Speeches by Roca.

“You have touched on the tension between SPS and animal welfare twice now, once with Jenny and once earlier in the session. You mentioned India, and I know that there are big differences around cattle transportation, pig production—all sorts of variances—with the Australia deal as well. How do we stop the Government all…”

“In Macclesfield, one topic has dominated conversation for several months: the proposed new town at Adlington. It has been talked about on every street corner, in every coffee shop and at every parish meeting. Well, almost—for one glorious weekend, Adlington was briefly knocked off the top spot by the small matter of Ma…”

“Disley in my constituency saw its post office close in July last year in slightly dubious circumstances. The hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) made the powerful case that post offices are really important in rural and semi-rural areas. Will the Minister join me in asking the Post Office to r…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing this debate and for being a doughty champion for British citizens unfairly imprisoned abroad. Colleagues have already made clear that Magnitsky sanctions are not an abstract policy instrument but a really powerful tool, …”

“I am not sure that is going to give a great deal of comfort to small business owners.”

“We have seen evidence of a fishmonger who lost £7,000 in stock alone and a nursery that lost £16,000, which is the cost of two free places for a disadvantaged child to attend for a year. So can you come back to the compensation you are providing? You have not worked out what the impact is on business, but you have alre…”

“If there are claims beyond the £600,000, will you entertain reimbursing companies for those losses?”

“Mr Hinton, what do you understand the impact caused by this outage on local businesses to have been?”

“I am not sure they are insured. The stats are not as clear as they perhaps should be. There is an Aviva survey that says that 62% of SMEs aren’t insured. There is a YouGov survey that says that only 21% of small businesses have a plan—understandably, because this is a utility everybody depends upon to work without fail…”

“But that is a fraction of the amount.”

“At the moment, you don’t recognise the council’s figure; you don’t recognise the business improvement district’s figure. How many businesses were impacted? I was looking at the GSS numbers and I couldn’t quite understand. Do you know how many businesses were impacted?”

“But there might be a perception that your shareholders charge you what might be considered a very profitable rate of return on the funding that they provide to you.”

“It is not for now, but it would be helpful to understand the instrument, whether that went into another holding company or, if your shareholders are providing funding, what they charge you for it.”

“Can we stick to the impact on business for a moment? You have various estimates. We have heard from the business improvement district and the council that the financial impact on businesses is up to £20 million. Is that your understanding? Is that a ballpark figure that you recognise?”

“I am not sure that is going to give a great deal of comfort to small business owners.”

“If there are claims beyond the £600,000, will you entertain reimbursing companies for those losses?”

“That goes back to my question, then. Do you think it is fair, bearing in mind that the losses seem to be up to £20 million, that you are offering £2.5 million?”

“But that is a fraction of the amount.”

“I am not sure they are insured. The stats are not as clear as they perhaps should be. There is an Aviva survey that says that 62% of SMEs aren’t insured. There is a YouGov survey that says that only 21% of small businesses have a plan—understandably, because this is a utility everybody depends upon to work without fail…”

“You have got the discretion to make whatever you deem is appropriate, or the company deems appropriate.”