Speeches by Lamont.

“But you are not going to tell us who has blocked it?”

“How can we make this project in the UK—or here in Westminster—better if you are not prepared to identify the blocks in the process, in terms of the people who are not sharing data in the way that we want them to?”

“It would help us greatly if you told us which Departments were not complying, but anyway. Was Nigel Green appointed as director general to try to resolve some of these challenges?”

“So it was within your funding.”

“State-owned Scottish Water is responsible for the water supply across Scotland. Last week, thousands of residents in the Scottish Borders were left without water for days, and terrible communication by Scottish Water made matters worse. We were facing a public health crisis, as well as an animal welfare crisis. Does th…”

“My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I know he is acutely aware that many communities that he and I represent in the Scottish borders rely on that television service. At the same time, they do not have access to a high-speed, high quality broadband connection unless they pay significantly for it. Does he…”

“Tourism tax!”

“Tourism tax!”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and demonstrating why he is such a great champion for Teesside. Does he agree that many businesses are not just facing the prospect of closing, but of possibly laying off more and more jobs? In my constituency, Mainstreet Trading, a fantastic award-winning bookshop, deli and…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“Is the hon. Lady aware of the comments in the Scottish Parliament yesterday by the chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance? He said that “the first half of this year was brutal”, and that the increase in employer’s national insurance contributions has resulted in a “loss of jobs”. Is he wrong?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech about the importance of these businesses to her constituency. Does she agree that those businesses are often the very heart of local communities, and that if residents lose them, they lose a vital part of their community?”

“I recently met Dr Joanna Kerr, an extremely brave survivor of child sexual exploitation and abuse in Scotland. As it stands, the national inquiry will not cover Scotland, and the Scottish National party Government will not launch their own. I ask the Minister again: will she commit herself to extending the national inq…”

“In Scotland, we have so-called devolution, but the reality on the ground is that the Scottish Government are centralising more and more power. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that the Bill creates the potential risk of that?”

“4. What estimate she has made of the level of spending on health and disability benefits by 2030.”

“T4. Cruel cuts to the winter fuel allowance by both this Labour Government and the SNP Government in Edinburgh left thousands of pensioners cold in their homes last winter. When will the Secretary of State apologise for the misery her Government have caused for vulnerable pensioners in the Scottish Borders and across t…”

“Just two months ago, the Secretary of State was left humiliated after being forced to significantly water down her botched welfare Bill. If the Government had pressed ahead with the Bill as originally drafted, how much less would taxpayers be spending on benefits by 2030?”

“I am pleased to speak in the Sir David Amess Adjournment debate. One of the highlights of my year is my annual summer surgery tour; I hold over 75 surgeries in towns and villages across my constituency over 10 days. This is in addition to my usual monthly surgeries. The summer recess gives me the opportunity to get to …”

“Between 2018 and 2022, untreated sewage was released just over 58,000 times from Scottish sewer overflows, and more than half of wild swimming spots in Scotland contain unsafe levels of sewage, so whatever model the Government decide to adopt for the regulation of the water industry in England, will the Secretary of St…”