Speeches by Anderson.

“We have Birmingham Labour MPs campaigning for a new airport in Pakistan; meanwhile, we have rats the size of cats feasting on a month of rubbish in Birmingham, courtesy of Labour’s trade union friends. My simple question to the Minister is this: when will this rubbish be cleared?”

“Since the Labour Government came to power, more than 30,000 people have entered our country illegally. The Prime Minister says he is very angry about that, but he is not as angry as the British taxpayer, who has to fork out £1.2 billion a year to keep those illegal invaders in our country. Does the Minister agree that …”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, which, as usual, is spot on. He is quite right, and I have had loads of these problems over the years. In fact, I had a big project running on a few of my new house builds in Ashfield a few years ago, and I was getting exactly that problem. People think they have a 10-year …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on securing this important debate. I am very happy about it, because for about 10 years Persimmon Homes, which she mentioned, has been on my radar both as a local councillor and as a Member of…”

“The hon. Gentleman talks about all these great ideas for what the Lib Dems will do—fitting solar panels and heat pumps and stuff like that—but does he trust house builders to do that to a high standard?”

“It is. We have had problems with management companies in one of my estates in Kirkby-in-Ashfield over the maintenance of a local park and some of the green spaces that come with these new house builds. I want to touch on what the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest said about our problems with Ashfield district council. We…”

“My hon. Friend is making some excellent points. Does he agree that there is a place for telephone appointments if a GP is giving guidance and support, or making a referral, but that any diagnosis should be made face to face?”

“I come to this Chamber every week to ask sensible questions—[Interruption]—and I expect sensible answers, but all I get is glazed expressions and waffle from those on the Government Benches. I want to ask the Prime Minister a simple question on behalf of all the net zero sceptics. If we became net zero tomorrow, by how…”

“The hon. Member is making a passionate and inspiring speech about the national minimum wage. Is she aware that just last year, the leader of the Scottish Labour party admitted that his family business was not paying members of staff the living wage? Does she think that is rank hypocrisy?”

“I went to visit a lady in Ashfield who had been beaten black and blue and then locked in a cupboard by her boyfriend. He was arrested and she made a statement, but because of his controlling behaviour in the relationship—he was in control of the finances and was also her employer—she had him back. When she finally had …”

“The hon. Member asks who will fill the skills gap or the labour gap. How about the 7 million people in this country who are economically inactive?”

“The right hon. Gentleman is being most generous with his time in giving way, especially to a Member from a minority party. He raises an interesting point about people coming here to study and bringing dependants. Does he know of any British students who have gone abroad and taken their family with them?”

“On that point, will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way again; this is the last time that I will intervene. He said that 16,000 people with no right to be in this country have been deported. I agree with that figure, but is he aware that most of those people are overstayers on student visas or work visas, that they have been paid £3,00…”

“I recently visited a business in Kirkby-in-Ashfield in the east midlands—funnily enough, I did not see the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) there—where I was told that the increase in national insurance contributions would cost the business £240 a year, which will prevent it from recruiting people and giving it…”

“The building of more council houses throughout the UK is welcome news, especially in Ashfield, where we have 7,000 people on the waiting list. Does the Minister agree that when we are dishing these houses out, British-born, hard-working taxpayers should be prioritised?”

“Would you agree that when that advert went out online about me, for example, Google should have had some checks, such as a keyword check. For example, when it says an MP’s name—"Lee Anderson MP”—with the word “paedophile” at the side of it, that should be picked up. There should be a red flag somewhere in their checkin…”

“A lot of harassment and intimidation cases are stoked by false allegations. This is quite personal for me, because when I first got elected, I had a big problem with a paid advert online—I know it was put on there by a friend of a political opponent—that basically said that Lee Anderson’s office was working on behalf o…”

“Thank you all for giving us your time. There is an increasing perception in this country that politicians and MPs are fair game. Just this week at one of our rallies—conferences, if you want to call them that—in Camborne in Cornwall, an angry mob turned up. I think they were antifa. They had masks on and were intimidat…”

“Would you agree that when that advert went out online about me, for example, Google should have had some checks, such as a keyword check. For example, when it says an MP’s name—"Lee Anderson MP”—with the word “paedophile” at the side of it, that should be picked up. There should be a red flag somewhere in their checkin…”