With Keir Starmer out of the country, it was down to the deputies to take the stage at Prime Minister’s Questions. Angela Rayner and Daisy Cooper put in their first appearance of the new Parliament in their new roles. For Conservative Oliver Dowden, it was his last in the role. There was very funny love in with menaces between him and Rayner in their exchanges. It was a bit like a seaside comedy show. The serious stuff came when Daisy asked her two questions.
Every winter, our NHS is overwhelmed.
Will the Prime Minister consider the Liberal Democrats proposal for an NHS winter task force, to put an end to the cycle of patients paying the price for the social care crisis left by the Conservatives? @LibDemDaisy #PMQs pic.twitter.com/7UqpodJHzs
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) October 23, 2024
May I associate myself and the Liberal Democrats with the Deputy Prime Minister’s remarks about Chris Hoy, and about all those involved in the train crash?
Our NHS is bracing itself for a winter crisis. One of the causes of the winter crisis every year is that there are thousands of people in hospitals who are fit to go home, but who cannot be discharged because there are not the care workers in place to enable people to recover at home or in a care home. Will the Deputy Prime Minister consider the Liberal Democrats’ idea of an NHS winter taskforce to winter-proof our NHS, end the cycle of the winter crisis, and put to an end the scandal of hospital patients paying the price of the social care crisis left by the Conservatives?
I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and I share her desire to ensure that care workers are given the respect and importance that they deserve. They are critical to solving the problems in our national health service. The Labour party will create a national care service, and we are launching our first ever fair pay agreement for care professionals to boost recruitment and retention. We must get the NHS back on its feet after the disaster of the Conservatives, and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will have more to say on that in the Budget.
Daisy kept to the same theme for the second question, talking of the dangers to the care sector of increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions, something she had mentioned in her Sky News interview on Sunday:
I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for her answer. We stand ready, as a party of constructive opposition, to work with the Government to fix our social care system. However, a measure that could make it harder for us to keep the carers that we so desperately need would be an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions. Were that measure to go ahead, it would affect millions of small businesses, including 18,000 small care providers. Will the Deputy Prime Minister assure the House that nothing in the Budget will make it harder for vulnerable people to access the care workers and the care that they desperately need?
A bit of flannel from Rayner in return, but at least the job of setting out our position had been done:
Again, I will not speculate on the Budget, not least with the Chancellor sat beside me. To reiterate what the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have said, this Budget will recognise that working people of this country and enterprise in this country have been hard-hit by 14 years of the Conservatives. We will rebuild Britain, and we will grow our economy to pay for our public services.
Rayner had to face another three Lib Dems in the session. This is great to see, and likely to be more commonplace now that we make up more than 10% of the House.
First up was Monica Harding who had a heartbreaking story of a young boy in her constituency who has been out of school for a year because they don’t have the right special needs provision for him.
Today in PMQs I called on the Govt to take immediate action to address the crisis in SEND by properly funding it in the budget. In Surrey 1800 children are at home rather than school bc their needs cannot be met & are waiting 2 yrs for an ADHD diagnosis. It is a scandal @LibDems pic.twitter.com/lWLrJHGvUA
— Monica Harding MP (@monicabeharding) October 23, 2024
Charlie from my constituency is an eight-year-old boy with an autism diagnosis who has been out of school for almost a year. He is one of 1,800 children in Surrey missing school because of a lack of appropriate special educational needs provision. Will the Government commit to ending this scandal by properly funding special educational needs provision in next week’s Budget, so that children like Charlie, in my constituency of Esher and Walton and beyond, are no longer let down?
Angela Rayner was sympathetic but had nothing concrete to offer:
I thank the hon. Member for her very important question. I am sorry to hear about what Charlie and many other children with special educational needs have gone through. We inherited a really dire situation and many Members across the House have raised this issue. I am sure the Chancellor has heard what she has said about the upcoming Budget
Next up, Helen Morgan looked for help for Shropshire’s farmers who were struggling with flooding:
Shropshire’s farmers have been suffering from flooding following incredibly wet weather, topped off by a month’s rain in 24 hours last Wednesday.
At PMQs today, I reiterated my call to broaden criteria for the Farming Recovery Fund to include counties like Shropshire. pic.twitter.com/5URLXCURjK
— Helen Morgan MP 🔶 (@HelenMorganMP) October 23, 2024
Shropshire’s farmers have been suffering from flooding following 18 months of incredibly wet weather, topped off last Wednesday by a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours. They were not eligible for the farming recovery fund, and a freedom of information request by Farmers Weekly found that only £2.1 million of that £50 million has been handed out to farmers. Will the Government consider extending the eligibility of that scheme so that we can keep farmers going when they are deluged by floodwater?
There will come a time when Government ministers will not be able to blame the last lot, but it’s too soon for that yet. But at least Helen will get to meet the Minister.
I am really sorry to hear the plight of Shropshire farmers. We inherited the flood defence programme in disrepair, and thanks to 14 years of mismanagement and failure, communities are unprotected and families and businesses are forced to pay the price. We launched a flood defence taskforce to turbocharge the delivery and co-ordination of flood defences, and we are investing £1.5 billion this year to scale up flooding national resilience. I will ensure that the hon. Lady gets a meeting with the Minister.
And finally, James MacCleary challenged the Government to boost trade with the EU by trying to cut the obstacles that Brexit put in its way.
Today I spoke at PMQs:
❌ The Tories Brexit deal has starved small businesses and tangled them up in a mess of red tape.
📈 If this government is serious about growth, they must address the Conservative’s botched Brexit deal. pic.twitter.com/FPyNwZuwv9
— James MacCleary MP (@JamesMacCleary) October 23, 2024
Last month, a widely reported study from Aston Business School showed that UK goods exports to the EU are 27% down, and imports are 32% lower than they would otherwise have been, thanks to the Conservatives’ failed Brexit deal. Will the Deputy Prime Minister tell me what steps the Government are taking as part of their reset with the EU to cut Brexit red tape for small businesses, to help our economy get growing again?
Rayner went out of her way to rule out the single market and customs union, which she hadn’t been asked to do:
I welcome the hon. Member to his place. He is right to advocate for small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy. This Government are turning the page on the relationship with Europe, reinvigorating alliances and forging new partnerships rather than reopening the divisions of the past. We will improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU, tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade. That will not involve rejoining the single market and customs union or introducing freedom of movement, but we will make that relationship better.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings