Daniel Zeichner
MP for Cambridge · Labour · United Kingdom
“I recall, as a shadow Minister, visiting a major institution in the country and sending the management into panic when I asked them where the bus stop was to get back to the station.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the location of bus stops. I am so frustrated when I have taken the train to Cambridge, arrive at the station, see the bus, but have to walk 200 yards around the platform, come out of the station and walk 200 yards back to the bus stop, to find the bus has gone.”
“Devolution and local government reorganisation are different things. To be honest, they should probably be considered separately, but they have become so interlinked and intertwined in this debate that it is impossible to do so. If we are to have a stronger devolution settlement, it is right to spend more time getting it right.”
“I commend the Secretary of State and his team for their determination and resolve in the transfer to renewables. In the extraordinary and unprecedented weather that we are having at the moment I can assure the House that some shade would be really welcome in parts of the east of England.”
“I commend all the hard work that has gone into both the road map and the profitability review by the civil servants, the ministerial team and so many people across the sector, including Baroness Batters.”
“On that point about speculative building, I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman is probably not a fan of big, bold projects of this kind, but does he agree that there is a very good example just down the road in Cambridge?”
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“I, too, was a victim of this situation as a Cambridge Water customer. On the communications point, it was lengthy and detailed, but for many customers I suspect it was intimidating. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it would be better if the company had just said, “There is a problem. You can find out more here, but don’t worry, whatever happens, we will sort it out for you”?”
“The management of the official development assistance budget has been chaotic, leading to a freeze in so called non-essential spending. Can the Minister tell us what the impacts have been and will he publish any impact assessment that has been done?”
“The police in Cambridge have raised with me the time that they spend on preparing cases for the CPS, but it has also been suggested that simple tweaks to data protection laws and the information recorded on the Registry of Judgments, Orders and Fines could make a real difference. Has the Attorney General considered any of these simple steps?”
“I hope the Minister can address some of those points.”
“You will be glad to hear that I will not go into detail, Mr Hosie, but the Joint Committee is basically saying, “I’m afraid these have not been drafted correctly.” On the scale of sins committed by this Government, I am not quite sure where that sits but, to be fair, the Department has actually acknowledged mistakes. I guess it is the equivalent of almost getting a yellow card but just getting a ticking off. This has happened twice now. The Minister is in danger of being benched for our next encounter. I hope the Department will do better with its drafting in future. I will not go any further tonight. There is a lot of detail in here. The serious point is that these are important issues to maintain our biosecurity. I hope we will not have to keep going back over past statutory instruments because of mistakes and drafting errors.”
“Moving on to the second SI, there is a legal issue to be flagged, because the eagle-eyed members of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments have found fault with the drafting of both these statutory instruments. It said: “The Committee accordingly reports the instrument for defective drafting, by virtue of including inaccurate information in the footnote to regulation 9(5)(a), acknowledged by the Department.” It goes on to cite further drafting errors, including—I am delving into realms that I am probably unqualified to comment on in terms of my legal knowledge—unregistered equidae and various other fine points of law touching on Lebanese potato ring rot.”
“This new situation creates additional costs and lots more red tape and could result in meat exports becoming non-compliant if there is not enough time for hard-pressed vets to undertake the checks required. As I understand it, after the alarm was raised, DEFRA kicked the can down the road for another year, but the same problem will emerge on 13 December next year if new digital systems are not in place in time. In relation to this statutory instrument, the point is that the SI solves a legal issue by keeping things as they were, but given that the world has changed, it does not resolve the practical issue facing farmers nor the political issue that we now face of having to make changes because a system is being altered in the EU over which we have no influence.”
“This is of immediate, practical importance, as I am sure the Minister will know, because the meat export sector has been up in arms in recent weeks, as the EU now requires veterinary attestation confirming animal health checks on sites before an export health certificate can be granted. Of course, we now need an EHC to export to the EU. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has explained that this is to meet the requirements under the EU’s animal health regulations, which stipulate that farms wishing to import into the EU must have had regular animal health visits by a veterinarian. That works for people on accreditation schemes, but many others have had to provide self-declarations to provide that EHC.”
“We are told in the explanatory memorandum that the instrument “preserves and maintains the policy and legislative regime as of exit day and does not try to align itself with the EU’s Animal Health Law.” It seems that we now work to different rules but, of course, we continue to trade. I ask the Minister what assessment has been made of the impact of any possible divergence now that our exports to the EU are dictated by the EU’s Animal Health Law, and whether that has distorted the level-playing field we hoped British farmers would have when they export to the EU?”
