Speeches by Hoare.

“I suggest that a new customs union might take a little bit of time—maybe just a day or two. The hon. Lady asked a perfectly legitimate question: how do I know? In direct response to her party’s motion, I raised the issue directly with representatives of the European Union, and the answer was, “No, thank you.” That is w…”

“Thank you very much.”

“That is very helpful. Forgive me. I misunderstood.”

“rose—”

“Thank you for that clarification.”

“I just have a very quick challenge on that, if I may. Studies of the national health service would show that it is more innovative and increases productivity when money is scarce. Pumping additional funds into something often just allows the norm to perpetuate, because innovative thinking is off the agenda. Do you have…”

“As a quick follow-up on what you have both said, there is clearly considerable merit in ending the psychology of exceptionalism, if you will: “Ah, but it is”; “Oh, but don’t forget”. Do the authorities, this place, Stormont or other service providers in the policing and security arena have the antennae and, allied to t…”

“That is helpful. Thank you.”

“I want to set aside money and retention, because we will come on to that.”

“As it is the Christmas season, I may give you two.”

“Let us set aside finance, and recruitment and retention issues, because colleagues will deal with those directly. I just wondered whether you could summarise, if you had a media microphone stuffed under your noses, what the key challenge facing the PSNI today is.”

“I rise to oppose the Bill—for those who know me, yes, I did say “oppose”, and smelling salts are available through the usual channels, I am sure. I listened intently to what my friend the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) had to say, and he said it with great passion and his typical eloquence. He and I have w…”

“In the hope that the Government had listened to the National Farmers’ Union and others, a North Dorset farming family sat to watch the Chancellor’s Budget statement, in expectation. They were disappointed with the announcement on the family farm tax. The farmer withdrew from his medical treatment, and three days later …”

“Thank you. Mr Hall, in your evidence, you described the youth and women’s justice blueprints as being improvements. How have they improved things, and how can their success be replicated for other aspects of the criminal justice system in Wales?”

“Ms Russell?”

“I am conscious of time, so we are going to do a quickfire round with one-word answers only—otherwise, hellfire comes coursing down. This is to each and every one of you. Is the MOJ policy sufficiently tailored to the needs of Welsh service users? That is a simple yes or no.”

“That is a long one-word answer, but not too bad.”

“Although I remain convinced that there are ways of delivering the guardrails that the Treasury needs without the OBR, I know that the Chief Secretary and the Chancellor are not persuaded of that argument. However, might the Chief Secretary be persuaded that the resignation of the chair of the OBR and the recruitment pr…”

“I want to turn to intergovernmental relations. In all these inquiries, we try to identify something good and then try to identify things where we can nudge for a bit of improvement. Could you both give one example of where the UK and Welsh Governments work particularly well together and identify one thing that is okay …”

“And one thing that could be improved?”