Speeches by Aldridge.

“It drives me insane that that is the case, and it feels very punitive. David, did you want to say anything?”

“Does anybody else have any views on that?”

“No, it is fine, I got the stuff I wanted on the petrol issue. As constituency MPs, the thing that is front and centre of many of our minds is, what are the main challenges being faced by families and individuals on low incomes? We talk about the poverty premium, but how can the that be reduced? What other levers should…”

“Thank you for coming. The British Chamber of Commerce found that, overall, about 54% of UK exporters were dissatisfied with the trade and co-operation agreement, and 73% felt that they had little or no support in managing ongoing changes in the UK’s trade policy. To what extent has the reset helped address any of the i…”

“Do you expect to see any material change from what you have seen?”

“To what extent is closer EU alignment compatible with the UK’s independent trade policy, which we have heard so much about over the past year? What should be prioritised, if anything?”

“That would be really helpful.”

“Do you recognise the criticism of support? Seventy-three per cent of exporters feel that they do not have any support to manage these changes. Is that something that you would recognise from a logistics perspective as well?”

“Matt, I am coming to you again. As policymakers, we talk a lot about digital transformation, the power of digital and the power of AI to transform the way we live in a positive way, hopefully. If we look at the UK Government’s AI opportunities action plan, what is your assessment of National Grid’s progress towards its…”

“The Government agreed with Sir Wyn’s recommendation to implement a redress scheme for close family members of sub-postmasters. This is a general question to all of you. In your view, how will that impact family members? Do you have any concerns around the proposed scheme? Kieran, your hand shot up there.”

“When were those meetings happening? I used to work for the Chartered Institute for IT, and we were banging on the doors of Government before the “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” TV programme, and then all of a sudden, a drama came out and captured the public’s attention and things started to move. It was massively frustra…”

“I am going to ask something slightly different, before we move on to that. I declare an interest as a former employee of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. The Horizon scandal, for many of us who work in that area of IT professionalism, acted as a bit of a canary in the coalmine, indicating future risks if we do not …”

“David, you talked about warning authorities about this issue from the inception. I wonder why, in your opinion, those warnings were not listened to by authorities?”

“David and Glenys, thank you so much for what you are doing on behalf of all of us who have constituents affected by this. Glenys, what would have happened to you if David had not been told that his conviction had been quashed? What do you think you would be doing now?”

“A very merry Christmas to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to everybody in this place. In a historic win against Chelmsford on 6 December—it is another football success story—Weston-super-Mare football club, for the first time in our history, reached the third round of the FA cup. Like many Westonians, I am really excite…”

“A plea from the SMEs that I have spoken to most recently is to bring back some clarity to the system and then iterate from there. They have told us, “Rather than shiny new things, just do one thing, do it well and iterate it”.”

“Considering the need to develop skilled workers across our country, SMEs must now engage with a number of organisations. There are local skills improvement plans, Get Britain Working plans, local growth plans, technical excellence colleges, the Construction Skills Mission Board and the clean energy jobs plan. In your v…”

“We are blessed in this country to be an island nation, with lots of coastal communities all over the place. I represent Weston-super-Mare. The hospitality and tourism industry are huge for us, but we know that they are struggling, and lots of the small businesses that speak to me talk about the VAT system inhibiting th…”

“In the past month, we have seen in the Financial Times concern about late payment legislation being watered down. I just wondered if you could comment on that.”

“Small businesses in Weston-super-Mare and Worle are telling me that they are struggling to maintain their reserve operating costs. They are trying to balance the need to save with the need to invest. It is really harming growth in places such as Weston-super-Mare. They do not know where or how to invest, or even if the…”