debates/debates2025-06-25b conversation_15
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-25)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-06-25b conversation_15

Joe Morris:Prudhoe  community high school in my constituency was forced to relocate to Washington after its just over eight-year-old building, built under the previous Government, was found to have cracks in the infrastructure. This incredibly distressing news has required huge resilience and strength from the local community. Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the staff, the parents and, most importantly, the students at Prudhoe community high school, and in commending them for their hard work and dedication during this incredibly destabilising time? \p Angela Rayner: I will do. I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this important issue to my attention. I can only imagine the disruption and challenges facing the school community. One of the shameful legacies of the Conservative party was leaving schools across our country literally crumbling. We are fixing that with £20 billion of investment in the school rebuilding programme over the next decade to rebuild more than 750 schools. I know that the Minister for Early Education will be happy to meet him. \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats. \p Daisy Cooper: I associate myself and my party with the remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister in calling for de-escalation in the middle east, the release of hostages and urgent aid to get into Gaza.

We Liberal Democrats oppose the Government’s cut to personal independence payments and carer’s allowance. With a growing rebellion on the Government Benches, the Government may be forced to push these cuts through with the support of the official Opposition. The Deputy Prime Minister knows that some of those affected are still waiting for justice after the carer’s allowance scandal saw thousands of innocent carers hounded for repayments. Can the Deputy Prime Minister give a cast-iron guarantee that if these cuts are pursued, at the very least, not a  single person will lose a penny until the carer’s allowance scandal review has been completed and the recommendations have been implemented? \p Angela Rayner: I thank the hon. Member for her opening comments. She knows that we have already taken steps on the carer’s allowance, and those steps will continue. As she also knows, the welfare system is failing people. Labour is the party of work, but we are also the party of fairness. That is why our Bill will deliver the largest, permanent, real-terms increase to basic out-of-work support since the 1980s, invest in tailored employment support so people can try work safely, and ensure that those who can never work are properly supported. \p Daisy Cooper: It is disappointing that the Deputy Prime Minister could not give that cast-iron guarantee, but if the Government pursue the Bill next week, we will pursue this matter on behalf of carers.

Given the reports that the Government are giving a green light to President Trump’s demands for a state visit to be brought forward to September, does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that the UK should urgently convene talks with the White House in advance of the visit in order to leverage it to secure US guarantees for Ukraine, including the use of frozen Russian assets, and to secure a joint UK-US message to Putin that together our two countries will not let him win his illegal war? \p Angela Rayner: The UK Government are always in discussions, negotiations and talks with our US counterparts. We are really pleased that the US President is coming for a second state visit, and we will continue to welcome in that vein and continue to have those discussions.