Five Lib Dems quiz Starmer on social care, Trump, defence, eating disorders and colleges

Social care, trade deals with Trump’s America, St Helier Hospital, the Strategic Defence Reivew, eating disorders and were the subjects brought to Keir Starmer by Lib Dems Ed Davey, Luke Taylor, Mike Martin, Wera Hobhouse and Alison Bennett at PMQs today.

Here’s Ed’s exchange with the Prime Minister:

The text is below:

I echo the Prime Minister’s opening remarks about the Southport killings and Holocaust Memorial Day, and I particularly join him in expressing our immense relief at the release of Emily Damari and in celebrating that she is back with her mum Mandy and the rest of her family. Let us hope that all the hostages are released as soon as possible, and that the ceasefire turns into a lasting peace.

Last week, I urged the Prime Minister to speed up the social care commission, to implement the changes that people need this year. The very next day, it was announced that the chair of the social care commission was also going to chair another important inquiry, into grooming gangs. The Prime Minister said that the job of chairing the commission is so enormous that it cannot be completed within three years, yet he also said the chair of that commission, Baroness Casey, has enough free time over the next few months to chair another inquiry. How can both those things be true?

The Prime Minister
Baroness Casey is well placed to conduct the audit into grooming gangs, given her hard-hitting report on exploitation in Rotherham. That does not affect her work on the independent commission on adult social care, which begins in April. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the first part of that commission will report next year, so that we can deliver recommendations as we receive them. Already we are introducing fair pay agreements, providing more money for social care funding and putting up the allowance. We are already taking steps. There will be a two-part report and we will act on the recommendations as they arrive, but this needs to be done properly.

Ed Davey
I still do not think the Prime Minister is giving social care reform the priority that it needs. It is urgent, so I will keep coming back to that to hold him to account.

Turning to the United States, can the Prime Minister guarantee that he will not sell out Britain’s fantastic farmers to Donald Trump in a trade deal that undermines our high food and animal welfare standards, in the way that the Conservatives sold them out in the Australia and New Zealand deals?

The Prime Minister
We will work with the US and with other countries, but we will never lower our standards.

 

Next up, Luke Taylor pressed the PM on the state of St Helier hopsital. Rather than answer, Starmer got in a fight with Conservative Chris Philp.

The Prime Minister recently visited Epsom hospital, where he committed to not just papering over the cracks in the NHS after years of Conservative lies. However, on Monday, his Government confirmed that St Helier hospital will be allowed to develop further wounds, and that the hospital will crumble. St Helier will not survive the delay the Government have announced; people will die, and NHS staff will break. Will the Prime Minister apologise to my constituents, as they wait years for a new hospital building, and will he visit St Helier with me to witness at first hand the dire situation our residents face?

The Prime Minister
The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the concerns of his constituents; I am not surprised they are frustrated and even angry at the lack of delivery under the previous Government. There was no credible plan—[Interruption.] Let me read the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s verdict on what we inherited—

Chris Philp
(Croydon South) (Con)
That was your decision!

Mr Speaker
Order. I expect better from those on the Front Bench, Mr Philp, and I am sure you are going to show better.

The Prime Minister
He was Liz Truss’s right-hand man, so we wouldn’t expect anything else.

The IPA’s verdict on the previous Government’s plan was that there were “major issues”—[Interruption.] This is the Conservatives’ record; they should not be chuckling. The verdict was that there were “major issues” with the definition, schedule, budget, quality and delivery. It was a fiction—always was.

Then Mike Martin sought a commitment on the Strategic Defence Review:

Before Christmas, Lord Robertson, who is leading the strategic defence review, came before the Defence Committee and told us that he could not guarantee that the strategic outcomes from the review would be fully funded. Recently, we have also heard in media reports that the review might be delayed until the autumn—a delay of six months. Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to state categorically to the House that the strategic defence review, with its important requirements for the defence of our nation, will be fully funded and delivered on time?

The Prime Minister
We are committed to that because this is a serious review into our defence. The review needs to ensure we understand the challenges we face and have the capability to deal with those challenges in the modern era, so that is the exercise that is going through. We have committed to the path to 2.5%. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the last time 2.5% of GDP was spent on defence was under the last Labour Government, and that is the difference between the approach on this side of the House and the approach on that side of the House.

On the day a cross-party group of MPs published a report highlighting gaps in care and treatment for those suffering with eating disorders, Wera Hobhouse wanted to know that the Government would take it seriously.

Eating disorders are the mental health disorder with the highest mortality rate, and we have at least 1.2 million sufferers. Some are being told that they are now too ill to be treated, yet eating disorders are entirely treatable. Today the all-party parliamentary group on eating disorders is publishing its report on how to make eating disorder services fit for purpose. May I ask the Prime Minister to pay very close attention to that report?

The Prime Minister
Let me start by recognising the hon. Lady’s dedicated work and campaigning on this issue for many years. NHS England is expanding eating disorder treatment services, including crisis care and intensive home treatment, and, as she knows, the Online Safety Act 2023 will prevent children from encountering harmful content that promotes eating disorders to services. Obviously, we will look very carefully at the report and consider its recommendations.

Starmer was really dismissive as Alison Bennett raised the issue of disputes at 6th form colleges which strike another blow to the Covid generation of school pupils.

Across England, 95,000 students attend non-academised sixth-form colleges. Of those colleges, 32 are currently on strike because the Government did not settle the funding for them last summer. Can the Prime Minister tell me whether he intended to create a two-tier education system for sixth-form students who are victims of the covid crisis?

The Prime Minister
We have put more money into colleges and, as the hon. Lady knows, it is for them to deal with these disputes.

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