Speeches by McAllister.

“Yes, I agree entirely with my hon. Friend, who makes a very good point. I think all hon. Members in the House have had the same volume of correspondence from our constituents, emphasising the strength of feeling up and down the United Kingdom. Today, the situation in the west bank and East Jerusalem is at breaking poin…”

“I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I am sure his point has not been lost on the Minister, and we await with great anticipation what he will say from the Dispatch Box. Madam Deputy Speaker, I will conclude. Trade with these settlements is fundamentally incompatible with international law. It is time to turn our solid…”

“For my constituents in West Dunbartonshire, a community geographically far removed from Palestine, the horrific injustice being inflicted on the Palestinian people resonates deeply. They look at the systematic confiscation of Palestinian land, the draining of Palestinian water resources and the suffocating restrictions…”

“Q6. This week marks the second anniversary of our Labour Government. Two years on, my constituents enjoy greater rights at work, and thousands of workers are now better off, thanks to increases in the national minimum wage. Thousands of children have been lifted out of poverty, and tens of millions of pounds in pride i…”

“I thank the Minister for his statement and I appreciate all the Government’s work to resolve this inherited issue. However, the system is inadequate, and it is causing serious problems for many in my constituency, which has a higher than average number of outstanding cases. Capita’s communication is terrible; my consti…”

“It is for both.”

“Can I ask you both what the overriding strategy is? Is it just to increase visibility and exposure of the language, because you called it the hidden language? Or is it to get the population talking Gaelic again and being fluent in it? What is your main priority? Let’s be realistic—only 11,000 people in the population c…”

“I am concerned that the small allowance for coastguards, to which my hon. Friend refers, is what prevents public service from becoming a personal financial penalty; by removing that, we risk making it significantly harder to recruit and retain volunteers, particularly for new teams such as the Clydebank coastguard resc…”

“I am presuming that everything we do now, including spending on defence, will help clear the pathway to a re-industrialised nation. I understand that rewiring Britain involves ensuring parity between academic and technical career routes. Does the Secretary of State agree that if the defence investment plan is to succee…”

“Have you had a reply to that letter?”

“We know that the attainment gap holds back children who grow up in poverty. The gap reached its highest levels under the Tories, and in Scotland the SNP has failed to close it. Does the Minister agree that it is shameful that the Tories’ only policies for children are bringing back the two-child limit, plunging hundred…”

“Minister, the £10 million that has been allocated for the defence technical excellence colleges in Scotland, that is contingent on Scottish Government match funding, as I understand it, to allow us to have two. The idea is to have one east coast based and one in the west region. Those talks are ongoing but we are alrea…”

“10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce inequalities experienced by children in poverty.”

“Minister, what confidence can we seriously have—can we really have—that the Scottish Government are in any way going to work with the UK Government? You have given the obvious example of the welding centre on the Clyde. That was a bespoke specialist welding centre, Rolls-Royce in partnership with the Mallon Group, an £…”

“Thank you, Chair. Minister, you mentioned Faslane in your first answer; can I bring you back to that? Faslane is on the edge of my constituency and, directly and indirectly, employs about 10,000 people, many of them from my constituency. You mentioned years of underinvestment. What can we expect from the defence invest…”

“While the UK Labour Government introduced a £92 million fund for places of worship in England, the scheme does not apply to Scottish parishes now that it has gone from being a VAT rebate to a capital grant. The Scottish Government received the Barnett consequentials. However, no similar scheme was set up, despite the f…”

“5. How parishes can apply for the places of worship renewal fund.”

“Population and economic growth are the benefits. Have there been any downsides, any unintended consequences to these connections?”

“Do you think that is the lesson to be learned, then, with any new fixed link infrastructure—that there has to be that mitigation built in to begin with?”

“I want to move us on to discuss fixed links, and perhaps we could start with Nicky this time and work our way along. I want to ask about existing or previous fixed links. I do not want to stray into potential new fixed links because one of my colleagues may ask you that after my question. Can you provide concrete examp…”