Engagements

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 24 June.

I start by saying that my thoughts are with all those injured in the rail collision last Friday. I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of the driver of the Corby to St Pancras train. His family have requested privacy, and we should all respect that. I send my deepest sympathies to them at this awful time. My thoughts are also with those injured in the appalling attack in Edinburgh, which appears to have been motivated by anti-Muslim hatred. Let us be clear: in this country, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We will not stand for it, and the perpetrator will face the full force of the law. Let me commend our emergency services, who responded to both incidents with outstanding bravery and professionalism in very difficult circumstances. One of the greatest privileges of leading this country is meeting our armed forces, celebrating their work and marking Armed Forces Week, and I want to thank them all for their dedication, their courage and their sacrifice to protect our way of life. This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. I shall have further such meetings later today.

Did you meet Andy?

Not today. [Laughter.]

I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks. His Government can be really proud of the national cancer plan. Cancer patients in Wokingham and across the country cannot afford for it not to be implemented or regularly updated. Will the Prime Minister leave a lasting legacy and support my private Member’s Bill—the National Cancer Strategy Bill—to ensure that future Governments remain accountable for delivering the plan’s targets and ambitions?

I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman’s personal experience and pay tribute to his campaign. I am incredibly proud of the national cancer plan, which sets out how we are ending the postcode lottery through more cancer specialists, through paying the travel costs of children travelling for cancer care, and through investing in technology to drive research into rare cancers. Thanks to our record investment in the NHS, we have the shortest waits for cancer diagnosis on record. He will be pleased to know that, in his constituency, waiting lists in his local care board are down by 40,000. That is thanks to a Labour Government and Labour decisions.

Q2. Max Hall is 14 years old. He should be worrying about school, football, friends and what he wants to be when he grows up. Instead, he is living with a high-grade brain tumour and there is no cure available to him. His parents, Jackie and Steven, want to know why children being diagnosed with brain tumours are still being told that there are no treatment options available. Why does brain tumour research remain so underfunded, when brain tumours kill more children than adults under 40 than any other cancer? Why are families like them left to search for hope themselves? This Prime Minister has done so much to strengthen our NHS, so does he agree that we need to move at pace and do much more to offer hope to Max and his family, and families like his who are facing this unequally devastating disease?

My thoughts—and, I am sure, the thoughts of the whole House—are with Max and his family in what must be the most awful of circumstances. Through our cancer trials accelerator programme, we will make it easier to launch innovative new clinical trials and find new treatment. For people like Max, that will make young people’s cancer a research priority, make clinical trials more accessible and pay for his travel costs for care. I hope that comes as some comfort, but as a parent, I cannot imagine what his family are going through, given the circumstances that he faces. I know that a Minister would be happy to meet Max and his family.

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

I associate the Opposition with the Prime Minister’s remarks on the horrific train crash, the attacks in Edinburgh and, of course, Armed Forces Week. I want to start by congratulating the Prime Minister: he is the other party leader who won a by-election last week, although I think I am much happier with my new MP than he is with his. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister told the House that the Government were funding defence and that everything was under control. The very next day, the Defence Secretary resigned, saying the Prime Minister was “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to fund the defence of our country. What changed?

The right hon. Lady references the by-election—I am very pleased with our new Member of Parliament. In Gorton and Denton, the Tories got 1.9% of the vote. I congratulate her because they got 2.2% of the vote in Makerfield, just edging past Count Binface. She says they are winning everywhere. At that rate, it will take them 500 years to get back into power. Meanwhile, back on the Government Benches, we have delivered the biggest sustained boost to defence spending since the 1980s—£270 billion over this Parliament. That is a record. The defence investment plan will take that even higher. That is about facing the future. We will finalise the plan with the Defence Secretary, and we will have it published before the NATO summit.

I think the Prime Minister forgot to mention that we got 50% of the vote in Aberdeen South. He says that he is funding defence; the truth is he would not be in this mess if his Chancellor had found money for the defence investment plan. The Prime Minister gave her the second most important job in Britain. She was the first female Chancellor. She lives next door to him, but would not even come out to stand by him during his resignation speech; she was too busy getting ready for a selfie with the new leader. Does the Prime Minister feel let down by his Chancellor?