“I was going to please him by not opposing the instruments, but I was then going to disappoint him by saying that I have found others who have points of criticism, which I will come on to in a moment. The draft Trade in Animals and Related Products (Amendment and Legislative Functions) Regulations 2022 state that the UK will continue to align itself with the directives and regulations dictating the rules on the importation of animals and animal products as of the date of the UK’s exit. Nothing much will change, which is fine, but, as I have noted before, the world did not stand still the day we left the EU. Rather inconveniently for us, the EU has since revoked many of those directives, replacing them with the EU’s Animal Health Law.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Hosie. We are discussing the draft Animals and Animal Health, Feed and Food, Plants and Plant Health (Amendment) Regulations 2022 and the draft Trade in Animals and Related Products (Amendment and Legislative Functions) Regulations 2022. Once again, we are fixing problems that we have encountered since the withdrawal process. I notice that when the matter was discussed in the other place a few minutes ago, the same point was made. We keep having to correct errors from the past. I was expecting to see the Minister’s colleague, the right hon. Member for Sherwood (Mark Spencer), but I am delighted to see her here today—not least because he gets cross when I raise points of criticism with him.”
“On that basis, we will not support the SI today and will divide the Committee.”
“George Dunn argues that RICS should see the process of appointing arbitrators as part of its public interest work under its royal charter rather than as part of its commercial activities, particularly in the light of the recent conclusions of the Bichard review into the royal charter. Recommendation 3 of that review said that there must be a separation between the RICS portfolio of commercial activities, which the TFA would argue the appointment of arbitrators does not fall within, and its wider activities. I have not had the chance to pursue that with RICS, which may take a different view, but there is sufficient uncertainty to make me question whether it would not be more sensible to make the changes as part of a broader response to the Rock review. Indeed, having that discussion might accelerate any response from the Government.”
“He says that the increase in the fee would land much better with his members if they had some sort of indication or assurance that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will take seriously the recommendations set out in the Rock review on the appointment of a commissioner or ombudsman whose role is to look at the operation of arbitration. George Dunn also tells me that most of the costs associated with accreditation, assessment, training and continuing professional development of arbitrators fall to the arbitrators themselves. As a result, the cost of using arbitrators already reflects those increasing costs, as they pass on the costs to the parties involved in the process. It is unclear what costs the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and others incur in the appointment process. None of that is on the record.”
“That is relevant to this statutory instrument because the whole question of the arbitrator, whose fee is raised by this SI, is central to the debate, and, indeed, the Rock review is referenced in the explanatory memorandum, in paragraph 10.4. I am, as so often, indebted to George Dunn of the Tenant Farmers Association for his advice on this matter. He tells me that the TFA is objecting to the proposals. He cites the recommendations of the Rock review, which expresses concern about the way in which agents operate in general, and how arbitration is in need of some oversight and reform. The report highlights the need for a commissioner or ombudsman to oversee the operation of arbitration. The TFA’s view is that that needs to be implemented preferably before or alongside any decision to increase the appointment fee.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. The instrument looks like an innocuous proposal, but I am afraid there is rather more to it than meets the eye, which is often the case when it comes to tenancy issues. The Minister has already referenced the Rock review. Baroness Rock produced her excellent report some weeks ago, and despite plenty of prompting from me and others, we have not yet had a full response from the Government. I understand that “in due course” can mean many things in this place, but I encourage the Minister to speed up that response. It is an important report and people are waiting on the Government to respond.”
“Assuming that I am interpreting the changes correctly, I am pleased that the current rules appear to be being transposed to allow edible-insect foods to continue to be developed. I also cannot resist quoting paragraph 10.18 of the explanatory memo. Again, not all Members may have got that far, but it bears re-reading. I particularly enjoyed this languid observation: “The remaining 251 comments were from members who did not provide comments of substance relevant to the proposals in the consultation. They either expressed a negative view or disgust on the principle of edible insects, interpreted the consultation as an intention to mislead consumers into unknowingly buying insect products and / or linked this policy to global conspiracy theories.” Wonderful. On that positive note, I conclude my remarks.”
