Speeches by Wrigley.

“In addition to that very welcome general power of competence for the national park authorities, will the Minister consider tabling amendments to ensure that the new unitary authorities surrounding those park authorities do not dominate the membership of the board with a majority?”

“There is another aspect in which this Bill is lacking. In Devon, where we have a county and district system, the city of Exeter is ruled by a district council, which will be absorbed into the unitary council, leaving Exeter—unlike the rest of Devon—without a town or parish council. The same thing would happen in Torbay…”

“Yes, please. Thursday is fine as well—thank you.”

“The NHS federated data platform sounds like a very technical thing, but it impacts everything in the NHS. The recent NHS medium-term planning framework, which came out in October this year, has mandated that its platform be now rolled out to every acute provider, every community provider and every mental health provide…”

“I picked that up from the previous application. Given that Clive Lewis has also commented on it, I am sure that he would be happy to sign, so yes, I can certainly add a fourth.”

“The answering Department, I think, is DSIT, because it is looking after the digital implementation of all these things. On the application form, I put down for the Chamber on Tuesday or Thursday.”

“I apologise if we have filled in the form wrong.”

“Thank you very much indeed.”

“No, the park authority looks after the park with the park’s interests at its heart, and it is not tied to any other overriding interest. For example, if the new unitary needs another road, it might think, “The easiest thing is just to go through the edge of the park,” or “We need some new housing. We’ll just put it in …”

“It has been a long afternoon. I thank my Lib Dem colleagues in Committee who bravely stood up for towns and parishes and would like the role of town and parish councils to continue. I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as I am still a sitting district councillor. District counci…”

“I welcome the ambition and importance of this new strategy, and I congratulate the Minister on recognising that Devon is the source of more than just cream teas and tourism. The Devon minerals plan has more in it than the critical minerals: my constituency has an application for an extension to dig up Zitherixon ball c…”

“I agree that we should not be mandating those details. However, we were promised that these committees would perform that function. I say again that a simple duty to co-operate with towns and councils would actually take the place far better. The other issue in the Bill, again, relates to the larger unitaries not havin…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; it has been a long day. The previous Minister was talking about neighbourhood area committees, and yet I was surprised when I looked at the Bill that there is nothing in there about neighbourhood area committees. They are not mentioned in any way, shape or form. Devon is very big at say…”

“It is interesting, because I think it is a DEFRA Act, but it impacts MHCLG. I think that DEFRA is probably the responsible Department, because it is flood and water management, which would be DEFRA by title.”

“Thank you, Chair. I feel honoured to be the only applicant here today. As we build new homes in many of our constituencies, we are searching for the most suitable new sites to develop. These sites are getting more complicated, as the prime and most sustainable sites have already been developed. One of the main difficul…”

“Fantastic. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

“I will take a slot as soon as I possibly can, wherever that slot may be, and I will be grateful for whatever I can receive.”

“I thank the Home Secretary for sharing her experiences earlier and thoroughly condemn the sort of behaviour she described. It is unacceptable in any case. The Secretary of State described rapid decisions on appeals. Does she also believe, as I do, that rapid decision making on the initial application of asylum seekers …”

“The biggest issue in my inbox is the cost of living and the cost of energy in particular. In the south-west, we are a net contributor to renewable energy, and we could do even more with tidal power investment. Yet our energy bills are higher than the national average. In my Newton Abbot constituency, we have higher fue…”

“I welcome the Minister’s acknowledgment that the need to stop the horror in Sudan is urgent, but while I hear much talk of continuing actions, nothing, other than an emergency meeting called today, seems to be happening urgently. What steps is he taking to change, to move forward, to try some new things, and to make so…”