This is the Chancellor who ended the austerity inflicted on our country for 14 long years. This is the Chancellor who got the economy growing. The Leader of the Opposition does not normally want to talk about the economy. That is because in the first quarter of this year, the UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7. Our growth was upgraded by the International Monetary Fund and the OECD. Last week, unemployment was down and inflation better. That is because with this Chancellor, we have the right economic plan and can weather the global storms of the war that the right hon. Lady wanted to jump into. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”]

Labour Members are cheering so loudly, but if it is all going so fine, why is the Prime Minister resigning? The fact is the Chancellor did let him down. She is the one who snatched the winter fuel payment and who announced a disastrous Budget that killed economic growth. Because of her, a Labour Prime Minister is once again leaving office with unemployment higher than when he came in. But the Chancellor is not the only person who let him down: the Energy Secretary is putting up bills and killing jobs. [Hon. Members: “Where is he?”] He is not here, is he? He was a failed Labour leader rejected by the electorate, brought back from the wilderness by this man, and when the going got tough, he jumped into bed with the Mayor of Manchester—it is not the first time he has betrayed someone close to him, is it? Does the Prime Minister think that this treachery should be rewarded by being appointed Chancellor?

The Chancellor and I picked up our party six years ago from the worst defeat since 1935. We turned the party around and made it face the country, and we won a landslide general election, giving the Conservatives the biggest drubbing in their history. Thanks to this Chancellor, we have delivered the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, with new rights for renters and money for working people, and we are lifting half a million children out of poverty. The test for every Prime Minister is handing over the country in a better shape than they found it. I know I can do that, which is more than can be said for the right hon. Lady’s predecessor, her predecessor’s predecessor and her predecessor’s predecessor’s predecessor!

Once again I have to ask: if it is all so fantastic, why is the Prime Minister resigning? It is very generous of him to stick by his Ministers, because they did not stick by him. He can say what he likes, but the people of Aberdeen gave their verdict—they gave their verdict on his Energy Secretary by voting Conservative. To be fair, the Cabinet are not all traitors and deserters; some of them have been loyal—loyal and incompetent. Hands up if you think that the Education Secretary is doing a good job—[Interruption.] Even she doesn’t think she’s doing a good job, Mr Speaker—[Interruption.] Oh, someone did. For those who raised their hands—the two people who raised their hands—yesterday, a poll found that 0% of teachers think that the Education Secretary is doing a good job. She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out that appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster. Does the Prime Minister agree that he has been let down by her incompetence?

The Education Secretary grew up in poverty. She knows exactly what it means to grow up in poverty. She was once reluctant to tell her story, but I know her story and it is an incredible story of social mobility and success. I am so proud that she is sitting there, as should be everybody in this country who cares about social mobility. She knows that education is absolutely vital for poor children, and that is why it drives every single priority and value that she has. I would have thought that Conservatives would recognise and understand some of that, but they have fallen so low that they don’t.

The fact is that if the Education Secretary knew so much about poor children, she would not have given them fewer teachers. Teacher numbers have gone down—[Interruption.] It is amazing; I have never seen this much excitement on the Labour Benches. They are cheering so loudly, while there are 400 knives stuck in the Prime Minister’s back. Shame on them. They don’t like it up them, but they know that what I am saying is true. There were times when the Prime Minister tried to do the right thing. He tried—he did try to cut welfare, and who stopped him? Those MPs behind him. In the words of the Welfare Secretary, his MPs only want to know who they can tax to fund more benefits. They are not Labour MPs, they are welfare MPs. Does the Prime Minister feel betrayed by the people he got into Parliament?

Order. We should think about the language we are using. When we leave this Chamber, do not be surprised if constituents feel that they can use the same language against each other. Let us show a little bit more decorum and respect to each other.

Thank you Mr Speaker. I was trying to do all this with as much good grace as I could, but I shall certainly miss these exchanges. I am very proud of every one of our MPs who, with a landslide Labour victory, come from all different backgrounds and different places across the country. We inflicted the biggest loss on the Tories in the history of their party. We have picked up our party and we turned it around. We had to address what went wrong, we turned it around, and we won a landslide victory. The right hon. Lady will not address or even talk about their failure after 14 long years.

The right hon. and learned Gentleman is the one who is resigning because of his MPs. There is no point trying to distract from that. Let’s be honest: the Prime Minister has made many mistakes, otherwise he would not be going, but he has also been let down—I am only saying what his staff have been briefing. He has been let down by an Energy Secretary who is killing industry, let down by a Chancellor who is killing jobs, and let down by Back-Benchers who do not understand that government is about tough choices. He U-turned again and again and again to appease them, and now they have abandoned him. And for what? A pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt. Is it not the truth that, whoever is in charge, the real problem is the Labour party?