“As the Minister will be aware, there is considerable interest in genetic modification, and some concern that rules on imported products are not consistent with rules governing domestic production. I wonder whether he will say a little about the scale of the issue. Just how much oilseed rape with traces of withdrawn GM products are we talking about? I cannot resist touching on qualifying edible insects, as the Minister so delicately put it. The jokes about a previous Health Secretary are just too obvious, so I shall obviously resist them, but in the interest of full disclosure, I crunched a delicious insect bar at an event in Cambridge highlighting food futures, and very good it was too.”
“I am also intrigued—as others may well be, if they got this far through the explanatory memorandum—by the issue of the “do not eat” pictograph referenced in paragraph 7.22, which apparently we cannot use because of uncertainty over the intellectual property rights applying to ownership of the picture. That seems somewhat bizarre. There must be many similar cases of artwork of uncertain provenance. Did we ask whether we could use it, if there was uncertainty? How much would a licence have cost? It seems an odd way to proceed. If we cannot agree on joint use of an existing symbol to promote food safety, it suggests that we have problems indeed. I am intrigued by the need to reinstate powers to extend the transitional period for the trace presence of withdrawn GMOs.”
“Could the Minister clarify the circumstances under which the Food Standards Agency will be required to review the operation and effect of the regulations? If a new extraction solvent is approved in the EU, does that automatically trigger a review? Will the FSA be required to undertake additional processes to deliver on that, and if so, has an assessment been made of whether the FSA has the capacity to undertake such duties? Perhaps the Minister will tell us that the FSA will be getting additional resource. I suspect that similar questions could be asked about a number of the other changes, but I am sure that he gets my drift.”
“Of course, all this statutory instrument and others do is try to ensure that it continues. The slight problem is that the world did not stop on implementation period completion day. As paragraph 7.13 of the explanatory memorandum tactfully puts it, what emerged were “certain difficulties, especially in relation to the approval of new, or amendment of currently authorised, substances.” I wonder whether the Minister could elaborate on some of the difficulties posed, the potential costs that they bring, and what happens in terms of trade when we operate to different standards from those of our near neighbours. The SI addresses the administrative challenge but hardly solves the problem. The review process is described in paragraph 7.15 of the explanatory memorandum.”
“I cannot resist the temptation, though, to draw Members’ attention to paragraph 7.10 of the explanatory memorandum, which reads very well. It states: “Before Implementation Period completion day, relevant EU food and feed law provided a high level of consumer protection with regard to food and feed hygiene and safety. In particular, relevant EU food and feed law set out the general principles for the safe and hygienic production of food and feed. They also prescribed effective and proportionate controls which must be applied by food business operators and feed business operators throughout the food chain, from primary production through to the sale or supply to the final consumer. It continued to apply unchanged during the Implementation Period.” We had a really good food safety system. What was the problem?”
“I am always keen to praise the work of the Food Standards Agency—a notable achievement of the last Labour Government. It is one of the oddities of the changes introduced by the Conservatives that Health Ministers now do animal feed. I am sure that they are very happy to do so. [ Interruption. ] Or not—who knows? Let us focus on the finer details of the draft regulations. The assessment is that the statutory instrument is a tidying-up exercise, as the Minister said. It generally maintains existing regulations and does not introduce new requirements. No concerns were raised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments or the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Therefore, Members will be happy to hear that we will not oppose the draft regulations.”
“It is a pleasure to serve once again with you in the Chair, Mr Sharma. It is also a pleasure to respond once again to a Health Minister, as I did in March when we debated the Food and Feed Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2022—a very similar title, with the same words, possibly in a different order. There is also possibly still much being done to correct the inevitable drafting errors and inconsistencies that have emerged in legislation. Frankly, the draft regulations before the Committee today are a bit of a hotchpotch, tying up loose ends. You will be glad to hear, Mr Sharma, that I do not feel the need to comment on each and every one of them. I am not critical of the mistakes, because it is a huge and complicated task.”
“I hope that the debate on the regulations, the comments that we have heard in the discussion and the determination of Opposition Members to keep raising these issues show Ministers that we do not want warm words—we want real action.”
