Speeches by Mullan.

“I will give way to the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon), who stood up first.”

“That remains to be seen; we will have to see what the Office for Budget Responsibility says in March about the planned public expenditure limits. To be clear about taking interventions, I am very happy to debate things, but this is a 30-minute debate in which the primary focus is on the person who secured the debate. T…”

“I want to begin by saying that although the loss of every single life is of course tragic—and I saw that at first hand when volunteering—it is important to note that, despite repeated political attacks at the time suggesting that we had the worst death rate in Europe, now when we look at the figures properly we see tha…”

“No—you cannot give way on a statement. In fact, prior to covid, we had got the Crown court backlog down to a lower level than it had been under the last Labour Government, another record of which we can be proud. To try to tackle the problem, we increased sitting days and introduced Nightingale courts, and contrary to …”

“I thank the Minister for advance sight of her remarks. I also thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling out what was quite obviously an attempt to avoid scrutiny this week. I also thank the Chair of the Justice Committee, the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter), for his efforts to ensure that w…”

“I did not talk about motivation in my speech; I spoke about how the Minister has framed it. Does he accept that with a general taxation pot, where all the money goes into one amount that is doled out as the Government see fit, there is absolutely no basis for saying that children in the state sector have less because o…”

“I rise to support new clause 8 in the name of the shadow Chancellor, because it will help ensure accountability on this policy, and ensure that its impacts are fully understood. I want that because of the policy itself, but perhaps more because of how the Labour party has framed it, which I have found deeply concerning…”

“The House will have heard that the Secretary of State did not answer my question. I acknowledge that the problems with the early release scheme have been tackled, but I am told by many people working in the criminal justice sector that there are many other delays with the thousands of other prisoners who are due to be …”

“We know that one of the key ways in which we manage prolific offenders is through tagging—both GPS tagging and home detention tagging. The Secretary of State has assured us that the problems with early release tagging have now been resolved, but I understand that problems persist for thousands of other prisoners who ar…”

“May I say gently to the Minister that he has been passed a bit of a dud here? I think that experienced Labour Members know that, which is why not a single long-standing Member on the Minister’s Benches has stood up to defend this specific policy this afternoon. Is that because Labour Members, like most MPs, know that t…”

“T2. On a recent visit, I saw the benefit of the SEN unit in All Saints school in Sidley. Does the Minister think that SEN units have a bigger role to play, and will Ministers meet me to discuss the funding challenges such units face?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. The Minister’s remarks were to be expected; they are in keeping with the trend across Government of defending decision after decision taken by them by reference to the Conservatives’ record and actions in office. That is the nature of politics, and I imagin…”

“Q14. Members across this House are deeply concerned that the Post Office is considering closing more than 100 branches across our communities. More than 3,000 people have signed a petition opposing the closure of Bexhill post office. Does the Prime Minister agree that the Government must ensure that we protect vital po…”

“I think the Minister has only answered one of my questions. Will he address the 10-year timescale and the lack of any discussion of victims in the impact assessment? I think there were two other points he could usefully try to reply to.”

“The Minister frowns, but he can look it up. Pre-pandemic, the backlog was lower than the backlog that Labour left us at the end of its previous time in government. The Government criticise, saying that we forced them to release several thousand prisoners early. Perhaps Government Members do not know that they released …”

“The Minister may shake his head and say that in some ways they were captured, but ultimately, as he has admitted, offenders have been released who should not have been. Ultimately, this provision will also significantly change the number of electronic monitoring tags required. The framework acknowledges this, but fails…”

“Labour’s housing targets desperately need reform to take into account land availability around protected landscapes. The Government have said that the answer is the costly planning appeals system. Does the Minister think that is a good use of taxpayers’ money?”

“Today the focus is rightly on Back Benchers, so I will limit my remarks and—mindful of your advice on time, Mr Speaker—I will not be taking any interventions. It is not for me to make the case for His Majesty’s Opposition, because we have not taken a collective view, and, like many other Members, I have struggled great…”

“I welcome that general commitment. Apologies if the Minister was going to come on to it, but could she explain why, when Labour was content with the legislation drawn up in the private Member’s Bill, it now feels it is too complicated and unbalanced, and cannot be implemented?”

“That is an important point and, notwithstanding my hope that the Government will introduce legislation, I expect that we will be able to support a Bill that is suitably similar to the one originally presented. Mr David’s Bill proposed a robust framework to combat SLAPPs, including a wider early dismissal mechanism, and…”