Speeches by Grady.

“I rise to speak to amendments 8, 13, 82, 83, 85 and 86, but first I turn to amendment 77, which would extend some of the provisions of the Bill to Scotland. My review of the Bills in Scotland and England that are proceeding at the minute suggests that if someone moved permanently from Glasgow to Bradford or Newcastle, …”

“Reform’s economic policies appear to have been cooked up after a heavy night at Moe’s bar in “The Simpsons”. In 18 years, the SNP has failed to invest in Glasgow’s transport infrastructure. We have no airport rail link, and no Parkhead station. We do not even have lifts at Bridgeton station. I contrast that with my rig…”

“The only follow-up, perhaps in writing, is to ask for the data for the complaints to FOS on insurance over the last few years to see what the trajectory has been.”

“Dame Meg, it might be helpful if the FCA followed up in writing with the number of prosecutions it has initiated over the last five years, and then we could look at that at another hearing.”

“Distilling Mr Dean’s question down to its essence, you face a growing challenge with financial crime, and it seems Meta does not always answer the phone quickly enough to get stuff taken down. That engages a wider question, which might be one to come back on in writing: in your work on financial crime, do you have the …”

“How many prosecutions has the FCA initiated this year?”

“Time is marching on, so let us see if we can get through this chapter fairly quickly. The charity Money and Mental Health reported that people with mental health problems can be quoted premiums for travel insurance between six and 27 times higher than a customer without a mental health problem. Has the FCA done any wor…”

“That would be very helpful.”

“That is two examples already, which is why my postbag gets people complaining about insurance. Another example known to the FCA is the fact that if you pay your insurance premium monthly rather than annually, you can pay more than 20% extra, which is pretty high compared with what it costs to finance that on the market…”

“In relation to those states from which you are not necessarily getting the requisite amount of international co-operation, would you be prepared to call that out publicly, or privately to the Committee? The most concerning thing is if there are people who we cannot extradite to face trial—or, for that matter, if we can…”

“I have one last question, on a slightly different topic. You have emphasised the importance of providing risk metrics to frame appropriate risk taking. On financial stability, what risk metrics do you think would be most effective for identifying systemic vulnerabilities and informing macroprudential policy?”

“On Friday, the BBC reported the FCA had participated in an international crackdown on finfluencers—a topic of a previous hearing with the FCA—with three arrests made, and on how people across Britain are losing their life savings and suffering terrible misery as a result of financial crime. Is the FCA planning to incre…”

“Do you think the number at the moment is satisfactory, given the prevalence of this crime?”

“In your response to the questionnaire, you talk about “risks to international cohesion and co-operation from a more fractured geopolitical landscape”. You then go on to talk about the “increasing sophistication” of organised criminal gangs. Then you go on to note that this risks the “loss of trust in markets” and that …”

“In a nutshell, we do not understand the practical, technical and IT implications of full fiscal autonomy at present.”

“That would be very helpful. Moving on to a different topic, there has been a lot of discussion in Scotland about full fiscal autonomy. I was wondering whether the Scottish Government and HMRC have worked through any of the practical, technical, IT and other implications of such a proposal.”

“Just briefly on this, Mr Marks, you mentioned the board effectiveness review. Is that something that you could share with the Committee?”

“I must say I am used to dealing with complicated things, but I am slightly lost with this. We have had a sustained attack on HMRC, and you have had to deal with it. You deal with it one way and then they come back and have another go in a different way. We probably need you to set out what has happened very clearly in …”

“All I really wanted to understand is what work has been done to understand the practical implications of full fiscal autonomy. The answer is, “Not a lot at the minute”.”

“I would add one point of detail. I am not sure you necessarily need a referendum for full fiscal autonomy. You would for full independence, of course. I will move on, but, presumably, if you were to abolish the Barnett formula as well, practical implications would have to be considered as well. That has been suggested …”