Michael Fabricant raised school funding in Staffordshire with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and then the UK’s relationship with Iran with the Defence Secretary on Parliament’s first day back after the House of Commons recess.

Education

Michael Fabricant asked: My Right Honourable Friend will know, coming from the West Midlands, that Staffordshire, historically, has been one of the most underfunded counties per pupil. I ask him: how are his changes going to affect counties like Staffordshire, and other schools in the F40?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sajid Javid) replied: My Honourable Friend is right to raise this, and he has been a champion of fairer funding for schools, especially in the West Midlands, and I do agree with him on the importance of this issue. That is precisely why in the spending round, we made an exception for schools by having a three year settlement, which will mean by 2022/23, there will be a £7.1 billion increase for schools throughout England, which will help to bring fairer funding.

Commenting after Michael Fabricant said “As far back as the 1990s I raised the inequality of the school funding formula with John Major and then Tony Blair.  At long last the Government has listened and Staffordshire school children will be the main beneficiaries.  The County has been under funded compared with other counties for far too long.”

Iran

Michael Fabricant asked: My Right Honourable Friend has already mentioned the 14 attacks which have occurred since October in Baghdad. But is he aware that the US Department of Defense have estimated that over 600 US servicemen have been killed by Iran or their proxies? What estimate has he made of the number of British servicemen who have been killed, and does he not agree with me that when there is an imbalance, and people defend either the actions of Iran, or attack the United States, it simply gives comfort to Tehran?

Defence Secretary (Ben Wallace) replied: My Honourable Friend makes the point about the deaths of United States personnel, and we should not forget, and we should pay tribute to the 179 UK defence personnel who died in operations in Iraq, and the 454 who died in operations in Afghanistan. He will remember like me that many of the tragic deaths in Iraq of UK personnel happened in Basra, where the Shia militia were supported and instigated by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Michael Fabricant now says “I have been sickened by the anti-American bile and pro-Iranian propaganda spouted by Jeremy Corbyn and some other Labour MPs.  The United States showed considerable restraint when since October last year there have been 14 separate attacks on the British and American compound in Baghdad by Iran and its proxies.  And General Soleimani who was one of the instigators of this has blood on his hands as he was one of those responsible for the murder of thousands of Iranians, Iraquis, Yemenites, Lebanese and Syrians.  It is Iran’s regime that we should condemn – not the United States.”