Speeches by Holmes.

“Oh, come on—I was going to be nice to you!”

“There have been many eloquent and thoughtful contributions to the debate today, and I would like to build on and respond to some of the comments that have been made. Great speeches have been made by hon. Friends and Members from all parts of the House. In particular, may I mention my right hon. Friend the Member for No…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I appreciate being able to make this point of order. I would like to seek your guidance on the speech from the hon. Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor), in which she defended developers and also solicitors. Did she have to declare her interest as a pract…”

“Labour Members shout from a sedentary position to ask why we never did it. This is one of the largest planning Bills to come before the House in a number of years, and nowhere have the Government mentioned that they would force developers to build houses that have already been given planning permission. We have a Gover…”

“I do not have anything against young people in rural areas at all, but surely the hon. Gentleman’s constituents will not see it as fair that his Government have reduced targets on their own authorities in urban centres, where there is already the infrastructure, where generally housing supply is better and where it is …”

“The hon. Lady is correct to say that there were some issues with housing supply during the last economic crisis, but the numbers that I am asking her about relate to her Government’s proposals under the new scheme. Will she tell her constituents or her Labour councillors—who she does not think should make planning deci…”

“I do not have time, I am afraid. The previous Government made significant investment in our coastal communities. Through the coastal communities fund, £229 million was invested across 369 projects, creating over 7,000 jobs and bringing more than 3 million visitors to our coastal area. Furthermore, the future high stree…”

“It is a pleasure to wind up, on behalf of the official Opposition, this debate on the importance of our coastal communities, of which my own constituency is a proud one. Those communities are rich in history, industry and natural beauty, but they face significant challenges. They are home to thriving tourism, fisheries…”

“I am looking forward to the opening speech of the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Swansea West (Torsten Bell), because if we see the same sympathy that he showed for people in his “Newsnight” interview last night, we should be in for a treat. When the Government put forward their pro…”

“With many Labour Members claiming that they care about young people being employed, has the Minister’s Department made assessments about the employment impact of the decision to introduce minimum guaranteed hours for students and young people who rely on the flexibility of being able to pick and choose their work hours…”

“4. Whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on employment rates.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) on her speech on issues that all hon. Members in this House can share concerns about. As MPs, we often get the same casework, and there are issues in my constituency similar to those in…”

“rose—”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on how I may get a response to correspondence I have sent to Departments on behalf of my constituents, in particular His Majesty’s Treasury. I was going to raise a case that had not been answered since August 2024, but coincidentally I received a response this morni…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for giving way; it is courteous of her. On miscounting numbers, can I drill down on the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty)? Of the 13,000 new neighbourhood officers that the Home Secretary claims she is recruiting, 3,000 will be diverted from the existi…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for giving way, but I think she should apologise for not answering the question. There were record levels of policing under the last Government; 20,000 extra police officers were recruited. I ask her again: she said that she is recruiting 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers, but will she…”

“I am grateful to the Minister for giving way on that point, because she is at risk of not necessarily being accurate in her remarks. She is absolutely right that the Conservative Government went into negotiations with Mauritius, but she seems to think that starting negotiations means that the end result must be capitul…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I thank the Minister for handling this debate in his usual courteous way. May I take him back to something that he said in his remarks about hospitality businesses and pubs delivering economic growth? There is a small pub chain in my constituency that must find a third of its total turnover because of the actions of th…”

“The hon. Gentleman is giving a very entertaining speech and I look forward to visiting the business he mentions, I hope, in the future. He has outlined that businesses are being set up in his constituency and he is perfectly entitled to do so, but did he speak to the new business about the extra £800 per employee that …”