Speeches by Coleman.

“I take from that that it may be the case that, if they are not doing what is needed, and we require legislation to force them to do what is needed, babies are unlikely to get the protection they need from baby food until after the next election.”

“That is very positive, but your timeframe says that it will be only after 18 months that you issue these progress reports. If they have not done what is needed—I hope that they will do what is needed—we are only then going to consider legislation. Given the time that that will take to prepare and go through Parliament,…”

“Okay, so that may include legislation.”

“By “mandatory measures”, you mean that you are prepared to consider legislation.”

“Will you be issuing a report on marketing and labelling as well?”

“Thank you very much for coming today, Minister. I would like to ask about the Government’s plans to protect babies from much of the dangerous baby food out there at the moment. It is quite clear that too much of the baby food in our shops is over-sweetened, over-salted, innutritious, unnecessary mush that is actually c…”

“I hope that all the healthy carrots you put in place work, and that you will not need to bring in a stick.”

“That is brilliant, honestly. I thought the announcement this morning was terrific. I think we all here welcome what you are doing. It is a fantastic to have a Government who are actually taking these things seriously, finally. On the supermarkets having to have mandatory targets on healthy food, what is going to happen…”

“So it is something the parliamentary standards committee might want to look into. Good. Well, I wish you luck with this. I think it is going to be fascinating progress. We will probably still want to have some idea of whether they are going in the right direction before 18 months are up, because otherwise, babies are g…”

“If Members of Parliament stand up and make representations to the Government as this roll-out of the guidelines takes place, do you consider that they ought to say whether or not they have had meetings with and taken information from public affairs—”

“Finally, the industry, as you say, has been co-operative, but the history of the food production industry is not one of co-operation; it is one of only doing things when they are forced to do things, or being frightened that legislation is coming in. I do not know if you are aware, but I have been told by friends that …”

“Would you be able to write back to the Committee on that? That would be great.”

“I gather that, in the Government paper, it says that the metrics for assessing progress are being considered. What is the timeframe for developing those metrics? Are we expecting them to be delivered in three months or four months, or will it take longer?”

“So we will have no assurance that they are actually doing anything until 18 months from now—or after 18 months, because it is after February 2027 that the report will be published.”

“I welcome my hon. Friend to his new position, which is hugely well deserved. This motion gives the impression that the Conservatives care about homeowners and renters, but does he agree that it is Labour who are giving homeowners greater powers and protections through leasehold reform, giving renters stability so that …”

“I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement, which means that Thames Water will no longer be able to treat my constituents with contempt—as it did under the previous Conservative Government—by diverting many millions from the bills paid by local residents to shell out dividends to its shareholders and pay…”

“One of the businesses that stands to benefit from the EU trade agreement is a butcher and deli in my constituency that imports a lot of its products from Spain. At the moment, its shelves are unfortunately half-empty because its small Spanish supplier—effectively a man with a van—says he simply cannot cope with all the…”

“7. What progress his Department has made on implementing recent trade agreements.”

“Given all the extraordinary and wonderful things that the right hon. Gentleman is setting out, is it not equally extraordinary that the British people thought you were a shower and needed to get rid of you—and they did? That is why you are on the Opposition Benches and we are over here.”

“No doubt we can come back and discuss whether we think your approach is right. Obviously, it is a necessary thing. I have a final quick question on a slightly different thing: neighbourhoods. Who is going to lead these locally? It could be GPs. It could be hospitals. It could be NHS trusts. It could be private companie…”