Speeches by Edwards.

“South Staffordshire Water is forcing water meters on homes in my constituency, stating that it is “necessary for sustainability”, but residents were never properly informed, with some only discovering the meters after they were installed. My constituents and I find this unacceptable. Can we have a statement on the comm…”

“T9. Residents in my constituency have faced years of disruption from High Speed 2, and the saga continues. Upcoming works on the A38 include an 11-day closure at the Swinfen interchange and a year-long closure of the northbound slip road at Streethay in neighbouring Lichfield. These measures will inevitably push traffi…”

“I met Ministers from the Department for Transport in May 2025 and from the Department for Education more recently, but the suggested changes are yet to be made. The issue was not mentioned in the Government’s road safety strategy. I have already raised that concern with the Minister, and I am raising it in the House to…”

“It is good to see so many hon. and right hon. Members present to take part in this important debate on school minibus safety. No family should ever have to question whether their child will return home safely from a school activity. For my constituents Liz and Steve Fitzgerald, that unthinkable fear became a devastatin…”

“That is precisely my concern. It does not make sense at all given that failure means an inability to drive safely. We should surely apply the same standards or higher when children are involved. Under the current school system, a teacher over the age of 21 who holds only a standard category B car licence and has just t…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Similarly, in my constituency, I surveyed residents in a number of villages such as Edingale, Clifton Campville and Harlaston to ask how bad the situation was. Some 49% said that their mobile connectivity was so bad that they could not work from home or even run their busin…”

“In my constituency, the beautiful grade II listed Chetwynd bridge on the A513 between Edingale and Alrewas has been restricted to cars and light vans since October 2023, so farmers face a 25-mile diversion. With severe flooding hitting Edingale multiple times a year, this vital route risks being cut off for emergency r…”

“It is very helpful.”

“That is fine.”

“No, on AI and data regulation, but obviously it does include the future.”

“Audrey, I am interested in the commercial impact of the deal that was announced in December. It was a £22 billion R&D investment in the US, but £1.2 billion of that was directly related to the work going on in the UK. I just wondered if you can describe both what that has meant for GSK globally, because it will have ha…”

“What was it in particular about the US that made you make such a large announcement about your investment versus, as you say, “what we always do” here in the UK? What would it take for you to make a similar announcement here?”

“Just a follow-up on your point, Andrew, don’t be shy to ask: come to Tamworth and invest any time you want.”

“Have you asked the Government to change any elements of their approach? You alluded to looking at and encouraging the deployment. Are there other aspects to those conversations or things that you have said to Government in terms of, “This is the kind of movement that we’d need, or this is what we’d like to see.”?”

“On a serious note, we have heard from other investors and other similar organisations to your own about the fact that they sometimes need things that are perhaps slightly better packaged, a better prospectus and the like. One of the things that the Government have talked about is having this pipeline, and that the pipe…”

“You would quite like a shopping list.”

“Thank you. Ben, did you want to add anything to that?”

“We heard in the last panel that a reason to invest in the UK is that we have a strong rule of law, and that there is quite a lot of investment going on. Blackstone said it was investing $10 billion in data centres, which is great and obviously supports the notion that we will go forwards with AI. The AI action plan tal…”

“When you say near to here, are you talking about the European approach that some say is stifling innovation?”

“Do you have anything to add on that point, Jonathan?”