Contributions
834 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsThe World Bank has suggested that the minimum amount of money needed for post-war reconstruction of Ukraine is £411 billion. While it is for the Ukrainian Government and people to…02 May 2023HANSARD Powering Up BritainThere is much to be welcomed in the Minister’s statement, but excluding Drax from the track 1 CCS projects will come as a surprise to many and a blow to the company’s employees in…30 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsMy hon. Friend makes a good point, as have most colleagues this evening. It would be interesting to know how many people who work at those colleges, which I guess are the…21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsI very much welcome the opportunity that this evening’s debate gives me to raise the matter of large-scale solar farms. There have been previous debates on the subject in…21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsMy right hon. Friend is correct. I know how seriously he takes solar energy in his own constituency, because we have talked about this before. The public must be on board, and it…21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsMy hon. Friend is right: we must do all those things and, especially given the conflicts that are taking place around the world, we must ensure that our food security is…21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsIt would be rude if I did not give way to my very hon. Friend the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsMy hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. As I said, as these solar farms increase in size, so will the amount of productive farmland being taken up by them. The description “best and…21 Mar 2023HANSARD Large Solar FarmsI agree with my right hon. Friend and neighbour. We need Ministers from, I suspect, several Departments to provide absolute clarity to right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of…21 Mar 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityI start by saying that I have worked with many fantastic civil servants in my time as a Minister, and those relationships are built on trust. I have also had a very good working…06 Mar 2023HANSARD SEND and Alternative ProvisionLike many right hon. and hon. Members, I have met and got to know families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities. The difficulties those families face…06 Mar 2023HANSARDEngagementsQ11. As a North Yorkshire MP, my right hon. Friend will know how crucial bus services are to our communities. Last month, Arriva stopped the only bus between Selby and Doncaster,…23 Nov 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKI am pleased to have secured this debate on the importance of bus manufacturing, specifically electric bus manufacturing, in the United Kingdom. Electric buses play a vital role…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKI wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. That is the point of this debate. There is incentive. The Government are saying all the right things about wanting to see electric…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKAs ever, the hon. Gentleman is spot on. To put those 420,000 Chinese electric buses into perspective, the UK currently has about 40,000 locally operated buses and only about 4% of…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKMy right hon. Friend is right. As we sit here now, China more or less has a monopoly on global bus supply. If we take Wrightbus, Plaxton, Alexander Dennis and Switch into the mix,…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKNot only does it not smell right; it is absolutely not right that we are not purchasing British-manufactured buses. The model for supplying electric buses is very different from…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKAs a former Minister for Asia, I know that too well. I have been at the Dispatch Box, where the Minister for Science and Investment Security, my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKThat would make sense. I would like to think that the purchasing authorities taking such decisions bear those factors in mind. The battery example calls into question whether the…31 Oct 2022HANSARD Bus Manufacture in the UKOn the point about not favouring particular manufacturers, is the Minister aware that in March, in its promotional material for announcing the new fund, DFT used a sparkly new…31 Oct 2022