Speeches by Hinchliff.

“I apologise in advance, Ms McVey, that I need to go to a Select Committee so cannot attend the full debate. My hon. Friend is, as usual, right about everything. Does he agree that public resistance to the construction of data centres is due not just to concern about the impact on the environment, but to underlying publ…”

“All the military hardware we can buy will not serve its purpose if our nation goes hungry, should our reliance on food imports be turned against us. What reassurances can Ministers give that they are leading conversations across Government to ensure that if push comes to shove, the UK has the necessary food security to…”

“2. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of the security of UK supply chains.”

“We have already seen the vulnerability of our economy to global supply chain shocks from the impact of wars on food, fuel and fertiliser prices, but scientists now warn that we are likely to be heading into a super El Niño—a global heating event that will trigger extreme weather around the world, threatening fish stock…”

“Thank you. That was a very useful and clear answer. Picking up on what was said earlier, where data centres do have water demand, that often peaks at the same time as water demand generally is peaking, when it is hottest. In the probably inevitable circumstance where water runs short in a particular area and water comp…”

“I have two quick questions to take us back to the discussion on water. I accept what has already been said about the technological innovations that have been made there, but it is worth setting out the context of people’s concerns about this country heading towards water bankruptcy and a deficit of 5 billion litres a d…”

“Does anyone else want to comment?”

“I suppose I was not asking whether we should put a moratorium on data centres, but whether there ought to be regulations in place to say that in periods of extreme water stress—and this is already happening; the taps in my constituency went off during the brief heatwave in May—we prioritise the public ahead of business…”

“So you are optimistic that we can avoid it. Mr John, do you want to add anything?”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. This is a hugely consequential instrument. Little democracy remains in our planning system, and this legislation will cut the amount down further. We are elected to this place to serve the public, not treat them as a problem to be silenced. The measures will…”

“Is that not potentially reintroducing the same level of discretion and difference across the country if local planning authorities choose to use those powers in different ways?”

“I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on council and social housing. The affordability of home ownership is one of the biggest issues in our country. I welcome many of the recommendations in this report around tackling empty homes, reforming stamp duty and ensuring that we are tying the de…”

“Earlier this month, the Government announced that they are putting yet more money into the lower Thames crossing, meaning that we will now spend more than £3 billion on a road that costs more per mile than High Speed 2, and we will privatise away Dartford toll revenues for the privilege. Meanwhile, despite welcome step…”

“For many years we have expected farmers to steward our environment and at the same time deliver food at rock-bottom prices to make up for the failure of politics to secure an affordable cost of living across the rest of society. That has made agricultural profitability increasingly difficult. Now, with the crisis posed…”

“I want to pick up on a point that was made recently about the way that the Climate Change Act provided the certainty and the framework to know that the Treasury was going to respond to that, and that in turn led to private sector investment in renewables to mitigate the impacts of climate change. We have legislation an…”

“My final question is to either of you, if you are interested to answer. As economists, what assessment do you make of the fact that a lot of what, again politically, gets spoken about in terms of economic policy and economic success is unlocking investment and private capital in delivering big projects? We talk about t…”

“Would there be any recommendations that you think this Committee could make to get us back on track to something closer with nature to what we have with climate?”

“Mr Zenghelis, a moment ago you said that growth is at the core of the Treasury’s objectives. Is that compatible with the reality of environmental limits? We have heard a bit about political leadership already today. It seems to me that we are very rarely able to say, “No, that is enough” in the context of growth. There…”

“I am going to move on to a couple of other points briefly. I think that, if one of our other colleagues was here, he would probably have raised a point. You mentioned consumption of resources in this country. Quite often the argument is made politically that that is because we are offshoring a lot of our resource consu…”

“Professor Groom, I am aware of time, so I am going to move on to the next question.”