Speeches by Race.

“3. What recent progress the defending democracy taskforce has made.”

“People in Exeter want to be sure that the elections and referenda we hold are safe and secure from outside state actors who want to manipulate our politics for their own ends. We already know that Russian disinformation on social media in many African nations is already having a huge impact on their domestic politics. …”

“T2. Residents of Exeter, particularly female residents, have raised with me their alarm at Tory-led Devon county council’s decision to dim or completely turn off 80% of Exeter’s street lights during the night, including on streets and paths to railway stations and bus stops. Many shift workers come home late at night o…”

“It is a privilege to serve under your chairship for the first time, Ms Jardine. I thank the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) for securing this important debate on the eve of the Nutrition for Growth summit in Paris. His long-standing commitment to improving the lives of the …”

“T2. The south-west has a huge number of innovative start-up and scale-up businesses, but we attract only about 3% of private equity and venture capital funding per year. What is the Department doing to ensure that foreign direct investors are aware of, and have access to, the fantastic business infrastructure opportuni…”

“Yesterday, I was proud to vote for the Employment Rights Bill, which—among other actions—will ban fire and rehire tactics. However, Tory-led Devon county council is currently threatening over 800 of its employees, including many of my constituents, with those exact tactics. Will the Leader of the House allocate time in…”

“Isn’t Milton Keynes getting into the Oxford/Cambridge arc—”

“Are they showing willing?”

“As a final note on that, I want to touch on the British Business Bank. Of the enterprise capital funds, 60.6% is invested in London and the south-east, for example. How can the bank better support regional capital?”

“Do you think it is just marketing? Is a lot of it about vibes?”

“Duncan, staying on angel investors and venture capital investment outside London, which we touched on earlier, when we talked to Dame Angela, the chief scientific adviser, she said she has a joke with some northern and other universities that the best thing you can do is invest in a few helicopters to get people out of…”

“Are there enough angel investors for science and innovation outside London?”

“Do you think they are flexible enough to identify and support the future sectors that we might not know about at the moment? Are they flexible enough for people to be able to access them?”

“The LIFTS and tax credits seem to focus quite a lot on the life sciences sector. Are we over-indexing on life sciences? Are we not doing quite enough for various other sectors?”

“Do you have a view on what it sounds likely that it will be doing? Do you think it is going to be doing the right thing, or do you want to see some change? Does it sound positive to you?”

“Duncan, how do you think they are working at the moment?”

“What does that mean in terms of how we need to change?”

“I want to touch on some of the initiatives—the long-term investment for technology and science and the national wealth fund—and the extent to which both of you think those have improved access to finance for the science and research centre.”

“Even more on top of everything you’ve got already.”

“It is less about the south-west and more about not London and the south-east.”