Speeches by Hoare.

“I am just about to give up and I will not get an extra minute. I like the hon. Gentleman very much and in ordinary circumstances I would, but I will not. We need some urgency on this matter, and I urge some cross-party working to make sure that all our constituents, whether urban or rural, and whether first, second, th…”

“No, I will not give way; one can be a useful idiot only so often in an afternoon. I say to the Minister: whether it is at the front of the queue, the back of the queue or the middle of the queue, this is an issue that cannot be put aside any longer.”

“I wanted to echo what Mr Swann was saying, but to pick up particularly on women from minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland. There is not a long-standing tradition of their presence in Northern Ireland. It is relatively recent as a result of Syria and other things. As a predecessor Committee, we did quite a bit of …”

“What I do accept is that the hon. Gentleman is swiftly gaining a reputation in this place as the only Labour Member who would defend a policy of the slaughter of the firstborn. He will defend anything. I seem to remember that he was one of the only Labour Members who stood up and defended Lord Mandelson’s appointment t…”

“Mine is 440.”

“That is encouraging to hear. This is the final thing from me. We all know that it is much easier to deliver services and support in our urban areas with denser populations. Notwithstanding the reserved and devolved balance, have you given any thought to an assessment to the levels of needed support and provided support…”

“Of course—it gives me an extra minute.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“It frankly beggars belief that the Secretary of State does not understand the impact that the Government’s policies on business, tax and regulation have had on the confidence of businesses up and down the country to invest and employ. There is a direct causal link, and nobody will understand why the Secretary of State …”

“In June last year, Mr Trump told the world that the Iranian nuclear sites had been “completely destroyed”, but the last few weeks prove that he did not believe that to be true. Last week, the President told the world that the war was nearly completely won and that he needed no help. He has said in recent months that NA…”

“On behalf of the low-income families of North Dorset, I very much welcome the Minister’s statement, but what help can he give to those who are not classified as low income but who are, in the old parlance, just about managing? Surely a VAT holiday for all customers would be of benefit right across the piece. May I urge…”

“It might be that we write to the Home Secretary in any event to ask whether that is done.”

“That would be helpful, because we are trying to assess the scale. If the Government are successful on, for example, channel crossings, but a new route then opens up, it would be helpful for us to be able to compare some baselines and assess whether it is evolving at all. That would be enormously helpful to try to advan…”

“Given the nature and detail of your work, would I be right to suspect that if those statistics were collated and available in the public sphere, you would have seen them, noticed them and come across them?”

“Forgive me if I misheard you, but I think you said in an answer to an earlier question that granular data is not available to totalise the asylum claims made by people in Northern Ireland. Did I hear you correctly?”

“The postal delivery landscape is a fast-moving one, as the Minister will recognise. That is evidenced by the fact that Denmark very recently ended its postal service entirely—everybody now has to use a private courier. What weight does he put on the words of Royal Mail when it says that it recognises the problems and i…”

“Predecessor Committees were assured by then Ministers and representatives of law enforcement, from both sides of the Irish border, that policing and law enforcement post Brexit would be, by definition, different in methodology, but equal in robustness and outcomes. In a yes or no answer, has that help/prediction been b…”

“It might be that we write to the Home Secretary in any event to ask whether that is done.”

“I acknowledge what the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said with regards to my role as Chair of the Committee looking at documents pro tem on behalf of the House. As he knows, that will be done properly. Following the point made by the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough (Justin Madders), the Chief Sec…”

“Given the nature and detail of your work, would I be right to suspect that if those statistics were collated and available in the public sphere, you would have seen them, noticed them and come across them?”