March 2026

Mr Speaker, all I can do is express my admiration of the hon. Gentleman’s ingenuity in ensuring that his question is in order.

It gives a new meaning to the London Irish.

The Queensway Gateway Road works were a shambles from start to finish. They were meant to last weeks, but dragged on for almost a year, causing gridlock and losing local businesses millions. We have just found out that Conservative-run East Sussex county council overspent by £5 million on those shambolic works. Does the Leader of the House agree that that is £5 million less to repair our potholes and our roads? Does he also agree that East Sussex county council and the contractors, who include B

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would be grateful if you could clarify that the House’s position is, and has always been, that we expect Members to show courtesy by informing other Members if they intend to mention them, not their constituency, and that in the normal course of business, Members of this House may always refer to places without any intention of discourtesy towards the Members of Parliament who represents them.

Rising input costs, including for fertiliser, have contributed to pressure on many farm businesses in recent years. We continually assess how global cost volatility affects farm productivity and the resilience of the sector.

I would love to—if the hon. Lady’s constituency was in England. Agriculture is a devolved matter, and she must therefore ask the Scottish Government.

The Government’s good food cycle strategy sees alternative proteins as a major opportunity, and not just for the economy but for health, sustainability and food resilience. We are backing the sector and working with the Food Standards Agency on novel food programmes to accelerate precision fermentation technology.

I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and congratulate the company he mentions, which is leading the way in this area. We have a major national hub for plant-based, cultivated and fermentation-based research and development, which is at the forefront of progress in this exciting new area.

The Government recognise the importance of wholesale markets for the customers and communities they serve. We have limited recent evidence, however, of the impact that public ownership of markets has on food security.

We recognise Billingsgate’s importance as a UK distribution hub for fish, and we will continue to monitor the proposed transition closely. We are engaging with the City of London Corporation on the proposed changes.

Local markets are extremely important, particularly for maintaining food supply locally, and I am very interested in seeing what we can do to assist. Most markets are owned and operated by local authorities. I think the Covent Garden Market Authority is the only wholesale market that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs still looks after. I recognise the hon. Member’s comments on food security, but this country is 67% self-sufficient in food at the moment, or 77% if one takes o

Parliamentary appearance by Emma Reynolds

Parliamentary appearance by Emma Reynolds

Parliamentary appearance by Emma Reynolds

Parliamentary appearance by Emma Reynolds

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) on securing the debate. As far as I am concerned, we should debate this all day, every day, because the message needs to be heard loud and clear out there. Those who want to delay climate action are denying our children and grandchildren a future. They should be honest about their intentions and reasons for saying what they do. I will speak about three broad areas: science and the very real threat now and in the future; the m

My hon. Friend is right. Actually, our global leadership through COP, which my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke mentioned, and the fact we have set our nationally determined contribution—unlike some countries—is hugely important. We were ahead of the game with the Climate Change Act 2008 and the 2050 net zero target set by Theresa May. My hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke also mentioned Margaret Thatcher —when I came here, I never dreamed that I would be quoting her, but I have become

My hon. Friend is right. I hope that her constituents and the businesses in her constituency can take full advantage in spite of the damage that the appalling party she mentioned is trying to do not just to the climate to our economic prospects. Let us look at the cost of a failure to take action. Last July, the Office for Budget Responsibility said that failure to act on climate has an economic cost. The Climate Change Committee put a figure on it: 7% of GDP will be lost by 2050 unless we take

Will the hon. Lady give way?

The hon. Lady is four minutes into her speech and she has talked about the reduction in emissions, which is largely the result of the dash for gas, which predated the last Conservative Government—actually, it happened under the previous Conservative Government. So far, she has talked about her opposition to what this Government are doing. She has not yet told us anything about what she thinks the next steps in taking climate action should be. Is she going to do that?