Speeches by Lamont.

“The obvious question that stems from the hon. Lady’s point is why on earth the Prime Minister made that appointment when there was so much information about the toxic nature of Peter Mandelson. What on earth was the Prime Minister doing? The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, a Cabinet member, was doing the rou…”

“My right hon. Friend is right. The Prime Minister’s position, particularly after his remarks during Prime Minister’s questions earlier, raises serious questions about what he knew and when, and why on earth he made the appointment. I have been doing this job as a Member of Parliament since 2017, and previously I was a …”

“No matter which party we represent, no matter what deeply held differences we have and no matter how different our beliefs, everyone in this Chamber—indeed, anyone who serves the public—does so in the interests of this nation. We all signed up to serve our country, to do the best by Britain. Peter Mandelson has broken …”

“Do you both agree with that in terms of previous systems?”

“Obviously, we expect the highest standards from those who are elected to office or are running councils, and I appreciate that the system in Scotland is different, but have you ever had any experience of the standards system being used to protect officers from proper accountability? The reason I ask that is my own coun…”

“Do you think previous systems were better understood?”

“How well understood are the current standards systems, both within the local council and more widely with the public?”

“Q7. The Scottish press is full of stories about the plot by Scottish Labour MPs to bring down the Prime Minister. One Scottish Labour MP said he is terrible, another Scottish Labour MP said the handling of the Budget had been incompetent, and yet another Scottish Labour MP predicted that Scottish Labour will be slaught…”

“That would be very helpful. Obviously bits of it are devolved, but it is a bit like the infected blood inquiry, given the UK-wide ramifications.”

“The Home Office has announced a new inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal. My understanding, from what you have just told us, is that it is over to each Department to run that inquiry. Is there any oversight or involvement from your team during that process, when the inquiry is getting set up or running?”

“Sadly, some of the victims of grooming gangs are also pre-devolution as well.”

“That is very helpful. I will move on to a separate point, which hopefully we can find some agreement on. As you will know, the Scottish Government have a policy of Scottish independence within the European Union. During my time as a Minister, we spent hours trying to stop the Scottish Government using the UK Government…”

“That is helpful. As you may know, I take the view that grooming gangs operate, sadly, across the whole of the UK, and that borders are no obstacle. I have been calling for the UK Government inquiry to extend across the whole United Kingdom, because the Scottish Government thus far are refusing this. There is no constit…”

“They operate in a different part of the market from the catching, as you will understand.”

“Right. So fishing was not part of that trade-off, despite what the industry is saying about it.”

“I am slightly confused. On the one hand, you are talking about trade-offs in the context of fishing, but on the other hand you are saying—”

“As I said, there are industry bodies that take a different view. Given what the Scottish Government have said, how did that fit into how you developed the UK Government’s negotiating position? Where was the starting point? Was it that you spoke to all the devolved nations in relation to fishing, the Scottish Government…”

“On fishing, and the new EU-UK relationship, the Scottish Government described it as a “great betrayal of our fishing fleet”, which was backed up by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, the Scottish White Fish Producers Association and many other industry bodies, so it is important to recognise that there is not always …”

“I want to go a little further into the relationship with the devolved Administrations. Minister, you said in June that the Government are “committed to ensuring that UK Departments, the devolved governments, the UK Mission to the EU, and the Northern Ireland Executive Office continue to work together to determine a sha…”

“I get that, but you also said the service was in distress, and by any measure—certainly by my measure—that would suggest that there was something going wrong with it long before the first week in January.”