Speeches by Downie.

“Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to take you back to a Saturday in March 1993. I was getting ready to leave the house to get on a little blue Sprinter bus that stopped outside. It would take me into town. I was meeting friends there for a couple of hours. I had probably told my Mum that I needed to buy a Mother’s Day card,…”

“I thank the Minister for his statement, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for exposing the frankly ridiculous lack of transparency from ExxonMobil. My constituents certainly know exactly where the blame for today’s announcement lies: with ExxonMobil. I wish to bring one …”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the complexity of Parkinson’s itself and the other conditions it presents with is another reason why this is something we must tackle immediately. I want to make sure I am not using up other people’s time by repeating some of the information in the Parky charter. However, I think the…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Parkinson’s, it is my privilege to take part in this debate. In May this year I was delighted to secure the first substantive debate on Parkinson’s held in the Chamber. It is fantastic to see that as a result of …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the moving way he has talked about his father-in-law. Does he agree that what he has said emphasises the need to make sure that families are also supported during Parkinson’s care?”

“A little bit of both. Are there areas where local authorities can play a larger role inside community energy groups to help build capacity and encourage some joint working as well, where in some cases the local authority might be pulling the community energy group and in others it might be the other way round?”

“Is there a role for the local area energy plans and some of the work you are describing overcoming some of the risk factors you see inside councils, who immediately hear “community energy” and tend to back away if they are not leading, as some of the ones you are representing are? Is there a way to use the action plans…”

“Are there ways to involve communities in that at an early stage to help shape those plans and make sure you have that kind of buy-in from an early stage?”

“That leads me on to the next question about local area energy plans. How useful are they, and how useful could they be for community energy projects, both at a renewable scale but also on the work you are talking about around buildings as well? What is the co-ordinated role that they could have?”

“A little bit of both. Are there areas where local authorities can play a larger role inside community energy groups to help build capacity and encourage some joint working as well, where in some cases the local authority might be pulling the community energy group and in others it might be the other way round?”

“Thank you very much, Chair. Just picking up on some of the issues that Torcuil and Polly raised, and you talked about local authorities being good at this and some less so. How do we try to bring them together? Are there things that can be done centrally—particularly through planning rules—to support community energy p…”

“Having visited my hon. Friend’s constituency and seen some of those capabilities, I can say that they are incredibly impressive. Does she agree that some of the Typhoon jobs are sometimes forgotten? There are 800 jobs in Scotland, where much of the radar equipment is manufactured and integrated. That is not to mention …”

“That leads me on to the next question about local area energy plans. How useful are they, and how useful could they be for community energy projects, both at a renewable scale but also on the work you are talking about around buildings as well? What is the co-ordinated role that they could have?”

“Thank you very much, Chair. Just picking up on some of the issues that Torcuil and Polly raised, and you talked about local authorities being good at this and some less so. How do we try to bring them together? Are there things that can be done centrally—particularly through planning rules—to support community energy p…”

“Is there a role for the local area energy plans and some of the work you are describing overcoming some of the risk factors you see inside councils, who immediately hear “community energy” and tend to back away if they are not leading, as some of the ones you are representing are? Is there a way to use the action plans…”

“Are there ways to involve communities in that at an early stage to help shape those plans and make sure you have that kind of buy-in from an early stage?”

“indicated assent.”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Last week, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) published juvenile and shameful AI-edited videos of proceedings in this Chamber. I have written to Mr Speaker about this matter and whether it is a breach of the terms and conditions of parliamentlive.tv, which expli…”

“In your introduction, you mentioned those who travel to Westminster from further away—Scottish MPs, and those from Wales and from some parts of England. There are some other groups I would ask you to reflect on, where there may be some benefits or differences to having call lists or more information available, particul…”

“With respect to Amy Callaghan, was any accommodation given for her condition? Was she given any indication that she might be called first or later on? Was there an individual accommodation?”