Speeches by Lamont.

“Nurses are at the heart of our wonderful NHS. I am delighted that two nurses from NHS Borders recently gained national recognition from the Royal College of Nursing Scotland: intensive therapy unit clinical nurse educator Karen Bacon was highly commended in the “learning in practice” award category, and Michelle Brownl…”

“While it is good news that the Chancellor has been forced into another humiliating U-turn over her increase to fuel duty, it just delays the increase until the end of the year. The cost of living is surging, and families are feeling the pinch in every aspect of their lives. Why will the Government not give people and b…”

“T7. We know how grooming gangs regularly trafficked young, vulnerable girls across borders, but survivors of these appalling crimes are deeply concerned that the UK and Scottish Governments’ separate inquiries will not investigate cross-border grooming gangs. What is the Minister doing to ensure that both the perpetrat…”

“I am not quite sure how to follow that speech, but I hope that the Whips were listening to that job application by the hon. Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell). In the history of Leaders of the Opposition in this place, no one was quicker to demand investigations, no one was more willing to take a pious, high-and-mi…”

“The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech and making her points very clearly. Like many Members, I have had hundreds of emails encouraging me to take part in the debate, and there is particular concern about the use of dogs. Does she support the calls for Herbie’s law, to stop animal testing by 2035?”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“May I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) on the birth of his daughter, baby Lyla? I am sure the whole House will join me in wishing him and his family well. Last weekend, I met the friends and family of Jamie Tweedie as they walked the St Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose to Ho…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“Does it raise questions in your head when the person responsible, the Prime Minister, appoints people like Peter Mandelson to senior positions on behalf of our country?”

“Did it raise any questions in your head at the time, given what all of us know about Peter Mandelson?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and rightly highlighting the concerns about these developments. In my constituency in the Borders, we have wind farms, battery storage proposals and solar farms. As my hon. Friend said, developers talk at length about the supposed environmental benefits, but that is no more …”

“You suggested as part of this discussion about bad chaps being a feature of our political system and changing the standards regime that was part of the suggestion of changes you were going to make.”

“Just for the record, it was a change.”

“I am grateful. As I said earlier in my short comments, in my constituency I am inundated with wind farms, solar farms, battery storage and data centres. I now formally object to each of them. Previously, in my life as an MSP and an MP, I did not formally object to such applications, but the situation has gone so far an…”

“Minister, the Labour party also said that the system should be changed so that the Prime Minister is not the judge and jury in all cases of standards, but that has not been changed. What led to that change of mind?”

“I want to start by following up on the question the Chair asked about the Labour party’s desire to “clean up politics.” In light of what has been happening in the House of Commons in the last few days with Mandelson and Doyle and everything else, you must think you have pretty much failed on that front.”

“I am not suggesting you are responsible for Peter Mandelson’s appointment or Doyle’s appointment but the culture is set by the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister was responsible for your manifesto at the last election, so in terms of cleaning up politics, how is it going?”

“If bad actors were to come into prominent positions within government do you believe the current standards regime is sufficiently strong to deal with that?”

“For the record, this is one of the suggested questions. In opposition the Labour party said that “bad chaps” are a feature of our political system that the current standards regime is ill-equipped to deal with and committed to “replace the weakened standards regime with a new architecture”. Has this assessment changed …”

“It was a change from what you said prior to the election.”