Speeches by Shannon.

“I thank the Minister for that answer. Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We would not have a United Kingdom without her, and Members in this Chamber would be a lot poorer for the lack of Northern Ireland. We are thankful to be a part of these British isles,…”

“I certainly do, and I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. That is a key issue for me in this debate, which I conveyed to the Minister beforehand. I am confident the Minister will take our thoughts on these issues and bring them forward to the immigration Minister or the Secretary of State. The questions I have a…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I congratulate the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) on bringing this forward. I spoke to him earlier about it, and I am very pleased to be here. Indeed—I can say this without boasting—there has not been a fishing debate in this Chamber in all the ti…”

“I commend the hon. Lady for bringing this issue forward. First, there is an anomaly—there are two and a half times more self-employed men than women, with jobs and opportunities. Women have the skills and the talent, but one of the things that holds them back is childcare. It does not matter where someone is in this gr…”

“You know me—I am happy to do whatever you feel is right. On that question that you brought up, four are Labour Members, and the other four are on the other side of the House.”

“They are both from the Labour party. It is about ascertaining who the Members on the Conservative side and what their interests are. The Chair has said he wants those named to participate in the debates, so I am conscious of having to ascertain names. We are trying to add a Conservative to that at the moment, and we wa…”

“First, Chair, I wish you and the newly elected Backbench Business Committee members all the best for the future. I suspect, if God spares me over the next few years, that you will see lots of me. This application is for a debate that, had the election not been called on that Thursday, I was due to have then, but becaus…”

“Okay. I am sorry—I had another one but I asked for that to be withdrawn, and it has been. That is the one we talked about in the Lobby. That one for NICVA is very specifically about Northern Ireland. We had the chance of an urgent question in the Chamber and every one of the political parties in Northern Ireland put fo…”

“Okay. If Members were able to assent to a 90-minute debate in Westminster Hall and that were possible, I would be happy. But I realise that this is my first time here in this new Session, and I do not want to be too pushy.”

“Was that for a half an hour or was it—”

“I thank you, Chair, and all the Committee members. Sarah Dyke made representations.”

“Thank you, Sir Roger, for giving me the chance to intervene; I appreciate it very much. I wanted to come along and support my friend, the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton), because the same police force, chief superintendents, constables, sergeants and police cars that service his area also service mine. The cle…”

“The hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) and I had a particularly difficult time about a year and a half ago. There were special circumstances—paramilitaries were feuding—so funding for our area had to be above and beyond. The police service was able to give officers more overtime, but it was only able to do so bec…”

“Every week I have people coming to my office who are victims and have no access to money. They deserve justice, and the only way they can get it is with legal aid. What discussions has the Minister had with the Policing and Justice Minister in Northern Ireland to ensure that legal aid available here can also be availab…”

“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make a statement on the ongoing connectivity issues caused by belatedly announced cancellations of flights, such as those between Belfast and London.”

“Did I ask for a 30-minute debate?”

“It would be churlish of anybody in the House not to welcome the £22 billion that has been allocated to the NHS. Everyone across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will benefit from that. A number of my GP surgeries have contacted me about their national insurance contributions, which they s…”

“I commend the hon. Lady for bringing this issue forward; the number of people in the Chamber indicates the interest in it right across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Does she agree that dentistry is on the brink and that the additional national insurance contributions are going to push even m…”

“We very much welcome what the Government are doing in relation to the contaminated blood and Post Office Horizon scandals, but let ask the Minister a very gentle question—a question that needs to be answered—in relation to the WASPI women? When the right hon. Gentleman was in opposition, we all supported the WASPI wome…”

“My apologies. Westminster Hall is probably the norm, but we feel that this debate warrants time in the Chamber. It will be the first in I do not know how many years, even going back to the last term of Government, where we have a debate on religious persecution and religious belief. Also, if you do not mind my saying, …”