Speeches by Robertson.

“Too many of my constituents know 26 November 2025 already. Usually, Budgets come and go without making a huge impact on the public consciousness of people living their daily lives, but this year is different. It is different because businesses and families are terrified about what the Chancellor is cooking up for them.…”

“My right hon. Friend, whose constituency is just across the water from mine, is far more experienced in this place than I am. I admit to a certain naivety in not imagining that Machiavellian intention within the Government to set up such a strawman, but the point remains the same. If they are doing so, they are indiffe…”

“Why is the hon. Member going on about spending decisions of previous Governments, when his Chancellor said last year that her Budget had wiped the slate clean? She said, “It’s on us now”. If she accepts responsibility for where she is today, why does he not?”

“The Minister seems to be telling us that we can expect debt cutting measures in the Budget. Will he also confirm from the Dispatch Box that there will not be measures to increase national insurance, taxes on hard working people, or VAT?”

“I do not quite understand how a basket would be different from one person to the other, because you then have to have data on who has actually bought that basket of food.”

“Every product?”

“To go back to my milk example, I genuinely do not know whether we are saying that a supermarket would be doing a good thing to put the full-fat milk behind the skimmed milk and to ensure more food baskets had skimmed milk rather than full-fat milk. If you are doing an analysis based on fat, that would suggest that, yes…”

“Lauren, given that it looks like supermarkets are going to have to report on healthy baskets, is it not the case that one cannot tell how “healthy” the contents of a person’s shopping basket are without looking at their other lifestyle choices? You cannot talk about the health of a particular food choice in isolation. …”

“Can I ask you two things that I would imagine you would agree with? There is nothing wrong with having some of that stuff, in small measure, and most people would understand that a great big whacking jar of Nutella is not particularly healthy for you.”

“Or healthy or unhealthy. We are defining foods as healthy or unhealthy, so is full-fat, blue-top milk healthy or unhealthy? I know what I think the answer is, but you are the experts who will be forming part of the Government’s decision making. Is it healthy or unhealthy?”

“The panel has focused quite a bit on the argument around what is healthy and what is not healthy, and it seems to me that there is not a consensus there. We have heard a very credible argument, put forward by Professor van Tulleken and Professor Vogel, about something being not healthy in the main just because it is hi…”

“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the integration of ferry services with other transport services; to make provision about the regulation of ferry services; and for connected purposes. Our great nation, the United Kingdom, is a nation of islands. This country also invented th…”

“I would like to take us back to the definition of healthy food. The Government’s 10-year health plan will require supermarkets and large retailers to set a new standard to make the average shopping basket of goods sold healthier. That, obviously, leads on to the definition of healthy food. Perhaps I could put this to L…”

“My hon. Friend is speaking eloquently about pubs. Does she agree that one of the best ways to support pubs is to give them a fair excise regime, and that that falls on the Government?”

“The British Retail Consortium has warned that £7 billion of costs have been put on to businesses because of national insurance contributions levied by this Government, and the Chancellor’s attitude was to say, “Well, the NHS is working.” Does she really think that the hospital budget should rest on the entrepreneurs in…”

“According to the British Retail Consortium, the Chancellor’s last Budget caused a £7 billion cost to retail, leading to shop closures, declining high streets and job losses. If the Chancellor will not acknowledge the damage she has caused, how will she go about rectifying it? Can I recommend that she starts with the 10…”

“16. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on levels of employment.”

“The hon. Member makes a perfectly valid point with which I sympathise. It is certainly true that there are a number of different games providers and some are backed by large amounts of money and debt. We have to distinguish clearly between the variety of games providers out there; I will go on to say something about th…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I am grateful to the Members who have spoken passionately about this issue, in particular the hon. Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough), who led the debate, and to the people who signed the petition. Video games are a significant part of the entertai…”

“Finally, we can understand and imagine what policymakers and decision makers should do in providing activities, whether that is through local government, the Department of Health and Social Care or other ways. In encouraging people just to make healthy choices and to understand their positive impacts, such as choices a…”