Speeches by Stephenson.

“About 1,200 people in my constituency are not in education, employment or training. With two job-destroying Budgets and the Employment Rights Bill on the horizon, does the Minister really understand the concerns of my constituents, who feel that this Government are simply making it so much harder for young people to fi…”

“3. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) on securing this important debate. Many today may claim the same, but my constituency sits right at the heart of the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. We are home to Cranfield University, world …”

“That was a very helpful intervention. Local councillors in our area are crying out for Government support to deliver the growth that the Government want in our area. It would be very useful if the Minister could respond to that. To take the most advantage from Universal, our county needs to join the majority of others …”

“I think everybody in this House wants to bring children out of poverty. The way to do that is to get more families into jobs, so that they can afford to bring their children up and take responsibility. Conservative Members know that it is business that invests, creates jobs and grows our economy, which enables investme…”

“I have no time. We will back young people to buy their first home. We will not stifle the chances of a good job, punish people with higher taxes when they do find employment, push graduates into higher student loan repayments or make it harder to save for retirement, which is what this Government are doing. The appeal …”

“Does the hon. Lady agree that while Labour in government pretends that it is the party of fairness, this Budget is deeply unfair to both her constituents and my own constituents?”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right—it makes it worse. The benefits of an increased minimum wage are meaningless for those who do not have a wage. We should be investing in a brighter future for young people, one of aspiration, hard work, investment and wealth. Only the Conservatives have a plan to do that, by bearing d…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to nip out to my Delegated Legislation Committee without missing my spot. I met with businesses this morning, and it is clear that the people who take risks, invest, create jobs and drive tax receipts are busy scratching their heads to find some positive from this Budget…”

“My constituents want politicians to work on a cross-party basis to improve SEND education. Is the Secretary of State committed to working cross-party, and if so, what steps is she taking to do that?”

“The Chief Secretary to the Treasury failed to answer a critical question raised by my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor and a similar question raised by the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), so I will ask the question in a slightly different way. Does the Minister agree that the FCA must urgently investig…”

“I, too, would like to ask the Secretary of State some questions on the TFFF. I am glad that he is proud of the previous Government’s actions and innovation in setting up that facility. He has explained that there is a tough fiscal situation and that is why the Government are currently not committing to that fund, but i…”

“It has, yes.”

“My final question is on the rural impact. As I explained at the outset, my constituency is very rural, but the police force has to deal with very acute demands in places such as Luton. It is absolutely right that it focuses resource and attention in the likes of Luton. I know that there are MPs around this table who re…”

“They have, endlessly, year after year, but nothing ever happens.”

“I have lived in my constituency for 11 or 12 years now. Every police and crime commissioner has come in and said that they are going to fight to update this funding formula. National politicians say that we need to change this funding formula. Everybody gets it, but, as soon as people get into power, it never happens. …”

“I totally understand that there is not an infinite amount of cash out there. We always want more cash to do more things. I am sure that you feel that day in, day out.”

“You have the core funding, but the £7.3 million is really important to Bedfordshire police to do its job. It has uncertainty, because it does not know, year in, year out, whether it is going to get that funding. It has to fight for that every year. It just so happens that it has been rolled over. Would it not be better…”

“Using Bedfordshire as an example, it has the lowest Government funding per capita, at 57.6%. There is a reliance on these special grants. There are two important special grants that come to £7.3 million, which is 5% of the force’s total budget. It has been rolled over for seven years. Every year, there is a level of un…”

“Thank you. I just thought that it would be helpful to get that on the record. Moving on to the police funding model, just for background, I am the MP for Mid Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire has some challenges as a county. It is rural but also has Luton, which has a make-up that is much more like a London metropolitan borou…”