Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Liz Jarvis

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me start by congratulating Rochdale football club on being top of the league for the time being. [Laughter.] Well, I say that because I know who is top of the premier league, but it will be in March and April that we find out who actually wins.

My hon. Friend is right. Thanks to the actions in the Budget, every household will see £150 off their energy bills, and because we have now extended the warm home discount to 6 million of the poorest households, they will save an additional £150. In the north-west, that benefits about 280,000 households. That is huge cost of living support for families alongside freezing prescription charges and rail fares and boosting the minimum wage.

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

Q14. My constituent Tracey owns O’Briens, a lovely café in the heart of Eastleigh. She works tirelessly to make it a success, but spiralling costs including business rates, VAT and the hike to employer national insurance contributions mean that she has not been able to take a salary for four months. David, the owner of Steam Town Brew Co and Jayne, the manager of the Holiday Inn in my constituency, say that their businesses will be impacted by the Government’s stealth tax on our high streets. They feel let down. Will the Prime Minister look again at the Liberal Democrats’ call for an emergency cut in VAT for hospitality?

[The Prime Minister]

We put in place a strategy for small businesses, which was broadly welcomed by small businesses, because they contributed to it. That involves some of the key asks they made of us, including on late payments and greater flexibility when it comes to licensing for hospitality. We will always look at other measures that can help small businesses. We set out quite a lot of them in our small business strategy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Liz Jarvis

Wednesday 30th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I see the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) complaining, but what did he say? His words were,

“we’re going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare”

and:

“If you can afford it, you pay”

—not under our watch. While he is busy taking Liz Truss’s advice and fawning over Putin, we are driving down waiting lists, with 3 million extra appointments delivered and waiting lists slashed in the most deprived areas. That is six times that the waiting lists have come down, including during the winter period. We are rebuilding our NHS, rebuilding our country’s future and delivering for working people.

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

Just before Christmas, thousands of my constituents were left without water after yet another incident involving Southern Water—the latest in a long series of issues, including outages and sewage dumping in our precious chalk stream, the River Itchen. Yet this month, my constituents face water bill hikes of 47%. Does the Prime Minister understand why my constituents are so angry about that, and what reassurances can he give them that Southern Water and Ofwat will be held to account?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this, and the Conservatives should apologise to her constituents for allowing record sewage into our waterways. Our water Act will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Under new powers that came into effect last week, in fact, water bosses can now face years in jail for concealing sewage spills. We have banned the payment of bonuses and introduced new powers, and of course we are delivering a major review through our water commission. I reassure the hon. Member that we will not hesitate to take further steps.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Liz Jarvis

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am going to struggle to sound delighted with the result of that particular football match, but it will be a special day for Newcastle fans. The Tyne bridge is an iconic north-east landmark and I congratulate the apprentices who are helping to restore that vital piece of infrastructure. As usual, the Tories made empty promises that they had no intention of keeping, including £2.9 billion-worth of transport commitments that were never funded. We will look at the capital projects around the spending review and let my hon. Friend know as soon as we can.

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

Q7.   My constituents Peter and Maureen have been married for 70 years. Peter is 93 and for the past few weeks has been stuck in a hospital ward waiting to go home because a care package has not been arranged. Peter is missing home and missing Maureen. Will the Prime Minister reassure my constituents the social care crisis will be tackled this year?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue and the particular case of her constituents. I also know that this is deeply personal to her and, if I may, I extend my deepest sympathies to her and her family for their loss. We have taken immediate action on social care. We have already delivered £3.7 billion of additional investment. We are working on the first ever fair pay agreement for the sector and, of course, we are boosting carer’s allowance. I invite her and everybody to work with the House on the longer-term reform that we need.