Wendy Morton MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Nov 2024 · Taiwan: International Status · Hansard source

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  I thank all hon. Members for their contributions, not least my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), who always brings such knowledge and expertise to the House. I welcome the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Alison Taylor). I congratulate her on making her making speech and thank her for sharing her passion for her constituency with us. It is apt that you are in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, because of your great knowledge of this policy area. Although we do not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, there is nonetheless a valuable and dynamic relationship between London and Taipei, underpinned by strong commercial, educational and cultural links. We also have a solid partnership in other important areas, including health, as we saw particularly during the pandemic. The work of the British Office Taipei and the Taipei Representative Office in London is highly commendable and benefits both of our peoples, for example with a wide range of exchanges and visits, including on environmental, educational and judicial themes. We also have a significant trading relationship, which we call on the Government to continue to promote. Trade in goods and services rose from £5.5 billion in 2014 to £8.3 billion in 2023, which is a substantial increase. We want more British businesses to benefit from Taiwan’s impressive economy and prominent trade and investment links with the wider region. Within the current structure of our unofficial relationship, there is more we can do to maximise the benefits to both of our peoples, and we will push the Government to do so. It is right that the UK continues to lobby in favour of Taiwan’s participation in international organisations where statehood is not a prerequisite. In her response, will the Minister update the House on the Government’s current plans on that front, including on the World Health Assembly and the World Health Organisation technical meetings? The Government must not overlook the risks Taiwan has to contend with. There have been some worrying early signs, which we want to see put right. Members on the Conservative Benches harbour concerns that the relationship Labour is carving out with Beijing is all give and no take. Today provides the Minister with an opportunity to dispel the widespread impression that this Government are making concessions with nothing in return. Labour has called in the application for a new super-embassy in London and is desperately performing verbal contortions on issues that should be very straight- forward, including the national security law in Hong Kong. We firmly believe that law should be repealed and we are not afraid to say so publicly. Will the Minister name a single area where measurable, tangible progress has been made in advancing critical British interests with China, whether on national security, economic practices or human rights? As far as I can see, we are yet to receive a convincing answer. We are very clear that what Labour must not do is sacrifice the UK’s voice on the threats facing Taiwan on the altar of closer relations with Beijing. We have already seen signs of naiveté. Within a day of the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Xi Jinping, which the Prime Minister hailed as an opportunity to bring about a “strong” and “consistent” relationship where “surprises” would be avoided, 45 pro-democracy campaigners were jailed in Hong Kong, following a very harsh application of the draconian national security law. It makes the Prime Minister’s boast that the UK would be a partner “committed to the rule of law” look rather hollow. The Prime Minister’s response to these entirely unjustified jailings and his inability to sufficiently publicly condemn them has raised eyebrows too. It has not gone unnoticed and we will not let that point go. The Government need to be much more clear eyed about the threats and challenges posed by China, whether in relation to Hong Kong or Taiwan. We are concerned by reports that the Foreign Office tried to exert pressure to postpone an inward visit by the former President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen. The FCDO has said it “does not recognise” the description of events set out in the reports, which in Westminster language means that it does not deny that this happened. Will the Minister give the House the explanation it expects? What actually happened? Will the Minister also confirm that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have explicitly raised serious concerns in their respective meetings with President Xi and Wang Yi about any activity that risks destabilising the cross-strait status quo? Did they say, in no uncertain terms, that we stand firmly against any unilateral attempts to change the status quo? For reasons that are well understood, we have a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan strait. It is our deep conviction that the tensions, which have understandably received a great deal of attention in this afternoon’s debate, should be resolved peacefully. That is what will best serve people on both sides of the Taiwan strait, as well as the Indo-Pacific region and the wider world. That peace and stability matters for the rules-based order, for trade and for the health of the global economy, and we should not shy away from saying that. We hope that people on the two sides of the Taiwan strait will renew efforts to resolve differences peacefully through constructive dialogue and not under a cloud of coercion or threats. Much of the debate on this subject revolves around the constitutional status of Taiwan and its relationship with China. Yet we should never lose sight of Taiwan’s domestic achievements in its own right, because they are deeply impressive: a flourishing and vibrant democracy, a strong judiciary and one of Asia’s most dynamic economies. Taiwan is also a vital manufacturer of semi- conductors, which is one of the most important pieces of tech in the world. For all those reasons and many more, we will press the Government to deepen and grow our relationship.

