Speeches by Western.

“This is SMEs.”

“What is your gut feel?”

“Finally, Mr Norbury, on the TPI element of the business and SMEs, I am just interested to know—because this is something that I have obviously missed a trick on—what proportion of your business to SMEs, 10 or maybe even 20 years ago, would have been fed through a TPI.”

“It is very difficult to access to change them.”

“They are not flexible.”

“We conducted a whole series of roundtables back in December last year. We went around the country to talked to all sizes of business. What was striking really for small businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, was that they felt they were paying too much for their energy bills. The market was not working for…”

“As a supplementary, do any of you think that the small business rates relief threshold should be increased?”

“In my constituency, Lydia and Frankie both run businesses that employ around 50 individuals. They both have covid loans and energy loans on top of the usual business pressures they suffer. Beyond maintaining the current discount on business rates, may I urge the Government urgently to review business rates reform, whic…”

“The Minister will be aware that the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, which I chair, has been doing a lot of work on defending democracy. I am sure we will welcome the proposals, particularly on illicit finance and cracking down on unincorporated associations. I gently urge her to look closely at crypt…”

“You would have raised that to the Minister many years ago.”

“This is a question—I am not sure whether it falls to FCA or CMA—about some of the fleecehold scams that relate to acquiring property. They have been told by the developer or house builder that they need to sign today and it needs to be through their solicitor, et cetera. Where would that fit? Once you are aware of thes…”

“Parity with the US would be a good target for us to achieve, would it not? Do you agree?”

“How does the panel think we will achieve the sorts of level comparative to the US?”

“Talking about metrics there, David Bailey, I am interested to know when you think the UK might reach the same sort of ratio of investment support from venture capital. If you look at the US, it is something like 1.4 times for small businesses versus the UK. When it comes to research-intensive businesses, it is 1.7 time…”

“The Chancellor has asked you to regulate for growth. Lots of Governments have sought smarter regulation, good regulation and so on. What specifically has the Chancellor asked you to do, and what have you done so far?”

“I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. Just a gentle reminder please to speak through the Chair —so “you” is me, as Members will appreciate. At this juncture, I do not think that we need to put a time limit on speeches.”

“Order. I remind hon. Members to keep interventions short.”

“Would there have been an assessment by DBT or someone about the potential for food shortages as a result of the attack, or did you feel, as a Government, that it was pretty secure and not a concern?”

“Finally, Pat, one of first things the new Government did was abolish the National Security Council’s economic security sub-committee. To what extent do you think the National Security Council is adequately considering these issues, given all the other matters that it has to deal with?”

“On the recent cyber-attacks on Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, I am interested to know—given that there was clearly a coherent, integrated attack—what that would have looked like for you. Would that have been chronic? Would there have been an emergency Cobra? What would have happened over that weekend?”