Speeches by Williamson.

“I congratulate my neighbour the hon. Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham). It is a real insult for you to try to restrict us to three minutes, Ms Furniss—how can we get all the beauty of Staffordshire into three minutes? Staffordshire is a proper county. It is not like the west midlands, Merseyside or Humberside, which i…”

“At a time of such tragedy, language is incredibly important. All of us, in all parts of the House, condemn this terrorist incident, but a number of my constituents have been particularly concerned about the BBC’s describing it as “militance” rather than as what it is—a terrorist attack. Will the Minister use his positi…”

“What assessment has the Minister made of the number of jobs that Great British Energy will create in the People’s Republic of China?”

“The Minister makes a very important point about ensuring that areas outside London are able to get an important slice of cultural contributions. As the Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism is not here, would she go back with representations on how we can bring some of those cultural institutions out of Lo…”

“I can absolutely confirm that Wednesbury has always been in the great historical county of Staffordshire, and of course the Staffordshire knot comes from that great Queen of Mercia, although there is sometimes speculation that it actually comes from the hangman at Stafford castle: there were three prisoners and there w…”

“Of course, the Capitol building in the US has tiles made not in Maryland or New Jersey but in Staffordshire, here in the United Kingdom.”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“A number of months ago, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced the plan for change and the pillars, missions and various other things that come with it. When will he update the House on how that is going and how the Government are meeting those targets?”

“I think that Members in all parts of the House agree with much of what the Secretary of State is saying. I am fortunate enough to have the beautiful River Trent in my constituency, along with the Sow and the Penk, but new housing developments, which he mentioned, are a big issue, because the run-off from them is not pr…”

“Birmingham city council is the largest local authority in the UK by population. Sadly, for many years it has struggled with severe problems that impact its residents. The Government have engaged in local government reorganisation across much of the country. Large parts of the area covered by Birmingham city council may…”

“My right hon. Friend makes an important point about the exclusion of a number of sectors. There is a danger that Skills England will be very much tilted towards London and the south-east, ignoring large areas such as the midlands and the north of England, which will suffer as a result of its very prescribed focus.”

“Residents of Birmingham will have heard the Minister talk about monitoring, overseeing and reviewing what is happening. What they want to hear is what the Minister is going to do. Can he make it clear that if the talks are not agreed, there is no return back to work and the bins are not emptied, he will intervene and t…”

“I think the Minister would accept that Lords amendment 2 is a very modest proposal that could make a significant difference to people’s lives and outcomes in China. There is talk of Labour buying off its Back Benchers by saying that further legislation is coming down the line—is that in six months’ time, a year’s time,…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The Deputy Prime Minister and I have a mutual passion: she too is a great fan of His Majesty’s work on the built environment and ensuring the high quality of design. One concern that a lot of people have is seeing the quality of design eroded, so that we see the same design in Kent as we do in Staffordshire. Would she …”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that the increase in stamp duty that has been imposed on people creates a real challenge when it comes to encouraging more people to buy homes? If the Deputy Prime Minister could encourage the Chancellor to reconsider that, so that it is not so expensive to buy a new home, that would be an imp…”

“A short while ago, I met members of the Brewood and Codsall dementia support group in my constituency, and they raised the issue of the increasing number of people being diagnosed with early onset dementia and the difficulties of supporting them. Could we have a statement or a debate in Government time on how we can su…”

“We know that the Minister is having to defend the undefendable—he has got a certain Matt Hancock about him in how he does it with zeal. [Interruption.] Sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. Does the shadow Minister agree that the people who are paying for these increases are taxpayers? They are people who are working hard. I wa…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, but let us look at children’s hospices, which will be down £4.9 million. Most funding for children’s hospices does not come from the Government; it comes from communities and from people supporting them. Can the Minister, at the Dispatch Box, assure children’s hospices suc…”

“Will the Minister give way?”