PMQs: Rishi Sunak takes questions from MPs

The UK prime minister takes questions from the opposition and MPs

Is by raising the vat threshold delivering tax release for The Creative Industries and investing in high growth industries such as advanced manufacturing this is in stark contrast to the Welsh labor government’s anti-b bus agenda with Wales having some of the highest business rates in the whole of the United Kingdom I’m interested that

The Honorable lady opposite thinks that having the highest business rates in the United Kingdom is funny thank you Mr Speaker sadly pubs and restaurants in Wales are closing at a faster rate than in any other part of the UK while the measures in the budget which the Secretary of State mentioned

Will bring some relief does my rable friend agree with me that the thing that is pushing many of these businesses to the wall right now is Welsh labor slashing of business rate support yeah Mr Speaker the right honorable gentleman is absolutely correct the UK government have made sure that pubs and other small

Hospitality businesses receive a 75% discount on their business rates in Wales that is been absolutely slash meaning that pubs and small businesses are paying thousands of pounds more as a result of being located under the a remit of a Welsh labor government and that Mr Speaker is an absolute disgrace

Christopher BL thank you very much Mr Speaker can I return the Secretary of State to the issue of the Ronda tunnel because the chancellor of the EXA doled out bits and pieces of money to various um members of parliament constituencies on the Tory at risk register um but

Didn’t allocate any money to the r the tunnel despite the fact that the CH the Secretary of State told me personally in the chamber that we should be applying for money under the leveling up fund but that’s all gone hasn’t it so where should we apply for money now for the’re

On the tunnel State well Mr Speaker there have been free rounds of of leveling up fund and The Honorable gentleman should know Mr Speaker that there are growth deals across the length and breadth of Wales covering every single constituency and that there were special projects being backed in areas

Like Newport uh there is a a a um investment Zone in a free free port in Port tet Mr Speaker the fact of the matter is the constituencies the length and breadth of Wales have benefited from the many projects which this government has put forward but I appreciate the

Honorable gentleman’s concern for that project in his own constituency and suggest he might try and uh look at shared Prosperity fund money in future my right honorable friend is well aware that the uh chancellor has extended business rate relief at a rate of 75% here in England but of course the

Welsh government are refusing to pass that money on to small businesses in Barry and in calage does he think it’s completely unfair that a business in Bristol or in Cornwell will pay a lot less business rates than a business in Barry or in cowbridge in my constituency secretary state Mr Speaker

My right honorable friend is absolutely correct it is extraordinary that the Welsh labor government who received this funding in order to support small businesses within Wales are failing to pass that funding on and as a result of that the average Pub in Wales is going to be paying more than 2,000 extra in

Business rates than a pub in England the Welsh labor government must do more to support small businesses in Wales thank you Mr Speaker the secretary of state will know that M much of monetary policy is in thread needle Street and which shall have effect on interest rates on Welsh businesses and

Welsh households has he met recently with the governor of bank ofland if not would he invite him to Wales to see the impact of his policies on the Welsh economy and may I humbly suggest that he that meeting with other Welsh MPS in Blackwood Newbridge or risker in my

Constituency Mr Speaker the The Honorable gentleman will surely be aware that the bank of England set interest rates independently and that’s as a result of a policy that was bought in by the former uh labor government and uh it’s been widely accepted that it’s right that bank of England sets the uh

Interest rates not as a result of what politicians are asking them to do but as a result of what the economy demands and as a result of the policies that have been pursued Ed by this UK government in conjunction with the bank of England interest uh the level of inflation has

Dropped drastically from over 11% to 4% and I would like to think that interest rates will soon follow Shadow Minister Jessica Mo thanks Mr Speaker this budget will do nothing to deliver a better future for retailers and customers that’s the words of the British retail Consortium whose members face 45,000

Incidents of theft and 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse every day to help keep our Welsh High streets safe we on this side of the house want to fund an extra 13,000 police officers and pcsos and extra measures to do offenders why is it that this government is failing to

Tackle the epidemic of shoplifting and support its victims and take it seriously seriously well Mr Speaker I think the honorable lady is actually right to raise this very important issue for retailers can I just remind her though that the UK government have provided for an extra 20,000 police

Officers across whole of the United Kingdom and we have repeatedly brought forward legislation which will increase prison sentences and increase punishments of offenders and very often that legislation has been voted against by members of The Honorable L’s political party S Roberts his government pledged 1 billion to Electrify the North

Wales main line and we all know that 1 billion pound is an uncosted number pulled out of the air we also now know that phase one goes no further than plid no how can he explain to the people living in inis and gwynth the talk of electrification just means more of the

Same for us slow trains canceled services and empty election promises State Mr Speaker the UK government have already shown a commitment to transport in well spending 390 million pounds on improved rail infrastructure over the last control period in addition to that has been the South WS Metro which is part of a UK

Government Welsh government joint funded growth deal the Prime Minister was very very clear about our commitment to the electrification of the North Wales rail line and that commitment stands Mr Speaker L Roberts theor leader in the Senate the poses moves to tackle the effects of excessive Holiday Homes in

Our communities he goes on about and I quote anti-tourism and anti-english policies being imposed on the Welsh tourism industry now that the Tory Westminster government is abolishing tax breaks for Holiday LS will he claim that his Chancellor is anti- tourism State Mr Speaker I would not but

My on my my friend in in the Senate has has spoken out repeatedly about Welsh labor government’s plans for an overnight tourism tax which is going to have a detrimental impact on tourism businesses across Wales The Honorable ladies party are in partnership with the Welsh labor government and if she really

Wants to support the Welsh tourism industry I suggest she tells them that that she will her members will vote against Welsh Labor’s budget and prevent that tax from coming in number three Mr Speaker SEC State Mr Speaker the government is committed to Transforming Our electricity Network to reach energy

Security in Net Zero Ambitions we recently announced an ambitious electricity Network package which will Inc reduce consumer bills bring forward 90 billion pounds of investment over the next 10 years and allow us to harness whales as renewable resources such as floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea Mr Speaker Pyon development for

Electricity transmission and distribution purposes are very controversial in the communities expected to hor them I have for such potential developments uh in my cons constituency the Hall of ker is in uproar will he ask the Secretary of State for energy security and Net Zero to commission a study into existing

Technologies such as cable plowing which allow undergrounding at comparable cost to pylons so State well Mr Speaker I do understand the concerns that have been raised in The Honorable gentleman’s constituency and I appreciate he’s discussed this with me previously and he is championing his constituent concerns

I have to tell him that the information I’ve been given is that laying cables underground would cost5 to seven pounds more but but I I hear what he’s saying and if he has um a presentation or something that he could forward to me I should be absolutely delighted to make

Sure that desz can uh official can see that Mel Publican on the subject of transmission and distribution policy is my right honorable friend aware that the Senate has now decided to ban GB news what’s his policy on that well Mr Speaker Mr Speaker there may be

A there may be a small saving in electricity uh by doing that but I think it’s it’s very disappointing that the Welsh labor government are preventing a perfectly legitimate Viewpoint from being heard by members of the Senate who who would do well to listen to people who don’t always agree with everything

They say up you number six sir St I appreciate Mr Speaker uh as my honorable friend knows Healthcare is devolved to the Welsh government who have received record levels of funding to deliver on their devolved responsibilities receiving 20% more funding per person than has received for comparable services in England and

Despite this extra money over 24,000 patients in Wales have been waiting more than 2 years for treatment the number of people waiting more than 2 years for treatment in England with roughly 20 times the population is around about 200 may you Mr Speaker last month in Labor’s

Wales fewer than half of red calls were answered by the ambient service within the necessary 8 minutes now this is the leader of the opposition’s blueprint for government does my right honorable friend agree with me that instead of campaigning for more polititions in Wales labor should be focusing on

Delivering the the health services that the people of Wales thoroughly deserve Mr Speaker I completely agree with my honorable friend I had to call an ambulance a 999 call for my father-in-law at 11:00 one morning it arrived at 4:00 the following morning my father-in-law then had to wait for

Another 6 hours outside an AE unit in the back of an ambulance where the Welsh labor government in the ambulance base had actually built industrial fans to waft away the diesel fumes Mr Speaker this is totally unacceptable they are cutting the NHS budget in Wales by

Around 65 million and yet they can find £120 million extra for more politicians in Cardiff Bay over live thank you Mr Speaker the health Minister for England announced £200 million extra spending for Dentistry I asked her repeatedly was this within the English budget or was it additional where it would produce the

Ban is consequential all she could answer was that it was additional repeatedly she said that now can the Secretary of State tell me does the 00 million extra for dentistry in England produce about 10 million extra for Wales or does it produce nothing at all or perhaps he doesn’t know

Either sh say Well Mr Speaker as a result of the uh the budget around 170 million pound extra will be going uh to Wales The Honorable gentleman knows that Wells receives around 20% extra to deliver Health Care uh and it is therefore absolutely appalling that the Welsh labor government are unable to

Deliver the same services that are supplied in England and isn’t it interesting Mr Speaker we’re talking about the National Health Service labor claim to be the party of the NHS and where are they Mr Speaker they’re not standing up for a supplementary on this question because they’re absolutely

Ashamed of the level of healthcare that they’ve delivered in Wales let this not become a blueprint for the rest of the United Kingdom Mr Speaker a 90-year-old constituent of mine waited 31 hours in the back of an ambulance outside the repon Milo Hospital waiting to be seen

Betsy cadwall is a Health Board which serves North Wales is respons I for 80% of the preventable deaths in Wales would the minister agree with me that the Welsh labor government who run the NHS is putting lives at risk Mr Speaker The Honorable lady is absolutely right to raise concerns about

The level of Health Care being provided to her constituents in South Wales and what is really shocking Mr Speaker is that when the independent Commissioners at the Betsy kadada Health Board raised serious concerns about over 100 million of money being misspent the Welsh labor Health Minister called them in and

Sacked them no wonder we’re not getting the right level of Healthcare in Wales Mr Speaker M the minister the Secretary of State Sor and other T MPS bring up a Litany of health issues in Wales but barard consequentials are due to a result of Health spending in England and need in

England has the UK government ever made any spending decisions on need in Wales S Health and then funded England Scotland and Northern Ireland as a consequence of Welsh need he might find that a strange question because UK decisions are always made on England’s need and other people get money as a

Consequence which is why the likes of Wales is never going to catch Ireland for as long as Wales is in the UK are not independent isn’t it m Mr Speaker in actual fact the H review looked at what Well’s needs were and calculated that Wells needed an extra 15% what the UK conservative

Government did was then to provide whales with an extra 20% so the question still stands Mr Speaker why is it that thousands of people in Wales have been waiting for more than 2 years for treatment when the Welsh labor government have been given more money than they actually need to properly fund

