Speeches by Lamont.

“Tomorrow I will be enjoying Kelso’s musical theatre performance of “Beauty and the Beast” at Tait Hall; on Saturday, I will be at Lauder Amateur Dramatic Society’s performance for its 76th year at Lauder public hall. From the Leader of the House’s marvellous performances here in the House of Commons, I know that he is …”

“To pick up the hon. Member’s point about fairness, he will be aware that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has highlighted that Scottish taxpayers are £710 on average worse off compared with taxpayers in England as a result of the Scottish Government’s higher rates of income tax. Does he think that is fair?”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I want to highlight the choices that people living in rural constituencies such as mine are making. In Coldstream, the price of diesel per litre has gone up from £1.41 to £1.69 over the past few days. That is a huge increase, but because of the prospective tax rise that is …”

“We pay more tax.”

“Good morning. Ministers currently have the power to initiate a public inquiry. Do you think they should retain that power?”

“Grooming gang survivors have told us that they were trafficked between England and Scotland. Police were aware of those allegations of abuse but failed to do anything about them. Will the Minister explain how the grooming gang inquiries on either side of the border will work together to ensure that the perpetrators, an…”

“In your evidence you suggested there were some shortcomings in how Ministers determine what is meant by public concern. Given the alternative process that you suggested at the start of the response to my question, can these concerns be dealt with by that alternative process, or is that something Ministers need to deter…”

“I want to highlight the fact that in Scotland we have a particular challenge. Scottish Borders council is responsible for maintaining 1,900 miles of road, which must be one of the biggest distances in the whole of the UK, but in Scotland, because of the decisions that the SNP Government are making, rural local authorit…”

“Do you think that Parliament should have a role, or a joint role with Ministers, in initiating a statutory public inquiry?”

“Sometimes you hear from Ministers that cost has a bearing; they think inquiries just cost too much. Is that a reasonable excuse, do you think?”

“Thank you. Rosanna, do you have any thoughts on the ability of Ministers to initiate statutory public inquiries?”

“I am not suggesting that it should be the same criteria that you would have for a judicial review, but in terms of the standards required to meet the thresholds—”

“But surely a public inquiry should be the exception as well?”

“You mentioned judicial review. There are obviously very clear tests for when a judicial review can be applied for. Do you think that similar tests—well, not necessarily similar, but equivalent-type tests—should be applied for a public inquiry?”

“So the Minister should still have the power but there should be other options for initiating an inquiry as well?”

“The hon. Lady is making the case well on behalf of the Petitions Committee. Over the years, there have been a number of examples of some of my former Conservative colleagues ending up alongside Lib Dems in the House of Commons. In those circumstances, is the hon. Lady of the view that there should have been a by-electi…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“Having reflected on the point made by the hon. Member for Blackley and Middleton South (Graham Stringer), I would add that the key difference is surely that MPs are elected by their constituents, but the Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch, on the basis that that person can command the confidence of the House of…”

“I apologise for disrupting the Minister’s flow, but I would like to ask her to clarify what she just said. She seems to be arguing that she is opposed to a by-election happening at the point of defection, but I think she hinted at a personal view that was contrary to the view that she had previously been articulating.”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I do not want to downplay his greatness as a local constituency MP, but I am sure that, like me, he recalls the 2019 election in which he was first elected, and how many conversations we had with voters on the doorstep about the relative merits of the right hon. Member for …”