Engagements — House of Commons, 2020-03-11
Topic: Technology
Questions: Last week, Emmy award-winning actor and musician Riz Ahmed released a hard-hitting new album and a short film, “The Long Goodbye”, which powerfully expresses the heartbreak of many British minorities who feel unwanted in Britain, where hate crime is rising and hate speech infects public life. These are also the concerns of Muslims in my constituency. I urge Members of the House to listen to it and watch it. Will the Prime Minister, for once without hiding behind the robes of his Muslim ancestors—yes, we all know he had them—or clinging to the fig leaf that his ex-Chancellor’s presence in the Cabinet provided him, or resorting to the potentially divisive, tit-for-tat deflection of the very serious issue of antisemitism, and given the 300 complaints of Islamophobia in his party, simply tell me what he is doing to assure Britain’s Muslims that their Prime Minister is not an Islamophobe and takes their concerns seriously?; I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the news that he and Carrie are expecting their first child. All parents want the best start in life for their children. With the UK lagging behind the rest of the world in the number of diseases that we genetically test for—we test for only nine genetic conditions in this country—does he agree with and will he support my campaign calling for a review of the new-born baby screening programme?; Can the Prime Minister explain why he is so singularly unpopular in Scotland? He has lost half his Scottish MPs and support for independence is at an all-time high. Is it because he thinks he can say no to a nation, or is it because the blustering buffoonery just jars with the Scottish people?; The week before Christmas, Luton food bank issued 339 food parcels, of which 124 were specifically for children. The level of child poverty in Luton has risen to a shameful 46%. While Luton’s unemployment rate may be going down, more people are in low-paid, insecure jobs. Does the Prime Minister agree that it is wholly unacceptable that families are in work but children are growing up in poverty? Will he commit to ending poverty pay?; In this financial year, the Government have redistributed funding meant for veterans’ charities. That has resulted in severely reduced services from Combat Stress, a renowned mental health charity serving veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It has also meant a reduction from 24 to 10 beds in our residential unit in my constituency, and the loss of 50 jobs. Will the Prime Minister show his support for veterans’ mental health today by initiating an urgent review of that redistribution of this critical funding, so that we can stop life-changing and often life-saving services being lost?; It is vital that the funds announced this morning are distributed effectively to the businesses and self-employed people affected by coronavirus, but the banks must fulfil their responsibilities as well. Businesses are telling me that some banks are shoring up their balance sheets at the expense of business customers and their workforce. Will the Prime Minister make sure that banks that were bailed out by the taxpayer now play their part in supporting businesses and their workers in their hour of need?; This morning, a range of expert mental health organisations, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mind and Rethink Mental Illness have called for an urgent inquiry into avoidable deaths linked to failures in the UK social security system. A family in my constituency lost their father and husband to suicide in similar circumstances, and they, like too many others, want answers. When will the Prime Minister instruct such an inquiry to listen to those families, and the experts?; As the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) said, statutory sick pay in the UK is among the lowest in Europe. It is less than £95 a week. If the Prime Minister does not think he can live on that, he should not expect our constituents to live on it either, so I urge him to act before it is too late and introduce decent sick pay for every worker in Britain.; The Shetland Space Centre, a limited company in my constituency, is working in partnership with Lockheed Martin to build a sustainable space economy in Shetland. Will the Prime Minister give me some assurance that the very welcome Government support for the space industry will be allowed to follow the best commercial and technical options, and confirm that those in companies such as Lockheed Martin are the people best placed to make such judgments?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We will of course be guided by the best scientific judgments in all these matters. I can certainly confirm that it is our firm determination to have a second spaceport in Scotland, and we are looking for candidates to send into orbit.