Speeches by Wilson.

“A lot of my points have already been made by my colleague, the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim. Once again, we have regulations going through this House that drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The law for batteries already applies, and these regulations will simply make …”

“The Secretary of State will be well aware of the importance of the logistics industry in Northern Ireland, and also of the burdens that are falling on it at present because of the Brexit arrangements, which have pushed up costs, led to delays, and resulted in many containers coming back empty from Great Britain. On top…”

“6. What discussions he has had with representatives of the logistics industry on the cost of trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

“I was elected to this Parliament, and the concern I have expressed is my concern as a parliamentarian. On the consultations, let us not forget that people are not fully aware of the impact of proposals until after it has all happened. My main concern, which all Members should share, is that we are elected to this place…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Will the Minister give way? She has just insulted my colleague.”

“”

“Can the data centres accept that kind of flexibility, or would it mean—as I think Dr Savage indicated—that you turned on the generators more often than you would have done had you not had that connection arrangement?”

“Ms Langengen, I think it was you who, in answer to Sarah Gibson, rightly pointed out that consumers in the UK are not likely to experience huge spikes in the cost of energy because of a data centre being located near them due to the fact that we have a national price. But there is another cost that is involved in suppl…”

“Nevertheless, it does have environmental impacts—”

“So there will be, on occasions, additional costs imposed on consumers generally as a result of data centres requiring the strengthening of the grid. I just wanted to establish that point that it was not costless to the consumer.”

“I take the view that you have expressed, Ms Langengen, that we need data centres. However, I do have some difficulty when you say, Mr Eaton, that data centres are built in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. You quoted the fact that you use brownfield sites. But we have already seen—Mr Chanda has quoted the…”

“Ms Langengen, you have indicated that we need to look at changes in planning, the priorities we give for grid connections, and so on. If this Committee were to recommend, “Look we’ve got to try to make this process as painless as possible,” what changes are you suggesting that we need to the planning system and the pri…”

“The Minister may have met representatives of the industry, but the question is: has he even listened to their concerns? They still say that the problems caused by his imposition of tariffs will abide with the industry. He said that he is relying on UK producers to be able to produce steel, but Tata has said that it wil…”

“Not only have we not had a hand in putting them together, but we have not even done an impact assessment, and we have not done an impact assessment because that is out of scope, as this is part of the Windsor framework. Of course, there is also the cost on local councils in Northern Ireland of implementing the regulati…”

“This piece of legislation may seem innocuous, but it is yet another example of the wedges being driven between one part of the United Kingdom and another part of the United Kingdom—wedges not just in regulations, but in their practical effect. First, leaving aside the constitutional impact of the legislation, let us ju…”

“The standards applied to machinery made in Northern Ireland will be different from those applied in other parts of the United Kingdom. The hon. Member asks about the detail, but very often we do not know the cost until we actually have to apply the different standards. For example, in Northern Ireland we export a lot o…”

“”

“Does the hon. Member accept that there is a certain irony when the same people who are concerned about climate change and temperatures rising have campaigned for air conditioning to be taken out of buildings because of its energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions? We cannot have it both ways, can we?”

“I accept the argument that the Secretary of State is making. I served on the Northern Ireland Policing Board during the change from the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the PSNI, and was on the finance committee of the board. We had continual battles with the then Secretary of State, who was no more generous or flexible th…”