Speeches by Newbury.

“Okay, I would like to come back to that in a second but Sir Adrian, you acknowledged earlier that Thames Water is funding some, or possibly all, of KKR’s due diligence costs. Are your customers footing the bill for that?”

“Chris, one reason that many of your staff are so worried at the moment is the lack of long-term certainty over the ownership of Thames Water and what that picture might mean for them. You have the opportunity today to allay some fears, so can I ask you whether you are willing to guarantee that job numbers, pay, and ter…”

“If you cannot use the word “guarantee”, can you commit as chief executive through this process of a change of ownership that you will fight for your staff’s jobs, terms and conditions as that ownership changes?”

“So if you have a potential new owner who is looking to perhaps reduce terms and conditions and undermine staff numbers, you will make the case for that not to happen?”

“I thank the Minister for the open and sensitive way in which she is responding to the debate and for sharing the experiences of the family of her constituent Nathan. I am familiar with that case. She heard me explain the contact that I am having with the family of Rob Spray in my constituency. Would she be willing to m…”

“Some aspects of the cases that the hon. Gentleman is eloquently describing are sadly very similar to those in the case of Rob Spray, from my Cannock Chase constituency, who died suddenly in Bulgaria in 2019. Rob’s case is about to be heard at inquest, so I will not comment on the legal aspects, but I can say that his f…”

“I absolutely agree, and my hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. Often, the premium in semi-rural areas is very real. I will finish by saying that children and young people in the semi-rural communities that those of us here represent have just as much potential as those in rural and urban areas. I look forward to wor…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your esteemed chairmanship, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing the debate and particularly for including the phrase “semi-rural” in the debate title. Often in this place we debate the issues facing rural and urban areas, but …”

“These vans are being pulled over with illegal meat, although it is not just illegal meat. We saw bootleg alcohol and personal possessions in another van. They are being dealt with at Dover and then being asked to make a voluntary surrender. As we said, they are then allowed to go scot-free. The staff are working under …”

“Yes. We understand that the team within DEFRA that was responsible for delivering BTOM has been disbanded. Obviously, you cannot keep groups like that going forever and ever, but does that mean that DEFRA considers the implementation of the BTOM to be complete now?”

“That is fair enough. You touched on some aspects, such as implementation being delayed because trade will not be ready and you want to make sure that it has its full effect. The National Audit Office and some traders have stressed the importance of the single trade window to realising the benefits of BTOM. Is that one …”

“Have you made an assessment of the risks of not implementing that?”

“Very briefly, just to follow on from what Jenny was saying about the differing levels of checks at different ports, have you made an assessment of the risk that might be posed by delaying the implementation of controls at west coast ports?”

“Thank you, Baroness, for allowing us to sneak this issue in at the end of the session. The previous Government consulted on fairer food labelling, and the consultation ended a whole year ago tomorrow. What is the Government’s current position on introducing animal welfare labelling?”

“The consultation proposed a five-tier labelling system, which would initially just be for pork, chicken and eggs. That would obviously differentiate between products that fall below, meet or exceed the baseline animal welfare regulations for the UK, so that consumers can make an informed choice and they can see the goo…”

“Obviously it is not just about animal welfare concerns; it is also about making sure that our farmers, who are held to a higher standard than those importing goods, are getting recognised for meeting those standards. Do you think that this would go a long way to making sure that farmers are paid a fair price, in that c…”

“That is encouraging to hear, but, given that the consultation ended a year ago, what has been the delay to getting to this point?”

“Yes, but that was nine months ago.”

“I really appreciate that. Finally, do you have any indication on timescales for when we might see something?”

“Baroness Hayman, when you came into office and you looked at the border target operating model, particularly the design and the way it was being implemented, did you identify any issues with that? If so, what were they?”