The Health Service in Wales Marco long number seven Mr Speaker [Applause] sayate Mr Speaker the um I’m afraid not very independent commission was set up by Welsh labor ministers it reports to Welsh labor minister but it was paid for by well taxpayers and the report they came out with was

Entirely in line with all the predictions which I made more constitutional Naval gazing more calls for po more powers and nothing at all to address the problems that have been inflicted on Wales by the Welsh labor government no longer thank you Mr Speaker Mr Speaker it is deeply concerning that a so-called independent

Commission described Welsh Independence as viable despite the fact that the vast majority of people in Wales support remaining part of the Union of course there is a difference with something that might be viable and something that is best does my right honorable friend agree with me that Independence for

Wales would be hugely damaging to the Welsh economy and public services and any further exploration of this idea must be immediately ruled out by the labor Welsh government Mr Speaker I completely agree with the honorable gentleman it’s hugely concerning that the wellsh labor government were even willing to consider

Independence for Wales with this Commission and what they should be doing Mr Speaker is to sort out the longest Hospital the longest NHS waiting list in the United Kingdom they should do something about the fact we have the lowest educational standards in the United Kingdom we have in Wales some of

The highest business rates in the United Kingdom and as a result of the last bit of legislation we have some of the slowest speed limits in the whole of the United Kingdom it’s time the weal labor government address the real priorities of the people in Welles with the powers they already

Have that the cons Party Never wanted Devolution in Wales or Scotland in the first place and that’s why they don’t want to see Powers extended to either the senate or the Scottish Parliament here this the reality is that I campaigned against the senate in the first place but I was perfectly happy to

Accept the results of the referendum and I suggest that members of the SNP ought to similarly respect the results of Independence referendums whether it’s independence from the United Kingdom or independence from the European Union Dr Luke Evan number eight Mr Speaker SE Mr Speaker the recent protests by

Farmers across the whole of Wales including outside the Senate show the huge anger about the proposals for the Welsh labor government’s so-called sustainable farming scheme to Luke Evans thank you Mr Speaker one of the best ways we can support Welsh Farmers is by choosing to buy British products this is good for the

Environment reducing food Mars and it’s good for our food security by supporting our farm so would the minister congratulate Morrison’s Ali SRE and now Accardo who have all signed up to my campaign to have a buy British button online so consumers can easily find British projects Mr Speaker I completely agree

With the honorable gentleman about buying British although I might go one step further and suggest that we buy Welsh food wherever possible but it’s it’s going to be a lot more difficult if labor Implement their plans to bury 10% of Welsh agricultural land under trees and to bury another 10% under the ponds

Mr Speaker it will increase food miles decrease food security and D destroy Prime agricultural land in Wells and the Welsh labor government need to think again James sh final speaker the best way to support Welsh Farmers on Northern IR farmers and Scottish farmers and English Farmers is to buy British does

The minister agree that we should all work together across all this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern to promote farming everywhere speaker The Honorable gentleman is absolutely right let’s encourage everyone to buy British and let’s make sure that we use as much of our land as possible for growing food

Not covering it in trees and Mr Speaker it’s particularly hypocritical for the Welsh government to tell Farmers they have to plant trees on their land when the Welsh labor government are responsible for thousands of Acres of forest are chopping down 850,000 tons of trees every year and they’re even

Putting some of them into the boiler which heats up the Senate not that that probably requires many trees to add to the hot air in there we now come to questions the Prime Minister Abul KH question number one prime minister Mr Speaker the post office it Scandal is one of the greatest

Miscarriages of Justice in our nation’s history and I’m determined that the victims get the justice and redress that they deserve today we’re introducing legislation to quash conviction resulting from this Scandal the department for business and trade will be responsible for the new redress scheme and we’re widening access to the

Optional £75,000 payment hundreds of innocent sub postmasters have fought long and hard for justice with this bill we will deliver it meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my duties in this house I shall have further such meetings later today AB Mr Speaker despite serious opposition

From AR sh of Canterbury three former home secretaries and three government Min advisers on anti-Semitism social cohesion and on political violence the leveling up SE is due to widen the definition of extremism tomorrow whilst on the benches opposite members paddle far right conspiracy theories about islamist and Muslims taking over Britain

Shouldn’t the prime minister’s priority be getting his own house in order and stepping out extremism racism and islamophobia from within his conservative party and will the Prime Minister finally take islamophobia seriously and agree to that [Applause] definition M Mr Speaker discrimination has no place in our society and it’s important to

Distinguish it’s important to distinguish between strongly felt political debate on one hand and acceptable acts of abuse intimidation and violence on the other I would urge him to wait for the details of the straty it’s a sensitive matter but it’s one that we must tackle because there

Has been a rise in extremists who are trying to hijack our democracy that must be confronted and he talks about pedling conspiracy theories I would just point him in the direction of his previous labor candidate in Rochdale to thank you Mr Speaker Armed Forces Personnel who served their country for

15 uh 15 years are eligible for the long service Good Conduct Medal and similar medals are in place for those who make a career of serving in the police the fire the ambulance service and the Coast Guard but as I learned on a recent visit to Bournemouth hospital where I met the

Dedicated staff there no such Accolade is in place for the NHS would the Prime Minister please support my campaign to see if this anomaly can be corrected so the nation can formly recognize those who devote much of their working lives in the NHS to helping others my Minister my rable

Friend is right that our incredible NHS staff deserve our utmost thanks for their service and I’m pleased that many NHS organizations as he knows have their own schemes in place to do that we also of course recognize NHS staff for outstanding through our honor System and MPS are able to acknowledge their work

Through the NHS parliamentary Awards and nominations remain open for that and I would encourage colleagues uh to Avail themselves of it but I will make sure that he gets to meet the Secretary of State to discuss his specific proposals further we now come to leader the opposition

K thank you Mr Speaker can I welcome the legislation on the post office Scandal Mr Speaker this week we lost the formidable Tommy mcaboy he served his hometown of R Glenn and the labor government with loyalty and good humor and we send our deepest sympathies to his wife Elena and their

Family we also learned that the right honorable member for maidenhead will be taking her welld deserved retirement she has served this house and her constituents with a real sense of Duty and her unwavering commitment to ending modern slavery is commended by all of us we thank her for her

Service is the prime minister proud to be bankrolled by someone using racist and misogynist Lang language when he says the member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington makes you want to hate all black women Mr Speaker the alleged comments were wrong they were racist and he has

Now as I said the comments were wrong they were racist he has rightly apologized for them and that remorse and that remorse should be accepted Mr Speaker there is no place for racism in Britain and the government that I lead is living proof of that Mr Speaker the man Bank rolling the

Prime Minister also said that the member for hatney North should be shot how low would he have to sink what racist woman hating threat of violence would he have to make before the Prime Minister plucked up the courage to hand back the 10 million that he’s taken from

Him Mrs speaker as I said the gentleman apologized genuinely for his comments and that remorse should be accepted but he talks about language he he might want to reflect on the double standards of his Deputy leader of his Deputy leader calling her opponent scum Mr Speaker his shadow his shadow his shadow foreign

Secretary the shadow foreign secretary comparing conservatives to Nazis Mr Speaker and the man that he wanted to make Chancellor the man that he wanted to make Chancellor talking about lynching a female Minister his silence on that speaks Volumes Mr Speaker the difference is he’s scared of his party I’ve changed my party Mr Speaker Mr Speaker I want to see both the Prime Minister and lead the opposition here two weeks ago the prime minister invited himself into everyone’s living room at 6:00 on a Friday evening no one asked

Him to give that speech he chose to do it he chose to anoint himself as the great healer and pose as some kind of unifier but when the man bankrolling his election says the member for Hackney North should be shot he suddenly finds himself Tongue Tied shrinking in

Sophistry hoping he can deflect for long enough that we all go away what does the Prime Minister think it was about the hundreds of millions of pounds of NHS contracts given to Frank Hester by his government that first attracted him to giving 10 million to the Tory party in the first place my

Minister Mr Speaker I’m absolutely not going to take any lectures from somebody from somebody and somebody who chose to represent an anti-semitic terrorist group hisb terer who chose to serve a leader who let anti-Semitism run Rife in this labor party those are his actions those are his values and that’s

How he should be Judged Mr Speaker the problem is he’s describing a labor party that no longer exists I’m describing I’m describing a man who is bankrolling their upcoming general [Applause] election sh K St they can shout all they two weeks ago he marched them out like fools to defend islamophobia and now the

Member for Ashfield is warming up the opposition benches for them and yesterday yesterday he sent them out to play down racism and misogyny until he was forced to change course he won’t hand the money back he won’t comment on how convenient it is that a man handed huge anous contracts by his government

Is now his party’s biggest donor you have to wonder what the point is of a prime minister who can’t lead and a party that can’t govern and Mr Speaker National Insurance contributions fund State pensions and the NHS so is the prime minister’s latest unfunded 46 billion pound promise to scrap National

Insurance going to be paid for by cuts to State pensions or cuts to to the NHS Minister Mr Speaker Mr Speaker it’s I’m glad he’s brought up the budget it’s about time that he spoke about his plans because what have we heard Mr Speaker from the shadow Chief secretary the

Shadow Chief Secretary of the Treasury confirm Sor sh prime minister the shadow Chief Secretary of the Treasury has confirmed that the labor party will not be sticking to the conservative government spending plans we now have a litany a Litany of unfunded promises on the NHS on Mental Health on Dentistry on

Breakfast clubs and that doesn’t even include the 28 billion pound 2030 Eco pledge that he’s still committed to but what we all know Mr Speaker is that while we’re cutting taxes Labor’s unfunded promises mean higher taxes for working Britain no Mr Speaker the lad party will not be sticking to his completely un

46 billion from it and he thinks it can it can trick people into believing that but simply shaking the Tory Magic Money Tree will bring it into existence no no let let let’s be clear 80% of National Insurance in spent on Social Security and pensions 20% is spent on the NHS so

He’s either cutting pensions or the NHS or he will have to raise other taxes or borrowing which is it prime minister Mr Speaker I know I know it’s not a strong point but if you actually listened to the chancellor last week what he would have seen is NHS spending

Is going up Mr Speaker it’s going up it’s a plan that’s backed by the NHS CEO who says that we’re giving her what she needs and at the same time we are responsibly cutting taxes for millions of people in work an average worker benefiting from a £900 tax cut Mr

Speaker but what I’m hearing for him is he’s against our plans to cut National Insurance the highest tax burden since the Second World War I did listen to Chance they 46 billion pound of unfunded commitments they tried that under the last Administration and everybody else is paying the price but two weeks ago

The Prime Minister promised to crack down on those spreading hate today he’s shrunk at the first challenge last week he promised fantasy tax cuts now he’s pretending it can all be paid for with no impact on pensions or the NHS all we need now Mr Speaker is an especially

Hardy lettuce and it could be 2022 all over again is it any wonder that he’s too scared to call an election when the public can see that the only way to protect their country their pension and their NHS from The Madness of this Tory party is by voting

