Speeches by Blake.

“Cultural and community institutions in the heart of central London face an uncertain future. The Jubilee Hall gym, Central YMCA and the Prince Charles cinema all have uncertain futures because of the complex property ownership structures in which they exist. Central YMCA faces closures tomorrow, so will the Leader of t…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) for securing this debate. I have joked in previous debates that I could be known as the Member of Parliament for frozen assets; nothing could be truer today, as that is the topic at hand. At least £5.9 billion in suspect funds has entered the U…”

“What are they most concerned about? Where do they think the variations might come, and which are they most worried about?”

“I am tempted to ask you about the meteor news last night, because there are some statistical decisions to make about our activities around that. If you believe that you are communicating risk levels to policymakers, while you have acknowledged that there is always risk, are there any particular outcomes to making the w…”

“There are some real policy consequences to thinking, for example, that unemployment could be growing because of movement out of inactivity. There are some significant choices that Ministers would have to make. If they can be confident that there is a relatively low risk of this mistake, that gives more confidence throu…”

“Baby names are a relatively low-risk area. Coming back to the labour force survey, you said in October 2023 that you just could not put it out because it was too biased around one particular cohort. You took the decision there that the risk to policymakers from using this was too significant to put out the data. How ar…”

“I am probably at one end of the curve on this, and it has certainly significantly increased my capacity for this. One of the areas that we have been skirting around is confidence in the ability of decision-makers in the statistics. I am really interested to get to the bottom of your assessment of risk in the statistics…”

“You have done more for enthusiasm about statistics in the last two hours than many of your communications colleagues across Government have done on this topic for a long time, so I would like to congratulate you on that.”

“I thank the Chief Secretary for his statement about investment and growth. Does he agree with me about the role that new towns will play in tackling our country’s housing crisis and how important it is that, alongside the homes in the new towns, we see the delivery of new social infrastructure? Can he outline how those…”

“Does the responsibility for doing that lie with the FCA on the basis of the change in the remit letters, or does it lie elsewhere?”

“You have set out that there are opportunities after Brexit and with international standards. You have also said that the economic growth objective is not new. Obviously Brexit is a change, as are international circumstances and standards, but I would really like to understand why those changes that you are talking abou…”

“Reflecting on Dame Colette’s remarks about focusing on the different ends of the probability curve, I want to come on to public sector borrowing and how you have assessed the risk of public sector borrowing on financial stability.”

“To follow up on that, am I right in understanding that you do not think that public sector borrowing is just heading in one straight line direction, and therefore your assessment of the impact on financial stability is more subtle and more iterative?”

“Just to come back on your observation around additional competition in the banking sector, are there other benefits to consumers that you can identify?”

“So are you saying, then, that that opportunity with changes to EU regulations is the only thing that could possibly have changed from previous Governments’ objectives around economic growth? You identified some categories of opportunities, and I am trying to get at what detailed opportunities there are that are not lin…”

“I wanted to come back to Liz Oakes or Dame Colette around the relationship between growth and financial stability. We heard from the Governor about different categories of where there might be changes and opportunities to pursue growth in a balance and alongside financial stability. Are there any more changes that you …”

“You talked about the telecoms overlay and the relationship between those regulations and how other sectors might experience the same challenge of overlay. Are there any other sectors that might face that challenge?”

“I am confused as to why a party that brought in the proposals is now arguing so vehemently against them—perhaps it is still attached to its chaotic approach to government. What I am not following in the hon. Gentleman’s remarks is the argument that the equalisation of the taxation could have negative consequences. Has …”

“19. What steps he is taking to improve relations with the EU.”

“The end of this month will mark the anniversary of Brexit. Will the Minister assure me that we will not return to the appalling divisions of the past, and does he agree that the forthcoming summit and reset negotiations are a vital opportunity to discuss growth, not just for the diverse communities and businesses in my…”