Keir Starmer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  That is not correct.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes, I do, and I know this is a concerning time for families who rely on the brilliant work of Whitby InterActive. Children with special educational needs and disabilities have been failed for too long. It comes up repeatedly in the House, with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. We must raise the standards for every child so that they can succeed in education. We will fix the foundations and ensure that every child can achieve their potential.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising that; it is obviously of huge importance to his constituents and he is right to do so. As he knows, we are reviewing the programme. The programme that the last Government put in place for 40 new hospitals had a number of flaws: they were not all hospitals, they were not new, and they were not funded, so we are reviewing it. He is right to raise this matter, and I will ensure that he has a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss the development in his constituency. It will matter to his constituents who are listening to this, and it is important that they know where the failure lay.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend’s work with the new Labour police and crime commissioner. It is sad to say that in Cleveland, the number of full-time equivalent police officers fell by over 12% under the last Government; when you fail on the economy and growth, those are the types of things that happen across the country. As part of our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we will put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers back on our streets and ensure that every community has a named local officer. Through our safer streets mission, we will tackle illegal drugs, halve knife crime and crack down on antisocial behaviour, and go after the gangs that lure young people into violence.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  On this issue of winter fuel payments, we have inherited a £22 billion black hole. [ Interruption. ] Conservative Members should be apologising, not groaning, for leaving the country in such a state. We are committed to the triple lock. The point about pensions is really important, and the triple lock means that the pension will increase again by £460 next year. That means pensioners under Labour will be better off, because we are going to stabilise the economy after that lot lost control of it.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes: the Employment Rights Bill is pro-worker and pro-growth, and proudly so. I do not believe we can build a strong economy by having people in insecure work. The Conservative party goes against every protection for workers—it was against the minimum wage, and it is against these new protections—but the vast majority of businesses, large and small, already know that investing in their human capital and treating people properly at work is what produces growth. Here is the big political divide: the Conservatives always oppose workers’ rights, and we will always champion them.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this vital issue. The statistics on male suicide are truly shocking. I went to an event a few years ago here in this place, where everyone in attendance was asked if they had lost someone to suicide, and I then reflected on my own experience, which was profound—as it was, I could see, for everybody across the room, and will be across this House—so reducing deaths from suicide is a vital part of our health mission. We are recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers specially trained to support people at risk of suicide to provide faster treatment and ease pressure on our services.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises a really important issue. Dentistry was left in a shocking state by the last Government: I was shocked to hear that the commonest cause of A&E admission for six to 10-year-olds in this country’s children’s hospitals is to have teeth taken out, because of the failure of the last Government. That is shocking on any analysis, and we will put it right; we will take the necessary steps, and we will work across the House to do so as quickly as possible.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The continued military activity in the strait is not conducive to peace and stability. Stability in the Taiwan strait is in all of our interests. On the wider point that he raises, we will co-operate where we can as permanent members of the UN Security Council on issues such as net zero and health and trade, compete where we have different interests, and challenge—the point he makes is absolutely right—where it is needed to protect national security, human rights and our values. We will put that challenge in.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes. We have called for that in the past and we continue to do so. I hope that this is an issue where we can have unity across the House.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes, and that case, as the right hon. Gentleman will understand, is a priority for the Government. We call on the Hong Kong authorities to release immediately our British national. The Foreign Secretary raised this case in his first meeting with China’s Foreign Minister and we will continue to do so.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for raising what is obviously a very important case, and she is right to do so. I am not across the individual details of it, but it obviously does need to be looked into. So we will commit to look into it, and I will make sure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to lay out such details as she has and to get some answers as to our inquiries.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes, I do agree with those remarks, and we are constantly making representations on this with our partners. There is an urgent need, as there has been for a long time, for more aid to get into Gaza. It is a desperate situation, and Israel must comply with its international humanitarian law obligations. That is why we are convening a session of the UN Security Council, with others, to address that issue.