Speeches by Thomas.

“Ms Garrett, we have probably established some of the things that are not working so well, which are along the lines of communication and a lack of transparency. What else is not working so well, and what is working well in the current approach to promoting and supporting property flood resilience?”

“This is ticking the flexibility box that was mentioned earlier. There was an inflexibility that made things more difficult.”

“As somebody who was—let us be generous—barely educated in Oxfordshire himself, I am very much aware of the issue. My mainstream schools in Gloucestershire fall into the bottom 20% of DSG funding, earning £1,000 less per pupil than schools in the top 20. This means that Cleeve school, for example, with its 1,851 pupils,…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the Dedicated Schools Grant. It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I thank the f40 group for its assistance with this issue, as well as all those in attendance, including the Minister, whose presence is greatly appreciated. I bring this debate forward on…”

“I thank all hon. Members for their speeches. My hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) equated the differential in funding to an entire teacher’s salary. The hon. Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) contextualised the crisis faced by constituents with inadequate transport infrastructure …”

“My hon. Friend makes eloquent points. Clearly, the SEND crisis is exacerbating the situation to a significant degree. What we look for from the Government is a long-term strategic plan to deal with this, rather than just pushing it down the line. Since 2014, mainstream schools have been required to contribute the initi…”

“With such gravity, my hon. Friend says it better than I could ever hope to. The inequity is there for all to see, and it is interesting that one of his teachers has experienced both ends of that scale. My four-year-old daughter and her friends will begin their primary school education in Gloucestershire in September. I…”

“I entirely agree. I have long spoken out against the short-sightedness of the national insurance hike, and I will come back to the short-termism that I think it important this Government escape. The dedicated schools grant is allocated according to the national funding formula, which is outdated and puts schools such a…”

“I wholeheartedly agree, and will come to that point shortly. I hope my hon. Friend will pass on my empathy to her headteacher. Our teachers are no longer simply expected to educate our children according to the curriculum. Governments and society continue to expect more and more of our already overburdened teachers. In…”

“Would my hon. Friend be so kind as to pass on my gratitude to his constituent, and echo my gratitude for anyone from our country who puts themselves in harm’s way—not for financial recognition, but for humanity, which transcends politics altogether?”

“The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, which rang an alarm bell in my mind. What he is describing are the same tactics being used by the state of Israel, or at least its Government, as were exhibited by the IRA back in the 1980s: a bomb would be set off and once help had arrived, a secondary device would be set…”

“Supporters of lower league football clubs know the score: relegation all but confirmed, millionaire financiers abandoned, desperately clinging on to former glory, leaky at the back, midfield absent, not much going on up top, leadership completely out of their depth—but enough about the Conservative party. Despite the C…”

“The Secretary of State spoke of sending a clear signal to Vladimir Putin—I hope that his US counterpart will not take that too literally. Regardless, I would prefer to send drones the way of President Zelensky, and some £25 billion of frozen Russian assets would buy an awful lot of drones. I hear what the Secretary of …”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for securing this important debate. I purchased my home in 2017. By the time I surrendered a deposit of several thousand pounds, which had taken me a decade to accrue, I had already engaged with a financial adviser, secured a mortgage in principle and …”

“2. What steps she is taking to ensure that new homes are sustainable.”

“I thank the Minister for his response. While visiting the Netherlands with the Environmental Audit Committee, I saw the benefits of long-term, joined-up, strategic planning. In Rotterdam city centre, rooftop gardens provide mental health benefits and allotment space, while at ground level, sunken community spaces and u…”

“While aligning myself with the concerns expressed by the shadow Home Secretary, I am happy to take the Minister at his word. In the last decade, the previous Government badly misjudged Vladimir Putin’s aims regarding the United Kingdom, and his exploitation of our naivety. So that the current Government do not make the…”

“I thank the Minister for her response. In 2015, Baroness May of Maidenhead, the then Home Secretary, accused police forces of “crying wolf” over funding cuts. In the decade since, police services across the country, such as mine in Gloucestershire, have never truly recovered from her scandalous cuts to their numbers. G…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. Conservative Friends of Russia, later renamed the Westminster Russia Forum, was founded in 2012 as a lobby group, posing as a think-tank, with absolutely no research published. It was founded at the Russian embassy in London by, among others, Vladimir Putin’s m…”

“The hon. Member made an interesting point about the role of companies, and specifically referred to Reform UK. Will she join me in putting on the record that Reform UK is not a political party like most of ours are, but in fact a limited company registered at Companies House, with the primary shareholder being the hon.…”