Speeches by Baldwin.

“On the windfall tax on North sea oil and gas, I think you had a meeting with the industry the day after the war started. Can you update us on what you told them about the potential for that windfall tax to be relaxed? I think that is what you are aiming to do. What might the timing be?”

“The Chancellor will review mileage rates, but with her fuel duty freeze coming to an end in September and the next fiscal event not happening until later in the year, will she commit to review that decision at the end of this parliamentary Session if petrol prices are significantly higher than they are today, for the s…”

“I am genuinely shocked and surprised to hear the Liberal Democrat line, because I seem to remember when these investigatory powers—including the right to snoop on communications—were first brought in, the hon. Lady’s party was vehemently against them, yet here we are giving these powers to an agency that will cover eve…”

“It is an absolute honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart; you delivered the title of this legislation with a dryness that belies its purpose and impact on our economy. The instrument looks tiny—there is hardly anything in it—yet I am going to argue that the Committee should vote against it this afternoon. I…”

“The Chancellor has announced today that she is not really making any changes at this point, and that she is calling for a de-escalation. What would she say to my rural constituent who uses heating oil and has a virtually empty tank after a long winter, and is facing a 100% increase in the cost of heating oil? I did not…”

“I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement, and—I do not often say these words—I warmly welcome the decision that he has announced. It seems that the Government have abandoned the risk, posed by their earlier proposals, that they would shutter thousands of local post offices, especially in rural areas. It …”

“This is a short Bill, but it involves potentially raising and spending a huge amount of public money, so in the interests of thorough scrutiny, I will speak to Opposition amendments 3 and 4 to clause 2, concerning the use of public finance for exports that may ultimately be re-exported to sanctioned destinations. Our a…”

“I sense that this is an occasion when the House would appreciate it if I were quite brief, but I am grateful to set out our support for the principles of the Bill, and we will not oppose it on Third Reading. The Bill raises the statutory limits in a way that will enable the Government to provide UK industry with additi…”

“The hon. Member makes a very important point, and I know that the House will be eager to hear how enthusiastic the Minister is about all the amendments that have been tabled. I am sure we will shortly hear whether he supports them, or why he does not and why he will urge his colleagues to vote against them this evening…”

“Right. Moving on to the Office for Budget Responsibility, can you update the Committee on the search for a new chair?”

“The spring statement will be on 3 March. How has the process of working with the Office for Budget Responsibility differed in the run-up to this spring statement compared with previous fiscal events, given that there is no chair?”

“So we will not see an Office for Budget Responsibility forecast this time?”

“Ms Whelan, with your experience with the Bank of England, can you tell us a little about the impact of quantitative tightening on the gilt market?”

“Do you talk to them about the maturity of what they are selling and things like that?”

“Who officially put that out? Who instigated the official statement?”

“So the challenging backdrop is higher volatility in the gilt market?”

“It would have been the Treasury that immediately said, “We have to clarify this”?”

“Will we see an assessment of the headroom?”

“Ms Pulay, you mentioned the challenging backdrop. Could you elaborate on what makes the backdrop challenging?”

“If I may, Chair, I have a couple more questions on this subject, even though we seem to have asked a lot already. There were 60 people interviewed in the inquiry that you did—”