Dr Danny Chambers
MP for Winchester · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“The Government invested more than £560 million in AMR programmes between 2020 and 2024, so it is reasonable that Parliament should receive an annual assessment of AMR-related deaths to ensure that that significant public investment is delivering results, represents value for money and is targeted where it can have the greatest impact.”
“Surveillance has already identified significant variations by age, deprivation and geography. Understanding where deaths are occurring, and in who, would help direct resources to the communities and services that are most affected.”
“I thank the Minister for her comments. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Clause, by leave, withdrawn. New Clause 32 Review on deaths related to antimicrobial resistant infection “Within six months of the passage of this Act, the Secretary of State must conduct and publish a review into the number of yearly deaths in the UK which…”
“This is not simply a matter of people dying from infections that could not be treated; nearly all the advances in modern medicine over the last 50, 60 or 70 years would be null and void.”
“We very much welcome the Government’s initiative to give children free bus travel throughout the summer—it is a great idea. The only problem is that in Winchester and its surrounding area, Hampshire county council keeps cutting funding for bus services.”
“I thank the Minister for her comments. We understand that the Government take this matter very seriously, but we are working on estimated numbers of deaths for something that will eventually be killing more people than covid. We really need some tangible figures, so I will press the new clause to a Division.”
The complete record
Every one of 601 lines we hold for Dr Danny Chambers, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 13.
“Last year, I was pleased to promote a private Member’s Bill—now the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025—to stop puppy smuggling, specifically given the issue of ear cropping. It has been illegal to crop a dog’s ears in the UK since 2006, but it was legal to import dogs with cropped ears. We thought that it was unacceptable to do that in the UK on welfare grounds, but people were getting around the loophole by acquiring dogs from abroad. This seems to be exactly the same thing. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we should not be offshoring our ethical animal welfare issues by banning something in the UK but allowing people to get those products from abroad? If we think something is unacceptable here, it should be unacceptable anywhere.”
“Many businesses in Winchester that I speak to on a regular basis talk about higher energy costs and national insurance rises, and many bring up the increased red tape that has resulted from the Conservatives’ failed Brexit project. Businesses in Winchester say that they want growth, not continued red tape. About two weeks ago, I spoke to one such business, RJM International, located just off the high street. For some reason, the Government refuse to even consider reducing trade barriers to the EU by having a bespoke customs union, but industry wants it and the public are increasingly supportive. Why will the Government not even assess the economic case for a customs union and why are they clinging to a failed ideology at the expense of growing our economy?”
“I visited the Winchester courts recently and spoke to about a dozen barriers, who were all concerned about us taking a sledgehammer to jury trials, not only because they are a fundamental part of our justice system, but because doing so will not even help to clear the backlog, as jury trials are not the limiting factor. They reiterated that it is about defendants and prisoners getting to court on time, the number of sitting days and the crumbling infrastructure. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should listen to the professionals, who know what the problems are?”
“Sophia, whom I spoke to in my constituency office in Winchester this morning, is one of many recent graduates—often with really good degrees from really good universities—who have been applying for hundreds of jobs and not even receiving replies. Has the Department carried out an assessment of the impact of artificial intelligence, in all its forms, on graduate employment prospects over the next few years? What work has been done with universities and institutions that offer apprenticeships to ensure that young people are graduating with the right set of skills to be able to work in this era of artificial intelligence?”
“The South Downs national park wants it to stop. The local people want it to stop. Lib Dem-run Winchester city council wants it to stop. For various reasons, we cannot get the Conservative-run Hampshire county council either to change the designation of the river so that it is no longer a highway or even just to put in a traffic regulation order to prevent people from driving 4x4s along the stretch of river. I would really appreciate a meeting with the Minister, maybe with some of the various stakeholders, to work out how we can cut through this red tape, because it is ecological vandalism, it provides absolutely no benefit to the environment and there is overwhelming support to stop the damage.”
“I promise I will be as quick as possible. There is so much I would like to say about biodiversity net gain and the importance of the natural environment to people in Winchester, but I will speak only about a specific issue with one of our chalk streams that I believe the Minister could help us with. The beautiful River Meon runs through a little village called Droxford. For various historical reasons, it is classified as a public highway, and that means that people drive 4x4s along the river for a few hundred metres. It is not a shortcut to anywhere—it is not simply a river crossing—but it is damaging the riverbed. It also disrupts the spawning of the very rare Atlantic salmon that come from southern chalk streams. For over two years now, I have been working to try to stop the traffic from damaging this very precious habitat.”
“There has, rightly, been a lot of talk on both sides of the House about restricting and capping foreign donations, and how they are regulated. Does my hon. Friend agree that we also need to look at how foreign individuals and foreign states use social media to influence and change election results?”
