Speeches by Murray.

“Apart from the co-ordination group, how else does the Northern Ireland Office collaborate with Executive Ministers on economic matters?”

“How often has the co-ordination group met?”

“We finally now get on to the Northern Ireland growth co-ordination group that you already referred to, Minister Patrick. The government response to our report noted that the NIGCG—golly, we like an acronym, don’t we?”

“So it is still getting to beyond a quarterly meeting, then. If the meeting is quarterly, is it working in subgroups? Are there work streams falling into it?”

“It noted that it ensures “that the pillars of the industrial strategy make the most of Northern Ireland’s strengths”. How effective has the group been in doing so?”

“One thing that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is particularly concerned about is whether there are differences between the organised immigration crime in relation to Northern Ireland and the common travel area, and the channel crossings. Do we know whether there are paramilitary links, whether that involves rep…”

“Mr Capps, has the establishment of the Border Security Command made any difference to efforts to disrupt organised immigration crime groups within Northern Ireland?”

“Mr Bonfield, how significant is the role of organised immigration crime groups in Northern Ireland in facilitating unauthorised migration through the common travel area?”

“I will follow on from my colleague from Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, and I put on the record that he is not related to me in any way whatsoever. Are you satisfied that there are sufficiently robust processes in place at entry points to Ireland from outside the common travel area, to prevent the entry of people who i…”

“My very first experience of employment was waiting at a van to try to get a day’s work, cash in hand, at the berries, which was what people usually did when they were aged 13 or 14 and looked a wee bit older. I hope the Minister is not proposing a return to those days, because I kind of got the impression from the shad…”

“Thank you for coming along this afternoon; I have really enjoyed the part that I have been here for. You have seen the system operate from both a Government and an Opposition perspective. If you could change one aspect of the written parliamentary question system in the Commons, what would it be?”

“Protecting our interests in the High North depends not only on our armed forces, but on a resilient defence industrial base. Constituencies such as mine are home to highly skilled defence and engineering businesses that play an important role in supporting our national security. How is the Department ensuring that UK i…”

“10. What steps he is taking to protect British interests in the High North.”

“I thank the Minister for his statement. New cases are still coming into my office, with tales of failure to get through on the telephone or a lack of online access. They remain common, but most common is the financial distress. My case team keep hearing about people who are about to lose their house. The interim intere…”

“I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as co-chair of the Unison group of Labour MPs. For too long, many workers have been expected to keep themselves available for work without any certainty over the hours or income that they would receive. The right to guaranteed hours was design…”

“1. What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Employment Rights Act 2025.”

“We have talked a lot about communities feeling quite disengaged, probably because of political inertia rather than necessarily a lack of political will. How would you use that to make sure that the political parties start to take a consistent and shared approach to reconciliation?”

“Does anybody want to add anything—quickly, because the Chair is glaring at me?”

“Being a Scottish MP representing a Scottish constituency and having difficult funding relationships within public services in Scotland, particularly looking at arm’s length organisations, I get the arguments that you are making and the perspective that Martin is coming out with. Is it perception, where people might be …”

“One of the things we have already talked about is political will and political polarisation. How does political polarisation and instability impact efforts to build a peaceful, inclusive and resilient society? I appreciate that that is probably an essay question with an answer best delivered in about 3,000 words.”