Sir Keir Starmer
MP for Holborn and St Pancras · Labour · United Kingdom
“That meeting with President Zelensky happened the day after he was evicted from the Oval Office. He left alone. He got on a plane. We got him to come to London, and I asked him to come to Downing Street straightaway. I walked out to meet him. I gave him a hug, and then I showed him what was in the street.”
“You have been instrumental in defending the safety of every Member of this House, Mr Speaker. I believe we must do more to defend our democracy, and have tasked officials across Government with identifying the best mechanisms for taking this work forward so that it can move as quickly as possible.”
“Well, Reform intends to spend the summer arguing with a bin. My advice to everyone is: put your vote in the Bin! [ Laughter. ] I am delighted that today we are joined in the Gallery by some of the people I have met across the country in opposition and in power.”
“She knows that this is robust, and it has to be robust—that is the way politics is done—but the kindnesses that sit behind it privately are often just as powerful, if not more powerful, and I thank her for that. I also stood at the Opposition Dispatch Box, for four years as Leader of the Opposition.”
“I join the right hon. Lady in her tribute to Ann Widdecombe. I know that the hurt is keenly felt across all her friends and family, but it is particularly keenly felt by political colleagues in the Conservative party—her party for many years—and in Reform as well.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for her question, her support and her friendship for me, Vic and the kids. Whatever the challenge, she has always been there for us, particularly Vic and the kids, and I really thank her for that. This will be my last answer from this Dispatch Box.”
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“He may want to know that this morning the Business Secretary spoke to the Northern Ireland Executive, because this is a serious issue and we need to work together to resolve it in the interests of everybody in Northern Ireland.”
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising this issue, which is of real importance to his constituents and to everybody in Northern Ireland. It is a very serious issue. That is why we need to be calm and pragmatic, and that is what workers and businesses in Northern Ireland would want to see from this Government at a time like this. We are, as he would expect, looking carefully at the details of any retaliatory tariffs announced by the EU, if they are announced, and what impact they might have on businesses. As he knows, where goods do not enter the EU, businesses can claim a full reimbursement of any EU duties paid, but I reassure him that the interests of Northern Ireland are at the forefront of our decisions.”
“The Conservatives tried an open borders experiment; we are now tackling illegal migration. They talked about flights; we have already removed 24,000 people with no right to be here. Under their Rwanda scheme, which was only ever supposed to return, I think, 300 people a year, what we have achieved in nine months would have taken them 80 years. We have replaced a gimmick with a real deterrent.”
“The hon. Gentleman and I share a love of the Lake district. We still go back there with our children. This is obviously a serious issue, which is why we put a record amount into farming at the Budget and also set out our road map. I will happily make sure that he gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to go through that and to take on board any points he has to make in relation to it.”
“The Deputy Prime Minister is saying, “Absolutely”, in my ear. We will end the feudal leasehold system which has left millions of homeowners subject to unfair costs and unreasonable practices. Our reforms include clear standards for repairs and maintenance, and that will give homeowners a greater say in how their homes are managed. I know the Housing Minister will have heard what my hon. Friend said.”
“I have said that the situation in Birmingham council is completely unacceptable, but the hon. Gentleman might want to tell his constituents that we have delivered 2 million extra appointments for the NHS, so waiting lists are coming down for them. We have delivered a £1,400 increase in the national living wage, including for his constituents, and we have got record investment into this country, growing the economy, including for his constituents.”
“I am grateful for my hon Friend’s question. We will unlock growth across the country in partnership with local leaders, giving power to those with skin in the game, and we will fix the north’s broken transport system—another thing that the Conservatives left in a complete mess—through nearly £1.7 billion for local buses, roads and trams, an additional £415 million to upgrade the trans-Pennine route, and fixing millions of potholes. Obviously, I will consider my hon. Friend’s kind invitation.”
“As I said in our previous exchange, obviously the unfunded promises—the fantasy promises —of the Conservative party meant that the hon. Gentleman’s hospital would never have been delivered. [ Interruption. ] Conservative Members should not moan; they should apologise to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents. We had to take tough decisions to make the programme deliverable, which is what we have done. We will continue to support the trust to maintain facilities in advance of the new hospital investment, and the Minister for Secondary Care will be visiting that hospital, which I hope will be an opportunity to have the necessary discussions.”
