"Local authorities all over the country are at breaking point, with Conservative- run Kent and Hampshire County Councils warning this week that they face the very real prospect of bankruptcy. The challenge is especially acute at Wirral Council, which is grappling with a shortfall of nearly £50 million next year, …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"In my constituency and in similarly deprived areas around the country, the Government have been remarkably silent about what they intend to do about the cost of living crisis in their legislative programme for the coming year. While some on the Conservative Benches have advised the poorest in our country …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"I thank the Leader of the Opposition, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), and the shadow Chancellor, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), for selecting this extraordinarily important debate. A long and bitter winter is at last …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"Every day, in my constituency of Birkenhead, parents are going hungry so that their children can eat, while elderly people are living in freezing homes because they simply cannot afford to put their heating on. Will the Minister concede that the Government are more interested in their own internal turmoil …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"The announcement that no action will be taken to recover the nearly £4 billion fraudulently claimed from the covid support schemes stands in stark contrast to the Government’s treatment of some of the poorest people in my constituency who had their benefits cut off, and who were even chased through …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"Our country faces the worst cost-of-living crisis in recent memory as families grapple with rising inflation, soaring food costs and an energy crisis that has rapidly got out of control. This Government’s decade-long failure to reduce the country’s foreign energy dependence has left us especially exposed to the devastating impact …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"I welcome the opportunity to say clearly to the Government that their current pursuit of benefit cuts and tax hikes, their economic mismanagement of the energy sector and the housing market—to name but two—and their casual indifference to the spectre of soaring inflation in the price of basic goods and …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"My right hon. Friend makes a good point. I made that point to the Prime Minister, who just did not give me an answer.
Those working people will be hit by both the cut and the increase in national insurance. They will number thousands of working hairdressers, shop assistants, street …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
More than two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that he had a plan to fix our country’s broken social care system. It was something that my constituents in Birkenhead so desperately needed—from …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech
"I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Yesterday, the Government had an opportunity to show people living in left-behind communities, such as my Birkenhead constituency, that they are serious about building a fairer and more prosperous economy in the wake of this …..." Mick Whitley - View Speech