Speeches by Pearce.

“I thank the Minister and the shadow Minister for their contributions. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky) for the moving story about his family. Like many other Members who have spoken today, I too have visited Yad Vashem—in July 2023. Nothing quite prepares you to stand in the Ha…”

“I want to pick up something Dr Whittaker said earlier, and it has been touched on by Ms Spring and Mr Ahmed. I was struck by the iPhones dotted around the country and the example of Nike. Dr Whittaker, you suggested that in effect we do not have enough evidence of social media algorithms recommending harmful content. W…”

“I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to the incredible bravery of the hostage families. We are joined in the House by the families of Tal Shoham, Nimrod Cohen, Ohad Yahalomi, Omri Miran and Shay Levinson. I met with them this morning. Their suffering continues—the uncertainty, the sleepless nights—w…”

“Small businesses and start-ups are vital to the local economy in my constituency and throughout the UK. Can the Secretary of State explain how his AI action plan will help those small businesses to seize the opportunities of AI, and deliver the growth that we desperately need across the country?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I refer to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the GMB. I am interested in the shadow Minister’s proposition, because the number of members of the Conservative party relative to other parties has been in the pres…”

“In recent weeks we have seen the distressing footage of Israeli hostage Liri Albag, who has been held captive by Hamas for over 14 months. The hostage families, including Mandy Damari, the mother of British national Emily Damari, are campaigning day and night for the ICRC and other humanitarian organisations to have ac…”

“rose—”

“Today, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of our national parks. The Peak District, where I live, the majority of which is in High Peak, is our original national park and still the best, but our beautiful nature-rich rivers that run through the Peak District and High Peak are being soiled by raw sewage…”

“I promise to keep my comments brief. Clause 15 will amend section 40A of the Equality Act 2010 to provide that an employer must take all reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. The concept of “all reasonable steps” has been part of the Equality Act 2010 since it…”

“I refer the Committee to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the GMB. The hon. Gentleman is making the point that it would be impossible for an employer to reasonably avoid something so extreme and out of the ordinary, but that would actually fall directly in the test, because …”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I absolutely agree. Often, in those circumstances, it is extremely distressing for the employee, who, had the reasonable adjustment been in place to assist them with disability or to enable them to get to the required standard, would still be employed. They have to face the extra hurdle of declaring their particular im…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. Protection from unfair dismissal is already a day one right in respect of certain carve-outs from the two-year qualifying period, including for dismissal relating to a protected disclosure—whistleblowing—refusal to allow somebody to undertake jury service,…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and to my membership of the GMB. I apologise to the shadow Minister for not taking his interventions yesterday. I did take two, if that assists. I wanted to build on the point that the shadow M…”

“Will the shadow Minister give way?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I refer Members to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, and my membership of GMB. I will apologise now if I have an out-of-date amendment paper; the one that I have is dated Tuesday 3 December. Very early on in our discussions, …”

“The principle is, though, that with dependant leave in those emergencies, whether that is childcare or anything else, there is no right to pay; that is the point I am trying to make. The shadow Minister is saying that if there is an emergency for the business they should bear no cost of it. If there is an emergency for…”

“Will the shadow Minister allow me to clarify?”

“No, I will not give way at this stage. Let us be clear: only 4% of estates in this country pay inheritance tax. As we have repeatedly heard, these changes will mean that a couple will be able to leave £3 million-worth of estate to their children without paying a penny in inheritance tax. To put that in context, if a co…”

“No, I will not. Secondly, they were concerned about cuts to the farming budget. The Chancellor delivered £5 billion for the farming budget, the largest ever investment in sustainable food production and nature recovery, and she delivered in terms of protecting family farms in my constituency.”