Speeches by Cross.

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way. She says it is clear who is on the side of working people versus the companies. My constituents are the people working in the oil and gas sector. They are the ones most at risk of losing their jobs if the changes brought in through the EPL go wrong. I am on the side of working pe…”

“Does the Minister believe that oil and gas companies are still making extraordinary profits?”

“How much of that profit was made in the UK versus globally?”

“I will speak to clauses 15 to 18 briefly, but mainly to new clause 3 in the name of my right hon. Friend the Member for Central Devon (Mel Stride). It would require the Chancellor to publish within three months a review of the expected changes introduced by the Bill on employment, capital expenditure, production, deman…”

“We were saying a moment ago how extraordinary it is that they are not here to stand up for their main industry. That shows how much they value or care about jobs across Scotland. We are seeing warning signs already of the impact of these measures. Just a week after the Budget, Apache confirmed that it would cease opera…”

“Absolutely; sometimes there is a complete disconnect in this place between how much we can tax and squeeze something dry and what that does to investment. These companies, especially the global ones, do not have to invest in the UK—they can invest across the world. They are choosing to invest here at the moment, and th…”

“I recognise that, which is why it is so important that we protect the jobs and the investment. The companies in our supply chain have the skills and expertise that will drive the transition, as will the investment that comes in, and that is why we need to keep them.”

“Exactly. There must be a balance between production and demand—I will come to demand later. There is no point reducing our domestic production while our demand stays the same, because we will only fill the gap with oil and gas from abroad, which is produced with a higher carbon intensity in poorer working environments,…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. At what point does she believe we will be fully reliant on renewables?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that new clause 1 is not about a presumption of finding fault, but about ensuring that the proposals work correctly? It is so important that the regulator and the regulatory role work perfectly so that the Bill can be implemented in the way that is expected.”

“As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, reservation of benefits applies when an asset that is still being used is passed on under the seven-year rule. Is he suggesting that a farmer who has been on their farm for their whole life should move out of their farmhouse, get off the land and pay market rate rent? Where will the…”

“I thank the Minister for giving way. The CAAV calls the £3 million figure “unrealistic” and “unreasonable”. Does he not agree?”

“I thank the Minister for giving way; he is being generous. He has mentioned claims for agricultural property relief and business property relief, but what about claims for business property relief alone? Have they been included in his figures?”

“You use that as the annual figure?”

“I do not think you can do it either way.”

“If I can clear this up, are we saying that the total for the year is one-quarter of stocks die? You have looked at it and have broken it down per month in order to get to the quarter, or is it we have taken each month’s mortality and added it up?”

“Thank you. Sarah, following on from that, whether it is gill health or other reasons why we have seen changes in mortality, from a policy point of view, what have you been looking at that might help?”

“Good morning. Either of you can take this, but maybe we will start with Sean. The industry and the Scottish Government figures show that mortality has been increasing in recent years among farmed salmon. Do you have a view on what might be causing this and is it different nationally here versus what it would be globall…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Before the Budget, the hon. Member will remember attending a Westminster Hall debate that I organised specifically on agricultural property relief and business property relief. Will he agree that the Conservatives have not jumped on that since the Budget? We have been speaking about it for a very long time.”