Two years ago, I walked into No. 10 and found a broken economy, broken public services and broken trust in politics. Because of our decisions—my decisions—the country is moving in the right direction: a stronger and fairer Britain, ending austerity, investing in our public services, the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, more rights for workers, more rights for renters, standing with Ukraine, Britain’s reputation restored, and half a million children being lifted out of poverty. Change promised by a Labour Government, change fought for by a Labour Government, change delivered by a Labour Government.

Q4. My Hendon constituency is proud to sit at the heart of the UK’s largest Jewish community in the London borough of Barnet, but today many of my constituents and many from that community are living in fear. In north-west London in recent months, we have seen Jewish charities firebombed, synagogues attacked and Jewish people stabbed in the street, and all that against the backdrop of a daily drumbeat of abuse and intimidation. I know that everyone on the Government Benches is determined to defeat that despicable hatred, and I welcome the actions that the Government are taking to root out the poison of antisemitism. Can the Prime Minister tell the House what the Government are doing not only to protect the Jewish community in Hendon and Barnet, but to ensure that they—we—can live full and proud Jewish lives, free from fear?

Antisemitism is a poison and that is why I drove it out of the Labour party. In government, we are acting to drive it out of society: new powers to ban repeated protests, new plans to root antisemitism out of our schools, universities and the health service, and new proscription-like powers to clamp down on malign state activity that incites hatred and violence, and we will take further steps. I am proud to lead this tolerant, decent country, and I will always fight for the security, safety and freedom of British Jews.

I call the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

I associate myself and my party with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the horrifying train crash in Bedford and the appalling attacks near a mosque in Edinburgh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. May I mention today’s review of Nottingham’s maternity services, which is truly shocking? I hope that the Government will rise to the moment and implement Donna Ockenden’s recommendations in full, without delay. I recognise how difficult it was for the Prime Minister to make the statement that he made on Monday. As we debate issues robustly in this House, it is an important reminder that we are all human—that is something that everyone should remember. [Interruption.] We all know how hard it is when relationships break down with close friends and allies, and when even our next door neighbour barely speaks to us some of the time, so have the Prime Minister’s experiences opened his eyes to the need to rebuild Britain’s relationship with our European friends and allies? Will he advise the right hon. Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham) to put his EU red lines in the past and to adopt our plan for a new growth and defence partnership?

I am very proud of the fact that we have reset our relationship with the EU and we are bringing it closer. That is in the best interests of our country and I know that the right hon. Gentleman understands that. I know that, like me, he has been reflecting on his own career. Given the revelation that he turned down a job with MI6, I think the whole House will be wondering what might have been—“Double O” Davey!

It is very tempting to respond to that, but I have signed the Official Secrets Act. [Laughter.] On Europe, when history looks back at the Prime Minister’s time in office, I fear that clinging to those old red lines will be judged to have been a mistake. As we swelter through this dangerous heatwave, we see the damage caused by extreme weather and climate change—schools closed, travel chaos, lives at risk, and massive costs to our economy and society. With the Met Office already warning that future summers will regularly break 40°C and bring even greater human and financial costs, is the Prime Minister alarmed that some parties in this House still follow Donald Trump with policies to send temperatures soaring even higher? Will the Prime Minister warn his successor not to listen to Conservative and Reform voices and instead to back our plans to cut bills and tackle climate change?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising climate change, because it is one of the most significant challenges of our time, and the weather today reminds us just how important it is. It used to be common ground across this House that climate change was the generational challenge and that the UK should be a leader on it globally. I remember not so long ago the Conservatives leading in the COP summit—something that we were able to support. It is a shame that in order to chase Reform votes, they have changed their mind, and that we do not have that consensus across the House, but I will always maintain that we must be global leaders on climate change, and we always will be.

Q6. This morning, a mature street tree fell on my house. No one was hurt, but it is another reminder of the results of this extreme heat that we face. Today is the hottest June day ever on record. Extreme heat and flooding are becoming more normal, and the Government need to stay ahead of that in respect of our homes, our workplaces and our farming. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for the environment, I am conducting an inquiry into Government preparedness. Will the Prime Minister tell the country what actions he is taking to step up our resilience?

It is clear that severe heatwaves are evidence that climate change is impacting our country. We have been working to co-ordinate the response, and I urge people to follow the guidance from the UK Health Security Agency. We are making our country more resilient for the future by modernising building regulations so that homes are cooler and better ventilated. We are building nine new reservoirs to protect water supplies and investing record amounts in flood defences and sustainable farming. While Labour is doing that, the Tories and Reform want to rip up the Climate Change Act 2008. That is the wrong approach for our country.

