Speeches by Kruger.

“Will you change the legislation?”

“You have not actually budgeted for success. The expectation is not to spend £9 billion on pension credit; it is to spend about £3 billion.”

“Sorry to keep going on about pension credit; I want to talk about data sharing as well, but I am conscious that you have two hats on, Minister. You are DWP and Treasury and it strikes me that you are talking about how much you are encouraging take-up. Minister Torsten Jekyll Bell from the DWP wants everybody to claim p…”

“Sorry, specifically, if there will be an eligibility requirement because you will not restore universal access, will there be a taper?”

“Yes, thank you. This is the last question, Chair. You mentioned absolute poverty. I appreciate that you cannot talk about the new scheme for winter fuel payment, but I am sure you know that 80% of pensioners in absolute poverty lost their winter fuel payment under the announcement. I am interested in your thoughts on t…”

“Rather than turning on the tap of immigration.”

“Thanks, Minister. I agree very much with the point you were making that for so much of what we discuss in this context of social security, the drivers of demand are outside the system. I hear what you say about the long-term impact of policy now, particularly on pensioner incomes, which is why it is so concerning that …”

“GDP per capita specifically is—”

“It is very helpful that in the last few minutes the Leader of the House has confirmed that the media were briefed directly, before the House, on the content of the review. I am grateful to her for being so honest, but I do not think that it is enough for her to promise not to do it again. Will she order an inquiry in G…”

“The Defence Secretary has just thrown into doubt the future of the new medium helicopter. I am very concerned to hear that that programme clearly may not go ahead. Can he tell the House whether he plans to reduce the number of RAF Chinooks, which—as he knows—are very important both to our special forces and to our Army…”

“I pay tribute to the Members who secured the debate: the hon. Members for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) and for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice). It is a case of singing the greatest hits of the past—singing the old songs—in a beautiful duet, presaging some appalling coalition. I pay particular tribute to the hon. Lady; I …”

“I absolutely agree. I am afraid that the argument against EU membership, which was the trade imbalance, remains and has only grown with time. I will not talk about our unhappy fish; we hear enough about those poor creatures. On defence, there has been no detail in the plan other than an expectation of that new procurem…”

“My hon. Friend is right. I will cite a very good article in The Spectator last week by Oliver Lewis, who was the deputy negotiator for the Brexit deal and the trade agreement. He wrote rather wearily about recognising the terms that had been agreed by the Government, because they were the terms that the previous Govern…”

“And dependants.”

“Does the hon. Lady share my regret that the Minister did not recommit the Government to introducing the Scrutiny Committee? Does she agree that we should continue to work to that end?”

“What is the point about milder weather being worse than cold weather?”

“Peter, you were talking about the cold weather payments. It sounds like that would not be your preferred way of addressing this problem, but could you just unpack a bit what you think of the scheme bearing in mind that we do not need to use the current arrangement, which is pretty clunky and, as you say, has not risen …”

“So very cold is not especially more dangerous than just cold?”

“I see.”

“No. Freezing is unpleasant—but no, I get that. Thank you.”