Speeches by Cooper.

“I sit with the Chairman on the Business and Trade Committee. I think very few Departments touch so many lives in Britian. The Department for Business and Trade, one way or another, influences all of our lives because it is so directly linked to the economy. As Liam has said, with the growth strategy, there is probably …”

“Touching on that SPS area, we are told that a veterinary agreement with the EU could increase agrifood exports by up to 22.5%, but what level of regulatory alignment would that require? How realistic is it that we could achieve that? Crucially, how would it impact on UK trade negotiations with non-EU partners? You are …”

“A lot of carbon-dense industries are energy dense as well. I am not sure quite how we are going to insulate them against price shocks.”

“The Centre for European Reform says that the EU reset and trade improvements could increase GDP by 0.7% over a decade. Those numbers are not enormous. You mentioned CPTPP earlier on, Dan. We have heard evidence that CPTPP might increase GDP in the UK by about a per cent, which again seems remarkably low. That is based …”

“So electric furnaces rather than blast furnaces for steel?”

“Should the Government introduce legislation to specifically require importers to assess the carbon embedded in their products throughout the supply chain before they place them on the UK market? Frank, do you have a view?”

“Rebecca, I do not know if you have a particular view on this. Is this an area that National Grid is particularly involved in?”

“Would you agree with that?”

“If I can sum up, you are suggesting that the Government should legislate and actually widen that legislation. Is that probably what you are saying?”

“We know that the Government are resetting their relationship with Europe and there is a summit in May. If we are honest, there is a little bit of vagueness about what our ask is there. I am not entirely sure what the Prime Minister is going to go over there and ask for. Conversely, the EU seems very clear that it wants…”

“Marley, do you think there are any quick fixes?”

“It is a truism from ancient Roman times that if we want peace, we must prepare for war, and I am glad the strategic defence review is preparing us for war—sadly—although in slow motion, unfortunately. Will the SDR consider the unlocked back door that is Ireland, which sits outwith NATO? It is clear that alarm bells are…”

“You have something of a dichotomy: you need to be quite close to Government, in that you are going to have to co-ordinate all these people, but you are also talking about being outside, being separate and being agitators. Do you think you are going to have an office in Government? If so, would that sit in the Treasury?…”

“What would you ask? The final decision will of course sit with Government, but what would your ask be?”

“Apologies, I am afraid I have a horrible cold. The Government has committed to put the industrial strategy council on a statutory footing. You have said that you do not want to talk about the budget and about staffing levels, although you have said that the secretariat is going to be quite large. You also talked about …”

“I am just going to jump in on that point. Is there a tension here, in that this growth strategy—it is almost like “The Hunger Games”—is picking certain sectors and reinforcing success. We heard earlier that we are looking at previous growth figures and picking the winners based on that. Of course, there is an element o…”

“It is a great pity that no one from the Defence Front-Bench team is here with us because I am sure that if they were, they could confirm that the DShK machine gun that these men had is a weapon of incredible power. If we were to look around the average city block, there would be nothing that a DShK could not hit and pu…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but as he can hear from Opposition Members it has repeatedly been called a loophole. I have been told in the main Chamber that I am scaremongering, which is not right either. That is nonsense—the fear out there is real. Listen to the noise outside. The people outside are…”

“T5. We pressed the Government to extend continuity of education allowances to 100% for service families. We were told that there would be no exemptions from the depredations of the decision to impose VAT on school fees, but it turns out that the children of American servicemen and women are exempt. Would it not be fair…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I represent Dumfries and Galloway, which is the land of milk and slurry. With due deference to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and his super-valuable land, we have some of the most productive grassland in the whole country. The point that the …”