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247 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsAs the Secretary of State will know, in 2018, this House allocated £40 million of funding in memory of Dame Tessa Jowell, who was killed by a brain tumour. Seven years on, less…25 Mar 2025HANSARDWinter Fuel PaymentDoes the hon. Member agree that if we were to rejoin a single market in electricity, we would lower our electricity bills by joining the single day-ahead coupling system with…19 Mar 2025HANSARDRare Cancers BillI thank the hon. Members for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur), for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) and for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton), because I have…14 Mar 2025HANSARDFarmingI think the hon. Member will agree that the shutting down of the SFI with no notice on Tuesday night is an awful situation. DEFRA has been either disorganised or sneaky, but…13 Mar 2025HANSARDProduct Safety RegulationsOur country’s very high electricity costs are another huge problem facing businesses in my constituency and nationally. Reintegrating our power markets with Europe’s through the…13 Mar 2025HANSARDTopical QuestionsConstituents in Witney were extremely distressed to receive letters this week from Thames Water saying that their bills are going up by £19 a month from April, putting more…06 Feb 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I am happy to hear that mutual ownership is being considered. I am very grateful for that. I will take my chances and try to clear up one point. I completely agree with what the…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)We will not press this new clause to a vote. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Clause, by leave, withdrawn . Question proposed, That the Chair do report the Bill, as…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I am sorry, but with spill per overflow, I again think we are drinking the water industry’s Kool-Aid. We are doing its metrics, and that is not doing anybody any favours. We are…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)These timelines are too slow. Setting the date at 2035 for monitor installation will mean that this is done at a much slower rate than the rate over the last seven years. That is…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)This is a big one: companies to be placed in special measures for missing pollution targets. I will read out the key bits: “(2DZA) For the purposes of ensuring that the functions…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Monmouthshire for her excellent point. It is very interesting that a mutually owned water company is taking that very sensible decision and approach.…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for his kind words, and I look forward to his support in some of the votes at some point. In the meantime, if he has recommendations on the wording that he…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I completely agree with the hon. Member. Using West Oxfordshire as an example again, we have installed Grampian conditions, which I encourage other Members to look into, where we…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)The point about “relevant time” is fair and deserves to be clarified. I completely agree on the issue of statutory consultees and have no issue with that either—that would make…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. I do not know when that changed. [Interruption] In 2015, was it? There we are: maybe it was changed in 2015. Perhaps all of us, or…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. There are only three new clauses to go; I will highlight the key parts of new clause 33. Subsection (2)(1A) states: “When…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)We will not put this to a vote, but I will continue to highlight the point that £200 million is too high a benchmark and we should drop it, because that would serve us all, and…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)Two-hundred million is a really big number. In my patch in Witney, we have sewage treatment works as far as the eye can see that are undercapacity and are leaking sewage all over…16 Jan 2025HANSARDWater (Special Measures) Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. New clause 32 is about procurement. I will read out the key point: “The Authority must issue rules requiring relevant…16 Jan 2025