Speeches by Cooper.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) on securing this important debate. Fish and chips were deemed so critical to morale during the dark days of the second world war that they were not rationed, and extra resources wer…”

“I make it clear that Conservative Members regard this as a very grave matter. We are taking it seriously, and we are also dealing in facts. Turning to veracity, then, can we hear whether or not Stellantis raised the question of the eye-watering ZEV mandate fines and asked for them to be lifted?”

“With 14 miles between my constituency of Dumfries and Galloway and Northern Ireland, I know how much we have in common. Unfortunately, we also share the fact that hospitality businesses in Northern Ireland and much of Scotland are not benefiting from a 75% discount on business rates bills. That cannot be called “headwi…”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way; he has done so already. Scotland is a tremendous asset in defence. Companies right across the country provide enormous pieces of equipment, such as the aircraft carriers built in Scotland. Scotland also has many small and medium-sized enterprises—we have Raytheon, which provides …”

“As champions of the North sea, the previous Government underpinned 200,000 jobs right across the UK. What does the Secretary of State say to Offshore Energies UK, which says that the Government’s energy tax has stripped out around £13 billion of investment in the North sea—money that will not be recovered by the anaemi…”

“But the title of chief trade negotiator no longer exists. Is that right?”

“There is no suggestion that anyone has been sacked at all. I understand that the role is effectively being done away with, which seems a bit strange. I understand what you are saying about the strength of the team now, but surely someone would come from that team and take over as the head of that team. It goes back to …”

“We have all seen President-elect Trump’s decision to bring in a new tariff regime rattle the markets this morning. You talk about headwinds; this has the potential, I think you will agree, to become a full‑force gale. I would imagine that you are also doing risk assessment and things like that just now. I wonder if you…”

“Israel is a democracy. In the past, its courts have shown themselves unafraid to put even senior politicians on trial. What assessment has the Minister made of the Israelis’ own ability to bring human rights cases in their own courts?”

“In government, my party championed North sea oil and gas, securing 200,000 jobs, not just in Scotland but right across this country, in every constituency—including mine, rural Dumfries and Galloway. The Prime Minister talks about us having Putin’s boot on our throat, but surely pulling the plug on the North sea oil an…”

“Thank you for that. Coming back to the adversarial nature of so much of this, it does seem like an old-school system where one side is trying to maximise its claim and the other side is trying to minimise. That is the classic model for court redress. But it appears that the Department is paying for claimants to access …”

“The Chancellor announced an increase to £1.8 billion, up £600 million, for the total compensation package. What was the thinking behind that? Was it an expectation of more claims or of more generous settlements?”

“Mr Creswell, if I understood you correctly, you said that the money for lawyers is not coming out of that package. Do you have any indication of what the total cost of external lawyers is likely to be? Have you done any work on that?”

“Sticking with the HSS, you have talked about how it was originally designed in an adversarial manner. You have also talked about the danger of everybody lawyering up. We have strong evidence that an independent adjudicator would be welcomed—someone that could give case management directions throughout the process. I be…”

“My constituent Major Charles Milroy, who served for a long time in the reserves, pointed out that on deployment it was often difficult for the reserves to access the support in place for serving personnel. Does my hon. and gallant Friend agree that it might help if the commissioner could look into that aspect of milita…”

“The previous Government identified the A75 road as of crucial importance to the UK as a whole, so despite the fact that transport is a devolved matter, money was earmarked for improvements. I have been trying, without success, to find out what is happening to that money. I was astonished to find that a Labour MSP was a…”

“Late in 1745, Dumfries was menaced by the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, who demanded cash and shoes as he retreated north. Today, Dumfries and Galloway is threatened by the great pretenders, the Cabinet, who also want cash. Apparently, they are sorted for shoes and Croydon wellies, though. At the weekend, I a…”

“Have you any sense of why that might be? I presume you are in the dark—you have no idea why it takes so long. Is there any reason that you can see or any common theme that you might have picked up?”

“Mr Dewi Lewis told us very movingly about his experience. He said that although he submitted his claim in August, it took his appearance here, perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, to trigger money arriving. Of course not all of your clients are here, but how common is it for your other clients to have quite lengthy d…”

“Farmers in Dumfries and Galloway, who have been contacting me over the weekend, are not shroud-waving—let us be clear about that. Less clear are the figures. The NFU says that as many as 50% of farms that are producing food, meeting environmental targets and providing jobs in remote and rural areas could be at risk. Na…”