• 28 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Following my question in the Chamber last week, I received confirmation from the Transport Secretary that funding ringfenced for a new train station in Aldridge had been moved and put towards funding the Labour Mayor’s pet bus nationalisation project. With that in mind, will the right hon. Lady set aside time for a debate on the restoring your railways programme and city region sustainable transport settlements to enable us to have greater insight and scrutiny of the Government’s vision on transport? At the moment, they are clearly bypassing Aldridge.

• 28 Nov 2024 · Gambling Operators Levy: Society Lotteries · Hansard source

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  3. Whether she has had recent representations from society lotteries on the potential merits of zero-rating those organisations under any future statutory levy on gambling operators.

• 28 Nov 2024 · Gambling Operators Levy: Society Lotteries · Hansard source

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  I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Minister clearly recognises, as we all do, the contribution that society lotteries make to our constituencies through various organisations. Does she recognise that not-for-profit society lotteries will have to fund any levy due from their charitable return, which the sector, and I think many of us, feel amounts to a charity tax?

• 28 Nov 2024 · UK Leadership on Sudan · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. I welcome this statement not least because it provides an opportunity to highlight what is a humanitarian catastrophe. Yesterday, I was fortunate to meet representatives of the World Food Programme. From speaking to them and to others in the sector, I know how crucial it is that we continue to raise the importance of this issue and to keep the situation in our minds. This war, which is driven by a man-made power struggle, has already resulted in the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis. It is, as I said earlier, a humanitarian catastrophe. Any further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Sudan will have dire consequences. There are already 25 million people—half the entire population of Sudan—in urgent need of assistance. Eleven million people have had to flee from their homes, and 7 million need urgent food assistance. There are reports of systematic human rights abuses, including sexual violence, torture and mass civilian casualties. What has been happening in Darfur is also incredibly disturbing. The situation in Sudan is unconscionable. Red lines are being crossed in the prosecution of this conflict that countries such as the UK—the penholder on Sudan at the UN Security Council—cannot allow to stand. It is also firmly in the region’s interest for the conflict to come to an end and the humanitarian crisis to be addressed. Further destabilisation in the region caused by this conflict must be avoided. Sadly, we are all well aware of the knock-on effect in the surrounding countries. The UK has already invested a great deal of diplomatic energy into trying to bring about a cessation of hostilities and to press for unhindered, safe humanitarian access to Sudan. The previous Government also invested heavily in aid to Sudan to alleviate the suffering. I would like to take a second to pay tribute to my constituency neighbour, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), who is not in his place today, for the leadership that he has shown in response to this crisis and for his commitment in government to the people of Sudan. We understand that the new Government have announced further aid measures, which of course is welcome, but I would be grateful if the Minister could provide further details to the House on which trusted organisations she has partnered with for her emergency aid package. We note that she has said that the package will provide food, water, shelter and healthcare where it is most needed, but can she provide specific examples of the aid items she hopes it will deliver and at which areas of Sudan she envisages it being targeted? The Minister will no doubt be fully seized of the problem of getting aid into Sudan in the first place, let alone the challenges of distribution. Can she assure the House that everything possible is being done to ensure that this aid can be genuinely effectively distributed? What recent conversations has she had with partners to encourage other countries to provide support to the humanitarian response? Turning to the warring parties, our position remains that there must be an immediate cessation of hostilities. We understand that the resolution the Government introduced at the UN Security Council with Sierra Leone was thwarted by Russia. However, we would welcome a further update on other avenues the Government are actively pursuing, including backing the Jeddah process. The Government and our allies need to be working around the clock to press the warring parties into a ceasefire and to exert whatever pressure they can to see the lifting of arbitrary obstacles to humanitarian aid delivery. In conclusion, I am sure the Minister will agree that the status quo in Sudan is not sustainable and that it must change. The UK has a leadership role here. We must use it to its fullest extent.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  On the Government’s watch.

• 26 Nov 2024 · UK Soft Power · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. Whether it is the findings of the election monitors in Georgia, interference in the recent elections in Moldova, the illegal invasion of Ukraine, or the chill felt from the Baltics to Bucharest, Europe today is a much more contested space. This is the moment to pin our colours to the mast and be much more active in supporting those with Euro-Atlantic aspirations. How will the Minister build on the efforts of the last Government and use our considerable soft power to be much more proactive?

