Speeches by Thompson.

“I want to turn to the information security review. To start, simply, do you agree with its findings and recommendations?”

“Just before the reshuffle; interesting.”

“At the tail end of July you wrote to the previous Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. I think you requested a meeting with him at that point. Did that meeting go ahead, and what were the outcomes? Were you reassured by what you heard?”

“Grand. As for the implementation of those recommendations thus far, can you comment on how far that implementation has gone so far and whether any of the 14 recommendations have not yet been implemented? How do you think it is progressing?”

“I must say I remain concerned, if I am honest, John, by a lot of the answers that we are going through today. A last question from me before I hand back: with hindsight, would you do anything differently?”

“Should there be?”

“As a migraine sufferer, I am afflicted about once a week by debilitating symptoms, which always include partial blindness, and sometimes include numbness in my fingers, nausea, brain fog, sensitivity to light and sound, a pounding headache and even an inability to speak—heartbreaking for a politician. I am very lucky, …”

“This evening, I am presenting a petition in the name of Samuel Wilson, who, on 16 December 2023, was murdered in Ilkeston by a man driving a van under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. This murder was possible because of a lack of appropriate anti-vehicle measures on Ilkeston marketplace. This petition has been led…”

“I thank all hon. Members in this evening’s debate, particularly those who secured the debate but also the many who shared their incredibly powerful stories. We have heard from several Members about the failures at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust to keep mothers and their babies safe. In 2019, my constituents …”

“I want to continue the conversation about the international picture and particularly US policy. Focusing on favoured nation pricing and potential pharmaceutical tariffs, Tom and Ben, respectively, how much is Trump’s policy affecting your thoughts about investment in the UK?”

“The other side of the coin to my previous question: looking again at the US, obviously Trump has made some quite significant cuts to publicly-funded research. Is that affecting your perspective on investment in the US?”

“I agree completely with my hon. Friend. Indeed, for years the east midlands has languished, as my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North said in her opening remarks, on the bottom few rungs of the table for regional transport funding. I am glad that times are changing, however. The Treasury’s £2 billion commitment to t…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for securing this debate. She knows my constituency well, and will be familiar with many of the issues that I will raise. Erewash is at the geographic and, dare I say, emotional heart of the east midlands— the halfway point between Derby and Notting…”

“On that very specific point, do you think that we as the UK are capitalising on that fact right now?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks, Mike. That is really clear. The one thing that I didn’t get out of it is how you think it might affect our ability as the UK to recruit world-leading researchers to UK institutions and universities.”

“That is all very positive, but I would like to ask the same question again, which is: what do you think China’s implication is for us? Do you think it represents an opportunity for them to take global precedence in this?”

“Thank you, Chair. Good morning, all. Thank you for coming in. I want to come back to the ODA cuts and the reductions generally, specifically in the context of the global picture. Obviously, we have seen massive rises in research power in China and a number of other countries. Most specifically, I want to look at China.…”

“No, thank you both very much. Thank you, Chair.”

“I was saying, throughout your career, how do you go about measuring the UK’s international influence, and are there any challenges about doing that?”