Speeches by Akehurst.

“Does the shadow Secretary of State not accept that 8 million people being either registered in the wrong place, or not on the register at all, is also an example of an inaccurate register? Would it not be better to have people over-registered—presumably they would then not turn out, because they had moved away or whate…”

“I would like the hon. Gentleman to elaborate on the absurdity that he sees in 16 and 17-year-olds being able to vote. What is it about them that he feels disqualifies them or makes them less able to make a democratic decision than an 18-year-old?”

“Does the hon. Gentleman’s reference to citizenship imply that Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland citizens, who have been enfranchised for about 100 years, should be disenfranchised in this country?”

“I think it helps that they have a level of empathy and knowledge of the kinds of problems that confront veterans, and an ability to tease out the skills they have picked up in the military and how that makes them employable. It is definitely helpful that they have that background themselves.”

“I know that we are supposed to be asking questions, but I just want to say that I have seen this working in practice on the ground. At one of my local jobcentres in Stanley—I was there only a fortnight ago—I met the guy who is providing tailored support to veterans, and he is a veteran himself. He is doing both parts o…”

“The first part was about the resource implications, and the second part was about whether you were involved in designing the expanded duty.”

“Q3. Residents in Stanley in my constituency are very excited about having their say on how to spend the £20 million of Pride in Place funding that Stanley South has received as one of the 250 most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. There are other villages and areas in North Durham that are too small to qualify fo…”

“This was touched on a bit in the previous round of answers, but what are the resource implications of the expanded duty for service providers? Related to that, were local government and NHS representatives involved in designing the expanded duty?”

“I appreciate that the Committee has a deeper dive into housing next week, but I just want to touch on it. How confident are you that the Defence Housing Service will bring much-needed improvements to military housing?”

“County Durham has been home to proud British industries for centuries, but for decades they have been in decline, and communities such as mine in North Durham have paid the price. Our modern industrial strategy will work to fix that. It is going to invest billions in defence, advanced manufacturing and clean power, whi…”

“15. What steps he is taking to implement the modern industrial strategy.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin) for securing this important debate and introducing it so eloquently. It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who always makes important contributions to debates about defence matte…”

“I pay tribute to the hon. and gallant Members across the House who have brought to the debate personal experience of serving this country in the armed forces. I particularly thank the right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat) for his insightful speech, in which he talked about some of the threats we face. It was …”

“It is an honour to serve under the right hon. Gentleman on the Finance Committee, where we look at slightly smaller-scale issues on spending. He appears to be questioning the Government’s political commitment to find the funding necessary for defence. Does he accept that the downpayment on that political will was the v…”

“On the proposal to extend the age limit under which reservists can be called back, a small number of them might have attained the extremely high levels of physical fitness of the Minister for the Armed Forces and be suitable for a wide range of roles, but some could be called back for back-office tasks such as analysin…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I commend the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for bringing the crisis in Myanmar to our attention and I congratulate the other Back-Bench speakers in the debate so far on their eloquent and important contributions. I declare my long-standing membership …”

“No matter what unit they served in, veterans in North Durham are particularly concerned about the impact of the new legislation on those who served in the special forces. Can the Secretary of State reassure me that he has met the Special Air Service Regimental Association and is responding to its specific concerns?”

“2. What steps he has taken to engage with relevant stakeholders on the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.”

“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to enable local authorities to allocate for temporary use by charities, community organisations and small businesses any vacant commercial properties during the period of their vacancy; to provide for certain obligations on landlords of commercial property in connec…”

“Will the Minister explain to the House the importance of exercises like Pegasus, and outline how Pegasus has supported this Government’s efforts to improve our national resilience for future pandemics?”