Speeches by Glen.

“Huw, did you want to add something?”

“A couple of weeks ago we had the permanent secretary to the Treasury come in and reflect on the leak inquiry. It would be fair to characterise his response as saying, “Well, we tried hard, we did not quite get to it, but we are going to have closed loops going forward in the preparation of Budgets, and we need to be cl…”

“Palantir provokes strong reactions for a variety of reasons. We do not need to get into that, but what we do need to understand, probably, is why they win these contracts. They have won, so they were the best that was out there in the market. Some say that we should prioritise other providers on principle because Palan…”

“Salisbury has benefited enormously from investment in the river park scheme, which has alleviated flood risk to the centre of the city. My attention now turns to the villages, the role that farmers and agricultural land can play in effective flood defence, and the consequential impact on food supply. How does the Minis…”

“Recent tenure has been short.”

“Just as a final question, then, you do not think vulnerable consumers or the consumer rights organisations that work and advocate for those individuals have anything to fear from these changes?”

“Consumer organisations would perhaps say that, if poorly evidenced claims are made, that might say something about the individual’s circumstances and capacity to make a claim. How would you avoid the most vulnerable in society being essentially frozen out from making a legitimate claim from a position of less awareness…”

“I have no doubts about your professionalism personally, but if this question about openness and transparency results in individuals not being able to get their case looked at, that is of little comfort—they are not going to be comforted by that assertion. Are you saying that the broad needs of the consumer, as up to th…”

“Would you characterise this as a strengthening of consumers’ rights in any way?”

“I want to try to get to the heart of this issue of what will be perceived as a trade-off between things that industry will welcome, because they are more efficient, and consumers will fear because their protections are less. I see that there is a quote from Simon Morris from CMS in the FT today, where he says, “The omb…”

“Would you accept at this point, Mr Dipple-Johnstone, that that is the received wisdom of many financial services firms and law firms representing people? They see a decision from the FOS and they think, “We know where this is going to go”. This has caused a lot of frustration.”

“Can I just follow up on AI? Some would say that AI should be used to make decisions and that it could be more accurate than human decision-making. You were very careful to say, “AI does not make decisions”, but can you see a world where that would be appropriate, given the way that technology is improving and the fact …”

“All I would say is that the Chancellor made a speech yesterday where she spoke a lot about AI and the importance to the Government’s growth initiative. Everyone would understand the point that you have just made, but there is a point about AI taking you to that narrow point where humans intervene to improve the efficie…”

“I just want you to zone in on this trade-off point because the Government have not made these changes because they want it to remain as it is. In the end, there is a trade-off. I get that you do not want to create a headline today that there is going to be a trade-off, but there must be. We are trying to get to the bot…”

“That is your view. That is not the received wisdom in the marketplace, is it?”

“Do you mean against the OBR framework for the next three years?”

“I want to take us back to where the OBR is now. Last week it said to us that a 4.4% real-terms cut to unprotected Departments would be needed. It mentioned a £13 billion gap by 2029-30. As we have discussed, the Government are obliged to put all that in there, per Government policy. In truth that is not reality, becaus…”

“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I share the concern of many on the Opposition Benches about the national insurance increase, but I am particularly concerned by what is happening with graduate unemployment, which we have seen increase by 46% over the past six years. I draw …”

“Ms Curtice, I want to briefly come back on what you said about better targeting than the last time we did some sort of energy support. My recollection is that there were some significant constraints around data points. What do you perceive has been enhanced over the last four years? I do not think any of us would want …”

“That is an interesting observation but where we are now, it is not a real choice, is it? It is an historical and academic analysis, but it does not help us make choices at this point.”