Speeches by Rankin.

“Q4. The floods of 2013-14 devastated Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury, and the flooding last January was not much better. But shockingly, the River Thames scheme as currently proposed continues to leave my constituents at risk. The council was asked to cough up tens of millions but, like many, it is cash-strapped. Does th…”

“Mr Stringer, you would struggle to find a Member of this House who is more committed than I am to classical liberal ideas surrounding individual liberty and personal responsibility. I do wish there were more of us. However, when it comes to children, I very much agree with the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson)…”

“Although all-digital services are desirable, we should never freeze out those who are not digital savvy, given that over 1 million people in this country do not own a mobile phone, for example. Does the hon. Member agree?”

“Three former Law Officers have criticised the Attorney General for not declaring his earnings, labelling it as “irregular” and a break from “normal practice”. Who is in the wrong: the three former Law Officers or the Attorney General?”

“4. What steps she is taking to increase transparency in the Attorney General's Office.”

“I am not sure there is a question there, but the hon. Member has put a smile on my face. My final point is about the visibility of vaping, because I think the Minister should consider the wisdom of this clause by his own logic. Public Health England guidance says: “while smokefree law protects people from the harm of s…”

“I am afraid to say to Government Members and to the shadow Minister that I am going to break up the cosy consensus. I had lunch at the Institute of Economic Affairs, which has given me some classical liberal vibes. I know that that will warm the Minister’s heart. Part 7 of the Bill will give the Secretary of State powe…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that this is a step too far. Does he also agree that this would be an enormous waste of police time? The police often get their priorities wrong as it stands, but the idea that they should spend time prosecuting smoking in a private vehicle is clearly a waste of police time.”

“My hon. Friend’s points have been noted for the record. From what I have read and seen in the representations to the Committee and more widely, heated tobacco seems to me to be similar to vaping, in the sense that we do not people to start it as a product, but it is less harmful than cigarettes, so we should try to fac…”

“The Minister is disagreeing, but he can combat that in his speech.”

“That is effectively the argument I am advancing. In terms of the quantum of harm as a percentage of a cigarette, I do not know. As I understand it, even though we do not fully know yet the dangers of heated tobacco, it is similar to vaping in that we do not want anybody to take it up, but if someone smokes we would pre…”

“I would not describe myself as libertarian; I would say I was arguing straightforward centre-right classical liberal opinions, rather than libertarian ones, but we might differ on that. An arbitrary line must obviously be drawn. The same argument could be made about someone idling in a car and people on the street. The…”

“Government Members will be glad to know that I do not intend to repeat my points from the previous clause. Like the shadow Minister, I am less familiar with heated tobacco products, but I suspect the arguments I made regarding clause 139 apply to clause 140. I want to make two or three points specific to heated tobacco…”

“As my hon. Friend knows, I am not a doctor as she is, but I will repeat that Cancer Research UK said that there is “no good evidence that second-hand e-cigarette vapour is harmful”. and Public Health England made a similar comment. I understand the point that the hon. Member for Worthing West has made a few times about…”

“My hon. Friend gets to the nub of the point that I am making. Vapes can be a tool to help the Government in their desire to create a smoke-free generation, and this legislation could be counterproductive to that, by their own measures of success. Members—certainly those on the Opposition Benches—have to engage with not…”

“It is nice to have a fellow freedom fighter on the Committee—[Interruption.] I am trying to get the Minister to intervene. My third point is one to which I think the Minister alluded earlier, but I ask him to repeat it in summing up. This part of the Bill will allow the Secretary of State to make decisions without real…”

“I will come on to the point about the relative effects of second-hand vaping and of smoking, but I will make some progress first. My second point, which I have made throughout our debates on the Bill, is that we are potentially conflating vapes with cigarettes in legislation, which will exacerbate the misinformation th…”

“It is not that people are not going to vape. They will go outside to the designated vaping spot, which in the overwhelming majority of instances will be either the same place that is designated for smoking or immediately adjacent to it. If someone is a recent ex-smoker or is trying to quit, effectively forcing them to …”

“I think the Minister is teasing me ever so slightly. I just want to say that I did write what I said; it was not given to me by the IEA.”

“I encourage my hon. Friend not to criticise the Minister for doing something quite sensible in pursuing this evidence-based approach. I have said before that people who have a cigar on new year’s eve and who use specialist tobacconists—that is where I get mine—are the kind of people we should be letting off a little. T…”