“I am very pleased to say that the first 750 breakfast clubs will open this month. I am pleased that there is an early adopter in my hon. Friend’s constituency, as well as in the constituency of the Leader of the Opposition—I am sure she will welcome that one of these weeks. That will put £450 a year back in the pockets of working people. Today, we have awarded £37 million to 300 primary schools to create up to 4,000 nursery places from September, making it easier for working families to access Government-funded childcare.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that. I do take a personal interest. A short while ago, I went to Scunthorpe to talk to the management and workers to understand the challenges at first hand and how deeply worrying this will be for those working there, their families and the community as a whole, which is why negotiations are taking place. I call on the company to accept the offer of financial support that has been advanced, so that we can achieve a sustainable future for the workforce, the industry and the local community, because I believe that there is, and needs to be, a bright future for steel. As I have said, I do take a personal interest in this.”
“We are focused on delivering real results for patients by scrapping unnecessary targets, bringing back the family doctor, and requiring online bookings, which will help deal with the 8 am scramble. We are investing an additional £889 million to reinforce the front door of the NHS. That is the biggest increase for more than a decade, and it means that there will be hundreds more GPs since we came to power. This week, we have announced record investment to enable community pharmacies to deliver more services for patients, and to free up GP time.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that tragic case, and I pay tribute to the families. When it comes to cases such as this, I often find it hard to think how I would respond if I were a family member in such circumstances. I am not sure that I would have the courage that those families have to campaign in the way that they have done, and I pay tribute to them for it. We need to get to the bottom of all these issues, wherever they may lie, and that is what we will do.”
“My hon. Friend is right. More than 60,000 Scots have been stuck waiting for tests or treatment for over a year. That is a 46% rise in one year. I had to check that figure because it is so staggering. Despite the backlog, nearly 50,000 fewer operations are being performed than were performed before the pandemic. Let us compare that with the situation in England, where we have driven down waiting lists with more than 2 million extra appointments, and have scrapped NHS England to cut bureaucracy. Scotland’s NHS is in desperate need of reform, but the Scottish National party has no strategy, no plans and no ideas.”
“I am happy to tell anyone why: the Conservatives left a £22 billion black hole. They crashed the economy, they ruined our public services and, as we mend and rebuild the country, they carp from the sidelines. Even now, they cannot bring themselves to say that they do not want the investment, or that they will reverse the decisions we have made. They actually agree with the decisions we have made, because we are clearing up the mess that they left.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for raising this appalling incident, and our thoughts remain with the families of Jim, John Chapman and James Kirby. Attacks on aid workers are never justified. The families deserve justice, and we are pressing the Israeli Government to accelerate their investigation, including into whether criminal proceedings should be initiated. Israel must stop blocking aid to Gaza, the hostages must be released, and we must have an urgent resumption of the ceasefire.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this appalling case, and I absolutely agree with him that there must be maximum penalties for anyone falling into that category. I saw many of these cases for myself, at first hand, when I was a prosecutor for five years, and worked with the police on really terrible cases, and I know the impact that such crime has on victims. I thank him for raising this.”
“Today’s spring statement will showcase a Government going further and faster on the economy. We are greenlighting the lower Thames crossing, investing £2 billion in building 80,000 affordable homes for working families, training 60,000 young people—the next generation of construction workers—and fixing millions of potholes. We are undoing a decade of stagnation, bringing jobs and opportunities for working people and securing Britain’s future. Tomorrow, I shall meet President Macron in Paris to discuss further our efforts to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine. May I also welcome the delegation from the Bring Kids Back initiative who are in the Public Gallery? The abduction of Ukrainian children is grotesque, and the UK will play our full part to bring them home.”
“Our plan for change has already cut NHS waiting lists by almost 200,000. That has happened for five months in a row during the winter months. The local trust’s waiting lists in my hon. Friend’s area are down 93%, and he is doing great job for his community. We have already delivered 2 million extra appointments that we promised because of the record investment in the Budget. The Conservatives cannot have it both ways: if they welcome NHS investment, they cannot criticise raising the money to pay for it.”
“Yes of course, as the right hon. Gentleman well knows. Online safety is important, and important new measures are coming in the next few months under the Act. We need to see whether we can go further on this issue, because there are concerns about whether the measures go far enough. But will the laws be made in this place? Of course they will.”
“I am grateful to the right hon. Member for sharing his personal experience of this; he is right to do so. My family has lived with disability for many years as well, so I understand the human element. We need to give support to those who need it, we need to help those who want to work into work, and we need to be clear that those who can work should work. In England, we inherited a failed system that could not be defended, but it is also failing in Scotland. The right hon. Member focuses on young people, and 84,000 young Scots—that is 15% of them—are not in employment, education or training. That is terrible. Almost 300,000 Scots are economically inactive due to temporary or long-term illness. What we are doing is taking the steps to help people into work with £1 billion of employment support.”
