Speeches by Smith.

“Thank you, Olly. Secretary of State, at the start of this hearing, you said actions speak louder than words, which is great. One of your first actions was to announce which rail franchise could be nationalised. However, since then, we know that one of those actions—the negotiations for the nationalisation of South West…”

“Should those additional costs be there because of what has happened with that contract, regardless of when it happened, can you provide assurances that additional money will not be added to ticket prices for the public?”

“We know that ticket retailing is part of the rail ecosystem that works really well at the moment. You have talked about an open, fair and competitive marketplace going forward. How do the Government intend to deliver this, and what protections and safeguards do you envisage as part of the Railways Bill?”

“What would be the cost of a Government-run ticketing system? Obviously, they are all done by separate companies at the moment. If you bring that in-house, do you have any idea what the cost would be?”

“I was interested in what you have just said, Secretary of State. Obviously, that is a really laudable aim to have, but we have kilometres and kilometres of platforms that would need changing. It is coming under Government ownership. Given the wider conversations about money, I am conscious that anybody listening in thi…”

“I am sure the Minister will recognise that there are many women, including former supporters of her own party, who voted for candidates like me entirely because of our record of supporting biological women. However, in the meantime, given that a number of trade unions claim that they will ignore the ruling of the Supre…”

“Like everybody in the Chamber, I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this debate on the final day before Easter. We have really enjoyed listening to the stories he shared as well as those shared by many others across the Chamber. Although I have never wanted to be a commando, I have many of …”

“In the new town of Sherford, which is already being built in my constituency, there will be up to 5,500 new homes built over the coming years. However, there are challenges around FirstPort, the delayed delivery of a supermarket and other vital local amenities, and delays and escalating costs relating to the delivery o…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) on securing this debate. We have some fantastic statutory guidance from 2020 and draft guidance from 2024. I would love to hear from the Minister when the Government are likely to respond to…”

“On the two things that we have just been discussing, I am just very conscious that both Greater Manchester and the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority are already progressing down the franchise route or have already done it under the previous set of devolved powers. We are now facing a completely new set of d…”

“Given the hon. Member’s expertise as a former council leader, would he agree that the provision in the Bill that enables councils to set fees for planning could go further, particularly around the fees that could be charged for enforcement cases? He will know the amount of hours that planning officers spend tied up in …”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the emphasis in the Bill on removing the powers of planning committees will, by default, lead the public to believe that planning committees throughout the years have actually been the problem? In reality, many planning committees have done their mandatory training and made the right …”

“As a native of a coastal community in Devon, I am well versed in the challenges that living there presents. However, we must also highlight the opportunities its presents. It is all too easy to depict coastal towns, cities and communities as run down and tired—places where people retire or only have work six months of …”

“My hon. Friend makes a valuable point, and although my constituency is a long way from his, we too have significant problems with transport. We are on a peninsula, and if the trains stop, we cannot get in or out, so I completely understand the need for a focus on transport. We also have the health and education inequal…”

“There are also examples based on TROs, where that has been done within the statutory timeframe to publish it and so forth. Is there more that could be done to ensure at the point TROs are advertised—maybe you already do this—that there is a way of looking at it, perhaps at that trigger point, making sure that public tr…”

“Anything further?”

“That is a really good point. Something that has come up in the evidence is that Devon County Council, for example, does not think that doubling the fines will be incentive enough. We have a good illustration—sort of transport-linked—with fines when parents take their children out of school. Often they can balance out t…”

“Does anyone want to add anything?”

“I am sure we all agree that securing women’s wellbeing is key to tackling violence against women and girls, so can the Minister assure women across my constituency and the country that the Labour Government, having promised to prioritise women’s health, are committed to continuing the Conservative Government’s work by …”

“What would be your solution to that particular problem?”