Speeches by Yang.

“The ceasefire deal gives families in Israel and Palestine, as well as their relatives in my constituency, hope for longer-lasting peace and security. However, there can be no security without accountability, and there is no accountability without scrutiny—scrutiny, for example, to ensure that the funding the Government…”

“Thank you, James Murray, for coming in. The amount that can be raised through additional debt and compliance staff seemed very impressive. Do you feel that HMRC has been under‑resourced in terms of the amount of staff collecting tax to close the tax gap in the past? How far do you think we are from the optimal size of …”

“I have some final questions around data gathering of HMRC, more from a research and cost projection point of view rather than from an individual privacy point of view. I was wondering, on the point of promptness of data collection, whether there were any more plans in this regard to empower HMRC to get the data it need…”

“Leaving aside the political difficulties of reform in this area, I was wondering if there are major administrative or bureaucratic issues with reform in this area and if you could outline any of those, perhaps you or Mr York-Smith.”

“As part of that review, Sir Jim mentioned that it resulted in what he called a modest increase in HMRC’s data‑gathering abilities. I was wondering if you could describe a bit what that means and if that requires investment to really shore up the ability of HMRC to gather and to analyse its data.”

“Sure. As a separate point of principle on this issue, as we know, from the Tax Management Act 1970, the ability of HMRC to collect data is ringfenced based on what the current tax regime is. Previous Ministers have spoken publicly about the fact that it was not possible to cost the non‑doms reform in light of that, bec…”

“I want to briefly move on to residential property. Sometimes when I am knocking on doors around my constituency of Earley and Woodley, a resident will come out of their house and point to their house, then point to their neighbour’s house and ask me, “Why is my property in a certain council tax band but my neighbours’ …”

“I thank the Chancellor for raising the case of Jimmy Lai. I hope that the Government will in future press the case of pensions owed to British national overseas constituents in Earley and Woodley, and across the UK, who have moved here from Hong Kong. I was surprised to hear the shadow Chancellor advocate knee-jerk res…”

“My constituents in Whitley had their Christmas disrupted by an alarming threat of knife crime. We have seen too many tragedies of this kind in Reading over the last few years, so I wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s mission to halve knife crime. I have applied for my Earley and Woodley constituency to be a trial l…”

“22. What steps her Department is taking to help tackle knife crime.”

“I recently met medics from the Royal Berkshire hospital as well as other constituents from Earley and Woodley who described the atrocious conditions in which their Palestinian colleagues and relatives continue to operate in the medical facilities that remain in Gaza. I am thankful that the Minister has raised detained …”

“How about Post Office services, yourselves?”

“Would you be happy with the Government mandating convenience stores as accepting cash because they are essential?”

“We talked earlier about the need for essential services to maintain cash acceptance. Can we have a quick whip around the panel and you can all nominate your best bets for what counts as essential?”

“Is that going up over time?”

“Thank you. I have a separate question, if I may, about security and the risk for retailers of holding large amounts of cash on site. I was speaking to shopkeepers and shop managers in my constituency of Earley and Woodley, which is in Reading, over the last few weeks, and one of those shop managers told me that their s…”

“So you would rather see it happen earlier than later; is that what you are saying?”

“Do you see that bill changing quickly over time, or do you think it is likely to stay the same?”

“Of mandating accepting cash, yes.”

“Mr Wilson, I am aware that many new market traders may be on a journey from it being a side gig, and they are not really earning that much profit, to it being a full-blown business. Do you see a risk of not paying taxes properly if people are holding on to cash for too long in that process?”