Contributions
1,103 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWelfare SpendingIf I could take the hon. Lady back a bit, she might remember when we came into office in 2010, and we had to bring down the deficit year after year to get the country’s finances…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI could not put it better than my right hon. Friend. We know that bringing up children is expensive and important. When working couples have to make tough decisions about whether…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingMy hon. Friend makes an important and thoughtful point. Many families, whether they are living off benefits or in work, would like to have more children but have to make these…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI will first make a little progress, but then I will be happy to give way to the hon. Lady. Last week’s welfare fiasco saw a Bill that was meant to save money become a Bill that…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingMy hon. Friend makes an important point about the problem of a welfare trap, where people would better be better off on benefits than working full time on the minimum wage.15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI beg to move, That this House believes the two-child benefit cap should remain in place and that households with a third or subsequent child born from 6 April 2017 claiming…15 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare SpendingI do not agree with the hon. Member. I am going to talk about poverty in a moment, so if he will just hold on, he will hear my view on that point. This is a ticking time bomb. If…15 Jul 2025HANSARDUniversal Credit and Personal Independence Payment BillThis has been an extraordinary afternoon in the Chamber. Listening to the debate, we have surely all been moved by the stories we have heard of the experiences of hon. Members, of…01 Jul 2025HANSARDUniversal Credit and Personal Independence Payment BillOn a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. In the light of the shambles this afternoon, with the Bill being ripped apart literally before our eyes in this Chamber and the Minister…01 Jul 2025HANSARDWelfare ReformI thank the right hon. Lady for advance sight of her statement. This is a Government in chaos: open rebellion from their own Back Benchers, unfunded U-turns costing billions, and…30 Jun 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsMore than half of new health and disability benefits claims are now for mental health, yet under the Government’s welfare cuts Bill the personal independence payment could be…23 Jun 2025HANSARDUnemployment LevelsHonestly, who does the Minister think he is fooling with this spiel? Growth forecasts have been slashed and inflation has surged. What world is he living in? The Government have…23 Jun 2025HANSARDUnemployment LevelsTwo weeks ago, the hon. Gentleman’s Government told people they were U-turning on winter fuel payments because the economy is on a “firmer footing”. The next day, the unemployment…23 Jun 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsGoodness me; I asked the right hon. Lady quite a serious question, so that was a very disappointing answer. However, she and I are in agreement that the benefits bill needs to…23 Jun 2025HANSARD Winter Fuel PaymentI feel for the Minister, sent here by his bosses to complete what must be the most humiliating climbdown a Government have ever faced in their first year in office. For nearly a…09 Jun 2025HANSARDWinter Fuel Payment: Means-testingI suspect that the hon. Members on the Government Front Bench are now surrounded: I suspect that they are the only people left in this Chamber who are prepared to defend the…12 May 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsThe number of job vacancies is falling month on month under this Labour Government, but the number of people employed is also falling. Could the right hon. Lady admit what this…12 May 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am disappointed that the Secretary of State did not answer the question. I can answer it, if she will not. It means that businesses have stopped hiring, the growing economy that…12 May 2025HANSARDWinter Fuel Payment: Means-testingThat is not something that the Leader of the Opposition said. To the point in hand—the winter fuel payment—I wonder for how much longer this tone-deaf final stand will go on.…12 May 2025HANSARD Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) BillEvery penny of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud or error is money wasted, so we Conservatives support many of the measures outlined in the Bill, not least those that continue the…29 Apr 2025