Labor M Mr Speaker Mr Speaker again oh no prime minister Mr Speaker he talks about pensions pensions are going up by around 900 in this year it’s this government that’s protected the triple lock for the last 10 years he talks about supporting working people it’s this government that’s cutting taxes for every single

Person in work Mr Speaker it’s this government that’s investing in the NHS but all we have from him are all we have from him is a 28 billion pound unfunded promise Mr Speaker I had a look at it I had a look at it it’s here it’s all here

Making Britain a clean energy superpower he’s still stuck to it Mr Speaker and if you look through it carefully there’s billions in spending he’s already committed to Scotland billions for Wales there’s actually money for North London too I notice but the problem is the problem is the problem is none of it is

Funded so why doesn’t he come clean and tell him under his plans Britain people’s taxes are going up Mr Speaker rich yeah Mr Speaker millions of people around the UK and Europe have been inspired by the Brilliance of Six Nations rugby and Premier League clubs like glester rugby which were funded

During the pandemic through loans authorized by the Prime Minister as then Chancellor have always been grateful being kept solvent but the Prime Minister will also know that the finances of some of these clubs are fragile and that the current loan repayment schemes could be crippling so

Will my right on friend asked the sports Minister and the treasury to try and find a solution through this so that taxpayer interests are protected and all of us can go on being inspired by Top Class rugby for years to come Mr Speaker friend is absolutely right that we stepped in with 150

Million pound Financial Lifeline to ensure the survival of Premiership rugby league clubs during the pandemic and I am told that dcms is working with sport England as the agent to talk to Borrowers with concerns about their loan agreements and any ones that do have concerns should contact sport England in

The normal way but I can also proudly tell him that we are talking to the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership League to secure not just the future of Rugby Union but also his local Gloucester rugby we come to Le of the S SMP Steven

Flynn thank you Mr Speaker and I wish to begin by wishing Ramadan Mubarak to Muslims across these aisles Mr Speaker the conservative party have accepted A1 million donation from an individual who has said that one of our parliamentary colleagues in this chamber should be shock why is the prime minister of the

United Kingdom putting money before morals prime minister Mr Speaker as I said the comments were wrong the gentleman in question has apologized for them and that remorse should be accepted Steven Flynn this is complete rubbish the gentleman in question apologized for being rude he wasn’t rude he was racist

He was odious and he was downright bloody dangerous now on Monday the number 10 said we’ve seen an unacceptable rise in extremist activity which is seeking to divide our society and hijack our Democratic institutions isn’t the extremism that we should all be worried about the the views of those

Tory donors that we’ve read about this weeke minister no Mr Speaker there has actually been a rise in extremist activity that is seeking to hijack our Democratic institutions it’s important it is important it is important that we have the tools to tackle this threat that’s what the extremes and strategy

Will do and I would urge him to wait for the community secretary to release the details well quins you Mr Speaker sub postmasters across the country will welcome the government’s announcement today on the introduction of legislation to overturn the convictions of those who were wrongly convicted but can my right

On friend reassure this house that that legislation will be passed as quickly as possible and we will support all sub postmasters right across our United Kingdom prime minister well Mr Speaker as I said I want to pay tribute to all postmasters who have campaigned tirelessly for Justice including those

Who tragically won’t see the justice that they deserve today’s legislation marks an important step in finally clearing their names and across this house we owe it to them to progress this legislation as soon as possible before summer recess so that we can deliver the justice that they have fought for we’re

Continuing to work with our counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland as they develop their plans but regardless of where and how convictions are quashed redress will be paid to victims across the the whole of our United Kingdom on exactly the same basis and did thank you Mr Speaker the future of children’s cancer

Services and D thank you Mr Speaker the the future of children’s cancer services in my consistency across Southwest London across Sur Sussex and Beyond will be decided by NHS England tomorrow the existing service is World leading and has saved the lives of countless children many of us who engaged with the

Consultation process feel that a wrong decision is about to be made ignoring wrist to Children’s Cancer Care by moving them to the evina if the evina is chosen tomorrow will the Prime Minister personally intervene and delay any final decision until he’s met with myself and conserved concerned MPS across the house

So we can prevent these risks to our children’s cancer Services uh well Mr Speaker as The Honorable gentle gentleman knows decisions about clinical provision are rightly made by clinicians in local areas across the country uh more generally we’re investing in more oncologists Radiologists and Community diagnostic Centers which are

Contributing to cancer treatment being at record levels but I will of course ensure that he and colleagues uh get a meeting with the secretary of state thank you Mr Speaker radical islamists pose a serious threat to our nation’s security and I agree with my right honorable friend that we must

Urgently address this but reports that the government wishes to broaden the definition of extremism are concerning because in separating the definition of extremism from actual violence and harm we may criminalize people with a wide range of legitimate views and have a chilling effect on free speech so can my

Right honorable friend reassure me that instead of trying to police people’s thought and speech as those opposite clearly wish to do the government will instead Target the specific groups that Foster terrorism and those who fund them prime minister my uh modable friend makes a good point and that’s why the

Strategy that I would urge her to wait for will I think be one that she can support because it is our duty to make sure the government has the tools to tackle the threat that she rightly identifies and highlights and this is absolutely not about silencing those with private and peaceful beliefs nor

Will it impact Free Speech which we on this side of the house will always strive to protect J up thank you Mr Speaker children deserve the right to breathe clean air however many schools are in areas with high levels of air pollution sadique Khan the mayor of London has

Announced keep going J sadique Khan the mayor of London has announced a pilot for 200 of London’s most impacted schools to access air quality filters so children can breathe clean air in their classrooms excellent does the Prime Minister support this pilot and will he Implement similar measures across our

Country prime minister Mr Speaker I’m pleased that latest published figures show that air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010 and partly due to our targets partly due to our legally binding targets to reduce concent ations they will continue to reduce over the following years and on top of that we’ve

Also provided almost a billion pounds to help local authorities across the country Implement local plans to reduce NO2 and make sure that we can support those impacted by those plans man rejected thank you Mr Speaker I understand the latest scheme that’s been considered is to pay migrants thousands

Of pounds to leave Britain prime minister let’s just leave the echr and Deport them for free so far over 40,000 Brits have signed my petition with a conservative post calling for us to leave the European convention on human rights were the Prime Minister commit to leaving the

ECR or at the very least have it in our Manifesto to have a referendum and let Britain decide prime minister well Mr Speaker my honorable friend is absolutely right that we must do everything we can to secure our borders ensure that those who come here illegally do not have the ability to

Stay that’s why our Rwanda scheme legislation is so important and what I’ve said repeatedly and will happily say to her again is that I will not let a foreign Court block our ability to send people to Rwanda when the time comes Roberts the National Theater production NY which stars Michael Sheen celebrates

At the end a transformational increase in life expectancy since the founding of the NHS but UCL findings indicate that austerity policies between 201 10 and 2019 are responsible for a threeyear setback in life expectancy progress does he or the leader of the opposition for that matter Think Public

Services can withstand an extra 20 billion pounds of cuts prime minister yeah well Mr Mr Speaker first of all I’m pleased that the National Theater received significant funding from the CH in the recent budget to support their fantastic ftic work across the UK but I I am

Surprised to hear her raising the NHS when it’s her party that’s propping up the Welsh La government in Wales which has absolutely the worst NHS performance of any part of the United Kingdom so Christopher Mr Speaker may I thank my right honorable friend for meeting me

Six weeks ago to discuss the plight of victims of covid-19 vaccine damage and may I ask him following that discussion and his very sympathetic response during the GB people’s Forum to Mr John Watt who himself is a victim of covid-19 vaccine damage whether the government will be supporting my covid-19 vaccine

Payments bill this Friday well Mr Speaker can I thank my honorable friend for raising the issue and the conversation that I had with him previously and extend my sympathies to all of those who have been affected by this I I will of course make sure that

He can meet with the secretary of skate to discuss his bill and as I committed him we are looking at the issue in some detail to make sure that the policies we’ve got are providing the support that they need to thank you Mr Speaker the Prime Minister stood outside down in Street

Saying that he wanted to root out hate and extremism imagine yet it shamefully took him more than 24 hours to finally say the remarks by the Tory’s biggest owner that looking at the right honorable member for Hackney North and sto NE Newington makes you want to hate all black women were indeed

Racist in November the Prime Minister accepted a non-cash donation to the tune of £15,000 from Frank Hester for the use of his helicopter so will he reimburse him yes or no minister no no Mr Speaker and I’m pleased that I’m pleased that I’m pleased that the gentleman is supporting

A party that represents one of the most diverse governments in this country’s history led by this country’s first British Asian prime minister always thank you very much Mr Speaker uh later today I look forward to voting for a tax cut for thousands of my constituents a national insurance tax cut that will mean

£900 off the tax bill for thousands of my constituents after listening to the rhetoric from the leader of the opposition today does the Prime Minister expect that the main opposition party will vote against this afternoon’s tax well my right honorable my honorable friend raises an excellent question

Because whilst on this side of the house we believe in a country where hard work is rewarded and people can keep more of their hard-earned money which is why we’re cutting their taxes by an average of £900 each we hear consistently from the party opposite not not only do they

Disagree with that approach they continue to cling to unfunded spending promises that would put taxes up but also the shadow Chief secretary to the treasury we learned just yesterday described our plan to end the double taxation on work as morally AB Boren and that is a contrast between us and Them

Labor will put your taxes up and the conservatives will keep cutting them thank you thank you Mr Speaker many of us back benchers and now it seems the Prime Minister himself have taken to referring to the European Court of human rights as a foreign Court as if there’s something inherently wrong with things

Being foreign or people being foreign in what way can a court that the UK has belonged to since 1953 which has an Irish president and a UK Justice with an LLB from dunde be considered foreign I think the house needs to hear the Prime Minister commit today to the UK’s

Continued membership of a court and a convention which protected our rights and freedoms for over 70 years so Mr Speaker when it comes to the issue of tackling illegal migration when Parliament expresses a clear view on what it believes should happen supports that with legislation and that we

Believe we are acting in accordance with all our International obligations I’ve been very clear that I will not let a foreign Court stop us from sending illegal migrants to Rwanda that is the right policy and in fact the only way to ensure security of our borders and end the unfairness of illegal migration

Edward Lee as a general election is not just a mere expression of opinion but a serious choice will my rable friend agree that there is only one potential party of government that has the will the inclination and the determination to stop Mass illegal and legal migration and that is a

Conservative party let’s unite our movement and do that well I uh I agree agree with my honorable friend entirely I agree with my honorable friend entirely and we know this because not only has the Ron gentleman opposite opposed the scheme he’s been clear that even when the scheme is implemented and working he

