursery tried to get him to sleep.
[00:37:47]  When Noah resisted, she covered his face with a thick blanket and used her leg to pin him down.
[00:37:55]  The pressure applied to his tiny body was so extreme it ruptured his colon.
[00:38:02]  Mr. Speaker, no parent should have to endure such unimaginable loss.
[00:38:08]  The sentencing has taken place.
[00:38:10]  Will the PM meet with Massey to discuss how we can ensure tragedies like this never happen again?
[00:38:19]  The case she raises is utterly tragic, and as she went through those details, I think we all would have felt the same as I do that it must be impossible to fathom how the family must feel in relation to this awful and tragic case.

=== Ensuring Tragedies Never Happen Again (00:25) ===

[00:38:34]  I will make sure that all the necessary meetings are set up in the way that she has asked for.
[00:38:39]  That completes Prime Minister's questions.
[00:38:41]  Man, the front bench is changeover.
[00:38:59]  On Monday.