Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-02-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: When the new local housing allowance cap for social tenants is introduced in 2019, it will hit people on low incomes in my constituency hard. In places such as Maidenhead, the allowance will often exceed the average rent, but the basic weekly allowance in Merthyr Tydfil is £67, while the rent charged by Merthyr Valleys Homes is £76, which is already one of the lowest social housing rents in Wales. That will mean that tenants, including many older people, will be expected to find nearly £500 a year to put towards their rent. Will the Prime Minister act now? Will she issue clear guidance to exempt older people, at the very least, from these crude cuts, and also to ensure that the local housing allowance is in line with local rents?; The lack of large-scale vaccine manufacturing has been described as a national security issue for our country, and it will take many years to build that up. Will the Prime Minister look into what more the Government can do to address this highly critical health and defence concern?; Last night Bristol City Council set its budget. Very difficult decisions were made more difficult by the abject failure of the previous Mayor to get a grip on the council’s finances. It has taken a Labour Mayor to face up to the challenge, but Government cuts are making his task almost impossible, and devolution simply means asking us to do more with less. We did our bit last night in setting the budget; will the Prime Minister now meet the Mayor of Bristol to discuss the fairer funding deal that the people of Bristol deserve?; Seventeen years ago, my constituents Sue and Glyn Jones received a phone call that no parent should ever have to take. The caller told them that their daughter Kirsty, who was backpacking in Thailand, had been brutally murdered. The Thai authorities are due to close their investigation of Kirsty’s murder soon but, as yet, her case remains unsolved, her killer remains free, and her parents have neither justice nor closure. May I ask my right hon. Friend to press the Thai authorities to use recently improved DNA techniques to bring the killer to justice, to endeavour to provide more support for families who have lost loved ones abroad and, finally, to ensure that Kirsty’s personal effects are, at last, returned home to her parents from Thailand?; In the Prime Minister’s Lancaster House speech, she said of a future trade agreement with the EU:“no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain.”In the spirit of consistency, will that rule also apply to any future trade negotiations with the United States of America, where President Trump has said that America comes first?; In the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, we took the power, subject to a consultation and the laying of an order, to give humanists in England and Wales the opportunity to celebrate marriages as they do in Scotland. We have had the consultation, with 90% approval, and there has even now been reference to the Law Commission, which has concluded. Will my right hon. Friend now give her attention to laying this order and giving humanists in England and Wales the same rights and freedoms as they enjoy very successfully in Scotland?; My constituent Kevin’s chances of survival from pancreatic cancer were no better than his mother’s, who died of that disease 40 years earlier. This disease is soon to become the fourth biggest cancer killer in the UK. Will the Prime Minister join MPs on both sides of this House to champion a significant increase in spending on pancreatic cancer research which, sadly, currently lags behind that on other cancers?; In February 2008, Mr Barry Pring, the brother of one of my constituents, was unlawfully killed in Ukraine. Mr Pring’s Ukrainian wife is clearly implicated in his death. Earlier this year, our coroner in Devon ruled that Mr Pring was tricked into standing on a carriageway before being run down by a car that had stolen licence plates and no lights—death was immediate. However, every time an investigating officer makes progress with the case in Ukraine, they are replaced. This has happened 10 times and the case has stalled. May I implore my right hon. Friend to raise this case with the Ukrainian Prime Minister so that we can get justice and closure for Barry’s mother and brother and the Pring family?; Tens of thousands of disabled people on the Motability scheme have had their cars removed by this Government. In November, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work said that they will be looking at allowing personal independence payment claimants to keep their cars pending appeal. Next week, my constituent Margaret Gibson will lose her car, which she regards as a lifeline, despite a pending appeal and two decades of receiving higher rate disability living allowance. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the progress of this review to help Margaret and thousands like her?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): If we just stand back, we can see that business rates are based on the rental values of properties. Those values change over time—they can go up and down—and it is right that business rates change to recognise that. That is the principle of fairness that underpins the business rates system. However, we also want to support businesses and we recognise that, for some, business rates will go up when the revaluations take place. That is why we have put significant funding in place for transitional relief. I recognise that there has been particular concern that some small businesses will be adversely affected as the result of this revaluation, and that is why I have asked the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary to ensure that there is appropriate relief in those hardest cases.