Speeches by Glover.

“Love Beer Brewery in Milton in my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage supplies fantastic ale for events and a number of local pubs. However, its viability is threatened by the freeze of income tax thresholds and the increase in beer duty. Its monthly beer duty costs are now between £1,500 and £2,000, and if …”

“1. What steps he is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses.”

“Sue, the previous Government’s version of this legislation did include a duty for DPTAC to formally advise GBR. The current Bill does not in the same way. How do you expect your organisation will interact with GBR? Do you think that would be purely through the Secretary of State?”

“Can we explore a little bit more what some of you were saying about the need for an equivalent duty to the one for rail freight for growing passenger use of the railway? The Government have said, to us and in the Chamber, that they feel that that is inherent already in what GBR exists to do. If that is the case, why do…”

“The Bill does not set out any statutory requirements for the composition of the board of the passenger watchdog. Would you welcome it mandating specific requirements, particularly to ensure adequate representation of people with disabilities?”

“We have heard the view that the passenger watchdog will lack the necessary independence, power and resources to effectively stand up for the interests of passengers. Would you agree with those concerns? If you do, what suggestions might you make for changing the Bill to avoid that risk?”

“The ORR will have oversight of the retail market, but do you feel that its powers go far enough? What needs to change on the face of the Bill to ensure the fair and open retail competition that you would all like to see?”

“Why do you feel that an open market for ticket retail is in the wider interests of passengers? Would it not be simpler for passengers to have a single place to go for tickets, which is what advocates of the GBR-proposed approach would say?”

“Ben, why do you feel that a fair and open ticket retail market is important to passengers?”

“Does anyone have any thoughts to add to what Emma said?”

“Shall we see, Chair? Emma, clearly it is important to make sure that there is really good consultation and listening with people who have disabilities, particularly as, generally speaking, people running such organisations often do not. What should be specified in the Bill about consultation, particularly on mechanisms…”

“T10. The Government created the National Wealth Fund to encourage investment in innovation in critical sectors, such as clean energy and sustainable aviation fuel. How will the Chancellor make sure that the wealth fund uses different, and maybe even better, risk criteria than commercial banks and financial entities?”

“I thank those who have put so much work into the Bill, which has had a long gestation, with its roots in the multiple timetable change meltdowns across the network in May 2018. They and the Government are right to recognise that our railways need change. That should be our starting point. I will start with the reasons …”

“The hon. Gentleman might find that the Bill is also rather lacking in detail on how future rail improvements will be funded. However, he is right in the sense that we need to get costs down. That is why a rolling programme of electrification, new stations, rolling stock and so on would get costs down. It is not just me…”

“I shall have to ask my office to initiate an investigation into the leak of my speech—I will go on to say why we do indeed need a rolling electrification programme, which is something that has hitherto been missing under Governments of all colours. Nevertheless, we Liberal Democrats have some concerns about the Bill in…”

“My hon. Friend is quite right to point out that some of the more sparsely populated parts of our country have been neglected in their rail offer. It is important that the spending recognises that and does not just follow large towns or cities or inter-city routes.”

“I welcome that the Government have tabled these amendments to strengthen the Pension Protection Fund arrangements. However, that will be of little use to those such as the AEA Technology pension campaigners, about whom I have met the Minister. Despite many Select Committee reports and National Audit Office findings, th…”

“I think everybody in this Chamber and in this House can agree that we need economic growth, but many question whether the Budget will really help with that. It prolongs Conservative underhand tactics, such as tax threshold freezes, which will have a comparable impact to more honest and up-front tax rises. Small busines…”

“I am sure that the Minister will join me in welcoming Alaa’s recent release from detention in Egypt, and in thanking the many people who have campaign for and helped secure that over the years. This week, Alaa will miss the 14th birthday of his son Khaled, because the Egyptian authorities are not letting him travel. It…”

“9. What recent progress she has made on helping Alaa Abd el-Fattah to return to the UK.”