Speeches by Martin.

“Would anyone else like to add to that?”

“That is helpful.”

“Does the shadow Chancellor think that the policies of Liz Truss were good for business investment and confidence in the economy?”

“I thought that I would let the shadow Chancellor make a little progress in his speech before intervening on him. It seems odd to hear a speech about the economy from the Conservative party without any mention of Liz Truss. Now we hear mention of trade deals. Let me ask him this very directly: does he think that the pol…”

“I am a little confused—[Interruption.] If the Conservative party wants to take back Tunbridge Wells at the next election, its Members would do well to listen. Will the shadow Foreign Secretary clarify why she is criticising a deal for which the negotiations were started by the Conservative party?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. This is not hyperbole; these are real stories from real businesses, from people who stay up at night trying to juggle profit and loss, or looking at how they are going to pay their national insurance contributions or their business rates at the end of the month. We do not ha…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. [Hon. Members: “How do you follow that?] It will be hard—probably with a lower level of energy. I recently met with Peter, Kate and Edward, who run the two Basil cafés in Tunbridge Wells; there are four across Kent. They are a family business—the subject of today’s motion. [Interruption…”

“David, is there anything that the Government can do when re-legislating in that area, or is Northern Ireland in particular just a special case, for obvious reasons?”

“Is there any piece of legislation? Is there a quick fix? Is it right to impose a duty on the private sector to make sure that the contributions of our service personnel and veterans are recognised? It is a genuinely open question.”

“What about based on your experience of what you have seen in terms of interactions between service personnel or veterans and the private sector?”

“That is interesting. Thank you very much.”

“Thank you. That is a great point.”

“Just very briefly, I have a question for Lis, Mike and Gillian because it is about education and housing. Have a relax, Kate. We have these legal duties under the covenant at the moment. Gillian, I was struck by your comment about how they conflict with other well-meaning legal duties enshrined in other bits of legisla…”

“Thank you all very much for coming and for your answers. I am interested in the private sector. You have painted a picture of extreme variability between different devolved nations and different service providers in the Government sector. In the private sector, one imagines that that must be even more extreme. Could yo…”

“Yes.”

“I was at the Munich security conference and it became clear while talking with our European allies that they no longer fully trust the article 5 security guarantee. Put simply, they do not trust the Americans. Conversations naturally turned to what collective defence looks like in Europe without the Americans. Last nig…”

“I would like to put it on the record that the right hon. Gentleman is not boring the House.”

“Does the hon. Gentleman not think that the Members who, before they came to this House, campaigned in support of the Bill, and agreed to vote for it, should be present today to vote for it?”

“Before Christmas, Lord Robertson, who is leading the strategic defence review, came before the Defence Committee and told us that he could not guarantee that the strategic outcomes from the review would be fully funded. Recently, we have also heard in media reports that the review might be delayed until the autumn—a de…”

“Since I was elected as the Member for Tunbridge Wells, my inbox has been inundated with cases of children who are not having their needs met because Kent county council is failing in almost every regard. In 2020, 33% of EHCPs made the deadline; in 2023, only 13% did. I wanted to go through some examples, but we do not …”