Speeches by Lamont.

“Imposing taxes on tourists will only discourage people from enjoying the best of what the Scottish Borders and Scotland have to offer. Many small, rural businesses are struggling to sustain themselves, so I fear the extra tax proposed by the Scottish Government will be the last straw. Does the Minister share my concern…”

“I totally agree. We need to invest in the skills we have; otherwise they will be lost, particularly for more traditional industries. If the skills are lost there, they might never return. I do not often agree with the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman), but she highlighted an important point about the gap…”

“I will make some progress, if I may, as I have taken a number of interventions. Our workers and businesses have been poorly served by a nationalist Government who have too often been distracted from the day job and who have too often overlooked and sometimes even ignored what small businesses have said. Let me outline …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Glasgow East (John Grady) for bringing forward this important debate on the state of Scotland’s economy. As he highlighted, there can be no doubt that Scotland’s economy has suffered from 17 years of SNP rule. It is impossi…”

“I will push back slightly on the narrative that, up until the election of the new Government, the Scottish Government and the UK Government had not been working together on the project that the hon. Gentleman mentions, or on other areas. The reality is—as, again, I know from my own experience as a UK Government Ministe…”

“I am grateful for that intervention. I did not quite catch the first point, but the previous Government had a proud record of improving the lives of people across the length and breadth of Scotland by lifting people and families—and children in particular—out of poverty. That is a record the previous Government are rig…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about Scotland’s universities and the role that they play, particularly regarding investment in our universities. So does he agree that it was a mistake by the UK Labour Government to reverse investment in the supercomputer in Edinburgh?”

“Further to those points of order, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the Opposition, I would also like to pay my tribute to the right honourable Alex Salmond. As others have said, despite political differences, we were all shocked and saddened to hear the news on Saturday of Alex Salmond’s sudden passing. He and I were both elec…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford. As we have heard, the main purpose of the order is to make consequential amendments to UK legislation to ensure that recipients of the pension age disability payment—the Scottish Government’s devolved benefit that will replace attendance allowance—are treated …”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Vickers. While, as we have heard, this is simply a technical instrument to amend schedule 9A of the Government of Wales Act to remove the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales—which no longer exists—from a list of devolved Welsh authorities, my concern is the Wel…”

“My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point about both the funding arrangements and the tax changes that have been speculated about in the press. Farmers are in the dark about what comes next. There may be budget cuts and there may be financial pain, but they do not really know. The Government should be listening to …”

“It is an honour to follow my constituency neighbour across the border, the hon. Member for Hexham (Joe Morris). Today’s debate is on a topic that interests me greatly as the son of a farmer, and also as a proud MP for a rural constituency where farmers, land managers and workers in the rural economy deliver some of the…”

“Hezbollah began its latest assault on Israel on 8 October, the day after Hamas’s attacks on Israel. The Iran-backed terror group has fired more than 12,000 rockets towards Israel over the past year, but the international community called for a ceasefire only after Israel had responded. The Prime Minister has said that …”

“Being an MP for the Scottish Borders, I am lucky enough to represent some of the best farmers and food producers in the whole of the UK. However, as we have heard, the new Government have chosen not to give them any clarity about their future funding settlement, so I ask again: can the Secretary of State commit not to …”

“10. What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for farming.”

“I congratulate new Ministers on their appointments. The last Conservative Government spearheaded various clean energy schemes for Wales, including the Celtic freeport, which has the potential to create more than 10,000 green jobs. Will the Secretary of State join me in recognising that the last Conservative Government …”

“Today the Government are expected to unveil details of their steel plan for south Wales. From what has been briefed to the press, it seems that the new deal is, at its core, the same deal—worth hundreds of millions of pounds—that was agreed by the last Conservative Government. At the time, the Secretary of State and th…”

“The fact remains that key parts of the deal, as it appears in the press, appear to be largely unchanged from what was agreed before, including almost £100 million to help steelworkers who might lose their jobs. In its negotiations with the last Government, Tata Steel was crystal clear that no other deal was possible. M…”

“Labour is taking a leaf from the SNP playbook by refusing to take responsibility for its own actions. This is happening because of choices made by this Labour Government that have been passed on by the SNP in Edinburgh. Labour’s election slogan was all about change and, under this Labour Government, pensioners do not s…”

“The Rosebank oilfield will provide more than £6 billion of investment in UK-based businesses. The Jackdaw oilfield will cater for the energy needs of 1.4 million UK households. This Labour Government are jeopardising all that investment, energy and jobs by dropping the UK Government’s opposition to the judicial review,…”