Speeches by Arthur.

“One of my guilty secrets is that I like to listen to CNN in the evening, so I know that people in the United States are divided on this issue. The Minister started by talking about sanctions. Have we assessed the impact of the sanctions on Venezuela? What efforts are we making with civil society there to protect human …”

“This is a very slight aside, but is it not interesting that, when it comes to claiming benefits, there are so many silos and barriers to organisations, councils, Government agencies and Departments talking to each other, but they suddenly start speaking to each other and the benefits are stopped overnight when someone …”

“I thank the Minister for his responses. Throughout this affair, he has remained calm and consistent in answering points that—let’s be honest—have at times been smears from the Conservatives. I think the report from the Joint Committee has found them out, and that is why their Benches are empty today. Rather than hiding…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“It would be interesting to talk through the implications of such a drastic cut to welfare in one single Budget, and what that would mean for people in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, particularly the young people with children who will be lifted out of poverty by this Budget.”

“At the SNP conference, I think the First Minister said that he was keen to replace the energy profits levy, but he was not quite sure what he was going to replace it with. Does he know yet?”

“I think there is support for this issue across the House. I do not know any MP who does not think that the WASPI women should not be compensated, because their fight is a just fight, but there is uncertainty about how it would be funded. How would the hon. Gentleman fund it?”

“Of course, if the hon. Gentleman takes the time to read our manifesto, which we were elected on in Scotland, he will see that that promise was to be met at the end of this Parliament, so we are actually ahead of schedule. I am sure he welcomes that, just like he welcomes the extra £500 million in cash and £300 million …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her forensic analysis of our Budget. Will she take an intervention from the Leader of the Opposition, so that she can apologise for that awful policy and its impact?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“This debate is a chance to speak honestly about the pressures, expectations and challenges that too many men carry alone and in silence. My hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) exemplified all that in his speech, and I thank him for it. Across my constituency, there are organisations large and small …”

“I have two very quick follow-ups. There are two perspectives on what is happening just now. I think I am guilty of focusing on wheelchair-accessible vehicles but accessible transport in terms of taxis and Ubers and so on is much bigger than that. My first leading question is: do you think that this is something that pr…”

“I think this was covered earlier to some extent by Emma’s comments about wheelchair-accessible vehicles. My question was whether you think we should mandate these in local authorities. I think you already said yes to that earlier, but I guess it is about how we do that. First, do you have some idea in mind of what prop…”

“Thanks for making the point about video, Saskia. I am now kicking myself for not asking this in the previous session where video and audio recording came up. I do not want to lead you too much in your answer, but what access arrangements do you want around that recorded data? If you have a taxi or an Uber where you are…”

“Very quickly, James, before I was elected here last year I was a councillor in Edinburgh and I sat on the committee that dealt with taxi drivers. I thought that the flow of information between the police and the local authorities was very good and the police were quite precautionary in their approach. They would tell t…”

“Very quickly, Emma, the point you made about a national driver database was quite interesting. You were saying that a driver in one area in your system could be blocked but then appear elsewhere, and you wanted clarity on that. You must undertake some background checks on your drivers, and you must know the national in…”

“That is a good point, because there could be quite serious allegations against a driver, and you are saying there could be a delay. It is a good point.”

“I find this interesting because in Edinburgh we do not have cross-border hiring and everybody seems quite happy, to be honest. We have drivers who often live quite far outside Edinburgh, but they are licensed to operate in Edinburgh. I think drivers from outside Edinburgh can bring rides in, but we do not have people l…”

“I do not hear friends and colleagues telling me they find it difficult to get taxis anywhere.”

“I live in suburbia; I am proud to do so.”