• 21 Nov 2024 · Rail Connectivity · Hansard source

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  At the last Transport questions on 10 October, I asked the Transport Secretary to confirm the status of the ringfenced funding for Aldridge train station. She promised to reply in writing. I followed this up with a letter. To date, I have received no response. The people of Aldridge deserve to know what has happened to the £30 million awarded to us for our new train station: can the Secretary of State tell us where it is, please?

• 21 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In a week when we have seen temperatures plummet to below zero, leaving pensioners in my constituency and across the country worrying about heating their homes, the Department for Work and Pensions has finally issued its impact assessment on the Government’s disgraceful decision to scrap the winter fuel payment. Can we have a statement on why the Chancellor took the decision to cut the winter fuel payment without knowing all the facts about pensioner fuel poverty?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) on securing this important debate, and thank all Members who have contributed. As the Conservative Government said throughout, an end to the conflict has to be a sustainable end. That starts with the release of the hostages, who remain in such cruel captivity more than a year since the appalling 7 October terrorist attacks, the deadliest in Israel’s history. As we have said from the outset, Israel has the right to defend itself in accordance with international humanitarian law. The suffering of the hostages is utterly intolerable for Israel and should be intolerable for any person—and any Government—who cares about human dignity and human rights. Let us be clear: Hamas could release the hostages now, immediately and unconditionally. I would be grateful if the Minister could update the House on what recent contribution the UK Government have made to the international effort to help to secure the release of those poor hostages, who remain in such terrible jeopardy. Will she also update the House on her department’s assessment of recent events in Qatar, and on what she believes the implications could be for the region? Innocent civilians in Gaza are suffering and they are desperate. They continue to be used as human shields by Hamas, who have no regard for their safety and welfare. Calling for more aid access is right and important, but helping to make it a reality is a different thing. The Conservative Government helped to identify different ways that aid could get in, and we appointed a special representative for humanitarian affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who was on the ground and had a remit to try to address the bottlenecks to the delivery of aid. We came up with clear proposals and put them to the Government of Israel, including on aid delivery through Ashdod and Erez, as well as Kerem Shalom and the Jordan land corridor. Israel made a number of significant and welcome commitments on those points, as well as on approving more types of aid. I would appreciate an update from the Minister on what recent engagements she has had with Israeli counterparts on the fulfilment of those vital commitments in recent days and weeks, and confirmation of whether she has identified any additional routes for aid delivery since she came into office. The previous Government also worked with the US and Cyprus to set up a temporary pier off Gaza for aid delivery, and conducted airdrops—solutions not without logistical challenges, but which were none the less viable. Delivery by land is clearly optimal, but have the Government explored any alternatives to help to bolster the UK’s aid effort? Of course, the type of aid that is delivered is also crucial, and it is important that all bases are covered. We supported UNICEF to assist more than 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and carers with wider emergency services. On sexual and reproductive healthcare, we gave £4.25 million to support the UN Population Fund’s efforts to reach 110,000 women with up to 100 community midwives, 20,000 menstrual hygiene kits and 45,000 clean birth delivery kits. We also delivered 8,400 shelter coverage kits and funded a field hospital, treating thousands of patients. We funded 2,000 tonnes of food for distribution by the UN World Food Programme. As humanitarian need evolves in Gaza, how is the Minister proactively ensuring that the UK’s aid offering evolves in kind, and what discussions is she having with our trusted aid partners to that end? Getting aid over the border in the first place is one thing; ensuring that the aid delivered matches need is another. There is also the question of safe distribution of aid in Gaza. Specifically on that point, can the Minister confirm that ensuring effective deconfliction is a top priority in her discussions with Israel about the humanitarian situation in Gaza? I would like to touch on UNRWA, because we are following developments in the Knesset very carefully. We want more aid to reach innocent civilians in Gaza, because the humanitarian