Speeches by Baldwin.

“Finally, how are you going to immunise your successor against political interference in the projects that you finance?”

“Would you agree that success of this institution will depend on whether it is able to crowd in funding, as opposed to crowding out private sector funders?”

“In your earlier answer, you spoke about additionality and how, under the previous Government, there was a rigorous enforcement of additionality. Are you implying that the additionality rule has now been changed? That is what you are talking about when you are describing risk appetite. Can you explain how that is expres…”

“We heard from our academic witnesses last week that the National Wealth Fund is a misnomer. Do you agree?”

“You were not asked to leave by any Minister?”

“Further to the Chair’s earlier questions, you are coming across as someone who is really knowledgeable about this organisation and really passionate about its mission. You are not moving to anything specific after you depart. I wondered whether you could tell the Committee why you are leaving.”

“I just wondered how proactive the Office for Investment is. We had Siemens on the panel last week. It had not been made aware of it. It has a huge investment portfolio in the UK. I would have thought that it would be the sort of company that the Office for Investment would be trying to reach out to proactively, saying,…”

“We just heard from Mr Flint that this is a way of taking debt issued by the Debt Management Office and deploying it to crowd in. It is a money-losing organisation at the moment, but there is a vision for how it might contribute to the nation’s economic growth. As a Treasury Minister, how would you describe your role? H…”

“Lord Livermore, when we received evidence from a panel of academics last week, they all described the words “National Wealth Fund” as a misnomer. Can you talk us through the thinking of why this organisation was called the National Wealth Fund?”

“Finally, how are you going to immunise your successor against political interference in the projects that you finance?”

“Would you agree that success of this institution will depend on whether it is able to crowd in funding, as opposed to crowding out private sector funders?”

“In your earlier answer, you spoke about additionality and how, under the previous Government, there was a rigorous enforcement of additionality. Are you implying that the additionality rule has now been changed? That is what you are talking about when you are describing risk appetite. Can you explain how that is expres…”

“We heard from our academic witnesses last week that the National Wealth Fund is a misnomer. Do you agree?”

“You were not asked to leave by any Minister?”

“Further to the Chair’s earlier questions, you are coming across as someone who is really knowledgeable about this organisation and really passionate about its mission. You are not moving to anything specific after you depart. I wondered whether you could tell the Committee why you are leaving.”

“The Secretary of State tells us that this week’s U-turn will cost £2,500 million a year by 2029. Will she tell the House how she proposes to cover that expense?”

“At the NATO summit, was the Prime Minister able to add his voice to the congratulations and thanks that the NATO Secretary-General paid to President Trump for the successful military strike on Iran’s nuclear programme?”

“One of the place-based features of my constituency, West Worcestershire, is that we are quite flood-prone, with the River Severn catchment and the River Severn itself. In the spending review, you have increased the amount of money for flood defences for the next three years to a £4.2 billion envelope. In the infrastruc…”

“Following on from the Chair’s questions on winners and losers, I want to ask a couple of macro questions. Clearly, the Government have made a political choice to increase the envelope for public spending in this spending review faster than the projected growth in the UK economy. With the Budget last October and this sp…”

“I sort of did expect that kind of reply, but it helps me with my next question. One of the things that the Office for Budget Responsibility scored in the March statement was the changes to universal credit and the personal independence payment, which will be voted on at Second Reading next Tuesday. If that legislation …”