Speeches by Doogan.

“Would you say there is a fair balance between transient benefits for the local communities during construction and structural benefits that will endure over time? Even the discount—if you happen to be near a pylon or a new pylon—is limited to 10 years; the pylons will be there for 70 years at least.”

“My concern—please explain if I am inaccurate—is that we have the worst of all worlds: bill payers are paying for the investment in offshore wind through the contracts for difference, but we are not getting the benefit of that, because we cannot get it on to the network in the volume we require. People are very focused …”

“Dr Calvillo, curtailment charges are a huge challenge. People find them inexplicable because they are inexplicable: it is like buying an expensive generator and connecting it to your off-grid house with a 13-amp cable and then only being able to operate your lights, not your heating. That is essentially what the UK has…”

“To follow on very quickly from that, both improving energy efficiency and the cost of energy would be helpful, as would a social tariff. Is it cogent to suggest that a social tariff could be delivered with a level of immediacy? Energy efficiency and lower energy prices will need to unwind through the system over time w…”

“Ms Mander and Mr Johnston, the proposals by Ofgem for debt relief involve transferring the burden of that debt on to the bills of people who are not in debt. That is essentially what the plan is. There is good reason to think that Ofgem does not actually understand the market that it is charged with regulating. Are you…”

“It does not say “English Business Rates” up there on the annunciator, so I assume the Minister can confirm that the budget—the departmental expenditure limit—for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will increase with the new money, which will mean Barnett consequentials for the devolved nations. W…”

“Constituents of mine have restored the Alyth hotel. It has gone from near dereliction to being an outstanding venue for dining and drinking, and a hotel. However, they are smothered by the compound burden of VAT rates, wage costs, duty increases, employer national insurance contributions, energy costs and the squeeze o…”

“The SNP is broadly supportive of the contents of the Bill. It is an important Armed Forces Bill; it is hard to remember another Armed Forces Bill that stepped into such a yawning breach between the armed forces capabilities that we have and the armed forces capabilities that we need. Notwithstanding the fact that claus…”

“What you say is very interesting Mr Kinniburgh. In the defence space, the subsea environment is increasingly contested and the defence of that realm will rely on subsea technology and capability. Is it your contention that the just transition for oil and gas workers should go beyond transitioning from one form of energ…”

“To home in on the horizon planning, which industry really needs, it would be more helpful if orders came in larger numbers rather than smaller tranches. We saw that on Type 26. We see that the Type 31’s successor, which was coming at the back of 31, has now gone into the long grass. We just heard this week that Royal N…”

“Mr Malcolm, to move on slightly to the policy the Scottish Government have just introduced in terms of public money investment in defence in Scotland, and trying to ensure that Scottish taxpayers’ money is not spent on that which could be connected down the supply chain to genocidal activity in Gaza—a policy that the v…”

“Mr Malcolm, we have very competitive SMEs that are doing a great job in the defence space in Scotland. I take your point that we should not be overly pessimistic about that. Nevertheless, it is one of the lowest SME success rates within defence in all 12—and I use the term advisedly—regions of the UK. It must be a func…”

“Sorry—I don’t mean for the positive bit. I am in full accord with the positive bit. I was asking about the implication that without defence there would be no engineering opportunities in Scotland.”

“In terms of the broader political rhetoric that I think you are concerned about, can I check whether you have noticed a discernible shift in the Scottish Government’s position and approach to the opportunities of defence manufacturing in Scotland in recent times, such as the £9.2 million Scottish Government investment …”

“You are asking him to predict the election.”

“It is worth acknowledging, Mr Malcolm, that in the list of reserved competences there is very little as reserved as defence. Would that be fair to say?”

“The SNP delivered yet another ambitious budget for Scotland yesterday. It saw almost £1 billion for rates relief, £5 billion for energy and climate change and a 10% uplift for Scotland’s colleges. [Interruption.] The SNP has delivered 10.5% growth since 2007, compared with the UK’s 5.1%. The question is not about what …”

“The hon. Gentleman is being very generous in giving way again. He is setting out a seriously curious sequence of events for a well-intentioned Government relative to a vital industry. Is he concerned, as I am, that this is more about the beliefs of the Secretary of State than the industrial imperatives of these islands…”

“That is a positive thing for Scotland, but that is concentrated in the central belt. A lot of Scotland’s population exists in the central belt, so that is, nevertheless, a really valuable opportunity for those communities in and around the central belt. There is a definite challenge with SMEs in Scotland. Defence spend…”

“The hon. Member is right that the UK Government said that they are not in the business of saving failing businesses, but they have washed their hands of some of the key factors that contribute to those businesses failing. For example, they are signalling about new licences in the North sea, but these refineries use vas…”