Speeches by Robinson.

“To check with Dr Marshall, your answer was “not to me”. I assume you are speaking on behalf of the Electoral Office when you say “not to me”, and none of your polling captains or anything reported anybody coming up to find that they could not vote because their vote had already been cast.”

“Were Electoral Commission observers aware of anybody having turned up at a polling station to find their vote had been cast already?”

“Were there any issues about personation?”

“There were none at all.”

“I saw that Mr Hughes wanted to come in, but I have one final question, David, for you. How many reports in the 2024 Westminster election did you get of people turning up to a polling station to find their vote had already been cast?”

“Do you publish all your aspirations on legislative change, or do you just go to the NIO and tell it?”

“The legislative programme is their problem. You can use this Committee as your battering ram on issues, so start spelling them out. What are the sorts of things that you would like to see over the next two years before you get to the next council and Assembly election?”

“It is not that you would be responsible for bringing them forward, but nobody is going to bring them forward unless somebody is saying that there is a problem that needs fixing. What sort of engagement do you have? What is your relationship like with the Northern Ireland Office where you are saying, “Here is a problem”…”

“Are you aware of any to the police?”

“Good morning, everyone. On that last point first, we had cause to raise some issues around people receiving an envelope with no postal ballot in it, but subsequently no ability to verify that with the Electoral Office, and that was your problem. I suspect that there may be merit in having some thought as to how, if a b…”

“Is that to you or to the police?”

“There was nothing.”

“What about fraud?”

“You are aware of people turning up and, what, complaining to parties, police or the Electoral Commission?”

“What does that mean? Are you aware of reports having been made to others?”

“You are not personally involved in the negotiations overall, but you have personal responsibility for some aspects. Is this a recurring feature in your workload on a weekly basis? Are you engaging regularly on issues around fiscal sustainability in Northern Ireland?”

“Could you write to the Committee with that in terms, because that is not my understanding?”

“Do you mind if I focus on this? It almost appears as if there is a blasé attitude that, because there was a windfall in the Budget due to spending allocations from the Chancellor, the Northern Ireland fiscal position is in a good or comfortable place. Is it right to say, Minister, that national insurance contributions …”

“You would accept, Minister, that one reason why we have a need of 124%, as assessed, is the size of our public sector. An issue that was live in political discourse two years ago was public sector pay. You have mentioned the need to retain parity. Your party, the Labour Party, was critical of the British Government of …”

“On that—not to be difficult, Chair—a recurring issue that comes up when we are engaging with organisations on how they raise revenue is that, if they are non-government bodies, non‑departmental bodies, arm’s‑length bodies and so on, they have more flexible ways in which they can borrow off books, but it i…”