Here are all the questions Theresa May dodged at her first PMQs

The Prime Minister did not fully answer a number of important questions

Jon Stone
Wednesday 20 July 2016 12:36 EDT
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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Theresa May took her first session of Prime Minister's Questions from the dispatch box today.

Though her performance was praised by pundits, the PM dodged a number of questions from MPs on a variety of subjects.

Here are the questions Ms May dodged, laid out in full alongside her answers.

Leaving the single market

Currently UK firms can import goods from EU without having to pay VAT
Currently UK firms can import goods from EU without having to pay VAT (Getty Images)

Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh asked whether Ms May was “prepared to reject staying in the regulated single market and offer instead friends in Europe a free trade very much in their own interest?”

Theresa May replied, without answering whether she would reject staying in the single market: “Can I assure him that as we look at the result of the referendum I am very clear Brexit does mean Brexit.

|”s he says we will make a success of it. What we need to do in negotiating the deal is to ensure that we listen to what people have said about controls on free movement but we also negotiate the right deal and the best deal on trade for British people.”

Scotland staying in EU

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is welcomed by European Parliament President Martin Schulz
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is welcomed by European Parliament President Martin Schulz (Reuters)

Angus Robertson asked: “The German Vice Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, has already confirmed how Scotland is able to remain in the European Union. Did the Prime Minister discuss that when she met First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh, and will she do everything to ensure that remain means remain for Scotland?

Theresa May replied by saying she had in fact discussed… a different issue: “I did discuss the arrangements in relation to the negotiations for the United Kingdom leaving the EU with the First Minister. I was very pleased that my first trip was a trip to Scotland and that I was very clear to do that so early in my premiership.”

Boris Johnson’s racial slurs

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves his home in London yesterday morning
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leaves his home in London yesterday morning (AFP/Getty)

Jeremy Corbyn asked Theresa May about her new Foreign Secretary: “The Prime Minister is rightly concerned – and she said this – if you’re black, you’re treated more harshly than if you’re white.

“So before appointing her new Foreign Secretary did she discuss with him his description of black people as picanninies and why he questioned the motive of the US question Obama on his part-Kenyan heritage?”

Ms May replied without mentioning Mr Johnson at all: “He refers to the remarks I made, and it is correct that if you’re black you will be treated more harshly in the criminal justice system.

“It’s exactly why as Home Secretary I dealt with the issue of stop and search, I was concerned to make sure that nobody should be stopped and searched on the streets of this country because of the colour of their skin.”

Honour killings

Brent Patrick Ahlers, 25, was afraid he'd lose his job as a security guard if he admitted what he did
Brent Patrick Ahlers, 25, was afraid he'd lose his job as a security guard if he admitted what he did (Tony Webster/Flickr)

Nusrat Ghani asked the Government to stop using the term “honour killings”: “Does the Prime Minister agree that such crimes are in fact acts of terror, not honour? Will she therefore direct her new Government to choose to lead and end the use of the word “honour” to describe these vile acts in order to stop giving any legitimacy to the idea that women are the property of men?”

Ms May did not say whether she would stop using the term: “My hon. Friend raises a very important issue, one that I think resonates across the whole House. She is absolutely right: extremism does take many forms. That is why, in the Government’s counter-extremism strategy, we are looking very widely across the breadth of issues of extremism, including tackling the root causes of some practices within communities, such as so-called honour-based violence. I absolutely agree with her that there is absolutely no honour in so-called honour-based violence. It is violence and a criminal act, pure and simple.”

Heathrow expansion

Protesters hold signs during a rally against a third runway at Heathrow last year
Protesters hold signs during a rally against a third runway at Heathrow last year (Getty)

Catherine McKinnell asked on the timing of a decision on whether to expand Heathrow airport: “The Prime Minister knows that Britain needs to be open for business, so will she do better than dithering Dave and give us a decision without delay?”

Ms May would not be more specific than “in due course”: “Our position on Heathrow has not changed. Obviously, there was the Howard Davies review, and further work has been done on the question of air quality around the proposals put forward. The Cabinet and the Government will take a decision, in the proper way, in due course.”

Immigration targets

The Home Office advert scheme urged illegal immigrants to 'go home'
The Home Office advert scheme urged illegal immigrants to 'go home' (PA)

Conservative MP Philip Davies asked: “Can the Prime Minister reassure them that when we finally do leave the European Union, she will insist on keeping her original promise to bring the immigration figures down to the tens of thousands?”

Ms May did not commit to keeping any such promise, instead saying she believed “sustainable” levels had to be reached in some way: “The vote that took place on 23 June sent a very clear message about immigration. It sent the clear message that people want control of free movement from the European Union, and that is precisely what we will ensure that we get in the negotiations that we will undertake.

“I also remain absolutely firm in my belief that we need to bring net migration down to sustainable levels, and the Government believes that that means tens of thousands. It will take some time to get there, but now, of course, there is the added aspect of the controls that we can bring in relation to people moving from the European Union.”

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