Speeches by Poynton.

“Sitting suspended.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) for securing this debate. The depth of her knowledge and the passion with which she spoke was obvious to all of us and has been obvious since the first day that she arrived in …”

“Jonathan, picking up on something Alice has said on customer service, this Committee has heard, and I hear when I go to small businesses around my constituency, that they often have a nightmare dealing with HMRC. These are businesses that are trying to do the right thing but cannot get through to someone or, when they …”

“When can we expect an understanding of the quality of the conversation and that being where it needs to be?”

“When can we expect to see these changes come in? Some of these small businesses say that this is life or death for them.”

“The flavour you would go for would be mandated.”

“Am right in saying that you are saying that you are responsible for 15%, compared to 85%? What are you doing with that 15%?”

“We will start with Chris and move our way along. This Committee has heard that many small businesses think that they are cash cows for the energy companies because the bills are so high. I know, from speaking to many small businesses in my constituency, that energy bills are absolutely crushing them. Can I ask why that…”

“We will follow up on that. To follow up on my colleague Sonia’s points on digital services, one thing I know that the Government are pushing is AI for small businesses and e-invoicing potentially as part of that. My understanding is that HMRC is looking at e-invoicing and whether that should be mandated. My view is tha…”

“Moving down the table on that, bills are high. What can we do to fix it?”

“As the Chairman said, the impact is huge. I have been to Waz’s in Broxburn, a convenience store, Scotmid in Deans and Boots in the centre. These are different types and sizes of businesses. They have all told me that this is having a huge impact on their businesses. Mr Lowman, would you just describe for me what impact…”

“The situation facing Gazans is truly catastrophic. We must secure a ceasefire as soon as possible, with all hostages freed and unhindered access to aid. Our experience in Northern Ireland shows that to build a long-term, sustainable peace we need to invest in civil society and peacebuilders, to create a consensus and t…”

“Does the Secretary of State agree that the actions of Russia on 9 July, when it launched the largest aerial bombardment of the war to date, show that Ukrainian civilians and military are still in a fight for their lives and the future of their country, and that this House, our Government and our country must do everyth…”

“In my constituency, East Calder has been let down by the SNP Scottish Government’s repeated failure to deliver a long promised health centre. Despite record funding, including £5.8 billion in Barnett consequentials for health, the SNP Scottish Government have failed in their promises to the people of East Calder. Meanw…”

“Does the Secretary of State agree that the UK Labour Government are getting on with the serious business of delivering an industrial strategy that will support jobs in my Livingston constituency? That is in sharp contrast to the failing SNP Government, who have no industrial strategy, no plan for workers, and no plan t…”

“You take some responsibility for investment in the UK.”

“Do you think that there is a perception problem? Sarah Cardell talked a bit about speaking to investors when she came into the role and trying to understand that. Do you think that you have that? If so, have you tried to understand what that is?”

“To follow up on that, I will perhaps go to Sarah Pritchard. The UK has the lowest levels of investment in the G7. When I speak to businesses, they say to me, I am afraid to say, that the CMA and the FCA are part of the problem with that. Do you see yourselves as part of the problem? If so, what are you doing to fix it?”

“That is for infrastructure. Is there an intent to do that across the piece? For example, I speak to those in the food industry. They have regulations coming at very short notice that change the way in which they understand whether a product is healthy or not. That has an impact on them with reformulation, advertising a…”

“In your opening answer, the three areas that you outlined where you had a concern that regulation might be stifling growth were pace, duplication and contradiction. On the contradiction point, 55% of businesses that responded to a CBI survey said that they had two or three regulators, or potentially more. In the eviden…”