Speeches by Hinchliff.

“It may be useful if I make a brief point to set the scene before I dive into my questions, starting with Mr Laybourn. I think that the issue of thresholds—non-linear collapse—and what that means in terms of the risks of non-state actors, global resource competition and the collapse of food security is particularly conc…”

“I will turn to you, General Nugee, for my final question. Mr Laybourn spoke a moment ago about the cataclysmic potential impacts of going beyond these tipping points. If we were sat today on a Defence Committee to talk about a foreign power that had the ability imminently to cut off food supply to this country and seri…”

“Q3. The war in Iran has exposed how dangerously reliant we are on imports for our food, fuel and medicine, but the reality is that climate breakdown will make the current instability look trivial. Will the Prime Minister use the upcoming King’s Speech to address this fact and redirect our economy towards food security,…”

“Following up on those points, it is great to hear about the opportunities relating to new towns. I think we all know that even with the new towns going ahead, that is not how the majority of development in this country will happen. This Committee did a very important inquiry on housing development and environmental sus…”

“Thank you, Professor Holgate. For others on the panel, would you say that in the housing developments that you see we are effectively planning to minimise risks to air quality?”

“On the point about statistics and what GDP measures, I ask the Minister to take away the issue of imputed rent. A fairly strange part of GDP, it measures hypothetical rent on the value of existing houses, inflates the value of our GDP as a country, and could be part of what we are measuring when we say that we are tryi…”

“Would the hon. Lady add to her list a request that the Minister consider a formal target to cut inequality in this country? We will never grow our way to a good life for all our citizens while we have a fundamentally unjust society; we will only break the environmental boundaries we are already rapidly burning past.”

“More social housing is essential but, as Members across the House will know, increasingly distant housing associations are often far too quick to put up fees and far too slow to tackle damp, mould and disrepair. What more will the Minister do to ensure that future public funding comes with clear strings attached to req…”

“22. What steps he is taking to improve standards for social housing.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“I welcome this statement. The public must have confidence that political decisions are made in their interests, not those of wealthy donors. Nowhere is that more important than in relation to the housing crisis, where there are also significant concerns that vested interests are seeking to exert significant influence o…”

“There are widespread concerns that we are way off our national biodiversity targets. Does the Minister agree that there must be no further backward steps on environmental protections, and that we must set clear red lines for nature?”

“Similarly, if you could share those examples in writing, it would be helpful. What you are referring to makes me think that a lot of these sources of air pollution are transboundary or move quite a lot. How realistic is it for us to think that we can substantially limit exposure to those pollutants that are clearly not…”

“Sorry, I am quite conscious of time. That is a very sensible principle to apply, but I want to nail that point. Some of this is out of our control, isn’t it? Do we have to accept a certain amount of this in our lives because we cannot control the sources that are not within our decision-making power? How would you resp…”

“Ms Legge, any advances on that?”

“Ms Legge, you have already referred to how we are falling behind some of the targets in Scotland and the EU. Briefly, are there other jurisdictions that you would point to as leading the way on tackling air pollution, not just in the targets they set but in how they monitor and implement them? What are the best jurisdi…”

“That leads on nicely to my next question, but if you want to write to the Committee to highlight any particular examples from other jurisdictions that you think it would be worth us being aware of, that would be helpful.”

“I guessed that others would raise the issue of potholes and poor safety today, so I want to make another point about the state of our rural roads. To put it bluntly, they are filthy. Driving through the countryside should be a reminder of much that is best and beautiful about our nation. Instead, in many places, it has…”

“I thank the Minister for setting the scene. Would he reflect back to the House that, notwithstanding what he has said, there is a clear pattern of a lack of reliable communication, a failure to enforce payments and what often seems like an inability to keep in line with legislation? Does he recognise that what we are a…”

“Thank you. Coming straight back to you, Mr Tubby, I think for many people in this country, the iconic image in our mind of the ancient woodland may well be Wistman’s wood—one of our temperate rainforests and a remaining fragment of that particular type of ancient woodland. Would you agree with the campaigners who have …”