Speeches by Bool.

“I entirely agree, and we have been trying to promote that argument. It has unfortunately been claimed that Northamptonshire could become the warehousing capital of the UK, but we should be using the roadsides. We sometimes see airports using the side banks for solar panels. Solar panels should be installed on the cover…”

“Absolutely, and that is one of the arguments that we were trying to make in the hearing against the Green Hill proposal, which is for 60 years. We cannot see the justification for that. There will be a renewal right, no doubt, and even within those 60 years, the solar panels will be degraded from rain and we will not k…”

“I am not debating the National Farmers Union; I am saying that we should not be putting farmers in this position. I would not blame any farmer trying to make a bit of extra money from solar, particularly since the current environment is very difficult for them. The problem is that ground-mounted solar is not the best u…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I understand what the Minister says—that there may be extenuating circumstances where there may need to be flex within the budget—but the most important thing that we are trying to establish is that this money is absolutely guaranteed. At the Defence stateme…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I want to add further weight to the points that colleagues have already made. Service personnel themselves have said that the armed forces covenant, while incredibly well meaning, needs to be enacted and enforced properly. It also needs to be explained to th…”

“The Minister talks about the definition being narrow, but it would actually be quite broad. The amendment says that “‘due regard’ means that specified bodies should think about and place an appropriate amount of weight on the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant when they consider all the key factors”. That definiti…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. New clause 6 would introduce a veterans commissioner for England. We have three excellent veterans commissioners —the commissioners for Northern Ireland, for Scotland and for Wales—but they represent just 15% of veterans living in the UK. Some 85% of veteran…”

“Since Labour came to power, the number of people in asylum accommodation—be it in hotels or dispersal accommodation—is up by more than 6,000. With figures like that, no South Northamptonshire resident believes that the Government are tackling this issue, especially given the continued operation of the migrant hotel in …”

“16. How many asylum seekers were accommodated in asylum accommodation on (a) 30 December 2025 and (b) 30 June 2024.”

“Much old ground has been gone over by the Secretary of State, but our service personnel live in the here and now. The defence investment plan is absolutely vital for their future, whether we are talking about operations in the field, or upgrading housing for their families—a subject that we are discussing in the Select…”

“One of the questions we were going to ask was about the impact of that skilled worker visa on domestic pay structures. Are you seeing a downward pressure on that at all or not in reality?”

“So you can see it across the board. What more do you think the Government or the RCVS could do differently to make it more attractive for international vets to come into the UK?”

“Focusing particularly on the international vets, we know that in January 2024 the RCVS voted to end the mutual recognition of European veterinary degrees within five years. Do you think that is going to have a big impact on attracting and retaining any of the European vets here?”

“Yes. Thank you very much for your time here today. It is a pleasure to be here with you. We have just been talking particularly about the domestic market of vets. I wanted to explore a bit more about the international recruitment of vets. Perhaps, Rob, I might start with you on this first question—but don’t panic. You …”

“I was in Brussels yesterday actually and I was asking the Minister about SPS and things, so it is something that as a Committee we are doing a lot of work on. That was with my other hat on, as part of the EU-UK PPA, but it is something that we need to keep the pressure on about, so I note that point. You have had the r…”

“On that point of capacity and resources, I understand that Natural England stated an intention to cut 200 jobs in their action plan for 2025-26. We are supposed to find out this month. Have you achieved that yet?”

“I understand about trying to smooth the process, but in terms of maintaining the independence level, Natural England really should be there as a means of stress testing. How are you going to address that in terms of the developers? For example, I have to go to a hearing this afternoon on an NSIP for a solar farm that i…”

“That is understood. But you also told the EAC that you may need to rely on local planning authorities to address capacity issues. How realistic is that, given that local authorities also have severe resource constraints?”

“Yes, of course. We also understand that the Minister for Nature, Mary Creagh, said that Natural England is looking to use more automated services in order to maintain its functions, as it reduces its headcount. But what would be the trade-offs of this approach of using more automated services?”

“Talking of sharing that expertise, Nature England obviously has limited resources. How do you envisage the sharing of the expertise with the local planners, and so on?”