G7

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend has made a very good bid for the public spending round. We have looked very carefully at this in the past and recognise that science is an important part of enhancing the growth, production, productivity and potential of the United Kingdom.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Progress on climate change targets and agreements is notoriously difficult, but the diplomatic mountain to climb from now to the end of the year is still quite daunting and quite massive. Much of this will rely on UK leadership and the Prime Minister’s personal involvement. Will he commit to that? Will he tell us what role he is going to play, not least to satisfy the growth argument that has been talked about and the 200 companies that are today calling for that stronger action?

[The Prime Minister]

We are going to bring the whole of the team to bear on this. I have an excellent new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who will be leading the charge. The fact that we meet the 0.7% commitment means that the Secretary of State for International Development can play a huge role in helping to bring the smaller, poorer and often island states along, but it will be an effort of the whole Government. The EU has already put its offer out there. When we look down to see what the EU, the US, Canada and Japan are doing, we are in the leadership role. We should now ensure that our diplomacy is working to bring everyone else along to the party.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 3rd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. He talks about the strength of the Yorkshire economy. The claimant count in his constituency —the number of people claiming unemployment benefit—has come down by 74% since 2010. We see the northern powerhouse as the linking of the great northern cities as a counterpoint and a counterpoise to the strength of London. We are making good progress on that, but we certainly want more money, resources and powers to be devolved to those cities. The York, North Yorkshire and East Riding local growth deal, for example, is creating at least 3,000 jobs and allowing 4,000 homes to be built. We have made good progress, but there is more to be done in this Parliament.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Q3. In March, the Prime Minister rightly apologised for successive Governments who had failed to address properly the claims and the righteous indignation of the families whose lives were torn apart and of those who lost their lives in the contaminated blood scandal. He also said in response to a question that he would deal with this matter as a priority if he was re-elected. Can he update us now on his commitment to and progress on that issue, so that it is dealt with finally and fully for all those people who have lost their lives and for those who live with the damage caused by this scandal?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. All of us as Members of Parliament have come across people who, through no fault of their own, were infected with blood with either HIV or hepatitis C, which has had very serious consequences for them.

In terms of what we are going to do about it—as the Scottish National party Member, the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart), shouts from a sedentary position—I said very clearly before the election that we have made available £25 million to help those families, and there will be a full statement by the Government before the summer recess to make sure that we deal with this issue in the best way we possibly can.