Speeches by Griffiths.

“The first question is what your analysis is. Do you agree with that hypothesis? Secondly, what are the Government doing about it?”

“We have had some of the answers to this, but I am not sure about the whole piece. Some of the problem is demand; some of the problem is supply. This is a question for Blair to start with. Could the problem not simply be that the price of capital in the UK is not compatible with the demand for it?”

“Do you feel like it is not necessarily a lack of ambition on their part, but a lack of connection to your local area?”

“That is a very good point. Do you think the British Business Bank has gone far enough to help businesses outside of London? Are the ambitions outlined in its new five-year plan big enough for the potential you see in your regions?”

“Are there other public finance institutions that you would and could be looking to, other than the BBB?”

“Paul, it is the same question to you. What do you see as the role for the BBB in helping to unlock regional equity? Are there other public finance institutions you would look to as well?”

“As a slight aside—I do not want to get too far down the rabbit hole—one of the real issues also is that, if you get the capital, do you actually have the skills locally to be able to create the return that you need?”

“Will the Minister give way on that point?”

“Are you going too fast with this?”

“There will be no businesses left by the time you get there.”

“There is certainly no mandate for either. If a Government wish to change something as fundamental as how we prove who we are, they need to be up front about it; they need to win consent for it. Attacks on our privacy and personal freedom must be debated in depth, not sneaked in through the back door. Over two thirds of…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Sir Edward. I am grateful to the Petitions Committee for granting this debate, which could not be more timely. People in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton have been talking to me about digital ID for months, and more than 5,300 have signed the petition. I w…”

“What does “finding costs in the rest of the energy system” mean?”

“Secretary of State, it is great to have you here. You have talked already about the words of despair that you have been hearing, but you have also said that you want to make things distributionally fair as you go forwards. I am vice-Chair of the Business and Trade Committee and—I am sure this is the case with many othe…”

“How do we measure you on that? How do we measure the success of that?”

“A key plank of the SNP’s dogmatic argument against new nuclear is cost. Will the right hon. Gentleman find a quiet moment—perhaps when the winds fall light and the turbines stop—to point out to them to reduced costs of small modular reactors?”

“15. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the potential for new nuclear power sites in Scotland.”

“For the benefit of everyone watching this, what do you mean by slab and slice?”

“Are you the only person who does not know?”

“They need to have a job to have security of income. I hear my Chair, and I know that the question he really wants me to focus on here is about business rates and whether it is time for a rethink by this Government on your approach to business rates and reform.”