Speeches by Reed.

“I share the hon. Gentlemen’s anger that the public have been left to pay the price of Tory failure over 14 years. One of the first things I did when I was appointed Secretary of State was get the water company chief execs into my office, seven days after the election. I got them to commit to ringfencing customers’ mone…”

“The hon. Gentleman points with a graphic example to what happens when we face the scale of regulatory failure that developed untroubled under the previous Government. That is why Sir Jon Cunliffe has brought forward his report today, which I hope the hon. Gentleman will read; I hope he will also provide Sir Jon with fe…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. Part of making the sector more investable is ensuring that we have a robust, clear and predictable regulatory framework, which is what Sir Jon Cunliffe is working towards. The hon. Gentleman may have had a chance to look at the interim report that Sir Jon published today; if he ha…”

“We are working towards resetting the entire regulatory framework, as the hon. Gentleman may have seen from Sir Jon Cunliffe’s report, published today. He is absolutely right, though: under the previous Government, the regulator was absolutely toothless. That is why one of the first pieces of legislation this Government…”

“Yes, absolutely. We lack the kind of water infrastructure that this country needs to secure water supplies into the future. At the end of the price review period, we secured investment that will be worth £104 billion over five years, which includes funding for new reservoirs as well as other infrastructure. We get more…”

“The tax policy has been set in the last Budget and that is how it is going to be. I have already given my reasons why I think that it is right that every sector of the economy should pay its fair share. If you speak to farmers, some of them will say that the reason it is difficult to pay inheritance tax is that their b…”

“No, I did not say that.”

“You are saying that it is not here already, and that is because the previous Government did not publish it and get on with the work. I think that they had three false starts where they announced dates it would be launched and did not launch it. I launched it. Now it is out there. If the previous Government had done it,…”

“The argument you are making is why we need the land use framework and the information that it will provide.”

“A few months ago, I launched a consultation on the land use framework. We will publish the strategy on that in the autumn. The land use framework was something your party supported while in government, but now opposes in opposition. The land use framework provides granular data for decision makers, including landowners…”

“Those who say they do not want to raise the revenue to fund these benefits need to tell us which of these benefits they would cut as a result of changing it.”

“I am not aware of the details of it. I know that the inheritance tax scheme, as it has been designed—this is OBR as well—will raise, I think it is, half a billion pounds a year for the initial period. That money is helping to fund the national health service, the improvements that we need in mental health support, and …”

“I was not privy to those particular conversations.”

“The Treasury has made the announcement. To be fair, the opposition parties go on as if no farmer will ever hand over ownership while they are in their 60s. The vast majority of them will and therefore will not incur any liability whatsoever.”

“I recognise that there is a particular issue at that point.”

“Do you not think for a moment that those farmers might pass on the farm in their, say, late 60s and therefore avoid payment?”

“The overwhelming proportion of the sector will not be paying this inheritance tax.”

“I know that the Treasury is in pretty regular contact with the NFU and other representative bodies, and so am I. Their representations, and indeed yours, are being heard. On inheritance tax, I do not think that it is unreasonable to expect the agriculture sector to pay its fair share, just like any other business would…”

“I have it with me here, yes.”

“We inherited a situation where large swathes of British farming are unprofitable. Any sector that cannot make profit does not have a future. My intention is to reprioritise these funding schemes so they support farms to transition to models of farming that will enable them to be profitable into the future. My view is t…”