Speeches by Dewhirst.

“Does the hon. Member agree that it is now 20 years since the last televised Test series—the greatest Test series of all time—and that since then participation has gradually declined? Is that not clearly an indication that fewer people are being exposed to the joys of this fantastic game?”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. Does he agree that another problem with the lack of four-day county cricket during the August period is that it is pushed to the margins, which impacts on batting development for future test players, as they are playing in the colder conditions of the early season, a…”

“Charlie Dodds from Driffield in my constituency is just one year old and suffers from a rare mitochondrial condition. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tribute to his parents, Harrison and Ellie, for the £35,000 they have raised for research into this condition? Will she commit Government time to a debate …”

“I join the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) in paying tribute to the firefighters, farmers, gamekeepers and everybody who has taken part in fighting the moorland fires in North Yorkshire, just over the border from my constituency. Does the Minister agree about the huge importance of managing moorlan…”

“Absolutely. As I say, hospitality is the lifeblood of our local community and we should be doing more to look at this as a special case, because it really, really is damaging when we see pubs close. When a village loses a pub, it loses part of its heart and soul. We absolutely need to protect these businesses. They wan…”

“The hospitality industry is often the unsung hero of our local communities. We often do not appreciate it enough and we take it for granted. It is everywhere: it is in every village and every town, and in every corner of our constituencies. This opportunity to debate the importance of the hospitality industry is extrem…”

“It is not for me to say whether the Minister will or will not, but he should do so, and he should be shouting much more loudly on behalf of the hospitality sector.”

“There we go. Let us hope the Chancellor listens this time. Another point, which was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), was on the tourism tax in Wales. This has caused significant concern in my coastal communities of Bridlington, Hornsea and the other coastal villages. As the Mini…”

“On 6 August, the Minister described certain councils that do not believe that they have a problem with grooming gangs as “idiots”. Can she explain if that also applies to the Government, given the enormous pressure it took for them to implement this inquiry and the disparaging comments previously made by the Prime Mini…”

“Sir Adrian, you just implied to the Chair that you were given no explanation as to why KKR withdrew the deal. There was obviously plenty of speculation at the time, spooked by Government rhetoric and concerned about Thames assets being worse than they first thought them to be. Are we seriously expected to believe that …”

“On the day that it pulled out, the class A creditors had a rival bid ready to go; an oven-ready deal if you like. Somewhat fortuitous, would you not say?”

“Mr Weston, as the chief executive, do you have a view on the creditors?”

“There was nothing else that happened in that period of time that would have triggered it?”

“You can understand that from the outside looking in it seems to be a conflict.”

“Is there not some sort of conflict here where you have a KKR bid on the table, and yet the people who are ultimately making this decision are also waiting in the wings to pounce?”

“So in those 48 hours, it decided to pull the bid having submitted most of it?”

“Did KKR submit a bid to Ofwat on 30 May?”

“T6. On that note, many of my constituents living on new freehold developments such as Mortimer Park in Driffield would like to see residents being given the power to strip those unaccountable estate management firms of their responsibility for shared space and let the local authority adopt that land. Is it the Governme…”

“Mr Speaker, as you are well aware, Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe, so there is understandable outrage at the recent Government decision to sell out the UK fishing industry for the next 12 years in return for a sanitary and phytosanitary deal that is yet to be negotiated. Is that just another example of th…”

“Joe and Peter, do you have anything to add to those very comprehensive answers?”