Speeches by Denyer.

“T8. I hope the Secretary of State has seen the reports that show that the proposed Rosebank oil field, as well as being a climate catastrophe, risks breaking international law. If approved, Rosebank’s profits could flow to Delek Group, a company accused by the UN of supporting illegal Israeli settlements. If he cannot …”

“5. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain on the number of people living in poverty.”

“Some 300,000 children living legally in the UK will face a decade of living in limbo under the Government’s earned settlement proposals, according to new research out this week by the Institute for Public Policy Research. Those children’s wait for settled immigration status will be extended by at least five years, duri…”

“Okay. In that case, I could not do the mental maths when I was asking you my question earlier, but I have since got the calculator out and worked out what £80 million is as a percentage of £31 billion. When I asked you earlier if you had a rough idea of what proportion of the PFAS already in the environment would be tr…”

“I have a supplementary question. Can I first of all check, Marc, that I have understood correctly? On that £31 billion to £121 billion range from the Environment Agency, you were talking about the EU just then but that number was the UK. Is that right?”

“Okay. Moving on slightly to my final question, you said in your first answer to me, I think, that you want to hopefully limit the production of PFAS in the first place. In the Government’s PFAS plan, there is an indication that you want to incentivise or encourage the development of PFAS alternatives. Can you be a bit …”

“Yes. I understand that you are saying that more research needs to be done. I am trying to get a rough sense of how much of the clean-up of legacy PFAS will be attributable to a particular source and how much of cannot—roughly, if you can give a rough sense, or perhaps you cannot even do that at this stage.”

“Yes, “small” is the word in that sentence that worries me, obviously. There is a big difference between £80 million and the numbers in the billions that my colleague Barry shared earlier. What are the sums that were done to produce that £80 million figure? How far do you think that is going to go?”

“As we know, one of the big problems with PFAS is that even if all production ceased tomorrow morning, which is not what you are proposing, PFAS will continue to persist in the environment. As Barry said earlier, the Environment Agency has estimated that the cost of clean-up of only the most problem sites alone is betwe…”

“On that point, last week more than 45 migrant rights groups described the earned settlement proposals as “fundamentally racist and classist.” Does the hon. Member share my deep concerns that the proposals will hit the most vulnerable the hardest, and create a discriminatory, two-tier system in which wealth and certain …”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“The right hon. Member is giving a most powerful speech. On her point about false narratives, I wonder whether she agrees that it is so important to distinguish between legitimate criticism of the actions of a state, and hate directed towards people because of their religion. It is worrying to have heard remarks in toda…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can you advise me on what course I can take when a Member of this House repeatedly uses speeches to misrepresent members of the public, who are not able to be present to speak for themselves?”

“No, it is okay, continue.”

“Finally from me, in your assessment of how the Government are doing, how do you differentiate between and how do you weigh the importance of outdoor air quality and indoor air quality?”

“Next I was going to ask you if you are satisfied with the Government’s response to the recommendations you made on clean air last year and how encouraged you are by new commitments on air quality in the most recent environmental improvement plan. I feel like you have answered those questions mostly, but if there is any…”

“Yes, I was interested in the plans to disband the joint air quality unit as well, which is why I was nodding vigorously. I am going to ad lib a bit. Thank you for the insightful answers so far, especially about the unequal impact that air quality has on the population. I am very aware that as a former local councillor …”

“Leaseholders in Bristol Central are being ripped off. I am disappointed that the Minister and the Government will not enforce peppercorn ground rents immediately, although a £250 cap is an improvement and the movement towards commonhold is really welcome. However, there are big problems for leaseholders that are still …”

“I warmly welcome the new minimum energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes in the long-awaited warm homes plan, but will the Secretary of State lay out how he will ensure that landlords do not simply pass on to renters the costs of meeting those standards? Will he perhaps ask his colleague the Housing Secr…”

“Thank you so much for the really good answers so far. I have appreciated your plain speaking. I am interested in air quality specifically, so I will come to you first, Livi, but if either of the other two want to come in afterwards, that is very welcome. Livi, you have anticipated most of the questions I was going to a…”