Speeches by Clifton-Brown.

“Okay. We are running out of time—the Chair will stop me in a minute. This document produced by this Committee in 2022-23 is all about procurement. It is entitled “It is broke—and it’s time to fix it”. You’ve got it there—you’ve read it! Brilliant.”

“Like me, the hon. Gentleman represents a constituency in the south-west where hospitality businesses of all sorts will be very heavily hit by this Budget. They have seen rate increases. They have seen increases in alcohol duty, increases in the minimum wage and national insurance increases. Some of them are literally g…”

“The PAC has had a lot of hearings on Ajax, and it seems that one thread goes across it. Let us learn from a particular project of the general: there has been a culture of over-optimism, in General Dynamics and particularly within your organisation, DE&S. CROs and SROs did not know who they were reporting to and were no…”

“My final question is really important. Article 5 commits NATO to go to the defence—one for all. Article 3 commits each country to securing its own proper defence. Are you satisfied that if we had a peer-to-peer war within General Walker’s three-year horizon, this country would be able to defend itself under article 3?”

“We are running out of time, and I have several questions. Let us have short questions with short answers. I want to come back to Derek’s question on delays. We held a hearing on the F-35, the next tranche of which has been delayed. I am urging the National Audit Office to adopt a different way of costing these programm…”

“You know very well that that NISTA plan is very short on detail. It covers only the very largest projects. That is not a satisfactory answer, if I may say so.”

“He put a three-year horizon on it. He said we must be war-ready in three years.”

“That document tells us that complicated warships are procured by the Japanese in a third of the time that it takes us to procure them. Why is that?”

“Like you, I had this document under my pillow and was reading it very late at night. It is quite tough reading but there are a lot of lessons in there. I have to say, this Committee did a very good job, and I am not on this Committee.”

“The document goes into quite a lot of detail about exquisite procurement as opposed to spiral. In this country, we have done too much exquisite procurement—that is, over-specifying things and mission creep. Ajax is a typical example of that. How are we going to review projects before the contract is issued so that ther…”

“Right. Why is it that the Israelis, with 1,000 people, can do what DE&S does with 12,500 people?”

“After we have the DIP and are able to examine it, my Committee would like to invite you to come and talk about it, please.”

“Good. Can I ask you two or three questions connected with it, then, please?”

“Thank you.”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. As Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, I would like to raise with you a report that we published in 2024 into sensitive Government scrutiny. As you know, it is conventional for the Government to reply to Committee reports within two months of publication. However, 18 months on, my Co…”

“No, I have already given way once on this subject. Our wealth creating sector is shrinking, whereas the public sector is ballooning, yet the Government’s policies are punishing businesses and wealth creators. The freezing of tax thresholds is a tax rise, as the Chancellor has confirmed many times at the Dispatch Box, b…”

“It is always possible to find cases that are very difficult to deal with. In government, we have to make decisions about the totality of the population. I think it is up to parents on benefits to think very carefully about how many children they have and the circumstances in which they may find themselves.”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you for allowing me to speak in this debate. I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), and I agree with what she said about farmers. I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This Budget was an omnishambles. Not only have the Gov…”

“The sad fact is that youth unemployment—that is, unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds—is at a staggering 15%. Given the national insurance hikes and the rise in the minimum wage, employers are unlikely to consider taking young people on, which could have the disastrous effect that people who graduate from university o…”

“14. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the potential for new nuclear power sites in Scotland.”