Speeches by Smith.

“Given the horrifying events in Syria over the weekend, does my hon. Friend agree that the time for warm words from the Syrian Government on protecting minorities has passed, and that actions to safeguard religious minorities such as Alawites and Christians are required? If so, what more can the United Kingdom do to pro…”

“I may be pre-empting some questions I have later, but just on your last reflection there, Ms Kilpatrick, it seems to me that in a lot of this discussion people are talking past each other. It is not just in this conversation today, but in many of the other sessions that we have had and the various approaches. Feel free…”

“You do not have confidence in the information recovery function of ICRIR and you want something old, not new. Reconciliation should be taken out of the architecture of ICRIR. That is what I am hearing. Does that leave us with a judicial and legal process with an indefinite end as our way to deal with the legacy of the …”

“That confirms my understanding. Thank you.”

“That is exactly my point: that it is new and it is not just a legal process.”

“I am hearing that that is what has been said. My question is, if it is and if we have something old, like the Historical Enquiries Team, whether that leaves us with a judicial and legal process with an indefinite end as our way to deal with the legacy of the Troubles.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your stewardship, Mr Twigg. Similarly, in my constituency, the county council has built just 15,000 homes since 2013 and only 3,700 affordable homes, yet 2,000 people are in urgent need of housing. I am also delighted by this Government’s commitment to building 1.5 million homes, and I a…”

“rose—”

“I thank the hon. Member for securing the debate. He mentioned the Square Mile there. In my constituency of North Northumberland—the third largest in England—there are eight branches in 2,100 square kilometres. That has gone down by 64% since 2015. I want to highlight a point raised elsewhere in the debate. Banking hubs…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I have held dozens and dozens of conversations with farmers across my constituency of North Northumberland. It has become clear to me that they welcome the principle of this policy, which is to stop the super-wealthy from minimising their tax liabilities by…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his scoring system, but can he confirm whether he was part of the last Government, which failed to get £300 million of subsidies to farmers out the door?”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that these are some of the challenges our farmers are facing. As these examples show, the value of the land often bears no relation to the limited cash flow and the profit that is made. It is reassuring that a few tweaks to the policy would remove most of the pressure on family farms while m…”

“Our farmers are facing a great many challenges, including being very over-leveraged in debt, and we should consider that. I spoke to one farmer whose land is valued at £16 million, so their new inheritance tax liability will be about £2.8 million, but they make just £96,000 profit per year. There are several examples o…”

“There is a role for deterrence, yes, absolutely.”

“That is a good question at the moment. Border Force does everything it can with the current structures and resources that it has in place. We have a very good working relationship with DEFRA and I can explain the structure of our working relationship and how that information is shared, if you would like me to.”

“No.”

“I cannot comment on those previous figures, sorry, no.”

“We do not publish port-specific data. At national level, I can speak to the last three calendar years. In 2022, there were approximately 2,400 seizures and 128 tonnes were seized. In 2023, there were approximately 2,900 seizures and 164 tonnes. In 2024, there were approximately 2,600 seizures and 235 tonnes. That is en…”

“That is a very good question. No operational leader would sit here and tell you they could not use more resource, but the border is a complex beast. We have a lot of checks to do at the border and we do them in a very confined infrastructure, with limited resources, but we do them in a way that is structured in the sam…”

“Border Force does not have responsibility for prosecution in any of our prohibitions and restrictions. That is a question for DEFRA. DEFRA has the policy and is responsible for the prosecution policy.”