Speeches by Cooper.

“You talked about the suspended licences, of which there are only three—a relatively low number. What assessment have you made regarding the suspension of items that might be used in Gaza? Has that made any real difference to the conflict? What I am driving at is that there is a very low number of suspensions; have you …”

“Simply that you have suspended three licences; what assessment have you made of the effect of that on the conflict in Gaza? Has it made any material difference at all?”

“I grasp the mechanics of it, and I know that three are suspended. My question is: what assessment have you, or the Government, made, in the round, of the effect of the suspension of those licences? Have you done any work on what effect that is having on the conflict?”

“It beggars belief that the inquiry inches along at such a dreadfully slow pace. With the Scottish Government ruling out an inquiry there, will the Home Secretary please commit to fast-tracking a thoroughgoing inquiry into the grooming gang scandal, for the sake of the victims?”

“Sadly, we are not here to relitigate this entire Bill, which is so wide in scope and impact, and yet so skimpy in detail, having been cobbled together for a headline under Labour’s “first 100 days” banner. I refer the House to Lords amendment 61, which without doubt will be dashed aside as Labour seeks to salvage somet…”

“12. What recent progress she has made on establishing a national inquiry into grooming gangs.”

“As a seasoned diplomat, does the Minister recognise that there is a danger that we are holding Israel to a different standard? When the Americans reached out into Pakistan to snuff out Osama bin Laden, the architect of 9/11, we were taking them to the bar; when Israel reaches out with a precision decapitation strike on…”

“The Chancellor elicited much public sympathy with her recent tearful appearance on these Benches, but over the summer I have had Dumfries and Galloway farmers in tears at the loss of the next generation of farming. A new Centre for the Analysis of Taxation report says that HMRC’s own figures indicate that these changes…”

“6. If she will meet with representatives of the farming industry to discuss the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on that sector.”

“I am delighted that the face of procurement is changing and that, hopefully, we will see a telescoping of the time between the flash of inspiration and the bang of kinetic effectors, as they say. The neutral vendor framework for innovation is a very important part of that, but will the Minister give me an assurance tha…”

“Charles Stewart Parnell came to this place and used British institutions against the British state. Now, in Scotland, we have First Minister John Swinney, who is a kind of pound-shop Parnell. Although we are hearing much about defence infrastructure across the UK, the SNP Government have a presumption against supportin…”

“It was a great moment when my daughter pulled a pint for me as part of her duties as a barmaid in her first job as she worked her way through university. Although that job put vital cash in her pocket, it also gave her people skills and proof on her CV that she was reliable and trustworthy with cash valuable stock. Her…”

“Is it that Ofgem does not have sufficient powers? We have heard a lot about that in this Committee about paper tigers, where powers look great on paper, but they are not being enforced. Where is Ofgem? Does it need more powers or does it just need to use what it has?”

“Dhara, if I can stick with you, is this the dirty little secret at the heart of the green, clean energy system? In fact, it is not really wholesale gas prices that are hitting people in the pocket; it is all these levies that are being loaded on. Is that not really the case? We can argue the toss about whether or not w…”

“It seems to be that domestic customers are better treated than commercial customers. Domestic customers have several checks, balances and safety nets in place, whereas the commercial people are just out there on their own.”

“If I can come to Venus, you talked about the difficulties that businesses face understanding their bills. Could more be done with bills? When HMRC tells you how much you have paid, you could get a breakdown of what your money is going to or something like that. Would it be helpful if that was simplified? Would that bet…”

“If it was easy, it would be done by now—it is the hard things that we are here for. Chris, I will come to you. You did a very good job of outlining the impact of non-commodity costs. Standing charges are another part of that. Do we need a big conversation about this whole question of these non-commodity charges in all …”

“It is good news that Liberty Steel Dalzell in Scotland is not involved in this immediate crisis, but it is not shroud-waving to suggest that the difficulties in the wider industry may mean that one day it will become involved. When the overdue steel strategy arrives, will it be a 360° look at steel production as a whol…”

“I should declare an interest in that my eldest son today started work at Rosyth royal dockyard, a key part of British military infrastructure for more than 100 years. Over the summer, we saw Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney meet with Ukrainian military personnel at the Edinburgh military tattoo. Incredibly, were …”

“7. What steps she is taking to help tackle fraud in the welfare system.”