Speeches by Zeichner.

“The hon. Lady will know that we are one Government and we stand together. Going forward, we are picking up the mess that we inherited, and that is the problem we face. On each of these issues in turn, we have to answer the basic question: who will fix the economic mess? The answer is this Government.”

“Just once more.”

“We can, because we simply look at the number of claims that have been made in the last few years. That is how we arrive at that conclusion.”

“I refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the letter that the Chancellor sent to the Chair of the Treasury Committee, which goes into the issue in some detail. It says: “Currently, of the population of affected estates that claim both APR and BPR, almost a quarter of claims include a claim for” shares on the alte…”

“I think we can speak with one voice from this Parliament on those kinds of issues. I assure the hon. Gentleman that at events such as the G20 and the G7 that I have attended, we have raised those important questions. I turn to the coastal state negotiations on quota shares.”

“I will certainly look at that. These are relatively early days in the fisheries management plans. A huge amount of work has had to be done quite quickly. We have established a good structure to look to the future—a much better way than in the past. On the quota shares, it is because we are now an independent coastal st…”

“I will happily have a discussion with anyone who has a large budget at the moment, so yes—I will happily come and have a discussion with any mayors who are interested. We have also recently launched the UK seafood careers project, which works closely with industry and across Government and the devolved Administrations …”

“I very much hear what my hon. Friend says. I agree that the evidence rather suggests that we could do much better, which is why we are making that commitment to remote electronic monitoring. I am coming close to a conclusion, Dr Huq. Many have talked about support for inshore fishers, and we are absolutely determined t…”

“It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I start by thanking the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael), who is the Chair of the Select Committee, not only for securing this debate—a really important one, which has been conducted in a civil and constructive way, and I look forw…”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point—one that I used to make when in opposition, and one that I have impressed on officials. The effort has been made to ensure that is considered wherever possible. It is not always easy to find the right times, but we are doing everything we can. This Government will always back the…”

“I recognise that there have been some opportunities—not many, but some—and we will do our very best to make more of them. But I do not get a general sense that people in the fishing sector look back and think that was our finest hour. We can do better. Our ambitions for fisheries are no longer tied to the EU common fis…”

“Indeed. I am not sure that the two things are directly related, but having spoken to the pollack fisherman I am under no illusion about how difficult the situation they face is. There was a series of reasons why they had particular problems. We now have the opportunity to set our own objectives for the UK fishing indus…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the challenge facing the fish and chip shop sector. They are an iconic part of our national landscape, and they have indeed suffered heavily from rising costs. These negotiations are really important, but let us all send out a clear message of our strong support for the futur…”

“The changes we have made this year are the biggest boost to sustainable farming that this country has seen—that is the agricultural transition. The Liberal Democrats have always been flaky on this issue, and they have never been able to make up their minds what they think about it. We are determined to tackle the extre…”

“The hon. Lady will know that there are many facets to food security, but the £5 billion budget settlement for the next two years sends an important message to food producers about the stability and continuity they can look forward to. Our work on supply chain fairness will add to that, and we will be making more announ…”

“We have always been very clear that we will do nothing in trade deals that would undermine this country’s important standards.”

“I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. Let me say once again that it is important to treat this subject carefully. We must look at the facts and listen to people who know about it. I was asked earlier by someone else whether this measure was wrong, but we should look at what Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal…”

“As the hon. Gentleman would expect, I have regular meetings with all the key stakeholders, and I speak to the National Farmers Union on a regular basis.”

“What I would say is that I have had more meetings with Tom Bradshaw over the past few weeks than I have had for a long, long time, for reasons that are entirely obvious. I was grateful to him for congratulating the Government on getting a very good financial settlement for farmers when he addressed the egg and poultry …”

“I point the hon. Lady to the extraordinary transformation that is under way, with the huge amount of extra money going into the sustainable farm incentive and our environmental land management schemes this year. It is the biggest transformation on record.”