Speeches by Spencer.

“I thank the Minister for giving way: she has been very generous with her time. I think there is a point of principle in this debate, and I should like to hear the Minister’s thoughts on it. Does she believe that there is any degree offered by a university in which it is not fair to invest taxpayers’ money? If the quali…”

“I think that my right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), sitting behind me, will give a more extensive answer to that question in a moment. There are lots of ways to measure degrees. An example that I often give is the degree in David Beckham studies, which I think existed. I am a big fan of Davi…”

“Modern warfare is technological warfare, so UK research and innovation is critical for our defence. When the Secretary of State has spoken with the Defence Secretary about the defence investment plan, as I assume she has, which sectors has she prioritised for investment in UK companies in research and development—drone…”

“The hon. Lady is being very generous with her time, and this has been a fascinating debate. Runnymede and Weybridge is frequently hit by flooding, but I have noticed that one problem is that there are so many different responders, sometimes seemingly acting independently. When residents contact the flood line, they fin…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The Minister failed to answer the questions from my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) and my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan). In the absence of a third-country scheme, to where do we remove people when their countries are not safe or there are no returns agr…”

“Can we have a debate in Government time on defensive military operations in the middle east?”

“International conflict and instability risk putting up food and fuel prices, and threaten our domestic food resilience. Instead of reviews and platitudes, we need action to protect our farmers and our UK food resilience. Will the Minister take action and scrap the damaging family farm tax?”

“4. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting family farms in Wales.”

“Apologies if I get this wrong, and I admit that I went through it quite quickly, but when I looked at the consultation data entry on the web earlier this week, I could not see a point where an entry could be linked to an individual person. Will the Minister’s Department double-check data security for the consultation? …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. The statutory instrument makes consequential amendments to references in primary and secondary legislation to reflect the abolition of the Information Commissioner’s Office and the transfer of its functions to a new body corporate, the Information Commission…”

“The Minister is being generous with her time and I thank her for giving way. I want to reiterate the point about the families who have already gone through the system and who have fought for EHCPs, many of whom have had to go through tribunals and feel like they are having to do everything on their own. I come from a m…”

“Given what is happening in the middle east at the moment, there is a concern that petrol and diesel prices will spiral upwards. If that happens, taxation revenue on fuel will do the same. Can the Chancellor commit today to keeping taxation revenue at its current level, thereby reducing tax on fuel to help ease any futu…”

“One of those criteria should be that one is an adult, because voting is an adult act, and the other criterion should be citizenship. We do not have time for a debate today on how we approach citizenship in the UK and what that actually means, but if we start trying to unravel—”

“I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, but I think there is a difference between representing people and people having the ability to vote for us. If we were to take that argument to its ultimate conclusion, it would expand the voter franchise not only to every single age but to non-citizens. I do not know if peop…”

“I am not making any sort of comment on that. My point is very simple: it is citizenship and age. If we are to apportion the respect to voting that we absolutely should—I think all of us in this House think voting is a critical thing to do—giving it the status of being an adult decision, as opposed to one made by childr…”

“It is a real pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington), who has spoken passionately about the risks of democratic interference. I know this is something that she has thought about in great detail. She may be aware that during the passage of the Data Protection Act 2018 we had an am…”

“The point the hon. Member makes illustrates exactly why we have to use an adult citizenship criteria, not one based on capability or ability, because the moment we start to do that, all sorts of awful things risk happening. People should get the right to vote in the UK if they are a citizen and if they are an adult, an…”

“I have heard a lot of legal analysis from the Prime Minister but nothing on what he thinks is morally right. Is not the biggest risk to international law when leaders hide behind legal advice to avoid taking responsibility for their decisions?”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. The National Audit Office’s 2025 report on cyber-resilience highlighted that Government Departments and agencies are among the weakest links in the UK’s cyber-security ecosystem and lack a credible plan to become cyber-resilient in the short to medium term. The Gove…”