Speeches by Gale.

“Order. We must keep an eye on the clock. [Interruption.]”

“Order. I must ask hon. Members to keep an eye on the clock.”

“Could those who wish to speak in the debate remain standing for a quick headcount? [Interruption.] We are going to put a three-minute time limit on immediately, and that may have to be reduced. I am conscious of the fact that some people have intervened, and I am assuming that those who have intervened do not intend to…”

“Order. I have been informed that three Members who have spoken in the debate wish to attend a meeting with the Foreign Secretary at 4 o’clock. Of course, the Divisions were not entirely foreseeable, and they have extended the debate, which will now end at 4.25 pm. I will permit this, but Members need to understand that…”

“I am pleased to be able to offer my Jurassic chairmanship. I call Sir Chris Bryant.”

“I am afraid I do not.”

“As the Chairman I am not allowed to participate in the debate, but as the Minister comes from the land of song he might like to know that Brenda lives in Thanet and is the chairman of the Thanet male voice choir.”

“Order. Will Members stand again, please? One or two people who were standing are not now.”

“Will the United Kingdom, preferably in tandem with our European colleagues but if necessary bilaterally with the United States, align with the United States in permitting Ukraine to use the missile defence systems that we have supplied as it sees fit in its own defence?”

“Dr Aleksandra Fox of the Ash surgery in my constituency is one of a number of GPs who have pointed out to me the deleterious effects of an ill-thought-through Budget. In addition, charities such as Shooting Star and Demelza children’s hospices are facing problems now. They cannot wait for discussions through the normal…”

“There will be small point in protecting farmers in international trade agreements if Government policy is undermining those same farmers domestically. How many thousands of farmers will it take to clog up Parliament Square next Tuesday before the Government realise that their inheritance tax policy is very deeply flawe…”

“The right hon. Gentleman referred to the amount of money being made available for flooding. The devastation caused by flooding pales into insignificance compared with the damage that will be done by inheritance tax. This weekend a farmer in my constituency has cancelled the building of a new barn because of it. Park ho…”

“rose—”

“This is a one-hour debate. Four Members, in addition to the Member in charge, have already indicated that they wish to speak. We are pushing the clock a bit, so anybody who has not already so indicated is unlikely to get called, although that depends on how long Members speak for. Members may wish to consider interveni…”

“Order. If we can keep contributions to about five minutes each, we might be able to get everybody in.”

“Order. Mr Shannon, I appreciate that you have been detained elsewhere with other business in the House but we are playing “beat the clock”, so I will not be able to call you. Ordinarily, because you arrived so late, I would not be able to allow you to intervene, but under these circumstances, if you choose to intervene…”

“Will those Members wishing to speak please stand up? I want to see who they are. Right—I am going to put a time limit of six minutes on each speech. There are four who certainly want to get in and we need to hit the winding-up speeches at about 5.5 pm.”

“Before I call the hon. Member for North Down to move the motion, I inform Members that the Parliamentary Digital Communications Team will be conducting secondary filming during today’s debate.”

“In the rural England that I am privileged to represent part of, they say that you should live as if you are going to die tomorrow and farm as if you are going to live forever. Do the Government not understand that if we inheritance-tax our farms out of existence, there will be no forever, and there will be no food from…”

“Were you given any indication as to why the Secretary of State was not here to answer the urgent question, Mr Speaker?”