Speeches by Maynard.

“What comfort can you give us that we will not just be in a cycle—or continue the cycle we are already in—where there is a weaker and weaker USO?”

“Good afternoon; thanks for coming in. To what extent have you seen a change since EP took over last April? Have you seen any particular changes linked to that?”

“If EP Group fails and breaches its obligations, what are you going to do about it?”

“Yes. Just what undertakings did EP give your members when the takeover was completed, and has it honoured those commitments?”

“Do you agree that Křetínský and IDS make more money if the USO is loosened?”

“The undertakings, yes.”

“Yes, so what if they fail on those? Frankly, £37 million over three years—it is a big business—is pretty minor; that is a little over £10 million a year. Does that really change anything? I don’t think it does.”

“Eustream?”

“So that is undertakings up there, and your obligations down here at the Ofcom level.”

“I completely agree. It sends the wrong message and puts in place the wrong incentives, and that is a real problem. Ministers will have seen the analysis produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility in response to the former Lib Dem Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, highlighting the flaws in the Government’s claim that…”

“The Liberal Democrats have been clear throughout the Bill’s stages that we think the Government would be misguided to make this change. While it may raise some tax revenue in the medium term, in the longer term it discourages pension saving. It also puts an extra cost and admin burden on small businesses at the worst p…”

“I have been here for 17 months. We could rehash things from 14 or 17 years ago. I believe that in 2009 the Labour Government sought to take a 30% stake out of the Royal Mail, but I am not interested in going back through that because we are where we are. Let me try to finish my speech, and I will talk about where I thi…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg, and I thank the hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) for securing this important debate. I also thank my hon. Friends the Members for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor), for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) and for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for highlighting all…”

“I welcome the new legal adviser service as a first step towards levelling the horribly unequal access to legal services available to victims as compared with suspects. However, only £3 million has been provided a year for the next two years to fund that service. Given the record highs of more than 12,500 sexual offence…”

“2. What steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to help tackle violence against women and girls.”

“I speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, and the shadow Minister’s audacity in talking about a “high-tax, low-growth doom loop” is pretty high. With regard to this Bill, I ask the Government to look again at four things. I will go through them quickly, and then I will sit down. I ask the Government to provide more d…”

“The Bill, and the Budget it derives from, demonstrates clearly that the Chancellor has implemented stealth tax grabs that will hit some of the lowest paid the hardest, through extending a freeze on income tax thresholds and the national insurance contributions increases which suppress employment and wages. It is full o…”

“Will the hon. and learned Gentleman please remind the House what last year’s growth rate was for Northern Ireland compared with for the whole UK? I think it might have been three times higher.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for speaking up on this matter. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) feels very strongly about it as well. We do not really understand why the Government have decided to go with those fixed static thresholds. Everybody recognises that agricultural land v…”

“I completely agree. The stress of that is horrific, so the more it can function effectively would be appreciated. The Government have said that people whose only source of income is the state pension will not pay any income tax over this Parliament, but no details have been provided on how they will be protected. I ask…”