Speeches by Chope.

“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing a Bill on this important subject. He mentions research. Can he explain why the extent of clauses 2 and 3 is limited to England and Wales? What is happening in Scotland in relation to the research issues?”

“The Environment Agency as an arm’s length body is found wanting in many respects, not least that it argues that it has a lack of resource to introduce the necessary prosecutions and enforcement of the regulations that it is meant to be in charge of. Just to illustrate that point—this also relates to Natural England, ac…”

“The hon. Lady tempts me to move on to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.”

“I am not insisting that anybody should pay attention to what I am saying. All I am putting forward is a proposition that these arm’s length bodies, of which there are far too many, should be brought to account more than they are at the moment. I have just given an example of the NHS Business Services Authority. Another…”

“I was probably in one of my less rebellious periods at that stage, but the hon. Gentleman is right to chide me, because I think it was a big mistake.”

“Absolutely; that is why, although the term “independent” sounds seductive to people outside, it quite often means a lack of control by elected representatives over the body in question. I am not going to spend all my time talking about NHS Dorset, but I must offer one other illustration of my concerns. I have a letter …”

“I hear the hon. Gentleman’s cautionary tale, and I am not suggesting that anything will be a panacea. My Bill is just a tentative step to try to introduce a little more accountability.”

“I do not think my Bill would make any of that harder. What I am saying is that if the Government wish to abolish these arm’s length bodies, or some of them, and to create a more direct relationship between the activities of those bodies when they are under direct Government control and this House, I welcome that. I hav…”

“I am more interested, actually, in looking at the number of people in the civil service. There was a low point during the Blair years, but I am sorry to report that under the last Conservative Government and in the time that this Government have been in office, the number of civil servants has continued to increase exp…”

“I am just coming to that—I have to say that I am absolutely delighted. I am not ambivalent about it; it is really good news, and I will give some examples of how frustrating it has been in my constituency to try to engage with the organisation called NHS Dorset —it used to be called the integrated care board—and how di…”

“I cannot speak for the previous Government because I was not a member, although obviously I was in the House. My understanding is that this has become a live issue only within recent weeks and months, and that the present Government have been involved in discussions behind the scenes. I am not blaming the Justice Secre…”

“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing the Bill in the way he has and on becoming a Parliamentary Private Secretary. Does he support the Bill going into Committee? I think there is consensus across the House that it should be given its Second Reading. If it is not given its Second Reading, however, it will no…”

“I am one of the people who is very angry about this, and my right hon. Friend is a co-sponsor of this Bill, so his disappointment must be even greater. However, does he agree that one way forward would be for this Bill, with its present inadequate drafting, to get its Second Reading and go into Committee? The people’s …”

“This announcement is small beer, is it not? The extra £92 million offered for criminal legal aid is exceeded twentyfold by the subsidies given to offshore wind, which amounted to £1.9 billion last year alone. Why do the Government have such perverse priorities, and when will they put the criminal justice system above t…”

“Could you give some specific examples?”

“There may be circumstances in which it is more cost-effective for the United Kingdom, although it has the resources itself, to import. Would you accept that?”

“We are closely allied to Australia—we are in the Five Eyes and all the rest of it—so we can probably trust the Australians, but we cannot really trust countries such as China, can we? How can we find alternative supply chains where the critical minerals are actually almost exclusively under the control of our potential…”

“You referred earlier to steel. If steel makes up 80% of a wind turbine, and most of that steel is having to be imported, why are we not doing more to manufacture our own steel? It seems as though we are remarkably relaxed about that, considering how critical it is to our net zero ambitions.”

“We are closely allied to Australia—we are in the Five Eyes and all the rest of it—so we can probably trust the Australians, but we cannot really trust countries such as China, can we? How can we find alternative supply chains where the critical minerals are actually almost exclusively under the control of our potential…”

“You referred to the Australian memorandum of understanding. Is that really going to be sufficient?”