Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-03-30
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: The UK Government’s work connecting rural areas such as Brecon and Radnorshire to superfast broadband will become a lot harder tomorrow, when the Welsh Government withdraw their matched funding for the scheme, forcing the cost of installation back on to homes and businesses in my constituency. Welsh Labour’s decision means that my constituents will lose out, as local authorities in England continue to fund the scheme. Does my right hon. Friend agree that broadband is critical to the growth of the rural economy, and will he double his Government’s efforts to connect my constituents, despite Welsh Labour’s letting us down yet again?; Following on from the publication of the schools White Paper, one of my most important campaigns is to secure provision of quality post-16 education within the Bolsover constituency, where there is currently none. Young people in my constituency have to travel long distances at considerable cost to access their education. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss how we can right this wrong for the young people of the Bolsover constituency and give them the education that they deserve?; Households are experiencing soaring energy costs. We are in the middle of a global climate emergency. Against that backdrop, Norway can feed energy into our national grid at a cost of £1.36 per megawatt-hour. France pays 17p per megawatt-hour. Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pay nothing to feed into our grid. Can the Prime Minister explain then why Scotland’s renewables sector is being punished with grid connection charges of £7.36 per megawatt-hour?;   With the Government losing an estimated £4 billion to fraud in the furlough scheme, surely the Prime Minister should have tackled that fraud—especially when, in his own party in North Tyneside, furlough was claimed for a member of party staff even though he continued to work.; Over 2 million tonnes of edible food is wasted on farms and in factories every year. Funding was introduced in 2019 to cover the costs of getting food to charities to reach those in need. The Prime Minister will know, however, that the Government have now cut that critical funding to zero. Funding for food waste diversion helps to support community projects such as the Threehills community supermarket in Glasgow, so can he explain why he is ignoring calls from Feeding Britain, Good Food Scotland and FareShare to continue that worthwhile initiative and is instead cutting off a lifeline to those struggling with the cost of living crisis?; Prime Minister, every day I hear from more and more of my Rotherham constituents who are struggling to put food on the table, to keep their lights on and to fuel their cars. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the Government’s measures will only offset falling living standards by a third. This is the biggest financial squeeze since the 1950s. Prime Minister, do not blame Ukraine and do not blame covid. This is down to your Government’s policies and your political choices. How do you sleep at night?; My constituency has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the entire country, with too many already struggling between heating and eating. The Government’s recent real-terms social security cut will now push even more families, children and pensioners into desperation. Does the Prime Minister agree that the biggest squeeze in household finances since records began does not come out of the blue, but is due to Conservative economics and the notion that, while some have the pleasure of partying, the rest of us should suffer?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): No, we are absolutely dedicated to levelling up across our entire country and making sure that we reduce poverty. That is why I am proud that there are now half a million fewer kids actually in workless households, 200,000 fewer kids—200,000 fewer—in poverty and 1.3 million fewer in absolute poverty. The way we have done that is by helping people into work, and we are going to go further—investing in more work coaches, and massively increasing our training budget so that people get the skills that they need. That is our approach—helping people by getting them into work.