Would still scrap it Mr Speaker which tells you everything you need to know on this issue their values are simply not those of the British people there’s only one party that’s going to stop the boates it’s the conservative party all me thank you very much Mr Speaker under this conservative government’s

Watch T’s water have dumped over 72 billion lers of sewage into London’s Rivers all whilst racking up multi-billion pound debts and reports are now that they could go bust any day despite this the government is still refusing to publish their contingency plans for the collapse of our country’s

Biggest water firm so yes or no does the Prime Minister believe that Tim’s water will still exist by the end of the year prime minister yeah well Mr Speaker it wouldn’t be right for me to comment on individual companies but what I can say is that our ambitious storm overflow

Reduction plan is backed by 60 billion pound of capital investment we now monitor every single storm overflow across England and have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies that breach their obligations the independent regulator and the environment agency have the powers they need to hold water companies wherever

They are to account not thank you Mr Speaker um later this year a new digital EU border system will come in and yet key changes that are required key details have still not been decided by the EU there are Urgent decisions that are needed on additional funding

And preparation to keep over clear and K moving through with its traffic can my right honorable friend the Prime Minister assure me that this issue is being taken seriously at the highest levels of government and that funding and support will will be made available to keep DOA clear support the residents

Of DOA andil and Kent and to secure our Vital cross Channel trade and tourism now my uh my friend’s right to raise this issue and I can assure her that it is being discussed at the highest levels of government between UK ministers and EU and French counterparts

To make sure that we have practical and constructive solutions that will ease the flow of traffic in the way that she describes and will benefit her local community Rachel M thank you Mr Speaker 158 days and there’s no peace and no justice there was no food there was no

Clean water there’s no sanitation and no Medical Aid there were just no words left as disease is spreading and the death toll is rising not least amongst children victims of these atrocities it is evident that the prime minister’s plan is not working so will he changed track

For the sake of these children and so many more and worked to secure a bilateral immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas prime minister Mr Speaker I’ve said repeatedly that we are incredibly concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza too many civilians have lost their lives and nowhere near enough Aid is getting

Through and in contrast to what the honorable lady said actually the UK is playing a leading role in alleviating that suffering just recently increasing the amount of Aid this year to 100 million P just today 150 tons of UK Aid is due to arrive in Gaza and a full

Field Hospital flown from Manchester to the Middle East last week will also arrive in Gaza in the coming Days staed by UK and local Medics to provide life-saving care we are doing absolutely everything we can working with our allies to bring much needed Aid to the people of Gaza show them recort thank

You Mr Speaker will my right honorable friend join me in thanking the maternity team at the Royal cormal Hospital at trisk in m and farmouth constituency for all their outstanding work they’ve done to improve maternity Services over the last few years their sheer hard work along with the coming new women and

Children’s hospital mean that there are now no Midwifery vacancies in Cornwall which I think you’ll agree is a fantastic well can I thank my honorable friend for highlighting the improvements in maternity services at raw Cornwall and she in particular is a tireless campaigner for reducing baby loss and I

Commend her for her recent work on the introduction of baby loss certificates and as she knows we are committed to a new women and children’s hospital for marable friends local trust in 2030 as part of the new hospital program sure thank you Mr Speaker my constituents in

Summon and fr working together with the langport Transport Group submitted a robust strategic business case to the government in July 2022 to for the reopening of a train station in the Summerton and langport area a train station that would connect over 50,000 people to the rail network boost the

Local economy and support local people to reduce their Reliance on their cars almost two years on they are still waiting for response so does the Prime Minister support this project and can he provide confidence to my constituents that their hard work to drive this vital project forward has not been futile

Prime minister well Mr Mr Speaker conservatives in the southwest are rightly championing the reopen of local stations and actually recently Colton and Wellington will be one of the places that receives funding as a result of our decision on hs2 but it’s because of that decision that we now have freed up

Billions of pounds of funding to invest in local transport across the country and it will be local leaders that will be put in charge of that many to prioritize their local needs final question mark frona prime minister in the 1930s one of your less illustrious predecessors Neville Chamberlain so denuded the British armed

Forces of funding until it was too late that we failed to deter Adolf Hitler and 50 million people tragically died in the second world war Russia has invaded Ukraine China is threatening Taiwan British shipping is being attacked by houes in the Red Sea as the son of a D-Day

Veteran could you please assure me and the House of Commons we are not going to forget the lessons of history and make the same mistake again Minister well can I thank my honorable friend for his tyus campaigning for our armed forces and he’s right to Champion them and the role

That they play and I agree with him wholeheartedly that sadly the world that we are living in is becoming both more challenging strategically and more dangerous and in response to those challenges we must invest more in our armed forces that is exactly what we are doing with the largest uplift since the

Cold War and recently topped up with billions of pounds to strengthen our nuclear Enterprise and rebuild stockpiles he rightly mentioned the threat posed by the hooes and Russia and Ukraine and I know that he will be proud of the role that the United Kingdom is playing in both of those situations we

Are respected and valued by our allies but most importantly we on this side of the house will do whatever it takes to keep our country safe that completes prime minister’s questions e we now come to the Urgent question Caroline Lucas thank you very much Mr Speaker to ask the Secretary of State

For energy security and Net Zero to make a statement on the government plan to build new gas fired power stations Minister thank you Mr Speaker the second review of electricity Market Arrangements consultation was launched yesterday and it sets out the choices uh that we need to make in delivering a

Fully decarbonized electricity system by 2035 this government has already reduced emissions from Power by 65% since 2010 and thus made the UK the first major economy in the world to Har emissions overall from less than 7% of electricity Supply in 2010 to nearly 50% today we have built record volumes of

Renewables allowing us to remove coal Al together by October this year our success in growing Renewables is we why is why we need flexible backup for when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine our main source of flexible power today is unabated gas more than half of

That 15 gaw of combined cycle gas turbines could retire by 2035 meanwhile electricity demand is set to increase as heat transport and Industry Electrify we must ensure that we have sufficient sources of flexibility in place to guarantee security of Supply we need up to 55 gaw of short duration flexibility and

Between 30 and 50 gwatt of long duration flexibility our aim is for as much of this capacity as possible to be low carbon but Mr Speaker whilst low carbon Technologies scale up we will extend the life of our existing gas assets but a limited amount of new build gas capacity

Will also be required in the short term to replace expiring plants as the only mature technology capable of providing sustained flexible capacity we remain committed to delivering a fully decarbonized electricity Supply by 2035 subject to security of supply and we expect most new gas capacity to be built

Net Zero ready this government has committed 20 billion pound to ccus and is developing comprehensive support for hydrogen so in the future unabated gas plants will only run a limited number of hours per year so emissions will be entirely in line with our legally binding carbon budgets

No thank you Mr Speaker can I just start by saying that I am a bit tired of this government shunning any scrutiny of their climate record and instead relying on a past record because while the UK May indeed be the first major economy to cut its territorial emissions by half

Since 1990 we are not on track we are not not on track to achieve our 2030 targets and if we factor in consumption emissions then the UK has only cut emissions by 23% so let’s have a little less complacency from the minister now he will know this government’s uh new

Announcement for new gas fired uh Power stations does in fact contrary to what he claim claimed risk undermining our climate targets and leaving the country reliant on Imports of expensive gas members should have been given the opportunity to question the minister on its implications for decarbonizing the

UK’s Energy System by 2035 with 95% of the UK electricity being low carbon by 2030 so first why was this statement not made in Parliament why was it made instead in chattam house where members were not able to question the minister on the impact of this decision second

Will the minister explain how this proposal differs from the functioning of the existing capacity Market or will he admit that this is just the government’s latest attempt to stoke a culture war on climate third the climate change committee is clear that there should be no new unabated gas plants built after

2030 so what is the government’s timeline for developing these new gas fired power stations I asked him about this yesterday in the environmental audit committee I didn’t get a response I also asked him what’s being done to ensure that these gas plants are zero carbon by 2035 that wasn’t set out in

Either the secretary of state speech yesterday today or by the minister uh today uh the minister did tell the environmental audit committee that they will be required to be ccs and hydrogen ready that doesn’t actually amount to a meaningful plan so can he please give us more than just his uh thus far

Unevidenced words of assurance and will he explain what the government’s plan is to support the development of batteries and longterm storage Technologies and to drive Innovation so that we can get off volatile gas for good uh thank you U Mr Speaker um I mean rather odd to be asked about uh being

Able to scrutinize this this was the launch of a consultation yesterday which will be going on for some time and The Honorable lady as she knows I was in front of the select committee yesterday so rather strange Mr Speaker um uh uh that she should highlight that um she’s

Confused as she often is because she’s so political she would appear to set politics always ahead of climate she struggles to recognize that the unfc rules are about territorial emissions countries own the emissions in the territory where they take place her numbers on embedded emissions are wrong

Um but she doesn’t care about that she just carries on a kind of political diet tribe um on the the government which has done more than any other in any major economy on this Earth to decarbonize its economy and we have done it not as The Honorable lady would have us done

Reduced to living in yurs but actually while growing the economy by 82% it’s people like The Honorable lady who make people on my side of the chamber at times think are we engaged in some form of Madness we’re not but she doesn’t half make it sound like it can these new

Gas plants be consistent with the government’s commitment to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 our published Net Zero scenarios I would invite her to read them um for the power sector show that building new gas capacity is consistent with decarbonizing electricity by 2035 and on from those scenarios we expect

Even with new gas capacity that rather than the 38% of electricity generation which in 2022 came from gas it will be down to 1% by 2035 or if we follow the uh scenario set out by the climate change committee perhaps 2% so we’re going to have that as a backup it’s

Sensible insurance it’s about keeping the lights on while we carry on the remarkable transformation that this government has achieved moving from the appalling Legacy of the party opposite less than 7% electricity from Renewables to nearly 50% today sir Jacob leore thank you um Mr Speaker this announcement on gas fired power stations

Is extremely welcome but at the moment a kilowatt hour of electricity in the UK costs 44 cents against 17 cents in the US and 8 cents in both China and India we have become fundamentally uncompetitive because of this green Obsession we want cheap electricity and we should have gas and we should

Have coal and we should postpone Net Zero indefinitely because we are only 1% of global emissions we are making no difference and the US economy is going consistently faster than ours because of cheap energy this is a good first step against the Net Zero Obsession we need to go

Further Minister well I I would chide my right honorable friend with the science and the evidence which is emerging all the time there is uh a climate uh uh uh Challenge and a climate emergency that’s why we that’s why we’re looking to uh reduce our emissions but he’s quite

Right to also to challenge and say well we’re less than 1% of global emissions how does this make sense that’s why we hosted cop 26 that’s why we got the rest of the world to commit to following us that’s why we’re bringing in carbon B carbon border adjustment mechanism from

2027 precisely to ensure that we create econ an economic rational system which supports jobs in this country while meeting the the CH the climate challenge which does need to be met Shadow Minister Dr Alan white I’m a little puzzled uh frankly about what all this is about because the

