Speeches by Bool.

“T8. A more dynamic and active market unblocking pathways to home ownership and boosting local businesses by up to £1.2 billion—I am sure if someone offered that to the Secretary of State, he would bite their hand off, so why, when those are the benefits of scrapping stamp duty on homes, is he not lobbying the Chancello…”

“Thank you, Chair. You said that you are new to your role, a few weeks in. What is your vision for agriculture in the UK?”

“To back up that same point, we know that pubs particularly are crucial to rural communities—they are often the only source of contact some people have—but they have said that they already have to pay commercial waste contractors to handle their waste and recycling, and then are being charged again under the EPR scheme …”

“Just one more question from me, then, before I hand over to Terry Jermy. Some farmers receive less than 1% profit on their food; obviously, you and your predecessor have talked about the importance of profitability. What are you seeing? Where is your vision for how you can make farming more profitable?”

“Thank you. It is good that you have learnt some lessons because it has been a pretty distressing year or more.”

“Yes. I said that I do not want to steal Charlie Dewhirst’s thunder—he will be coming on with food production—but one point I will make about solar is that the issue probably also lies with the grid connections. It is okay having the solar farms, but if you do not have the grid connections, they are useless. The Green H…”

“I think we will come on to food production in a little bit so I will not steal Charlie’s thunder.”

“What do you mean when you say you hope to be able to say something more formal?”

“To follow up on that in terms of that roadmap and Land Use Framework, you said next year. We have been waiting a long time for that. They are the things that set out the vision for that farming community. Some of our farmers are worried especially about the Land Use Framework because there is a tension there when looki…”

“I am very sorry that that was the experience faced by the hon. Lady’s constituent, but it is good that she has managed to get the opportunity to work. That is the thing; that is the difference. Changes need to be made. We have come to the Chamber today to try to find a route through this issue for all of us. That is wh…”

“Every one of us in this Chamber, and generations of MPs before us, want to help and improve the lives of our constituents. That is why this debate is so important, and we really have to tackle it. The issues with welfare go back generations. We talk about the welfare state as we know it now, coming in after the second …”

“EKA Ltd in my constituency is a supplier to Ministry of Defence service recovery vehicles that have to be deployed with our tanks, but an issue that it and other service personnel have highlighted is the absence of the provision of robust spare parts in the event of a breakdown or damage. The Government are spending mi…”

“1. What discussions she has had with farmers in Wales on the potential impact of planned changes to inheritance tax relief on the agricultural sector.”

“I welcome the Minister to her place. The impact of the changes to IHT goes far beyond just farmers. Last month, a Pembrokeshire farm gathered 57 businesses from vets, machinery dealerships, and milk processors, to electricians and fencing companies, employing almost 11,000 people. Almost half of those were totally reli…”

“But as you also identified, there are over 105,000 farms, so is this really enough and what more can you do? Because resources are tight and if you are having to go back and do these reinspections as well, are you actually going to be able to do more?”

“They say an Englishman’s home is his castle—the place he feels safe and has control of, a place with a sense of permanence. In today’s world, though, we have younger people stuck at the gatehouse, renting, unable to break through into property ownership; and we have older generations locked inside the castle towers, un…”

“Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point and I really wish that the Government would be able to find that, but unfortunately, given the current Chancellor, I do not think that will be a possibility. The Government should be creating an environment for people to thrive; they should not be fixing pe…”

“I will make some progress. Labour Members sneer when we talk about living within their means. That is something that every single constituent of ours has to do. They have to make those tough decisions not to spend at certain points, or to save, or to work harder, but this Government do not even follow the principles th…”

“What do you do to follow up on that where the farm is noncompliant? What process do you have?”

“On that point, as you just flagged, in ’23-’24 the report said 42% of farms that were inspected were noncompliant. That would perhaps suggest that this advice-led approach is not working.”