Speeches by Munt.

“In July 2023, my constituent Alison claimed a refund of overpaid tax that was mistakenly paid twice. In February 2024, she was told that her claim would be assessed by 20 March, in July 2024 she was told that it would be by 22 October, and in December she was told that she could not have a date but that the department …”

“My blood is boiling as I listen to the stuff coming from Conservative Members. If they had read the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, they would recognise that there are hundreds of thousands of people alive today—people just like me, white girls—who suffered at the hands of white men who have got clean away…”

“T4. The Home Office states that it takes fraud in visa applications seriously, but I know of a case involving a man who came here on a spousal visa, was then arrested four times for domestic abuse, and left the family home in October ’23. All this is backed up by police reports and social worker documentation. In his s…”

“20. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of passenger rail performance.”

“The Secretary of State will know about the planned engineering works between Didcot Parkway and Swindon and in the Paddington area, which will cause significant disruption between London and Bristol and in south Wales this Sunday and next Sunday. Disruption on major routes causes massive chaos on the rural routes that …”

“Will the Leader of the House ask her colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care for a statement explaining the rationale behind a decision last month to alter the eligibility criteria for additional compensation in the infected blood compensation scheme? The special category mechanism was replaced with the …”

“Could the Minister just clarify whether that group will consider the benefits of using natural remedies, or a combination of natural remedies, and of ensuring that people are fully aware of the benefits of that, and that that will be in some way quantified, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel…”

“rose—”

“I recognise your request for brevity, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I offer my condolences and say how much I identify with the maxim “turn up at the finishing line”, having stood eight times to get here and having been successful twice. Given the countless families in my part of Somerset who have adopted or are special gu…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for securing the debate. I am sorry that my British Sign Language is incredibly rusty, having learned it 30 years ago and not having practised diligently. I want to pick up on what she said about access to learning British Sign Language. Having worked in a council as a lead member for children, fa…”

“We have highlighted the matter of late adjournments. What is the ideal time for someone to be informed of an adjournment?”

“What are your views on block listing in certain courts as a way of addressing the backlogs?”

“Thanks for your tolerance. You talked about the relationship between judges and their staff. I wondered about the impact of having staff who are agency or who are just inexperienced, because there may be a relatively high turnover. What impact does that have on the operations? This came up in the judicial attitude surv…”

“I am afraid we do not even have horses.”

“Our local courts are not terribly local for most of the impoverished population.”

“Fewer?”

“Indeed.”

“To pick up on what you said, I would gently challenge that. I live in Somerset. If I want to access specialist health facilities, generally I have to travel to Bristol, or sometimes to Birmingham, depending on what sort of specialism I am looking for, because that is where the specialists are. Having worked within lega…”

“You were talking about the array of cases, and in your evidence you gave us a non-exhaustive list, as you described it, of the 37 most common types of dispute resolved in the county court. Could I ask you to consider whether the role of the county court within the civil justice system should have been reformed before a…”

“I am the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills in Somerset. Everything is declared on the register, but I would just add the fact that I am a director of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit organisation.”