Speeches by Grady.

“That would be very helpful. Moving on to a different topic, there has been a lot of discussion in Scotland about full fiscal autonomy. I was wondering whether the Scottish Government and HMRC have worked through any of the practical, technical, IT and other implications of such a proposal.”

“Just briefly on this, Mr Marks, you mentioned the board effectiveness review. Is that something that you could share with the Committee?”

“I must say I am used to dealing with complicated things, but I am slightly lost with this. We have had a sustained attack on HMRC, and you have had to deal with it. You deal with it one way and then they come back and have another go in a different way. We probably need you to set out what has happened very clearly in …”

“All I really wanted to understand is what work has been done to understand the practical implications of full fiscal autonomy. The answer is, “Not a lot at the minute”.”

“I would add one point of detail. I am not sure you necessarily need a referendum for full fiscal autonomy. You would for full independence, of course. I will move on, but, presumably, if you were to abolish the Barnett formula as well, practical implications would have to be considered as well. That has been suggested …”

“Have I understood the numbers correctly from the Scottish Fiscal Commission and others that, if we were move to full fiscal autonomy in Scotland, there would be a fairly significant public spending deficit?”

“If I were to ask for a realistic assessment of how much additional revenue would go to Scotland, assuming that the tax rules stay the same and assuming that the Scottish Government do not alter tax rates, would that be available at all?”

“We would not understand the cost of it either.”

“I recommend the shops in Parkhead Cross.”

“Dr Mann, how about you? Are you confident that things will not go badly wrong, faced with all this unpredictability?”

“As a follow-up question, we have heard diverse views about how monetary policy should move forward. Does all this uncertainty lead to a serious risk that, despite the Bank’s best endeavours, monetary policy could go badly wrong, with inflation undershooting or overshooting the target?”

“This is all very interesting, but what my constituents want to know when they go to the shops is that prices are not going to get out of control again. How confident are you, Dr Dhingra, against this background, that we can reassure my constituents in Glasgow that prices over the next two, three or four years will rema…”

“Ms Breeden, if we were having a tour around the shops at Parkhead Cross in my seat, would you be in a similar boat of reassuring my constituents that prices will remain stable over the next three or four years?”

“Governor, since we last spoke in this Committee, the global trading system has become somewhat unpredictable, from liberation day to arguments this weekend about the exports of critical minerals and rare earths from China. There are real concerns about President Trump’s “big beautiful Bill” and warnings that the US bon…”

“Good, thank you.”

“On assistance for first-time buyers, is the lifetime ISA not still in operation?”

“I apologise for not indicating properly.”

“I rise simply to support the provision. The first point to note is that this sort of technology has always been critical for the electricity system, which is why we have plants such as Cruachan in Scotland—which I commend to everyone as a great place to visit on their summer holidays—and Dinorwig in Wales. We need more…”

“I know, and you are sort of answering the question, but gently I guess the question is: at present, pending the PRA’s work, do directors and senior managers understand what they are using in this very advancing, complex, technological world? I am humble enough to say that I do not fully understand all this stuff. Do di…”

“Thank you, Chair. I need to keep this plugging along, so if you can keep your answers short.”