Speeches by Arthur.

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way at such an opportune point. I respect the fact that he is here and that his political ambition is Scottish independence. The Government negotiated that trade deal with the United States, and it is one of the best deals any country in the world has. I find myself wondering what …”

“In my previous life as an academic, I got a little bit involved in that project, but that was many, many years ago, so I am really surprised that it has not yet been delivered in some shape or form. I am sure that the local authority is working hard on it, but surely if the work had taken place much sooner, it would ha…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for introducing the debate. He is my mother’s MP, so I will be able to give a good account of him on Christmas day. I want to talk about Scotland. I will talk a little bit about St Andrew, but above all else I will talk about Edinburgh South W…”

“I thank the Minister for her statement. I hope she will accept my apologies for being a little bit late; I missed the first few seconds of her statement, although I have read it. In a few hours’ time, I will be getting the train back to Scotland. This is a place where Scottish Labour recently forced the Scottish Govern…”

“I am really looking forward to a tourist tax coming to Edinburgh next year. Like local authorities in England, we benefit greatly from tourism—it is fantastic for the city—but it does have impacts on the operation of the council with things like litter and so on. The tourist tax will help the council to make the city b…”

“In 2023, just under 4,600 licensed premises closed down across the UK. Was the 2024 Labour Budget to blame for that?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“I always try to be helpful, and I thank the Minister for giving way. There was a lot of speculation about the Budget, but a lot of that came from the Opposition Benches. Every single clickbait headline was repeated in the Chamber to fuel speculation. It was incredibly damaging—does the Minister not agree?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and the Minister for Safeguarding for the work that she has done in this area over many, many years. It should shame us that so many people have waited for many years for today’s announcement. Indeed, the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) hinted at…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—what a wonderful surprise. I am a huge fan of rail. Every week I travel to this place via rail, and on my usual train, I am able to get to London in just four hours and 20 minutes. Since I came to the Chamber today, I have had an email from LNER saying that that time will be decreased by…”

“I find it rather curious that Conservative Members have a lot to say about Hugh Dalton’s Budget in 1947, but so little to say about Liz Truss’s Budget in 2022.”

“One of my guilty secrets is that I like to listen to CNN in the evening, so I know that people in the United States are divided on this issue. The Minister started by talking about sanctions. Have we assessed the impact of the sanctions on Venezuela? What efforts are we making with civil society there to protect human …”

“I thank the Minister for introducing the debate. I want to speak in support of Government new clauses 31 to 33, and in the context of new clause 22. Before I do so, let me say that I think it is really good that today’s debate has brought people together after four days of debate on the Budget. There seems to be a lot …”

“This is a very slight aside, but is it not interesting that, when it comes to claiming benefits, there are so many silos and barriers to organisations, councils, Government agencies and Departments talking to each other, but they suddenly start speaking to each other and the benefits are stopped overnight when someone …”

“I thank the Minister for his responses. Throughout this affair, he has remained calm and consistent in answering points that—let’s be honest—have at times been smears from the Conservatives. I think the report from the Joint Committee has found them out, and that is why their Benches are empty today. Rather than hiding…”

“Exactly. It is very curious. All the staff in my office diligently followed Mr Speaker’s advice on cyber-security and the threat of foreign intervention in our IT, and it is right that we take these matters seriously. However, based on the reports we have seen, I am not convinced that the OBR had taken the same kinds o…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“I think there is support for this issue across the House. I do not know any MP who does not think that the WASPI women should not be compensated, because their fight is a just fight, but there is uncertainty about how it would be funded. How would the hon. Gentleman fund it?”

“At the SNP conference, I think the First Minister said that he was keen to replace the energy profits levy, but he was not quite sure what he was going to replace it with. Does he know yet?”

“It would be interesting to talk through the implications of such a drastic cut to welfare in one single Budget, and what that would mean for people in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, particularly the young people with children who will be lifted out of poverty by this Budget.”