Speeches by Eastwood.

“Absolutely, and I could not agree with you more, Sam. I am really glad that we went through that iterative process to explain to people the problems that it is actually creating rather than enabling. I used to work in manufacturing. I am very passionate about it. You used the word “heritage” earlier, and you said that …”

“How does that money come back to Northern Ireland?”

“You have had no meetings with officials or Ministers, or anything like that?”

“Just so people are aware, businesses in Northern Ireland that are eligible to pay the levy pay the levy.”

“Do you want to talk people through that?”

“Okay, so there has been no engagement with the Department for the Economy?”

“The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will not thank me for saying this, but whenever we have these discussions about the transformation of public services in Northern Ireland, it seems like we can have either good public finances or an unreformed Stormont, but we cannot have both. With three parties in Northern …”

“I agree entirely with the hon. Member. To me, we have one of the most business-hostile environments. You made comments about young people not getting work. Do you agree that that is made worse by the national insurance hikes that have seen almost a generation being unable to get employment? Do you agree with me in that…”

“I want to put two things on record at the outset. The Labour party does not stand for election in Northern Ireland. We do not have elections next week or the week after, so everything I am about to say has got absolutely nothing to do with a so-called political stunt, and everything to do with the integrity of this Hou…”

“Does that make it better?”

“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the car bomb attack outside Dunmurry police station on 26 April 2026.”

“I am sure the whole House will join me in sending a message that terrorism never succeeds—neither in the past nor in 2026. I too wish to put on record my thanks to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for the work that it does every day, keeping communities safe in the face of ongoing threats. In particular, I pay tr…”

“David, thank you so much for your answers today. They have been really constructive. Just to take the question in two parts, at the back end there of your last response to David, you were talking about regulation. My question is first about regulation. You said that your guys would really welcome regulation, so I am go…”

“In an earlier response to Gavin, you already raised the Government support from UKG in terms of £17 million for the home heating oil supports. I have asked Treasury where it got that figure from, because I am not convinced that that is actually representative of Northern Ireland. I am still to get a satisfactory respon…”

“Yes, absolutely. Just very quickly and lastly, I am sure you were as shocked as I was, David, yesterday, whenever the Chancellor said in response to her statement on the middle east that Northern Ireland got £150 off its electricity bills. Obviously, that is not the case because we are in completely different electrici…”

“David, thank you so much for your answers today. They have been really constructive. Just to take the question in two parts, at the back end there of your last response to David, you were talking about regulation. My question is first about regulation. You said that your guys would really welcome regulation, so I am go…”

“In an earlier response to Gavin, you already raised the Government support from UKG in terms of £17 million for the home heating oil supports. I have asked Treasury where it got that figure from, because I am not convinced that that is actually representative of Northern Ireland. I am still to get a satisfactory respon…”

“Yes, absolutely. Just very quickly and lastly, I am sure you were as shocked as I was, David, yesterday, whenever the Chancellor said in response to her statement on the middle east that Northern Ireland got £150 off its electricity bills. Obviously, that is not the case because we are in completely different electrici…”

“The hon. Gentleman is getting to the nub of the issue. This is about fairness in society. We tell everybody else outside of here, who we make the rules for, to play by the rules, but when you are in here yourself and you are the chief man, you can do what you want. That is what flies in the face of what the vast majori…”

“Just so the Chancellor is aware, my constituents in Lagan Valley did not get £150 off their electricity bills. I am sure the Chancellor knows that that is because Northern Ireland is not in the same electricity market as the rest of the UK. Even if we add together the sums that we received through the Barnett consequen…”