Committee on climate change and all credible energy experts have said that we will we will need a small residual of unabated gas on the system for the medium term and that this is consistent with a fully decar carbonized power system no one disputes that and indeed it’s barely worth an

Announcement we should extend the lives of existing plants to meet that need and if new build plants are needed in the short term to replace some of those retiring gas fir power stations then provided they are capable of converting to hydrogen or carbon capture as the government says they must be then there

Is no dis agreement but that’s not what the secretary of state was saying yesterday at the chattam house meeting however the government’s own analysis published yesterday shows that 24 GW of existing gas capacity could be maintained via life extension and refurbishment and that 9 gaw of new capacity is already in the Baseline

Under existing capacity Market arrangements so that’s an uncontroversial position and Analysis again hardly something that seems making a huge fuss about but again that was not what the minister was talking about the secretary of state was talking about at the chattam house conference yesterday so given this analysis could the

Minister Enlighten us with the number of new gas plants they are actually hoping to build given there is no mention of that in the 1500 pages of documents that were published yesterday and that’s a very important point in terms of what appears to be government’s intention to

Go beyond uh what is already in the analysis and apparently build a large number of new gas P parks power stations for the future now there’s a great deal in the review of electricity Market Arrangements public yesterday that would be worth discussing not least the government’s glaring failure to bring

Forward the low carbon flexible Technologies such as long dist long duration storage that everyone knows we will need and it’s a shame that the minister has not properly addressed this so can the minister give us Clarity on whether this is a meaningless announcement within existing polic arrangements or an announcement that

Actually as has been said uh is an attempt to conjure culture War out of climate and energy policy with announcements with no substance or value and indeed that shows they have no serious plan for energy in our country Minister thank you um Mr Speaker um The Honorable gentleman asked about uh the

If there are new power plants then being hydrogen or ccus ready uh we will legislate to make that a a requirement he asked about how many um around 5 gaw but it it’s so dependent on so many interrelated things the growth of the low carbon and flexible storage which we

Are a world leader in developing we both support in Innovation and and we and we uh support uh uh through the capacity Market which he referenced um why He suggests that none of this was clear um uh uh yesterday it was made absolutely crystal clear and what we are doing of

Course is we’re world leaders with the 20 billion pounds we announced for for carbon capture utilization and storage and he will remember because he’s been around a long time that in 2003 the then labor government said that carbon capture usage and storage was urgent there was no roots to 2050 without it

And then the labor government proceeded to do nothing about it well this government is getting on with it it’s putting its money where its mouth is it’s developing those Technologies like uh carbon capture and hydrogen in a way that the labor government failed to do so clearly as it did of course with

Renewables to boot so all they do is talk about climate the truth is the greatest climate risk to this country would be if Ed milleran destroys the market and starts to run some state-run quango which will wreck the Renewables growth which we’ve seen you um thank you thank you Mr Speaker I

Welcome this announcement and uh the the independent committee on climate change uh recognizes that we’re going to need unabated gas uh in the electricity U market right up until 2035 and Beyond and more widely that even in 2050 25% of our energy needs will come from hydrocarbons so does the um right

Honorable um member agree with me that this is exactly the right way to maintain lower energy production costs while still meeting our Net Zero targets I do agree with my uh honorable friend so the point is to have a a wide uh range of backup capacity but not to

Use it very much with fossil fuel and to look to as I think um uh has long been the case that uh any new gas um uh generation should be um uh carbon capture ready and we look forward to it being hydrogen ready as well and we are

In very similar position to Germany and other countries who are looking exactly this I think both Germany and Ireland for instance as part of their growth of Renewables recognize the need for gas I’ll be used less and less but having it there to ensure the lights stay on and

We have appropriate Insurance in place ASP spokesperson Dave Dugan what a cluster it’s unbelievable that we are in this situation I want to quote directly from the Secretary of State’s letter to members today in which she said we’re taking steps to make sure the lights

Stay on that is your legacy of 14 years of the conservatives in charge of energy now uncomfortably I find myself in agreement with the member the right honorable member for Northeast set because this is a significant departure and one which we should be alarmed about where’s your precious nuclear Basel load

Now or the governments rather where is the Exemplar of where ccus is working at this scale that the government is taking inspiration from and wouldn’t it have been an elegant solution to have unabated gas winding down at the same time as battery storage long duration pump storage was all winding up but we

Can’t have that because the government’s dragged its feet on both of those things what does the minister say to people who are getting infrastructure for transmission all throughout their communities and they’re being told to suck it up because this is what we need to do to get gas out of the system and

Now the same government is building new gas fire power stations most uh The Honorable gentleman who’s supposed to lead on this subject uh for his party um uh could should have listened to what I said earlier in 2022 it 38% generation came from gas by the mid 2030s it’ll be

1 or 2% why why are we having it there in order to balance the Renewables that we’re growing and that we’re growing particularly in Scotland supporting Scottish jobs and of course if you put generation in Scotland when the demand is in the South you have to provide the

Connecting infrastructure to do it we had to wire up the UK in order to become the rich and prosperous country that we are today in previous generations we need to do it again now we’re making sure we’re working with local communities listening to their voices and making sure that they’re not misled

By people who come up with such nonsense as The Honorable Gentleman Just did James W thank you Mr Speaker can I commend my honorable friend for his refreshingly clear articulation of our strong record in this area both in the house today and on the media um yesterday and obviously security of

Supply must come first and how will these plans incentivize investment in what is backup gas fir fired power stations whilst minimizing the cost of consumer which is also very important well I thank my honorable friend and he and my friend um from suers are absolutely right to focus on

The economics we’ve got to get the economics of this right we’ve used the capacity Market in order kind of auction type mechanism to bring forward um the make sure that we’ve got the flexible capacity we’re incentivizing more and more of that to be low carbon as you can

See the batteries that are coming on scale we’ve got pumps uh Hydro storage potentially as well but we’re also we need hydrogen and carbon capture but we’re ensur we’ve got a balanced system which has discipline built into it in order to drive cost down when we have C

Bams and other things coming on stream as well I firmly expect in the 2030s we will have lower cost energy compared to our neighbors and we will be as my right honorable friend referred to more economically competitive chair of the SL committee angress Brandon mne thank you

Very much uh Mr Deputy Mr Speaker St it’s concerning that this is in chattam house and not here and it’s also concerning that the secret state is not here today as well uh off piece speeches have cost in the past an energy Minister my committee here

This morning a decade ago made a speech that cost a thousand jobs uh in the effect it had on investment he says this is a consultation but have they picked a winner what room have they given for storage to be in the mix and and the confusing energy security and we know

We’ve learned from the Ukraine war what that is with continual electricity Supply and given what he says the gas percentage will be May 2030 and afterwards what percentage will this capacity Prov provide and what percentage what percentage will this provide of capacity and what percentage

Do he envisage will be used day to day and what other options and what are the thought is given other Technologies being considered in this in his gigawatt demand well I Thank The Honorable gentleman uh for his question I suggested on different scenarios around one or 2% uh of total generation coming

From gas in the future compared to the 38% in 2022 on on on an annualized basis but clearly as the gentleman should know better than anybody here with his deep knowledge on the subject it’s based on the intermittency so it depends how much The Sun Shines how much the wind blows

But we have we make sure that we have a robust system that’s exactly what we’re doing so we this is uh we can continue and I I you know i’ loved especially the people who supposed to care about climate change like the green party could celebrate this country’s Global

Leadership the fact that we’re driving this forward we’re doing so in a way which maintains security of supply and by bringing more and more Renewables on with the lowest cost flexibility system to back it up we’re doing so at a more in a more and more economical fashion

Those other stuff thank you very much indeed Mr Speaker I welcome this announcement today it’s pure common sense when the wind uh isn’t blowing sun is shining we need that uh security supply and although we need to of course deal with climate change in the medium long term we must also deal with

Security supply in the short term so I welcome this but does the minister agree with me that actually for the medium and longer term uh security supply we need to really upscale what we’re doing in the hyen sector sector have more hydrogen production more hydrogen usage

And be a world lead on hydrogen to the moment we are slipping behind a bit well I agree with my honorable friend on uh his point about the importance of hydrogen where I disagree with him having seen the I think it was eight projects in the hydro hydrogen

Allocation round one um I don’t think there’s any indication that was spping behind the truth is uh the whole world needs to do this because everyone’s analysis from the Ia to the climate change committee to my own Department suggest that hydrogen and carbon capture are necessary to bring about this

Decarbonized system that we seek but he’s absolutely right on the importance of hydrogen but um and I I I would say to him that uh he will can expect uh more developments uh going forward because this country is leading on that as it is in ccus 2 so Mark Mr Speaker I

Have a great deal of respect for the minister and his knowledge on the subject and the fact that he as we most of us do in his chamber uh recognize the need for cutting carbon and he I’m sure is not one of those who would follow the

Flat Earth as that we’ve seen from the member like we’ve seen from the member for North Somerset but clearly there’s a great deal of trust and Reliance being put on carbon capture and storage and also on hydrogen both of which in terms of Technologies are qu still quite new

We’ve talked about this stuff for 25 years and the minister would seemingly forget that this government has been in power for the last 14 years and we’re still not off the blocks in terms of hydrogen and carbon capture and storage is it not the case that the government

Is taking this position because it’s a nod and a wink to the gas and oil Industries whose support they’ll probably need before the election this year and this is part of the uh the whole agenda implicating the rightwing of his own party I was with the honorable gentleman

Nearly all the way um and and and and he’s and he’s right I mean carbon capture and hydrogen the whole world is looking at it because that’s what the science says everybody looks at it and analyzes it says we need it and it isn’t yet at that level a great level of

Maturity but just as in so many other areas this country is leading the way we cut emissions more than anyone else we’ve transformed he knows how dire the Legacy his uh uh party left this country in 2010 I mean less than 7% I’m just appalling um and the and the real danger

If we go back to that but that’s why we that’s why we have the that’s why we have the um the gas powers are backup so we’ve got a completely sound system um and we but we believe and and will seek to deliver a DE de carbonized system by

2035 the biggest risk to that would be if the right honorable gentleman for donca North were to come in and start to mess with the system which Has Lifted us up from the back of uh uh of the of climate leadership to the front that’s that’s the real danger and that’s what

We need to avoid thank you very much um Can my right honorable friend um sto by South darbishire um specifically come to the Willington site which has already got planning permission for a new gas power station and um cut the ribbon when it opens we’ve got spades in the ground

So I welcome this announcement and I invite him to come and have a look at the Willington site which is ready to go well I I agree with my right with my honorable friend and I I and applaud those who are investing in our system uh We’ve made ourselves one of the most

Investable countries in the world for clean energy gas has an important part to play in part of that balancing and with the development uh of carbon capture and hydrogen then there’s every opportunity for those assets to have an even longer life in a green fashion and

