Speeches by Aquarone.

“Maladministration is a serious charge. I know the Secretary of State has taken a 360° pummelling on this, but she has declined to say that she would have compensated women if the economy were stronger, and she said it would not have made any difference if the letters had been sent. Surely, however, the overall charge o…”

“I guess that the incremental cost of, say, putting on an extra train at the end of the day is not quite as simple as dividing the cost of each journey and just adding a cost to it.”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. She is right to say that banking hubs are about more than just access to cash. In the market towns of North Norfolk, our small businesses need access to banking services, which full banking hubs can provide. Does my hon. Friend understand why residents of…”

“Thank you. Rail nationalisation is a thing. I think we are all interested in the detail of the timing of the steps that are being taken and, in particular, what preparations are under way for bringing operators like South Western Railway into public ownership. More broadly, what difference can passengers of publicly ow…”

“You mentioned LNER. Do you have any comments on its fare simplification? Was it LNER?”

“There could be some benefits in terms of frequency and timetabling that are quite cost-effective to achieve.”

“You have a chunk of money coming out of tax because it is costing more to run the railways than fare revenue. That has gone up because, rightly, you wanted to prop up the railways after covid. Lots of these improvements could potentially bring in extra revenue. From what you are saying, it is a political choice about w…”

“If all this stuff works, will it one day bring about cheaper tickets and more trains, or is it just about making the railway less rubbish?”

“I appreciate your candour so far. It all makes sense to me, and the opportunity to debalkanise, from a management structure point of view, plainly makes sense in itself. I guess I am thinking about people who watch this hearing and who use the railways, given all the wild assumptions that come to mind when you think ab…”

“In my constituency, Greater Anglia is pretty well regarded, so you are bringing in a good one. Of course, there is already some good capacity inside the operating company because of the improvements we have seen in the railways that are already publicly taken over. My two supplementaries would be to ask whether there a…”

“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman, my constituency neighbour, on securing this debate. I cannot speak for the Minister, although I certainly welcome the comments about the importance of a dental school. However, is the issue in East Anglia not a result of the region’s disproportionate failure under the previous Governm…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) on securing this debate on such an important issue. He is a great champion of this cause. I know that he and his Liberal Democrat colleagues across Oxfordshire will continue to push…”

“While the damage from Storm Darragh was thankfully limited in North Norfolk, a number of properties in my constituency suffered power cuts, which lasted well into Monday. That has once again highlighted the problem caused by poor mobile phone signal in rural parts of North Norfolk. As hon. Members have mentioned, many …”

“The Minister has spoken about many different types of rubbish, but not where it often goes, which is to household waste recycling centres. Not content with the Tory tip tax, cash-strapped Norfolk county council has gone further in trying to encourage fly-tipping by creating a mad booking system for residents who want t…”

“There is legislative provision to actually change the price.”

“I’m going to make myself wildly unpopular. I am conscious that a lot of my young constituents cannot afford driving lessons, so they are taught by friends or relatives. Is there a danger that some of those initiatives actually make it much harder for those people to access driving tests? Do you have any views on that?”

“Primary legislation?”

“Who decides not to increase the price? Is it one of those hilarious things where nobody decides not to do something, and therefore someone has to decide to do it in order to do it?”

“It is not just budget balancing, is it? It is also the behavioural consequences, because it is cheaper to book a test than it is to book another driving lesson in some situations. Loveday, you are nodding. What is your view?”

“Generally, the lucidity of your responses suggests you have tried and are trying everything. At some point, something has to change beyond the things that are available to you at the moment. This is not provocative; it may be a slightly stupid thing to say. Is the test price too low? Would that not change things to som…”