Speeches by George.

““The Government is minded, on an exceptional basis, to work with you”—”

“It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for East Thanet (Ms Billington) and in particular her points about parish and town councils. In Cornwall, where we are completely parished and towned in that sense, they are an important vehicle for communication up from the community. They enable communities to articulate the…”

“”

“the local authority—”

““to explore designating the council as a Single Foundation Strategic Authority.””

“The Government are promising that they will not impose things without local consent. The other side of that argument is that local authorities in areas such as Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly want to press on with devolution much faster than the Government seem willing to allow. Will the Minister account for that in t…”

“I am grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are simply giving the example of Cornish devolution as one of the potential products should the Government not reject the opportunity for local authorities to be properly consulted, which is what is on the amendment paper this evening. That is the most important thing this evenin…”

““The local authority of the local government area does not have any specific responsibility for and stewardship of the rights of its population under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.””

“That would be a helpful vehicle for allowing the Government to recognise Cornwall’s special status and would, in our view, justify the transfer of combined mayoral authority powers to such locations.”

“I rise to present a petition on the future of the Penzance driving test centre. The metrics used by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency assume homogenised geographic uniformity, but we are at the end of a long thin peninsula. The DVSA offers a postcode search tool, which is irrelevant to areas like mine. Distress l…”

“As the Minister will be aware, we have already received correspondence from the Secretary of State in which he recognised the special status of Cornwall and the reason its integrity would be retained. This is very important. In a letter to the leader of the council on 26 November, the Secretary of State said:”

“The Minister objects. I am sorry but the small business rate relief is still available. The tax loopholes available are still there. Perhaps the Minister can put me right on that, if he wishes. The right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) is right that we need rent controls as well as the Renters’ Rights A…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) on her opening remarks. Other speakers have referred to the issues and difficulties that young people today are experiencing. They are not facing a storm but enduring a prolon…”

“I believe the Minister has until 10 past 3 if he wishes. He has not addressed the issue I raised regarding the counterproductive impact of the changes to the national planning policy framework, particularly for edge-of-community rural exception sites. A wholesale change of planning is happening. Those sites were origin…”

“I am not saying that the Government have done nothing, but the changes to furnished holiday lets and double council tax, for example, were actually introduced by the previous Government. The Minister has simply implemented them, which is welcome. I was simply talking about the massive, gaping tax loophole involving ind…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent case. I know that, in a moment, he will come on to the point that this contract is coming to an end. I am sure that it is being reviewed by the Government—the Minister will respond on that issue—but we are encouraging them to bring the contract to a close, for the reasons that my h…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent case. I know that, in a moment, he will come on to the point that this contract is coming to an end. I am sure that it is being reviewed by the Government—the Minister will respond on that issue—but we are encouraging them to bring the contract to a close, for the reasons that my h…”

“Will the Minister give way none the less?”

“rose—”