Speeches by Dewhirst.

“I think the industry is making good progress on this. It has certainly made a massive difference in recent decades, from where we have come to where we are now. As I said, and as I will go on to discuss further, there is a difference between the regulated market and the unregulated market. There are those companies tha…”

“If something is already illegal, we do not regulate it. Does the hon. Member agree?”

“I used an example of another sector to make a wider point that, if we over-tax or over-regulate anything, it will encourage the creation of a black market. There are various issues with that, whether for those exposed to the black market or for the Treasury, which might have concerns about the impact of a black market …”

“The hon. Member has made a number of points on that subject. I will make some progress as I am sure that you, Mrs Harris, are keen for me to wrap up this contribution as soon as I can.”

“Over the decades, Formula 1 has always been a great British success story. The banning of tobacco ads in such a global sport was not necessarily such a problem, because its reach and ability to bring in advertising revenue from other industries was more than it was for, say, snooker or darts. The ban almost destroyed s…”

“Like colleagues from across the House, I have constituents—veterans and former public servants—who have been treated appallingly by Capita, and who have been unable to access the money that they paid in. The Minister previously promised a standardised mitigation letter that those individuals could take to lenders, so t…”

“Certainly anecdotally, the pig sector is going through a downturn at the moment, obviously due to the European market being flooded with Spanish pork because it has ASF in a certain region, and so on. I have heard of practices reminiscent of 2021, 2022 reoccurring, where processors renege on contracts at short notice, …”

“As we all know, there were some issues with the pre-existing arrangements in many cases, which is why you are here in front of us today. In terms of your resourcing, is your team in place and up to speed now? What does your team look like in terms of its structure?”

“Without wishing to do Richard out of the job before he has even really started, could you not have brought all those powers under one body that would have made more sense, in terms of what you could both do together?”

“Those regulations have come in in the last couple of years; it is all new. When I was working on the pig side of it through the drafting exercise there was certainly a concern that we were not going to get everything right, and that once it came into force there would potentially need to be some adaptation just to refl…”

“I feel like I could be sat on either side today, given my role in the campaign to create the GCA and then my role in the pig supply chain regulations. I am going back to one of the biggest errors in terms of the way in which your body was created, Mr White, in the fact that it did not perhaps properly recognise the sup…”

“Is there a concern that you simply should not be forcing producers into such a rigid contractual relationship? It is not up to them to negotiate that with whomever they are supplying, whether a processor or retailer.”

“Richard, what would your view be on that? You are obviously going to be closer to some of that contractual framework going forward in terms of dairy and pigs and other sectors as they come online.”

“Without wishing to do Richard out of the job before he has even really started, could you not have brought all those powers under one body that would have made more sense, in terms of what you could both do together?”

“Just on the specifics, I am sure you have read Minette Batters’ recent review, particularly her recommendations around the cost price increases, and those being enshrined in some statutory way. How did you reflect on that?”

“Is there a concern that you simply should not be forcing producers into such a rigid contractual relationship? It is not up to them to negotiate that with whomever they are supplying, whether a processor or retailer.”

“Just on the specifics, I am sure you have read Minette Batters’ recent review, particularly her recommendations around the cost price increases, and those being enshrined in some statutory way. How did you reflect on that?”

“I feel like I could be sat on either side today, given my role in the campaign to create the GCA and then my role in the pig supply chain regulations. I am going back to one of the biggest errors in terms of the way in which your body was created, Mr White, in the fact that it did not perhaps properly recognise the sup…”

“Richard, what would your view be on that? You are obviously going to be closer to some of that contractual framework going forward in terms of dairy and pigs and other sectors as they come online.”

“Those regulations have come in in the last couple of years; it is all new. When I was working on the pig side of it through the drafting exercise there was certainly a concern that we were not going to get everything right, and that once it came into force there would potentially need to be some adaptation just to refl…”