Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-10-12
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: Despite several rounds of European regional development funding, the Cornish economy continues to lag about 30% behind the UK average. Does the Prime Minister agree that Brexit provides us with the opportunity to develop our own economic programme, which will be less bureaucratic and more effectively targeted and will offer better value for money for the taxpayer, and will she confirm that her Government will continue to invest in the poorer regions of our country, such as Cornwall, once we leave the EU?; We have empowered local doctors to take real leadership over important reconfiguration proposals. In Shropshire, 300 doctors, surgeons and clinicians have been working on a vital reconfiguration of A&E services in Shropshire and in Wales. When they make their decision on that later this month, it is very important that the Government back them and provide the capital funding required for this vital change to enhance patient safety.; The Public Accounts Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General have both warned that the NHS budget is not sustainable. When will the Prime Minister’s Government wake up to the reality of growing demand, avoid the political rhetoric and set a sustainable NHS budget for this year and the future?; A young man with Asperger’s syndrome awaits extradition to the United States to face charges of computer hacking, and is then likely to kill himself. It sounds familiar, but he is not Gary McKinnon, who was saved by the Prime Minister, but Lauri Love, who faces in effect a death sentence. When the Prime Minister introduced the forum bar to, in her words, “provide greater safeguards for individuals”,surely she expected it to protect the vulnerable like Gary McKinnon, like Lauri Love?; What does the Prime Minister say to British steelworkers who have lost their jobs or whose jobs are threatened, given the news that French steel is to be used for the new replacement Trident submarines? Is that what she means by being a party of the workers?; Doctors and nurses at Kettering general hospital are treating a record number of patients with increasingly world-class treatments, yet despite being located in an area of rapid population and housing growth, owing to an historical anomaly the local clinical commissioning groups are among the most relatively underfunded in the whole country. What can my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister do to help address the situation?; The Prime Minister will be aware that the soft border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic was vital in boosting the economy of Northern Ireland. Does she understand the confusion that has set in, and that many of us feel? On the one hand, the Government define their intention tightly to control the free movement of people and labour, yet on the other they assure us that that border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will continue to be open. Does she see the contradiction for many of those directly affected, and whose jobs are affected?; Thanks to the Government’s growth deal, the £32 million transformation of Brierfield Mill in my constituency gets under way this week, giving a new lease of life to the largest redundant mill complex in Lancashire. May I thank the Prime Minister for her support and commend Pendle’s other bits in the latest round of the growth deal as a great way to build a country that works for everyone?; This is the first Christmas that Hayley Aldirmaz of Pwllheli will not see her husband Hasan. They have been together for 10 years and married for over four, with two young children. It is evident that they are in a long-term relationship, but Hayley’s Turkish husband was refused a spouse visa in 2012 because she earns less than the Home Office threshold of £18,600. Last year, half the full-time workers of Dwyfor Meirionnydd earned only £293 a week or less. This, I might say, compares with the Prime Minister’s own constituency, where the median salary was £571, or almost £30,000 a year. Can the Prime Minister explain why living in Dwyfor Meirionnydd means Hayley has less chance of a proper family life, and will she please help to unite the family this Christmas?; My constituents were delighted to learn this week that Gainsborough’s House, a unique museum and art gallery based in the very building where Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, is to receive almost £5 million of National Lottery funding to become a national cultural attraction. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the director Mark Bills and his team on their success, and does she agree that if in Suffolk we are bold and positive and go for devolution, we can look forward to much more of this sort of transformative investment in the years to come?; With Russian and Assad regime war planes bombing civilians in Aleppo at an unprecedented rate, will the Prime Minister join France in calling for those responsible for these war crimes to be referred to the International Criminal Court? Will she re-examine, with allies, the feasibility of a no-fly zone to protect the Syrian people before it is too late?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): We are very clear that it is for the courts to decide where a war crime is being committed. We co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution in May 2014 to refer those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria, regardless of affiliation, to the International Criminal Court. Of course, that was vetoed by Russia and China. On the issue of a no-fly zone, this has been addressed. People have looked at this over a number of years. The scenes we see of the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians are absolutely appalling. We want to see an end to that, but there are many questions about a no-fly zone. Who is it there to protect? Would it lead to Assad bombing people in the expectation that they would then move to that zone? How would a safe area actually be enforced there? Who would do that enforcement? There are many questions that need to be looked at in those sorts of issues. What we all know is that the only real solution for peace and stability in Syria is political transition, and it is time Russia accepted that: that the future of Syria is a political transition to a stable Syria, free of Assad.