Speeches by Carmichael.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered Government preparations for the radio teleswitch service switch-off in Scotland. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I welcome the Minister to her place. It is a truth universally acknowledged that when things go wrong, Governments get the blame—wh…”

“Where a post office branch that is currently directly managed is not staying in its current premises, will there be a proper formal scheme of community engagement to give the community some control over ensuring that what is provided in its place will be at least as good? Communities simply do not trust the Post Office…”

“I thank the Chancellor’s human shield for that answer, but the fact that the Chancellor—who is sitting on the Front Bench—was not prepared to stand up and answer for herself demonstrates a distinct lack of respect for farmers, bordering on contempt. Will she not meet the farming unions, the banks, the professional orga…”

“6. If she will meet farming representatives to discuss the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on farmers. [R]”

“I remind the House of my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This delegation was organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding, and it is my enormous privilege to serve as the chair of that organisation. CABU has organised dozens of delegations of this sort over the years, and with the supp…”

“Can the Secretary of State offer us any guarantee that the Government will not enter into a trade deal with America that will allow the importation and sale in this country of food produced to lower environmental and animal welfare standards than those that we demand from United Kingdom farmers?”

“Differently then? Ronan O’Hara: Things can always be different in the future.”

“You could do it better in the future? Ronan O’Hara: I would not say that.”

“Do you think you got that calculation right? Ronan O’Hara: I would suggest that we did. I would suggest it was evidence based. It was methodical. It was fact based. I would also suggest that the nature of the market at present would suggest that we positioned that correctly.”

“Do you think you got that calculation right? Ronan O’Hara: I would suggest that we did. I would suggest it was evidence based. It was methodical. It was fact based. I would also suggest that the nature of the market at present would suggest that we positioned that correctly.”

“You had an auction and then you capped the maximum bid in the auction. I have never heard of that being done anywhere else. Why did you choose a cap? Ronan O’Hara: First, it reflected the strategic objectives set that underpinned the leasing round—to create a strong pipeline with critical mass at a scale that was world…”

“You had an auction and then you capped the maximum bid in the auction. I have never heard of that being done anywhere else. Why did you choose a cap? Ronan O’Hara: First, it reflected the strategic objectives set that underpinned the leasing round—to create a strong pipeline with critical mass at a scale that was world…”

“That is helpful. Thank you. Can I just drill down a bit into the circumstances around the first leasing round for ScotWind? You will recall that that was the subject of some controversy at the time. Who designed that auction system? Was it yourselves or the Scottish Government? Ronan O’Hara: It was a system designed by…”

“In your view, is there any reason you could not have access to these same borrowing powers and guarantees, other than the fact that nobody thought about it when they were drafting the Act? Ronan O’Hara: The Act was specific for particular jurisdictions. I suppose this is more to do with the treatment of moneys evolving…”

“The Act is about guarantees for borrowing as well, is it not? Ronan O’Hara: It is, yes.”

“On the relationship with the UK Government, we now have a situation, after the Crown Estate Act has passed, where your colleagues south of the border have access to Treasury guarantees but you as Crown Estate Scotland will not. The Treasury is a UK-wide authority. Is that going to put you at some disadvantage? Ronan O’…”

“That is helpful. Thank you. Can I just drill down a bit into the circumstances around the first leasing round for ScotWind? You will recall that that was the subject of some controversy at the time. Who designed that auction system? Was it yourselves or the Scottish Government? Ronan O’Hara: It was a system designed by…”

“In your view, is there any reason you could not have access to these same borrowing powers and guarantees, other than the fact that nobody thought about it when they were drafting the Act? Ronan O’Hara: The Act was specific for particular jurisdictions. I suppose this is more to do with the treatment of moneys evolving…”

“The Act is about guarantees for borrowing as well, is it not? Ronan O’Hara: It is, yes.”

“Good luck with that.”