Speeches by Reeves.

“I thank my hon. Friend for that question. It is great to see that investment in the gas networks coming into Peterborough, supported by him. That is in stark contrast to the Conservatives, who got rid of our gas storage facilities, stalled on nuclear and stalled on renewables. As a result, they left us more vulnerable …”

“The Conservative party once believed in fiscal discipline, but that has gradually eroded over time. It is because of the fiscal rules that I introduced that we have been able to invest in Sizewell C and in small modular reactors. That was not possible under the fiscal rules of the previous Government. I would also say …”

“We have introduced the cheaper fuel finder to ensure that my hon. Friend and, most crucially, his constituents have that information. People in France can already see the different prices of petrol at different filling stations on a map via an app or their sat-nav. That is where we will be in just a few weeks’ time onc…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that question. From next month, families with children will benefit from the abolition of the two-child cap in the universal credit system. We have also doubled the number of recipients of the warm home discount and put £14 billion into upgrading people’s homes through the warm homes plan. Of…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the Conservative party’s gung-ho approach would have made the crisis worse, not better. Our approach diplomatically has been to de-escalate the crisis at every stage, in part because we do not want that cost of living impact on families. As he knows, we met the Competition and Market…”

“If you look at the deficit for this year, it is going to come in at 4.2% of GDP compared with 5.3% of GDP last year. That fiscal consolidation is taking place now; it is not just projected to do so in the future. The Office for Budget Responsibility also forecast that that deficit will fall in every year of the forecas…”

“We monitor that closely. Markets are functioning in an orderly way at the moment, but obviously I am in close contact with the Governor of the Bank of England and other MPC members and officials there.”

“Thank you very much for your question. First of all, I would like to think that everybody is in favour of de-escalation, but that has not been entirely clear during the short duration of this conflict to date. When the conflict began just under two weeks ago, both the Conservatives and Reform were suggesting that the U…”

“We will always make sure that we do everything we can to protect consumers and to ensure our national security, as an economy. We are in a stronger position to respond to shocks like these than when I became Chancellor. We are in a stronger position, in many ways, than when Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Inflation i…”

“Well, the question was also about de-escalation. One of the reasons why it was not in our national interest to be involved in that conflict is the impact here in the UK. That is why we made the decision that we did. Of course, the Treasury is always planning for different eventualities. We saw the impact of higher oil …”

“Well, what will make it possible is de-escalation of the conflict and security for vessels passing through. We are very clear about that and working closely with Gulf allies and G7 allies to try to facilitate that.”

“My primary role in all of this is to monitor and respond to the economic impacts—of course working closely with my US counterpart Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and with my European counterparts. We also have a role to play in ensuring, for example, that our defensive actions in the middle east to defend our allies …”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“And also directly with petrol retailers. I and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero will meet them tomorrow.”

“Are you referring particularly to non-doms?”

“As agreed with the MOD in the spending review last year, which was the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war.”

“First of all, thank you very much, Dame Meg, for inviting me back after the spring forecast to give evidence. Yes, even when I delivered my spring forecast last Tuesday, it was obvious that there were disruptions to markets and prices. But I would say, as I think the Office for Budget Responsibility said to your Commit…”

“It’s certainly not good for the British economy to have trade disrupted, especially when so much oil and gas comes from that part of the world. The best thing we can do as a Government is seek to de-escalate this conflict.”

“As you know, G7 Finance Ministers met on Monday, G7 Energy Ministers met yesterday, and today leaders will meet. We had the head of the International Energy Agency at the meeting that I attended on Monday. They are consulting with members right now on the release of strategic oil reserves. I have been very clear that t…”

“We are obviously looking at a whole range of different scenarios. One reason why any future package, if it was necessary, will be more affordable is that we are now less reliant on international energy price movements than we were when Russia invaded Ukraine. That is because we have invested more in home-grown renewabl…”