Speeches by Chope.

“I cannot speak for the previous Government because I was not a member, although obviously I was in the House. My understanding is that this has become a live issue only within recent weeks and months, and that the present Government have been involved in discussions behind the scenes. I am not blaming the Justice Secre…”

“I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. As you will know, Madam Deputy Speaker, timing is important in politics. When, last autumn, I chose today for the Second Reading of the Bill, how could I have predicted that arm’s length bodies, which I will abbreviate to ALBs, would have been mentioned four times…”

“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing the Bill in the way he has and on becoming a Parliamentary Private Secretary. Does he support the Bill going into Committee? I think there is consensus across the House that it should be given its Second Reading. If it is not given its Second Reading, however, it will no…”

“I am one of the people who is very angry about this, and my right hon. Friend is a co-sponsor of this Bill, so his disappointment must be even greater. However, does he agree that one way forward would be for this Bill, with its present inadequate drafting, to get its Second Reading and go into Committee? The people’s …”

“This announcement is small beer, is it not? The extra £92 million offered for criminal legal aid is exceeded twentyfold by the subsidies given to offshore wind, which amounted to £1.9 billion last year alone. Why do the Government have such perverse priorities, and when will they put the criminal justice system above t…”

“If you were going to have a descriptor after your “Labour”, would it be “temporarily suspended”, or it could also have “Labour withdrawn” or something like that?”

“You could still have the Whip withdrawn, but not be expelled from the party?”

“Is there a distinction in your party between having the Whip withdrawn and the Whip suspended? Or does it amount to the same thing?”

“As somebody who very much supports the principle of independently-minded MPs, can I ask you, John, first, obviously if you are elected as a Labour member and then the Labour party expels you, you are no longer entitled to the party political descriptor of being Labour? However, unless or until you are expelled, is what…”

“Could you give some specific examples?”

“There may be circumstances in which it is more cost-effective for the United Kingdom, although it has the resources itself, to import. Would you accept that?”

“You referred earlier to steel. If steel makes up 80% of a wind turbine, and most of that steel is having to be imported, why are we not doing more to manufacture our own steel? It seems as though we are remarkably relaxed about that, considering how critical it is to our net zero ambitions.”

“We are closely allied to Australia—we are in the Five Eyes and all the rest of it—so we can probably trust the Australians, but we cannot really trust countries such as China, can we? How can we find alternative supply chains where the critical minerals are actually almost exclusively under the control of our potential…”

“You referred to the Australian memorandum of understanding. Is that really going to be sufficient?”

“May I apologise first of all for not being here earlier? I also serve on the Procedure Committee, and we had another meeting at the same time. Can I ask about the hot topic of critical minerals, with the news that the United States and Ukraine may be close to signing an agreement in relation to some of Ukraine’s critic…”

“Could you give some specific examples?”

“There may be circumstances in which it is more cost-effective for the United Kingdom, although it has the resources itself, to import. Would you accept that?”

“You referred earlier to steel. If steel makes up 80% of a wind turbine, and most of that steel is having to be imported, why are we not doing more to manufacture our own steel? It seems as though we are remarkably relaxed about that, considering how critical it is to our net zero ambitions.”

“We are closely allied to Australia—we are in the Five Eyes and all the rest of it—so we can probably trust the Australians, but we cannot really trust countries such as China, can we? How can we find alternative supply chains where the critical minerals are actually almost exclusively under the control of our potential…”

“You referred to the Australian memorandum of understanding. Is that really going to be sufficient?”