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?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I have been clear, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been clear, and the Taoiseach has also said that, on both sides of the border, we do not want to see a return to the borders of the past. It is worth reminding the House that the common travel area has been in place since the 1920s, so it was there well before we were both members of the European Union. We are working with the Government of the Republic, and I have had discussions on this with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. We want to ensure that we do not see a return to the borders of the past.