Speeches by Baldwin.

“Sorry to keep pushing on this, but I think it is an important point. If the Chancellor says one thing on 4 November about the bad news in the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, but does not mention some of the offsetting good news, potentially during that window—maybe starting on 4 November, but she certainly h…”

“But there was potentially a false market in gilt prices in the 14-day window between 31 October, when you gave your final numbers, and the moment when it emanated from an organisation—which you are saying is not the Office for Budget Responsibility—that there was some good news in your forecast that would offset the pr…”

“Thank you for clarifying some of this. It seems that the most damaging moment in the whole period was the evening of 13 November and the morning of 14 November, because the gilt market moved very dramatically when it first heard that there might be some positive news in the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, wh…”

“The market moved when the information was confirmed to the markets.”

“The leak of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic and financial forecasts on Wednesday was obviously shocking, and it has rightly come up with a swift and complete report on how that happened. The partial information and the leaks from the Treasury over the many months in the run-up to the Budget were, in my …”

“I am looking forward to the Minister’s winding-up speech at the end of the debate, and I will not give way at the moment. Given the skulduggery that the Treasury seems to have engaged in during the run-up to this Budget, the lingering impression will be that the spectre of further tax hikes looms. The floating of the i…”

“I am talking about yesterday’s Budget. The Chancellor herself announced that she was freezing the thresholds for a further three years, and I dare say that the hon. Gentleman will be asked to vote for that in the Aye Lobby next week. I disagree with him, because the Chancellor has just announced that the thresholds wil…”

“It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh). I will be picking up on some of the points he made later in my remarks, but I will start by characterising the whole Budget in the way that we heard from the Leader of the Opposition, which is that this was the “Nightmare Before Christmas” Budget. Af…”

“I liked the introduction to the shadow Chancellor’s speech. Would a better film analogy perhaps be “The Nightmare Before Christmas”?”

“I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Critical minerals are vital to our national security. In submarines, missiles, jet fighters and radar, we need critical minerals for our national defence. Critical minerals in electric vehicles and wind turbines are also vital for clean energy generation. It is s…”

“On behalf of residents in flood-prone West Worcestershire who approached Storm Claudia with trepidation, I convey our sympathies to people in Monmouthshire. Experiencing a flood like that is one of the most terrible things that can happen a community. Could I ask the Minister to ask the Minister for Water and Flooding,…”

“You would prefer a tulip, would you?”

“Do you think tulips are more valuable?”

“Professor Yüksel Ripley, are there any additional benefits or harms that my constituents might experience as a result of a wider adoption of cryptoassets in the UK? Professor Yüksel Ripley: Yes, there are certain benefits in terms of payments, particularly cross-border and international payments. Despite all these tech…”

“In terms of characterisation, would you say this is more like the tulip bulbs of the 21st century?”

“We heard that sanctions evasion was a use case.”

“Mr Youel, what is your view? Are there things that my constituents are missing out on?”

“Would that include someone here in the UK who wanted to buy the Trump meme coin at $60, for example?”

“You heard the previous panel. One thing that I tried to probe with my questions was whether there is anything that my constituents are missing out on in terms of their ability to access cryptoassets. The FCA data is that now 7 million UK individuals have at some point owned or still hold a cryptocurrency. Perhaps start…”

“In the interests of fairness, I shall start with my first question again. Have you ever owned or do you now own any cryptoassets? Can you just put up your hands, if you have?”