I would love to come and see my honorable friend we thank you Mr Speaker oil and gas are the energy sources of the past and the reality of course with intermittent Renewables is that we need an intermittent re um energy source that comes into there the reality is of

Course gas power plants do the opposite they don’t come in intermittently they sit there and when we have too much Renewables the renewable energy is shut off and gas the carbon energy continues to to to to flow and that is the reality of today we are wasting renewable energy

Those Energy company sources get cut off while gas continues to flow and the government uh uh does not realize that and does not respond to that my question is really can he confirm how many times the government has met with representatives of the oil and gas industry and how that compares with um

Representatives of the Renewables industry uh well as so often the lady does do it spectacularly well she’s completely and utterly wrong um the reason that Renewables as you say get turned off is because of the constraints within the system and the reason that gas gets turned on is because the system

Cannot otherwise cope that is why we had the transmission acceleration plan that’s why we got the connections action plan it is it is it is something that has come about and it’s been opposed by The Honorable gentleman every time we try and build the infrastructure out the honorable gentleman says he’s a friend

The S&P wants to be a friend of the Renewables industry and Scottish jobs and then opposes the infrastructure required for it it’s absolutely um I meet with the oil and gas industry a lot because the truth is that even with our world leadership and we’ve cut emissions more than any other major

Economy on the planet 75% of our primary energy today is still from oil and gas and we will be dependent on oil and gas in 2050 when we’re at Net Zero and that’s why it is so crazy that the parties opposite including that of The Honorable lady believe that opposing

Licenses when we’re actually dependent on the product all it will do is see the loss of British jobs and the import of higher emission product from abroad it’s crazy and I really do hope that people would think a bit more deeply on the other side and we could hear some common

Sense I hear it in the corridors from back benches but on the front benches and from The Honorable lady I hear nothing but nonsense because thank you Mr Speaker I welcome uh this policy decision which is recognition of reality uh could the minister confirm that these new plants will actually be able to

Convert to a low uh carbon alternative in the future I thank my honorable friend and we will be legislating precisely to create that obligation uh for carbon capture ready and all uh hydrogen ready Sam Wilson thank speaker I hope that this decision is an indication of the realization

Which seems to be slowly Dawning on the government of the impact of The Madness of its Net Zero policy which has damaged the UK economy we have the highest electricity prices of most of the countries in the G7 we have uh lost vast numbers of jobs in energy intensive

Industries and now there’s a recognition that because of the intermittency of wind and solar that there’s a risk of blackouts so I welcome this Common Sense decision but since we’re going to use gas to par these stations why doesn’t the minister take next logical step and

Legislate to allow us to tap into the vast UK gas resources that we have which is a United States has shown will bring down prices will give us energy security and we make our competitive more economy well the right The Honorable gentleman couldn’t be more wrong record

Levels of employment in this country we overtook France recently as to become the eighth largest manufacturer in the world I I would not expect him to join the Dismal party opposite in talking this country down in truth we’re leading the world in tackling climate change and

We created more jobs than any time in British history and going forward into the 2030s what we’re going to do by harnessing more and more of British uh low uh uh carbon energy renewable energy is lower bills for families and increase our competitiveness and as I say in a

World which is increasingly recognizing the need for action and is looking to bring in things like carbon border adjustment me mechanisms effectively effectively carbon taxes at the border the truth is the UK is in pole position to grow from its already strong economic position into an even stronger one as a

Result of the Net Zero policies of this government thank you speaker across London and the southeast many much needed developments that are required for the increasing population have literally been frozen because of lack of supply for from the grid indeed nuclear power can provide the Baseel load Renewables are unreliable and obviously

Gas is required particularly at peak times so will my H friend friend agree with me that actually this is all about topping up the Grid at peak times when people want to use electricity because gas is the fastest way to bring a power station onto the grid and equally to shut

Down well I thank my honorable friend and he he’ll be aware of all the work we’re doing to um speed up uh uh for instance transmission cut it from a 12 to 14e timeline down to half of that down to 7 years the connections action plan which has already moved um tens of

I think 40 gwatt of projects have been able to be have their connection date moved forward so we’re putting in a lot of work in across the piece this uh uh uh gas uh capability is there as a backup but the usage and the emissions resulting from it will be falling

Precipitately over the next 10 years and we can all celebrate that J after years of delaying meaningful investment in clean cheaper reliable Renewable Energy Technologies such as tidal and long duration pumped Hydro storage it’s no surprise the government’s now having to scramble to create new dirty gas powered plants but

How much does his Department estimate these new plants will cost and where is his Department suggesting they will be built and what does he mean by carbon capture ready does he mean carbon capture operational here here detail thank you Mr Speaker as I say um uh further uh uh you know our legislation

Will come forward in the not too distant future and she will be able to scrutinize that um it’s extraordinary that she should say to the country that’s gone from 7% Renewables less than to approaching 50% today that we’ve gone slow on Renewables we’re leading we we have decarbonized our power system FAS

We’ve decarbonized our power system faster than any other major economy on the planet the kind of reality denial that we get from the party opposite is quite extraordinary and on title she specifically wants to highlight title well guess which country in the world has more title the The Honorable the

Right honorable gentleman there who is one of the greatest champions of title in there he could tell the honorable lady if she’s so ignorant he’s a fellow Scottish MP he can tell her the UK has more tidal deployment than any other Nation on the planet we’re proud of that

We’re proud of the transformation and it’s about time the SNP and the labor party stopped misleading the people and this house Patrick R thank speaker the minister said earlier that we Face a climate challenge after struggling for a word to describe what we face why can’t the government join the global consensus

And admit that what we are facing is a climate emergency as the chair as the Secretary General the United Nations said the year of climate warming is over we’re in a era of climate burning well unlike The Honorable gentleman I’m not primarily concerned with words I’m primarily concerned with

Action and I’m glad and our responses I did actually use the emergency word I don’t know if I broke some uh Golden Rule that says government ministers shouldn’t say it but I treat it like it’s an emergency I see uh the world warming up I see the negative impacts of

Climate change and that’s why I spend every single day being proud to be part of a department which is decarbonizing its country faster than any other in the world The Honorable gentleman should get away from rhetoric and start focusing on action Jim sh thank you uh Mr Speaker

Can I uh thank the minister for his answers and wi there is certainly an urge to prioritize our Net Zero uh promises I’m grateful that government are are talking and backing up precautions into considerations Northern IR plays an important role in any contribution to net Target the minister

Has recognized that in many casions and questions that I’ve asked him so will the minister ensure in terms of any new gas power stations to be built at Northern AR is considered and prioritized as a leading location for those thank you Minister well The Honorable gentleman um I don’t know he

Sometimes gives the impression he’d like it if I was running the energy system in Northern Ireland but it’s not it’s devolved and we do have ministers back and that’s something of Celebration and I will work closely with ministers in Northern Ireland as I do with other ministers in devolved um uh

Administrations because in order to meet our Net Zero targets Northern has to deliver it his its um Scotland has to deliver its Target so does Wales we’ve got to work together in a spirit of collaboration we can do that and if he can persuade his honorable friend beside

Him that actually it can be done that in a way that strengthens our economy too then we really will have something to celebrate that completes the Urgent question we now come to the statement Minister Kevin h leg uh thank you Mr Speaker and with permission I shall make a statement

About post office legislation and Horizon redress schemes I’m very pleased to be able to announce that we are introducing today a new bill that will C the convictions of post Masters in England and Wales affected by the Horizon Scandal I set out in my written statement last month this legislation will quash all

Convictions which meet a clear set of conditions those in scope will have their convictions quashed on the day that the new legislation is brought into Force subject to parliamentary passage our aim is for Royal Ascent to happen as soon as possible before the summer recess we accept and have always been clear that

The legislation May overturn the convictions of some people who are guilty of genuine wrongdoing however we believe this is a price worth paying to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated the government will however seek to mitigate the risk of people receiving Financial redress when they have not been

Wronged the government also accepts this legislation is unprecedented it is an exceptional response to a factually exceptional situation I want to be clear however that this does not set a precedent nor is it a criticism of the Judiciary or the courts who have dealt swiftly with matters brought before them the fact

Remains however that 3 years after the first convictions were overturned only around 100 have yet been quashed and that without government intervention many of these convictions could not be overturned either because all the evidence has long been lost or because quite simply Pur masses have lost faith

In the state and the criminal justice system and would not come forward to seek Justice the legislation will apply to England and Wales only however we are fully committed to work with the Scottish government and the northernland executive through regular weekly official level engagement to progress

Their own approaches I have met with my counterparts in the Scottish government and the northern Island executive to offer support and address their concerns and offerer further meetings the financial redress scheme of course will look be open to applications from applicants throughout the UK On’s convictions have been overturned

Can I thank the business and trade committee which recently published a report including some recommendations for government regarding Horizon redress we will of course respond to them in the usual way but today I’d like to address two of the recommendations which they make the first is that responsibility

For address should not lie with the post office that it should be subject to Independent oversight this has also been something recommended To Us by The Horizon compensation Advisory Board I can announce today that we be the department for business and trade rather than the post office which will be

Responsible for delivery of this redress which is relating to the overturning of these convictions final decisions on redress will be made by independent panels are independent individuals I shall return to the house at a later date with your permission Mr Speaker to provide details on how we intend to deliver address for

Those who have have their convictions overturned by this bill or via subsequent measures taken in Scotland and Northern Ireland we are discussing these details with The Advisory Board my honor friend noral friend the financial secretary to the treasury will be introducing legislation to make any payments made via this new scheme that

Are exempt from tax the select committee also recommended that the government should introduce legally binding time frames to deliver address for sub post masters with financial penalties for non-compliance and I strongly support the committee’s desire to speed up redress we feel their proposed regime would have the opposite impact it would

Mean potentially imposing penalties on Forensic accountants or others who are helping post Masters to PR prepare their claims doing that would probably cause some of them to withdraw from this work which would slow down the delivery of redress furthermore we do not want to be in a position where we are rushing post

Masters into major decisions about their claims and the offers they receive possibly meaning some are timed out of redress altogether The Advisory Board have said that their strong view is that this would be a backward step and which is why less than two months ago we passed legislation removing the arbitrary

Deadline from the Glo scheme we do not want to reverse that change however the government is acting to ensure that redress is delivered as quickly as possible first we are working with claimants lawyers to reduce the number of cases which require expert evidence for example forensic accountants or medical evidence which do

Does delay claims we will pilot this approach and assuming that the pilot succeed we hope to expand it rapidly second The Advisory Board and I have asked for monthly reports on each scheme these will come from independent case managers for schemes where they are in place we will publish those reports

Which will give us the best basis on which to assess measures for speeding up redress finally we are introducing optional fixed sum Awards in January the government announced it would introduce an offer of an optional £75,000 a fixed sum award for those in the group litigation order scheme as of the 5th of

