Speeches by Darling.

“With Donald Trump taking a leaf out of the Putin playbook and becoming an international gangster in the Americas, what assurance can the Secretary of State give the Chamber that the coalition of the willing to protect Ukraine will become the coalition of the capable to defend Ukraine?”

“The issue that we face in Torbay is a significant shrinkage in the number of available commercial routes, whether for bus pass users or other bus users. Does the hon. and learned Gentleman agree that we need sustained investment in bus services to drive a better service for all our communities?”

“What we see here is the tune remaining the same from the Budget, but perhaps the words changing a little. We see short-term gain for the taxman and long-term pain for the taxpayer, and particularly for those who wish to save for their pensions. The Minister was right to highlight how we need to be driving more people t…”

“I am sure that the Minister will join me in congratulating Anna Coles, the director of adult and community services at Torbay council, and her team on achieving a “good” rating from the Care Quality Commission this week. The fly in the ointment is that despite Torbay being the most deprived local authority in south-wes…”

“The news about the reinstatement of the Erasmus scheme is brilliant for our young people. I have heard from language schools in Torbay, particularly International House Torquay, who have taken advantage of the group travel scheme for German students to be able to use just their ID cards to study languages in England. W…”

“You touched on life expectancy; we are running out of time, but that was an area I just wanted to make sure we picked up on. Are there any examples internationally where, if you sadly die within a year or two of taking out the state pension, some type of life insurance payment is made to your family? Clearly that would…”

“In the west country, we have seen an icy chilling effect from the NICs hike on our hospitality and tourism industry, particularly in Torbay. The Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust, which looks after some of our beautiful natural spaces, has faced a £100,000 cost from the NICs hike, which has forced it to close its do…”

“Thank you. Patrick and Andrea, do you have any reflections?”

“Was it you who mentioned the Danish system where there is an advance drawdown? Do you think that is something we should seriously consider?”

“In the light of the review that Dr Suzy Morrissey is about to undertake, what opportunities do you see for her to allow some mitigations for those who are entering into this stage?”

“Definitely.”

“I have electronics and photonics industries in my own constituency, and a lot of their workers are people in their late 50s, 60s and even 70s because they have the knowledge. Patrick, you have started to enter the area of my supplementary question, so I wonder if you could build on this conversation. In the light of th…”

“Thank you. Patrick, do you have any reflections?”

“Are there any international comparisons? Ben was mentioning Sweden, but are there any international examples you could point to as proof of where this works particularly well?”

“I would like to focus on people towards the end of their working lives. We have already started to unpick that, but I want to go a bit deeper and think about what support should be provided for older workers towards having a better retirement and what this would look like.”

“The Liberal Democrats welcome the fact that the Government have accepted the findings of the Sayce review into carer’s allowance overpayments, but what assurances can the Minister give that the Government will stop hounding carers about overpayments? Will the Government also apologise?”

“My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. I will conclude by saying that there are malevolent powers in power across the Atlantic, and many of us are shocked at what we are seeing emanating from the Oval Office. Let us not give a future Government powers that could be ill used.”

“As someone whose constituency has had reports of Russian spies infiltrating through our harbour, one might think that I would be very much in favour of digital ID. However, it will clearly do nothing about the Russian threat, the small boats crossing the water or fraud in the workplace. I thank the more than 6,000 resi…”

“Disability News Service has stated that both the Treasury and the DWP have refused to clarify the £1.9 billion of cuts to disability benefits set to take place over the next five years that were quietly sneaked into the Budget the other week. Will the Minister now set the record straight and advise us on how those cuts…”

“For people who are lucky in the lottery of life, their pension can be one of their biggest assets, but, sadly, we know that 12 million people across the United Kingdom are not saving enough. That is around the population of Belgium. Talking more broadly, there is much about the legislation to be welcomed. I am sure the…”