Speeches by Reed.

“For all the reasons that you will be aware of, it is essential that we maintain the world-leading status of the facilities at Weybridge and the APHA. It is about national security—it is as important as that. The devastation that happened from foot and mouth cost the country £14 billion, and for the farming sector, ther…”

“You are only saving me from the media, Chair.”

“On seeking an SPS deal with the EU, we were clear through the general election that this is something that we are looking for as part of our reset of relations with the EU, so that we have a stronger and more collaborative relationship with the EU—short, of course, of re-entering the single market and the customs union…”

“I will be speaking at the Food and Drink Federation’s investment summit tomorrow. I am looking forward to it very much, because we have one of the world’s most vibrant food and drink sectors. It is extremely competitive. That is one of the ways that we manage to keep both the variety of food products high and the costs…”

“Let me look at the thresholds. I am not sure whether that is within DBT or DEFRA, but I can get back to you on that. Within public procurement, the Government spend an awful lot of money on buying food in the public sector in one way or another—food for our hospitals, for our prisons and for other parts of the public s…”

“We will be putting the procurement rules together for how that will operate. Being local and being sustainable will both be factors that are required in that process, when we develop it—so we will develop it in that way. I am sure from your questioning that it is something the Committee will be very interested in looki…”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. He is a strong campaigner in his constituency against the failings of the water company and the high levels of pollution resulting from the failures of the previous Government, so I know that he is backing the Water (Special Measures) Bill that is working its way through Parlia…”

“I can certainly ensure that the relevant Minister meets the hon. Gentleman. I hope that he will also feed his views into Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review, as Sir Jon will be considering catchment-wide approaches that will better protect chalk streams.”

“It is a pleasure to take a question from the distinguished former Prime Minister. We are reviewing the data that we can publish, and we want to be as open and transparent as possible. I think that is good for the sector and good for scrutiny, but we will announce in due course precisely how it will operate.”

“The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that we have announced the biggest Budget for sustainable farming—£5 billion over the next two years—in the history of our country, and that is to be welcomed by everybody in the sector and everybody who cares about it. This is a Government who believe in devolution. We believe th…”

“Yes.”

“I welcome the new shadow Ministers to their place—as well, of course, the returning one. Under the previous Government, water companies got away with discharging record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas, leaving them in an appalling polluted state. That is why we are taking immediate action to place the …”

“The hon. Lady is quite right to be concerned about the state of the River Avon. We want to move towards a catchment-based approach to water, so we can look at all the inputs and be clear about how we can clean them up. Her point about monitoring will be considered by the commission led by Sir Jon Cunliffe. I hope that …”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point. He will be reassured to know that precisely the points he raises will be brought into law in the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will soon be arriving in the Chamber, so that polluters will pay for further enforcement action. That way we have a virtuous circle to help clean…”

“The independent commission on the water sector was launched on 23 October and will be chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. It is the biggest review of the industry since privatisation and will report next summer. It will focus on boosting investability, speeding up the delivery of water infrastructure and cleaning up our water…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend on campaigning for her local water consumers. She is right to point to the wide failings across the system. We have charged Sir Jon Cunliffe with leading a commission that will look at how we can completely reset the sector—regulation, governance and how the sector operates—so that the lev…”

“It is important that support is targeted at the most vulnerable, so we will look at what more can be done through social tariffs to support families who are at risk of being unable to pay future water bills. It is right that we prioritise the poorest.”

“As we have heard this morning, the public are rightly furious about the filthy, polluted state in which the previous Administration left our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why there is such strong support for the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is working its way through Parliament. I urge all Members to make sub…”

“Vessels are, of course, already required to report marine mammal bycatch. We are looking at implementing remote electronic monitoring on larger vessels to gather better data about fishing activities. We are also working to improve our marine environment by ratifying the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction agreeme…”

“The data from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is crystal clear: three quarters of farmers will pay nothing as a result of the changes. Family farming will continue into future generations, as it should.”