Oral QuestionDepartment of Health and Social Care

What steps he is taking to improve maternity services in the North West.

Tabled: 8 July 2026Answered: 14 July 2026

Asked by

Mrs Elsie Blundell

LabourHeywood and Middleton North

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Answer from Hansard

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)

No. I gently point out to the hon. Gentleman the difficult economic inheritance that his party left this Government to sort out. We are determined to walk towards all the tough decisions his party refused to face up to in government. If he is against the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, he needs to say how he will fund the investment we announced yesterday in the aerospace and automotive sectors, and how he would fund the extra investment that we will make in the NHS and other public services.