Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Khalid Mahmood

Wednesday 9th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. It is right that we are examining the formula and trying to achieve better fairness. I think everyone can now see that the gap between the best-funded schools and the worst-funded schools has become too great. I also agree that it is vital that the specific needs of schools in rural areas are properly considered. That is why our consultation proposes that we should direct additional funding to small schools in sparsely populated areas.

[Mr Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr) (Lab)]

Q5. To follow up a question from my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, official figures show—[Interruption.] It’s not funny. Official figures show 12,000 vacancies in construction that are hard to fill due to a lack of skilled applicants. Can the Prime Minister explain why, under his Government, the number of construction apprenticeships has fallen?

[The Prime Minister]

The point is we are building more houses, investing more in construction and training more apprentices. The money is there from the Government, and the apprenticeship levy on larger businesses will make sure that we can fund apprentices long through this Parliament.

Tunisia, and European Council

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Khalid Mahmood

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

In very much the same way, when Ireland had a treaty change and a protocol addressing that treaty change, the referendum took place in Ireland before all the other countries’ Parliaments had passed the treaty change, so this has happened on previous occasions across the European Union.

[Mr Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr) (Lab)]

I want to join the Prime Minister, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) and Members from across the House in paying our condolences to the families of the people caught up in the barbaric attack on the holiday resort in Tunisia.

I want very quickly to mention to two issues. The first is about recognising as Muslims those in the Daesh group. These people are not Muslims; they are what is known as Khawarijite. This has gone on in Islam for a long time—they were responsible for killing two of our Khalifas at the start of the religion—and it is continuing. Where I agree with the Prime Minister is that we have to take responsibility for our young people not being edged along in Islam towards them, because these people are not Muslims. We must take responsibility for dealing with that across the whole community—the Muslim community and all other communities and institutions as well.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman speaks with great knowledge about this, and I have admired what he has said about this over the years. He is right that these people are bastardising and perverting a religion, but we cannot ignore the fact that they are self-identifying as Muslims. That makes it even more important that we reject what they are saying and prove to young people, including young Muslims, that they have nothing to do with what the true religion is about.