Oral Answers to Questions

Brendan O'Hara Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are committed to providing the local NHS with the funding it needs. As my hon. Friend knows, we have announced more than £3.9 billion of new additional capital funding for the NHS up to 2022-23. We announced that last year. The majority is to support the implementation of plans from local communities. I understand that the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has resubmitted an application for the £36.2 million of funding in July for the Walsall Manor Hospital emergency department. The Department of Health and Social Care expects the successful schemes to be announced in the autumn, but my right hon. Friend the Health and Social Care Secretary will be pleased to meet my hon. Friend to discuss his campaign.

[Brendan O'Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)]

Q2. Rural Scotland, including my Argyll and Bute constituency, is facing a depopulation crisis that will be exacerbated by Brexit. Last week, Cleland Sneddon, the chief executive of Argyll and Bute Council, added his name to those calling for a more flexible, devolved and regional immigration policy and offered Argyll and Bute as a pilot area to test it. Will the Prime Minister agree to meet me and the chief executive to discuss the merits of such a proposal?

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman asking a question at PMQs, but he has asked about a regional immigration policy, an issue that the Migration Advisory Committee looked at a while back. It made it very clear that that was not a situation that the Government should accept, partly because of the practical problems in implementing it. When we put forward our proposals for the immigration policy for people coming from the European Union, we will ensure that they are right for the whole United Kingdom.