Speeches by Murphy.

“Does it not suggest that in part up until now—I am not saying it is not an issue; it clearly is—the driving factor of support for climate change is not about the immediate benefits that it is going to provide around cost of living on your bills? The driving factor—I know that you talked about sacrifice—is about doing t…”

“Roger, is that your experience as a journalist?”

“Is the Clean Energy 2030 target a problem in that regard? Should it be slowed down in order to ensure that proper consultation?”

“Anything you want to add?”

“At a previous panel when we had Luke Tryl in front of us from More in Common, I was quite surprised at the degree to which he said that the breakdown in the consensus was actually leading to more polarisation than maybe people had anticipated. The leader of the Conservatives changing their position and coming to an ant…”

“Welcome to the panel. How much of a problem is media misinformation funded by fossil fuel lobbyists and other vested interests and maligned actors a problem, Bob?”

“Moving on to broader media rather than misinformation—I think, Roger, you have highlighted this both in writing and earlier on in your evidence—is there a problem in that the media too often focuses on the short-term economic costs and does not take into the wider economic impacts of runaway climate change, adaptation …”

“A moment ago, the shadow Chancellor suggested that he would not get into speculation, but this whole debate is premised on media speculation. I asked him to comment on an actual proposal that was made to the Government by a Conservative-run county council to increase local council tax for my constituents by 15%, so he …”

“One of the suggestions made to the Government earlier this year was from Conservative-run Hampshire county council, to increase the council tax on my constituents by 15%. That was blocked by this Government, by the Secretary of State. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in condemning Conservative-run Hampshire county…”

“As my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson) pointed out, the motion we are debating is based purely on media speculation. It also conveniently overlooks the Conservatives’ own disastrous record. Let us not forget that it was the Conservatives who presided over 14 years of failure, du…”

“The foundation for being able to cut interest rates is a stable economy, and that is exactly what the Bank of England has done. We are putting more money directly into people’s pockets, lifting the minimum wage for 3 million workers and delivering free breakfast clubs for all primary school pupils. We are getting Brita…”

“rose—”

“Q I want to return to your comments, Councillor Phillips, to be sure that I caught your meaning. You mentioned the popularity or otherwise of network grid schemes running across the countryside. I was not quite sure whether you were saying that those were a relevant consideration for investment. Councillor Phillips: Li…”

“Q But would that outweigh the fiduciary duty and the question of monetary benefits to lenders? Councillor Phillips: The fiduciary duty would still be your main concern but in managing your risks you would have to take that into consideration as well.”

“Q What would be the challenges of that extension and scope? Tim Fassam: We see it predominantly as opportunity. We are not saying that the rules necessarily need to change. We are just saying these new opportunities should be extended to a wider group of available schemes, but the infrastructure we are putting in place…”

“Q It does not appear to be easily definable. What the financial benefits to members of an investment will be is easier to define through the fiduciary duty, but what is popular locally feels like a bit of a value judgment. Councillor Phillips: Like a lot of judgments.”

“Q How do you measure the unpopularity or otherwise? Do you look at polling? Is it just a broad sense of sentiment? As a measure, it feels a bit vague. If you are weighing that up against fiduciary duty, are you doing any actual research? I am just trying to understand how you weigh it up against the fiduciary duty. Cou…”

“Q I want to ask about Unison’s point about LGPS funds requiring equal member and employer representation on boards—I should declare an interest as a member of said trade union. According to Unison, the Bill will mean a lack of member voice on LGPS board governance. I wonder how you respond to that criticism? Patrick Co…”

“Q You said on Second Reading that you would encourage trustees, if they are considering a surplus release, to prioritise indexation of those that have not received it on their pre-’97 accrual. But some evidence submissions have suggested that it should go beyond encouragement, and maybe to mandation. Will you consider …”

“Q In your written evidence, the Phoenix Group encourages Parliament to reassess some of the timelines for the initiatives to ensure that there is sufficient time for market participants to respond in the interests of members and consumers. However, you also advocate for bringing forward the 2030 timeline for small pots…”