“In conclusion, the Environment Act 2021 should have been used to finally tackle toxic air in England. Disappointingly for many in the sector and out in the country, nothing in the Act will stop the UK continuing to fall behind the EU when it comes to the green agenda and our environment. Indeed, in recent years, the Government’s air quality proposals have been ruled unlawful multiple times. The task of making our air cleaner starts with each of us. It is important that we are all aware of the air pollution levels in the communities we live in, so we know the local challenge facing us all. Air quality management areas have an important role in that, but I ask the Minister to comment on how effective she thinks they have been. The regulations should help to make them more effective, but more needs to be done.”
“We have already heard the example of Dover; I understand the Birmingham ring road would be another good example of somewhere where there would be a benefit. This is to be welcomed as we look to be doing more and going further, but it would be helpful to understand from the Minister what support will be provided to local authorities. I rather echo the points made by the right hon. Member for Beckenham because they are also responsible for the local road network and their own fleets, and will play an important role in the fight to clean our air. Including National Highways is positive, but more agencies means more work and more liaison, so what resources are the Government making available, or is it just another unfunded demand? We want action; we do not want hot air; we want action, and that means weighing up all factors.”
“It is vital that we remember that our ecosystems are damaged by toxic air and air pollution, as are our waterways and the natural habitats of our natural wildlife. And, of course, there is the impact on human life. Toxic air contributes to the deaths of people that we represent in this House. I recall that, in a speech given by my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West back in 2020, she noted that, following a number of legal challenges by ClientEarth in the High Court, the Government were forced to direct 61 local authorities to bring nitrogen dioxide levels on local roads within legal limits as soon as possible. The regulations will allow, in part, for the expansion of clean air zones in cities that National Highways runs through.”
“Friend the Member for Newport West has had with colleagues in the sector and various stakeholders, such as Tim Dexter at Asthma and Lung UK, Ruth Chambers at the Green Alliance as well as the mighty crew at ClientEarth, that the view is that the regulations are to be welcomed because they allow us to go that little bit further in the battle to preserve our environment. The Opposition agree and we will not be opposing them, but I would like to note the importance of the many demands for sustainable, long term and comprehensive action on cleaning our air. The Minister was characteristically optimistic about the state of that battle; others are slightly less positive and think there is much more to be done. A key element of preserving our environment is clean air.”
“I echo the congratulations to you, Mrs Latham. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair. It is also a pleasure to have the Minister back in her place. I am standing in for my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West (Ruth Jones); she has a long-standing engagement, visiting Chester Zoo in her role as shadow animal welfare Minister. She has asked me to send her best wishes to the Committee today. Before us are the Air Quality (Designation of Relevant Public Authorities) (England) Regulations 2022, which we agree are an important set of regulations that allow us to address the increasingly important challenge of cleaning our air, protecting our lungs and saving our planet. I know from discussions that my hon.”
“The taxi and private hire sector provides vital services in many parts of the country, but it now faces the prospect of VAT on fares, which could have a damaging effect. I raised the issue at the last Transport questions and sought a meeting with a Minister, but the industry was offered a 10-minute surgery appointment. Can the Secretary of State ask his diary secretary to look at that again? This is an important issue that deserves proper investigation.”
“I do not think we will get an answer because I know the answer: none and none. Under this Government, support for farmers and the rural economy is haemorrhaging. The failures of this Government make them a threat to our farmers, undermine our food security and, despite the heroic efforts of the staff in the agencies, are leaving us dangerously exposed in the event of further animal disease outbreaks. Our farmers deserve support. They are not getting it at the moment, but they will with a Labour Government.”
“What is happening with tier 3—the landscape recovery part of ELMS? Has it been postponed, scrapped or scaled down? Perhaps the Minister can tell us. Replacing more than 80,000 schemes under basic payments with just a couple of thousand so far under the sustainable farming incentive leaves a whopping almost £1 billion hole in the rural economy. To some extent, I echo what the hon. Member for South Dorset said. Frankly, is that what the Conservatives mean by supporting British farming? I wonder. What assessment has been made of the impact of all this? Does the Minister know? I have asked him before and I ask him again: what assessment has his Department made of the economic impact so far on the rural economy? What assessment has been made of the environmental impact?”
“The ELMS saga has played out in public view over recent months. The headlines in last week’s Farmers Guardian screamed out: “ELM uproar” and “New Ministers tear up scheme plans”. Perhaps the Minister can tell us what is going on. Perhaps the Minister can also tell us why Parliament is always the last place to be told. Is it true that there will be an announcement on 1 December? If so, are we invited? Informed sources—I include the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border in that—tell me that the changes may not be as dramatic as the headlines suggest, but perhaps the Minister can clarify that. Is tier 2 ELMS being replaced by countryside stewardship? If so, is that the genuine nature recovery network system promised in the Environment Act 2021? If not, how is it supposed to work?”
