Speeches by Smart.

“Q I am an unpaid honorary vice president of the Local Government Association; as a former councillor, I am delighted that we are hearing from the LGA. I have two strands of questioning; one is around timing. The Bill proposes some changes around postal votes and bringing forward the dates for postal votes. We have seen…”

“Q In the interests of full transparency, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption are both grantees of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, of which I am a director. You talked about reducing discretion, and there are proposed amendments that would clarify who is no longer a permissible donor. I agree that c…”

“The Minister of course will know that the Prime Minister is responsible for the contents of the ministerial code. While the ethics adviser can launch an investigation, the Prime Minister reserves the right to raise concerns about any such investigation, so that the independent adviser does not proceed. Have I understoo…”

“T5. My constituent Simon came to see me about his concerns following his family’s journey through family court arrangement proceedings. He mentioned a Both Parents Matter statistic that has stayed with me: 40% of separated fathers experience suicidal thoughts. What more can the Government do to support parents, and eve…”

“The Liberal Democrats believe that people should be paid fairly to do a job, and that it should not be only the wealthy who can afford to be a Minister. Ministers will face enormous demands on their time, for there is much to be done, and the Government should prioritise finding talent across both Houses to fill these …”

“I am loath to say that I am delighted to have you in the Chair, Sir Roger, because I feel we are all missing out on a good hour’s worth of content with you there rather than here, but it really is a pleasure to serve under you. Since the 2024 general election, we have seen the start of a slow procession of former Conse…”

“Hour.”

“No. The Liberal Democrat position is that elections should happen on a regular basis. We would re-implement the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, because we think it is healthy for people to know how long they are electing somebody for, rather than leaving the power in the hands of the Prime Minister of the day. I belie…”

“If it is on the subject of PR, I will happily give way.”

“I could not be more delighted to go into details about different voting systems. The hon. Gentleman will know that AV is a preferential system, not a proportional one. I am talking about proportional representation. AV would have been a better system than first past the post, but a proportionate system would be even be…”

“Many people, when talking about tactical voting, mean voting to stop somebody: a person has a preferred party or candidate, but lends their vote to somebody else to stop a third party they really do not want getting in. There are many different proportional systems—indeed, we have different systems in Wales, Scotland a…”

“We have not discussed PR sufficiently this afternoon. Does the hon. Member accept that there are different voting systems of a proportionate nature, some of which retain the constituency link?”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. Steps to improve transparency around public procurement are, of course, welcome. The granting of the federated data platform contract to Palantir and the scandalous covid personal protective equipment contract under the previous Conservative Government have undermined…”

“In his remarks, the Chief Secretary mentions policy and process weaknesses in our political system, and he is right to do so, but surely the real failure is that of the Prime Minister’s judgment. He also talks about the depth of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein not being known, but Mandelson’s character was, and i…”

“I am grateful to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. Let us be clear about why we are here. Following collapsing public support, strong opposition from the Liberal Democrats, a petition signed by nearly 3 million people—including over 5,000 of my constituents—and significant un…”

“It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair this evening, Sir Desmond. While the Liberal Democrats welcome the overarching free trade agreement and are in favour of opening up trade in the face of Trump’s trade wars, we believe that the agreement between the UK and India could have gone further in a number of areas, in p…”

“The creation of the Government post of special representative for trade and investment, and the appointment of Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor to that post, raises deeply alarming questions about how previous Governments treated powerful men who abuse their positions. Liberal Democrat Members are proud to have secured the …”

“Government Ministers, including the Prime Minister, have repeatedly told the House that Lord Mandelson should lose his peerage, yet weeks on, no concrete steps forward can be seen. No legislation has been brought forward, and even in the face of the appalling allegations, Mandelson appears safe from being thrown out fo…”

“Torkington Park, in my Hazel Grove constituency, is a beautiful place to spend time, but many of my constituents have been contacting me recently with concerns about raw sewage in the stream. They are really concerned about their children and their pets playing in there, and it appears that it is all down to dodgy conn…”

“My hon. Friend is starting to make a compelling point. In my local area, Stepping Hill hospital has a reported repairs backlog of £138 million. That means, in practice, that only four of the 14 lifts are working, staff are having to physically take meals upstairs to patients, and family members with a mobility issue ca…”