Andy Burnham: The sad context for today’s debate is that far from coming back together as a country since the referendum, we are probably more divided than ever. The blame for that lies not with the public, but with the way in which Parliament and the Government have responded in the six months since. In the referendum, the public were issuing a sharp rebuke to the political class, which they feel does...
Andy Burnham: The hon. Gentleman used the phrase “the enemy” and he needs to clarify what he meant by that. I do not think it helped to raise the tone of this debate. The Government’s politically inept approach of saying that they can keep the public in the dark has, first, bred suspicion among remain and leave voters alike, making them think a fix is going on. Secondly, it has cast the negotiation...
Andy Burnham: I will make some progress. Today needs to mark the beginning of a new phase in the Brexit debate. It is time to move beyond the re-running of the referendum arguments and accept what people voted for. The 700,000 people in Greater Manchester who voted to leave, many of them lifelong Labour voters, voted for change on immigration. I am clear about that, and it has to be our starting point in...
Andy Burnham: I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that he speaks to the public and listens to what they had to say during the referendum campaign. If he is saying that they were not voting for change on free movement and immigration, I am afraid that he simply was not listening to them. I have long argued for a change in the system of free movement to reflect people’s concerns. As it stands, it is not...
Andy Burnham: That is precisely the issue that neither Europe nor, let us be honest, this Parliament was addressing. Free movement was being used to undermine skilled wages and we did not do enough about it. We have to be honest about that. People in my constituency want to continue to welcome people here who contribute to our society, but they want an immigration system that affords greater control and...
Andy Burnham: Ahead of the Christmas recess and what seems likely to be a dangerous winter in the NHS, is there not an overwhelming case for the Government to come to the House in their own time to explain what is happening with the funding of social care? Councils had been led to believe that there would be an announcement in the autumn statement and they were left stunned, as were Members on both sides...
Andy Burnham: Will the Minister give way?
Andy Burnham: rose—
Andy Burnham: Like my hon. Friend, I have a very vibrant WASPI group in Leigh. Does she know that today the Secretary of State described the Government’s treatment of WASPI women as fair? How does she think her constituents to whom she refers will react to that?
Andy Burnham: The Secretary of State talks about those in need as though the WASPI women are not in need, but of course many of them are. He has talked about resources, but what price justice? What price doing the right thing? These are the women who brought us up, who now care for older relatives and who are the mainstay of their communities. They are not some militant group. At a time when this House has...
Andy Burnham: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way again. I hear what he is saying about people working, but it is difficult for many older women in this position to run a car. It is something that they often cannot afford, yet free bus passes are not available in all parts of the country. They are available to women at 60 in London, Scotland and Merseyside. People’s ability to access...
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hardship payments have been issued by his Department to people living in Greater Manchester in each year since 2012.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Greater Manchester have been classified as under occupying their homes in each year since 2012.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker's allowance claimants in Greater Manchester have had their benefits suspended in each year since 2012.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications for asylum seekers housed in Greater Manchester have been refused in each year since 2010.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tenants in Greater Manchester were evicted through the courts in each year since 2010.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish new measures to improve air quality as required by the High Court judgement of 2 November 2016; and what progress her Department has made on reviewing the case to make Greater Manchester a clean air zone.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many schools are located within (a) one mile and (b) five miles of the (i) Bury Whitefield Roadside and (ii) Manchester Piccadilly air quality monitoring sites.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people live within (a) one mile and (b) five miles of the (i) Bury Whitefield Roadside and (ii) Manchester Piccadilly air quality monitoring sites.
Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital due to a respiratory condition in each age group in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) England in each year since 2009-10.