Speeches by Lamont.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 727309 relating to a general election. It is truly a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Edward. Democracy is fundamental to any free and functioning country. Every hon. Member in this House is here for one reason: our constituents put their trust in us …”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am going to return to the word “betrayal” later, but there is a real sense that what was promised before the election has simply not been delivered. During the 2024 general election campaign, Labour promised one thing above all else: change. We have certainly seen change, but it is…”

“Mr Speaker, may I begin by wishing you, the Leader of the House, right hon. and hon. Members and all staff of the House a very happy new year? I appreciate that the Leader of the House may still be recovering from the excesses of the festive season, so I will try not to add unduly to his discomfort, but I will start wi…”

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

“My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and demonstrating why he is such an expert in this policy area. I reiterate the point about turning off free-to-view terrestrial television, which is obviously a live part of the licence fee discussion. Some, such as ITV, are arguing strongly that terrestrial televisio…”

“The hon. Member is making an excellent speech. My constituent Fiona Tweedie asked me to attend this debate because she sadly lost her husband to a brain tumour last year. She asked me to flag, in relation to the national cancer strategy, the fact that it is very difficult in Scotland to access clinical trials, and if s…”

“This partial U-turn on the family farm tax is undoubtedly welcome, but does the Minister understand the hell that he has put farmers through during the past 14 months, not just in my constituency but across the United Kingdom? He should do the right thing and scrap this dreadful, dreadful tax.”

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

“I thank the Leader of the House for giving us the business for the start of the new year. I begin by expressing my deepest condolences and sympathies to the victims of the Bondi Beach attack at the weekend. I am sure that we were all horrified to see the events unfold, with innocent Jews murdered as they enjoyed Hanukk…”

“Madam Deputy Speaker, may I start by wishing you and your team a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year? I feel as if we have had a whistlestop tour of the United Kingdom today, and we have heard from hon. and right hon. Members from all corners of our great nation, but we are yet to hear from the best part of …”

“Good afternoon, Minister. Is the centre of Government operating effectively?”

“The policy of clamping down on these briefings is maybe not working, or not being policed as well as it could.”

“Lastly from me, in relation to unauthorised briefings, it was reported in the New Statesman back in November that sources within No. 10 were suggesting that your appointment had not been a success. Do you have any reflections on that?”

“Since your appointment, have you made as much progress as you would have liked in those areas?”

“Do you police that? Are you responsible for that? Is the system that the Prime Minister has now put in place your baby, basically?”

“What action did you take after those incidents that I gave as examples, in terms of trying to enforce the policy that you have just articulated?”

“There have been a few examples of where communication has not been so good when you have been in charge. I am thinking about the Budget, the speech from the Chancellor and the briefing, and then the U-turns when the Budget came. Then you had the briefing against the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, the night before he …”

“You have mentioned a few times the need to improve communications, and that is one of your responsibilities. Can you give some examples of where you have made a clear difference to Government communication?”

“Presumably, the Prime Minister and Government are following a grid, in the way that Governments normally do. Is that something that you have ownership of and responsibility for?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Is he aware of some research done by the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland, which shows that, under the current inheritance tax rules, farmers in Scotland typically pay a £20,000 inheritance tax bill, whereas under Labour’s current proposals the figure goes up to a stagge…”