“It is really important that we unleash the economic potential of north Wales, including by kick-starting the investment zone, which is backed by major businesses like Airbus and JCB, to leverage £1 billion of private investment; investing £975 million to benefit aerospace workers at Broughton, where I met the fantastic young workers; and securing £1 billion of investment in Shotton Mill, securing 300 jobs on Deeside. We put a record amount of money into the Welsh Government at the Budget—a decision that was opposed by Plaid.”
“It is a stark reminder that any peace settlement must see Russia held accountable for its deplorable actions. This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.”
“Because it is completely unnecessary. I have teenage children. Almost every school bans phones in school; they do it already. We need to concentrate on what is really important here, which is getting to the content that children should not be accessing. I would genuinely like to work across the House on that, because there is a huge amount of work to do. But the battle is not with schools already banning phones; the battle—an important, emerging battle—is to work together to ensure that the content that children are accessing, wherever they are, is suitable for their age.”
“We need to ensure that all schools do this, but the vast majority do. It is really important that we focus on the battle we need to have with mobile phones, which is the content that children are able to access. We need to ensure that that content is controlled wherever they are. It is a question of having the right battle on the right issue, not wasting time on this when almost all schools are already banning mobile phones.”
“The right hon. Lady talks about the record of the last Government. Under their watch, a third of children started school without appropriate-level development, such as not being able to use a knife and fork. A quarter left primary school without the required standard of reading, writing and maths, and one in five children was regularly absent. That is why we are pushing up standards, with more information from Ofsted, transparency for parents and more interventions where schools need it.”
“It was Labour that introduced academies and pushed up standards. This is not ideological. I am a parent of two teenage children, both of whom go to a state school, so I am invested in this, and it matters hugely to me. There is nothing ideological about it. That is why we are driving up standards, as we always have done.”
“It was this Government who put a record amount into our schools at the Budget, just as we put a record amount into our NHS and public services, which were utterly failed under the last Government. Yet again, the right hon. Lady wants all the benefits—the NHS—but she cannot say how she is going to pay for it. That is what got us into the mess in the first place.”
“Yes. Take the example of schools going into academies. The vast majority of schools are already academies. Therefore, we need to think again about what we do about failing schools that are already academies. We need to go on to the next chapter. The Conservatives never take the big decisions. That is why we ended up with their record: open borders, which the right hon. Lady was a cheerleader for, a crashed economy, mortgages through the roof, the NHS on its knees, and hollowed-out armed forces. What have we got already under this Government? Two million extra NHS appointments, 750 breakfast clubs—including one in her constituency—record numbers of people who should not be here being returned, and a fully funded increase in defence spending. That is the difference a Labour Government makes.”
“My hon. Friend is a great champion for his constituents. We are investing £600 million in training up to 60,000 more skilled house builders to support the next generation and deliver 1.5 million new homes. We are creating technical excellence colleges and investing in Stansted airport, creating 5,000 jobs nearby, which will create more opportunities for young people in Harlow.”
“We work with the United States on a daily basis. I think that the right hon. Gentleman would like to think of himself as reasonable and, when he is not jumping in Windermere, quite serious, but unpicking our relations with the US on defence and security is neither responsible nor serious.”
“Every person should have the right to work, and we will always protect the most severely disabled and those with lifelong health conditions. We need to support Medina and the 200,000 others like her who can and want to work. That is why we are investing £1 billion in personalised and tailored employment programmes and introducing the right to try work guarantee. The Conservative party presided over a failed system that did not help them and then blamed them. We will never do that.”
“The Scottish Government have record funding under the Budget—what are they going to do to help the young Scots who are being failed by their Government?”
“The right hon. Member asks about shale gas. There are very real economic and environmental consequences to fracking, and communities have clearly said no.”
“The right hon. Member knows that there are real consequences of fracking, as I have set out. What we need to do to secure our independence and the next generation of jobs and to lower bills is move at speed to renewable energy. That is why I am pleased that record investment is coming into renewable energy so that a tyrant like Putin cannot put his boot on our throat. If the Conservative party do not want to support that investment, they should say so.”
“I congratulate all colleagues working on the Bill and taking part in the debate. It is an important issue on which there are different views across the House and within parties. The Bill is a matter for the House, but it is the Government’s role to ensure that every piece of legislation that passes through Parliament is effective and workable, so we will continue to work with my hon. Friend, as the Bill’s promoter, to do that in the same way that we do for every private Member’s Bill that passes Second Reading. If Parliament chooses to pass the Bill, the Government will implement it in a way that is safe and practicable.”
