Engagements — House of Commons, 2016-01-13
Topic: Labor
Questions: The No. 1 responsibility of any Government is the protection of their people. Does the Prime Minister agree that Britain’s nuclear deterrent and our membership of NATO are key to our defences and that any moves that would put that at risk would jeopardise our national security?; As someone who grew up in social housing, I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to tearing down poor-quality, soulless high-rise estates and replacing them with affordable homes. Will he seize this opportunity to make sure that those new homes are attractive, well-designed places in which people will want to live for generations to come?; Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming the fact that Aldi is in the process of building a distribution centre in my constituency, bringing the prospect of another 400 jobs to local people? That distribution centre is situated just off the A249, which is one of the busiest trunk roads in the south-east of England. Will my right hon. Friend encourage the Department for Transport to undertake a review of the A249 to ensure that it can cope with the increased traffic generated by the expanding business activity in my constituency?; The Prime Minister will be aware that last week this House discussed the equalisation of the state retirement age between men and women. Does he feel the outrage of a generation of women born in the 1950s who feel robbed and cheated out of their state pension, and will he give an undertaking to look at further improvements to transitional arrangements, given the unanimous decision of this House to ask him to do so?; By 8 January—after just eight days—parts of London had exceeded the annual limit for nitrogen dioxide pollution. Given this medically serious news, will the Prime Minister ensure that the Department for Transport’s current consideration of airport expansion prioritises air pollution concerns, and will he pledge never to expand Heathrow airport while nitrogen dioxide levels are risking the health of millions of people?; The Prime Minister’s answer to the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard) about transitional arrangements for women born in the 1950s was nothing like good enough. I was going to say that his own Ministers seem to have no idea how to rectify the injustice they have caused, but I do not think he does either. As he is talking to other EU leaders, will he ask why some countries are not implementing the changes until 2044, and will he also look at what transitional arrangements the Netherlands, Italy and Germany put in place to protect the people affected?
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): What other European countries do is a matter for them. We have the ability to make sovereign decisions on this issue, and that is entirely right. We have decided to put in place a pensions system that is affordable for our country in the long term and which sustains a very strong basic state pension right into the future. The single-tier pension is going to make such a difference to so many people in our country. We also have the triple lock, which was never put in place by Labour. We all remember that miserly increase to the pension under Gordon Brown. That can never happen again under our arrangements.