Speeches by Bedford.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of the VAT registration threshold on SMEs. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. It was Napoleon Bonaparte who once said that “England is a nation of shopkeepers”. As is often the case with Napoleon, he was wrong. England, and indeed the …”

“I absolutely agree. Over the last year, particularly in the Budget and recent announcements, we have seen measures that stifle the growth of SMEs and small businesses. I thank my hon. Friend for raising that today because I am passionate about supporting them, not only so that the economy can grow, but so that we can c…”

“I thank the Minister for his speech. I ask him to take back to the Treasury the various arguments that have been put forward today, particularly about the benefits for the broader economy and for our local communities that could be achieved by reviewing the VAT registration threshold. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Du…”

“Organised gangs operate in many spheres—sex, drugs and, as reported in the media, our welfare system. This totally undermines public confidence in the system. Will the Minister make representations to the Home Secretary to ensure that foreign nationals who are found to have abused our welfare system are removed from th…”

“On Second Reading I spoke in support of the principle of the Bill, because I believe that freedom of choice, especially at the end of life, should always rest with the individual; that it is the individual with a terminal diagnosis who is best placed to decide when it is their time to slip away. As a society, we do not…”

“I am not giving way. As a supporter of the Bill, I have listened to the debate closely and I agree that we need better palliative care across the UK. My own grandparents were both superbly supported by amazing Macmillan nurses in their final weeks battling incurable cancers. But I recognise that this support is not uni…”

“As MPs, we receive a wide range of correspondence from constituents during some of the most difficult times in their lives, but the email that I received from Emma Johnson was perhaps one of the most harrowing that I have ever received. It is because of Emma’s story that I have tabled new clause 51, and I will speak to…”

“I recently met a load of entrepreneurs and small businesses in Mid Leicestershire who all have the same concern about the low VAT registration threshold of just £90,000. That is stifling their growth, because it adds a lot of bureaucracy and cost. What representations will the Minister make to the Chancellor to ensure …”

“I want to plug this report from the House of Commons Library on youth unemployment that was published yesterday. It is a very interesting read with some quite stark statistics: youth unemployment has gone up by 42,000 in the last year and there are an extra 50,000 economically inactive young people over the last year. …”

“Welcome, Minister. Turning to employers, we have heard and read evidence that employers are reluctant to use jobcentres for recruitment. I have certainly visited a number of jobcentres in Leicestershire and had similar conversations. Does the Department understand why that is? What is it doing about that?”

“Having spoken to employers in my constituency, I wonder whether there is a cultural issue at the DWP around a lack of understanding of how business works and operates. The civil service—the state sector—is completely different to a lot of small and medium-sized businesses that would like to recruit. That could be a pro…”

“Without going too much into the policy of the Employment Rights Bill—I know a little bit about it as I was on the Bill Committee—I was concerned about some of the impacts of that Bill on youth unemployment. I think the official definition of young people is up to 24. In terms of day one rights, for example, if I am an …”

“Does the Minister agree that those pensioners who missed out on their payment in the winter of 2024 and will qualify under these rules should be reimbursed for the money they lost?”

“One way of ensuring that new unitary authorities such as those for Leicestershire have adequate funding is to base that funding on robust business cases. Given that the Department was five weeks late in providing feedback to the local authorities, will the Minister commit to extending the deadline to ensure that those …”

“I am conscious of time, so quickly going back to the adequacy point, I want to get a few comments from you about this: some stakeholders have suggested that some adequacy benchmarks should be looked at, such as target placement rates or minimum income standards. What is your view on that?”

“Welcome, Minister. I want to turn to state pension adequacy. Looking at the second stage of your review on this, could I get your thoughts on the broader societal challenges that will feed into that, such as the pressures from housing, health, social care, and how that will be taken on board in the mix?”

“I have loads of questions, but I will trim it down to one on the investment review. Looking at the potential mandation in the forthcoming Bill, I have spoken to a number of pension stakeholders about their concerns on the market intervention here and the impact that could have. Can you elaborate on that a little bit as…”

“I am coming on to that point, actually. On the context of pension adequacy in general, how do you see that evolving? Clearly, we go back decades that the balance between state pension and private pension provision would have been significantly different. How do you see that evolving in terms of greater onus being place…”

“I will come on to some questions later on that particular point. On your comment there about having confidence in the system, one of my concerns over the last six months is there have been rumours swirling in the media around changes that could potentially come in the pension space, such as restricting tax-free drawdow…”

“While we might not agree with their methods, peaceful protests can take many forms, including the burning of religious texts. Does the Minister agree that freedom of expression must be protected and that any move by Parliament or the courts to introduce a blasphemy law would undermine it?”