Speeches by West.

“Thank you for allowing me that digression, Chair.”

“I have two quick questions: one about national insurance, and one about the national living wage, the London living wage and regional living wages. On national insurance, there was quite a controversial change by the Chancellor last year, which some employers were very unhappy about, but which, over time, might end up …”

“Boris Johnson introduced a hard Brexit but left a legacy of a 1-million-person newly-arrived community, in migration terms, per annum. Would your advice to the current Labour Government be to seek entry into the European Union again?”

“Your former colleague from Surrey Heath, Mr Gove, said publicly that his biggest regret was cutting the Building Schools for the Future programme. What would yours be, on reflection?”

“Having been through so many shocks since 2008, that does shine a light on why there has been a tilting of the market towards the cash ISA, just because of the unpredicted nature of 2008, covid and so on. As a newish Minister, what is your assessment of the impact of the Chancellor’s speech this morning on your function…”

“On 6 December, Small Business Saturday will have us all out in our constituencies supporting small businesses. Following the announcement this morning about the need to enhance productivity, what measures will the Treasury be introducing to assist small businesses in the current tough climate?”

“I was going to ask about the agglomeration effect of London and the north-west, but you have actually answered it. I will quickly ask about a benefit that used to be called educational maintenance allowance. You mentioned older children, and that did have an effect on larger families where there were two or three teena…”

“Who paid for the Frontier Economics research?”

“Thank you very much, Chair. We understand from the previous panel that the average effective betting levy is 22% in the UK, and 53% was cited as the effective levy in the US. That is quite a big gap for a society and economy that is quite similar to the UK. Were the Chancellor to be looking to gain revenue from somewhe…”

“The motion for the debate would be that this House has considered the potential of onshoring in the fashion and textiles industry for jobs, skills and prosperity. The answering Department would likely be the Department for Business and Trade. The rapid rise of fast fashion has encouraged outsourcing and offshoring, but…”

“I will alter that to Thursday—that might be clearer. Thank you, Chair. Since I last made representations to your Committee, I have been elected to the Treasury Committee, which meets on a Tuesday morning.”

“Yes. A Tuesday afternoon, if possible, Chair.”

“Thank you, Chair. When I submitted the application, I had 18 Members of Parliament interested in this debate. Since then, the number has risen to 24 Members from all the parties across the House, except maybe one or two of the smaller ones. I have asked for a three-hour debate in the Chamber, given that it is quite top…”

“Yes, if that is better for the Committee, but obviously it would be fab to have it in the main Chamber.”

“I understand.”

“I can update that for you.”

“Economic growth is a key driver for all our constituents. What is the Government’s estimate of the number of jobs that will be created in the UK by 2030? Is it true to say that it will be triple the number in the old economy?”

“In June, the Minister for Security, my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley North (Dan Jarvis), and I met the UK activists targeted by the Hong Kong arrest warrants and bounties. We have raised concerns regarding the arrest warrants and bounties directly with the Chinese ambassador here in London, reaffirming that the s…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important matter on behalf of her constituents. I can reassure her that the UK Government have called on Beijing numerous times to repeal the national security law, which provides for the autocratic treatment of people abroad, such as her constituents. We continue to work closely …”

“It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Dr Huq; I acknowledge your interest in matters relating to human rights, humanitarian aid and Africa. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this debate; I am sure that many of her diaspora in Huddersfield are …”