Contributions
3,496 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessThe last point is very tempting, but I will leave it to the independent regulator to make that decision and determine its timing—but we are all very excited about the progress of…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI think that is one of the lessons. I do not need to push the Prime Minister on that; he is absolutely seized of the point. We will be developing the work on that next week at the…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessOf course we are donating items directly—for instance, to India, Nepal and others—but the single biggest global contribution that the UK has made is the Oxford vaccine, which is…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessThere are issues around Bolton in my red box very regularly, Mr Speaker. I was waiting on tenterhooks to find out whether, as well as his constituent being a fan, my hon. Friend…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessYes, of course. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman, like me, will welcome the fact that this morning Northern Ireland has been able to open up vaccination to all adults over the…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessYes, those are common objectives. The way my right hon. Friend puts it is absolutely spot on. I would be delighted to meet him and west midlands leaders to ensure we can roll out…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI am absolutely delighted my hon. Friend has had his first jab; I did not know he was old enough yet. It is very important that you take decisions in government based on the…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI have answered this question many times, and the challenge is that we had to build the testing capacity. At that time, of course I was focused on protecting people in care homes…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessNo.27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessMy right hon. Friend is quite right on both points. Not only have we been transparent and accountable to this House, and straight with this House about the challenges, but we have…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI think what the constituents we serve are looking for is a Government who are focused four-square on delivering for them, getting us out of this pandemic and building back…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessAll I would say to my hon. Friend is that it is very difficult responding to an unprecedented challenge of this scale, but over the past six months people have seen that governing…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessYes, absolutely. It was an enormous pleasure to go to the Isles of Scilly on Monday morning. I did not know that I was the first Health Secretary ever to visit the Isle of Scilly,…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessSo many of the allegations yesterday were unsubstantiated. The hon. Gentleman’s most important point was that the Scottish Government, with their responsibilities for social care,…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessMy hon. Friend, who was a superb Health Minister, has captured not just the spirit of what this country has been through in the last 18 months, but the spirit of the debate today…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI have been working on the pandemic since January of last year—before the disease was even evident in this country. That is when we kicked off work on the vaccine, and I was told…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessI think that is what the public expect us to do. I had a brilliant visit to Cornwall on Monday. It was a pleasure to go to Treliske to see my hon. Friend there and to talk about…27 May 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government Handling and PreparednessOf course, we learn lessons all the way through and we follow the scientific developments that teach us more about this virus all the way through, and then we will also have a…27 May 2021HANSARDA Plan for the NHS and Social CareI start by thanking the right hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) for his comradely advice, and I just correct the record because, thanks to his steadfast support…19 May 2021HANSARDA Plan for the NHS and Social CareMy hon. Friend has enormous expertise and wisdom in this area. He is right to make the argument that we need to support everybody’s mental wellbeing, but that we also need a…19 May 2021