No final decision taken on Piddington migrant camp, says Labour Party chair
Labour Party chair and women’s minister Bridget Phillipson has said that “no final decision” has been taken on housing migrants at a former military base near Piddington in Oxfordshire.
On the safety of women there, she told GB News: “I do understand that because every woman has the right to feel safe within their community. No final decision has been taken, so this hasn’t yet been agreed.
“But there are questions of security, absolutely. I also believe that we should come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who carries out violence against women on our streets, in our homes. Every woman should have the right to feel safe.”
Asked what her message to the women of Piddington would be, Phillipson said: “My message is that I understand that the Home Secretary understands that she will look very, very carefully at all of this, but that no final decision has yet been taken.”
She was asked how women could be kept safe: “Well, that’s why security does matter. But as I say, there hasn’t been a final decision taken, and I believe that we need to tackle violence against women and girls wherever it rears its head, whoever is responsible for that.
“That’s why we’ve announced a lot of support to get cases into court more quickly, to get more support for victims, and to encourage more women to come forward.”
On welfare reform, she said the PIP system is not working: “I thought John Healey spoke really powerfully about the value of work, but also the devastating consequences for young people when they’re out of work. And we’ve got a million young people not in education, employment, or training. That is not just terrible for the country. It’s not just terrible because that ultimately costs a lot of money.
“The most fundamental point is that it denies young people the lives that they deserve. No young person leaves school at 16, 17, 18, and thinks what they want to do is spend the next few years in their bedroom. They end up in that situation.
“They can’t break that cycle, and that’s why Pat McFadden, our Work and Pensions Secretary, will be setting out big reforms to the welfare state so that it works better for young people, and that over time, absolutely, it does bring down the amount of money that we’re spending on failure, because it is a failure.”
She added: “We need to make sure that we are supporting people with health needs. Of course, we do, including disabled adults. But we’re clear that the system, the PIP system at the moment, isn’t working well.
“That’s why we’ve got a review of it underway, and we will be making it work better.”
