Speeches by Leadbitter.

“Significant concerns were raised in the recent Westminster Hall debate on the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023. Will the Minister take urgent steps to better categorise online platforms, to better protect women and girls online?”

“The Secretary of State has indicated that she spoke to the chief executive of Heathrow on Friday and again this morning. I would like to think that, with an incident of this scale, there were ministerial contacts throughout the weekend, possibly on a more than daily basis, given the impact it had on so many people. Wil…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. The latest figures suggest there are over 6,000 WASPI women in the Moray and Highland region, and they are an active and vociferous group. Of the 650 constituencies, my Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey constituency is in the top 25 for signatures on the petiti…”

“Today the Senedd will vote on a motion to redesignate High Speed 2 as an England-only project. Previous calculations suggest that Wales missed out on around £4 billion from the project. Welsh Ministers have now claimed that the amount is £431 million—quite the difference. With the Welsh Government abandoning their ambi…”

“7. What recent assessment she has made of the strength of the Union.”

“Has the Minister been in contact with the Scottish Government, notably about the Solong’s port of origin? Clearly, it is in significant danger of sinking, and has containers on board. If any of those containers break loose and get washed up on shore, widespread and firm public information about the dangers of approachi…”

“On 11 December, the Home Secretary gave a statement to the House on border security and collaboration, following the meeting of the Calais Group just after the collapse of the Assad regime. I made the point during that statement that it was critical that there should be safe routes to asylum for the most vulnerable, an…”

“On that point, will the Minister give way?”

“Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that this is not only about Ofcom but regulators more widely, and their ability to be agile? Does he believe them to be more risk-averse in areas such as digital technology, relying on traditional consultation time periods, when the technology is moving way faster?”

“I hear what the hon. Member is saying. There are a number of reliefs in Scotland, and Scotland went further and quicker than the Conservatives did in government when it came to the small business bonus scheme that was in place, so I am not going to take any lessons about what we do with business rates. It is a differen…”

“The director of Family Business UK, Steve Rigby, has said that the single most important issue for the family businesses he represents is the retention of business property relief. That has come through loud and clear to me in recent weeks when I have been speaking to local businesses, both individually and collectivel…”

“Q7. I have the privilege to represent the home of Speyside malts, one the finest Scotch whiskies. Last week, the UK Government unveiled damaging plans to grant a different definition of single malt to English producers from that of Scottish single malts. That is entirely inconsistent with the global reputation of the q…”

“On the point of geographic vulnerabilities, Aviemore, which many people will know as a major ski resort in Scotland, is pretty remote: it is on a major A-road, but it is in the middle of the Cairngorms. It has lost its last bank, and the nearest is Inverness, which is a 40-minute drive away—if someone has a car and it …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Hobhouse. We fully support this order to support the ongoing work of Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Government. I was not planning to speak for long, but the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has opened a few …”

“T4. My constituent Kia McNicoll is a mother of four children, and her three-year-old, Patryk, was recently diagnosed with cancer. Kia’s mother-in-law recently applied for a visa extension so that she can help the family with childcare through these most horrific of circumstances, but her application was rejected. Forgi…”

“6. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of using alternative funding models to purchase rolling stock.”

“At the moment, the rolling stock leasing companies take more than £1 billion of profit out of the railway. A substantial amount of that could be reinvested in improving the railway network. With the Bill for Great British Railways due to come to Parliament soon, will the Secretary of State look seriously at alternative…”

“Yes.”

“That was a fairly lengthy intervention. The first point I would make is that the key concerns raised by the Scotch whisky industry are trade agreements and spirits taxation—and we are here to scrutinise the Government in Westminster, not Scotland. The tax increase means that a minimum of £12 of the cost of a bottle of …”

“Absolutely. That is another point that I will expand on in a bit more detail shortly. We must continue to strengthen our trade relationships. While this debate is rightly focused on UK actions, it will not have bypassed hon. Members that there has been significant media comment on tariff actions taken by the US Adminis…”