Speeches by Grady.

“It is a convenient point to raise this, actually. It would be helpful if you both wrote to the Committee to set out what your organisations are doing for digital inclusion. Mr Singh, as chair of the digital inclusion and access to banking sub-committee, how are you going to set about monitoring and testing what activit…”

“I will quickly follow up on that topic, because it is something that I pursue as a constituency MP. You have spoken to Surviving Economic Abuse, Mr Singh. In the social landlord sector, DAHA provides external assurances to social landlords about whether they are doing the best by victims of economic abuse. Specifically…”

“I have a family member who works at Nationwide building society, and there is an account with Lloyds.”

“Moving on to online and offline exclusion, realistically, there are some people who will never be able to use online banking for all sorts of reasons. Those are most likely to be more expensive customers to serve. Is serving those customers commercially sustainable in the long run for your organisations?”

“I was wondering whether, more generally, the market is competitive and functioning well. Is it functioning well if the outcome is that poorer people in effect—low-income households—pay a lot more for motor insurance? Is that a good, well-functioning outcome?”

“Okay. Mr Noakes?”

“Yes.”

“Does anyone have anything to add?”

“I am asking a simple question: in the long run, is it commercially sustainable for Lloyds group to serve that 5% well?”

“Let me approach the question in a slightly different way, with reference to my seat. Virgin Money in Baillieston is keeping its branch open. I am disappointed that the Bank of Scotland is closing its branch in Garrowhill, but this points to a wider question. We have to accept that there is a cohort of customers who wil…”

“Mr Singh?”

“In the interests of time, I wonder whether each of you could come back to the Committee in writing on this: what do you think the top five drivers have been of premium price inflation for motor insurance?”

“But to be clear, there is a group of customers—we have heard evidence on this in previous inquiries—who will never in a month of Sundays get online. Some of them might well be people who are digitally confident and then become less digitally confident as they get older, as my father did, for instance. So it is about th…”

“The motor taskforce says that the market is competitive and well-functioning, but is it functioning well for low-income households? According to research by Fairer Finance and Bristol University, they can end up paying almost £400 a year more. That is a significant poverty premium. Perhaps we can go to Ms Audhlam-Gardi…”

“I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to reducing Government debt, the 95,000 children in Scotland being lifted out of poverty and the revival of Glasgow’s military shipyards, where we will build Labour boats, which, unlike SNP boats, will work and have real windows. Does the Chancellor agree that it is a disgrace that…”

“I refer the House to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and the fact that I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Qatar. I thank the Prime Minister for his emphasis on compliance with the law. What discussions have the Government held with the Government of Qatar and other regiona…”

“It is not an exact science. Vast amounts of it are contested and carry significant amounts of uncertainty—as the non-economist on the Committee, I feel entitled to say that. The idea that the OBR can somehow achieve perfection here is for the birds. Ultimately, would you say that we on this side of the table need to st…”

“Mr Hughes, thinking through this hearing and reflecting on your time at the OBR, the OBR is meant to be a technocratic, independent organisation that commands the confidence of us politicians and the public, but it has a very hard job—a job that I have sympathy with. You have limited headroom and high debt to GDP, so t…”

“Please be brief, because I am forecasting that we need to bring this session to a close at some point in the near future. If the fiscal lock had been in place under the previous Government—you have mentioned covid and the energy crisis—would you have carried out any further analysis compared with what you did, Mr Hughe…”

“Finally, Mr Hughes, is one of the messages that we need to be careful about blaming the OBR for a set of circumstances that arise from events and political decisions?”