Speeches by Hoare.

“The Minister will know that this is the second Adjournment debate on this issue that he has had to respond to in these last several months. Given the fact that most practitioners want to see regulation and the public want to see regulation, does my hon. Friend share my concern that the Government seem to be very slow o…”

“Secretary of State, let us not rehearse the damp squib of yesterday’s spring statement. If anybody thinks that there is stability in the UK economy, they are living in cloud cuckoo land.”

“Secretary of State, your party waited 14 long years to be in government. You are now in the driving seat. You have overlapping matrices, strategies, boards, plans, and turf warfare between Westminster Departments and the Treasury, and between Westminster Departments and the NIO. Do you share a growing concern that it i…”

“We agree on that.”

“I am absorbing by osmosis your energy.”

“You have now.”

“It wasn’t a personal criticism of you, Matthew.”

“It takes two to tango, Secretary of State.”

“Is your dance card full, Chairman? I think the Secretary of State and you could do a rumba up and down the room.”

“But the question is who finds them, and how?”

“Will the Minister, in listening mode, listen to Welsh sheep farmers who are desperately concerned about being able to access Australian and New Zealand sheep shearers this year, as this is now an animal welfare issue? What conversations has she had with her right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to ensure that those Comm…”

“Secretary of State, on the point that Ms Hanna has been raising, the “timidity” of the NIO on this is slightly dispiriting, in that the points are drawn and the picture is painted but the rest of the dots are not quite joined up. There is surely scope and space here for the NIO and the guarantors of the Good Friday agr…”

“A militarily degraded Iran would be welcomed by both the region and the world, but an Iran that still possesses enriched uranium and has the potential to become a failed state is something to be avoided at all costs—the Prime Minister recognises that. While it is uncertain what President Trump’s plan is, at some point …”

“You have mentioned trade deals. The Committee will find it interesting. Are you able to share with us the involvement of your office with Trade Ministers, the Treasury, et cetera, to ensure that the views and needs of Wales are taken into account as preparatory talks on trade deals are undertaken? What is the involveme…”

“Clearly, one of your priorities is to see the Welsh economy grow, and nobody is going to argue the merits of that, but we all appreciate that Wales is a part of the UK economy and the UK is part of the global economy. Taking a bit of a stocktake as of now and casting forward, what have you done or, indeed, what could b…”

“Finally from me—I have to go to another meeting, so I cannot stay for the whole thing—you mentioned the work that Nick is doing on SPS. The default position is that the SPS agreement with the European Union is de facto a good thing, but there are quite a lot of mixed voices in the agricultural communities about potenti…”

“Can I ask the Chief Secretary the following points? He said in answer to an earlier question that the documentation would be released in compliance with the Metropolitan police. Can he ensure that his Department, No. 10 and the Met understand what parliamentary privilege means and assert it on behalf of this House? Sec…”

“Yes, so we can see if there is a dramatic tilt. Obviously, Nick Thomas-Symonds and the wider Government are looking at SPS and developing relationships with the EU. Do you pick up any sense, commercially, of pressing the pause button on initiatives to see how that settles down, when it might be delivered and what, if a…”

“I think my colleagues on the Committee and I would welcome your assessment of the effectiveness of UK Government policy in supporting NI businesses to operate cross-border and, allied to that, your assessment of whether the UK Government, the Executive and indeed the Irish Government are providing enough effective and—…”

“I have one final question; it is very brief. Is enough being done to exploit the Celtic fringe of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales? One automatically defaults to what Westminster is doing, but is there sufficient business focus to support growing collaboration between the devolved regions?”