Speeches by Dewhirst.

“16. What steps he is taking to support veterans.”

“Will the Minister join me in congratulating East Riding of Yorkshire council on achieving the armed forces covenant employer recognition scheme gold award, and pay tribute to both the council leader Anne Handley and our armed forces champion Councillor Liam Dealtry for their roles in achieving that? Could he also tell …”

“T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.”

“There appears to be inconsistency between what Ministers are saying about the report by the National Energy System Operator and what the CEO of NESO told the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee last week. Can the Secretary of State answer this clearly: does the NESO report forecast higher or lower energy bills under…”

“Victoria, you alluded to the pebble in the pond and the impact; how money is taken out of the sector and then not spent on businesses. BPR also affects people who are not farmers: other businesses in the rural economy, the rural community. Do you want to share—very briefly, because we are about to go to PMQs—the impact…”

“One of the challenges is that the definition of a farm is something that the Government have failed to produce—we have had discussions internally about this—which is something that we are keen to understand because of course this is based on the fact that the Chancellor told us in the Budget speech this was about stopp…”

“Thank you all for coming in this morning. I would like to ask a question to each panellist, perhaps starting with David and moving along. Could each of you reflect on the Treasury’s figures which say that around 500 estates will be impacted each year and the fact that those figures are contradicted by DEFRA, another Go…”

“One of the challenges is that the definition of a farm is something that the Government have failed to produce—we have had discussions internally about this—which is something that we are keen to understand because of course this is based on the fact that the Chancellor told us in the Budget speech this was about stopp…”

“This is not putting words in your mouth, but my view is that there is therefore a concern that a wealthy individual who has bought a large house in the country and has two fields is caught in the Treasury figures as being unimpacted and they are calling them a farm; they are not a farm. Frankly, they have some ponies. …”

“On SEND funding, the East Riding of Yorkshire is the lowest funded local authority for SEND per pupil. Children in the Prime Minister’s constituency get three times more funding than children in mine, which is a travesty in itself. This policy will put even more strain on my local authority and the children who despera…”

“Victoria, you alluded to the pebble in the pond and the impact; how money is taken out of the sector and then not spent on businesses. BPR also affects people who are not farmers: other businesses in the rural economy, the rural community. Do you want to share—very briefly, because we are about to go to PMQs—the impact…”

“Thank you all for coming in this morning. I would like to ask a question to each panellist, perhaps starting with David and moving along. Could each of you reflect on the Treasury’s figures which say that around 500 estates will be impacted each year and the fact that those figures are contradicted by DEFRA, another Go…”

“This is not putting words in your mouth, but my view is that there is therefore a concern that a wealthy individual who has bought a large house in the country and has two fields is caught in the Treasury figures as being unimpacted and they are calling them a farm; they are not a farm. Frankly, they have some ponies. …”

“We are going to have to agree to disagree on that point. Frankly, this is a policy dreamt up by the Treasury on a spreadsheet. There has been no impact assessment, and there is no understanding of its impact on rural communities. This is not just an assault on farmers; it is an attack on the entire agricultural economy…”

“My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Farming is a lonely existence at times, and farmers have traditionally suffered from mental health difficulties. This policy is making things far worse, and for small family farms it really is devastating. As others in the House have said, tenants have not been taken into acc…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Farmers are of course price takers, not price setters, and they have always been under great pressure from the retail chain to keep their prices to a minimum, so that we can all enjoy cheaper food. That is a fact of life, and a very difficult challenge.”

“I share the frustration of my right hon. Friend shadow Secretary of State that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cannot be with us today. I wanted to offer him some sympathy, because I do not believe that either he or the farming Minister cooked up this terrible plan. It was thrust on them …”

“The shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), alluded to the presumptive nominee Marco Rubio’s comments that the deal represents a serious threat to US national security. Does the Minister agree?”

“If you had a blank piece of paper and you were to start this all over again, what would you change in terms of the regulators, the regulatory environment or the legislation under which you are working?”

“It is a fascinating and interesting subject area and the Environment Agency’s relationship with other agencies in this space is also something that I have no doubt we will be exploring in due course. The structures of the water companies themselves are complex. Does that hinder your work as a regulator? Would there be …”