Speeches by Evans.

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech about what happened a year ago. Another problem is that all the kite flying in the Treasury at the moment means that people are now making decisions to withdraw their pensions schemes, not employ people and not invest. Is my hon. Friend seeing that in her constituency, as I …”

“We saw this in the health service, with the private finance initiative; £13 billion of investment became £80 billion of public debt to pay back. Does my right hon. Friend worry that Labour seems to be following exactly the same principle by locking in these high future costs for our children and for the country?”

“rose—”

“In the previous debate, we talked about tax, and the funding that the hon. Gentleman mentions was also being used to deal with the tax burden on the high street. Will he explain the Liberal Democrat policy? How would they levy these taxes on social media giants and big banks, and where would that money go? It seems as …”

“Was my right hon. Friend as surprised as I was to hear the Prime Minister say again today at Prime Minister’s questions that his No. 1 goal is growth, when all the evidence is pointing against it?”

“He is struggling on both.”

“Last week in Prime Minister’s questions, the right hon. Gentleman said: “Get a grip, man! I know I am the Justice Secretary.”—[Official Report, 5 November 2025; Vol. 774, c. 902.] I am pleased he knows he is the Justice Secretary, and with that comes leadership, so can he guarantee to the public that he has a grip on t…”

“One of the concerns I have when we discuss mental health in this place is the confusion between mental health and mental wellbeing. Everyone has mental wellbeing challenges—we saw that in the pandemic—but not everyone has a mental health issue. It is absolutely normal, for example, to get very anxious going to a drivin…”

“It was the Conservative Government who brought in the mental health investment standard to ensure parity for mental health. It is this Government who made the capital cut the hon. Gentleman mentions, and who are not meeting the standard. I am intrigued; why does he think that there is so much difficulty understanding t…”

“The Minister mentioned WorkWell, which is a fantastic scheme introduced in 2023 that dealt with 59,000 people through £64 million of Conservative Government investment. I am glad that the Government are taking that forward and looking to expand it. My concern as a GP is about trying to get more people on the premises. …”

“It’s your amendment, Chris! That is what you are voting for.”

“I previously tried to ask about the Government amendment that is going to be voted on, because it explicitly states that the administrative burdens of regulation for businesses will be cut by 25%. I have two questions: what is that 25% of and how will it be judged, and will it be from before or after the Employment Rig…”

“The amendment contains a bit of an oxymoron, because it says that the Government’s plan for small businesses “commits to cut the administrative burden of regulation for businesses by 25%”, but it then goes on to mention the Employment Rights Bill. Will the 25% cut in regulation take place before or after the Employment…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Hospitality was hit particularly hard by that toxic concoction. A UKHospitality survey found that 76% of businesses put up their prices, one third restricted their hours and 63% had to cut their staffing as a result. Is that not the reason why we need this policy to try to improve our high streets?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Given the recent National Audit Office report and the fact that the tax increase to national insurance contributions has had the biggest impact on the voluntary sector, has an impact assessment been carried out into how much the cost has gone up for hospices in England to provide their services? If not, will the Minist…”

“The hon. Lady is spot on; that is exactly the point that I was getting at. While there is a legal duty in terms of palliation, what that palliation looks like is important. Her question was also raised by the hon. Member for Strangford, who asked whether it is now time to have a strategy dedicated to palliative care, g…”

“I yet again thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). He should be proud of Mona Shannon, and she will be proud of him not just for raising this topic today, but for all the work he does across this House talking about health, because he is assiduous and dedicated to timely health interventions, and that shou…”