Speeches by Coghlan.

“British Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon was killed by an Iranian ballistic missile in Iraq in 2020. When I arrived as a soldier three months later, our base came under attack from Iranian proxy militias eight times. The Iranian regime has gunned down tens of thousands of protesters in recent weeks. Morality is complex. I …”

“Finally, it seems very restrictive for policymakers that so much political debate is around a single point forecast that is five years out, with these sorts of crazy, tiny variations driving so many things. How would either of you reform the OBR to have less emphasis on a single number being put out by it?”

“Do you think I am being harsh or unfair in describing the OBR’s productivity forecast as a finger in the air?”

“I will just come back on your point about forecasts being completely fine, small teams, resources and top-down forecasts. To be clear, I was staggered in previous Treasury Committee sessions with the OBR that the basis, as I understood it, for the productivity forecasts over the past 14 years or so has essentially been…”

“Sir Robert, I will just come back to you on a couple of points. I completely agree with you that a lot of policy effects on growth take longer than five years to materialise, but I do not share your optimism on the political ease to make this change, if those effects are not showing up in an official forecast. For exam…”

“Economic Secretary, you made an important point that stamp duty raises £14 billion in revenue. However, Professor Tim Leunig testified to the Treasury Committee about a revenue-neutral proposal to reform stamp duty, where payments would be made annually rather than up front, alongside council tax reform. What assessmen…”

“Thank you. That would be very helpful, because of the issues around stamp duty bunging up the economic system.”

“I believe that the proposal, for properties up to £500,000, was to replace council tax with a proportional property tax, and for properties above £500,000 it was to replace stamp duty with a proportional property tax.”

“Are you aligning working conditions between the two organisations? For example, the FCA apparently has a minimum 50% attendance level in the office. Is this applying to PSR staff as well?”

“Given the last-minute decision to fold the PSR into the FCA, did that have any negative impact on staff morale?”

“You disagree with the Bank of England because you think your focus on innovation is important.”

“The last time you appeared before us, you said that there may be some activities undertaken by the PSR that could move to the Bank of England. Can you tell us what they are and whether that is happening?”

“Mr Geale, from what you are saying, would you say that there is any practical difference in the day-to-day work of current PSR staff following the merger?”

“Q14. How we answer the call for justice of SEND families will be a measure of who we are. Christopher Laskaris, who was autistic, was murdered aged 24. His mother, Fiona, who is in Public Gallery, spent eight years begging authorities to protect him, but they refused because they presumed that he had mental capacity. W…”

“On the point about the terrible fight that families face, the Minister will know that I wrote to the Education Committee to pass on the testimony of 653 families from across 114 local authorities about harmful, unethical or unlawful behaviour by local authorities on SEND. These testimonies have 195 references to suicid…”

“My hon. Friend is raising incredibly important points on the distribution of funding, but does she agree that the distribution of funding during life stage is also important? [Interruption.] According to the Early Intervention Foundation, the NHS is spending £3.7 billion a year on the cost of late intervention. In theo…”

“1. If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing research and development bonds of up to £20 billion.”

“Will we invest in EU SAFE defence bond fund?”

“In the 1940s, refugees fled the Nazis and built the atomic bomb; they pioneered a method of public research and development that has powered US economic dominance ever since. The EU Security Action for Europe defence bond fund offers us a similarly transformative opportunity: £20 billion invested in defence R&D cou…”

“I would be inclined to agree with you. Is it possible that all this language, including from Downing Street, about deregulating financial services has emboldened the industry to be aggressive in its requests, at the expense of the risks that you articulate? I am interested in the views of the whole panel.”