Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-12-14
Topic: Public Lands
Questions: Today, a constituent of mine from Shoreham will struggle to get to University College hospital, London, for life-saving cancer drug trials, and across Sussex thousands of others will be unable to get to work, to school or to college because ASLEF objects to their drivers on Southern operating the doors. Yet today, ASLEF drivers will be driving Thameslink trains on the same rails, operating the doors on the London to Brighton line. Can the Prime Minister give her assurance that everything will be done at the ACAS talks today to end this nonsense of a strike, address any residual safety issues and give our constituents their lives back?; One of my constituents has just had to move to residential care because no carers could be found to support her in her own home. She is at the sharp end of a crisis in social care that is as much about inadequate funding as it is about a shortfall in our very valued social care workforce. I am looking forward to hearing what immediate further support will be provided for social care, but is it not time that rather than having confrontational dialogues about social care funding, all parties work together, across this House, to look for a sustainable long-term solution for the funding of both integrated health and social care?; A cross-party delegation led by the right hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) will meet the Russian ambassador tomorrow morning to discuss Aleppo. We will reflect and amplify the sort of terms that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have used about Russia, the Assad regime and Iran, not least because we want to protect those who have heroically struggled to save lives in that city and who will now be at particular risk because of what they have witnessed. Does the Prime Minister accept that many of us believe that these messages are more cogent when we are equally unequivocal about the primacy of human rights and international humanitarian law when we meet the Gulf states.; On the same subject, will the Prime Minister join me in thanking the many Members from all parts of this House who sung for Syrians last night in St Margaret’s, Westminster? Singing for Syrians was created to pay the salaries of the medical staff in Aleppo. Since our hospital was bombed two weeks ago, we have been buying prosthetic limbs with all our money. We have a waiting list of 30,000 people. What can we do to target our humanitarian aid to ensure that it gets to the most vulnerable people in Syria—the old, the very young, and people who are too injured to move?; Rip-off interest rates on household goods are wrong. Companies such as BrightHouse exploit families who have no other way to furnish their homes. Will the Prime Minister look at capping those interest rates to help those who are just about managing?; Across the country, and particularly in Kent, lorry fly-parking is a blight. It is antisocial and dangerous. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister support my campaign for more lorry parking spaces, more effective enforcement and, ultimately, a ban on lorries parking in unauthorised places?; Now we know, courtesy of the Government’s infrastructure watchdog, that mobile coverage in the UK is worse than in Romania, will the Prime Minister take steps to introduce a universal service obligation? In the highlands it is fairly typical to get the message, “No signal.” It would often be better to use carrier pigeons. Does the Prime Minister recognise that that is not acceptable, and will she take responsibility? It is time to connect the highlands to the rest of the world.; The heart-breaking humanitarian crisis and genocide in Syria continue to take place as the world watches impotently, yet there is no end in sight. Does the Prime Minister agree with the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) that what is happening in Syria is a failure of western leadership, and does she agree with me that what is urgently required is what our dear friend, Jo Cox, called for nearly a year ago: a UK-led strategy to protect civilians, whether they are fleeing persecution, whether they are surrendering, or whether they are still besieged?; At the last election the Conservative party manifesto said that“we will help local authorities keep council tax low for hardworking taxpayers, and ensure residents can continue to veto high rises”.Band D council tax payers in Ellesmere Port and Neston now face paying an extra £125 a year, with no veto, because of the Government’s failure to tackle the social care crisis. Will the Prime Minister now admit that her party’s pledge on council tax has been abandoned?; The Arbroath smokie, along with many other food and drink products, has benefited greatly from the European Union’s protected geographical indication scheme. What guarantee can the Prime Minister give us that it will continue to get that protection, should we end up leaving the EU?
Derek Gordon Thomas (Conservative, Centre-right): On 19 December 35 years ago, 16 people lost their lives in ferocious storms off the coast of west Cornwall. Eight of them were men from Mousehole, who had launched the Penlee lifeboat, the Solomon Browne, to rescue the crew of the Union Star. Thirty-five years later, this tragedy still haunts the village of Mousehole and West Penwith, and many people mark the anniversary every year. Will the Prime Minister join me in remembering these brave men and the loved ones they left behind, and pay credit to all our lifeboat men and women, who are prepared to risk their lives for those in peril on the sea?