Speeches by Cooper.

“Apprenticeships seem to be having a bit of a moment. Skills England has only just been fully stood up last month. The Government have changed the old apprenticeship levy; it is now the growth and skills levy. When most people think of apprenticeships, they probably think of the defence primes, shipbuilders and firms li…”

“This is life-long learning or career-long learning.”

“Paul, if I could come to you, how are apprenticeships working out?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. It is customary to congratulate the hon. Member who secured the debate, but I would like to go further: the hon. Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) is an outstanding champion not only for her constituents—through the Select Committee on Business and Trade, on…”

“A blind man on a horse could see that there were going to be difficulties broadcasting a band called Kneecap, named after a terrorist punishment, who had called for the death of people in this House. We should take a moment to reflect that Airey Neave and Ian Gow were both killed by republican murderers. Given the even…”

“7. What steps he is taking to maintain the capability of the Red Arrows.”

“The TSR-2 aircraft was a world beater. Unfortunately, the only thing that it could not beat in a dog fight was a Labour Government, who knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Will the Minister assure me that we have learned the lessons of TSR-2, and that we will look at the replacement for the Hawk in th…”

“I thank my hon. and gallant Friend for allowing me to intervene. We are told that there is nothing new under the sun, but he is describing something that ticks both boxes—it is quite remarkable. I learned much about reservoirs from playing by the side of the scenic Penwhirn reservoir, outside by home town of Stranraer.…”

“The Minister is right to point to the figures now, but this is a growing problem. One of the difficulties with the land that goes under solar panels is that it tends to be south-facing land, which is prime agricultural land. That is where the crops would normally go, so this is a growing problem.”

“I thank the Minister for allowing me to intervene again. She is making a powerful argument for looking again at the CfD scheme, which is notoriously complicated and very difficult. I think we need a two-pronged approach—we need some changes to CfD, but obviously technology associated with solar is moving on all the tim…”

“The situation in Scotland is very difficult. I welcome the news that we are to go further with our at-sea deterrents, and of course the nuclear missile Trident boats are based at Faslane. But as we have heard, First Minister John Swinney and his SNP Administration do not back nuclear weapons. Further, they have created…”

“I am very grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend for giving way a second time. I do wonder if I may have stumbled across another advantage to floating solar, which may not have occurred to him. If water quality is improved, will that not help the fish? Clatteringshaws loch reservoir in my constituency has some of the b…”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the rare opportunity against the run of play to follow my near neighbour, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) from Strangford. Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary-General, has recently congratulated President Trump on his “decisive action in Iran”, which he says “makes us all safer”. Will…”

“I have been banging on like a howitzer—well, maybe like a small-bore cannon—about the need to mobilise British industry as we ramp up for possible conflict in an increasingly hostile world. I welcome the news that the new national armaments director is being resourced to oversee the alliance between our military brains…”

“Hayley, is there a structural problem with the CMA? Is that the difficulty? You are geared up to do a great investigation into whether petrol prices across the country are being fiddled, for want of a better word, but when it comes to the internet, buying tickets or things like that, you are just not at the races.”

“I am conscious of time, but, very quickly, one of the things about dynamic pricing is that we seem to lack even a definition of what dynamic pricing is. Even today, we have heard lots of ideas about what dynamic pricing might or might not be. Is that something you would ask of Parliament? Would it be helpful if we were…”

“If I could paraphrase that, you are talking a lot about deterrence and detection. You are able to deter, you hope, with your new powers. You are hoping that you can pick up on the issues. The one that is missing is enforcement. You talk about how in a year’s time things are going to be great, but there are difficulties…”

“You do not have an advantage over your competitors. You talk to your competitors. They are doing the same things as you. You are just better at it, so you do not have anything that you do differently.”

“Phil, I am struggling to recognise this company. With my limited knowledge, I thought Ticketmaster was a big player in the UK, but you seem to be a plucky start-up fighting your way, with sharp elbows, in a shark-filled environment where there are lots of other people out there with their elbows out. What is the situat…”

“You must be doing all right, otherwise you would move out and do something else, would you not?”