Speeches by Darling.

“Please accept my sincere apologies for being late, Madam Deputy Speaker. Things moved on at pace this afternoon. I will take what you said seriously into account. The Liberal Democrats had such proposals in our manifesto, so we welcome the regulations. Some 34,000 people—equivalent to the population of Yate—are set to …”

“Health authorities in Devon are set to trial the relocation of a vital coronary service from Torbay to Exeter, which is 24 miles away. Will the Minister meet me and fellow south Devon MPs who have grave concerns about the impact on patient safety?”

“Good.”

“Great, thank you very much. Back on to the script now. Apologies, Chair, but I was just keen to unpick that, as it was triggered by the discussion earlier. We have already heard about asbestos and the world around that area. RAAC and the impact of that on our workplaces is quite a significant issue when we have looked …”

“Who does? Who is there to protect these people who have come to serve our fishing industry because they are on British-registered boats?”

“I will look forward to that follow-up correspondence. The other area that I was nudged to explore with yourselves is that the fishing industry is perhaps one of the most dangerous industries to work in. I am alive to the fact that there are a lot of people who work in the fishing industry who are on transit visas and t…”

“That would be helpful.”

“What tangible changes would you suggest have occurred because of your intervention? The “so what?” question.”

“I have a couple of follow-up questions in light of the discussion so far. Some ambulance services in the United Kingdom have identified a 10% increase in assaults on their workers. In light of this, what changes have you worked on with the ambulance service to protect those men and women who are going out to help peopl…”

“Thank you.”

“But the buck still stops with you today.”

“I want to reflect on the fact that an academic survey in 2015 identified almost 600 suicides relating to people’s relationship with the Department for Work and Pensions. Can you explain why you have never explored that dynamic as part of the Health and Safety Executive, that impact on claimants in that survey just over…”

“Do you have adequate powers, as you have stronger powers around asbestos? Would you welcome stronger powers from the Government to be able to do more work around RAAC or are you just so stretched it is one bridge too far?”

“The hon. Gentleman was talking about incentivising people into work. In my surgeries in Torbay, I find that an awful lot of people are off sick with hip problems or mental health challenges, and the challenge people have in getting back into work is the broken health system that was left by the previous Conservative Go…”

“I am delighted with my hon. Friend’s intervention, because the Liberal Democrats represent the full length of the United Kingdom from Shetland to the Isles of Scilly, and it is important that we hear about that impact from a breadth of colleagues. The Liberal Democrats represent some of the best places to go on holiday…”

“My hon. Friend is right to highlight that. My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) and I are awaiting a meeting with the Minister to explore that very issue and the RBL’s campaign. To conclude, I lived through a world of broken children’s services in Torbay, but we rolled our sleeves up, sorted it out…”

“The Liberal Democrats welcome the Minister’s suggestion that today’s proposals are yoked to the national insurance increases going through the other place. Since the general election, we have had doom and gloom from the Labour party until very recently. The uncertainty around the Budget and the national insurance incre…”

“I would like to acknowledge the very sobering and comprehensive speech given by the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams). This is disturbing, and one would hope that our DWP, and our Government as a whole, would take a trauma-informed approach to dealing with our communities, as I believe that …”

“I welcome the hon. Member’s intervention; he has highlighted a serious issue, and he is spot on. One has only to reflect on the significant backlog, with 90,000 people waiting for their pension to be reviewed as part of the winter fuel allowance issues—that is a massive backlog. Access to Work, which is meant to suppor…”

“My apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. Those businesspeople felt that the then Chancellor of the Exchequer was filling carrier bags full of £50 notes and placing them around towns, expecting people just to pick them up, so low were the safeguards for a number of the covid support schemes. I will move on to an item that ha…”