Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Hurley Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let us be absolutely clear. Before Mandelson took up his post, UKSV recommended with red flags that clearance should be denied, and there was high concern. That that was not brought to my attention, or to the attention of the Foreign Secretary at the time or subsequently, is a very serious error of judgment, and anyone in my position would have lost confidence in the former permanent secretary. The Leader of the Opposition claimed on Friday that Mandelson could not have been cleared against security advice, but she was wrong about that. She said that Ministers must have been told, but she was wrong about that. She claimed there was deliberate dishonesty, but she was wrong about that—wrong, wrong, wrong. She rushed to judgment, as she always does, just like with the Iran war. I was elected by the British people because the Opposition let the country down for 14 long years. [Interruption.] Whatever she says—whatever noise they make—nothing is going to distract me from delivering for our country.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

Q3. In contrast with the preoccupations of the Leader of the Opposition, my constituents are more concerned with the NHS and waiting lists. Thanks to this Government, across England, waiting lists are coming down. In my part of the country, waiting lists have fallen by 13,000 in the past year alone. After years of Tory failure, we are getting the NHS back on its feet. Will the Prime Minister share with me what further plans we have to get waiting lists down even more, and to make sure that we once again have a health service to be proud of?

[The Prime Minister]

The Opposition should hang their heads in shame at the state they left our NHS in. I am proud that this Labour Government are fixing our NHS across the country, with waiting lists at their lowest in three years, the best A&E waiting times in five years, the fastest ambulance response times in half a decade, and cancer patients getting diagnosed in the shortest time on record. Lots done, more to do. That is why we are delivering neighbourhood health centres in every community to speed up care. We did that because we invested. What did the Opposition do? They broke the NHS, and then opposed the investment that we put in.