Contribution
First, I join the shadow Deputy Leader of the House, and the whole House, in sending our thoughts and condolences to those affected by the terrorist attack in Bondi Beach. Hanukkah should be a time of celebration; instead, it has become a scene of horror and violence. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, and we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community.
This is our last business questions of the year, so I would like to thank you, Mr Speaker, and wish you and Members across the House a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. It is a shame that there are no Reform Members joining us in the House today. I understand their nativity play has been cancelled this year because they could not find three wise men.
I want to address some of the points raised by the shadow Deputy Leader of the House specifically, but let me first take the opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved over the past 12 months, and recognise and thank all those who have embodied the spirit of good will and service this year.
First, I acknowledge the hard work of charities and organisations in our constituencies—none more important those that support people experiencing homelessness. The Government are backing those organisations with our homelessness strategy, which outlines our commitment to halving the number of long-term rough sleepers. We are also delivering on our promise of safe and secure housing by banning no-fault evictions and introducing new protections for renters. We are bringing forward planning reform to build the new homes that we need and to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable homes in a generation.
We must also recognise the contributions of charities and community groups in supporting the most vulnerable through the cost of living crisis. We have extended the household support fund to support struggling households. We have also launched the warm homes plan to deliver lower energy bills and lift 1 million households out of fuel poverty, and we have published our child poverty strategy, which will lift half a million children out of poverty. We are improving children’s life chances now, and addressing the root causes of child poverty in the future.
I also thank teachers and all those who support our young people. I hope that they get a well-deserved rest over the festive period. We are backing them by investing in our children’s future, recruiting 6,500 more teachers nationally, and increasing school funding by £1.7 billion.
NHS workers are the backbone of our health service, and I acknowledge their dedication—they continue to care for patients through the festive period. We are backing them with our long-term plan to rebuild our NHS over the next 10 years, protecting investment, creating more appointments, and recruiting more GPs and mental health workers.
We must also acknowledge and thank local authority workers, postal workers and shop workers, who work throughout the festive period and keep our country running. And last but not least, I acknowledge the dedication and tireless work of our police and emergency services, who keep our community safe. We are backing them with the resources they need to do their vital jobs, which is why we are publishing our provisional police funding settlement today and will continue to ensure that money is directed to the right places. We look forward to delivering on our commitment to recruiting more police officers in 2026.
Let me address some of the points made by the hon. Gentleman. He asked about my new year’s resolution; it will be not to make resolutions. He asked about parliamentary questions and other correspondence from Ministers. I do take those matters seriously, as he said; we constantly tell Departments that they need to up their game. However, he knows through his work—not least on the Modernisation Committee—that there is a deeper issue with PQs. Their number has increased enormously. Departments need to up their game quite frankly, but at the same time, we must think carefully about the number of PQs we are putting in and whether the system can cope with it. This has been a problem not just for this Government but for the previous Government, too.
The hon. Gentleman referenced Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”. Let me turn instead to “A Tale of Two Cities” and draw a comparison between 14 years of Conservative Government and 18 months of Labour Government. To paraphrase, “It was the worst of times, it is now the best of times.”