Speeches by Bool.

“You talked last year, Sir Nick, about the danger of the Covenant’s expansion being that we lose focus. I am worried about that, with the postcode lottery in how we apply it. It does feel like a huge amount of weight is now being put on this statutory guidance. If due regard cannot be too prescriptive, how prescriptive …”

“T3. The provisions of the Armed Forces Bill extend anti-drone permissions to the UK armed forces and UK bases. RAF Croughton is a US air force base in my constituency. Will the changes give US personnel the same updated authorities that are being extended to the UK armed forces?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. Digital exploitation does not affect women and girls exclusively, but, given that four in five victims of online grooming are girls, it is an issue that we must focus on. As MPs, we are all aware of the risks and threats that women face in the online sphere…”

“In terms of social media, I mean platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat; I am not talking about WhatsApp, which is a communication platform that many families use, although we have to be careful how it is used, because images can be shared on it. A ban is about ensuring that children cannot access these platforms. The…”

“Labour’s response to high street struggles is a strategy later this year to look at “what more the Government can do to support our high streets.” Well, I will save them the trouble. They should adopt the Conservatives’ plan, and scrap business rates on those high streets.”

“I agree, but we need to take action now on the ones that we are aware of. Our legislation absolutely needs to be much more agile for the future, and I am not saying that a ban will be a silver bullet, but it will protect many girls from digital exploitation. That is why I am asking the Minister to follow the policy set…”

“My concern is about the regional and local levels. In South Northamptonshire, my villages already really struggle to get attention because it always goes to Northampton, Kettering and Corby. The regional system may make that worse, so how will the local areas actually work in practice? If they stick to existing sizes, …”

“We have a lot more questions. However, finally on this, you have done a huge amount of work, and we very much appreciate all of that. However, the Committee was a little disappointed that the review was released only just before Christmas. I think the Minister told us that the No. 10 grid was controlling that. Do you t…”

“That is fascinating. Let me go back to what I should be asking about; I am supposed to be asking about the process. You said earlier that you do not want to talk about diversification to improve viability because you wanted to focus on pure profitability. I can sort of understand that, but that is almost like saying, “…”

“The review also does not directly include recommendations on reducing input costs. Was that also because of time, or were there other factors? Obviously, we have to look at the cost of fertilisers, pesticides and energy. However, the review again did not address that, and the Committee is wondering why that was.”

“This is a separate question. You obviously have vast experience, but was there anything that surprised you when you were doing this review?”

“The Minister says that China continues to pose a risk, and yet the Government today welcome this Trojan horse of an embassy into the heart of our capital. Consolidation helps China, not us, and planning conditions deal with the establishment but not the actual, real use inside the building in years to come. This has be…”

“We have just been notified that William Blake House in my constituency—a residential home for people with severe learning disabilities—has been issued with a winding-up notice, and the court hearing is tomorrow. The families were given no notice of any of this, and no consultation was carried out, so naturally they are…”

“The Minister has recognised that China poses significant threats, yet this Government are prepared to welcome this Trojan horse of an embassy into the heart of our city, so close to the Link system. He talks about material planning considerations, but that means balancing developing needs with community impact and ensu…”

“Very quickly, Minister, I just want to take you back to one point. You mentioned having healthy food and farming production a moment ago. You said that your aim is basically to steady the ship. To reiterate, the best way that you can steady the ship for our farmers is to reverse the family farm tax. That would immediat…”

“The key point is that you have to have diversity of supply, resilience to shocks and access to affordable food. That is why we are coming on to this. Back in January 2025, the National Preparedness Commission said that a new food resilience framework is needed, based on just-in-case logistics rather than relying on jus…”

“In my community, this is absolutely devastating. There are tenant farmers who had to end their tenancy. They have been farming this land for hundreds of years. The reality is that we do not have the grid capacity to cope with this. You have a scheme this size; one of my villages, Easton Maudit, is going to be surrounde…”

“We know that some areas are going to be disproportionately affected by solar farms. I think that 9% of some constituencies will be taken up by solar. In my constituency, there is the Green Hill solar farm, which is mainly going to be built on high-grade agricultural land, with 65% of it on grades 1, 2 and 3a, which dis…”

“I just hope that with the Government’s policies there are still jobs for them to go into at the end of this. The Government also want to design nature-positive pathways for the agrifood supply chain. What are these? Will they include mandatory reporting and targets for resilience?”

“I will try you again. The shock of the Budget was a shock to us all. The Government want to design nature-positive pathways for the agrifood supply chain. What are these? Will they include mandatory reporting and targets for resilience?”