Speeches by Bance.

“Can you identify any aspects of that problem? What are the particular things that are contributing to our underproduction of EVs and lack of capacity?”

“Please accept my apologies for being late, Chair. My apologies: transport let me down this morning. Before I continue, I should declare my membership in the Register of Members’ Interests; I am a member of Unite the Union. The one thing I worry most about is that we have a very skilled workforce in making internal comb…”

“I wish to draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, my proud 23 years in Unite, and the generous support from the millions of ordinary members of the GMB and ASLEF in paying into their political funds to put representatives of the working class here in Parliament. I am here to deliver …”

“That will be great, thank you very much. We all think that there probably is some funding that is being lost or not able to be used, which could be better used if it were able to be shared down the supply chains. I have heard that from SMEs and from OEMs. There is something we can do there, and it would be good if you …”

“For Sarah, if I may, following up, some criticisms of Skills England have been that it does not have the directive power that it needs to actually push the findings from your insight work. I have been impressed by some insight work that I have seen so far. As you say, I know you have been set up only since June. The is…”

“Me too, for sure.”

“Building on the points about the responsibilities of employers and Government to ensure that our existing workforce are upskilled, I would appreciate any further thoughts on what more the Government can do to encourage employers to provide more training. I am particularly interested in what we can do to get SMEs provid…”

“I would just add to that. One of the things that needs to be taken into account is the frequent review of the standards. We heard at the last session that the automotive technician T-level standard has not been updated for six years, and obviously things are moving on in that field. The people I worry about particularl…”

“Does the hon. Member believe that, in the first six months of employment, it is appropriate for people to be dismissed for unfair reasons and without a fair process?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?”

“One of my constituents lost her husband after they had made a decision to have three children together, as working taxpayers. Her husband had died, and she needed the help for which she had contributed: was that a lifestyle choice?”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way. Do some children deserve to go hungry?”

“On the two-child benefit cap, will the hon. Member give way?”

“11. What steps he is taking to help strengthen the defence industrial base.”

“It is always good to follow another Member for the Black Country. I was recently very pleased to meet with Babcock International, which is based in Walsall, just over the M6 from my constituency, where it makes armoured cars. Can the Secretary of State comment on future opportunities for defence manufacturing in the Bl…”

“Here we go again, Madam Deputy Speaker—always the promise of tax cuts to come, never the proper plans to ensure it is affordable. This motion tells us everything we need to know about the modern Conservative party; once again, its first recourse is to reach for the austerity button instead of making a serious plan to i…”

“One of the key achievements in the first 15 months of this Labour Government has been that we are starting to fix some of the mess from the dreadful agreement that the Conservatives made with the European Union, which undermined this country. We are filling some of the holes, and making it easier to do trade with the E…”

“To be clear, the point that I am making is about the unspecified cuts referenced in the motion. I am talking about the implications from the last time the Conservatives made cuts of that magnitude. While it may be the case that getting rid of stamp duty would save some money for people in my constituency, where there i…”

“I am speaking today about the other part of the motion before us—the part about the unspecified cuts that would pay for the tax cut—and the implications of that. As the hon. Gentleman would expect of a responsible member of my party, I am not going to speculate with plans about how we fund things for which there is no …”

“I did not quite understand the point you were making. Is your point that your engagement with your sponsor Department—the MOD and DFT—at the big level is difficult? In the transfer of functions from IfATE to Skills England, many of us were worried that that detailed business engagement in the suite of qualifications mi…”