Speeches by Stone.

“Given what I have said about the niceness of the 4.30 pm debate on a Monday and how we can give advance warning, we have had in recent times three debates—on indefinite leave to remain, special educational needs, and digital ID—where, as you probably will know, we couldn’t get the MPs into Westminster Hall. As Chair, I…”

“Indeed, that is the beauty of Westminster Hall. You can tell the petitioners what day and when the debate will be: Monday at 4.30 pm. If they have to travel far, that is very good for them, whereas short notice is not so helpful. We could go down to a one-hour debate within our three hours and have a one-hour debate an…”

“We can predict which Mondays we are going to lose because we know what the timetable looks like. One possibly helpful suggestion would be to say to the Government, “Could we have the equivalent time that we have missed, say on a Wednesday?” That would mean that we could plan in advance. I think that could work. Losing …”

“My plea is very similar to that of my good friend sitting beside me. I think we are very united as a Committee, and I think we have all been quite drawn into the idea of the petition and what it means out there. That is cross-party, which is an interesting dynamic. Secondly, I have—and Irene Campbell has—met visiting d…”

“That is a good question. The new website has been up for a number of days now. In going online, people can see that there has already been a petition like theirs or—similar to what was said earlier—that the Government are about to have a very similar debate or have had a very similar debate. I think that helps inform t…”

“We would have to put some real thought into that. At the moment, we are already having to make a judgment, as I outlined in my letter, about whether there should be a 90-minute or three-hour debate. You are trying to say what the likelihood is, and that is learning process. Depending on what you good people decide or r…”

“Just to make it clear at the start, the Committee see our Monday slot as sacrosanct—we are strongly of that opinion. I am aware that sometimes the Government do use Thursdays for legislation and so on. Perhaps one could build in a certain amount of flexibility by working through clerking teams with the Government. I wo…”

“The whole Petitions Committee, including me, is grateful to the hon. Lady, who is making a very good speech. Although we all care about this matter hugely, I have found from the emails I have received that the younger generation is increasingly unwilling to tolerate this testing at all. I welcome that and find it fasci…”

“No!”

“It is great to hear a qualified doctor talking about this matter. Health is devolved in Scotland—I must put that on the record—but in my constituency one finds that an awful lot of social care workers are calling it a day and walking away, with all sorts of unfortunate ramifications such as delayed discharge. Crucially…”

“There are two points that could reinforce the right hon. Member’s argument. First, I served in the Territorial Army, and it taught me to read a map; the reserves can teach people skills that will be useful in their lives. Secondly, many peoples’ lives are disorganised, but being in the reserves, the Territorial Army or…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way a second time; he is being more than generous. I should declare an interest: my son-in-law is a serving officer in the Royal Air Force and my daughter was, until recently, the same. One of the things that hits morale in all three services is being below strength—when they…”

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I am delighted that the Minister has made this statement, because I have raised this issue a number of times in this place. My constituency looks directly at the High North, and it is off the coast of my constituency that this Russian activity took place—let us make no mistake about it. My constituents find it deeply w…”

“The Treasury Bench would be particularly disappointed if I did not once again showcase what we have at Dounreay: a licensed site, a skilled workforce and a population who would greatly support playing a role in the development of fusion for the future. May I suggest that the Scottish Enterprise network might put its ha…”

“One thing that we need to get right, and which we got wrong in the past, is this. When I was first elected in 2017, there were not Russian spy ships off the coast of my constituency, but now there are, and we detected a submarine before Christmas. I raised this issue with the Leader of the House last week and have been…”

“The hon. Member is making a powerful speech. Whatever side one takes in the argument that he presents to us, does he agree that in the hopefully unlikely event of Scottish independence being achieved, two things would happen? First, Scotland, on forming its own navy, would have the greatest difficulty defending the str…”

“But Prime Minister, Rosebank remains an enormous strategic resource. I started my working life in the oil and gas sector. There are thousands of people out there who have made their livelihoods through this. What would be your message to be those people? Are we with them?”

“Finally, you have been talking about the nuclear industry. Surely, strategically, a network of small modular reactors all over the UK makes sense, including Scotland. It seems to me an utter nonsense that the Scottish Government can stop this. Can you reassure me that every tool at your disposal—at the Government’s dis…”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. Apropos of what you have just been talking about, out in the North sea, we have the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields, which are huge resources of oil and gas. They are massive and hugely important to this country. Can I suggest to you that we can achieve net zero simultaneously with utilising…”