Speeches by Bance.

“Exactly. Could you, in this point, play a different role to unlock that chicken and egg?”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. My point continues to be that the signals that could be sent from Petroineos and from INEOS, making it clear, if at all possible, if the risk profile were correct, if the financials added up and if the regulatory environment were correct, that they were intending to make that investment su…”

“Will we get to the £3.5 billion that we need?”

“Are you able to share that or a version of that?”

“That is very official but I was talking about the regulatory requirements that are necessary. We will come on to money.”

“Is there a document that you can share with the Committee on these points? You mentioned that you had submitted a PID to the Treasury.”

“Okay. I know that you have said that you are just a member of the supply chain but you can voluntarily commit here to making sure that your employees have similar, if not the same, terms of redundancy as the Petroineos employees. Are you able to do that today?”

“Okay. Will you write to this Committee to tell us the terms you offer?”

“But you as an employer could decide voluntarily to include those employees in that guarantee. Why have you decided not to do that?”

“That is obvious nonsense given that you are a partner in the joint vehicle.”

“The burger van isn’t, is it?”

“Thank you. If I may, Chair, the PwC report said there will be over 2,800 potential impacts on the supply chain. What further action are you taking to mitigate that, perhaps in consultation with your partners in the relevant Governments and local authorities?”

“I want particularly to ask Mr Hardie and Mr Pritchard their view on the realism of the projects proposed in Willow. I have heard enthusiasm for the opportunities but that has not yet been matched by the sort of commitment that would give the community and the wider industry in the UK confidence that any or all of the p…”

“Staying with the defence industrial strategy, when will it be published? Will it be after the strategic defence review?”

“Will it give industry clarity on the capabilities that the Government want to onshore? What is your emerging sense of those capabilities?”

“This comes to part of the point of having both Ministers on the panel with us today. We want to make sure the defence industrial strategy contributes to the overall industrial strategy. We are awaiting the steel strategy. The extent to which Departments are able to work together on cross‑cutting agendas is becom…”

“Building on that, I have listed a number of the particular treaties and conversations that the UK is engaged in. We have a long-standing position on the upholding of labour rights around the world and yet in CPTPP Vietnam and Brunei don’t recognise independent trade unions, there are questions about forced labour in Ma…”

“There is CPTPP, negotiations are recommencing on the UK-India free trade agreement, the UK-China economic and financial dialogue has begun and the UK-Japan 2+2 framework is in place. How effective do you think the Department for Business and Trade is at turning talk and treaties into greater trade and investment? I wil…”

“Many of us in this place have fought alongside parents of severely disabled people, not least against our broken SEND system. Can the Secretary of State reassure those parents, who may be looking at the proposed changes to UC health eligibility for under-22s and feeling deeply dismayed right now?”

“I wanted to come back to Mr McDiarmid on that point. What would the former steelworkers say and what would the unions say to the point that this has been very well-managed, apparently?”