Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“I do not know the specifics of the point that you have raised, but my officials can certainly take that away and the Home Office can write back to you on that specifically.”

“Obviously, we are not an EU member state anymore, to state the obvious. So obviously we do not have representation in the European Parliament, we do not have commissioners and so on anymore. But that is not to say that my negotiating team is not engaging. This will obviously be fully scrutinised in Parliament because w…”

“I confess that digital design is not one of my strongest points, but of course we keep accessibility across all Government communications under review. I am not saying for a moment that the particular design at the moment is necessarily the correct one. I am always open to suggestion or review. If it comes back to us t…”

“First of all, the common understanding envisages that there would be certain carve-outs that we would require and would negotiate. That is the basis upon which we are negotiating. More broadly, though, on the point about rules, subject to that, the Government is taking a conscious decision to align with another high-st…”

“There are two things here, I think. First, there is the role that we play in the original ordering of the public inquiry. That is why we have introduced that change to the ministerial code, which it is to try to get co-ordination at the centre and a sense of when inquiries have been ordered and how many are being order…”

“I do not have a precise date for you, but that is certainly in train. We certainly want to be in a position to do that. Again, having that guidance available sits as a really important part of this landscape. I go back to the previous question, though: this is an area in which I welcome debate across the House. I do no…”

“This is a really important issue, in my view. I will first say that, broadly, I do think that public inquiries play an important role for victims, in a real moment of public justice. I do not think we should underestimate that at all, but I would also observe that there are concerns around the time inquiries take, and …”

“Well, the negotiations are taking place. I think we are 10 or 11 rounds in at the moment—Hermione can talk to that. What I have been delivering is the manifesto, and that is what we have set out. I have also given various speeches in public, setting out what I thought were the objectives of the negotiation. I gave quit…”

“I am not aware of that, but if it were happening, I would want it to be drawn to my attention. To conclude on a point of agreement, John, we may disagree on many things, but we do not disagree on the benefit of the United Kingdom.”

“You already have what was in the common understanding of May 2025, which I think was pretty detailed. It is not a legal text. We will obviously then publish the legal text when it is agreed at the summit, when we have set the date of the summit. But I should just surface the dilemma here: I am always keen to be as open…”

“They certainly do. I take the view that the deal we struck is very much in the interests of our fishers, and I think we will demonstrate that in the years ahead, both in the significant investment in our fishing fleet with which we are accompanying this, and when we reduce the barriers to exporting fish to the EU. Both…”

“First of all, on engagement with MPs, I will certainly be looking to circulate a “Dear colleague” letter with details. We will be holding drop-ins tomorrow as well, so that parliamentary colleagues can come along with specific cases. Charlotte, to your number of points about the portal, please do feed those details int…”

“Where I fundamentally disagree with some of the fishing industry, although not all of it—if you look at what Salmon Scotland said, they took a very different view—”

“The straight answer to that is yes, and I will come to the permanent secretary to set that out. To be clear with Members, it was known that there was a backlog; it is something that I had spoken to the chief executive of Capita about, so it did not come as a surprise. On that aspect and the recovery plan, I will turn t…”

“I am talking about overall trade-offs.”

“The best way for them to do that is to continue to do what they do: turn up at Cabinet Office questions and ask me questions about it, which they regularly do. To be clear, Markus, I am not ruling out appearing before that Committee. As I said in answer to a parliamentary question last week, there may be an appropriate…”

“Quite right. However, I have to make a judgment about the number of Committees that I appear before. If you saw the number of invitations I have, you would see that I could literally spend most of my time doing that. The issue about my role, as even our discussion has set out, is that it covers so many different Govern…”

“Let us just be clear: as I said to the Committee at a previous session, I make the decisions, ultimately, on the trade-offs, John. That is my role. Some people will criticise, others will perhaps take a different view, but it is ultimately my role and responsibility to do that on behalf of the United Kingdom. Where did…”

“No. I think this is my ninth appearance before a Select Committee, here and in the Lords, to discuss the EU-UK relationship. I am not objecting to appearing before Select Committees—”

“We have had quite a thorough run around the various issues.”