Speeches by Leadbitter.

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“Without getting into a fight about who has the biggest constituency, Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey is in the top five for geographic size, and my constituents grapple on a daily basis with energy costs across the whole suite of energy measures, whether that is road fuel, heating oil, tank gas, or the electricity pri…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart) on securing this important debate. Right across my constituency, through the highlands and islands, across Aberdeenshire and right across Scotland, successive Governments …”

“Absolutely. That is just another example of delays in a system that does not work—a system that is not able to process applications or to deal with the legitimate issues that are raised by people within it in a timely and reasonable way. These are people who could be doing jobs, paying taxes and contributing to society…”

“The hon. Member has already covered the EPL, but it is important to recognise that Scottish Renewables and Offshore Energies UK wrote jointly to the Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressing their deep concerns about its impact on the transition. It will not be possible to deliver the renewables…”

“I take the point the Minister makes on nuclear, but the Government have not articulated what they plan to do with nuclear waste. The current projected price for a radiological disposal facility is about £60 billion, and it is marked as red—as unachievable —yet the Government say it is critical. It has not been articula…”

“The hon. Gentleman rightly points to the need for a suite of measures to deliver the Bill’s objectives and the overall reduction in fossil fuel usage by the aviation sector. One of the means of doing that is to massively ramp up green hydrogen production, which will have to happen over a number of years. I am sure that…”

“T4. With local growth funding from Moray council, in my constituency, stopping, associated progress in digital connectivity will stop, business advice and growth services will reduce, and there will a much-reduced skills development programme. A total of 14 staff will be made redundant, with further scope for redeploym…”

“Many things can be done to tackle child poverty. One thing the Scottish Government have done, which has massive backing from the third sector, is introduce a universal child payment. Does the hon. Lady agree that that is potentially the way forward?”

“One of the first acts of this Government was to remove the winter fuel payment, before their subsequent partial U-turn. The Prime Minister himself promised assistance for WASPI women, which is manifestly not happening. Both things affect pensioners significantly. When it comes to uprating, the gap between new and old p…”

“Businesses and public services in the north of Scotland pay among the highest commercial energy prices in the whole UK. The Government have had 18 months to try and fix that. Why do they still think it is okay to discriminate against people in the north of Scotland in that way?”

“The SNP has been very committed to community energy projects for a long time; indeed, we have invested more than the previous Government in community energy projects—over £67 million in nearly 1,000 projects. This announcement on community and renewable energy, while belated, is welcome. When the Secretary of State tal…”

“Just last week, the Government said that Russia remains the biggest single threat to UK national security, but they also said that they were not going to join the security action for Europe project. The main reason given was the increase in costs since Brexit. If Russia interfered in Brexit, is that perhaps not exactly…”

“The hon. Gentleman briefly mentions whisky. The deal is broadly welcomed by the Scottish whisky sector and I have welcomed it myself as an MP for a constituency with 49 distilleries—I am trying to visit them all. He talks about asymmetry in the deal, but is there not asymmetry in Labour Government policy, between the e…”

“We are witnessing in Gaza a catastrophe that was not only foreseeable but preventable. For over two years, the UK Government have hidden behind legal sleight of hand while a genocide has unfolded in Gaza. The definition of genocide set out in article II of the genocide convention is precise. It involves specific acts “…”

“My colleague in the Scottish Government, Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, has indicated a strong willingness to engage with the UK Government and other relevant bodies to trial things such as graduated licences and other road safety measures. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that is something the UK G…”

“I am glad that the Prime Minister enjoys a dram as much as I do. For the record, I did welcome the Indian trade deal very publicly, so he may wish to correct the record on that. However, I want to focus on an issue that is important to employment in my constituency: the Ardersier site, part of the Cromarty Green freepo…”

“T2. In its recently published quarterly statistics, the Aberdeen chamber of commerce confirmed that business confidence in the north-east has slumped to levels not seen since the height of the covid pandemic, with almost half of companies forecasting a fall in profits. The clear reason cited was the Labour Government’s…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate the co-chairs of the APPG, the hon. Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) and the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister), on securing the debate. I like to think I have a bit of an affinity with buses. For my entire time at high …”

“The Minister repeated the promise that was made nearly 18 months ago when the Labour party came into power. We are not seeing a massive amount of insourcing at the moment. I have constituents in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey who work on three different military bases as contractors. Many used to be civil servants an…”