Engagements — House of Commons, 2018-04-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: Earlier than expected, Mr Speaker; thank you very much. Yesterday, the Welsh Government reached an agreement with Her Majesty’s Government on the withdrawal Bill. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is in the interests of Scottish business and the Scottish people that the Scottish National party leadership should do the same and reach a similar agreement as soon as possible?; I am sure the whole House will want to pass on our condolences to the family of Matt Campbell, who sadly died taking part in the London marathon on Sunday.Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating the 40,000 runners, including many right hon. and hon. Members, who completed the marathon, raising huge amounts of money for local charities and good causes across the United Kingdom? In particular, we should thank the volunteers, medics and ambulance staff who made the event as safe as possible.; At Thursday’s recovery meeting in Salisbury, the public were told that nine Novichok hotspots remain in and around the city and that the clean-up may take until the end of the year. In thanking the Prime Minister for her very close interest in this matter, may I ask what more can be done to expedite the clean-up, so that life in south Wiltshire can return to normal as soon as possible?; About 20 of my constituents, most of whom are living around Harthill, and 4,000 other low-paid workers around the UK are waiting for money that is rightfully theirs. They have been waiting for 20 years. Some will have died waiting, and others are now seriously ill. Mr Speaker, you represent, as do others across this House, constituents who are waiting for their payout from the Roadchef employee benefit trust, which has been trying to get Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to take a decision on £10 million wrongly paid to it 18 years ago. Will the Prime Minister join me today in calling on HMRC to finally decide on this case and get the money back to the people who rightly deserve it?; May I commend my right hon. Friend for reaffirming the Government’s clear position that we will not be remaining in any form of a customs union? While we are on the EU, will she reassure fishermen in South Dorset and around the country, especially the under-10-metre fleet, that they will not be disadvantaged by any incoming EU policies during the implementation period?; The Prime Minister will be aware that in my constituency we are putting the finishing touches to our second aircraft carrier the Prince of Wales, but as we near the end of that contract, more than 400 people in the Rosyth yard are now facing redundancy, with many more job losses in the pipeline. Will she visit my constituency to explain to the Rosyth workforce, face to face, why her Government intend to award a £1 billion shipbuilding contract to yards outwith these islands when we have the skills, talent and infra- structure to deliver right here?; Is my right hon. Friend aware that, according to the World Health Organisation, the second largest medical system in the world, with 300,000 doctors treating 200 million patients every year, is homeopathy—[Hon. Members: “Ah!”] That is the evidence. Will my right hon. Friend congratulate—[Interruption.]; In my constituency of Heywood and Middleton, in the Borough of Rochdale, one year 6 child in three is overweight or obese. With our children being bombarded with junk food adds on their favourite television programmes, billboards and even bus tickets, will the Prime Minister take the bold steps needed to tackle junk food marketing, support Jamie Oliver’s latest campaign and say that she, too, has “#AdEnough”?; I see the results of the Prime Minister’s “hostile environment” in my casework every single day. My constituents, Mr Shaikh and Ms Gul, applied for leave to remain on the same day, 27 March 2017. His was granted, but hers was refused on 28 March—a full year later. The couple’s five-year-old and their four-month-old are both British citizens, but Ms Gul has been told that she should be ready to leave the UK. Why does the Prime Minister want to separate this family, and will she intervene?; A stem cell transplant can be a life-saving treatment for people with blood cancer. Recent research shows that having a younger stem cell donor improves a patient’s chance of surviving post-transplant. Will the Prime Minister join me in supporting the upcoming “Be a Lifesaver” campaign by the charity Anthony Nolan, which aims to recruit more young people aged 16 to 30 to the stem cell donor register? Will she congratulate the 1,000 people in Coventry North East and all others who are already signed up to be donors?; On Saturday, I met a lovely young couple who had all but given up hope of ever being able to buy their own home, but thanks to an innovative and genuinely affordable housing scheme by Manchester City Council, they have just moved into their own house, right near the university. Will the Prime Minister join me in praising Manchester Labour, which, despite her Government’s planning and funding restrictions, has built many hundreds of truly affordable homes in my constituency, and will have another 2,000 coming on stream very soon?; My constituent, Anthony, who lives with a chronic, disabling illness, worked all his life until finishing on medical grounds three years ago. From 2002, he received disability living allowance, but last year he was transferred to personal independence payments and his mobility allowance was cut. Yesterday, Anthony handed back the mobility vehicle that he has had for 16 years. Today he is housebound and fearful for his future. The total injustice of the system means that he now faces a nine-month wait for his appeal at Liverpool tribunal services. What message does the Prime Minister have for Anthony as he adjusts to his new life as a prisoner in his own home?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very happy to confirm what I have always said: no deal is better than a bad deal. As regards being in a customs union, that means that we would not be able to negotiate our own trade deals around the rest of the world, and we want to be able to do that. As I saw last week at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, there is considerable interest around the rest of the world in being able to have those independent trade deals negotiated between other countries and the UK.