Speeches by Stephenson.

“Not at all.”

“In the interest of providing certainty, would the Minister explain why the Government did not choose a multi-year allowance on this, rather than going for an extension of only one year?”

“Does my hon. Friend think that, by suggesting that farmers should diversify into holiday lets, the Environment Secretary intends that farmers should pay even more tax to the Treasury?”

“I think Opposition Members are somewhat confused. The Chancellor committed to bringing an amendment forward. I know that the Minister says it will be tabled at a later stage, but why is it so complex that it cannot be considered today, so that it can be scrutinised by the Opposition?”

“If possible, but I suppose there is total flexibility within the week. The important thing is that it is within English Tourism Week.”

“Thank you, Chair. I will try to keep it fairly short; I do not know how this normally goes, but perhaps you will be asking me questions. Tourism is worth £74 billion in the UK economy, so it is a pretty large industry. The Government set an ambitious target for 50 million visitors per year by 2030, which I think is ext…”

“Do you think that the $1.3 trillion is likely to be enough to enable the recipient countries to respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change?”

“How are you planning to ensure that the UK’s recorded contribution to international climate finance commitments is expressly linked to climate relief initiatives rather than broader humanitarian commitments?”

“Earlier when Barry was asking questions, there was a conversation about public versus private. You may not want to go into too much detail but what do you think the public finance contribution will be?”

“Secretary of State, the new collective quantified goal target has a stretch target of $1.3 trillion of climate finance per year by 2035. How feasible is it that the $1.3 trillion target will be met on time, if at all?”

“T4. Plans for a Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire are a huge opportunity to drive economic growth and private sector investment. What progress is being made, and when do the Government expect discussions with Universal Studios to conclude?”

“T4. Plans for a Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire are a huge opportunity to drive economic growth and private sector investment. What progress is being made, and when do the Government expect discussions with Universal Studios to conclude?”

“Moving now to regulations. The Deputy Prime Minister has said that she wants to remove the red tape that is blocking housebuilding. Can you highlight particular regulations that you think can be removed or reduced to open up housebuilding without damaging the environment?”

“Do you have any observations, Mr Lockhart?”

“I think Mr Lockhart has answered my third question, which was about which regulations to improve or strengthen. That is an example of an area of regulation to strengthen rather than remove blockers from. It would be helpful, Chair, if Mr Lockhart followed up in writing with some more examples of regulations that he wou…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Farmers in the Flit valley in Mid Bedfordshire are concerned that repeated flooding and waterlogging has left large areas of farmland unfit for agricultural purposes. Our farmers are prepared to do the hard yards to put in place nature-based solutions, but does…”

“My first question is to you all but let’s start with you, Mr Lockhart. The Prime Minister has said that he will put builders, not blockers, first and that in his view, blockers include planning committees, local councillors and local residents’ groups. My local councillors who sit on planning committees will be horrifi…”

“Moving now to regulations. The Deputy Prime Minister has said that she wants to remove the red tape that is blocking housebuilding. Can you highlight particular regulations that you think can be removed or reduced to open up housebuilding without damaging the environment?”

“Do you have any observations, Mr Lockhart?”

“I think Mr Lockhart has answered my third question, which was about which regulations to improve or strengthen. That is an example of an area of regulation to strengthen rather than remove blockers from. It would be helpful, Chair, if Mr Lockhart followed up in writing with some more examples of regulations that he wou…”