Speeches by Hobhouse.

“I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to speak. I am going to call the Front Benchers at 2.25 pm at the latest. I do not think I need to impose an official limit on speeches, but it would be brilliant if Members keep their remarks within eight minutes.”

“The Minister mentioned earlier the disaster of Brexit, and I will add the loss to the UK economy of £250 million a day in tax revenue, according to research from the House of Commons Library. We Liberal Democrats want the Government to focus on a golden opportunity to grow the economy by considering a new customs union…”

“Order. May I encourage the hon. Member to wind up?”

“The normal order is two minutes to wind up.”

“I am enormously grateful to the Minister for leaving plenty of time for Martin Rhodes to wind up.”

“There is plenty of time, but I remind the Minister to leave a couple of minutes for the hon. Member for Glasgow North to wind up.”

“Q6. In Bath, parents of children with special educational needs, which are often very complex, are crying out for special school places. Funding to build a brand new special school at the Culverhay site in Bath was secured, but the Government have frozen the funding for almost 18 months without any explanation, leaving…”

“Transparency might drive costs down because suddenly people have nowhere to hide, where you were talking about some of the profits are—”

“Again, that only goes to show that it is a system that is not really fit for purpose and does not serve the consumer.”

“The Chair knows that I am always getting very impatient on the last question. I want to go back to investment costs in the network. You have ultimately already answered earlier in the session that we are now paying for the lack of investment in previous years, mainly because they often did not want the bills to be high…”

“Another very small question, but maybe it is a big question. The decentralised and flexible system that is required for the energy future that you mentioned earlier, is the market able under the current system to cope with that?”

“I also have a question of understanding relating exactly to the two paragraphs or now three paragraphs before. Were you suggesting that we hold something like 5% of gas in storage for a windless and sunless day and then we can bring it in? The problem with nuclear of course is it has to run—you cannot turn it on and of…”

“Transparency might drive costs down because suddenly people have nowhere to hide, where you were talking about some of the profits are—”

“Again, that only goes to show that it is a system that is not really fit for purpose and does not serve the consumer.”

“The Chair knows that I am always getting very impatient on the last question. I want to go back to investment costs in the network. You have ultimately already answered earlier in the session that we are now paying for the lack of investment in previous years, mainly because they often did not want the bills to be high…”

“Another very small question, but maybe it is a big question. The decentralised and flexible system that is required for the energy future that you mentioned earlier, is the market able under the current system to cope with that?”

“I also have a question of understanding relating exactly to the two paragraphs or now three paragraphs before. Were you suggesting that we hold something like 5% of gas in storage for a windless and sunless day and then we can bring it in? The problem with nuclear of course is it has to run—you cannot turn it on and of…”

“Surely improving our railways should include the ambition of making our public transport cleaner and greener. In Bath, dirty diesel trains are still running through the city. Surely one of our first steps should be an ambitious electrification plan, reversing or addressing the years of failure of the previous Conservat…”

“20. What steps she is taking through the tax system to help reduce costs for small and medium-sized businesses.”

“May I give the Minister another example in which the numbers simply do not stack up? Mr B’s independent bookshop in Bath will see its business rates bill rise by more than 70% after factoring in changes to rateable value. The changes were packaged as a move away from short-term fixes, yet vital discounts have been scra…”