Speeches by Smith.

“It is a great pleasure to lead this debate on Government support for freedom of religion or belief in Nigeria; I hope that we have some good debate. Recent events have thrown a spotlight on Nigeria in general, and on freedom of religion or belief in particular, so I hope that this debate can strengthen that spotlight. …”

“As I will go on to say, I can confirm that I have had many messages of support for this change in policy. It has been a pleasure to work with the Labour rural research group and other colleagues on this matter, as my hon. Friend mentioned. As I thank farmers, I also want to thank the Government for listening, learning …”

“I welcome the Finance Bill. I will address clause 62 and schedule 12, which relate to APR and BPR. I have spoken on this subject several times, and did so back in November, because my constituency of North Northumberland has over 700 farm holdings, each of them growing the food that we eat and stewarding our land. As o…”

“I thank my constituency neighbour for his intervention. Rather than go down the route of his question, let me respond with the words of one of my local farmers. She wrote to me on 23 December and said: “As you know, we have been very vocal in opposing the earlier proposals, so it is equally important to state how stron…”

“Let me speak to the point about the magistrates. In 2012, I took part in a six-month in-depth application process to become a magistrate, and I was accepted. I was then told that because of a pause by the previous Government, there would be no recruitment. In the following eight years, we lost 10,000 magistrates, to th…”

“The Secretary of State has already confirmed that under the legacy Act the immunity provisions were never commenced, so it is important to say that nobody was ever granted immunity under those provisions. Sticking with the subject of immunity, the three Veterans Commissioners for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales ha…”

“Thank you. Can I bring Jonny in on the same question?”

“Can I just slightly push back against that? I recognise the description that you are giving. I have lived in Northern Ireland and spend a lot of time there. As Jonny was saying earlier, and as you have said, there has been a massive change, and that absolutely applies to the general population. What I am saying, though…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I am delighted to be speaking in this debate about International Human Rights Day and I congratulate the hon. Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours) on securing it. I declare an interest as the UK special envoy for freedom of religion or belief…”

“If I could push back, in the same way that I did with Marie, on that dichotomy, are we not really talking about, on the one hand, how the general population experiences the security situation in Northern Ireland and all the things that you have just said? On the other hand, there are those people whose job it is to ens…”

“Good morning to you both. I want to circle back a bit to the security situation. I have heard what you said about normalisation, the massive strides that have taken place in the last 25 years, and the need to get to a more normalised situation. Happily, 2023 was the first year that there were no deaths in relation to t…”

“I thank the Minister for his answers thus far. I may be slightly gazumping him—he may be coming to this—but one key thing that has not come out in the debate so far is investment. Ultimately, we all realise that the east coast main line is overused and very stretched. I thank the Government for the £3 billion of extra …”

“I have a simple question for the hon. Gentleman, on this auspicious day of the Second Reading of the Railways Bill: would he characterise the fracturing of rail services in this country over the past 20 years, specifically in relation to timetabling, as a success for rural areas?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important debate. He mentioned Berwick train station, which is in my constituency. Although the initial timetable change began in 2021, it is true that it has been brought in now. I want to highlight more regional travel. It is good to be working cross-border and cross-pa…”

“I am grateful to be speaking in support of a Government who have delivered a Labour Budget that has ended the child benefit cap. That benefits 1,150 children in my constituency. The Budget is tackling the cost of living by reducing household energy bills by £150 from next April. It is raising much-needed funds for our …”

“The Minister may or may not be aware that prior to coming to this place, I ran a homelessness and support charity for the general population, including young women. It was always possible in that context, even as a charity, to find support and housing for transgender women, as well as to incorporate sex-segregated spac…”

“We will look forward to that. Does anybody else want to say anything more about potential frontier sectors of the economy in Northern Ireland?”

“Morning, gentlemen. My question is for Robert, although anyone can chip in if you would like to. From your bio and what you have said this morning, Robert, I understand that you are very involved in the space industry. What would you like to see as the frontier sectors in Northern Ireland in 2035? I am fighting with my…”

“Can you say a bit more about what you mean by quantum technology?”