Speeches by Norman.

“And will fall within the 2.5% budget that we are talking about.”

“Thank you. Am I right in thinking that Sizewell C—a civilian nuclear power station—is included within the 1.5% additional defence commitment?”

“That is helpful; thank you. In the spending review, current spending in MOD increases by 0.7% a year for the next three years. Given that defence inflation will probably be higher than regular inflation, for reasons we know, that effectively means that the actual amount of new spending that can be incurred on readiness…”

“Sorry, but you did not talk about what differences from other banking proposals are and what the difference from the Bruegel proposal is?”

“So there may be more recent players, but you have actually been thinking about this much longer.”

“I have a final question. You have talked about SAFE as being too small in and of itself to satisfy the need, because the need is much greater? Can you talk a little bit about how this is different from other banking proposals in the market or from the Bruegel proposal?”

“So if it was generating assets, they would take some value from that? Or not? Or they might not consolidate them at all?”

“If it was 5% or 10% of a bank, it would be, presumably, because they would not have the same level of control.”

“And this would be off-balance-sheet financing from the point of view of the UK Government?”

“So losing their identity, in some sense, in a bigger institution protects their brands and gives them more ability to function?”

“But the same problems would still exist whether they had a guarantee from you, from the UK Government or any other institution, right? Still, the problem is not with the guarantee; the problem is with the commercial bank trying to get the money over its own ESG rules, moral qualms, shareholder pressure and all those ot…”

“If commercial banks were able to overcome the concerns that Mr Nelson has mentioned, such as having banking relationships, worrying about ESG, changing their banking rules, and thinking through all the details, then they would be able to borrow from your institution. Obviously, you would require them to do that, becaus…”

“I do not mean to cut you off, but we do not have much time. These other banks—Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank—are often lending to programmes or schemes that will have an explicit economic return or an implicit social return. That is not the case with a defence bank, unless you are lending in the space we h…”

“I want to make one point on Treasury auctions. We have had a couple of recent near-failures in Treasury auctions, so we need to be a little bit careful about the idea of issuing bonds as though it were the solution for anything, given the fragility of the gilts market at the moment. My question is for Mr Murray. It is …”

“You might also be playing the European Commission in, which presumably would gum everything up anyway.”

“There is a Bruegel proposal out there. How is what you are proposing different from that?”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“Ah, okay. I am very sorry to say that the Leader of the House has corrected me. She is, in fact, a union member and therefore fully complicit in the same problem. The Treasury itself is now the only hold-out against union demands. Little wonder the Chancellor has looked so unhappy and out of sorts—and that was before t…”

“I am afraid to say that the past week has been another horror show for the Government. This is Armed Forces Week, as the House will know. It is a time to celebrate and champion all those who serve and have served in our armed forces, and nowhere more than in my own county of Herefordshire. We must also note that, far f…”

“I am very grateful to the hon. Lady for the question. Of course, it is a Conservative body in the first instance, developed on a cross-party basis. As far as I am aware, there is no desire in my party to make it anything other than a continuously independent body to suppress and prevent the abuses that occurred before …”