Speeches by Billington.

“Following up on dealing with the debt-related costs, you have been considering redistributing those costs between consumers—standard credit and direct debit—and your analysis suggests that that would mean a £200 million benefit for low-income consumers. Why was that work paused and are you considering resuming it?”

“You won’t be surprised by me asking you this. Do you agree that allowing more consumers in energy debt to switch to a cheaper tariff would help them better manage their finances while supporting the adoption of lower carbon heating options—combining those two things together?”

“I will follow up on that, therefore, and ask where your current thinking is—we have asked you this before, but it is important to regularly check in—and where your conversations with Government are on an energy social tariff.”

“This is on network and policy costs. We have heard that consumers who switch to electrified heating are required to keep their gas meter and continue paying the gas standing charge until they clear their energy debt. Do you agree that this presents a barrier to decarbonising homes and do you plan to change this?”

“Citizens Advice has warned that your proposal for a mandatory zero or low standing charge option—as you would have heard earlier—would have only small benefits for consumers while risking unfair outcomes. How do you respond to this assessment and how will you ensure that consumers can understand whether new tariffs wil…”

“Exit fees are about £2,000, which is quite a lot of money, particularly if you want to do this at scale. Otherwise you are leaving it for the people who will do it because it makes them feel good about themselves.”

“Thank you. Is it cheaper for energy suppliers to pay the compensation required by the Energy Ombudsman than to invest in proper customer service?”

“It is important for my hon. Friend to be able to explain in detail what the philosophical and institutional implications are. But, fundamentally for ordinary patients, what does she think the Bill will do to change the relationship between the patient and the doctor?”

“I am interested in what the hon. Lady says about the safety of those drugs. Does any adverse event data exist globally to quantify how much harm and suffering could be caused while inducing the dying process?”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“I welcome these sanctions, which need to be seen in the context of £129 million of extra aid, the refunding of UNRWA, sanctions on settlers, the suspension of the arms trade and, importantly, the suspension of trade negotiations. That is the context of the action by this Government. However, the suffering goes on and i…”

“I think we all agree that it is important for us to protect all consumers from the volatile oil and gas prices that my hon. Friend has mentioned. However, while we shift and undertake that reform, has the Minister considered the benefits of having an energy social tariff, to protect customers now from those volatile oi…”

“Would my hon. Friend help clear something up? The opposition parties seem to be claiming that they urged us to make this decision, but that is not true, is it? They actually urged us to give winter fuel payments to millionaires at the expense of our public services.”

“Is the hon. Gentleman prepared to accept responsibility for the significant increase in child poverty caused by the two-child benefit cap that was introduced by the last Tory Government?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. State failure can come in many different forms. When he was Leader of the Opposition, the Prime Minister said, “we must restore the sense that this is a country that can rectify injustice, particularly when carried out by institutes of the state.”—[Official Repo…”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and I understand that he is being extremely patient in these circumstances. May I draw his attention to something that happened before 2010? I know that that was a long time ago, but both he and I are old enough—and, indeed, ugly enough—to remember those times. When Lord Mandelson…”

“rose—”

“What does the Secretary of State make of the extraordinary admission by the former Lord Chancellor last year that the previous Government chose not to take action on the prison crisis because “you have to win votes”? Fortunately, the Conservatives did not win any votes in Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate, which is why…”