Speeches by Lamont.

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“I am grateful. As I said earlier in my short comments, in my constituency I am inundated with wind farms, solar farms, battery storage and data centres. I now formally object to each of them. Previously, in my life as an MSP and an MP, I did not formally object to such applications, but the situation has gone so far an…”

“Minister, the CSPL raised concerns about the complex and confusing system based on conventions, lacking independence and subject to the whims of the Executive back in 2022. How are the Government addressing that?”

“It was a change from what you said prior to the election.”

“As a Labour peer, as a Labour Whip, did you raise concerns about Peter Mandelson’s appointment? Most people knew—I have been in politics for 20 years and throughout those 20 years I have known that Mandelson was a bad penny. And you did not raise any concerns, either internally or externally?”

“Is it not ultimately the Prime Minister who is responsible for the standards of the people he appoints as Ministers and the people he appoints to represent our country?”

“Did it raise any questions in your head at the time, given what all of us know about Peter Mandelson?”

“Does it raise questions in your head when the person responsible, the Prime Minister, appoints people like Peter Mandelson to senior positions on behalf of our country?”

“Sorry, I just thought it was important to set the tone.”

“I am not suggesting you are responsible for Peter Mandelson’s appointment or Doyle’s appointment but the culture is set by the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister was responsible for your manifesto at the last election, so in terms of cleaning up politics, how is it going?”

“For the record, this is one of the suggested questions. In opposition the Labour party said that “bad chaps” are a feature of our political system that the current standards regime is ill-equipped to deal with and committed to “replace the weakened standards regime with a new architecture”. Has this assessment changed …”

“If bad actors were to come into prominent positions within government do you believe the current standards regime is sufficiently strong to deal with that?”

“I am concerned that we do not serve more British-sourced food in our schools. Indeed, it is estimated that between 20 million and 40 million chickens are imported each year from China. That number has gone up 172% since the general election. What are the Government doing to ensure that our young people are eating Briti…”

“If you fast-forward the clock 10 years, how would you measure the success or failure of the EIC?”

“Should it also be that standards are higher? All that sounded very procedural to me, but surely the ultimate goal should be ensuring that standards in public life are significantly higher than what they are now, or the perception of that is higher.”

“What were the greatest achievements of the CSPL?”

“That was my next question. The inquiry work and other achievements of the CSPL will be carried forward. It is not going to be lost?”

“Good morning. The Government had a very clear commitment to replace the CSPL with the Ethics and Integrity Commission. What is your view on that change? Obviously you have moved over, but was that something you were advocating for or believed had to happen beforehand?”

“May I ask the Prime Minister about one particular consequence of this war in the middle east, namely the rising cost of heating oil, diesel and petrol? Everyone is struggling—I have spoken to many businesses and people who are really struggling to pay their bills—but the support from the UK and Scottish Governments is …”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”