Speeches by Glen.

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. In responding to me, the Minister pointed out that it was necessary to increase the national living wage so that everyone had enough money, which is obviously a reasonable point to make. Does my hon. Friend feel that the pace at which that was done—it increased faster than …”

“I recognise that the Minister wants to come to what the Government are going to do, but does he not accept that the decisions already made in the last two years—with respect to the price of employment and the national living wage, the cost of employment with regard to legislation, and business rates—have depressed the …”

“In Salisbury, we welcome zero emission buses, and the previous Conservative Administration worked with the ZEBRA—zero emission bus regional area—scheme to deliver 30 new buses. Last week, when I met Ed Wills, the new managing director of Salisbury Reds, we discussed a number of matters, including acoustic measures to m…”

“11. What assessment he has made of trends in employment levels in the hospitality sector.”

“I thank the Minister for her answer and the positive news about the sector apprenticeships. Hospitality is critical in Salisbury as we move towards our 800-year celebration next year, but last summer there was a 25% drop in temporary work in the sector, and the cost of employer national insurance contributions for part…”

“I welcome the appointment of Parminder Kohli as the chief executive officer of the Office for Investment. He is a personal friend of mine, and he will bring 30 years of experience in the oil industry. Will the Secretary of State set out what measures of success Parminder will face, so we can judge what impact the Offic…”

“A revival.”

“It gets slightly bigger.”

“Can I bring in one of your colleagues on the panel? Mr Townsend, you have heard the discussion we have had about the gap between HMRC data points and other research. What do you think about HMRC’s data here and whether it is accurate to the scale of the illicit consumption?”

“Is the basic dynamic here not that, if 80% of the cost of the product is tax and it is going up all the time, and you have an addiction that you find it impossible to kick, you are going to be more likely to go to illicit sources to satisfy that craving? That is just a natural human instinct. People have limited money.…”

“I have two questions for Mr Monaghan. I would like to address the issue of the implications for sound businesses of illicit activity. I wondered whether you have any quantification of the negative consequences, for law-abiding businesspeople on our high streets, of dealing with the tax evaders who are not doing the rig…”

“Mr Monaghan, you have heard what has been discussed. Is there anything you have to add to this topic?”

“I understand that the Chartered Trading Standards Institute estimates that around one third of vapes sold are illicit. In Salisbury, I have six vape shops. I think that one of them was challenged a year or two ago about what they were selling. This whole issue of the proliferation of shops that most people find slightl…”

“This is serious. Trading standards has apparently confiscated 59% more illicit vapes in the 2023-24 tax year than the previous year. That implies that we have an epidemic of illicit vape sales across the high streets of this country, does it not?”

“On the issue of what it provokes in terms of illicit activity and a tax gap, I totally get that you do not want to concede that from the point of view of the public health outcome. The reason we have this Committee sitting is because we see all this illicit activity on our high streets and elsewhere.”

“I recognise the passion that you express on this matter, but is it not something more to do with not just what you have said but also the lack of connectivity between the criminal justice system, the HMRC system, the regulation of identity and who is doing this? There is a live debate about digital ID. Some of these th…”

“The Secretary of State will be well aware of the central role that Porton Down has played in our nation’s security and history through the UK Health Security Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. I welcome the announcement of an additional £580 million to build a new biological lab to protect agains…”

“It is understood that the number of people who smoke is much lower than it was, and most people think that that is a positive thing. We are trying to zone in on what proportion of that smaller pie is illicit. I have another statistic from some research from UCL, which says that 23% of smokers purchased illicit tobacco …”

“I think that most people will look at their high street over the last 15 or 20 years and say, “I have these vape shops and barber shops that I never had before”. I find myself sometimes thinking that it is a bit like a McKinsey job interview question where they ask you to estimate how many light bulbs there are. I reme…”

“Asbestos is widespread in public infrastructure. Asbestos-related diseases are the No. 1 cause of occupational death, with 5,000 a year—I lost my own father nearly 10 years ago. The right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), now the Minister for Social Security and Disability, said just four years ago that the…”