Speeches by Streeting.

“I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Today, across the UK, 350 young people aged 25 and under will take up smoking. It is a decision that the vast majority will later regret. They will try to quit again and again, but most will not be able to break their addiction. They will suffer strokes, diabetes,…”

“I must make progress, otherwise we will not hear from anyone else in this debate—and I think that it will be a debate. Taking action requires a reforming Government who are unafraid to take on the orthodoxies of both the right and the left. As I said, my right hon. Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary is today propos…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am afraid that one of my first experiences of death was watching my grandmother die a very long, slow, painful death from lung cancer as a result of a life of chain smoking. That is the consequence of this cruel addiction. People who start smoking come to regret it. They struggle t…”

“I am sure that the hon. Gentleman was not accusing me of misleading the House. The argument that he puts forward is used against all sorts of laws and prohibitions. Most people in this country are law-abiding citizens who follow the law. In my constituency today, there will be people dumping fridges and mattresses on s…”

“In that spirit, I will give way to the hon. Gentleman—and then to some of my hon. Friends.”

“The right hon. Member is right to make that distinction. As a stop-smoking tool, vaping has a part to play. For smokers, vaping is a better alternative—a route away from smoking. We do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we are interested in tackling is the scourge of youth vaping and the extent to …”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention, not least because of the expertise that he brings to the House as a clinician. We are well served by his expertise in debates on the health of the nation. Opposite me sit many opponents of the Bill and of the Government’s prevention agenda. I acknowledge that their…”

“That is a very helpful intervention because it gives me the opportunity to say thank you to my counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is a genuinely four-nations Bill, and through it, we have an opportunity to create a smokefree generation in every corner of our country. I say to people who have an …”

“I will certainly come on to the action that we are taking on vaping, and the case for it. I welcome the contribution that my hon. Friend has made in his first few months as a Member of this House. He brings enormous expertise and experience, particularly on health, which we very much value here in the Chamber. One choi…”

“We want to work in a genuinely collaborative and cross-party way, and I know that is true right across the House. As I look at the Opposition Benches, including Conservative Benches, I see long-standing campaigners for action on smoking and vaping. We want to listen and engage. I feel strongly about the matter, as does…”

“I will just respond to the point made by the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell). There is no liberty in addiction; there is no freedom in addiction. The logical extension of the libertarian argument the hon. Gentleman puts forward would be the end of the ban on indoor smoking. If we should take a live and let l…”

“I am grateful for the intervention, because I anticipate that there will be similar arguments made from the Opposition Benches, particularly from a right-wing libertarian perspective. I want to engage seriously with those arguments.”

“I recognise that there are people who have the freedom and the liberty to smoke today, the vast majority of whom, by the way, want to stop and struggle to do so. That is why we are announcing support to enable people to do that, with £70 million of investment in smoking cessation services. That is important, but for a …”

“I give way to the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am really proud of the impact that the last Labour Government made in reducing smoking harms and the prevalence of smoking in our country. That brings me on to the next point that I wanted to make. President Truman famously said that it is amazing what you can accomplish “if you do…”

“I was going to address that point later in my speech, but let me address it now. It is not often that a Government comment on leaks or welcome the events following a leak; I do not want to encourage future leaks, either. However, it is well known and a matter of accurate reporting, in this case, that we were considerin…”

“Before the election, we made it clear that investment and reform were needed in the NHS. The Chancellor announced the investment in the Budget, and since the general election we have confirmed the introduction of new league tables of NHS providers, with high-performing providers being given greater freedom over funding…”

“As my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care said, the wait for women with common conditions such as endometriosis is far too long. That is why we are taking steps to cut waiting times and stop the merry-go-round of repeat visits to the same clinician to get the same answer, until someone finally listens to what a…”

“I am grateful for the steps that my hon. Friend is taking to make representations on behalf of her local children’s hospice, both on the Floor of the House and outside the Chamber. I recognise the pressure she describes. We are determined to help hospices to overcome them.”

“Absolutely. That is a good example of why investment needs to be matched with reform to speed things up, improve productivity and get staff to the frontline, where they want to be.”