Speeches by Maynard.

“Could I just follow up on that, Chris? E.ON operates across Europe. I do not expect you necessarily to have a perfect answer on this, but is there a regulatory environment in Europe that you think has got it right, that does not use the marginal price of gas to price electricity and that you have heard of as a sensible…”

“Dhara, Energy UK is very keen to have the UK more linked to the European single market of electrons. It makes it cheaper, more efficient and greener. You are proposing putting us back inside single day-ahead coupling, SDAC, on a contractual basis, which apparently does not require the jurisdiction of the ECJ. That is g…”

“Chris, is it appropriate to threaten to send debt collectors to businesses while a case is being investigated by the ombudsman?”

“If you were to say one power that they particularly should have, what would it be?”

“Move fast, I think, given that ramp.”

“I have one question to each of you very quickly, if that is all right. Venus, the Energy Ombudsman does not seem to have enough powers to make changes here. I am wondering whether that is a factor not just in the energy market but across the country. Would we be better off if we had one macro ombudsman with real powers…”

“Thinking through sticks, carrots and nudges, how active are you on the nudges? There are ways that we can tip people into doing sensible things. Is that something you are very active on?”

“I am going to ask about the tax gap, which is the gap between what HMRC should collect and what tax it actually collects. The small business tax gap has rocketed. I am going to read something out that says that 40% of corporation tax due from small business was not paid in 2023-24. Small business was responsible for a …”

“Jonathan, would that be something that HMRC would be willing to do?”

“Would you be willing to write us a list as to what you would like to see?”

“Alison, do you have any views on how to resolve this in an informed way?”

“I get that, but you are more expert than we are. We are looking for your advice as to where to go to have informed opinions and informed information that we can then draw opinions from. People have to make decisions on this and we need help on that. Tell us where to look, please. There must be somebody who has some goo…”

“Our strategic export licensing criteria state specifically that licences should not be granted where there is “a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” Given that the courts have sent this question back to Parliament, does the Minister acc…”

“4. If he will suspend the export of UK-produced F-35 components to Israel.”

“On the Northumberland line, where they flipped a freight line to a passenger line and they had LVC voluntary legally binding contributions up and down, there were 28 that funded about 30% of that project. Obviously, the Land Compensation Act 1961 is a pain for doing this, and I think the Government are looking at re-ex…”

“Would either of you gentlemen like to add something to that?”

“Good, thank you.”

“Thank you, and thank you all for being here. The rail network enhancement plan budget is about £2 billion per year. Can you give an overview of what your Department is doing to develop private finance options for rail investments to make that go further, because £2 billion is not a whole hill of beans? Before you jump …”

“The next question is about investment grade. A year ago, last July, Thames Water breached its operating licence, whereby it has to have two investment-grade credit ratings. It has not had that since last July. We are 12 months on. As per May this year, Moody’s is now unable to state a credit rating, because it does not…”

“OMERS is the largest shareholder in Thames Water. Last May, 14 months ago, it removed its director from the board and wrote off its shareholding. How can you tell us seriously that it is the ultimate controller of this company?”