“We are investing £100 million in adult and children’s hospices to improve facilities, equipment and accommodation, as well as £26 million in funding through the children’s hospice grant. [ Interruption. ] Conservative Members’ cries and moaning would have a lot more value if they started their questions with an apology for crashing the economy in the first place.”
“My hon. Friend is right. Potholes are a real nuisance; if somebody is using their car or van for work and they hit a pothole, they are looking at a bill of several hundred pounds, which for many working families is unbudgeted for. That is why we are handing the West Midlands combined authority an additional £8.6 million to help repair its roads, as part of a record £1.6 billion invested across the country. On top of that, every council must now publish how many potholes it has filled so that we can show that we are making progress and delivering—something that did not happen under the last Government.”
“This is a really important issue, and Labour in Scotland has been clear that it would separate that role. That is the right thing to do, for the reasons that have just been articulated; it is the obvious thing to do, and obviously it is what we do in England and Wales. There have been calls for a review of this issue since 2021, but the SNP has not acted fast on those calls. It really does need to bring forward proposals now to deal with this problem, which has been sitting there for a very long time.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for emphasising this issue again. Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children is sickening—I think all of us across the House would agree on that. A peace settlement in Ukraine must see Russia held to account and those children reunited with their families. In specific reference to my hon. Friend’s question, the UK is playing our full part in international efforts, including funding the Bring Kids Back initiative through the partnership fund for a resilient Ukraine. I want to reassure the whole House that we will do everything we can to see those children returned and reintegrated as safely and quickly as is possible.”
“We will set out the details just as soon as we can, on the basis of the principles that I set out earlier. The welfare scheme overall is not defendable on terms, but it must be one that supports those who need it. The details will be set out.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his question; he does great work to bring our communities together, especially in Slough. Any form of racial or religious-based hatred is abhorrent and has no place in society. We have set aside over £50 million to protect faith communities and freedom of worship. That is the right thing to do; it is a shame that we have to do it. Our £15 million community recovery fund has been supporting communities affected by the disorder last summer—again, that is the right thing to do, but it is a shame that we have to do it.”
“The right hon. Gentleman is right to raise the concern about the situation at Heathrow and I think everybody is very concerned by what happened last week. There are clearly questions that need to be answered on a number of fronts in relation to what happened, and an investigation is ongoing. I will not announce particular parts of our policy and strategy here, at this stage.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for fighting SNP incompetence on behalf of her constituents. Yet again, the SNP is failing island communities. Hospital appointments are being missed and livelihoods destroyed. Scotland has a proud history of shipbuilding and engineering. The SNP should be supporting Scottish workers and focusing on delivering for our communities.”
“I hope the hon. Lady will forgive me, but I do not know the details of the particular incinerator she speaks of and I am not across that. I will make sure, however, that she gets an answer to her question in written form as soon as possible.”
“This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the security of our country and our continent. We have set out the fully funded increase in defence spending to 2.5% in 2027, the biggest sustained boost since the cold war, but that must benefit British jobs and British businesses. That is why I will make sure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting that he wants with the relevant Minister.”
“My hon. Friend is a superb local champion. Regardless of which club any of us supports, we share a love of the game and they are at the heart of our communities. Albion Rovers is exactly that—a huge point of local pride. I would encourage all efforts to secure the future of the club.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. The courage of these campaigners, after simply appalling cases, is astounding and I find it humbling. I am pleased that the Minister for Victims my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) will be meeting the group—today, I think—and I look forward to meeting them in future, because we must prioritise victims and make sure that sentences punish offenders and protect the public. I thank him for raising that really important set of cases.”
“The courage of his generation, the fearlessness, the sense of duty and the service, secured our freedom, and we will never forget them. This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.”
“Last night I spoke to President Zelensky to discuss progress that President Trump had made with Russia towards a ceasefire, and I took the opportunity to reaffirm our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine. I am deeply concerned about the resumption of Israeli military action in Gaza. The images of parents carrying their children—young children—to hospitals that have emerged over the last few days are truly shocking, as is the sheer number of those who have been killed. We will do all that we can to ensure the resumption of the ceasefire in order to get the remaining hostages out, and to get aid that is desperately needed in. The whole House will want to celebrate the extraordinary life of Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway, the last known pilot of the battle of Britain.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for doing what he was asked to do, and raising that case here. The loss of a child is unbearable, and I think that most us, including me, simply do not know how we would be able to react. I am sure that the whole House will want to send its deepest condolences to Laura, and to all Taylan’s family and friends. I will happily ensure that the meeting the hon. Gentleman has requested takes place, so that we can give a reassurance that we are committed to supporting lifesaving and life-improving research and doing all we can to improve the way in which in we prevent, detect, manage and treat cancer.”