Speeches by Gardiner.

“We know how much land there is in the UK, and we know the extent of our inland waters and seas, so we can know how much we have to do to protect them, as we are required to do by target 3 of the global biodiversity framework. Target 2 of that framework requires us to restore 30% of degraded land, but the Government hav…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered Government plans to tackle air pollution. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. There is no safe level of air pollution. I will say that again: there is no safe level of air pollution. Of course, life is not risk-free. Every year, almost 250 people die …”

“I give my condolences to the Hollis family for the tragedy they have suffered. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the electrification of the bus system must go further and faster, but it is not just a London problem, as he knows: it affects areas across the country. It is absolutely vital that we roll out the elec…”

“How did I know that my right hon. Friend would be introducing that subject? I excised it from my speech because I knew he would. He is absolutely right, and he will have seen the assessment that came out just 10 days ago, which said everything he and I have been saying about the pollution caused by the third runway exp…”

“Sitting adjourned.”

“My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and he is absolutely right. The heat dome that we have been experiencing interacts with pollution and gives us extra ozone and causes huge health problems. I do not know—perhaps the Minister can tell us, if his officials are on the ball on this—just when the number of excess dea…”

“I just thought I had a wee bit of time.”

“Okay. I will be very brief, and I will not give way. I really enjoyed it when the shadow Minister was on the Environmental Audit Committee with us. He made a very valuable contribution then, but he lost his way when he went over to the Front Bench. How can he at the same time extol the £27 billion that will be brought …”

“It has been a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford. Thank you for giving me the nod earlier to curtail my remarks. It only goes to prove that we do not need to say everything: often, we think—at least I do—that we need to get everything in, but what was lovely about this debate was that I did not manage t…”

“Can I give way in a winding-up speech?”

“For 28 of the 29 years that I have been in Parliament, I have campaigned for leasehold reform. I was instrumental in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 and on the Bill Committee during the passage of the 2024 Act. I welcome the Select Committee’s report and pay tribute to the Chair of the Committee, my hon. F…”

“You did not see the announcement?”

“I want to be clear that I understand you, because it seems to me that this is framing up into a recommendation the Committee might make. At the moment, you have a problem. The problem is heat and you need to cool things down, so you are spending money and resources dealing with that problem, that heat. Why would it not…”

“So that is a recommendation that you would like to see in this Committee’s report.”

“Thank you. Should heat reuse for data centres be mandatory?”

“Mr John, you must have been feeling like Billy No-Mates down there, so let’s turn to you. I think you were here for the first panel, so you will have heard the discussion about the increase in a city’s heat, of between 2° and 9°, that my colleague Julia Buckley was talking about. Why are we not capturing that?”

“Good—give me the caveats.”

“Mr Chanda, if we were playing basketball, I would say, “Slam dunk.” Thank you very much.”

“Thinking of these things in territorial terms, that means actually complying with our NDCs and our targets. We do have our net zero target. Mr Eaton, you have painted a very rosy picture. Last week, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government gave permission for a data centre in Bedfordshire to…”

“But if the figures that I gave you are correct, do you not think that that presents certain problems for the way in which the Government goes about managing the sector?”