Speeches by Atkinson.

“As well as the welcome developments that my hon. Friend alludes to in the Tees, this is about the wider north-east. In my constituency, Wastefront has a £100 million investment and is creating 100 good jobs on the River Wear. Does he agree that jobs are being made in the wider north-east through this Government’s polic…”

“Sunderland is proud to be a city of makers, from cars to music. Without reversing Brexit, those makers need access to Europe, whether that is exporters such as Nissan, which need the certainty to export, or musicians, who need the freedom to tour. Can the Prime Minister outline how this deal will support good jobs in S…”

“I will be brief. I thank all hon. Members for their contributions. A debate on tax policy can be somewhat dry, but it is important to remember, as hon. Members on both sides of the House have reflected, that there are personal stories and circumstances behind all the signatories to this petition and the emails in our m…”

“I thank the right hon. Lady for that intervention. Of course, it was the previous Government who harmonised the income tax thresholds for pensioners and those of working age alike, the situation having previously been different. I absolutely recognise the stress felt by pensioners around the land. That is why such a de…”

“No, I will make progress. The public expect us to do better than that and they expect us to do more. They want wages and pensions to go up faster than inflation, as is now starting to happen. They want to the personal allowance to rise. I pay tribute to Mr Frost again for calling for those measures, and to all those wh…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 702844 relating to the Income Tax Personal Allowance. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stuart, and it is a privilege to open the debate as a member of the Petitions Committee. All colleagues from all parties will recognise the priority that the…”

“Of course, I join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to his constituent for securing this debate; 250,000 signatures is an extraordinary level of engagement in the democratic process, and that is to be applauded. I will make some points about the distribution of the benefits of income tax freezes later on in my speec…”

“Sunderland is a music city, and key to that are our great grassroots venues such as the Bunker, Independent and Pop Recs. But venues like those across the country operate on a financially precarious basis. Will the Minister update the House on how he will monitor the implementation of the voluntary levy on arena and st…”

“5. What steps she is taking to support musicians.”

“5. What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of Israeli settlements in the west bank.”

“I declare an interest as a member of the NHS pension scheme. Can the Minister confirm that this issue arose only because the previous Government carried out their NHS pension reforms in a way that was found to be age discriminatory? More widely, does she agree that giving NHS staff the terms and conditions and the rewa…”

“On Saturday night, the Israeli Government announced the approval of an expanded road network in the E1 corridor of the west bank with the stated aim of supporting the development of illegal Israeli settlements in the area. That area is critical to the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state. Previously, uni…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under you, Dr Murrison. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this debate. As colleagues have said, 5,448 drug-related deaths in England and Wales is truly a public health crisis, and we need a response that meets the urgency of that crisis. When the last L…”

“I have great sympathy with the intent behind the amendment, and I would like us to get it into a workable form. The hon. Member for Reigate may wish to confirm this, but there is a similar offence in the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985—the advertising of surrogacy arrangements is an offence. The important difference in…”

“The hon. Member is making an interesting point, particularly in relation to the commissioning of the service. In the NHS, we generally commission on a block basis and a fee-per-activity basis. I can entirely see that that block basis would be appropriate for this commission, and I am happy to work with him on Report to…”

“I understand somewhat where the hon. Member for East Wiltshire is coming from, but as a fundamental matter, people have to be paid for time worked. I feel that an interpretation of his amendment is that people would not be able to be paid for time worked. This is not about performance-related pay, as he suggests in tha…”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 40. Given the implementation period that we are talking about, the repeated and routine reporting to Parliament on progress is essential, especially for those who want to see this Bill implemented safely and properly. Nevertheless, there are people—some of whom have joined us in…”

“That is exactly right. For those reasons, I think we need to retain the full five-year review period. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley outlined, the review of the Act by the Secretary of State will be in addition to the annual reporting from the commissioner and, if we accept new clause 35, in addition to…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I will be brief. I am in favour of retaining the Bill as it stands. The key thing is the interplay between this clause and clause 42, on commencement. I would have been minded to support changes to the reporting period had the Bill been commencing within two…”

“No, I am going to finish this point. The hon. Member for East Wiltshire did a good job of reading a Bevan quotation before—although I do not advise him to seek Labour party selection with such gravitas in his voice. However, I think he is the heir not to Bevan, but to Bernard Braine, the Member for South East Essex, wh…”