Contributions
1,637 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDPublic HealthI agree with the hon. Gentleman. We have a big effort to boost the booster this month and we have to boost the workforce as well, and make sure that people are supported.14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI begin by acknowledging that there are sincere and deeply held views on both sides of this debate and, indeed, on both sides of the House. I respect those who take a different…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI will outline our position on that, but the hon. Gentleman will have to be patient because I will come on to that later in my speech. We need to buy the NHS and its helpers some…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Indeed, one of our primary reasons for supporting the measures for consideration today is that we on the Labour Benches support…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Let me be clear: we in the Labour party support this approach because we support British business. This is about giving people the…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthIf the hon. Gentleman just lets me make this point, I will certainly give way. Those are broadly the arguments, but I would ask Members on both sides of the House to think about…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI agree with the hon. Gentleman. Of course, in order for this measure to work as effectively as we would wish, there has to be an adequate supply of lateral flow tests. I heard…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. This comes back to the point I made about the Government engaging with the staff trade unions and the royal colleges. Whatever their…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI will say to the right hon. Gentleman that it is my understanding from dispatches from the shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my hon. Friend the Member for Hove…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI agree with the hon. Lady. I appreciate that she is a newer Member of the House but I dare say she watched our proceedings before being elected, and we cannot have spent so much…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthMy hon. Friend makes such an important point. Going back to the staff surveys, particularly given that the overwhelming majority of staff are vaccinated, it is not that they do…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthThe hon. Gentleman has called repeatedly from a sedentary position that I do not know the science, but I have said nothing of any sort to contradict the points he has just made.…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have heard the arguments in outline: this is about protecting staff and patients; it is not a new precedent; and there is a professional…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthThat is such an important point, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making it. There is a reassurance I would like to offer her and a call to action that I would like to…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthThat is a helpful intervention from my hon. Friend. Let me be clear: I absolutely acknowledge the views that have been put forward by the royal colleges and by staff trade unions.…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI have no doubt whatsoever that opinion in the workforce is divided. I do not dispute that, and it is divided partly because people resent the mandate. Ultimately, however, it…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI think the hon. Member should look at the evidence from our friends on the continent, which is that this approach not only works in giving people confidence to go out and enjoy…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthThis is a difficult decision—two Members from the same region—but my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Kim Johnson), right in the corner, has been very patient, so…14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthI will say more about that in a just a moment, because the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), at the back, has been very patient.14 Dec 2021HANSARDPublic HealthLet me say to my hon. Friend that, in his intervention, he started off well, dipped in the middle and then got better at the end. He made some absolutely fair points about impact…14 Dec 2021