Name: Prime Minister's Questions: 12 September 2018
Uploaded: 2018-10-24T08:02:31.000Z
Duration: 40 min 52 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

>> David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con): If she will list her official engagements

>> The Prime Minister (Mrs Theresa May): I am sure that Members across the House will

wish to join me in congratulating Alastair Cook on his fantastic service to English cricket.

As England's highest-ever-scoring batsman, his incredible career had many highlights,

including the magnificent 147 in his last innings, against India. We wish him the very

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.

>> David Duguid: I know that the Prime Minister appreciates

the significance of fishing communities around the UK, not least my own constituency of Banff

and Buchan. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to support our fishing communities

during the implementation period? Will she look into ways to support the expansion of

the catching fleet, infrastructure, processing capacity and other businesses that are reliant

>> The Prime Minister: I fully recognise the importance of the fishing

industry to my hon. Friend's constituency and to other constituencies represented in

this House. I reassure him that we want to secure a sustainable and profitable fishing

industry that will regenerate coastal communities and support future generations of UK fishermen.

Leaving the EU means taking back control of our waters, setting our own fisheries rules

and exclusively determining who fishes what in our seas. It is a priority of the Government

to make sure that we have an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain. Work is

under way to consider the long-term future of all funding programmes that are currently

>> Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): I, too, join the Prime Minister in congratulating

Alastair Cook on a fantastic achievement and both teams on what has been an absolutely

brilliant series, which I really enjoyed.

The National Farmers Union, the Federation of Small Businesses, the National Audit Office,

the National Housing Federation, Gingerbread and the Royal Society of Arts—does the Prime

Minister know what these organisations have in common?

>> The Prime Minister: Yes, I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that

what those organisations all have in common is that, across a variety of areas of activity,

they give excellent service, they promote the interests of those whom they represent

and they are bodies with which this Government interact and to which this Government listen.

>> Jeremy Corbyn: I am truly grateful to the Prime Minister

for that answer, the first part of which I wholly agree with. What they also have—

It's all right. What they also have in common is that they are telling this Government that

their flagship benefits policy, universal credit, is flawed and failing hundreds of

thousands of people both in work and out of work. In 2010, the Government declared that

universal credit would lift 350,000 children out of poverty. Does the Prime Minister stand

>> The Prime Minister: We introduced universal credit because we

needed a system of welfare in this country that encouraged rather than discouraged people

into work, that made sure that work always pays and that was a simpler system than the

legacy system that we were left by the Labour party—remember the legacy system of the

Labour party. It meant that we had individuals being paid £100,000 a year on benefits—all

paid for by hard-working taxpayers earning a fraction of that sum.

>> Jeremy Corbyn: The Child Poverty Action Group says that,

far from taking children out of poverty, universal credit will now increase the number of children

in poverty. Since 2010, half a million more children have gone into poverty relative to

that time. The Government know that this policy is flawed and failing. Their own survey on

universal credit found that many were in debt, a third were in arrears with their rent and

half had fallen behind with their bills. Does the Prime Minister dispute her own Government's

survey, or dispute the experience of the claimants?

>> The Prime Minister: Let us look at the experience of some of the

claimants. Roberta said, “My work coach helped turn my life around. He tailored his

support to my situation and thanks to him I have found my dream job.” Ryan said, “I

am happy with the new universal credit. My work coach has been great—I didn't expect

to have a job so soon.” Nayim said, “Universal credit gave me the flexibility to take on

additional hours without the stress of thinking that this might stop my benefits straight

away.” We have gone from a situation under the Labour party where 1.4 million people

spent most of a decade trapped on benefits. We are helping get people into work, which

is why, earlier this week, we saw unemployment yet again at a record low.

>> Jeremy Corbyn: We are all constituency MPs, and I think that

most of us are well aware of the pain that universal credit is causing when people come

into our advice bureaux. Some 60% of families facing cuts owing to the two-child policy

are in work. Universal credit is not making work pay; it is taking money away from families

and putting more children into poverty. The National Audit Office report found that universal

credit is creating hardship, forcing people to use food banks and could end up costing

the system even more. Does the Prime Minister dispute the National Audit Office findings?

>> The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman talked about constituency

>> Mr Speaker: Order. We are at a very early stage of the

proceedings. We have got a long way to go, but questions must be heard and the answers

must be heard, and as usual I want to get through the Order Paper.

>> The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman started his question

by talking about constituency cases. I remember the single mother who came to see me as her

Member of Parliament when Labour was in government who told me that she wanted to get into the

workplace and provide a good example to her child, but the jobcentre had told her that

she would be better off on benefits. That is the legacy of the Labour party.

>> Jeremy Corbyn: My question was about the National Audit Office.

The Trussell Trust backs the NAO. It says that food bank usage in areas where universal

credit has been rolled out is four times higher than in areas where it has not been introduced.

But, without resolving any of those failings in the next year, the Government propose to

inflict this on another 2 million people. As part of that transfer, hundreds of thousands

of people with disabilities and on employment and support allowance, jobseeker's allowance

and tax credits will receive a letter telling them that their support will be stopped. They

will have to make an application for universal credit. Does the Prime Minister think it is

the responsibility of the Government who are changing the system to ensure that people

retain the support that they need, or is it down to the individual, many of whom are very

vulnerable people who need help and support?

>> The Prime Minister: What the Government are doing is delivering

a system that does give support to vulnerable people, but encourages people to get into

the workplace, because we know that work is the best route out of poverty. However, if

the right hon. Gentleman believes that universal credit needed some change, why, when we made

changes such as reducing the waiting days for payment and bringing in a housing benefit

overlap to help people, did Labour vote against those changes?

>> Jeremy Corbyn: It is Labour that has been speaking up for

the poorest in this country. It is Labour that has been challenging this Government.

It is Labour that wants a decency within our society that this Government are incapable

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Prime Minister's Questions: 12 September 2018

absolutely

strategy

devastating

poverty