March 110 offers have been accepted another 100 of these have taken the £75,000 fixed payment for those who have accepted the fixed payment 3/4s are new claims so the fixed offer has already meant over 100 claims have been resolved very promptly in some cases those people

Will have got more than they would have asked for the fixed offer also has had a helpful helpful effect on other claims it substantially reduces work on small claims by clim lawyers making more resource Avail to to progress larger claims more quickly and I’m pleased to announce

Today that the £75,000 fix some award offer will also now be extended to the Horizon shortfall scheme to ensure that everyone across all the schemes is treated fairly those who have already settled their claim below £75,000 will be offered a topup to bring their total address to this amount this means over

2,000 post Masters will benefit quickly from this announcement we are mindful that claims in the Glo scheme are not being submitted as swiftly as we would like to see to ensure that we get help to claim it more quickly we’ve already announced an optional fixed sum Award of £75,000

I can announc today that anyone who chooses not to take that offer but instead submits a full claim for individual assessment will straight away have the interim payment topped up to 50,000 Mr Speaker many post Masters live lives have been ruined by this Scandal we are working hard to deliver

Redress we have set up the Williams inquiry which will discover the truth we will provide Fair Financial address as promptly as we can and we will exonerate those who were so unjustly convicted of crimes which they did not commit Mr Speaker I commend this statement to the

House sh Minister russan Al thank you Mr speaker I thank the minister for advanced sight of his statement before I begin my response I’d like to put on the record my deep disappointment at The Minister’s comment this morning on BBC breakfast uh instead of categorically condemning the Tory party donor Frank

Hester’s horrific racist remarks about the right honorable member for Hackney North and sto Newton and despite number 10 after much delay finally describing the remarks as I quote racist and wrong the minister this morning appeared to contradict this position sorry point four thank you Mr Speaker Mr

Speaker this is a statement on post office legislation and I respectfully say that what the honorable lady opposite is saying is irrelevant to this statement the sh Minister will moving on Minister I will move on I will move on uh I simply hope that Minister will ref

Reflect on the reversal of the statement this morning and the position that he took that he would would take a donation if it was submit provided by the donor I hope he reflects on the impact that that it is having on many of us turning to Mr Speaker uh today’s crucial statement The

Horizon Scandal is truly shocking a miscarriage of justice and one of the most devastating in British history the Scandal has brought Devastation to the lives of hundreds of falsely convicted sub postmasters over 20 years on they and their families are still suffering from the consequences and the trauma of

All they have been put through I pay tribute to their determination in pursuing Justice and I want to pay tribute to Alan Bates and the sub poost Masters who have pioneered this campaign and worked tirelessly to seek Justice without their bravery and perseverance the campaign would not have come be

Where it is today I also want to pay tribute to my right honorable friend the member for North Durham uh for all his work and the campaigning on this issue by Lord not for many years as well as uh others in this house and the other house and members of the business select

Committee and the chair turning to the legislation we of course welcome the laying of this legislation today uh but be before giving a full verdict on the legislation we will need to uh properly scrutinize the details and analyze its potential impacts in the first instance Mr Speaker this legislation does in our

View leave a series of outstanding issues and questions as to when Justice and compensation will be delivered and to whom first I’d like to address the territorial scope uh of the legislation as it is currently only applying to England and Wales uh even though the post office is not devolved and the

Horizon Scandal is a uk-wide horizon system uh and the Scandal uh in terms of its impact is uk-wide um we know there are 30 approximately 30 cases that need overturning between Scotland and Northern Ireland uh but there remains a Ser a series of outstanding questions as to when s postmasters in both Scotland

And particularly Northern Ireland will receive Justice and com compensation I welcome the ministers uh offer of and assurances of having regular dialogue with the Devol administrations but I’d be grateful if he could provide more more detail on how that will work in practice recognizing uh the the different legal processes

Um Mr Speaker additionally as we know 80% of the redress budget is yet to be paid out there remains considerable uncertainty as to when sub poost Masters will receive their compensation I’m sure we can all agree that the sub postmasters have waited long enough the delays are causing further financial

Distress and further suffering we knowe the the business and trade select committees recommend Rec Commendation of a legally binding time frame from when an offer is first tabled to when settlement is reached even if these legally binding targets are not adopted what assurances can the minister give

That he will meet his Target of ensuring all compensation is paid out is out of the door by the end of the year What mechanisms will the minister put in place to ensure that there are no further delays and and I know that he is committed to making sure there are no

Further delays but sub postmasters will want to know that that actually happens and given the recent chaos in the post offices leadership we welcome the decision to take the post office out of the redress process as the minister said redress must have an independent have independent oversight we know the post

Office is in disarray and what we need is focus and efficiency and ensuring compensation is paid to the suppl most post Masters as soon as possible possible in conclusion Mr Speaker the suffering of the sub postmasters can never come close to being repaid just through financial

Redress though it is so important we get this right the very least the government can do is ensure they receive the fair compensation and exoneration as soon as possible there are those who’ve been impacted by the Scandal that have sadly passed away never to be able to see

Their innocence proven proven or live to see the compensation they deserve it is absolutely vital that the government acts with the urgency and speed that’s needed to correct this terrible Injustice well thank you Mr Speaker if I can soon as the comments the shadow Minister made are on the record if I can

Just deal with them very briefly U Mr Speaker and I’ve got to say it’s the second time I think she’s made comments at this dispatch box that been unfair or factually incorrect and I hope she doesn’t come and correct the record because if she actually watched the interview I made I absolutely did

Condemn the words of Mr Hester I said they were wrong I said they were they were racist and I think it’s absolutely right his apologized and she should actually watch full broadcast broadcast and I hope comes back to this house and apologizes and corrects the record in terms of the points she raises

Um I think they largely pertain to the Scottish and Northern and devolved administrations I quite understand the concern around that I’m very keen to make sure we get this right across the United Kingdom I think as she says in her own comments they have different legal processes she acknowledges in

Those areas therefore we think it would be inappropriate for us to legislate for parts of the United Kingdom that have different legal processes different prosecutors Justice itself is devolved although the post office as she rightly says is a National Organization uk-wide organization ization that’s why we think the legislation should be allow those

Devolved administrations to legislate themselves if that’s what they choose to do and very closely with them on a weekly basis officials are meeting on a weekly basis to assist wherever we can to make sure this is delivered the compensation can be delivered UK wide as is how the scheme operates I think she

Said I may be wrong here so I will check the record myself that uh think she says 80% of compensation is yet to be delivered can I just say across the whole all the schemes around 2/3 of cases have already received full and final compensation although in that

Being the case some people will be topped up about 2,000 people will be topped up by the announcement I made earlier the £75,000 so it’s not right to say that the majority of people are wait of the compensation as I think she said um in terms of do we want to deliver by

The end of the year absolutely we do I just point out to her as I said in my remarks not everything is within our gift we can’t compel a claim to submit a claim or when that will happen so if somebody put in a claim right towards

The end of the year for example it may not be possible to do that for the end of the year so not everything is within our gift anything that is we’re very keen to expedite in terms of independent oversight absolutely critical that we have that in the overturn conviction

Schemes all schemes have independent oversight in the overturn conviction schemes we have uh retired high court judge to Gary hicking bottom um and on that scheme particularly we we have the 00,000 fix sum award but also on Mr hicking Bottom’s advice we’ve introduced the £450,000

Payment as soon as a full claim has been submitted so uh so we’re doing everything we can to make sure people are compensated as quickly as possible Paul SC thank you Mr Speaker can I welcome The Minister’s statement the uh pragmatic way that he has uh look to

Speed up the claims and take it in house as best he can the uh legislation that’s proposed and indeed the extension of the £775,000 to Historic shortfall scheme uh people I would point the minister to an uh an article in the uh T times this morning talking about people who may be

Excluded uh from reportedly excluded from the legislation and ask him if he can give any insurances that people who’s um who have gone through this process whose um original conviction was based substantially on the horizon problems will indeed be exonerated therefore able to compensation get compensation okay thank him for his

Question and is tyus campaigning on this area and is tyus work as my predecessor in this particular role he did some great work in getting us where we are today helping to get to where we are today yes he’s right to say there are some people that are not exonerated

Through this process for example people who have been before the court of appeal um but those people will be able to still be able to appeal again in the light of our legislation today of course they had that right any way to do that we will support them where we can to

Bring forward their cases to the court of appeal and we very much people very much hope people who are innocent who follow that process are exonerated we come to SNP sportsperson Maran fellows thank you Mr Speaker and apologies for being slightly late um I welcome then oh thank you to the

Minister for prior sight of his statement I welcome the announcement of the legislation it hopefully go a long way in speeding up full and fair Financial redress for a large number of horizon victims and bring them closer to Justice furthermore I welcome the enhanced Financial address for those who have experienced Horizons related

Shortfalls and those who have already settled for less than £75,000 and they’ll have their address top up I want to pay tribute to the minister for his hard work in this and also the work Sterling work of the Horizon compensation Advisory board and the ongoing work of Sir wi Williamson his

Inquiry most of all I want to pay tribute to the victims following the unimaginable pain they’ve been forced to endure at the hands of post office limited and successive UT governments and I hope today’s announcement can give them some hope there’s an end in sight to this sorry

Chapter I welcome the administration of financial redress schemes have been taken out the hands of post office limited not before time uh they de post office limmit have demonstrated OBC and com and incompetence at every state from a Scottish pect perspective I’m sure my Northern Irish colleagues will agree

With me I’m disappointed disappointed deeply that the legislation is confined to England and Wales only this needs to be addressed to include both Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure parity Westminster Parliament is Sovereign Scottish government Parliament can be challenged on its legislation and this needs to be looked

At the revolution process also risks slowing things down well here in the government guarantee today that any relevant orders under Section 104 of the Scotland act are processed quickly by his government Scotland has no direct devolved equivalent on postal Affairs only Westman St a remit for the Post

Office and his department will the minister ensure the bill contains Provisions requiring post office limited to fully cooperate with the Scottish government and supply all needed materials it’s vitally important that victims in Scotland and Northern Ireland do not have to wait any longer for justice than their English and Welsh

Counterparts victims across these aisles suffered enormously at the hands of a wholly reserved institution and it’s essential there is complete parity de Minister uh thank you m de speaker um can I thank you again for all the work she does in this area she she’s been a tiess campaigner herself and uh again

One of the reasons we are this this far on we all like to be further on but um really important part of the work that’s gone on she’s contributed to and she’s right to say victims should be front and center in terms of how we deliver compensation we do that we deliver it

Fairly and we do it as quickly as possible um some of the changes I announced today that included in my remarks were brought forward on the basis of feedback we’ve had from victims and the legal Representatives so absolutely we do listen to them make sure we deliver any changes where we can

