Speeches by Bryant.

“indicated dissent.”

“indicated assent.”

“I have two Liberal Democrats wanting to intervene. It is very difficult to decide between them. I will give way to the one who has not taken part.”

“Well, my speech was meant to be brief. I will give way as long as Madam Deputy Speaker does not complain later.”

“I completely agree. One of my colleagues—I cannot remember which—made a point about freelancers. One of the problems in the creative industries is that so many people today are freelancers, and it is very difficult for them to enjoy a regular income, take out a mortgage and so on. My mother was a make-up artist at the …”

“I support securing more licensing, greater control of rights and legal clarity for all. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. As I said to the right hon. Member for Maldon, there is not a version of rights reservation that works at the moment and is simple and easy. As an author, I know that if someone wants to regis…”

“Stoke-on-Trent? [Laughter.]”

“It’s useless.”

“Matt Clifford made that recommendation —recommendation 24—and, in response, we have said that we are consulting. We have not decided; we are consulting. It is a consultation, not the Second Reading of a Bill.”

“Was that because of you?”

“It might be easier to answer that immediately. I have been very keen to try to make the council a bit smaller, but it will have lots of separate working groups that will include all the creative industries the hon. Lady talked about. In the end it is about deliverables—it is not just about having another talking shop—a…”

“As the Minister, I do not want to intervene too much. I sympathise with a great deal of what the hon. Gentleman has said. One of my concerns, however, is that if this country legislates in a particular direction, in order to reinforce copyright in the way that several hon. Members have suggested, the danger is that com…”

“The shadow Minister said that we—Labour Members in opposition—voted against every single tax relief for the creative industries, but he knows perfectly well that we supported every single one of them and that we originally initiated them. Can I just suggest that we stop this silliness? I am guessing that at some point …”

“No, that is not correct. The maximum amount that was spent last year was £29 million—I will be straight with the hon. Member that it is a smaller amount of money this year. An allocation had been made for £42 million but that amount was never spent because there were not sufficient applications. By tradition, a cathedr…”

“I will, but I need to give enough time for the hon. Member for Bromsgrove.”

“Yes, it does. For many cathedrals, deciding whether to charge is a difficult balancing act. It is a complicated decision, but the passage of millions of people through a building does wear it down. Toilets have to be renewed, places have to be kept warm, and the electrics have to be repaired and kept safe; we have hear…”

“I feel as if I have been beaten up for the last hour and a quarter in the most genteel way, with a maniple rather than a boxing glove. [Interruption.] I see that most people do not know what a maniple is; perhaps I am the only former priest in the room. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East…”

“The shortest WMS.”

“We have no plans to introduce additional taxes. I want to get 50 million international visitors coming to the UK, because our tourism industry is an important part of what we do well in this country. That is why I will be hosting the first visitor economy advisory council on Monday morning.”

“My hon. Friend asks two questions. The first is about the timing. We have already done the initial phase. I hope that we will be able to make an announcement fairly soon about the technical elements, which we hope to get up and running this year. The second point is important: what is the final purpose of this registra…”