Speeches by Maynard.

“I am less worried about you making the investments. I am delighted Microsoft makes them. I am more worried about what the UK does about that in terms of how safe we are when US companies have such enormous integration into the UK’s defence and government technology systems. That is my worry. I will switch to Jonathan. …”

“In June last year, the Associated Press reported that Microsoft had cancelled the email address of Karim Khan. Microsoft disputes that, but I do not think Associated Press would have said that his email stopped working if it had not. To the point about resilience, the bottom line is the US Government have a much bigger…”

“How clear and present is this threat?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent intervention. I am going to talk out of two sides of my face here, because on the one side, the UK has a lot going for it, but on the other, it does not. Since Brexit, clinical trials in the UK are down 60%, which is really bad news. That is just business logic talking. Busines…”

“I thank the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) for securing this really important debate. She has been excellent in driving forward this issue, and is so determined. She demonstrates how to go after an issue and pursue it relentlessly. That is great, but ultimately, as she points out, words are…”

“I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests regarding the business that I founded in 1996, BDA partners, in which I still hold a stake but have no role or responsibility. Economically, this agreement offers some benefits. As per the Government’s impact assessment, and as the Minister sta…”

“It will take one second.”

“The National Bureau of Economic Research, in the United States.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“I really hope I am wrong, but I don’t think I am. Moving beyond the numbers, I highlight the concerns of civil society groups, which many Members have mentioned, about clauses in the agreement on labour, the environment and human rights being characterised by a pattern of aspirational language and a lack of enforceabil…”

“I certainly like the States. While we are making comparisons with Europe, I note that under the UK’s free trade agreement 92% of our exports to India will enter tariff-free. Under the EU’s deal, 96.6% of its exports can enter India tariff-free. Perhaps there is some logic, after all, to bigger trade blocs having more l…”

“In terms of the set-up of trading standards, the thought of trading standards going up against Amazon, and Suffolk’s trading standards being in charge of Felixstowe, feels very unbalanced. Are there any recommendations—I am not saying root-and-branch reform—where you think someone has the best ideas on reform? Are ther…”

“To what extent is market concentration having an impact on a lack of competition, particularly in, say, the food markets, although I am interested in other markets as well. In the supermarket sector, the top four have something like two thirds of the market; the top six have 80% of the market. The CMA looked into that …”

“To what extent are the CMA or other bodies covering the pitch and getting around? There seem to be some very long, big, slow studies, but few fast-footed, quick studies into that market, this sub-market or that sub-market. Therefore, the consumer—the person on the street—is potentially getting whacked. I do not see muc…”

“Coming back to the conversation we had earlier, I have just looked at the CMA’s strategic steer from May last year. Under the heading of “Delivering investment, consumer benefit and economic growth” , it talks about using tools “proportionately, with growth and investment in mind.” It could not be stronger messaging, a…”

“The CMA publishes its investigations and market studies. What about asking for information on lower-level things, just to see what it is doing? At the moment, we only see the odd investigation list but no other information about what it does. The thing we all want comfort on is, “Are you doing anything?” Would that be …”

“Just running with that, I did a comparison with various other countries. Australia and the Nordics have a super-ombudsman, rather than tiny sectoral ones that are funded by their own sectors, which makes it very hard to go up against those sectors. The super-ombudsman can take things directly to court, they have real t…”

“Given what the Government state—you are an economist—do they understand the laws of economics and competition? Because their actions are exactly the opposite.”

“I completely agree, and what spooks me is that the Labour Government are saying, “Hey, we are really pro-business and pro-growth.” But if you are seriously pro-growth, you want to have a strong, competitive, fair market. You therefore need to have the CMA going like the clappers around all those markets and whacking pe…”

“It came in in April last year—”