Extracts from Commons debate on the Budget - Oct 30
Wednesday, 31 October 2018 08:08
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con):...If there are to be cuts to
public health, the Government will have an even greater
responsibility to provide other levers in their public health
policy to reduce demand in the system. The Chancellor specifically
referred to wanting to reduce the tragedy of lives lost to suicide.
Unfortunately, at the same time, the delay in the reduction of the
maximum stake for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals means that
we have passed up on an important opportunity...Request free trial
(Totnes) (Con):...If
there are to be cuts to public health, the Government will have an
even greater responsibility to provide other levers in their public
health policy to reduce demand in the system. The Chancellor
specifically referred to wanting to reduce the tragedy of lives
lost to suicide. Unfortunately, at the same time, the delay in the
reduction of the maximum stake for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals means
that we have passed up on an important opportunity to address the
misery of gambling addiction. That is a hugely wasted opportunity.
Likewise, there is a missed opportunity to look at what has
happened in Scotland on minimum unit pricing to make sure we are
addressing some of the key drivers of public health problems. The
Government cannot duck that if we are to see cuts to the public
health grant...
(Sheffield Central)
(Lab):...The Chancellor missed another opportunity
to do the right thing by pushing back the start of the £2 maximum
stake for Fixed
Odds Betting Terminals to October 2019. That
delay means that people will die—people like my constituent, Jack
Ritchie, who took his own life aged just 24, having been, in the
words of his mum Liz, “groomed by gambling companies”. Jack began
gambling while at secondary school, playing on fixed odds betting
machines at the nearby bookies. We all know, and the Government
have admitted, that these machines are the “crack cocaine of
gambling”, with players winning or losing up to £100 every 20
seconds. So what is the Chancellor’s answer for Jack’s grieving
family, whose charity Gambling with Lives is to
be launched here in Westminster in a couple of weeks? What is the
explanation for the decision to push back the introduction of the
lower stake? The Budget has no answer for Jack’s family, who are to
be hugely commended for their work to try to prevent other young
people from getting to crisis point. It has no answer for the young
people who tell me that they have to get to crisis point before
their mental health problems will even begin to be addressed, and
it has no answer for my constituents who increasingly fear the
violent crime and antisocial behaviour that corrodes our
communities...
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