Speeches by Edwards.

“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.”?”

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

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

“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…”

“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…”

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

“You would quite like a shopping list.”

“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?”

“It is particularly important. Yes, it is the heart of the country.”

“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…”

“That is fine.”

“I was going to ask whether the Product Regulation and Metrology Act has given enough powers to the Secretary of State?”

“I am particularly interested in exactly what you are describing. We have high streets that are dying at the moment, but thank you very much to trading standards for the work that you are doing—two vape shops in my area have closed in recent weeks. However, as the high street dies, we get the online giants coming in. We…”

“Would it ordinarily be trading standards that has to go in and look at these things? Do you go into warehouses? Do you walk into Amazon warehouses and test things there, or is it mainly at the ports? Is that where this happens? Where in the process do you try to intervene?”

“You said there were 500-odd containers at Felixstowe. We have data from 2022-23 that says 49% of consignments examined—so almost 250—had unsafe products in them, including toys, electrical goods and e-scooters.”

“I was going to ask you about that, so well done.”

“I am so glad that we are having this important debate, because my constituents have contacted me to say how concerned they are about the decibels issue. The hon. Lady’s proposal to limit displays to a certain number of days a year, which everybody can plan around, is important, and we should consider whether silent fir…”

“Two weeks ago, I held a roundtable for hospitality businesses in Tamworth to discuss the broken business rates system, and I then wrote to the Department about their preferences for support. The rates are crippling, and those businesses asked me to ask the Minister when reform is coming and how they will receive suppor…”

“Matt, I am quite interested in the current challenges that we have around the cost of energy in the UK. Could you describe the current situation that we have? Can you help us to understand the costs that we are currently having to pay on the basis that we left the internal electricity market that the EU currently opera…”

“Julian, are there any solutions in other countries? Switzerland has a slightly different method. That is something that we could look at adopting, with some tweaks. What is your experience? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Is there something that you would like to copy?”