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Lefarydd. The end of the Prime Minister’s premiership comes close on the heels of the end of Labour’s 100-year dominance in Wales. People simply did not feel that his party stood up for them, and it is irrefutable that that too is part of the Prime Minister’s legacy. I believe there is a tradition of leaving notes on desks for successors. Will the Prime Minister leave a useful note to the incoming Prime Minister, saying that respect and understanding go a very long way and that democratic choices, including those of devolution, cannot be dismissed?

I shall leave a note saying that what we delivered for Wales in these two years was the largest ever devolution settlement; the UK’s first small nuclear reactor, in Anglesey; investing £14 billion in Welsh rail; and a pay rise for 170,000 workers across Wales. I will end the note by saying, “We are lifting 70,000 Welsh children out of poverty—Keir Starmer”.

Q7. My constituent Jake McGregor-How, a 16-year-old with everything to live for, has been diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia—a rare neurodegenerative condition that is cruel and swift-acting. The average life expectancy of people diagnosed with it is just 37. Despite the NHS’s founding principle that care should be based on clinical need, not ability to pay, Jake’s father is crowdfunding to pay for treatment in Germany with a new drug, omaveloxolone, which has received clinical approval here but is not available through the NHS. Assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has stalled. The condition is not classed as an ultra-rare disease, yet it is rare enough that any drug to treat it will struggle to meet NICE’s cost-effectiveness criteria. The family constantly have to raise enough money to pay for each round of treatment. Shockingly, Jake has recently undertaken a personal independence payment assessment and been turned down for much-needed support. Families should never have to crowdfund for treatment abroad for a life-threatening disease. Will the Prime Minister arrange for me and other colleagues who have constituents with this cruel condition to meet the Health Secretary to discuss a way forward?

May I start by sending my best wishes to Jake and his family? The change we have made to the way that NICE evaluates medicines is already increasing access to innovative new medicines. I will make sure that my hon. Friend gets the chance to meet a Health Minister to discuss Jake’s case and the related issues.

Q3. I hope there is still time in which the Prime Minister will be able to enlighten his party as to the moral of the cautionary tale of Jim, who ran away from his nurse, and was eaten by a lion.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman—he is always most generous. I will never forget when, just a few years ago, I went on holiday in his constituency with my family. I was in the kitchen of the place we were renting when somebody leant through the open door—it was the right hon. Gentleman with a bottle of champagne saying, “Welcome to the New Forest.” He then took time to speak to my family, including my wife’s elderly father and my children. I thank him for his generosity.

Q8. I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership. One of the concerns I hear most often from my constituents across Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Vale and south Oscott is about the rapid growth of exempt accommodation. In my constituency and across Birmingham, properties refused house in multiple occupation licences are opening anyway as exempt accommodation, with very little scrutiny. This undermines local communities and decision makers, so will the Prime Minister confirm when new legislation will be brought forward and whether it will close the loopholes? Will that legislation and its regulations be applied retrospectively, so that communities such as mine are protected?

Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. The Housing Secretary has the power to introduce locally led licensing, and will consult on those regulations in the summer. Under our proposals, national standards for supported housing will be enforced by local authorities. I am proud of the action we have taken to back renters—abolishing section 21 evictions, expanding the decent homes standard, and extending Awaab’s law to cover the private rental market.

Q5. The first duty of His Majesty’s Government, and indeed the Prime Minister’s first duty, is the defence of the realm. The Prime Minister is not responsible for the worsening geopolitical situation, but he is responsible for this country’s reaction to it. It is imperative that at the Ankara NATO summit early next month, we can outline to our allies how we will meet that situation. There were reports yesterday that the Prime Minister was being pushed to delay the defence investment plan again by the outriders of the new right hon. Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham). Will he confirm to this House that he will push ahead with its publication and that it is fully funded to the level the Chief of the Defence Staff said is required—not to the level his former Defence Secretary, the right hon. Member for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough (John Healey), resigned over—and in doing so, fulfil his first duty to defend the realm?

That is a first duty that the last Government spectacularly failed at, because they hollowed out our armed forces. We have already delivered the biggest sustained boost in defence spending since the ’80s—that is £270 billion over this Parliament—and we will increase that with the defence investment plan, which will be published before the NATO summit.

Q10. Following last Friday’s train collision south of Bedford, the emergency response from Bedfordshire police, the British Transport police, Bedfordshire fire and rescue service, the East of England ambulance service, Magpas air ambulance and other counties’ air ambulances, our local NHS hospitals, and of course railway staff was swift, professional and compassionate in supporting those who were impacted, especially in such distressing circumstances. This was public service at its best. Will the Prime Minister join me in thanking all those involved for their outstanding work in the aftermath of this tragic incident?