Speeches by Hobhouse.

“I have acquired a few more.”

“I was warned. In fact, I should have known that the Government usually want to have a bigger number of Government MPs signing an application, and I am sorry that I had not conveyed that to my member of staff.”

“The additional names are Alex Sobel and Tim Roca.”

“Thank you. Do you want my piece of paper with the additional names?”

“We Liberal Democrats welcome this initiative from the Government, although in our manifesto we went further and committed ourselves to introducing a deposit return scheme for food and drink bottles and containers. We agree with the Government that a scheme of this kind will foster a nature-positive economy, tackle plas…”

“Bathford village shop and café has become a lifeline for local people in my Bath community, but it is at risk of losing its premises. The £150 million community ownership fund was crucial to sustaining these local assets. Will the Minister comment on the future of the community ownership fund?”

“I am the chair of the eating disorders all-party parliamentary group. To make any progress, we have to understand that eating disorders are highly stigmatised. Many people with obesity also have an eating disorder. To make real progress, is not the first thing to take the stigma away from obesity and get to the people …”

“T2. The last Conservative Government left music education in a dire state. In Bath, the Orchestra of Everything Foundation is working against that tide with great success as 70% of the children it reaches take up a second instrument. What will the Government do to improve music education?”

“My hon. Friend and I are members of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, and yesterday we heard evidence from the Secretary of State. He said that the transition to net zero is the biggest opportunity for all of us, including those in the south-west, to create prosperity and the jobs we need for the future. Does…”

“T2. The last Conservative Government left music education in a dire state. In Bath, the Orchestra of Everything Foundation is working against that tide with great success as 70% of the children it reaches take up a second instrument. What will the Government do to improve music education?”

“I know that the National Energy System Operator has just put forward proposals to Government on how to address the grid queue and how it should be renewed and reviewed. Does the right hon. Lady agree that we need to hear from Government as soon as possible what the reorganisation of the grid queue would mean and which …”

“I did put that into speech marks, Secretary of State.”

“I put that into—”

“Indeed. It then always comes down to what is the most cost-effective. When you made the announcement, I think I asked you about difficult-to-decarbonise industries, but also waste, and whether there should not at least be a prioritisation towards those projects that are very difficult to decarbonise, or attaching them …”

“But isn’t the argument very much that the industries who are the polluters should pay for that, rather than the public? The polluters pay through industry levies or other measures but they have a target to get to net zero too. Why is it not the responsibility of the industry rather than the public?”

“Welcome and thank you for coming, Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary. Can I commit to you, before I start, the real commitment of the Liberal Democrats to work cross-party on the challenges that you set out at the beginning? Having said that, I have a few questions about CCUS. Given the large subsidies offered …”

“You are very generous, Secretary of State.”

“We have said very little about hydrogen. I had a meeting with a gas grid, Wales & West Utilities, which basically provides the gas in my Bath constituency, and this question comes from them. We have heard relatively little about hydrogen in heating homes in the past, and they want to ask how we ensure fair policy decis…”

“Last Friday, I met Wales & West Utilities, which runs the gas grid in my constituency and beyond, where I heard that hydrogen is still a very viable option for home heating. Although there have been a number of pilots, the Government have recently gone quite quiet on hydrogen in home heating. Will the Minister upda…”

“Before upskirting became a specific criminal offence, people said it was “just a laugh”. Does the hon. Member think we have a massive problem in society when offences against women are dismissed as just a laugh and seen as acceptable?”