Speeches by Lamont.

“The Minister is right to highlight the leading role that the UK has played in this matter, under both the current Government and, in particular, the previous Government. The last negotiations and progress towards the treaty came to a halt because Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia basically imposed a time limit, which meant…”

“I fully support the work of the UK Government in providing military assistance to Ukraine. Like so many voluntary groups across the United Kingdom, the Rotary club of Duns has been actively involved in supporting Ukraine during the war. It has delivered several pick-up trucks loaded with medical equipment and other ess…”

“The hon. Member is making a very good speech. I agree with him about the need to take the public and business with us. In Scotland we had a real challenge with the deposit return scheme that the Scottish Government tried to impose, because business was up in arms about it, and it was going to impact on the internal mar…”

“The hon. Gentleman is making a very good speech, much of which I agree with. I am sure that he, like me, visits many schools. Does he agree that when he visits them and speaks to young people, they are very, very concerned about the environment, and in particular plastic pollution? In many ways, our great hope is that …”

“The SNP Government’s fire and rescue service is consulting on plans to downgrade Hawick fire station from 24/7 cover to weekday daytime hours only. Thousands of people locally have signed a petition, with residents concerned that these proposals could put lives at risk. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tr…”

“Good morning, Leader of the House. It is very good to see you. Thank you very much for the exceptionally good and helpful responses I get to business questions each Thursday. You referred to paragraph 9.1 and said that some of the words are a bit subjective. Do you think that paragraph is sufficiently clear and underst…”

“It is entirely the Government?”

“It would be helpful to understand the process a bit more clearly. Back-Bench MPs put in urgent question requests.”

“Do you think the Ministerial Code is the right place for the rules on this to be set out, or should it be put in a different forum?”

“I accept that, but I am thinking more of the scenarios that the Chair gave, where the House felt that it should have been told about something and the Government had not scheduled a statement at that particular point. It did maybe come the next day, but—”

“In terms of a Monday scenario, where you might get a story developing at 6 pm or 7 pm, and the Government have decided, for whatever reason, not to put forward a statement, if I put in an urgent question application at 6 pm on a Monday, the House is still sitting until 10. As the rules stand, that urgent question appli…”

“Is there a meeting between you and the Speaker to discuss them? Are you involved in that?”

“Let us focus a bit more on the statements process. There is obviously a grid that is run by No. 10 in terms of how the announcements are going to be made over a week or a month. Who in No. 10 runs that grid?”

“No, but is it effectively the Prime Minister’s office?”

“There are stories from Victorian times, when the sitting hours of the House were much longer, of Ministers being dragged out of their beds, restaurants and goodness knows what to go and respond to urgent questions that were being considered by the House.”

“I want to go back to the urgent question process, accepting that it is entirely a matter for the Speaker. On a Monday, for example, Back-Bench MPs have to get their bids in by 10 o’clock. The Speaker’s conference then meets and determines whether the application is granted. If the urgent question application went in at…”

“We know that, ultimately, it is the Speaker’s decision as to which UQs are granted and which statements are allowed—”

“1. What discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on the future of nuclear power in Wales.”

“I thank the Minister for that answer. Nuclear must be an important part of our energy security strategy. It is both clean and reliable, and creates good jobs for local communities. What more can the Secretary of State do to encourage and incentivise new nuclear power in Wales and across all parts of the United Kingdom?”

“The rule of law absolutely needs to be applied equally, which is why I said earlier that those soldiers who are found to have set out with the wrong intention should be held to account, but there is no equivalence between the actions of a terrorist and the actions of British soldiers acting to defend democracy and all …”