situation is severe, including, of course, in the north of Gaza. But we also recognise that UNRWA must rebuild trust and confidence following the appalling allegations that staff were involved in the horrific attacks on 7 October 2023, and the dismissal of nine UNRWA staff following the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation into those allegations. It is critical that UN bodies ensure adequate vetting of personnel and activities, and UNRWA needs to work hard to prove that it is getting that right. Catherine Colonna’s reforms need to be implemented in full. There has to be confidence that processes have changed, so that that never happens again and neutrality can be assured. I am aware that the Government have put resource towards UNRWA reform, but that needs to deliver tangible and measurable results, so can the Minister update the House on what progress UNRWA has made on implementing the Colonna reforms, and specifically whether she believes that progress has been sufficient? More broadly, we need to ensure that we are working with every relevant UN agency and trusted partner—including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme and others—to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health and shelter needs in Gaza. The situation is certainly tense in the west bank. Although Israel must protect its vital security interests, we urge the Israeli authorities to do so in a way that minimises the risk of further instability or escalation. More broadly, in government we encouraged Israel to release frozen funds, to halt settlement expansion and to hold to account those responsible for extremist settler violence. We also strongly urged the Palestinian Authority to implement very much-needed reforms, including on education and welfare, and to set out a pathway to democratic progress. To conclude, the Conservatives remain committed to peace and stability in the middle east. We ultimately want to be able to lift people’s eyes to a brighter future and a regional peace.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the Budget debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on making her maiden speech, and wish her well. Last Wednesday, we sat in this Chamber to listen to the Chancellor’s Budget of broken promises, and as each day has gone by, we have witnessed the mask slip from this Labour Government. Even before the Budget, we saw the Chancellor start to set out her stall with the callous cutting of the winter fuel allowance, and just this week Labour has attacked students with a monumental hike in tuition fees—a tax on aspiration and on young people and their hard-working families. As the week has gone by, we have seen the Budget unravel as manifesto promise after promise has been broken. I have constituents —from pensioners and farmers to businesses, charities, community organisations, GPs and many more—coming to me with anxiety and worries. My local farmers are devastated. Promises made to them have been broken with no consultation, giving them no opportunity to plan. The Government have shown that they are no friend of the farmer, the producer of our food and the guardian of our countryside. Farmers have gone from food heroes during covid to being abandoned in the cold. The Government seem to have failed to grasp that family farms are not only farms; they are much more. Family farmers invest in their businesses for the long term, for the next generation. The Government need to keep their promises, reverse the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief, and abolish what I and others now term the family farm tax.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  And on charities.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. Small businesses also face a tax on aspiration and entrepreneurship. Inheritance tax will be the death of enterprise. The increases to employer national insurance and the minimum wage will stymie growth and investment. Inflation looks set to be higher than growth under the Chancellor’s measures. In fact, far from this being a Budget for growth, the measures set out by the Chancellor will be a hindrance. If we put all this together, who does it hit? Working people. Even the Chief Secretary to the Treasury admitted that on TV. Think, too, of the jobs for working people that will be lost, or never even created, thanks to the Budget of broken promises. This is a Budget that punishes pensioners, destroys our countryside, chases after our motorists, denies working families and their children choice over education, and saddles young people with more student debt. It is a Budget about ever-increasing spending, ever-higher taxes and an ever-expanding state. Prosperity has never been the result of the state handing out more taxpayer money; it has come from empowering businesses, entrepreneurs and families, and it is about enabling opportunity. Once upon a time, Labour would have been thought of as the party of working people, but not now. Far from fixing the foundations, it is digging an even bigger hole.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Small Boat Crossings · Hansard source

