Speeches by Reed.

“I will be speaking at the Food and Drink Federation’s investment summit tomorrow. I am looking forward to it very much, because we have one of the world’s most vibrant food and drink sectors. It is extremely competitive. That is one of the ways that we manage to keep both the variety of food products high and the costs…”

“Let me look at the thresholds. I am not sure whether that is within DBT or DEFRA, but I can get back to you on that. Within public procurement, the Government spend an awful lot of money on buying food in the public sector in one way or another—food for our hospitals, for our prisons and for other parts of the public s…”

“We will be putting the procurement rules together for how that will operate. Being local and being sustainable will both be factors that are required in that process, when we develop it—so we will develop it in that way. I am sure from your questioning that it is something the Committee will be very interested in looki…”

“This is a Government that believes in devolution, and I think giving the devolved Administrations more control over their resources supports devolution. I think your party supports devolution as well.”

“Sorry?”

“Yes. I do not think it is appropriate to share the detail of individual conversations. I have had many conversations with all of the devolved Governments to make sure that we are working closely.”

“DEFRA does not carry out impact assessments on tax measures—that is just how it is. We can see what is going on in farming. I can see the low levels of profitability in farming, and many of the changes that we are looking to make are intended to boost the profitability of farming. I do not think it is a very good argum…”

“You can create a case study to back up the argument that you want to make, but that case study could also involve somebody transferring ownership seven years before death and then the IHT liability is zero. The best thing we can do is rely on the one place where we have hard data, which is from HMRC. These are actual c…”

“Yes. I know she does not like my answers, but I have been listening to people in the countryside, and this is what they want us to do. That has involved taking difficult decisions. You cannot just wish the difficult decisions away and only do the nice things. Difficult decisions have to be taken to fix the foundations …”

“I am just explaining why I am listening to people in the countryside and why we are taking the action that we are taking.”

“It is a pleasure to take a question from the distinguished former Prime Minister. We are reviewing the data that we can publish, and we want to be as open and transparent as possible. I think that is good for the sector and good for scrutiny, but we will announce in due course precisely how it will operate.”

“Yes.”

“The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that we have announced the biggest Budget for sustainable farming—£5 billion over the next two years—in the history of our country, and that is to be welcomed by everybody in the sector and everybody who cares about it. This is a Government who believe in devolution. We believe th…”

“I can certainly ensure that the relevant Minister meets the hon. Gentleman. I hope that he will also feed his views into Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review, as Sir Jon will be considering catchment-wide approaches that will better protect chalk streams.”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. He is a strong campaigner in his constituency against the failings of the water company and the high levels of pollution resulting from the failures of the previous Government, so I know that he is backing the Water (Special Measures) Bill that is working its way through Parlia…”

“It is very important that the Government listen to farmers, and of course we will do so, but I know that farmers are reasonable people. They will want to look at the facts and, like everybody else, if they drill into the HMRC data they will see that three quarters of them will end up paying no more under the new system…”

“The data from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is crystal clear: three quarters of farmers will pay nothing as a result of the changes. Family farming will continue into future generations, as it should.”

“Vessels are, of course, already required to report marine mammal bycatch. We are looking at implementing remote electronic monitoring on larger vessels to gather better data about fishing activities. We are also working to improve our marine environment by ratifying the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction agreeme…”

“As we have heard this morning, the public are rightly furious about the filthy, polluted state in which the previous Administration left our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why there is such strong support for the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is working its way through Parliament. I urge all Members to make sub…”

“It is important that support is targeted at the most vulnerable, so we will look at what more can be done through social tariffs to support families who are at risk of being unable to pay future water bills. It is right that we prioritise the poorest.”