I fully understand her points on Scotland and Northern Ireland she can understand I think the Constitutional sensitivity around this area these are tough decisions to make and uh and I quite understand that um Scottish ministers will also have to make similar decisions they can make a decision to do

What we are doing of course and if they do do that we’ll support them in terms of the way they leg legislate but given the sensitivities around this we thought the best way that devolved administrations where Justice is devolved they should make the those decisions rather than us but I my

Commitment again to make sure we work across the piece wherever we can to deliver that consist comp consistency of compensation that she requires and not forgetting the redress schemes are uk-wide so as soon as people’s convictions are overturned they can access compensation just like they can

In England and Wales so but Neil thank you m Deputy speaker I think everyone wants to see uh the uh suffering of the postmasters brought to an end swiftly as possible and I welcome what the minister says in particular about simplifying and speeding up the compensation scheme he

Will know that claimant lawyers such as Neil hudgel who gave evidence to the business and trade select committee have real expertise in this field and I hope that he will work very closely with the sector to make to maximize that expertise in designing the scheme but

Can I just say one note of caution I know the minister says that this is exceptional it is constitutionally unprecedented to overturn convictions uh imposed by our courts in good faith on the evidence before them at the time by legislation it is most undesirable frankly that we should ever

Go down that route and at risk of sounding a note of caution some of us will need to see the detail of the legislation and we want to see what evidence the government have that it will be quicker and more comprehensive to quash convictions by this constitutionally unprecedented route

Rather than leaving it to the courts with assistance uh to deal with it which could have been dealt with as he knows by presumption uh in favor of their being quashed if they depend upon Horizon evidence rather than this wholesale thing in particular will he look at what impact this will have in

Relation to Rehabilitation of offenders legislation and also the impact as to whether or not convictions costed by this legislation will uh be removed effectively for example if you travel to the United States or other foreign jurisdictions where you may need a visa and you’ll need be need to be able to

Show that you do not have an outstanding conviction Minister well I can I thank him for his question and all his work on this himself and it’s been um very important that we’ve engaged with him through the process and and clearly he has much expertise in this area we agree with him

This is unprecedented we agree with him it’s undesirable but we believe it’s the least worst option you look at the current progress in terms of and we want to see this delivered more quickly of the the 790 or so Post Master as we believe this legislation will affect only around a

100 so far the convictions have been overturned we think that’s an untenable situation which is why we decided to take this route uh but of course I’ll continue work with him and continue to listen to his very wise advice in terms of uh how the process for marking the

Record um so I could right in saying if where court of appeal overturns of conviction the uh record is marked overturned by the court of appeal we see these records as been marked in a similar Way quashed by Parliament or something along those lines but again

Very happy to engage with him to make sure we get that right Liam bur thank you madam Deputy speaker can I welcome The Minister’s statement and can I thank him for the Collegiate way in which he is working across the house uh to try and bring Justice um for those who have suffered

Um this is a welcome step step forward uh today and as he knows and I’m glad to see him take on board some of the recommendations we made in our report last week that set out how we deliver Fair fast and independent redress the government has today proposed how it’s

Going to overturn convictions it has taken the post office out of some but not all processing of claims and it has crucially increased the number of people who can apply for fixed term um uh renumeration however the post office is still handling the claims for at least I

Think a hundred of those with overturn convictions when it is patently not fit for purpose for those who seek to contest their claims the minister is saying there won’t be a legally binding time frame between when they submit that claim and when the initial offer is made

By his Department that’s a problem and there’s no standard tariff proposed for compensation for key heads of terms like for example Le loss of reputation that too is a problem so this bill today is far more than a half measure that’s true but it’s not yet the full solution and I

Just want to leave in with the words of Joe Hamilton who messaged me last night to highlight the plight of the Glo uh litigants in particular um and the way in which they in her words have to justify every last penny even if some of their claims is for actual monies stolen

From them by the post office why can’t the government do the right thing before even more victims die those words need to be ringing in our ears as we seek to perfect this bill uh thank you Mr Speaker and can I thank him uh for his comments and and

His uh collaboration on this really important that we listen to his recommendation indeed some of his very informative sessions they’ve had with the select committee which is important uh I sat through all five hours of those sessions it was um so um so yes at this

Point in time we believe the post office should continue with its existing uh work on the cases got in front of it around a 100 we have no capacity at the moment within the Department of Business and trade to handle those claims right now clearly we will have by the time

This legislation comes into effect we don’t want to pause between the legislation coming into effect in July and compensation payments being made we think we can get those payments to people in August using that route now there may be some people left in the uh in the overturned convictions the first

Tranch people have been through the appeal court at that point in time and we will certainly look at his recommendations in terms of whether we bring those back in house or leave those with the post office but that’s something we will we will keep an open

Mind on in terms of what I think he might describe as uh as fixed time scales to respond to offers or service level agreements we’ve got those already for the Glo scheme that’s on a submission of a full claim we commit to responding to 90% of those claims within

40 days um very happy to look at we might put some benchmarks in place for this new scheme to make sure there’s a similar um speed of response um in terms of standard tariffs it makes that recommendation he probably listen I’m sure you heard what I said earlier in

Terms of uh some of the new pilots we’re doing around working with with the some of the lawyers involved here where they can submit claims without the forensic accountant without the medical uh reports which may do something along the lines he says so I’ll happily have a con

An ongoing conversation with him on the Glo scheme bear in mind that I think thus far 128 uh claims have been submitted I think of the 490 that there are 110 of those have been settled and there’s only one so far to my knowledge or that has

Gone yet to the independent uh in terms of the arbitration dispute resolution before it goes to the independent panel so I think it indicates to everybody in the house hopefully that generally offers have being made are are fair and they’ve been accepted uh almost straight away so um I I understand what Joe

Hamilton says and i’ I’ve met with Joe about some of the processes she had to go through to prove her claim we determined to reduce those kind of frictions and reduce that evidence requirement on things that certainly things that are not essentially material um we’ve got three things we got to get

Right when we delivering compensation we’ve got to be fair to the individual of course and their families have have been affected we’ve got to be fair to all the other post Masters as well to make sure there’s a consistency across the scheme and of course we would be

Fair to the taxpayer but um there is no cap on what we’re going to pay people as long as it is fair Donan Baker thank you madam Deputy speaker and thank the minister for for bringing this to the house today it’s clearly uh moves in the right direction

For closure uh many times I have talked in this house about similar issues um a billion pounds has been put on the side by the government to uh deal with all this this issue and that is despite the fact that the post office have taken Millions upon Millions upon millions of

Postmasters innocent people we have never had the figure of what was taken and I’ve asked for that before but secondly I want a second figure fitsu have said on the record that they would help compensate victims as well add to the remuneration pot what progress have

We made Minister on making them pay also for being culpable in this whole Fiasco well thank you uh for his regular comments and cont contributions in this particular area it’s always good to have U the the views of the only U former serving postmaster in this this house um

Yeah we we are looking at that figure try to identify what it is and we will hopefully come back to him at some point and it’s quite complicated a lot of these records go back a long the way but that’s a body of work we’re undertaking

With the post office um in terms of fij Jitsu um the secretary of state had a conversation yesterday I think with the chief executive International the global chief executive of Fujitsu so we are we are Keen to make sure that Fujitsu contribute and they’ve already said they

Will they said they are a moral responsibility to contribute I think it’s fair to say at this point in time he mentions a billion pounds but we don’t know the final figure in terms of compensation but we’ expect a significant element of that to come from fij jitsu

Car Michael thank you m Deputy speaker can I also thank the minister for advanced site not just of his statement but also somewhat no the government top lines to take H that latter document H includes this passage so far we have identified up to around 800 cases that

Are potentially in scope note if we use this number in public we’re going to get held to it there is a risk that we may deliver fewer overturns or award redress to fewer individuals we will then have to explain that if it is the view of officials in The Minister’s

Department that accountability and transparency or some sort of problem then does he really think that they are the people who are best placed to exercise over sight of the compensation scheme and should that not be put now in the hands of someone who is independent of both government and the post office

Mr thank you m speaker um that’s interesting the figure he uses and and the documentary references I wasn’t aware that he had that I have actually interestingly interestingly maybe me I hav actually read that line actually but uh it’s because you might there might be an indication of that in my former

Comments because I mentioned that exact figure earlier in my comments I’m not afraid to be transparent or accountable for any of the delivery of these compensation schemes Char may I congratulate my honorable friend for all that he is doing working night and day to bring this painful

Issue to a conclusion for the many postmasters and their families who have suffered so much over so many years can I just me seek the uh Assurance from the minister that for those people who do not accept the fixed offer but wish to pursue an individual claim that there will be expeditious treatment

Of those claims that resources will be made available to deal with those claims quickly and efficiently and also can I ask the minister to give an assurance that the claimant will have a named individual who is responsible for their files rather than whoever happens to pick up the file on a specific

Day Minister well can I thank him for his question question and um yes absolutely I can give you that Assurance uh fix some award is only one route it’s not right for everybody some people have higher levels of claims and we will support them where we can in my my

Remarks I now some new measures we’re doing that do we’re using to do that including a pilot scheme where doesn’t require expert reports which should U significantly abbreviate the time scale for responding to off be able to submit a claim and responding to the claim um

In terms of uh expedition in this area in the Glo scheme for example we set a Target that 90 on 90% of cases would respond to a final claim within 40 days weting 87% currently on against that measure so we are delivering this more quickly he makes an interesting point

About a named claims manager or something along those lines if I can I’ll take that away CL bord grateful muty speaker I welcome the statement I welcome the the legislation and and removing the post office from the process as far as we have so far but I don’t think the post

Office is credible to be able to deal with any uh claims I wrote to the minister on the 12th of February regarding my constituent that came forward after the TV uh uh program and uh she was in a situation where she had problems with Horizon she agreed a

Compensation with the post office way below what her losses were she signed a non-disclosure agreement but at that time she was dealing with a partner who was terminally ill who has subsequently passed away so she was in no fit state to be able to take on the post office

And she’s was seriously out of pocket now in those circumstances I would expect her to be able to uh to to um come under the HSS scheme and I hope that he will confirm that in the letter that no doubt he’s going to send to

Me uh well I look forward to I haven’t seen that letter yet um I understand his points about the post office handling claims um uh but well I’m responding to every single letter I get on this from colleagues personally and um so um as we always do but even more so in this

Particular occasion um so I’m very sorry to hear about his constituents and the situation they’re in um if his constituent has accepted less than 75,000 they’ll get an automatic uplift to £75,000 so receive less um but um we’re determined to make sure people across every single scheme are treated

Fairly and feel that they’ve been Tre treated fairly very keen to look at his letter and make sure that is the case in his casein Crosby thank you madam Deputy speaker may I welcome this important new bill I know the minister and his team have worked exceptionally hard uh on it e e

E e e e e e