Speeches by Baldwin.

“I will not give way, given how tight we are for time. I hope Members will welcome the fact that the Conservatives have a clear and credible plan to cut energy bills, reduce regulation and lower taxes. We have a cheap power plan that will cut household energy bills by £200 a year and cut electricity bills for businesses…”

“It is an honour to follow such an interesting speech about bricks. I congratulate Hayley and the other petitioners, the Petitions Committee and the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for bringing this important issue into Parliament; it has been a really interesting debate. It is fair to say that the efforts of…”

“There is a bit of an end-of-term feel in the House at the moment. I heard the Secretary of State set out his answer to his essay question, but I point out that UK business confidence is at a four-year low, unemployment is up, millionaires are fleeing, and the Department’s own figures show inward investment falling by 2…”

“I do not know about you, Mr Speaker, but I did not hear a plan for improvement in that answer. I am afraid the mark is “must do better”. Let us turn to another bit of the Secretary of State’s coursework in this failing end-of-term report. Will he agree today to compensate all the Horizon victims, and to get Fujitsu to …”

“In West Worcestershire we have the River Severn, the River Avon, the River Teme and many brooks, so flooding is a perennial issue. Over the years, we have built many new flood defence schemes. I thank the Minister personally for her role in the Severn Stoke scheme, which is currently under construction. Unfortunately, …”

“It is on top of the tax gap we have already heard about. Is money laundering a factor, Mr Monaghan, in terms of the tax gap numbers that you cited earlier?”

“That is your recommendation. No one wants to see empty shops. You would tackle it a different way.”

“How big a part of this small business tax gap would business rate avoidance be?”

“I am really interested in this statistic that we have heard from Mr Monaghan a couple of times about the tax gap and how much of it now is coming from small businesses. I wanted to focus on business rates and specifically ask about how much of this tax gap might be coming from business rates. In terms of your experienc…”

“What are the types of schemes that you are seeing? We have heard evidence of snail farming, of something called box shifting and in terms of listed places of worship. Do you recognise those forms of avoidance?”

“It was a whole industrial estate of prayer rooms.”

“I congratulate the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) on securing this urgent question. The Conservatives have made clear for a number of weeks how concerned we are about the incoming steel tariffs that will take effect tomorrow. We have heard from businesses, not just in Northern Ireland but acros…”

“It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. As we heard from the Minister, the instrument makes two principal changes. First, it provides for the enforcement in Northern Ireland of the EU machinery regulation, including in respect of powers for regulators, offences, penalties and mechanisms…”

“That is literally physical boxes being shifted around.”

“Do you see the ringfencing changes as potentially having an impact on the mortgage market?”

“Did it do the job at the time?”

“Okay. Rocio?”

“For consumers, one of the most important things that they have had to deal with over the last few years has been their mortgage. With so many low-rate, fixed-term mortgages having come to an end, they are now having to pay much higher rates. Starting with Anne Pardoe, do you think there is anything in the Bill that wil…”

“Does anyone have anything to say on consumer finance and mortgages?”

“I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. He mentioned parental consent—what would happen in a situation where the child was in the care of the state? Would they be included or excluded from this trial?”