Sajid Javid: Those responsible will be held to account
In further comments to MPs regarding the report from Donna Ockenden, Mr Javid said those responsible for the failures at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, will be held to account.
He added: “I’m sure the House will understand that it’s not appropriate for me to name individuals at this stage.
“However, I’d like to reassure MPs that a number of people who were working at the trust at the time of the incidents have been suspended or struck off from the professional register, and members of senior management have also been removed from their posts.
“There is also an active police investigation, Operation Lincoln, which is looking at around 600 cases.
“Given that this is a live investigation I’m sure MPs will recognise I’m not able to comment further on that.”
Health Secretary Sajid Javid makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, following the publication of the Ockenden report in the catastrophic failings within the maternity unit at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.
/ PASajid Javid offers apology following Ockenden report
Speaking in the House of Commons, he said: “We entrust the NHS with our care, often when we’re at our most vulnerable. In return we expect the highest standards.
“I have seen with my own family the brilliant care the NHS maternity services can offer. But when those standards are not met, we must act firmly and the failures of care and compassion that are set out in this report have absolutely no place in the NHS.
“To all the families that have suffered so gravely, I am sorry.
“The report clearly shows that you were failed by a service that was there to help you and your loved ones to bring life into this world.
“We will make the changes that the report says are needed at both a local and national level.”
PM quizzed on visas for Ukrainian refugees
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has accused the Home Office of putting “paperwork ahead of people” after it emerged just 25,000 visas had been given to Ukrainian refugees.
He asked why a “traumatised Ukrainian mother and child must first fill out a visa form”.
Mr Johnson replied by claiming the number of Britons offering a home to Ukrainian refugees was “incredible” and said the UK had been “generous” in taking people fleeing Afghanistan and Hong Kong.
PM appears to mock Blackford’s weight
Mr Johnson appears to mock Mr Blackford’s weight for the second time in the Commons.
Just two months after mocking his weight at the despatch box, Mr Johnson describes him as “a living testament to the benefits of moderation.”
Sunak got ‘Spring statement badly wrong’, says Blackford
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, says that families across the country will be worrying about paying their energy bills.
“At the same time last night, Tory MPs were gathering across the street for a champagne bash.
“We know that the Tories partied during lockdown. And now they are partying through the cost of living emergency.
“Last week the Chancellor got his Spring statement badly wrong. Since, the PM has been busy briefing against him that more needs to be done.”
‘Why haven’t you resigned’, Sir Keir asks PM
Sir Keir asks the PM why he has not resigned after the Met Police fined 20 government officials over partygate.
He notes that Mr Johnson had previously told the Commons that no rules had been broken during lockdown – a possible contravention of the ministerial code.
“Either he’s trashing the ministerial code… or he’s claiming he was lied to by his own advisers and didn’t know what was happening in his own office,” he says.
“He really does think that it’s one rule for him and one for everyone else.”
Responding, Mr Johnson claims Sir Keir “wants to take the country back into the EU” and repeats his familiar line that the UK wouldn’t have left lockdown under a Labour government.
Starmer presses PM
Sir Keir asks why the government has not chosen to tax energy companies amid the cost of living crisis.
The PM claims the party is “having to make good on historic mistakes of the Labour party by investing in sustainable energy supply.”
“They are the party of excess oil and gas profits. We are the party of working people,” Sir Keir responds.
Starmer brands Sunak ‘utterly cynical’
Sir Keir says the Chancellor is “utterly cynical” for choosing to slash tax by one per cent ahead of the next election despite raising taxes amid the cost of living crisis.
Responding, the PM says Sunak took “tough decisions” throughout the pandemic and “protected” British people.
“If we’d listened to Captain Hindsight we wouldn’t have come out of lockdown, with the result that the UK economy wouldn’t be growing the way it is,” he adds.
