Contributions
1,811 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Agriculture BillI am only a shadow Minister just yet, but I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman favours my ambition.03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillA Member on the ministerial Bench says, “Tell us about the vegetables.” The important thing is to tell us about the standards and the produce. The hon. Gentleman raises a good…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillI beg to move, That this House, whilst recognising that on leaving the EU the UK needs to shift agricultural support from land-based payments to the delivery of environmental and…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillI share the hon. Gentleman’s concerns about giving certainty to our farmers, and I will come to that matter later in my speech, but Labour Members cannot accept a Bill that opens…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillThe hon. Gentleman is right. British farmers do not want lower standards; they are proud of the standards they uphold and we are proud of what they grow and how they grow it. What…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillThe right hon. Gentleman is right that acetic acid is used in many cases instead of chlorine. Whether the infection is killed by acetic acid, chlorine, or any other process, the…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillI agree entirely. Sometimes there is a temptation to believe that, just because a dodgy socialist at a Dispatch Box said it, it must be untrue, but apparently there are an awful…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Agriculture BillPerhaps the Government’s whipping arrangements are somewhat flawed tonight, but with a majority of 80 the Bill will proceed, unless the hon. Gentleman would like to join me in the…03 Feb 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI thank the hon. Gentleman for that comment. This goes to the heart of some of the debates that might transition into our discussions on the Agriculture Bill. I want us to have a…28 Jan 2020HANSARD Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI thank the Minister for repeating what he said in Committee of the whole House. There is cross-party support for the Bill but, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel…28 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI thank my hon. Friend for that comment. I was proud that our party went into the general election with a commitment to have a path to net zero by 2030, and thanks to some of the…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI think the hon. Lady is agreeing with me, but from a different angle. I agree that our farmers want high standards. They pride themselves on the high standards of the food they…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising that point. We need to talk about food miles much more. We need to be buying local. That does not only mean buying from the…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillThe hon. Gentleman invites me down a cul-de-sac about water policy that I am not quite sure is worth going down, but I would advise him not to drink too much swimming pool water…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI thank my hon. Friend for making that point. Perhaps the Minister who winds up the debate will make some remarks on what the Government could do. We need to lead by example. It…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI agree with the hon. Gentleman. I think that that was a remark directed more at his Front Benchers than mine, because there is an absence of such a provision in the Bill. Lurking…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI am not really interested in Brexit soundbites, but I am interested in Brexit detail. It might be easy for the Chancellor to give a quote about divergence in the media, but…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI feel immensely honoured and privileged to speak at the Dispatch Box in my first outing as the shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I would like to…21 Jan 2020HANSARDDirect Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) BillI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for mentioning that. At the weekend, I was talking about the fish that goes into pet food. As the Secretary of State will have seen from…21 Jan 2020HANSARDAnimal CrueltyThere is cross-party support for increasing prison sentences for those who hurt and cruelly kill animals, but Ministers have dithered and delayed over the Animal Welfare…31 Oct 2019