Speeches by Baldwin.

“At the general election, the Chancellor promised growth and no increase in taxes, but as Chancellor, she has delivered no growth and a record increase in taxes. Now, the Office for Budget Responsibility is halving her growth forecast this year, with cumulatively half a percent less over the forecast period. More worryi…”

“Okay. As you say, it is a counterfactual and we can hold different views on that. When did you hear about the decision, Mr Alder? Was it the same day that we heard that David Geale and the chair of the Payment Systems Regulator heard about it—in other words, the day before it was publicly announced?”

“Mr Rathi, in your operational decisions, in terms of integrating the PSR into your organisation, have you scored any savings in any budget projections?”

“By the end of next year?”

“And the legislation will transfer all the powers that the PSR has to you?”

“So you could have absorbed the organisation without having got the powers across?”

“I rise to say that we will not oppose the increases to the national minimum wage or the national living wage—the national living wage being something that my party introduced to make work pay. We celebrate the fact that progress was made in ending low pay, and the Minister cited that from the Dispatch Box this evening.…”

“The PSR is doing an important piece of work on the high credit card fees that some of our constituents suffer from. Can you reassure the Committee that that will not slow down as a result of this organisational change?”

“Further to Mr John Glen’s questions about the rolling in of the Payment Systems Regulator into the FCA, can I ask Mr Alder whether the FCA board proactively offered that to the Treasury as a way in which things could be simplified on the regulatory front?”

“But the Payment Systems Regulator, from the Committee’s point of view, and certainly speaking personally, rolled out authorised push payment reimbursement last October, which many of our constituents benefit from. Forgive me for being a bit sceptical, but I am sceptical that that would have happened if payment systems …”

“My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. It is absolutely right that we ask the questions we are asking today. The statistic that has shocked me most in this debate is that of the millions of pensioners who lost their winter fuel payment, 44,000 are estimated to have been terminally ill. Is she as shocked as I am by…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Minister has just said that, as it is an Opposition day debate, he will speak exclusively about what the Opposition think and say. Is it your understanding, Madam Deputy Speaker, that it is in order for a Minister at the Dispatch Box not to defend the track record of his o…”

“Given the role you are going for as chair of the Crown Estate, I feel I also have to ask you, in terms of the country you were born in, which got rid of the monarchy, and the country that you now live in and are going to go and work for as chair of the Crown Estate, whether monarchy is better than a presidency. What is…”

“You are not going to go there.”

“You have sworn allegiance to the crown and are a supporter of the work of the Crown Estate.”

“When you took up your British citizenship, you would have sworn allegiance to the Crown.”

“On that topic, covering agricultural land with solar panels and building a lot of onshore wind is something that is happening across the UK at the moment. Does the Crown Estate have a policy position on that?”

“I wanted to clarify for the record. From what I am hearing, I think I know the answer. Have you ever donated to any American politicians?”

“You have the US passport still.”

“Mr Lewis, I wanted to ask a few more of these political and personal questions, because we are politicians, I am afraid. You have citizenship here in the UK and citizenship in the States, I understand.”