“I could give many more examples, but let me conclude by looking briefly at future prospects. To replace basic payments under the common agriculture policy, a new system was introduced under the Agriculture Act. The intellectual case for moving away from direct support was couched in terms of public money for public goods, and we agreed with the broad principle, but we argued then—we believe we have been vindicated by subsequent events—that food security is a public good. I was delighted to hear the hon. Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) endorse that point. Frankly, it was never clear whether the Government believed that a volatile and vital sector such as food production requires direct Government support or just indirect support through environmental schemes. The problem now is that they seem to be achieving neither.”
“How do the growers feel about the support they are getting? The NFU published a report this week showing that many are walking away from contracts and cutting production by as much as 20%. They cite a whole range of extra costs, including fertiliser, wages, packaging and transport, but the killer is energy. Farmers in competitor countries have support from their Governments, but here there is no certainty beyond a few months. The Minister knows full well that farming is a long-term businesses in which decisions about whether to plant are made many months ahead. Without certainty, the only sensible decision for too many will be not to plant. The end result is that this country will be less secure and will depend more on imports, almost certainly produced to lower standards, just as we warned during the passage of the Agriculture Act.”
“I just wish he had listened to the many organisations, including the Opposition, that made exactly the same points at the time, not many months after the Conservatives sold out British farming. No wonder so many are so furious; they are right to be. There are more made in Britain—or rather made in Marsham Street—gaffes that are undermining British farming. Look at the meat export sector. I was at Lancaster auction mart last week to see the sheep auctions and to hear from farmers at first hand about the problems they face. There are not just high input costs, fertiliser costs and labour shortages, as if they were not enough. The latest is the gold-plating of rules for export into Europe. If that is not resolved by 13 December, it will kill the export trade. Will the Minister tell us what he is doing to resolve the situation?”
“Member for West Dorset (Chris Loder) made about the GCA were slightly unfair, but he pointed out that it does not have the powers it needs, exactly as we argued during the passage of the Agriculture Act. On trade, we know about the lack of support for British farming, because the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice), did not mince his words last week. He said that “overall, the truth of the matter is that the UK gave away far too much for far too little in return…We did not need to give Australia or New Zealand full liberalisation in beef and sheep—it was not in our economic interest to do so, and neither Australia nor New Zealand had anything to offer” —[ Official Report , 14 November 2022; Vol. 722, c. 424.] I admire his candour.”
“Back in the spring, egg producers warned retailers that costs were running ahead of prices. At the egg and poultry fair, retailers failed to show up. They were replaced with cardboard cut-outs. It is a failure in the food system. What have the Government done? Nothing. The Agriculture Act was supposed to produce action on supply chain fairness, but all we have had is consultations and no outcomes. I ask the Minister once again: where is the dairy code? Where is the pork supply chain code? Can he confirm that the daft proposal to move the Grocery Code Adjudicator into the Competition and Markets Authority is dead? Or is that yet another thing that the “Department for Running Away From Any Problem”—DEFRA as it was formerly known—does not know the answer to? At first I thought the points the hon.”
“I will come to the future later, but let us start with the present. What are we seeing, and where is the support for British farming? Frankly, farming is hurting at the moment. There may be good prices for some, but there is still no respite, particularly for those in the pig sector. It is a very grim time for poultry farmers. Avian flu is horrible, and we know the APHA is struggling. As mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central and the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Dr Hudson), I am afraid that last week the Secretary of State ducked my question of what happens if we get another disease outbreak. Crossing fingers and hoping it does not happen does not constitute a plan. We should not allow avian flu to be a cover for the longer term problems egg producers have been highlighting for many months.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Gary. I congratulate the hon. Member for East Devon (Simon Jupp) for securing this debate. We had many positive contributions from across the floor. They echo many of the points that have been made from Labour Benches over the last few years, whether that be on labour supply, trade deals or the importance of food production. I particularly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) on echoing Labour’s cry to make, buy and sell more in Britain, and milk from the Hills will certainly be part of that. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax) on convening his farmers groups. I wish him luck with the Minister. Should he be unlucky, I am very happy to oblige whenever he requires.”
