Speeches by Murphy.

“You recommend that MaPS should evolve into a national financial advice service.”

“Is there anything you want to add on the strategy?”

“I am going to ask about debt advice. If I am in real problem debt, what is going to be different as a result of this strategy?”

“This is a quick follow-up to Mr McAteer. You mentioned third-party providers. If a retailer, for example, in the future decided not to go down the third-party route and offered that kind of finance itself, it would not be covered by the FCA regulation.”

“As my colleagues have said, this is a huge issue—in my constituency and across the country. As one Prime Minister once said, transparency is the best disinfectant. FirstPort are not transparent about their management practices and service charges, so I think we should be using debates like this to apply transparency to…”

“I wanted to ask a specific question about buy now, pay later. There has been specific concern, as you have seen, in recent days around retailers offering incentives to consumers of a 10% or 15% discount to sign up to buy now, pay later deals, obviously without affordability checks. I just had two questions on that. Do …”

“Is that a barrier to new entities setting up, or growth and consolidation? The reason I ask is because obviously no new building societies have been registered in the UK in a quarter of a century, and only seven credit unions have been established in the last decade. I am just interested in the theory of growth of the …”

“I am a member of the Co-operative Party.”

“I want to ask about the route to growth for the sector. Do you see the route for growth as being consolidation or the establishment of new entities?”

“Would you not be concerned that if that kind of consolidation continues, it would take you further away from your customers? I think you talked earlier about the benefits of being drawn from local areas and that being a big part of the ethos. Is there not a concern about that consolidation?”

“As the Minister says, the previous Parliament was the worst on record for living standards, so my constituents—for many of whom the cost of living is the No.1 issue—welcome the action taken to freeze rail fares, which will save them £350 on average, and to take £150 off their energy bills, as well as today’s groundbrea…”

“Since I was elected, so many constituents have raised with me the absolute nightmare of being trapped in leasehold and fleecehold, so I wholeheartedly congratulate the Minister on the action he is announcing today, particularly on capping ground rent, ending leasehold flats and the transition to commonhold. On the tran…”

“7. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of living standards on the economy.”

“I take issue with the absolute brass neck of the shadow Secretary of State, who talked about the Government putting pressure on local government finances and then devolving the blame. Nothing could better describe the destructive austerity policies of the last Government, who devastated local councils across the countr…”

“The cost of living is the No. 1 issue for my constituents, so I welcome this record investment in warmer homes and lower bills. Measures such as zero-interest and low-interest loans for solar batteries and heat pumps, greater protections for renters, and solar on new homes will all make a huge amount of difference. Whe…”

“On that point, from an FPC point of view, the Government have asked the Bank to do that. They have added nature to the remit. How has the Bank responded?”

“Going back to one of the questions I asked yesterday from an FPC point of view, the Government put additional focus on climate and, for the first time, nature in the remit letter. If I am being honest, I do not think I was really able to determine, from the answers I got yesterday, how the Bank overall has responded to…”

“It was the point about nature and the environmental risks.”

“How do you ensure that “proportionate” does not become “insufficient”? How do you determine what “proportionate” means?”

“You referred to the policy statement, PS25/25, and the point around a joint endeavour. I have heard concerns that, compared with a previous iteration, the expectations referred to actions being needed by Governments, firms and a range of other actors. That language has not been repeated in this updated statement, the a…”