Speeches by Robertson.

“Q Could there be something that might appear to have a more frivolous excuse—you talked about pranking—but that still needs to be captured by the Bill and may not be captured by the word “annoy”? Colin Mackie: Pranking is probably the one. That is what people will do—it is totally random, and there is no reason for a l…”

“Q Looking at the purpose of why someone might spike, the Bill includes the words “injure”, “aggrieve” and “annoy”. From your experience, might somebody seek to spike for any other purpose that is not captured by, say, “annoy”, which is probably the broadest term? Colin Mackie: Revenge, possibly. A girl could spike anot…”

“Q I will take the panel back briefly to the powers around face coverings in protests. Given that protests are often political in nature, does anyone on the panel see challenges presented by having to exercise that power—challenges around perceptions or accusations of political bias? What are your reflections on the cha…”

“What impact assessment would you expect to see from Government on the reorganisation or merger?”

“There seem to be two elements to an impact assessment. One is an assessment of what the new, reformed Department will look like once it emerges, and how it will differ from what we currently have. The other is the impact of a disruption full stop. It does not really matter what the disruption looks like, but it is such…”

“Given that the reform of NHS England is only one part of the Government’s plan for changing the NHS, albeit a big one, is there a risk on the flipside that it will fill up the whole space of thinking about reform, and too much will be pinned on the difference that it will make at the end? You could come out at the end …”

“I am sorry, but in the time remaining I cannot take another intervention from the hon. Gentleman. Without the winter fuel payment, over the winter we have seen a 5% increase in the number of people aged over 65 attending A&E, and of those who have attended A&E, there has been a 9% increase in hospital admission…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for drawing attention to his own Government’s promise to increase the take-up of pension credit. After the past winter, there are still 750,000 pensioners who have not taken it up, so he should not speak with any pride or seek to deflect to previous Governments when his own Government have wi…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving me the opportunity to talk about means-testing— I did not expect to have that Government argument made by a Liberal Democrat Member, but so be it. There is some sympathy, from across the House, for the argument for means-testing the winter fuel payment, but I assure the hon. …”

“The flavour and mood of this debate have been somewhat strange. I expected to be in a debate facing Members on the Government Benches who were at least showing humility, and who at least, in the words they chose, showed that they regretted the decision, even though they reluctantly supported it. But that is not the moo…”

“I thank the hon. Member for finally giving way. He has won his campaign to remove the winter fuel payment from Sir Richard Branson, but if I take him back a little earlier in his speech, he paints a picture of the sorry state that he claims this country was in when he took over. Just let us suppose that and run with hi…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman take my intervention?”

“The hon. Gentleman looks almost proud of the decision to withdraw winter fuel payments. He talks about taking tough decisions—can I offer him a really easy alternative? Scrap GB Energy, which does not produce any energy; do not give Mauritius money and sovereign British territory; and restore the winter fuel payment.”

“It is heartwarming to hear someone make a speech based on his principles, and the hon. Gentleman has made it clear that it is his principles that will inform his vote on this topic. Can he articulate, very clearly, what principle tells him that someone on £13,500 is too rich to receive a winter fuel payment?”

“Does the hon. Lady really think that going through Tony Blair’s greatest hits is any comfort to pensioners on £13,500 who lost their winter fuel payment in 2024?”

“Can I ask about the difference in gender or sex as well? I thought that was quite interesting. A woman who is providing high-intensity care will have a greater financial penalty than a male who is providing high-intensity care. That is correct, is it not? That is what your data shows.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“There are Members across the House who would support the principle of means-testing, and I have invited the Government to come forward with the data that shows us where the bar would be set to bring money into the Treasury. However, I would reject any means-testing that takes money away from those paid £13,500.”

“Perhaps I may suggest an easy decision, rather than a difficult one? The Government, instead of giving £9 billion away to Mauritius, should use some of that to support social care and charities.”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”