Speeches by Cooper.

“Will the Secretary confirm whether the remedial order will have to be voted on in the other place?”

“It would be churlish of Opposition Members not to recognise the importance of these 500 jobs or welcome their being saved, as it would for Government Members not to acknowledge that we are seeing a sort of self-licking ice cream here—a self-perpetuating system whereby the Government have to intervene in industries that…”

“St Andrew was a guest at my wedding. No, I am not that old— I just look that way. Italia ’90 will be remembered by most for “Nessun Dorma”, Totò Schillaci and—my sympathies—England going out on penalties to Germany, but for me it was not about football; it was in Italy in 1990 that, in secret, I got married. The ceremo…”

“Who is in charge of our national security, and who is a risk to our national security? Those are simple questions, but the answers are tough to determine. Take China, for example: this Labour Government are attempting to ride multiple horses—or should that be dragons? Whatever decision is taken on Beijing, it should be…”

“Oliver, how about you? It is a slightly different challenge for you. You do not have the Cambridge triangle; you are not part of that. What is the situation? What can Government do to help you?”

“Pension tax relief and ISA tax relief are provided irrespective of where the investments are made. Why do the Government not incentivise investment in the UK, for instance by offering reliefs that would make it more attractive to invest in Aston Martin than in Volkswagen Group?”

“Just moving on to the listing relief that was announced in the Budget, which gives stamp duty relief for shares, it is only applicable to quite a narrow band of shares. It basically comes down to newly UK-listed companies. The Americans do not do that. The Americans have just swept away any taxes on share purchases. Wh…”

“I will try to reduce the number of syllables in it then. Currently, you get tax relief if you invest in stocks and shares. There is no incentive to make those investments in stocks and shares in the UK. It costs you no more or less to invest abroad, effectively. Would that not be something to look at? It would be a dou…”

“Do you think that sort of level playing field would be most beneficial?”

“Alex Salmond, the former First Minister of Scotland, called London the dark star that skewed the economy towards London. His answer, of course, as with everything, was independence. He was wrong about that, but what could the Government do to encourage greater investor interest outside London? What would you like to se…”

“Civilians talk tactics and veterans talk logistics. Although the MAN trucks might not be as sexy as Ajax, their loss, however temporary, will be keenly felt. Can the Minister outline what practical steps are being taken to make sure that the wheels are not coming off—so to speak—any other mission-critical equipment?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I congratulate the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing this important debate, because we are indeed a maritime nation. Sir Christopher, “I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call tha…”

“I started and ended my journalism career at the Stranraer and Wigtownshire Free Press, which has had a name-check, and I am delighted to report that people still queue up on a Thursday morning to buy it. It is thriving, but the BBC is a key issue, because the BBC’s website is killing local papers—it is as simple as tha…”

“Hospitality in Wales and across the United Kingdom is dying on its feet. It needs a shot in the arm; instead, last week’s bin-fire Budget gave it a shot in the head. This is more money coming out of businesses, is it not?”

“7. Whether she has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the potential impact of the proposed visitor levy on the Welsh economy.”

“The Minister and I have clashed over Sun Tzu in the past, but at the risk of riling him again, I want to tell him that Sun Tzu said that sometimes a strategic advantage is to be had by feigning weakness. Every day we fail to add China to the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme, that is not us fei…”

“You talked about the SPS deal and the chapter that is there. You seem quite confident that that safeguards UK agricultural standards. Are you confident that a good job has been done?”

“The SPS chapter does not have such binding commitments, and dispute settlement seems to be a bit of a grey area. Also, there isn’t any sort of working group to drive practical improvements on animal and plant health, which again you touched on. Do you think that is a mistake? Do you think the SPS element is weakened by…”

“I represent Dumfries and Galloway, which is the land of milk and slurry. Should my farmers be worried, Tom, because we are going to see an influx of paneer and we are not going to see much Galloway cheddar going the other way? How serious a risk is this?”

“Do you think that ship has sailed, effectively, and there is not an opportunity to—”