Speeches by Swayne.

“Even if the Supreme Court had opined on the matter and judged it to be incompatible, that would not have changed the law. This House is not required to respond in any way to a declaration of incompatibility by a court. This House remains supreme.”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Further to your earlier observation that if hon. Members had asked shorter questions during the previous statement, so many would not have been disappointed, there was a time when if a Member read from a piece of paper when asking a question, there would be a chorus across the…”

“As the Home Secretary struggles to find these return hubs, she should reflect on the fact that it was her Government who wasted £700 million by giving up an opportunity to Germany and the United States before we got the chance to use it.”

“Given the blatant breach of pre-Budget purdah, will the Chancellor follow the proper example set by Hugh Dalton?”

“T7. Why has capital investment in agriculture collapsed? It is the family farm tax, isn’t it?”

“Is not the principal difficulty that so many housing developments have now become unprofitable, and that is why they are not being proceeded with? It is the costs that have been loaded on builders in the last 15 months.”

“No, it was definitely the Korean war!”

“This is education in the clouds when contrasted with the reality of a war against elitism, which is so often actually a war against excel-ism on the ground, is it not?”

“Growth, increased turnover and increased profits for microbusinesses should be a cause for celebration, but the reality is that crossing the reduced VAT threshold can be a disaster. So many suppliers of small businesses are themselves small businesses; there is no VAT that they can reclaim, so it can be dreadful.”

“I will call only Sir Ashley Fox and the Minister to make speeches. There will not be an opportunity for Sir Ashley to sum up after the debate.”

“I call Sarah Champion. I suggest five minutes.”

“Order.”

“Edward Morello, you have less than a minute.”

“Order. I am imposing a formal four-minute limit.”

“Order. I suggest four minutes from now on.”

“I am still smarting from my hon. Friend’s reluctance to squash the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake), who alleged that there had been no leasehold reform. Such was the extent of leasehold reform under Conservative Governments that the Duke of Westminster resigned from the party in indignat…”

“The hon. Lady referred to the trade deals—so many more than were achieved under the Conservative Government, she says—but the reality is that those trade deals could not have been made had we not had the Brexit deal that we achieved when in government. What is more, the Labour party opposed that deal. We could not do t…”

“Has the Minister made any estimate of the likely impact on Petrofac and similar enterprises of the extension of the energy profits levy?”

“Order. I suggest a time limit of five minutes. Mr Tice, do you wish to speak?”

“Oh, I see. That is very gracious of you. We will have Mr Mike Reader then.”