Speeches by Pakes.

“1. What steps she is taking to reform the leasehold system.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. He makes a powerful case for why our job today is to fix the Bill, not kill it. We should be passionate about the centrality and dignity of work. Unemployed young people in my constituency, and those who are disabled, are frustrated by a system that does not work, and they want …”

“I rise to support the removal of clause 5 and the associated amendments, and to comment on a few other amendments, based on what I have read and learned. Many things have been said in this debate, in the Chamber and outside, but it is undeniable that the system is not working for far too many people. We see a welfare b…”

“I put on record my thanks to the Secretary of State for his statement today, and to the Chancellor for the financial and economic work she has put in. Labour Members know that governing well is a team sport, and it is when people in government work together that we succeed best for the people we seek to serve. Despite …”

“Like most of us in this House, I am incredibly proud of the rich mix of communities that I represent. It was an absolute privilege last week to attend a meeting at the Faizan-e-Madina mosque alongside representatives from our cathedral, our chief of police, our fire services, the mosques and other faith and community l…”

“Thank you—you have saved me the embarrassment. It is a great privilege to speak in this debate alongside so many passionate advocates who want to get this reform right. I think all of us on the Government Benches, whatever our differences of opinion on a point of policy, came into this House to make a difference and fi…”

“I will give way.”

“On a long, hot, sweaty day like this, one of my hearing aids has collapsed in the middle of this session, so I am only half hearing you, Madam Deputy Speaker—you did call me, didn’t you?”

“As a member of a party that often debates clause IV, I welcome today’s news about clause 5, which I think addresses many of the concerns that hon. Members across the House, particularly on the Government Benches, have raised. There is an urgency to moving forward with the Bill and with change. Today’s system is broken.…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making an important point. I would, if possible, give my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability Duracell batteries to turbocharge his work in this area.”

“The Government are doing really important work on social justice and the environment, but my constituency is similar to my hon. Friend’s in terms of fuel poverty. Is he aware that, of the £300 million spent on the boiler upgrade scheme over the past few years, only 3% of grants in Cambridgeshire went to Peterborough, t…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I think this is my second Westminster Hall debate, so I am still learning the ropes. Let me put on the record my GMB membership and the support that it has given me; and my previous role, before the election, as deputy general secretary of the Prospect trad…”

“Q13. In the spending review last week, the Government backed Peterborough with support for our new pool and a sports quarter in the city. That commitment has the power to turn years of campaigning into a reality, but that is not all: the Government have also recently approved the business case for our new station and h…”

“My question is slightly different. I worry that your report so far, because it starts from the point you have described today as well, in the private model, does not give due regard to how other models could be accepted or provide alternative routes. It is about the purpose point of the sector.”

“There is a challenge within that. I fully understand that you want to get from where we are. The starting point you have inherited is a private model that has largely failed on a range of measures. We can pick individual metrics where different companies are league tabled, but the water system is failing. It is failing…”

“That picks up the point I was trying to raise with more focus, in the way the Chair can do it. I think there is a risk. Do you accept that there could be a risk that we have a report that is tinkering, given the dominance in the market of private regulated, whether it is listed or unlisted?”

“No, it is useful to hear your thinking. One criticism of the work you have done so far is that it focuses too much on the regulated, privatised model. I can see some elements of that on first reading. I ask it as an open question, but I can see where some of that criticism is coming from. It feels like, to some extent,…”

“I have a couple of questions to help tease out some of your thinking around ownership. With our work we have been doing, I very much agree that we have opened the box and seen that there is lots out there. One recurring theme that comes up a lot is around ownership of the water companies and what that means in terms of…”

“Can I ask you another question about what risks you think are posed by significant levels of overseas ownership of our water companies?”

“Can I ask you one final question, because I am conscious of the time, building on the theme? As a Committee, we believe that greater powers to vet or veto owners of companies may be necessary because this is a critical national infrastructure, even though that is slightly different in terms of security. What assessment…”