Speeches by Foy.

“Did you also fully understand it?”

“First, before you took part, did you fully understand the single transferable vote system that was used in the election? Secondly, did other Members come to you to raise concerns about the system, or even to ask for advice about how it worked, just to ensure that their preferred candidate got across the line?”

“I do not know how that would work if it did go fully electronic. What role would the Tellers have? How would they do it if you were not physically going through?”

“So it is actually not physical voting that is at stake here; it is what else happens in the voting Lobbies?”

“First, before you took part, did you fully understand the single transferable vote system that was used in the election? Secondly, did other Members come to you to raise concerns about the system, or even to ask for advice about how it worked, just to ensure that their preferred candidate got across the line?”

“Did you also fully understand it?”

“I want to go back to the arrangements during the pandemic. But before that, I want to say in my defence that I was one of the intake who came in in 2019, so we had about 12 weeks of what seemed like normality and then it was changed to being online. I gave my maiden speech and then the next day, or the next week, it wa…”

“I remember the lines as well, when we went back into social distancing—”

“But for new people, it was all normal; it was all normal for us. Moving on from that, these measures were put in place during the pandemic. In the Division Lobbies, we had the pass readers, which of course we have kept. It is the Tellers’ count that provides the result to the House, but if the House were to move to a f…”

“Yes—the fully electronic system, where you can do remote voting if you are anywhere on the estate. That has been touched on by the Modernisation Committee.”

“I begin by declaring an interest as the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health. I will speak to my amendments and one or two others. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is world-leading health legislation that will create the first smokefree generation, protecting children and young people from the …”

“When cuts to incapacity support were introduced by the last Government through the work-related activity component, we saw severe rises in poverty, no significant increase in employment, and cases of mental ill health skyrocketing. In the north-east, we already have some of the highest rates of poverty and ill health i…”

“As a young worker in the late 1980s, I experienced the precarious nature of the world of work, along with many of my peers. Lack of knowledge about our rights and the fear of being sacked if we complained about our terms and conditions politicised me and made me a lifelong trade unionist and a member of Unite and Uniso…”

“This Bill presents an opportunity to confront the challenges facing our communities, protect the most vulnerable and ensure that justice serves everyone. I welcome the Government’s commitment to tackling violence against women and girls, to tackling antisocial behaviour and to halving knife crime. This is a positive st…”

“Yes. If it were a group going forward, a larger group, and they wanted to have a name or an affiliated descriptor.”

“The report from the Grenfell Tower inquiry is utterly scathing about the role of central Government and their obsession with deregulation. The drive to scrap so-called red tape was a key failing, which led to such a terrible incident and the avoidable loss of life. Will the Deputy Prime Minister confirm to the House th…”

“Last December, the Royal College of Nursing Northern Ireland revealed that there is a severe shortage of nursing staff in the north—there are almost 2,000 vacancies in the sector—as well as concerns about retention. What steps is the Northern Ireland Office taking to support the Executive in providing safe levels of st…”

“3. What recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on improving public services.”

“That was more hypothetical: if there were a larger grouping of suspended MPs—not you particularly—who then might want to see, themselves as a group, do you think this should be permitted? Clearly, treated the same as any other registered party, but should they be able to use the name of that grouping if they did decide…”

“Welcome to both of you. As you know, the membership of Select Committees and other House Committees, such as the Bill Committees and the designated legislation Committees, reflect the composition of the House. Do you feel that independent MPs have their views taken into account in these proceedings? To what extent do y…”