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  My constituents want to see an end to the small boat crossings and an end to the use of hotels for asylum seekers—as pledged in the Government’s manifesto. Will the Minister undertake to ensure that, where hotels have seen asylum seekers moved out, more are not put back in?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. Over the years, I have met a number of constituents who have endured the pain of a loved one being killed or seriously injured in a road traffic collision. Last week, I met representatives of RoadPeace West Midlands again. Ahead of the world day of remembrance for road traffic victims on Sunday 17 November, will the Justice Secretary commit to personally look at the “Remain and Report” campaign and to bring forward the promised consultation?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Flight Cancellations · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) highlighted, reliable regional connectivity matters. When the Minister is looking at public service obligation routes, will he consider also looking at the transparency of the data coming out of those routes, at reliability, and at penalties for failure? It cannot be right that somebody gets the additional stress of a cancelled flight when they are trying to get to a hospital appointment.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Foreign National Offenders · Hansard source

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  Some 12% of the prison population in England and Wales are foreign national offenders, so what specific action is the Justice Secretary taking to remove FNOs from our prisons and return them to their countries, including through the use of the prisoner transfer agreements that were put in place by the previous Government?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Foreign National Offenders · Hansard source

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  19. What steps she is taking through the criminal justice system to facilitate the removal of foreign national offenders from the UK.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Children’s Hospices: Funding · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) for introducing the debate. We all agree that children’s hospices do absolutely amazing work, including Acorns in Walsall, which is a lifeline to families in my constituency. Much of its work goes unnoticed by many, but not by those who rely on their services—the children, the families and the siblings. With that in mind, I pay tribute to Councillor Kerry Murphy who, at a recent meeting at Walsall council, gave an incredibly moving and emotional speech, touching on her own personal experience as a carer, a mum and a wife who relied on the services of Acorns hospice. Whether it is accessing short breaks for respite, help for accessing the right services or support for the loss of a child, children’s hospices are a crucial source of support for seriously ill children and their families. It costs around £11 million every year for Acorns to run its care services, and only a small percentage of that is funded by Government. That money currently comes through NHS England. Children’s hospices, as we have heard this morning, are left increasingly reliant on their charitable income and reserves to provide that vital care and support. Thanks to the commitment, determination and ingenuity of the Acorns team, it has increased its fundraising efforts, with a whole programme of activities, including its shop in Aldridge, but it is not sustainable to expect such reliance to continue. If the Government fail to maintain the existing £25 million NHS England funding for the children’s hospice sector, families and children will suffer. They will miss out on the extraordinary care and support that they need and rely on. Their child will miss out; their siblings will miss out. I really fear that if this funding issue is not addressed properly, as we have heard this morning, our hospices will face some of the toughest decisions, which none of us would like them to have to face. That cannot be right. We have a responsibility to the sector, which needs clarity and commitment from the Minister, and I hope we will get that today. It needs the certainty of sustainable funding, starting with a return to NHS England distributing the grants centrally in ’25-26. With care costs growing rapidly, the £25 million must be maintained and increased. I will make a further point on the role of the ICBs. We know that ICB funding for children’s hospices is patchy and variable and nowhere near the level that is really needed. Greater accountability and transparency are required, so I urge the Minister to listen to the hospice sector and recognise that its strong preference is for the funding to go through NHS England. I am conscious of time, but I urge the Minister to listen to us and to maintain, ringfence and centrally distribute the budget beyond ’24-25, with increases at least at the rate of inflation.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Children’s Hospices: Funding · Hansard source

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  If funding for children’s hospices is to go through ICBs—I hope the Minister will take account of the sector’s view—what assurance can he give us that it will actually go to the children’s hospices? I fear that if we are not careful, we will pit one healthcare sector or charitable sector against another, and that would not be in anybody’s interest.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Recent events at the West Midlands Fire Authority, regarding failures of governance, leadership, financial discrepancies and staff grievances, highlight deep-rooted and troubling problems, and I am afraid there are too many unanswered questions. Will the Government ensure that there will be an independent and transparent public inquiry, so that the West Midlands Fire Authority meets the obligations and standards that my residents, and people across the west midlands, rightly expect and deserve?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The last Conservative Government ringfenced funding to the West Midlands Combined Authority for the delivery of a train station in Aldridge. Can the Secretary of State confirm that that is proceeding as planned and will be delivered by 2027, or has she signed away our ringfenced funding in favour of a wider Transport for West Midlands budget in order to support the Labour Mayor’s ideologically driven plan for bus nationalisation?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. Across Aldridge-Brownhills, we have some fabulous girls’ football teams and the excellent Walsall Wood ladies football club at Oak Park active living centre, no doubt inspired by the Lionesses. The last Government committed funding to support women’s and girls’ football. Can the Minister confirm that that funding will continue?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I remain deeply concerned about the pensioners in my constituency who will not be entitled to the winter fuel payment this winter—we are now into October. Given that we now know that just 14% of pensioners in absolute poverty receive pension credit, how can the Minister justify her Government’s claim that they are focusing support on those in the greatest need?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  18. What estimate she has made of the number of pensioners in poverty who will not be entitled to the winter fuel payment in winter 2024-25.