Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Tuesday 2nd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

I welcome the Chancellor’s remarks about a no-deal Brexit and the disaster it would be for our country, costing jobs and livelihoods. Does he agree that both Conservative leadership candidates, who support a no-deal Brexit, should stop selling out the country to serve their own political ambitions? Will he commit to joining us in voting against a no deal when and if he returns to the Back Benches, and to voting with us on a no-confidence motion, if it comes to that, to stop a no deal?

[Mr Philip Hammond]

At this stage of my career, I will not speculate on my future actions. What I will say is that the Government’s analysis shows that a no-deal exit would mean that all the regions, nations and sectors of the UK economy have lower economic output compared with today’s arrangements and compared with the White Paper scenario that the Government set out. It is important we all understand that preparing for a no deal, which is a perfectly sensible thing to do because it might happen to us without our volition, is not the same as avoiding the effects of a no deal.

Spring Statement

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

No, I cannot do that but I can assure the hon. Lady that special educational needs funding will be considered as part of the spending review. I am sure that her Committee will want to make representations. We have to make choices. I can confidently predict that the spending review will receive far more bids for funding from across the Government and agencies in all Departments than there is funding available, so we have to look at what our priorities are as a nation.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

The Government have slashed millions of pounds from policing, with 21,000 police officers taken out of the system. Violent crime has gone up; the knife crime epidemic is terrorising our communities; and the police are at breaking point. Will the Chancellor, ahead of the next spending review, prioritise investing in the police service so that we can genuinely tackle knife crime and violent crime in our country?

[Mr Hammond]

Well, I have just done it with £100 million today. As the hon. Lady knows, we have put £460 million into the police this year, £970 million will go in next year and an extra £100 million has been announced today. Of course the police will be considered very carefully in the spending review.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Tuesday 29th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

Workers at Dyson, Jaguar Land Rover and Ford are among the casualties of the threat of no deal. Given the number of jobs at risk, is it not time for the Chancellor to get off his backside and ask the Prime Minister to rule out the threat of no deal and to stop holding Parliament and the country to ransom?

[Mr Philip Hammond]

Parliament speaks for itself, and Parliament clearly has the opportunity to speak on this issue. I will continue to work with the Prime Minister to try to ensure that the deal that we place before the House of Commons is improved in a way that allows Members of Parliament to get behind it to ensure that we are not faced with the unacceptable choice of either no deal or no Brexit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I look forward to learning more about blockchain. I am uninitiated on the matter, as the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) can tell, but I feel sure that he will put me in the picture erelong.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

The Governor of the Bank of England has stated that economic uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote will knock 5% off wage growth and is costing the UK economy £10 billion a year. Does the Chancellor agree with the Governor?

[Mr Hammond]

We have not yet concluded our negotiations with the European Union, so it is impossible to make any assessment of the impact of our departure until we know what the future relationship with the EU will be. This Government’s agenda is to get the best possible deal for Britain that protects jobs, prosperity and businesses, so that we can protect our existing trade with the EU as well as build new trade opportunities beyond Europe.

Deployment to Mali

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes, I can assure my hon. Friend that DFID and Foreign Office officials and Ministers are in touch with their French counterparts and that there has been a great deal of traffic backwards and forwards between London and Paris over the past 10 days.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State mentioned £5 million being contributed towards United Nations funds. What proportion of that will come from the Ministry of Defence budget and what proportion, if any, will come from DFID budgets? Will he also tell us when we can expect an announcement on what kind of humanitarian assistance the British Government will provide and when?

[Mr Hammond]

I will alert my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary to the hon. Lady’s last question and ensure that when a further statement is made to the House—I anticipate that it will be made very shortly—that issue will be covered in it.

I am not absolutely certain, but I assume that the £5 million that I referred to will come from the conflict pool, which is a cross-Government, tri-departmental pool of money. If I am wrong about that, I will write to the hon. Lady and place a copy of the letter in the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Rushanara Ali

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

The arrangements for effective command and control will involve military commanders being embedded with police gold commanders in their headquarters. I cannot give my hon. Friend a guarantee that they will use a common communications system, but the key decisions will be made by people sitting in the same room. They will then be passed down the respective chains of command.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

My constituents living in Bow quarter are rightly concerned about the Ministry of Defence’s plans to base surface-to-air missiles on their rooftops ahead of the Olympics. I wrote to the Secretary of State about that more than a month ago. When does he intend to respond to my request for a meeting to explain the risks to my constituents and answer their concerns? The consultation has been very thin.