Speeches by Wilson.

“Hamas would disagree with the hon. Member, because Hamas boasted that the killing of civilians would help to increase the resistance and put some fire into it. Before accusations are made against Israel, let us look at the record of Hamas on putting civilians in harm’s way, and basing their rockets and firing points in…”

“I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The question was asked at the start of this debate, “Whose side are we on?” Let me make something very clear: I am on the side of the people who suffered one of the most horrendous terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023, when their citi…”

“No, I will not give way. This demand will be used to justify the intimidatory marches that we see week after week throughout the United Kingdom. It will be used to justify the barricading of Jewish businesses, the banning of Jewish students and academics from universities, and even the banning of Israeli sports fans fr…”

“The Minister has said that we are not rejoining the EU. I think earlier on she made that comment, but you are saying there is a choice here between either going through the long, complicated process that you described in the first part of your answer or starting to take a lot of the EU regulations, decisions and so on …”

“Minister, you have already maybe touched on some of the answers to the first question I wanted to ask, but the plan states that UK REACH will be reformed by 2028 to be “more aligned with our closest trading partners” and that the UK will use trusted jurisdiction decisions as starting points. How exactly will those comm…”

“Have you considered the trade implications—although that is probably not your Department—of divergence? Already, for example, Northern Ireland faces a situation where it has to abide by EU REACH regulations. That already applies to fire extinguishers and so on. There will be new regulations that will apply from April o…”

“Yes, but what would the criteria be simply on the outcome of the consultation? Would it be what industry said or what came back from whatever source of information you used? Surely there would be a criterion that you would apply. What factors would be included in that criterion?”

“I suppose the Committee would want to know what weight would be given, for example, to the environmental implications of diverging and not putting restrictions on as opposed to trade, employment or whatever. That was really what I was trying to get at. What would be the main criteria that would be applied when deciding…”

“In an earlier answer the Minister did say that where it was in the interests of the UK, the Government would consider divergence and, indeed, mentioned a couple of industries—pharmaceuticals and aerospace, I think. What criteria would be used for deciding whether we were going to diverge from the EU on these issues?”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The impact of the measure will have a disproportionate cost, especially in Northern Ireland, which relies on sea transport for the import of goods from GB, and for the export of goods from Northern Ireland to GB. Although the order is regarded as a domestic measure, it nevertheless affects an important part of our econ…”

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“If you are asking for new data, which is a flow of information that has to come to you eventually—I am trying to think of an example of where you may ask for new information. You mentioned soils, for example, that you want more information about soils. In the discussion with the Department, would there ever be any talk…”

“Given what you have said about aligning with the land-use priorities and the lack of development of the land-use priorities and the slowness on deciding on some of that, do you have any concerns that it might not achieve the goals set out?”

“I have a practical question on the data collection. Data do not come out of thin air. They require a lot of work and sometimes right down to individual levels where forms have to be filled in, information has to be given and then fed up, analysed and presented in a form that eventually is useful to you. Seeing the cons…”

“You have identified the risks of the new legislation, bank sheets, the width and so on. It is one of the themes that we have had in other presentations that we have had recently, the implementation and monitoring. There is no point in passing laws and not paying any heed to the implementation or the monitoring of them.…”

“I will turn to planning and infrastructure. In your report you made a number of comments. Initially, you took the approach that the strategic approach was commendable and well implemented and beneficial, though it concluded then that to practise it could reduce the level of environmental protection. Then after the amen…”

“The report indicates that EDPs and the nature restoration fund could support or damage environmental protection. One of the things that you pointed out was that if the nature restoration fund is not well aligned with land use priorities and so on, it could have a detrimental effect. Given what you have said about the l…”

“On the last point, while not trying to defend the Prime Minister, do you also recognise that in some cases, because of regulations and the way regulations have been applied and the practical consequence of them, he does have a point? Examples can be quoted of where it would seem that regulations have been either overly…”

“I welcome the statement. It is a pity that it does not include hotels and restaurants, because the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland is under massive pressure due to taxes and the regulations that have been imposed. The Minister has confirmed that this will be new money and therefore there will be a Barnett conseq…”