Speeches by Billington.

“We have heard that 70% of learners are not finishing. Is that because they get a job before they finish, or is it because they do not like it?”

“On the 200 different skills programmes across the country, I am all in favour of letting many flowers bloom, but that sounds to me like a huge lack of strategy. Would somebody like to express some views on that?”

“It tends to end up being a fancy model, because we need to have accountability and governance.”

“Forgive me, but a lot of what you said I have heard before. Why do you think it has not happened before now? The long-term strategy, the implementation, the targets, the investment—literally, the things that you have said—I have heard since 2008. Why is that? Why haven’t things changed?”

“Brian, would that create the demand that you are talking about?”

“Bear in mind that with minimum energy efficiency measures, one of the things we know from local authorities is their weakness in being able to enforce them because they do not have the capacity. It is all very well having the standard in practice. What risks do you think there are around lack of enforcement? I am also …”

“What impact do you think the Government’s decision to raise the standards expected in the private rental sector to EPC C will have on creating the demand that you are talking about?”

“Obviously it will create the demand.”

“Good. Tell me about that.”

“All I would add is that in some cases the way the system works, particularly in Kent, is actually driving up costs. People are not being allocated to maintained schools and are ending up in private provision because they are successful at tribunal. Arguably, Kent’s budget is being bust because of the way they are appro…”

“If we talk to them, what might the timetable be for securing a debate?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Jane Austen mentions not only Cromer but Ramsgate—in “Pride and Prejudice”—although certainly in a less salubrious way than she may have referred to Cromer. Ramsgate and Wells-next-the-Sea share the concerns that the hon. Member mentioned about short-term holiday lets. Does he support the calls that many colleagues and…”

“I declare an interest as chair of the coastal parliamentary Labour party and co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for coastal communities, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume). We are in danger of violently agreeing with each other, so I will not repeat much of what has …”

“Will my hon. Friend confirm that this Government understand that there is a clear distinction between the challenges in rural communities and those in coastal ones? I noticed that the Liberal Democrat spokesman used the words “coastal” and “rural” almost completely interchangeably, and we know that the levels of depriv…”

“Indeed, we need a place-based approach with that active state. If we want economic growth that reaches all parts of the country, invest in coastal communities. If we want public services that really improve the experience of people who are most alienated because of state failures, invest in coastal communities. If we w…”

“I would like to commend my right hon. Friend for all the hard work he has been doing to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, and indeed for maintaining accountability to this House, as he has done today, in so much detail. It is devastating that Israel has resumed the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian civilians. While the c…”

“The Minister is clearly aware of the foolhardy decision by the Opposition to abandon the political consensus on net zero, but has he made an assessment of the cost to the consumer of pursuing that disastrous path, which would lock us into our dependence on polluting fossil fuels, volatile oil and gas prices, and the wh…”

“My right hon. Friend will know that the Tory legacy in coastal communities such as mine in East Thanet is a broken welfare system and a broken economy. The number of people claiming PIP has more than doubled in my constituency since 2018, and the statistics on young people claiming for mental health conditions are part…”

“Yes. I was just going to follow up slightly on a couple of those points. First, I am interested in understanding, if we were to incentivise shared ownership, how that would accelerate the deployment of clean energy generation at a scale for us to hit the 2030 target. How much would this particular set of recommendation…”