Speeches by Bool.

“Going back to the SFI, given the change for those who applied in those two months before, those ones who you are opening it for, DEFRA has capped the applications at £9,300, based on the average of all those who applied. Given that the average application for a commercial farm, as opposed to a few meadows or pony paddo…”

“It does not help farmers to keep quoting that.”

“I beg to differ. There are the 75,000 farms that we actually think are affected and all the farming protests we have had. You know that that is a very different situation.”

“You are stressing them out more.”

“I am staggered by what you have just said there. The mental health strain is unbearable. I have heard farmers telling me this weekend about family members planning things they should not be doing to get away from this. I am really upset to hear you say it like that, because you are saying this money is going to help me…”

“I do not think we disagree about getting energy security. That is fine, but solar is only effective about 11% of the time and there are other spaces that should be used. You mentioned about the land use framework. One thing from our consultation was that actually there is not this effective mapping. That was something …”

“We do, but it does not address enough and that is a problem.”

“Thank you, Chair. I am really pleased to hear that Baroness Batters is leading on the farm profitability review. Could you just quickly tell me what resources and expertise are available to support her work? You also mentioned that it is a six-month review. That does not really seem enough time to get under the skin of…”

“You talk about being responsible with taxpayers’ money, but, in terms of giving farmers certainty, in the autumn Budget, as the Chair mentioned, you brought forward the end of BPS early and started the reforms of APR. In November 2024, you closed capital grant schemes and then reopened them in February. In March you cl…”

“You say about that. Have you read our report, “The Government’s Vision for Farming”, yet?”

“Perfect. Within that, you talk about support. Just then you were rather dismissive about the inheritance tax, but that is a huge element of giving long-term support to our farmers to know that they actually have their farms in the future. You talk about diversifying as a means of profitability, but they will get hit by…”

“Those who unfortunately are at this point now cannot.”

“Secretary of State, you mentioned biosecurity and that you are very keen on supporting it. I wanted to ask what is happening now about the ban on EU products coming into the UK for personal use. At the moment, from 12 April, there is a ban on cattle, sheep, goat and pig meat, and dairy products. When I have come in fro…”

“I appreciate that it is a letter, but a letter is not good enough in this day and age. It was taken off X as well. The post from the Government got taken down, so there is still more to do. On the SPS, I know that you are saying it is a very good agreement, but it now means that we will be subject to the European Court…”

“I pay tribute to that powerful contribution from the hon. Member for Knowsley (Anneliese Midgley). Our thoughts and prayers are with Liv’s family in the Gallery. I truly welcome the provision of better information for victims of crime. It is essential that victims are at the heart of justice. As Baroness Newlove has sa…”

“I am grateful to speak in this debate, and I will focus on three amendments: new clause 9 and amendments 51 and 38. To save time, so that other Members can speak, I will not take interventions. New clause 9, which is in my name, would essentially establish the standard of proof—namely, the degree of certainty and the a…”

“What time frame are you working to?”

“Looking forward on all this, I understand that you have this emergency loan for liquidity, but obviously you need to sort out the long term because it is clearly very complicated for everyone to manage. I understood that Thames Water hoped to secure new ownership by June: are you on track for that?”

“If all that goes wrong and does not go to plan, what is the back-up and the timing for that, then?”

“Ofwat recommended that all this time you should basically continue talking to the other parties that had come in, along with KKR. Why did you not do that?”