Speeches by Lamont.

“That was not my question. Was there no discussion between you and the Home Office in terms of engagement?”

“On the devolution settlement—as a Scottish MP, I have a keen interest in this, and lots of these policy areas are in the devolved policy space—what discussions have you had with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament about the potential changes you are seeking to make? What consenting role will they have t…”

“T6. New research from Marie Curie has found that 85% of public expenditure on people in the final year of life in Scotland is spent in hospitals and only 14% on community care. The figures are very similar for England. What work is being done to ensure a minimum standard of community treatment for people in the final y…”

“At the time of the last Government’s trade and co-operation agreement, I think you were quoted as saying that there were holes that needed to be fixed. Can you give us a bit more detail about those holes and whether they might be some of the outputs that you might hope to achieve as part of the summit? Nick Thomas-Symo…”

“It was not discussed—okay. Thank you.”

“Although the UK Government have not published a detailed policy or strategy paper, the EU has drawn up a list of aspirations from this process, which I am sure you have seen, given that it has been quite widely leaked. Do you have any views on the contents of that document? Nick Thomas-Symonds: On the EU’s position, th…”

“I will come on to that.”

“You speak about the three pillars, but I do not think you have published a detailed strategy or policy paper on this. It is quite hard for Parliament to measure whether the summit in May is successful or not, isn’t it? Nick Thomas-Symonds: I don’t agree, because we have a manifesto that sets out clear examples of what …”

“Good morning, Minister. I want to ask you more about the summit in May. What are your ambitions for that summit and the outputs that you hope to achieve? Nick Thomas-Symonds: When we were first discussing this matter, I was in Brussels with President von der Leyen and the Prime Minister. Maroš Šefčovič and I were both …”

“There has been a lot of discussion about a national inquiry into grooming gangs. The Home Secretary has decided not to have the national inquiry, but to have an audit of some of the previous investigations. Could you outline your role in discussions with the Home Secretary and how she came to that decision? Nick Thomas…”

“Just to force the point on consent, as you will accept, the politics in Scotland is somewhat different from the rest of the UK. We have an SNP Administration. If they decide to be awkward and say that they do not like something that you have agreed to as part of this reset, do they have any ability to stop it happening…”

“Forgive me, but you are the Minister responsible for public inquiries policy and the Public Inquiry Response Unit. Was there no discussion between the Home Office and your team about this announcement? Nick Thomas-Symonds: That decision was a matter for the Home Secretary.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“So that my constituents can better understand the Government’s priorities, which does the Minister think that we will achieve first: a deal to lease Diego Garcia for billions of pounds, or spending 2.5% of GDP on defence?”

“3. In which financial year he plans to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence.”

“My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time. One group he has not yet mentioned is the supermarkets: Tesco, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Aldi, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have all urged the Labour Government to pause and consult, because the UK’s future food security is at risk as a result of this …”

“My hon. Friend is speaking powerfully about the issues that will affect the farming community. He mentioned the NFU; I met NFU representatives in Scotland recently and was appalled that the Treasury had refused to meet them. The representative body of farmers in Scotland is reaching out repeatedly to Treasury officials…”

“My right hon. Friend makes an important point. If we are no longer self-sufficient in food production, we will become much more dependent on lower quality overseas imports. Labour has made a grave error, which will cost our farmers and our country dearly. That is why so many people in the borders and across the whole U…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Edward. Today I will highlight the shortsighted, reckless and misguided Labour policy to increase tax on farmers. I start by paying tribute to the petitioner for raising this important issue, and to the hundreds if not thousands of farmers outside this place showing …”

“The Scottish National party’s deposit return scheme was a complete shambles, which the last Conservative Government stopped, preventing it from hurting Scottish businesses with more regulation and higher costs. The SNP Government are now facing legal action over the scheme, with businesses seeking hundreds of millions …”