Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Tracy Brabin and Boris Johnson

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We need to see the data and the effect of each successive relaxation. As I explained to the House, we need four weeks to assess whether the relaxation has caused a surge in the virus, because that is the time it takes—so, from the opening of schools until 12 April. We will need to assess that, and then we will need a further week to give people due notice, and the same onwards through 17 May to 21 June and so on. The reason for that cautious but irreversible approach is that I think people would rather have certainty than urgency. We are going as fast as we reasonably and responsibly can, but if there is a trade-off between haste and certainty, I think people would prefer certainty.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

The Prime Minister will appreciate that parts of my constituency and others in West Yorkshire have been in heightened restrictions and higher tiers since last summer when others had many more freedoms. Our people and businesses have paid a disproportionately high price in the national effort to tackle covid, and because of this many areas are building back from a more challenging position. Can the Prime Minister confirm today that funding packages will address this specific inequality and that there will be no return to regional tiers, ensuring that our recovery from covid is truly a national recovery?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, the hon. Lady should wait to hear what the Chancellor says next week, and we will make sure we go forward as one nation together.

Covid-19

Debate between Tracy Brabin and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I fully understand the point that my right hon. Friend makes. All I will say is that we will of course keep this under review.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister will have heard the concern across the House for the 3 million British taxpayers who have been excluded from support since March last year. They have had a terrible Christmas and new year, and are looking at another three months with no support at all. It is no surprise that the Chancellor’s 92nd financial statement on Twitter felt like a kick in the teeth to those people with nothing. Does the Prime Minister believe that the excluded are important enough to get their own statement? If so, when will the Chancellor be coming to this House to deliver it, so that those taxpayers do not feel that they are completely abandoned by this Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

With great respect, I do not think that the hon. Lady can accuse my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of not keeping the House informed. I am sure that he will be using the earliest opportunity to update her and the rest of the House on the massive package of economic support that we are offering both to the self-employed and to others across the country.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Tracy Brabin and Boris Johnson

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Indeed, and I hope that the individual will also recognise that the risk that we carry—he or she carries—is not just to ourselves, but to the whole of the community because, in the end, we are all potential vectors of this disease and we may bring it inadvertently to someone who is more vulnerable than ourselves. That is the risk. That is why we are bringing in these measures, why we have had the package of measures that we have had throughout this pandemic, and why we now need to intensify them in some local areas now.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

Just to follow up on the question from my fellow Kirklees MP, the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney), can the Prime Minister clarify: if the numbers are right and they are going in the right direction, it is possible for local authorities, or areas within local authorities, to come out of these restrictions—if numbers allow and it is safe—even if the wider region cannot?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course we keep all this under review but, as I have said several times throughout the afternoon, you have to keep your geographical area fairly coherent. I know that that causes a great deal of frustration for hon. Members and I have been hearing itt for weeks and months, but that is the way that we have to do it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tracy Brabin and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 15th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

I refer the Prime Minister to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah). Due to a covid outbreak in Kirklees, we are now an area needing enhanced support. The council is being brilliant. It is testing workforces and closing operations, but there is a cost to that, which is not only to the business, but also to the worker put on statutory sick pay. May I ask the Prime Minister to help us in the council and in communities such as Batley and Spen? Can we have daily postcode data? Will the Prime Minister commit to a package of support so that businesses can close and individuals can do the right thing to benefit all of us?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, of course we are committing to sharing as much data as we have with councils so that they can get on at a local level, as they have been, dealing with the pandemic. Actually, some of them have been doing an absolutely outstanding job—Kirklees, in particular. We will continue to support councils up and down the land as they engage in local action to make sure that the whole country can start to get back to work.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Tracy Brabin and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

Last week in my constituency, in Cleckheaton, we had a covid-19 outbreak in a meat processing factory. Kirklees Council acted swiftly and efficiently. My concern is with the Government’s easing of lockdown. We will see these localised outbreaks. With the Health and Safety Executive having its budget cut by 50% since 2010, can the Government ensure that Kirklees and other councils will have all the money they need to keep our communities safe? And what investigations are going ahead from Government to look at why meat processing particularly is exposed to covid-19 outbreaks not just in this country, but around the world, so that we can keep those members of staff safe?

[The Prime Minister]

We will certainly look into what is happening to meat processing, and the hon. Member is right to draw attention to that phenomenon. We have seen it in Anglesey and in Germany. We need to get to the bottom of what is happening. We are putting more into the Health and Safety Executive, as she knows. We are giving another £14 million to bolster it, and local councils will be fortified in implementing local lockdowns by central Government and the joint biosecurity centre so that we are able to crack down very efficiently on these flare-ups as they happen.