Speeches by Wilson.

“That certainty is important, and inconsistency can have an impact. We have heard about policy proposals in some Departments. One that was mentioned was from the Department for Transport, where the decision was made, in the face of the harsh reality, that you need a robust transport infrastructure if you are going to de…”

“The Secretary of State is right that no one should shed any tears at the end of Maduro’s rule. Does it surprise her that Sinn Féin, first of all, defended the fraudulent election as being electorally robust, and then attended the President’s inauguration event in order to show what it said was “solidarity” with him? Th…”

“The Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner has said that this legislation will mean that those who serve in the armed forces are treated worse than terrorists. Former commanders have said that it will affect recruitment and retention and leave soldiers in fear of legal action. Does the Minister not recognise that by gi…”

“I wish you and the staff of the House a happy new year, Mr Speaker. Regardless of the reason for the change in policy—whether it is simply fear of the electoral consequences of breaking election and manifesto promises to farmers, or a belated recognition of the importance of the farming industry to feeding the nation i…”

“Do you believe that there is sufficient funding, or are there gaps in the funding to do that research?”

“All three of you have said that there is evidence of the impact, although there may be a variation in how clear those risks are. What further research do you believe needs to be done to further establish what risks there are with exposure to PFAS?”

“Professor Kirk, one of the studies that you have completed was about the use of foam on air bases in Australia. You have indicated that focusing on groups that may have more exposure than the general population is a useful way of gathering information. Why do you think that rather than looking at the general population…”

“As Roz Savage has pointed out, when we did our field study in France we were surprised about the lack of evidence of relationship between exposure to PFAS and various health effects. Indeed, some of the literature would indicate that there is disagreement as to the impacts and the causal relationships with exposure to …”

“The report makes quite clear the extent of IRA brutality and murder in Northern Ireland, including murders within their own republican community. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the First Minister of Northern Ireland can no longer remain ambiguous in relation to, first, her acknowledgment of and, secondl…”

“Low-income families have been hit by being dragged into tax bands that they were not in before and by energy costs, and now the chief executive of Aldi has said that unless the Chancellor reviews her raid on farm inheritance tax, rising food prices will hit those families as well. If she will not listen to the farmers,…”

“For 20 years, and we will not agree, on your goal of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and the output of CO2 emissions. Indeed, I suspect that this argument is increasingly being accepted. The banks are now dropping out of the scheme for net zero, oil companies are saying they are going back to concentrating on …”

“Secretary of State, you and I have not agreed—”

“I am glad that you mentioned Guyana. While we talk about preserving forests, we cut down a swathe of forest with British money for a road in the middle of the forest. First, we have failed to produce the finance that would have helped to protect forests. Secondly, even domestically, we have not produced the legislation…”

“Yes.”

“One of the assumptions seems to be that we will use the gas grid—which we have, albeit it is being used less because of the falling demand for gas—for a certain period of time and then decommission it. My only experience of this was long ago when I was the chair of the gas committee for Belfast city council. We had our…”

“According to the last figure I saw, the distribution costs and the investment required for the future currently account for nearly 45% of people’s electricity bills. It is difficult to see how you can get around this issue of cost. Might it be a significant barrier to electrification?”

“If we make the assumption that eventually we will decommission the gas grid, given that we are already struggling with the upgrades to bring electricity from diverse sources and from very many renewable sites, and also given the increase in demand from electric cars, heat pumps and everything else, and then industry re…”

“One of the points you have not made in talking about the barriers to electrification is the cost of what needs to be done. The Green Alliance has said that the biggest risk to electrification is the cost of electricity. As you have pointed out, we are going to have to upgrade the grid from wires coming out of a single …”

“The Government have had a lucky break with the coincidence of the OBR’s confession and report on its leak of the Budget details, which has given the Minister an opportunity to use the shame of the OBR to deflect from the real criticism that should lie with the Chancellor, who, weeks before, was using selective informat…”

“May I, on behalf of the whole nation, thank the Chancellor for advance sight of her statement over the last few weeks? I do not know what she hoped to gain by that—she may have hoped to make it more palatable—but I am afraid that the leaks have not made it any more attractive today than when they came out of the Treasu…”