Speeches by Huq.

“I will call Dr Simon Opher to move the motion and I believe there will be one other small speech before the Minister responds. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up on this occasion, as this is only a 30-minute debate.”

“Our final Back Bencher, before we move on to the Lib Dem spokesperson, is Lee Pitcher.”

“I can answer that, actually. It is only a 30-minute debate, so it is very bare bones and there is no opportunity for the mover of the motion to respond and no Opposition spokesperson. It is not that they did not turn up.”

“Order. The Clerk is telling me that “you” is not usually used to refer to other Members, only to the Chair. The Clerk keeps telling me to say this; I have restrained myself so far, but it is one of the conventions of this unusual workplace.”

“Order. I remind Members to bob if they wish to speak. Then we will work out the order of who is going when.”

“Acton lost its well used and still much missed post office in 2018, but it is home to the first ever urban Post Office-run banking hub. The trend is to co-locate services, but that seems to have drawn a blank—there are too many onerous parts to it, and businesses do not want it. So could the Minister help me investigat…”

“My constituent Konnie Huq, with Arts Council and Lottery funding, has compiled a kids’ climate guide, with Jamie Oliver among the contributors. Will Ministers join forces with her to get it out there, preferably to every school in the country, because we have got to start young?”

“Everyone is praising my right hon. Friend to the heavens now that High Speed 2 will end at Euston. She is welcome to Old Oak Common in my constituency any time to have a look-see at progress there. However, can she help to fix the daily delays that constituents are facing on Crossrail? West Ealing and Acton Main Line a…”

“It is not the Opposition Chief Whip’s decision; it lies with the Chairman of Ways and Means. Our rule book says that it is highly unusual. I will allow Joe Morris to respond, but hopefully there will not be a back and forth between the shadow Cabinet and Back Benchers.”

“For His Majesty’s loyal Opposition, I call Nigel Huddleston.”

“I remind Members to bob if they wish to make a speech. We will then calculate whether we need a time limit.”

“I call the first Front-Bench spokesperson: Will Forster for the Liberal Democrats.”

“I have just been reminded by the Clerk that it is very unusual for a shadow Cabinet member to speak in a Westminster Hall debate as a Back Bencher. I will allow Joe Morris to respond, but apparently that is not the done thing.”

“For the second time in the same day, I call the Minister.”

“Order. I remind hon. Members to bob, because we are still working out who wants to make a speech and who wants to intervene. There will be a two and a half-minute limit from now on. I call Sarah Dyke.”

“Order. For the benefit of everyone in the room, we avoid the word “you” because it refers to me. I remind all hon. Members that we speak in the third person.”

“Members who wish to make a speech should stand, and then we will be able to calculate the time limit. I will begin calling the Front Benchers at 3.28 pm, so there is not a lot of time left, because we have had a lot of long interventions.”

“Order. The time limit for speeches will be two and a half minutes, but since the hon. Member did not know that when he began his speech, I cannot hold him to it. However, if he concludes soon, that will be ideal, because there are 15 people yet to speak.”

“I am going to keep the time limit at two and a half minutes. If everyone is kind to each other, everyone will get in. A brilliant example will be Polly Billington.”

“Order. We are finishing at 3.28 pm and there are still loads of people wishing to speak. I call Alistair Carmichael.”