Business of the House

Gideon Amos Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

As my hon. Friend will have heard, her remarks were well received by Members on the Labour Benches, because there is an acceptance that youth services are vital for the future of young people. The reality is that there was no youth strategy when we came into office, but we now have one that has been drawn up by young people. We are doing everything we can to tackle what has effectively been the closure of more than 1,000 youth centres under the previous Government. I will raise the matter with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and ensure that my hon. Friend gets a response.

May I also put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friend for her brilliant work as my Parliamentary Private Secretary? I understand her motivation and her reason for not wanting to continue—I hope it was nothing I said—but I put on the record my sincere thanks. She was absolutely fantastic.

[Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)]

Anyone who attended the national emergency briefing on 27 November, as I did, could not help being captivated by the international expertise on show about the effects of the climate and nature crisis on everything from food security and national security to all other aspects of British life. Is it not time that the Prime Minister responded to the cross-party call for a nationally televised national emergency briefing? Will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement to be made by the Prime Minister in this House to accept the need for the public to really understand and hear about the genuine effects of the climate and nature crisis?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The hon. Gentleman mentions food security and the climate crisis, and he will know that the effects of the current instability in the international situation have brought these issues into starker focus. I will give consideration to what he says, but the Prime Minister is absolutely focused on matters such as food security, because we understand that this is a particularly turbulent time. He is entirely focused on ensuring that we are resilient and emerge from the current situation not by getting back to some kind of normality, but by being in a much stronger position than we have when coming out of previous crises.