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788 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsPeople simply want to know that everyone in this country is playing by the same rules, and I think that is reasonable. Let me turn to another crisis of the Government’s own…08 Nov 2021HANSARDTopical QuestionsMay I add my welcome to the new Ministers on the Front Bench today? In the year before the pandemic, 380,000 sanctions were handed out by the DWP to the British people. Of course,…08 Nov 2021HANSARDSocial Security (Up-rating of Benefits) BillThank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to close the Bill’s Second Reading for the Opposition. We have heard many good speeches, but, before I turn to them, I want first…20 Sept 2021HANSARDSocial Security (Up-rating of Benefits) BillI understand the basis of any nationalist claim for any sense of self-determination, but—this debate may be taking us a little away from the pensions uprating discussion, Madam…20 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsAbsolutely. That investment in people is essential, and this uplift that we are talking about today cannot be considered without remembering the benefits freeze that lasted for…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsMy hon. Friend is right. The lever the Government have to alleviate this basket of problems—childcare costs, fuel costs, food costs—is to not go ahead with this decision. My hon.…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsNo, we have had enough history and the hon. Gentleman has intervened twice; we can look forward to his speech. In relation to the tax rises announced last week, the combination of…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsMy hon. Friend is my constituency neighbour, and she knows that her constituency is very much like mine. We have seen the impact of the austerity years and what that has meant,…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsAgain, no one could dispute that case. Last week I went on a visit to Peterborough, which is the Conservative constituency most affected by this cut, and I went to volunteer in a…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsAgain, I think the case my hon. Friend has made is self-evident. I would also say that if we look at the moments of national crisis in British history and at how the country has…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsAgain, I am pleased my hon. Friend has been able to place this on the record for his constituency, because that is how everybody sees it. Last week I met some of the families who…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsI addressed that in an entire section of the speech so I refer the hon. Gentleman to Hansard .15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsI will tell the hon. Member about the real people. There are 7,700 families in his constituency whom this cut will affect, and the decisions the Government will make— […15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsIt is incredibly generous of the Secretary of State to take an intervention from me on the Front Bench, but if relative poverty is what we are measuring—although Conservative MPs…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsI agree absolutely; that is the point. We saw in the exchanges between the Secretary of State and me on Monday, as well as in Prime Minister’s questions, that the Government’s…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsOf course it is better that people are in work, but the whole point of reform in this area over the last decade and a half has been to try to create a system that integrates with…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsI will give way to the hon. Member one more time.15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsIn the right hon. Member’s constituency, 4,000 households are in receipt of universal credit. I want to ensure that, at the beginning of the debate, we knock down the argument,…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. However, it is also important to say that there are 1.7 million people this will affect who cannot work, owing to disability, illness or caring…15 Sept 2021HANSARDUniversal Credit and Working Tax CreditsI am grateful to the hon. Member, who makes two points: first, if the Government believed this level of need was evident during the pandemic, the crisis that people face—whether…15 Sept 2021