Speeches by Reynolds.

“Harland & Wolff was one of the flashing red things on the dashboard as we walked through the door following the election. It should have been dealt with by the previous Government—there is no doubt about that. It was clear that any state guarantee would be a very poor use of public money. The Department had an open boo…”

“The first thing to say is that it was less than 10 days into the job when we were first told by Stellantis that the consideration to close the Luton plant was what they wanted to do. We have met many times with them since then. It is something that we have fought back on very heavily because of what it will mean for pe…”

“No, the new UK Government have a specific commitment to a green steel fund. Again, Committee members will know that if you look at any developed country’s transition to green steel, the cap ex need is so overwhelming that it has to be a public and private collaboration. That is the commitment and the new Government hav…”

“I am personally committed to a UK steel industry. As you know, we are an outlier as a major developed economy in terms of the relative size of our steel industry compared to the size of the economy. You would usually expect a direct correlation, and you see that in every country except the UK. I am always keen to stres…”

“You will be aware, Chair, of comments I was able to make at the Sir Wyn Williams inquiry in relation to this. I know that Sir Alan’s request is for a deadline by which the GLO claims have to be submitted. I understand Committee members will be aware that the problem is effectively those claims not being received yet an…”

“Despite these doubts—I am being open about my thinking in this area—if I felt that by Christmas there had not been a substantial improvement in those coming in, I am willing to consider any course of action that would do that. Specifically, I have written to the advisory committee, which we would all recognise has play…”

“No, because I know the scale of what we have been able to do, certainly since the election, whether that is the creation of the Horizon convictions redress scheme or the work I was able to do on a cross-party basis as the shadow Secretary of State around the legislation to get those convictions lifted. We should not un…”

“I am more than happy to look into that, but from the evidence that I am seeing, there has been an increase in compensation payments—both full and comprehensive claims and interim payments. By the way, that has not been at any expense of accuracy, in terms of some of the more complex claims in the process that they have…”

“The Post Office requires fundamental reform. I would not want to comment on anyone’s particular employment circumstances without knowing the full nature of their engagement within that. Clearly, people who played a major role in the scandal should be playing no role within the Post Office. As I said at the inquiry, jus…”

“I am pleased. Sometimes audit reform does not get the public attention it deserves.”

“I am pleased to see that the Committee focuses on that. Coming here, I reflected that when I was a member of this Committee, whether it was the Sports Direct inquiry, the Carillion inquiry or our work on industrial strategy, many of the things that we looked at as a Committee have found their way into the policy agenda…”

“Yes, that is right. That is the intention of the Bill.”

“The long-run position would be a negative impact on GDP. I do not want to share the specific figure.”

“No, I do not.”

“A universal service obligation is essential. We are all aware of the fundamental decline in letters and what that means. I am pragmatic about the future, as is the union. I want there to be a universal service obligation. It is something that binds the country together. It is a really important part of our national lif…”

“Just let me finish this important point. The vast majority of businesses in the UK operate to a far higher standard than even the floor that will be raised by this Bill. It is just very important that we do not couch this in negative language, and that we make clear that the basis of the success of the British economy …”

“It is a privilege not just to appear before the Committee for the first time, but to come back to it as someone who used to be a member of a predecessor Committee of this fine institution. It is wonderful to be here. You are right, Chair, to say that that is the aspiration, and every bit of my Department’s work is base…”

“The first thing that I would say is that you will be aware that the OBR upgraded the growth forecast for this year from 0.7% to 1.1%. Secondly, the most fundamental bit of analysis that the OBR did was to talk about how the changes to the fiscal rules that the new Government have promote the long-term productive growth…”

“You will be aware that any relative measure is partly going to be delivered through what is going on in the rest of the world. It is fair to say that there are a lot of concerns about the future of the global trading system coming out of some of the commitments in the US presidential election, so there is a considerabl…”

“It is absolutely the commitment of this Government to outperform all of those forecasts, based on the combination of measures that we are committed to. Of course, our position in the G7 is a relative one, but the kinds of changes that this country needs—particularly to things like the planning system, which we all reco…”