Speeches by Smith.

“Hello. I was a bit late, so apologies.”

“What levers do you have at your disposal? It sounds like you are having some chats among the different organisations, but what levers do you actually have for achieving that reform? I am interested in one specific thing. Obviously, there are the four railway operators that have come back into the Department that have a…”

“Do you think that shadow GBR is an effective model for driving reform of the railway?”

“Two-year mortgages have hit 5%, borrowing is billions of pounds above forecast and retail sales have slumped. Does the Prime Minister still believe that the Chancellor is doing a good job?”

“Great.”

“Arguably, with local government reorganisation, those counties are not going to exist in the same form. Finally, are you talking to MHCLG? Is it a key stakeholder? Ultimately, the model of local government that we currently have is not what it is envisaged to look like in 18 months. Those stakeholders and decision-make…”

“On the whole idea of regionalisation and devolution, it strikes me that there is a potential fly in the ointment, which is that the devolution for the non-existing mayoral combined authorities, which are the ones that always get mentioned in this Committee and are the big cities, do not reflect the devolution packages …”

“Forgive me if I should already know this. How will DfT Operator interact with Great British Railways once it is completed? Do they remain two completely separate organisations, or are they the same thing?”

“Are there any additional powers that you feel you might need? It is one of these things where you have a short timeframe to get to grips with what needs to change. Do you have enough powers within that for what you are trying to achieve to deliver that?”

“I welcome today’s announcement; it is great to see some progress. I will not cover what has been said about the legal powers, but I am interested in the funding. When I led a commission in Plymouth, the money to pay for it came from the local authority’s in-year budget. I appreciate the £7 million in total that has bee…”

“Gables, an animal rescue charity in my constituency that I met before Christmas, and the Devon Mental Health Alliance have shared the negative impacts the increase to employers’ national insurance contributions will have on their service delivery. For Gables, it is a £22,000 increase to its costs. For DMHA, it decrease…”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“Gables, an animal rescue charity in my constituency that I met before Christmas, and the Devon Mental Health Alliance have shared the negative impacts the increase to employers’ national insurance contributions will have on their service delivery. For Gables, it is a £22,000 increase to its costs. For DMHA, it decrease…”

“I was privileged to serve on the Bill Committee, and it is good to see many fellow members of the Committee in the House this afternoon. Before I start, I wish to pay tribute to the many excellent landlords across our country. The Bill has been designed to tackle the worst offenders, but it is worth putting on the reco…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) on securing this debate, and I thank all the Members who have contributed. We are very familiar with this issue; I have taken part in many such debates myself. Let me respond to a couple…”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and that is a perfect example of one of the unintended consequences that I do not believe have been put in deliberately but are something that we might see as a result of the Bill. Other issues include accidental landlords—those who did not intend to be landlords and are not larg…”

“I appreciate the point that my right hon. Friend makes. I agree that the market is important, but I also appreciate that there are some whom the market has failed. We have to find a situation where those who are not looked after by their landlords can receive support, but, as I have already said, my concern is that the…”

“I agree with my right hon. Friend that ultimately tenants are at risk of losing out if there are no properties left in the market. That leads me on to my next point and one of the other reasons why an assessment would be useful in the light of new clause 20. We heard in Committee that rural landlords are particularly c…”

“Earlier in my contribution, I referred to Man Culture. If I can be of any assistance at all in the hon. Gentleman’s quest to find some examples, another organisation I would be delighted to recommend to him is Beyond Equality. If there is anything I can do, I would be happy to do that.”