Speeches by Maynard.

“I too thank and commend the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) for securing the debate. It has been a pleasure to work with her and we are all in awe of her single-minded relentlessness on this topic, from which we can all learn. I have a similar story. Two years ago, I received a call from my …”

“Following up on that one, if there is a global transaction, so a large global company is buying another global company, it has all sorts of regulatory rulings to clear in all sorts of jurisdictions. Where does the UK sit in terms of speed? Speed counts. Where is the UK in terms of the turnaround time or something like …”

“Alexandra, maybe from the Control Risks side, thinking of it that way, what do you see? How do you live that?”

“Is there anything either of you would like to add to that?”

“Catherine Royle, in terms of—probably Russia—a state actor testing NATO’s article 5, do you see the probability of that testing increasing now? Also, where do you rate NATO’s realistic readiness to address that and how has that changed over the last year or two?”

“Helen, do you want to add anything particularly?”

“It sounds like we are all headed in the same direction. My recommendation would be this. Particularly to the two lawyers, but perhaps also from a non-legal perspective, why not just draft a short note saying, “These are the recommendations we would like to make”, and we receive can it from each of you? I am not sure wh…”

“Afternoon. Whoever would most like to answer this, jump in, and we can do it that way. Regarding the UK investment screening regime, as much as you are able to, can you give us data, or direct us towards data, on clarity, speed, predictability and rationale? When a ruling goes for or against against one of your clients…”

“Sir Simon, I will start with you on this one. RUSI, in December 2023, at the Economic Security Private-Public Sector Forum, said that it was a “promising start” and that “Government should facilitate regular intelligence briefings, threat assessments, rapid response frameworks, and cyber-risk updates, in both formal an…”

“I am delighted to speak on the issue of how we can fix our broken water and sewerage sector, and get serious about cleaning up our rivers and lakes. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) for securing this debate. My constituency of Witney, in west Oxfordshire, has borne the brunt o…”

“I thank my hon. Friend, and, yes, I absolutely do. Ofwat is also failing to innovate. It appears to do little, if anything, to push companies to do this. This is so critical because, if we are going to increase capacity in sewage treatment works, there are many better ways of doing so. There is a host of new technologi…”

“I will make that three. Thank you very much, and over to you.”

“Markus, BMW recently announced a delay to the £600 million investment in the BMW Mini factory. The Government just announced some changes to the ZEV mandate. What impact do those changes have on BMW’s decision? What else, if anything, would you like to see different?”

“If we were inside things such as the customs union and the single market, would that help us make more or fewer cars?”

“This feels a lot more bearish than the first panel, and deservedly so. Car production has gone down by half since 2016. Goods exports, not just automotive, are down by 9% in the last five years. In terms of those trade frictions that have come in, how much are they hitting employment in the UK’s automotive sector as a …”

“Why not?”

“Are those pre-consented projects currently inside AR7 or not?”

“Just to spell that out for us, zonal pricing means that, if you are in the west midlands, you pay X; if you are in the south‑east, you pay Y.”

“I have a question for you, Rob, on single day-ahead coupling and contracts for difference. I would love to hear the National Grid’s perspective on whether single day-ahead coupling with Europe would be a good thing in terms of being able to trade electricity in and out between the UK and the EU more effectively, and wh…”

“I am just trying to pull that apart. It is a failure of regulation. You have the power, but it does not make sense economically for you to connect it up.”