Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Paul Holmes

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right that harm from online gambling has surged—NHS referrals are up 91% in the past year. The decisions we made in the Budget mean investment in public services and lifting more than half a million children out of poverty, but we are working with industry to ensure that adverts do not exacerbate harm and, through our £26 million investment, helping the Gambling Commission to crack down on black market sites and illegal adverts to keep players safe.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

Q7. In 2020, the Justice Secretary said:“Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea”,and the Prime Minister himself has said that there should be “a right of trial by jury in all criminal cases”,but now they want to scrap trials by jury. With a Chancellor who cannot count and a Justice Secretary who has lost count of the number of people he has let out of prison, is it any wonder that the people of this country cannot ever again trust a single word this Prime Minister or Government say?

[The Prime Minister]

The Conservatives left a broken criminal justice system in which victims of rape and serious sexual violence wait three or four years for trial. Only this week I have heard further examples of 14-year-old and 16-year-old girls having to give evidence four years after the allegation. That is not justice for them, and I am determined that we will deal with that. As the hon. Gentleman well knows, of all criminal cases going to court, 90% have always been in the magistrates court and 10% go to the Crown court. Of that 10%, 7% of defendants plead guilty, which means that 3% of all criminal cases go forward for a jury trial—not all our cases. We are making sensible changes to ensure that victims get justice, which was denied to them under the failure left by the Conservatives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Paul Holmes

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Member for raising this case not just today, but on the many occasions that he has. It is incredibly important that we do everything we can in this case. I have met Laila and given her my commitment to do everything I possibly can. I have had a number of contacts myself, but I will not stop doing everything within my power to secure that release.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming my six-year-old constituent, Teddy, and his mum, Laura, to Prime Minister’s questions? Teddy is a self-professed eco-warrior, on a mission to change the world. He started out by saving thousands of plastic chocolate and sweet tubs from landfill, because they are not currently recyclable. Will the Prime Minister commit to asking the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution to meet Teddy and me to discuss how we can make those tubs recyclable? Does he agree with me that no matter how small you are, you are never too little to make a big difference?

[The Prime Minister]

On behalf of the whole House, I welcome Teddy. It is incredible that he has done so much already, and he is in the Gallery today. Many of us struggle for a whole lifetime to make an impact on Government policy, but Teddy is already having an impact aged six. I will make sure that he gets to speak to the relevant Minister.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Starmer and Paul Holmes

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. I have spoken to many who work in our shops who are very concerned about shoplifting. It went out of control because of the approach taken by the previous Government. We are bringing it under control. It is not low level; it has a huge impact on other customers and a particular impact on staff working in supermarkets. That is why we are dedicating funding to train police and retailers and to support specialist analyst teams to crack down on the gangs that are targeting retailers.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

In the last few weeks of the last Government, we awarded millions of pounds to remote train stations such as Hedge End and Swanwick in my constituency under the Access for All scheme. In the first two weeks of this Government, that was scrapped. Will the Prime Minister use his good offices to give my constituents and stations across this country an early Christmas present, and give us our money back, please?

[The Prime Minister]

This is an important issue for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents. The problem is that the last Government made lots and lots of promises, but never set aside the money to pay for them. That is why we picked up a £22 billion black hole. They made promises on infected blood and on Horizon, but they did not put aside the money to pay for them. We have had to inherit that and clean it up. We will get on with delivery, but we have to balance the books and stabilise the economy first.