Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Wednesday 3rd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We think it is very important that the protocol should not place unnecessary barriers—or barriers of any kind—down the Irish sea. As I said to a colleague earlier, I think it was most unfortunate that the EU seemed to want to impose a barrier across the island of Ireland. We seek to make sure there are no such barriers down the Irish sea.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con) [V]]

Some of my constituents had their Christmases ruined because the heavy rainfall and local inappropriate development caused foul water to enter their homes, causing them great difficulties. Will the Prime Minister appoint a statutory body with the specific and undeniable responsibility of ensuring that no development can automatically tap into existing drainage systems, and that before developments begin, a full assessment is made of the local drainage capacity and if that capacity would be inadequate, the development does not begin until the infrastructure is upgraded?

[The Prime Minister]

I will study the very interesting proposals that my hon. Friend makes, but in the meantime I will raise them particularly with the Environment Agency, which does a fantastic job in managing local areas that are prone to flooding and putting in the necessary defences. I know that colleagues across the House will have seen the work of the Environment Agency across the country, and we are making another £5.2 billion investment in traditional flood defences, which I know will benefit my hon. Friend’s constituents in Gloucestershire and across the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 25 November.

[The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) [V]]

Good morning, Mr Speaker. I hope very much that our connection works today. This is my last day of virtual meetings with ministerial colleagues and others before I come out of isolation. In addition to my virtual meetings and duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Mr Robertson [V]]

Can the Prime Minister guarantee that in any agreement that he reaches with the European Union, British sovereignty will be protected for the whole United Kingdom and that the UK will exit the transition period on 31 December as a whole?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed; I can make that guarantee. Our position on fish has not changed. We will only be able to make progress if the EU accepts the reality that we must be able to control access to our waters. It is very important at this stage to emphasise that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What I would say to Chris—and what I say to the right hon. and learned Gentleman and to the whole country—is the best way to get his job working again, the best way to get this country back on its feet, is to continue on the path that we are driving the virus down. It is a week since we entered into the tough autumn measures that we are now in. I am grateful to the people of this country for the sacrifices that they are making, and I am particularly grateful to the people of Liverpool and elsewhere—tens of thousands of people in Liverpool are taking part in the mass testing work that is going on there. It is fantastic news that we now have the realistic prospect of a vaccine.

Science has given us two big boxing gloves, as it were, with which to pummel this virus, but neither of them is capable of delivering a knockout blow on its own. That is why this country needs to continue to work hard, to keep discipline and to observe the measures that we have put in. I am grateful for the support that the Labour party is now giving for those measures. That is the way to do it: hands, face, space; follow the guidance, protect the NHS and save lives.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con) [V]]

As we and all countries across the world tackle the pandemic, is it not right that we also have to secure our post-EU future? Are we not doing that by securing help for our rural communities and securing our borders?

[The Prime Minister]

Absolutely; I thank my hon. Friend. I can tell him that the landmark Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill receives Royal Assent today, thanks to this House, paving the way for the fulfilling of our manifesto commitment to end free movement and have a new, fair points-based immigration system—one of the advantages of leaving the European Union that the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) would of course like to reverse.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. That is why we have extended the job support system. The universal credit system is also there to provide a safety net and to help people, precisely because, as their incomes may go down, so universal credit goes up. That is the point of the system.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

Every weekend in my constituency, a large car boot sale takes place. I have no objection to that, but next weekend, just a few hundred yards down the road, Cheltenham races will be run without any paying spectators. Surely that is an anomaly. Will the Prime Minister address that by allowing sporting venues to open to welcome paying spectators, as long as they do so in a safe way?

[The Prime Minister]

We are generally well disposed towards any business or organisation that allows its activities to take place in a covid-secure way. We will proceed with our plans to do that for sporting events as soon as we possibly can. As for the car boot sale in my hon. Friend’s constituency, I urge everybody attending it to observe social distancing and stop the spread of the virus.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is completely to misrepresent what the Chancellor is trying to do. As I have just told the House, we have already put £190 billion into supporting livelihoods, people and families. We are going to continue to put our arms around the people of this country. The most important thing is to get the economy moving and get people into work, and, at the same time, to keep kids in school, but the only way we can do that is if we suppress the virus in the way that the Government have set out, with the local lockdown measures that we have announced and the national measures that, I hope, are the subject of cross-party support.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister believe in the value of local accident and emergency units, and will he work to ensure the return of the A&E at Cheltenham General Hospital? The local hospitals trust has said that it will return, but can he try to ensure that it does so sooner rather than later?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. I am assured that the closure to which my hon. Friend refers is only temporary, and I remind him that this is the Government who are putting in the record—the biggest ever—capital investment in the NHS, with £34 billion of investment in the NHS, to say nothing of the investments we have made just in the last nine months.

Covid-19

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are not only fixing the problems; as the hon. Gentleman will know, we are building four more Lighthouse labs. On the machines in question that needed to be supplied, we have secured them, and we are moving forward. I am confident that we will have the capacity to do 500,000 tests per day by the end of October. That is an extraordinary thing. On the ambition for mass testing, I think that is a great thing, and the Government will support it.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

The last lockdown, which was quite severe, did succeed in reducing the spread of the virus, but it did not eradicate it. What confidence can we have that these measures will actually eradicate it to the extent that we will not be in this Chamber in six months’ time discussing further lockdown measures? What discussions has the Prime Minister had with scientists and health experts to find a proper way forward?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend asks a most important question. The virus is not one that is readily capable of being eradicated, and what we have to do is drive it down as far as we possibly can, keep it under control and restrict outbreaks as fast and as far as we possibly can. Riding to our rescue and to the rescue of the economy will be several things. First, I think that we will be able to continue with the measures that we have to control the virus and to get the R down, provided people obey—

Global Britain

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is curious that the right hon. Member says that because, as far as I know, the quarantine policy is actively supported by the shadow Foreign Secretary at the very least, and indeed supported by the Labour party. If he is dissenting from his own party, I perfectly understand that, but the reason for our policy is of course to prevent the reinfection of this country, as we drive the virus down, by people coming back from countries where it is out of control.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree with me that it is in Britain’s interests to have a poverty reduction programme across the world? Will he guarantee, after this change, that the Government will still continue to concentrate on education and health, particularly the education of girls, across the world and that—not only for the benefit of Britain, but for humanitarian purposes—we carry on the poverty reduction programmes?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and at the heart of the mission of the new Department will be 12 years of quality education for every girl in the world, which I think is probably the single best thing you could do for the future of our planet.

Covid-19: Strategy

Debate between Boris Johnson and Laurence Robertson

Monday 11th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con) [V]]

Just a few days ago, my father, Jim, died of coronavirus in hospital. He did not catch the virus in the community; he caught it in the hospital when he went in for another illness. As the Prime Minister quite rightly tries to reduce the spreading of the virus in communities and care homes, will he also do whatever he can to try to stop the spreading of the virus in hospitals?

[The Prime Minister]

I am so sorry to hear about my hon. Friend’s father, and I am sure the whole House joins with me in extending him our sincerest condolences. The point that he makes about care homes is also, I am afraid, a very important one. It will be no consolation to those who have lost friends and relatives in care homes during the current epidemic, but the numbers are very substantially coming down now. The numbers of deaths in care homes are very substantially coming down. But where he is totally right is that we cannot make progress as a nation on the steps that we have outlined—the further steps that we have outlined: step 2, step 3—unless we crack these twin epidemics both in care homes and in the NHS. I have been very clear on that both last night and today in the House, and I hope that the House understands that.