Speeches by Cocking.

“Are councils that have done well to keep their council tax low and keep money in residents’ pockets being unfairly punished by still having to deal with all these cost increases while their council tax base is low?”

“I am going to talk about the national insurance increase on local government. Council tax can be raised by 2.99%, or a fiver if you are in the lowest quartile. Usually, over the last couple of years, inflation has been above what that brings into local councils. What will the impact of the new employer national insuran…”

“The Home Secretary mentions asylum hotels. The Government have actually opened more asylum hotels since they have been in office. Can she give us a date when she will have met her manifesto commitment to close the last asylum hotel?”

“We must bring migration numbers down. They have simply been far too high for far too long. My constituents say that to me loud and clear, and I completely agree with them. Unfortunately, despite the Home Secretary’s words, I am not convinced that the Bill will go far enough. The Government have ignored the National Cri…”

“3. What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on SEND provision. [R]”

“I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Hertfordshire currently receives the third lowest SEND funding in the country, despite the number of children in the county with education, health and care plans growing by 223% in the last decade. What steps is the Minister taking w…”

“You do agree though that becoming a British citizen is a real privilege?”

“In the scenario you have just given, he can get the right to vote if he becomes a British citizen; is that correct? In effect, you are misleading us a bit because it is his choice. There is a choice available to him. If he wants to become a British citizen and get the privilege to vote, he can do that. He is choosing n…”

“Lewis Cocking, Broxbourne.”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent contribution and I support what he is saying. We must get benefit fraud down and I support some of the measures in the Bill. On the point he has just raised, does he agree that this is only one side of the coin in dealing with benefits in this country? Of course, we must do everyth…”

“We received terrible news from AstraZeneca over the weekend. It is businesses across the country, such as those in my constituency of Broxbourne, that create economic growth, not the Government. The Government have increased red tape and employer’s national insurance contributions. Can the Minister outline how he is pr…”

“15. What steps his Department is taking to encourage entrepreneurship.”

“Economies grow and jobs are created when individuals are able to take risks and invest in their ideas, so what have the Government done specifically since the general election to help more people in my constituency of Broxbourne become entrepreneurs?”

“I am a councillor as well, sorry.”

“I am Member of Parliament for Broxbourne.”

“Can I ask you a different question, Louise? Your area has been through unitarisation, albeit some time ago. My concern with unitarisation is, how do you get all of that economic growth in the place bit right—those powers that the districts currently have around economic growth, town centres and so on? The more town cen…”

“I was mulling over in my head how to ask these types of questions because we have had the answers around size and the appropriateness of that. There have been different comments from different people. Tim, you think it should be 500,000 or more because of certain services that upper tier authorities deliver, such as ad…”

“That is £280,000, not half a million.”

“I wanted to push back slightly. I think districts are the best size of local government because they allow people to connect with the communities more. So it was just the contrary argument to what Chris was putting over.”

“I am a Member of Parliament for Broxbourne and a Hertfordshire county councillor.”