Speeches by Abrahams.

“My hon. Friend is being very generous with her time. Just before this debate, I met Antoine Renard, who made a point to me about the disinformation that is being spread about rotten food, and emphasised the importance of having trusted NGOs, a point my hon. Friend made earlier in her speech. Does she agree that we must…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her statement. No one doubts her, and her team’s, absolute commitment to addressing the root causes of the abuse and exploitation that so many women and some boys have experienced. In my contact with women this morning—I speak on their behalf—I heard that they are absolutely committed and und…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for her statement, and I recognise the complexity of the issues that she is facing. I was very struck by Lord Dubs’s description of his personal circumstances on the radio this morning. His father left Prague as soon as the Nazis invaded in 1939. Lord Dubs got Kindertransport—he was one of th…”

“I was delighted to see the establishment of the disability advisory panel a week or so ago. [Interruption.] I am so sorry, Mr Speaker; I have a cold. How will the advisory panel link with the co-production in the Timms review?”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and the extensive work that he, his team and his officials have done to secure the international coalition of allies in the recognition of the state of Palestine—although that has been very much undermined by the Israeli Cabinet and what it proposes in relation to the E1 a…”

“What specifically had you in mind, given that we have had a disability employment gap for well over 10 years?”

“On that very point, you will be aware that your Government still estimate that 50,000 newly disabled people, in April next year, will be pushed into poverty because of the reduction in the UC health element of the Bill. You spoke about getting more disabled people into work. Charlie Mayfield, who as you know is doing t…”

“I could not agree more. Everybody agrees that reform needs to happen; it is a broken system. But, as you mentioned right at the beginning, in your introduction, reform does not mean cuts to the incomes of already struggling households. We must do better. You mentioned reducing poverty; this actually had the potential t…”

“I am aware of the trailblazer examples. Those are pilots, with tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands that will be affected next April. I would like to point out that in my part of the world there is one job for a disabled person for every 333 disabled people chasing a job. It is slightly different in the sou…”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. Since you were last before us, my Committee published our interim findings from the “Pathways to Work” inquiry in May, in which we expressed our considerable concerns about the imminent UC and PIP legislation, and particularly about the change to eligibility for those benefits, which has…”

“I recognise the Foreign Secretary’s labours to get as many international allies on board and the importance of that, but clearly we must do more—this is not enough. Israel’s flaunting of international law and the devastating consequences of that—I understand that Israeli soldiers are reporting being told to kill childr…”

“I will speak to my amendment 2(b) and the amendments associated with it. Before I get to the substance of my remarks, I thank the Bill Committee Clerks for their invaluable advice and amendment-drafting expertise. I thank the dozens of disabled people’s organisations, disability charities, academics and think-tanks who…”

“I hope the hon. Member does not mind my intervening on him, but I want to pick up on the point he was making about people that come to this country and take benefits. Is he aware that during the pandemic, for example, people who have leave to remain were unable to avail themselves of any social security support as they…”

“Let us be clear: this will apply to newly acquired conditions in particular. My argument is that by delaying the changes, we can ensure that people with a newly acquired disability or condition can receive treatment and care quickly by making sure that the NHS ramps up its treatment process. I do not think it is ideal,…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I agree that we need a more compassionate system, but I also believe we need a system that is co-produced by the people who will actually be affected by a new assessment process. Yes, we need a system that is more compassionate, but I think that that will be bui…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend—we hosted a Football Families for Justice event a few months ago. Most people are not aware that not all footballers make thousands and thousands of pounds a week. This is the least that we can do to ensure that the pleasure that they have given us is responded to when they find themselves a…”

“I understand what my hon. Friend says. There is always a balance to be found with long-term financial decisions, but this is partly a political decision, so I point to the Pensions Minister to come up with a response. Do the Government propose to consult on the design of the mandation power and how to mitigate against …”

“Does the right hon. Member accept that he might be atypical among scheme members?”

“I want to make three points. First, we recognise that defined-contribution pension schemes have around £500 billion in assets under management. Around 20% of these assets are invested in the UK. That is down from 50% some 10 years ago. It is very welcome that the Government are focusing on this, so that we can ensure t…”

“No—I am sorry, but I will not get an extra minute. Pushing people into poverty will, in itself, worsen their condition. It will make it easier for people to live independently, including going to work, if they get money through PIP. There is still confusion about the PIP review. Will it be co-produced with disabled peo…”