Speeches by Zeichner.

“I am very grateful; the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) never disappoints. He is absolutely right that housing is important everywhere and is a key part of this project. I was thrilled with the appointment of Lord Vallance as the Minister and leader of this project. I think we are now finally getting into gear…”

“Absolutely, although I am puzzled as to the relationship between Ox-Cam and Northern Ireland.”

“It is a pleasure to follow the Father of the House and his wide-ranging contribution. I think he is slightly more optimistic about the ability to achieve consensus across the Front Benches than, sadly, I might be, but his point about intergenerational unfairness is absolutely right. Let me start by recognising the hard…”

“The plans for Tempsford vindicate those of us who have long argued for East West Rail and the plans for the area between Cambridge and Oxford, but can my hon. Friend assure me and the House that this Government will be consistent in their support and will not wobble like the previous Government did, which led to a lost…”

“The right hon. Lady is making an important speech, some of which I agree with and some of which I do not. She will understand, as we all do, that the current planning system does not resolve these issues very effectively. She will also know that the previous Government had plans to develop a land use framework, and tha…”

“I support my right hon. Friend’s statement, and particularly her announcement about safe and legal routes. She will know that cities like Cambridge have a long tradition—going back to the Kindertransport—of welcoming people, including those from Syria and Ukraine. I very much hope that she will work closely with author…”

“The Business and Trade Committee recently visited the remarkable new Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge, and the key issue that came up was the balance between research funding going to post-doctorates and to PhD students. It is a complicated, niche issue, but would the Minister arrange for me, UK Research and Innovatio…”

“I spent time yesterday with journalists at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire admiring their dedication and professionalism, which stands in marked contrast to this shabby debacle that sullies a great institution’s reputation. Is not part of the problem the fragmentation of what should be a public service? Frankly, this failure …”

“Is my hon. Friend aware of the Cambridge-based Ninja Theory’s work with neuroscientist Professor Paul Fletcher on the game “Hellblade”? It gives a really powerful insight into psychosis, and shows how game developers can work effectively with gamers for real social purpose.”

“Q14. Cambridge is one of the most intensive science and innovation clusters in the world, and that success is based on openness to talent. At the moment, in many American universities there are many well-qualified people pondering their futures. That presents a fantastic opportunity, but it is a global competition. Wha…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. Ahead of COP30, I want to make a brief contribution to the discussion, my first since leaving the Government. In my 14 months as Minister for Food Security, I became increasingly convinced that transforming the food system is one of the biggest challenges, and…”

“The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point, and I visited an abattoir last week. Because of the changes to the system over a number of years, we have seen a concentration of these facilities. We all want to see more small abattoirs. The previous Government introduced a fund, but it proved difficult to get uptake.…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and we should all be proud of high-quality British producers like Longley farm. That is why, back in July, I announced our food strategy, which will build pride in British food by ensuring we have a food system that backs British food, grows the economy, feeds the nation, nourishes i…”

“My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Of course, consumer food prices depend on a wide range of factors, including agrifood import prices, agricultural prices in general, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, exchange rates, productivity and the extreme weather we have been seeing, which inevitably impacts gr…”

“Let me start by acknowledging just how tough it has been for so many farmers this year, having been faced with the very extreme weather conditions. We have had very hot weather, following on from last year, when many suffered from floods. It is undeniable that we are seeing our climate changing. The Government are resp…”

“There was a lot in that question. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that herbal leys have been very effective, and many people have seen the impact they have had during the dry weather. It is also interesting that these schemes are now available to much smaller enterprises than they ever were under the previous schemes…”

“The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that we will be making announcements on this very shortly. [Interruption.] We are picking up a disastrous mess inherited from the previous Government—this is absolutely true—who were quite cavalier about the way in which these schemes were run. We are having to clear up that m…”

“I assure my hon. Friend that I have had numerous conversations with leading academics in her great city, and I would be happy to have further conversations along those lines.”

“The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and I join him in commending the Dinsdale family for the work they do. I have spoken to a number of farmers who would very much like to do that. Of course, there is significant cost involved, and we are working with farmers to try to get the circular economy that we all wan…”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I commend him on his interest and his insight. He is absolutely right, and we are learning from past SFI iterations and from what we are hearing from farmers to improve the SFI for all farmers and to ensure we can give better guidance and that everyone can have a share of th…”