Michelle Donelan has defended the government’s support for the hospitality industry and stated she “did not enter politics to close pubs.”
The Chippenham MP appeared on BBC’s Question Time alongside immunologist Peter Openshaw, Sarah Jones of Labour, chef Tom Kerridge and writer Liam Halligan.
During the debate, which featured questions from a virtual audience in Bath, she was quizzed on the speed of England’s vaccine rollout, the effect of Brexit on the pandemic and on support to pubs across the country.
Twice she mentioned her own constituency of Chippenham, during discussions on the impact of coronavirus on the hospitality industry and while highlighting the efforts of the NHS.
Here is a run down of Miss Donelan’s comments on last night’s show:
Why are large groups of people allowed to visit shops and supermarkets and not pubs or restaurants?
Miss Donelan said: “Pubs have gone above and beyond to try and get covid secure and the impact on the hospitality sect has been awful, I’ve seen that in my own constituency with countless people having to be furloughed.
“Community pubs... these are the pubs that have massively been hit, that don’t serve a scotch egg.’@ChefTomKerridge says pubs and restaurants are under a “huge amount of pressure” after spending so much money on health and safety for Covid. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/hqFu49JLPL
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 3, 2020
“The £1,000 grant - we can’t target the focus on that because it is part of the bigger context.
“A pub that has to close at the moment also gets £3,000, they got up to £25,000 in the first tranche and there’s also the furlough scheme available.”
She added: “No politician wants to make these choices, I didn’t enter politics to close down pubs.”
How will logistical challenges impact the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine?
Miss Donelan said: “I can totally understand why people are concerned and nervous at this stage, because we’ve got this far and it’s good news.
“We’ve made it very clear as a government that this is a massive logistical challenge, but one that our NHS is up to
“This is the same NHS that has got us through this pandemic, these fantastic people including in my own constituency, who work tirelessly to support us.”
She added: “Hope and help is here but we certainly have got a long way to go.”
“In Scotland care home residents will have the vaccine from 14th December. What is it they’re able to do that we’re not able to do?”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 3, 2020
Fiona questions @michelledonelan about the distribution of the new Covid vaccine in England. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/nWdzerufs0
Question Time host Fiona Bruce then pressed Miss Donelan on why, in Scotland yet not England, care home residents have been promised the vaccine by December 14.
“What is it they’re able to do that we’re not able to do?” asked Ms Bruce.
Miss Donelan responded: “I think that approval is potentially forthcoming. We’ve said for a number of weeks that our priority is care homes and making sure vaccinations get in there as fast as possible, and we will be doing it as soon as we can.”
Can you justify tuition fees during the pandemic?
Georgia, a student in Bath, then spoke on the challenges faced by students across England.
She said: “The management within many universities has been rather abysmal in my opinion.
“We haven’t received the education we were promised, we haven’t received the recourses we’ve been promised, it’s been limited and everything been put on hold.
“As a student is rather worrying that I’m still paying obscene fees for minimal education.
“This has been a very difficult time for students”, stated Miss Donelan, who is also universities minister.
She urged students like Georgia to make a formal complaint to their university if they felt the standard of teaching was substandard.
She said: “We have set the minimum fees and if universities want to charge the maximum amount then we’ve been clear that quality and quantity has to be maintained and they have to ensure that education is accessible.”
Will Brexit slow import of vaccines into this country?
Miss Donelan said the government had done “endless preparations for every eventuality” when pressed by Ms Bruce on the subject.
What updates are there on the government’s debate with the EU over fishing rights?
Miss Donelan said: “When we had our Brexit referendum the key theme was taking back control of our money, our orders, our laws and our waters which means fishing rights.
“I don’t think it unreasonable that as an independent sovereign state we want to be able to have that control over our own waters and our fishing rights at all.
“We are not asking for something that’s unreasonable from the EU, or something they haven’t given to other nations.”
‘Whether we get a deal or not, we’re going to make a success of this.’
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 3, 2020
Conservative @michelledonelan says it’s “not unreasonable” for the UK to seek control over fishing rights in EU negotiations. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/PlpZj8UfKl
Ms Bruce presented that BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg had heard negotionas were going “less well” and that additional hurdles were being presented by the EU
Miss Donelan responded: “As you all know, Laura is not in the negotiations and neither am I, so I can’t give you a blow by blow account of what is happening.
“We'll find out over the coming days exactly what’s happening."
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