Speeches by Stephenson.

“And that’s it? Nothing else? Just add those two numbers together, and that is what it is costing us?”

“How much taxpayers’ money in total—I do not need it to be itemised—is being spent on this prison every year for no prisoners to be in those cells?”

“But you are doing all sorts of work on it as well.”

“Earlier in the session, someone mentioned £32 million having been spent since it was added to the risk register. I think that relates to the numbers that you just ran through—it’s not doubling up, right?”

“So it’s additional.”

“I was going to ask the same question. There are some very big numbers here. What is the all-in cost per year to keep this prison empty? I think our constituents would be horrified to learn that we are paying all this money for an empty prison. I understand the context, the reasons and the background, but what is the al…”

“It helped you identify it, as well.”

“Clement, I do not know if you want to say some final words on that point before I close my questions.”

“Recognising that all countries are at a different place and in a different space, and recognising the UK as at the leading edge, is there anything further the UK needs to do specifically to improve clarity?”

“My final question is for Rachel. To come back to private finance for a moment, successful financial products are underpinned by confidence, clarity and certainty around the public policy framework. What additional certainty is required to unlock—I will use that because I cannot think of another one—private finance so t…”

“Interesting. From a COP30 perspective, do you want the UK Government to go into COP30 looking to achieve these things?”

“While you are online, I was quite interested in the things that you were talking about earlier in answer to Sarah Gibson’s questions about the levies—“polluter pays”, premium flyers—and perhaps introducing taxes on oil and gas to fund just transition. Would you mind unpacking that a little more for us and describing wh…”

“Interesting. I do not know if our other stakeholders have any comments. Maybe Tom?”

“I will ask some questions about the finance road map. All witnesses this afternoon have highlighted the importance of unlocking private finance. I might ask all of you to comment if you want to, but how can COP30 help mobilise private finance? Would you like to start, Rachel?”

“6. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to inheritance tax relief on Scotland’s agricultural sector.”

“It is clear that Scottish Labour and this Government do not care and do not understand our rural communities. If we have no farmers, there is no food. Will the Minister listen to the voices of rural Scots, NFU Scotland and communities up and down this country, and ask the Chancellor to rethink this ruinous inheritance …”

“I think that the justification for not changing that approach over many years has been an argument about finality of sentence, and giving the offenders that finality. I do not think that stacks up today; we need to afford victims more rights and more sensitivity within the system. New clause 12 is total common sense, a…”

“Last week, I met one of my constituents, Tracey Hanson, in Parliament to honour the 10-year anniversary of the tragic loss of her son Josh, who was murdered in an unprovoked knife attack in Hillingdon, west London, in October 2015. We spoke about the tireless work that she has put into campaigning for victims’ rights, …”

“Since this House first learned of the disastrous terms of the Chagos surrender deal, there has been significant focus on the spiralling cost and on the defence and security implications—we have heard many such arguments today. The Government’s weakness has compromised our national security. They are surrendering Britis…”

“The Minister has been asked why further steps were not taken to provide the evidence requested in this case, knowing that the case was on the verge of collapse. He may feel that he has provided clarity, but I am afraid that he absolutely has not. Will he ask the Attorney General to come to this House and make a stateme…”