Speeches by Reader.

“People in Northampton are on a bit of a rollercoaster: they have seen the benefits of a Labour Government in the £16 million that has been secured for our new urgent care centre at Northampton general, but they will now rightly be worried reading the news. Will the Secretary of State send a message to my constituents t…”

“Danielle Stone, Northamptonshire’s brilliant police, fire and crime commissioner, has just launched the women’s charter, which brings together employers, community groups and the public sector to create safer workspaces for women across my constituency. Will the Minister join me in commending Danielle’s work and set ou…”

“13. What steps she is taking to support women’s economic empowerment.”

“Just before I come on to my questions, I have been listening intently. There is a lot of talk here about trading, hedging, bidding and how the energy price works. It does sound as though there are practices here that would make the Wolf of Wall Street blush. Is there enough regulation and control of this market, or are…”

“No, I have to go.”

“No, I have to go.”

“We have talked about the windfall tax, for example. We have implemented it, but all the energy companies will do is find a way round it and keep making their millions of pounds of profit. We will still see record debt in the UK. Are we not agile enough as a Government to deal with this market? Are they running rings ar…”

“Just before I come on to my questions, I have been listening intently. There is a lot of talk here about trading, hedging, bidding and how the energy price works. It does sound as though there are practices here that would make the Wolf of Wall Street blush. Is there enough regulation and control of this market, or are…”

“Do you think we are relying too much on ETS and having CBAM realignment? The evidence I have heard is that for Europe it is not a priority, and it would put their bills up so why would they want to agree to it? The UK seems very certain that we must have better UK-EU alignment, get CBAM-aligned and our bills come down …”

“Tom, this is obviously a priority for the UK. Is it a priority for the EU to get a better arrangement with the UK? We have heard evidence that in France cross-border trading is blamed for higher prices.”

“Michael, I will come back to the questions in front of me and I will talk about cross-border trading. We heard from Make UK, the Chemical Industries Association, and the Energy Intensive Users Group that rebalancing and a better relationship with Europe in terms of energy is the number one thing that would reduce their…”

“It is a very quick one. Tom, in reading, you are an expert in market arrangements, regulation and policy. Do you think that Ofgem is an effective regulator in controlling the energy markets and controlling the cost to the consumer?”

“Tom, I might as well give you one as well and then I will go on to my real questions. [Laughter.] Everyone else is up to it today. Tom, you are an expert—”

“There is now a letter going to every household confirming from the Government that people will be getting £150 pounds off their bills.”

“Thank you.”

“I take all of that. This was a Martin Lewis website clip, “The Government’s going to knock 150 quid off your bill because they are ending ROs and ECO.” It could not be more clear to those people who do not believe in what you have just set out that by cutting policy costs, we get our energy bills down. Have the Governm…”

“That was put to me this weekend. You can understand where that narrative comes from. We are looking at building the support for the energy transition but it is very easy for people to take things from what is happening. How do we counter that narrative?”

“I wanted to put to you something that was put to me at the weekend. I am not saying it is right, but it is an interesting take on the Budget. For someone sceptical of the energy transition, of course, there is a big view that policy costs—green taxes you just called it—are the reason why bills are high. The Government …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. The Chancellor said that the Ox-Cam growth corridor has £78 billion of potential for our economy, but only if we get housing and infrastructure right. However, I would argue that it is much more than just housing and infrastructure that is needed to get the…”

“As the chair of the international trade and investment all-party parliamentary group, I have heard at first hand how new technology is making it easier to track supply-chain risks. What is the Minister doing to support better monitoring and data sharing with our international partners to ensure that we can identify for…”