Speeches by Lamont.

“The Labour Government’s family farm tax will be catastrophic to farmers in my constituency in the Borders. I will join many of them and their tractors in Kelso on Saturday, when the farming community comes together to show its displeasure and disapproval of this policy. Farmers will struggle to pay this tax, so what as…”

“The result did not change and would not have changed—”

“An observation I would make—it is not a question—is that it is harder for us as candidates and agents to spot those mistakes when returning officers use mini-counts as a method to count the votes as opposed to having one big count where you can see the votes piling up if it is a very close result. If you have four or f…”

“Can I start by echoing your comments about your posties? My constituency covers nine sorting offices, and they did a tremendous job getting all the stuff that we were asking them to deliver through the doors, but there were delays in Scotland. Your evidence highlighted some issues with the printers. Can you expand on t…”

“A very quick question: given that stranded American astronauts could still vote in the American election, do you not think there is an argument for making overseas voting online?”

“Mr Carling has just asked my question about how long you had to get those communications delivered. My follow-up question is: have those timetables changed since previous elections?”

“Just for the benefit of the Committee, the failure was clearly with the printer. They were contractually not fulfilling their side of the obligation to—is it the Scottish Government? The election management team in Scotland is a separate board, is it not?”

“There were other examples, though, that were Royal Mail’s responsibility. In my own constituency and others in Scotland, there were examples of posties who were on holiday for particular weeks, and rather than cover being put on to ensure that postal votes were delivered during that critical week, the postal votes rema…”

“Obviously, the Government are a major customer of the Royal Mail during the election, but the other major customers you have are all the political parties. In previous elections, we had various phased communications that went out to electors when postal votes landed and at various other points during the election campa…”

“Forgive me, I am not talking about official election communications, although obviously I am concerned about them as well. I am talking about additional communications, for example a letter I might be writing to somebody who I know is going to be supporting me. It is not framed as an election communication; it is just …”

“I do not want to have any more questions on this, but I have been fighting elections since 2005 and I have never known a campaign that has been so difficult in terms of ensuring that Royal Mail was delivering communications in the window that we expected, both as a candidate and as a political party. This was by far th…”

“I want to continue the discussion about the counts. The Electoral Commission confirmed that the election was well run, but it identified a few issues with postal votes in Scotland and a couple of problems at counts, one being in Wandsworth, I believe. In Putney, several thousand votes went missing, which resulted in a …”

“But the results in that area have been close in the past, so it could have done. I was wondering what additional training you are providing to your team across the country to ensure that whatever mistakes were made in Wandsworth are not made elsewhere.”

“I start by paying tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for his persistent campaign to get an inquiry into Keighley and Bradford. Scotland is not immune from grooming gangs. Indeed, a survivor expert fears that grooming gangs are operating in every town and city in Scotland. What d…”

“Center Parcs is planning an exciting new development in my constituency in the Scottish Borders. It will be the first Center Parcs in Scotland, and it will bring £350 million of investment and create 1,200 extra jobs for the area. However, due to under-investment by the SNP Government in Edinburgh, there are concerns a…”

“Like many other Members, I clearly remember the events of 2001, not least because all the cattle and sheep on our family farm—my father’s farm in Berwickshire—were slaughtered. The emotional trauma will stay with farming communities for many years to come. I am reassured that this Government are engaging with the Scott…”

“The A1 is a vital road link for the Scottish Borders and Scotland to the rest of the United Kingdom, and Labour’s decision to scrap much-needed improvements will harm the local economy and stop businesses investing in jobs. The local Labour MP, the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), has said he was “di…”

“4. What steps her Department is taking to help maintain roads.”

“This week, Scottish Labour announced that it will abstain to allow the SNP Government’s Budget to pass through the Scottish Parliament. This is now typical of Scottish Labour, sitting on the fence and not standing up to the SNP in Scotland. Does the Leader of the House agree that there should be a statement on the UK G…”

“The funding for the Borders railways feasibility study is part of a legally binding agreement: the Borderlands growth deal between the United Kingdom Government and the Scottish Government. That money was allocated by my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell), who is si…”