Speeches by Darling.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. The Liberal Democrats broadly welcome the proposals in the clauses. Safeguarding people is an essential part of the Bill. I suspect we will go into that in greater depth as we embark on part 2.”

“The amendment is about ensuring transparency around the Bill. I have already explored transparency, and other hon. Members have talked about reasonableness. The Bill gives the Minister the ability to appoint their own independent person. Although I am sure that those in power for the foreseeable future are very reasona…”

“I reflect to the hon. Member for South West Devon that accusing somebody of being short-sighted when they have a guide dog with them is a bit of a juxtaposition, but it was taken well. The Liberal Democrats and I have grave concerns about this Orwellian approach to mass surveillance, and that the proposals are overcook…”

“I beg to move amendment 31, in clause 64, page 34, line 23, at end insert— “(1A) Prior to appointing an independent person, the Minister must consult the relevant committee of the House of Commons. (1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A), ‘the relevant committee’ means a committee determined by the Speaker of the Hous…”

“I am sure that many colleagues will be alive to the fact the proposals before us mean that one in eight will be affected by these quite significant powers of mass surveillance. Will the hon. Lady advise us on how many more people will be affected by including housing benefit in the proposals?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Sir Jeremy. Liberal Democrats believe, as do all members of the Committee, that fraud is bad. It clearly impacts on the ability of the state to support people and our communities. It is important to put that on the table. I will give a small overview as …”

“The Minister will not be surprised that I return to the fact that the Bill has been rushed. I respectfully remind him that we are a very refreshed House of Commons. This is fresh information for the vast majority of Members. Although Parliament may have a corporate memory, this Bill has moved at great pace since First …”

“I referred to the proposals as Orwellian, and my concern goes back to “Animal Farm” where the notice was amended to read: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. We have this perverse situation with the legislation where for some sections of society it is appropriate for the Government to …”

“I will press both my amendments to a vote.”

“We need to make sure that there is a level of proportionality. On pension credit, proportionality suggests to me that pensioners are often extremely private people, and they will fear that the Minister will be looking through their shopping bills. Although there may be reassurances, this is still the presentation of wh…”

“Thank you for coming today. The Chair has already touched on this. We have this deadline of October 2026 for the ecosystem of these dashboards to be fully up and running. Are there any costs that have not been foreseen? Are we confident that this is all in line for the costs? I also wanted to understand, as far as the …”

“Thank you. I would like to particularly focus on Pension Wise for this last question. Oliver Morley, we have recently corresponded, so thank you for your helpful correspondence on this. While there is clear, demonstrable evidence that Pension Wise is well received, how can you drive greater cut-through? What I am fearf…”

“I rise to speak about clause 20 in particular. Liberal Democrats are heartened by clause 18, which clearly says that if there is another account the money could be drawn from, that will be utilised. However, we are particularly concerned about coercive and controlling relationships. In my 30 years serving the people of…”

“Torbay is the premier resort in the United Kingdom, but behind our palm trees and Victorian villas is the most deprived council in the west of England, so it is a truly welcome that Torbay is one of these 75 neighbourhoods. Sadly, we have had a pregnant pause while the new Government walked through the wreckage of the …”

“I am pleased that the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire has been reading my notes—I wish to speak about future-proofing, too. The current incumbent of the White House is a clear fan of cryptocurrency, so we are looking at that element of our financial world potentially growing very much faster and do…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Sir Desmond. The hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire has ably laid out a number of concerns, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response. I know from my time serving my community in Torbay that when people are in a tough place,…”

“I echo many of the concerns raised by the shadow Minister. There are serious issues with giving a blank cheque to banks to undertake certain activities. How are they planning to calculate what their cost is? Is it purely the direct cost of that activity, or are they able to ladle into that some of their central costs? …”

“The Liberal Democrats support this Conservative amendment. I will not go over the arguments again, as they have been well put. Some clauses talk about safeguards. It is about the culture of the organisation, making sure that individuals have professional curiosity and how to foster that within the organisation. Profess…”

“I ask the Minister to reflect on how speedily the Bill is going through Parliament. As we heard from the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, financial institutions are not clear about the impact on or the cost to them. When we legislate in haste, challenges will often come out of the woodwork in the l…”

“In the oral evidence, Professor Levi highlighted some powers regarding asset freezing that the police have had since 2017. I would welcome the Minister’s reflections on whether these powers could have a significant impact in this area of the law—in particular, whether they would apply to international organisations, an…”