Speeches by Grady.

“I do apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are talking today about a massacre at a hospital where mums, dads and little babies should be safe and helped. With that in mind, those who commit war crimes should be held to account. Can the Minister please reassure me that the UK is doing everything possible to ensure that in…”

“I have a question for Professor Stewart. Do we have reliable evidence on the quantifiable consequences of child poverty for the individual child’s education, employment and health outcomes?”

“The last question from me is to ask Professor Stewart to give a wee response to that.”

“Am I taking from you that you would say it is more likely than not that low income causes child poverty, or contributes to it, and leads to poorer outcomes, but there is some evidence that points the other way? Is that what you are saying?”

“What does it tell us?”

“Dr Cribb, have you anything to add to what Professor Stewart and Ms Howes have said?”

“Just a quick yes or no on this, Ms Howes, if you would be so kind. I take it your position is that there is a strong case for payments to families by the Government to alleviate child poverty.”

“I am very lucky to be the MP for a seat with wonderful children, in Glasgow, but unfortunately it is blighted with some of the highest child poverty in the United Kingdom. On those individual children, Ms Howes, do you have anything to add to what Professor Stewart has said?”

“So you see low incomes as a significant cause of child poverty and therefore the effects on children’s education, employment and health outcomes later on. How does the evidence you have referred to affect the case for Government payments to families to reduce poverty and improve those outcomes?”

“If I understand your position correctly—and I am not very clever, so help me with this—you do not think that there are any social harms caused by online gambling, but you do think that some people interact badly with it. I can tell you as a constituency MP that I see terrible harm, with people getting into debt. Despit…”

“Why is your industry taking measures, then?”

“Constituents have come to see me who have got themselves into very serious financial difficulty and debt over a few days of online gambling. Is it your position, Mr Kenny, that the purpose of taxation should be to reduce gambling, and that revenue raising is secondary? We don’t want to get into the detail of regulation…”

“Thank you. Mr Kenny, thinking about it from the punter’s point of view, if we increase taxes on gambling, how will the gambling companies respond with a view to preserving their profit margins? Will they take a hit on their profits, or will they lower the odds so that the people gambling have a lower chance of winning?”

“I am not sure I would say I am a technical expert. We have heard from Mr Kenny and Mr Jung that we could significantly increase taxes on online gambling and increase revenue. Is that your position as well, Dr Bertram?”

“AI has the potential to deliver huge benefits, but how concerned are you that the financial sector is deploying it without sufficient and adequate understanding on the part of regulators and firms?”

“In the questionnaire, you said that stress testing for climate-related risks, improving data and modelling capabilities, and so on are all important roles. You had a focus on tools and on climate stress, but the Bank has only conducted one climate stress test to date. There has also been quite a lot of chat in the Fina…”

“You mentioned, in the context of our discussion about the gilt market, threats to central bank independence. That engages political risk, and the wider political risk around China, Taiwan and so on. Do you think we are under-pricing and under-examining that? Is that something that keeps you awake at night?”

“The proposed changes to agricultural property relief in Scotland will ensure that, by still providing full relief for the first £1 million of assets, farmers continue to benefit from Government support far beyond that which is available to other assets. Given that 7% of claimants—117 claimants—receive two fifths of all…”

“Would you have an emergency switch you could pull if you could not keep up with it just because of the volume of demand? You have your day-to-day regulation regulating existing applications.”

“I have two follow-up questions. First, you mentioned a vast amount of demand for your sandboxes. This is pouring through your door, and that is in a way consistent with the chat we see more generally about the huge sums being invested in AI. Can the FCA keep up with this?”