“Food production is vulnerable to animal disease, and we have heard about the impact of avian flu on supermarkets, which are limiting the sale of eggs. This week, the Public Accounts Committee highlighted what it describes as “a long period of inadequate management and under investment in the Weybridge site” of the Animal and Plant Health Agency. The PAC warned that the APHA would struggle if there were a concurrent disease outbreak. As the Secretary of State well knows, other diseases do threaten. Although staff are doing their very best, what is her plan if we face another disease outbreak, or is it just fingers crossed in the hope that it does not happen on her watch?”
“I hear the answer, but this issue is so important not just for the arc, but for unlocking the transport and housing issues in a city such as Cambridge. On different days of the week, we get different views from different Secretaries of State. Can we hear what the Treasury’s view is on the importance of restoring the rail link?”
“The Minister is right to say that biosecurity is critical for preventing the spread, and producers must take the responsibility, but what support are the Government offering to farmers to help to implement effective biosecurity measures and what checking is being done to ensure that such measures are at the right standards? Looking to the future, what is he doing to give seasonal producers the confidence to restock next year? Finally, what of vaccines? Other countries are moving quickly. What is the Minister doing to ensure that trade issues are resolved and that every effort is being made to get a vaccine in place? This is a serious situation, and the Government have been slow to react and slow to report to this House. They need to do better.”
“We are told that the outbreak has spread at a much faster pace this year than previously, with the chief vet telling parliamentarians this morning that, in terms of the number of cases, we are six weeks ahead of where we were this time last year. What impact will this have on our food supplies? We know that the disease affects turkeys and geese much more severely. The Minister says that there is no immediate threat, but it is reported that we already have a 20% supply issue with free-range turkeys. Is he confident that we will have enough turkeys for Christmas?”
“On the compensation scheme, can the Minister tell us how much it is costing? He mentioned the uncertainty about entitlement. There may be uncertainty in his Department, but the real complaint has been about the inability of the Animal and Plant Health Agency to move quickly enough when incidents are reported, and that is his Department’s responsibility. We know what the problem is: the shortage of vets and the lack of catchers and cullers. The vets went back to Spain and Portugal, but his Department had no plan or capacity to deal with a new crisis, and now we have one. Can the Minister tell us what the vacancy rates are at the APHA? Just how short is the agency? And if everyone there is working on avian flu, as they need to be, what effect is that having on issuing the dreaded export certificates that all our exporters now need?”
“I thank the Minister for giving me advance sight of his statement, which is welcome but should have been made weeks ago, as the devastating impact on the wild bird population has been known for months and the impact on producers has been getting worse and worse week by week. Yesterday, the Government finally announced that a full bird housing order would come into effect from Monday 7 November. That is coming too late, with over 3 million birds having been culled already, so why did it take so long? And because birds do not recognise borders, can the Minister tell us about discussions with the devolved Governments on introducing similar restrictions? With the imminent return of more migratory birds, we could rapidly see this spreading further across the four nations.”
“The economy is plagued by labour shortages, from care to hospitality. On Saturday, 200 bus services in Cambridge were cancelled because of a lack of drivers, leaving health workers unable to get to and from their places of work. After a decade of zero-hours and short-term contracts, it is no surprise that people want out—they do not want to be at work because it is too tough. Is it not time for the Government to recognise that good workplace rights are not just good for workers, but good for employers and good for us all?”
“Labour Members are enthusiasts for science and innovation, which can help to find ways to maintain and improve the efficiency, safety and security of our food system, while addressing the environmental, health, economic and social harms that the modern system has unfortunately caused. These are the challenges that Henry Dimbleby’s national food strategy set out to tackle, but the Government have, of course, completely failed to engage with it seriously. However, alongside the challenges, there are opportunities. The UK has the opportunity to create a world-leading regulatory framework that others would follow. Even though they rejected them in Committee, there is still time for the Government to accept the improvements that we and many stakeholders believe are necessary to achieve that goal.”
“After 12 years of Conservative government, people are fighting to keep their head above water against the rising tide of inflation, which is even higher for essentials such as food. It is no exaggeration to say that people are at breaking point, and the fears for this winter are very real. Despite the possible gains that science and innovation might bring, this Bill does not bring urgent relief to families across the country, but it is an important step in enabling scientific advancements with the potential to deliver huge benefits by helping us to produce our food more efficiently and sustainably.”