Speeches by Thompson.

“Q14. Whether it is crevasse on the island outside Asda in Long Eaton or the array of tyre poppers on Quarry Hill Road in Ilkeston, every day my inbox is filled with complaints about potholes that Conservative-led Derbyshire county council has failed to fix. Given that the Government have poured £1.6 billion of extra fu…”

“I welcome that the Minister has kindly confirmed today that the Casey review will be published in May. Given that it will explain the next stages of the process, and while she obviously cannot preface the review, could she elaborate on whether she expects the review to include a framework for conducting the local inqui…”

“My hon. Friend talks eloquently about how students would be affected if the Bill were passed. It is also important that academic staff can move fluidly between institutions, but that movement should be managed nationally, not locally or regionally. Does she agree?”

“I beg to move, That the House sit in private. Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 163). The House proceeded to a Division.”

“My right hon. Friend talks about the risk of introducing internal borders within the UK. Can he elaborate on whether he thinks it at all possible under our current system of governance and policing to police any such borders?”

“You talked about moving from A to B; it is clear that you are setting goals for this four-year term. How will you make sure that you meet those goals and reach point B? What happens if you do not do that by the end of the term?”

“The head of the Innovate UK board is broadly considered independent from Government. How important do you think that independence is, and how would you, in the role, ensure that that independence is maintained?”

“That is really interesting. Let me move on to impartiality and independence, which are very important in this role. As we have heard, your CV is very impressive. You have quite a lot of different interests and broad areas you are involved in. Do you foresee any conflicts of interest, particularly in relation to some of…”

“Good morning, Tom. Thank you for joining us. I understand that you have already said you would not seek re-appointment at the end of the term you are potentially signing up for. Why is that?”

“A few weeks ago my barber, Ev, sent me a DM. It was a video from three lads in Ilkeston in my constituency, and it was going viral. Owen, Harrison and Roy were talking about how life was for them as teenage boys in 2025. They talked about not having anything to do, about the youth clubs having shut down, and about gett…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. I was recently in discussion with the managing director of a local small and medium-sized enterprise based on Merlin Way in Ilkeston in my constituency. He expressed great frustration at the barriers to growth that his firm experiences with planning, high build…”

“The Minister talks about the dichotomy between Nottingham and Derby. As the Member of Parliament for Erewash, which sits at the halfway mark between the two, I felt obliged to come in at this point. I have seen at first hand the massive improvements that the Labour administration has made at Erewash borough council in …”

“4. What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the development of a new UK industrial strategy.”

“Does the Secretary of State agree that the UK industrial strategy is of deep importance to residents of Northern Ireland, as it is to residents of Erewash, where we are currently in the process of redeveloping New Stanton Park to form a new industrial future from the rubble of our famous former ironworks?”

“That is very kind, and I thank my hon. Friend very much for his intervention. If he wishes, I have a 97-slide lecture that I would be more than happy to deliver afterwards.”

“I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and I am happy to explain. Those particular forms of measurement are not in common use any more, but of course many right hon. and hon. Members of this House will have grown up with them. Broadly, the ones that are still in use are defined in the modern pa…”

“Certainly. It is not a new word as far as I am concerned; I believe it was brought into common parlance in the Victorian era. I will move on to some more examples. There is the James Webb space telescope—something more modern than the pyramids. It takes images of our universe more than 13 billion light years away that …”

“As the Secretary of State said earlier, I believe I am the first metrologist to be elected to this House in history, so it gives me great pleasure to rise to debate the Bill. I took the liberty of checking Hansard and until the Secretary of State used the word earlier, I was the only Member to have ever used the word “…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“My right hon. Friend is giving an important introduction to the Bill. Does he agree that international alignment in the standards we are discussing on scientific matters is essential for the smooth operation of modern advanced manufacturing?”