Speeches by Rhodes.

“I mean primarily financially in terms of if we are not putting enough money in at the moment where would you say the priorities are for extra money?”

“Thank you. Professor Naylor?”

“Professor McDonagh?”

“Thank you. Professor Hall?”

“Would my hon. Friend agree that an underlying problem is not only the size of the proposed increase, but the arbitrary nature of the level? As has been mentioned, perhaps it is linked to the skilled workers level, but that seems to be an arbitrary figure as well. Would he agree that we need to ensure that people out th…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend—I am not used to agreeing with so many people. It seems unusual, but I will carry on. My hon. Friend makes an important point, and if we can increase participation by looking at the processes in place, we should welcome that. It is important to look at all the systems. However, simply changi…”

“I absolutely agree, and it is important that we look to increase the ways in which people can access the voting system, because for many, digital is the usual way to apply for services, whether private or public. That is what they expect and their default. Similarly, there are groups of people for whom applying on pape…”

“My hon. Friend asks whether I am saddened and surprised; I am saddened. It is important that while we make it easier to apply online for postal and proxy votes, we do not take away any ability to apply via paper, and I welcome the fact that the legislation does not do that. Many do not have access to digital means of a…”

“I certainly agree that it is important to see the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government working together.”

“I agree that there are benefits from the Bill in all seasons. I realise that I have now set Members the challenge of intervening to speak about spring and autumn. In winter, there are fewer daylight hours and it is colder, and people may not want to go out in the dark. The Bill would make it easier for them to access p…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. An issue raised during the election was that the period for applying did not allow much time for many families to apply who had booked to go away at the beginning of the school holidays. The Bill would make online applications easier and speedier.”

“I commend the efforts of my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) to ensure that we debated this issue today. We must continue to break down the barriers to voting, to ensure increased engagement with and turnout at every form of election in all the nations of the UK. In my first speech i…”

“Thank you. Do the other panellists want to add anything on that?”

“Finally coming to the central debate here, would these reforms and further protections for threatened species slow down the ability to respond to the need for more houses, more homes for people?”

“One further thing you would want is more after the process of the planning, looking at whether it has been put into practice.”

“Thank you. Do the other panellists want to add anything on that?”

“I want to focus in particular on threatened species. I will start with you, Ms Pullinger, with the Wildlife Trusts’ view on this. Does the current planning system, in your view, do enough to provide for protection for endangered and threatened species?”

“What potential changes to planning would you like to see?”

“I am trying to think through what you are saying. You mentioned wild belts. You mentioned having stronger minimum standards, but also that encouragement in the system to go further than minimum standards. You also mentioned metrics in your previous answer. Is there something about the metrics that we need to be looking…”

“Finally coming to the central debate here, would these reforms and further protections for threatened species slow down the ability to respond to the need for more houses, more homes for people?”