Speeches by Hoare.

“It is often harder to see because it is more sparsely spread across larger rural areas, but I remind the Minister of what I know he knows: deprivation exists in our rural areas. Can I urge him to ensure that this does not become an issue of north versus south or urban versus rural, but that the Government use taxes to …”

“I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention, and I endorse it entirely. My hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa) and his Committee will look at the motion, if the House decides to pass it this evening, and I know he will have heard that. I echo what the right hon. Memb…”

“Surely the fact that a remedy is not available to all does not mean that it is not a remedy. If we wish to argue for the two-tier approach, we can think of instances in which mental capacity has come into play, particularly in respect of capital offences, when those existed here. In abstract theory, that was a two-tier…”

“As my right hon. Friend knows, I have a huge amount of respect and affection for him, and he is right to refer to the inalienable rights that a British citizen has in terms of access to justice and so forth, but surely he must accept that individuals facing deprivation of citizenship will have crossed a threshold of be…”

“In short, it may recalibrate, but the UK Government are not going to walk away in terms of personnel, resource and good will, but also cash.”

“The Secretary of State for Business and Trade confirmed recently that Tata’s products do not meet US import regulations regarding where steel is melted and poured—you know that that is the phrase—and as such were not in line for the negotiated tariff exemptions. How confident are you, No. 10 and the Secretary of State …”

“If we learned anything collectively as a political class from the Brexit negotiations, it was about the enormous disconnect between the operation of business and the political processes. Are HMG making clear to Washington what I think other countries are making clear as well, which is that the tariff version of cat and…”

“I missed Mr Speaker’s email, so I am afraid I missed it.”

“It was so late in starting that I think the President almost missed it, but I have read it, yes.”

“What is your assessment of what, if any, impact the Government’s taking control of British Steel’s operations will have on negotiations with the US over steel? Is a similar move being considered for Tata?”

“This is not intended to be a softball question. I just think that we all know what we are talking about, but sometimes the great British public out there actually need to hear it. This Government continue to see, as the previous Government did, the strategic importance of domestic steel production for a whole variety o…”

“Secretary of State, that is all encouraging. You will know that yesterday Dow Corning made an announcement with regard to its operation in Barry. The figures I have are that it is currently employing 850 and it is reducing job numbers by 220, with Jim Fitterling, the CEO, citing “a challenging cost and demand landscape…”

“Would you agree that—it will not be the sole driver—one major contributory factor will be energy costs? Are you working with Secretary of State Miliband on any initiatives there? This is an argument that is being deployed, as you know, in the ceramics industry around Stoke and in the cement and the wider chemical indus…”

“I want to touch on intergovernmental relations. You referenced in your opening remarks a renewed relationship of trust—I think that is how you described—between Westminster and Cardiff. That is to be welcomed. I wondered whether you wanted to highlight any potential areas of tension that this Committee needs to keep a …”

“Can you point us to anything where the sum of the parts has been greater than if you had been acting individually that may provide a useful operational template?”

“About 12 months ago, the Prime Minister and virtually every Secretary of State across Government were trumpeting “missions‑led government”. You are, as you know, the missions lead for the Wales Office. Latterly, there has been less focus on that drive to cut away and break down the silos of operation between Gov…”

“I did not say that it was neither good nor strong. I said that it was not groundbreaking in terms of putting flesh on the bones of the skeleton of a new way of delivering government, which was thematic, cross-cutting missions.”

“Secretary of State, you spoke to us in January and will recall, I have no doubt, that you referred to talks with Tata about steelmaking methods other than the electric arc furnace. Are you able to update the Committee on the progress of those talks? When do you expect the electric arc furnace to be operational?”

“You referenced earlier the Government’s contribution of £80 million to the transition board and that that had been allocated and taken up. Is that the work of the transition board done, or is there a transition board 2?”

“With the greatest respect, the hon. Lady is putting the cart before the horse, as are the Government. You do your review first, you find out what it says, and you tailor your policies and your response to it. Is that not the best way of making policy? This half-baked idea satisfies no one.”