Speeches by Robinson.

“I am grateful to the Minister for taking the intervention. Does she accept that the fundamental flaw in the Government’s approach is to accept the premise that the European Union controls what access there should be from one part of our United Kingdom to another and that we are accepting that there should be a chink in…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member on securing the debate. He is right to invoke the issue of human health, because it was the European Union that went as far as to invoke article 16 to frustrate the supply of covid vaccines in Northern Ireland, before it realised that doing so was politically inappropriate. On this issue,…”

“It is a pleasure to participate in this Budget debate. I am reminded that in 2005, whenever Tony Blair was seeking re-election for an historic third term as Prime Minister, he celebrated the fact that this country had enjoyed 40 quartiles of economic growth. If anyone cares to think about that, they have to realise tha…”

“As my hon. Friend knows, we have campaigned on the removal of the two-child limit. We did not agree with the limit; we do not think it is right, and we think it is immoral for families to be placed in that position. We opposed it when it was introduced, and we oppose it today. When considering the cost of living, let u…”

“I understand that the Government want to accelerate their plans to remove the two-child limit as soon as possible, and it may be too soon to get a legislative consent motion passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly. May I ask the Secretary of State to undertake to engage with the Social Security Minister? If there is po…”

“I congratulate my friend the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) on securing this important debate. It follows a series of interventions, most recently from my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) with the Prime Minister. Given the Hillsborough disaster and the change in the law to create a duty …”

“Over the past 18 months, the Prime Minister has shown himself to be influential and purposeful at significant times in this crisis, so I thank him for that. While events may be superseding the statement this afternoon, there are some principles that should not change. Aggression must not be rewarded. Violence should no…”

“In drawing upon the bonds of our country, the Minister will know while Northern Ireland has a greater than average growth rate compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, we still have a productivity gap. Behind that is the fact that our growth is masked by an over-reliance on our public sector. The Minister’s collea…”

“The Minister will be enjoying his opportunity to travel across Northern Ireland and see some of the wonderful groups we have. He knows the strength of this United Kingdom, and he knows that increasing the bonds across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England is crucial. He should know that the last Government—supp…”

“In fairness to you, you have rightly outlined why issues around planning and waste water infrastructure are not out of scope when we are talking about potential for growth or barriers to growth. They are very much salient issues.”

“Mr Anderson, we know that the Northern Ireland economy’s growth has been slightly above average compared to the rest of the United Kingdom over the last number of years. We know from PwC’s report last year, in 2024, about the over-reliance on the public sector insulating the benefits of an economy that has very difficu…”

“It is fair to say that the bursting of the dotcom bubble did not end or stagnate the use of the internet, and nor should it on AI. Let us talk about Government’s opportunity to exploit potential growth sectors. What do you think Government should be focused on, whether regionally or nationally here, for developing grow…”

“Mr Hill, you mentioned AI and then you went into some quantum leap about quantum. A lot of phraseology gets used in these things and sometimes this is our opportunity to try to understand exactly what lies behind it. From the AI perspective, we were briefed as a Committee to indicate that there is about £188 million of…”

“Thank you. You left it hanging—you said one of them was 40% higher than the other, but it is important that we get which. I think I have visited the facility that you are talking about. Professor Bartholomew, what opportunities are there for high-growth sectors in Northern Ireland? You mentioned health from your own un…”

“Where?”

“Good morning to you all. Mr Anderson, you mentioned there a company that had manufacturing facilities in both GB and Northern Ireland, and you said there were 40% higher costs.”

“It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down (Claire Hanna). We do work with each other on these issues, although we do not always agree. It is fair to say that our history is sorrowful. It is pitiful and painful, and grounded on a corruption of justice. While we listen to the politics and …”

“I think it is appropriate that the Secretary of State opened his speech in the way that he did, but he should recognise that when he gave dates for when the troubles started and concluded, he finished on 10 April 1998. He knows well that that means he did not include the largest atrocity of the troubles, which occurred…”

“To interrogate honourably, the BBC needs to have a level of integrity, yet it has diminished itself in ignoring a report for six months that looked not just at one “Panorama” programme but at a litany of failures. The BBC piously shows religious observance to the principles of integrity and impartiality, but when chall…”

“That is a point of distinction.”