Speeches by Hinds.

“What counts as a watch? I realise that these are leading questions, but you could scroll past a video, you could dwell on it for two seconds, you could watch it for five seconds, you could unmute it, you could watch it for 20 seconds, and those do not all have the same effect on how much money you get, do they?”

“Sign of the times.”

“Okay. How do you feel about this change in the way that the news is—”

“What do you think about that? Come on, tell us what you think. Is this a good thing, that news now comes in a 90-second package? By the way, you said a moment ago that you don’t think you have content on TikTok and Instagram. Are you sure? Because that 90-second news snack sounds a lot like it is made for TikTok and In…”

“Really quickly, can you talk us through the criteria or the triggers for getting payouts from the creator fund for a video? Things like unmutes, duration time and so on—what is the summary, very quickly?”

“Ian, you have referred a number of times to the changing viewing habits of children, without being explicit about what those changing habits are. In the last session we had YouTube, and today we are going to have TikTok and Instagram. “FYI” was an award-winning 15-minute television slot that used to play multiple times…”

“You say it is not on Instagram or TikTok?”

“Okay. How do you feel about this change in the way that the news is—”

“Yes, but including “FYI 90”?”

“Sign of the times.”

“That is to sign up. That was not the question. The question was: if you are in the programme, what are the triggers for being paid out on video watches?”

“Or they don’t understand them.”

“Rebecca, you spoke earlier about the proportion of teenagers on Instagram whose parents were linked into their accounts. What can you tell us about the average number of Instagram accounts per Instagram user?”

“That is a fake Instagram account and a real Instagram account. Those are old words now. Are you honestly telling me those are not terms that you are familiar with?”

“Mr Efford, that really was my next sentence, because there are questions about short-term lets, and about second homes in Cornwall and so on. On the short lets issue—whether rents are being pushed up is sometimes another concern with short lets—this levy is not going to solve that problem. The Government will need to d…”

“I do agree. My right hon. Friend and I have been in multiple debates in the main Chamber talking about exactly those issues, both for tourism and for the wider hospitality sector. There are some arguments in favour of an overnight visitor levy, some of which have come up already. The main one is summed up in the senten…”

“I certainly do. On the issue of incrementality—I suspect other colleagues will make this point during the debate—there is only one way to guarantee that the money will truly be ringfenced and used for incremental activity, sales and marketing spend, which is to write it into primary legislation. In these debates, peopl…”

“They are focus articles.”

“Thank you very much, Mr Efford, for presiding over proceedings. I thank everybody who has taken part in what I think has been a very good discussion in this two-part debate, and I thank the Minister for her considered response. Broadly, there are three main objections to this new tax. The first concerns the cost of liv…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the proposed visitor levy in England. It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Efford. It is also great to see the Minister in her place; we have a very highly regarded Minister to respond to the debate. She is a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governme…”