Speeches by Smith.

“Absolutely. There need not be this false dichotomy between what development corporations can do and the protection of our natural environment. Rural Great Britain is crying out for “little and often” development. We can get this right, and the Bill is trying to deliver that by cutting through labyrinthine planning rule…”

“I am simply trying to make the point that many of the amendments proposed seem to set up a false dichotomy between the ability to develop our country, including with housing, and to protect the natural environment. I will give one example of that. Norham parish council in my constituency is trying to open up a plot of …”

“The largest ever devolution settlement—£50 billion—is great news for Scotland and its local authorities, but under the SNP there are 840,000 cases on NHS waiting lists. This affects people in my constituency in North Northumberland, many of whom use cross-border healthcare and dental services, so does the Minister agre…”

“10. What recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the impact of the Barnett formula on levels of funding for local authorities.”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“I thank the hon. Lady for giving way, especially on her last line. One of the key issues with rurality is that we often depend on mobile signal because of the sparsity of the areas we represent, such as my constituency of North Northumberland. We can be profoundly impacted by storms as a result, and we should be lookin…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech—he is clearly a passionate advocate for his schools in Northumberland. Another school in Northumberland is Berwick Academy, which was Berwick community high school until it became an academy in 2011. Over the years it has been good, but it now requires improvement. In terms …”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“I am sure that all of us in this place respect and value our medical professionals. The simple point to make is that not everyone who goes before the medical profession has the same experience or confidence as some of us in this place.”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I am proud that Britain has set ambitious targets for clean energy. We want 95% of our energy to come from low- carbon power sources by 2030. The Government are changing the planning system, as we have heard, so they can deliver the renewable energy of the future. It is important that the benefits of that ambition are …”

“I was just about to say that I welcome the Government’s proposed new land use framework, which I think is key. The land use framework, which no Government have had before, will help landowners make sensible and effective decisions with their land. I trust that will include a strong focus on both food production and ren…”

“I wanted to draw others in. It seems pretty unequivocal, from what we are hearing, that veterans—there may be a variety, as the commissioner said—are largely in support of ICRIR. The Government are committed to root and branch reform. I suppose that the simple question for anyone, perhaps especially Dave and Axel, who …”

“In the light of that picture you paint, do you have any concerns with ICRIR’s investigations and its approach to investigations?”

“Axel, would you like to add to that?”

“Can I open that up, perhaps, to Chris?”

“Good morning, gentlemen. It is good to have you with us. I will stick with ICRIR, if I can. One thing that we have found is that, in many submissions that we have had, both written and from witnesses, there are a lot of stakeholders who struggle to trust ICRIR, especially victims’ groups. I would like to ask first the …”

“I thank the Minister for her clear and positive response to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Like her, before I was elected to this place, I ran a north-east-based homelessness charity for eight years. I have to say, contrary to what we have heard in some of the debate in the last few days and even in this place today, it i…”

“Forty years ago in this place, the Conservative Minister of Trade and Industry said: “I believe that…privatisation will enable”— British Steel— “and its work force to…secure a firmly based competitive industry with a long-term future”. In the same debate, the then Labour shadow Minister asked whether the Minister has “…”