Speeches by Robertson.

“I welcome the offer to meet, and I wish to take the Minister up on it. As he will know, the hybrid vessel he refers to that travels across the Solent has electric capability, but it cannot be used because there is no grid capacity at Portsmouth. The Solent is one of the busiest shipping areas in Europe and the vast maj…”

“The Minister says Great British Railways, not the Department for Transport, will run the railways. He says that is different from the set-up for the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England. Was that not exactly the reason NHS England was set up, albeit not by his Government: to run the NHS so that the Depa…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) on introducing this important debate. I have a direct solution to her problem of traffic queueing up to access the wonderful beaches at the Witterings. There is an alternative: those road users…”

“T4. Last year, the Government sold off our fishing rights in return for access to the EU’s Security Action for Europe defence fund, but they did not get a penny in return. The Prime Minister, who is in the Chamber, now says that he wants to renegotiate. Will the Secretary of State please explain what lessons he has lea…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his apology, if that is what that was; it is accepted. My argument for integration between rail and all modes of transport, although I will use ferries as a particular example, is important. The Minister is also the Maritime Minister, and is well aware of the specific issues that my constitu…”

“What the Minister does not say is that the Government have also taxed those businesses and made it harder to employ people, which is why there are 100,000 fewer people working in hospitality since her Government came to power. Hospitality businesses in my constituency are hanging on to one thread of hope: the vague ass…”

“8. What steps his Department is taking to support the hospitality sector.”

“I do. It is not difficult for me to agree and accept that the way Wightlink, which was part of British Rail, was dealt with was more than a missed opportunity; it was a bad decision. Locally, I work cross-party with the hon. Gentleman’s colleague, the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) on that. This Govern…”

“When the Minister talks about wasting money on people being employed to argue with each other about who is to blame, I think of what his colleagues are doing in the Department of Health and Social Care with NHS England, by removing that culture and not having two state organisations delivering health. Does he envisage …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I want to speak in support of amendment 137, in the name of the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage, and amendment 261, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer). The two amendments attempt to deliver the same thing: b…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“My hon. Friend talks about the differences between those on the two sides of the Chamber. As we have heard today, most of the Government’s answers are: “We have a Government programme for that.” Does he think that most young people would prefer a re-branded Government programme or a job?”

“Yes.”

“The Government’s 10-year health plan talks about “introducing smarter regulation, focused on outcomes”. From your perspective, what do you think that means?”

“What is not level about the playing field at the moment?”

“You talked about voluntary reporting. Do you see regulation going further than voluntary reporting? Voluntary seems to go against the idea of regulation, which is mandatory. Liz, you were talking about mandatory voluntary reporting. Could you be slightly clearer about that? If it is merely reporting, clearly there is n…”

“Anyone else?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Would you accept the principle of some sort of penalties or sanctions for failing to meet targets?”

“I am struggling to see where the mandatory part to any of this would be from your perspective. It sounds like cost trumps everything, including health.”