Speeches by Roca.

“Do you think, then, affordability for customers of their bills should be one of the measures you are measured against when your pay is being set?”

“Of the measures the committee uses to set your pay, there are over 40 from what I could see but affordability to the customer of their bills was not one of them. Did that seem fair to you?”

“Again, that is quite a large sum of money. Do you think that is fair remuneration for the work that you do?”

“And what is it this year?”

“We touched on pay earlier, so I understand your overall package was £860,000 in ’22-’23. Is that right?”

“The intention is to increase the dividend payments with inflation by CPIH?”

“When did those two events happen?”

“When did you decide not to pay the dividend? It was announced and then you decided that it was not appropriate to pay it.”

“The hon. Member talks about ridiculous trade barriers, which we have heard a lot about today. I and other members of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were in Dover to see the preparations that the previous Government had made on trade barriers, particularly in relation to agricultural product…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, but I think he has proved the point that I made, which is that the people who voted for Brexit were a group who would never be satisfied, because Brexit meant different things to different people. It was whatever illusion—whatever fantasy—people wanted it to be, which is wh…”

“Absolutely. My hon. Friend is already proving a powerful advocate for his constituency and for young people. He points out again the issue of red tape and bureaucracy, which we were meant to be getting rid of with the amazing panacea of Brexit. I still wholeheartedly believe in us rejoining the European Union—that is o…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for introducing this important debate, which proves the importance of the petition mechanism to the public for getting important issues debated in this place. Eight years ago, constituents in Macclesfield voted to remain part of the European Unio…”

“Will the shadow Minister give way?”

“At several points today, we have been transported by Conservative Members to the educational nirvana that supposedly existed under the Tory Government. That is not the memory I have, or the memory that many parents and children have. They, I think, remember the real-terms funding cuts that happened for much of the last…”

“Will my hon. Friend accept an intervention?”

“Can I start with a broad question for you, Jenny? What limitations does the UK biosecurity infrastructure have, and in your view, how do those affect our ability to respond to the threat of notifiable animal diseases?”

“Can I start with a broad question for you, Jenny? What limitations does the UK biosecurity infrastructure have, and in your view, how do those affect our ability to respond to the threat of notifiable animal diseases?”

“You are dealing with a very sympathetic Committee that has visited the Weybridge site and seen the vast sums of money that have been allocated in places like the United States, Canada and Germany. So you are pushing at an open door there. What capacity do we have to respond to concurrent outbreaks at the moment and wha…”

“That is really helpful. I might turn to international partners in a moment, but I just want to go off on a slight tangent—if the Chair will indulge me—about an outbreak of avian flu in the north-west and protection zones impacting the Speke area. The AstraZeneca childhood and adolescent flu vaccine is produced at Speke…”

“That is really helpful and reassuring, because obviously we do not want an interruption in the production of that vaccine. Jenny, you mentioned international partners: how could we work better with our international partners in the EU and beyond to prepare and respond to animal diseases?”