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for raising that very important issue and for championing the voices of women in his constituency. We are committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive safe, compassionate and personalised care through pregnancy, birth and the critical following months. Reconfiguration of the services, as he knows, is a matter for the integrated care boards, which is important, as it allows decisions to be made locally and to be tailored to local interests. All changes should be based on evidence, be clinically led and involve engagement with patients to ensure that they will deliver better outcomes. This is a very important matter.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue and being a champion on it. He is absolutely right about the appalling inheritance: one in four children in absolute poverty—that is a terrible inheritance—and too many vulnerable children in unregulated accommodation. Through our children’s wellbeing Bill, we will put children and their wellbeing at the heart of the education and social care systems. We will also provide a home for all young care leavers to ensure that they are not homeless, and remove the barriers to opportunity so every child can thrive in safe and loving homes.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The difference is that we now have a Westminster Government who want to work with the Welsh Government to deliver for the people of Wales. For 14 long years the Welsh Government were in a position where the then UK Government were in conflict with them. Now, we will work together, collaborate and ensure that we deliver across Wales.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Alex Salmond was a monumental figure in Scottish and UK politics. He leaves a lasting legacy. I know that the deepest condolences of the whole House are with Moira, his family and his loved ones. This week, we also remember our colleague and friend, Sir David Amess, whose kindness and commitment to public service continues to inspire us all. I know how deeply this is felt by those on the Opposition Benches, and I am so glad that his plaque is here in the House with us. I also wish to acknowledge the extraordinary life of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert whose message of hope showed such courage. May her memory be a blessing. We also extend our sympathies to the family of General Sir Mike Jackson. He was an inspirational leader of the British Army and served with distinction. I know the whole House will join me in wishing the best of luck to the new England manager, Thomas Tuchel. I will not hold his old job against him, but I wish him well in the new one. This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As the right hon. Gentleman well knows, I am not going to get drawn on decisions that will be set out. We made an absolute commitment to not raise tax on working people. He, of course, was the expert’s expert on raising taxes, and what did we get in return for it? We got a broken economy, broken public services and a £22 billion black hole in the economy. We are here to stabilise the economy, and we will do so.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman is right: we do need a better deal with the EU than the bad deal we got under the last Government. That is why I was pleased to meet the President of the Commission last week to talk about how we can improve on the deal. In our manifesto we had clear red lines about the single market, the customs union and freedom of movement, and we will negotiate with those red lines in place.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  We set out our promises in our manifesto. We were returned with a huge majority to change the country for the better, and I stick to my promises in the manifesto. But I notice that the right hon. Gentleman is on question three, and he has not yet welcomed the investment into this country. We have had in recent months £8 billion from Amazon for jobs across the country, £10 billion from Blackstone for jobs across the north-east, £22 billion on carbon capture for jobs in the north-east and north-west, and £500 million for UK buses in Northern Ireland. While we are investing in our economy, what are Conservative Members doing? They are arguing about whether to scrap maternity pay.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important issue and reminding the House of the impact that it has. I can certainly arrange that meeting so that we can take it further forward.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am shocked to hear of the impact on Derbyshire county council, which is proposing cutbacks to adult social care. Councils across the country were on the frontline of the last Government’s ruinous economic failure, which has left people who rely on services counting the cost. There is no quick fix, but we will provide councils with more stability and certainty through multi-year funding settlements, ensuring that councils can properly plan their finances for the future. We will work with local leaders to deliver this.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am not sure that something labelled “Temptations” is quite where I need to go at the moment— [Laughter.] But this is a really important initiative. It is important that it is being marked and I am very pleased to be hosting the event this evening, to which I think my hon. Friend is coming.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her important question. It is appalling that child poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, after the last Labour Government did so much to bring it down. Tackling this is at the heart of our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. The taskforce is developing a strategy to reduce child poverty, and it will be published in the spring of next year.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that important issue. The Windsor framework was negotiated by the last Government. We supported it, and we continue to support it. We will work to make sure it is implemented properly and fully.