“Now, we hear that around 50% of professionals use it regularly, over one in five people use it daily, and one in three adults have already turned to chatbots for mental health advice or emotional support. That is a huge and sudden change. It is penetrating our culture and daily use. We must ensure that we do not look back on this as we did with smoking. We knew for years the damage that smoking was doing to people, but action was not taken, evidence was obfuscated and lawmakers were lobbied. They delayed, and people died needlessly. We must get ahead of this and take action as quickly as possible.”
“It regulates AI chatbots by requiring them to remind users regularly that they are not human or qualified to give medical advice, and it ensures that chatbots are not allowed to provide sexual content or have sexual or grooming-type discussions, and that users do not believe that they are speaking with therapists. I hope that we can focus our minds—especially during Eating Disorders Awareness Week—on the potential danger of young people being given what they believe to be medical advice by chatbots, which may be presented to them as friends or cartoon characters. That advice could be hugely harmful to their health. I urge the House and the Government to move with extreme speed to address the problem. About two or three years ago, most of the general public had not really heard of ChatGPT.”
“At the moment, it is dangerous and unregulated, and people accessing it are not even aware that it is giving them information that is potentially harmful to their health. I do not want this to fall through the cracks of regulation. Whatever we come forward with, whether it is about social media specifically or broadcasting licences, we should bring forward principles. Banning or regulating specific social media platforms or chatbots will be very unhelpful because of the speed at which these things are developing. It is a bit like whack-a-mole: once we regulate one, another pops up. I draw everyone’s attention to the GUARD Act—guidelines for user age-verification and responsible dialogue—which was passed in the US last year. Very unusually, it had cross-party support despite the very fractious politics in the US at the moment.”
“I am really concerned about reports that patients with eating disorders are managing to get advice on how better to lose weight or even gain access to weight-loss drugs, which would make their condition much worse. I bring that up because there is a specific problem with AI chatbots. Some research shows that children do not recognise that a chatbot, which is often presented within social media as a companion, friend or cartoon character, does not have feelings, is not a person and does not care for their health and wellbeing. It is very possible that, with the right regulation, AI and AI chatbots could be part of extending mental healthcare to people in the community at some point in the future.”
“This week is Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so I would like to pay tribute to the amazing staff at Leigh House in Winchester, an in-patient unit that cares for people with eating disorders in Winchester and the surrounding area. Eating disorders are possibly some of the most serious mental health conditions people can suffer from, and the most frustrating to treat and care for. They existed before social media, but social media is certainly making things more difficult. The body images that young people—teenagers and younger—are exposed to and the normalisation of AI-altered images that are impossible to attain, but which are presented as normal and aspirational, is hugely unhealthy. We know that AI chatbots, which are often integrated into social media, are giving people mental health support and advice.”
“The biggest challenges facing the world now are global: climate change, the risk of pandemics, and antimicrobial resistance. These are global challenges, but also science challenges. The US Administration have an anti-vaxxer running the Health Department and a President who seems not to believe in climate change. Do the UK Government recognise that as an opportunity to really fly the flag for being a pro-science country and to offer refuge to scientists who want to help solve some of these huge global problems, but also help grow our economy?”
“It is really encouraging to hear that 5,000 Americans came in on skilled worker visas. We are concerned that companies, especially AI and tech companies, are setting up in the UK, but not growing here, because they then relocate, particularly to silicon valley, and become multimillion or multibillion dollar companies, employing a lot of people and paying a lot of tax. Do we know, because I actually do not know, the number of people leaving to go to the US to work in tech compared with the number coming to the UK, so we can see the direction of gravity?”
“It will be. In the rural villages in my constituency such as Colden Common, people rely on the bus service to maintain their independence. If the bus service goes, they cannot get to hospital appointments and they cannot stay in the house they may have lived in for years. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is more than just an economic impact to having good transport; it actually allows people to live a full and independent life without relying on care?”
“We must do all we can to ensure that Jewish people can practise their faith freely, live openly and participate fully in our society without fear. We remain today, and will always remain, committed to creating a society that never stops learning from the lessons of history.”
“On my way to the Chamber today, I walked past the very moving exhibition in Parliament of the replicas of the shoes of people who were killed in those death camps. Some of those shoes are of little children. That is a stark and haunting reminder of what the Holocaust required. The Holocaust depended on the systematic dehumanisation of its victims, casting human beings as non-human to justify the unjustifiable. To murder millions, the Nazi state had to treat even little children not as children with names, families and futures, but as something less than human. In this Chamber and in our communities, schools and neighbourhoods, let us all stand with Jewish communities, because antisemitism has no place in our country or abroad.”
“No one should feel anxious or scared when going to their place of worship and no one should be denied the freedom to express their religious beliefs. It ought to be a national shame that we need security measures outside places of worship, but with the murder of two members of the Jewish community just last year outside their synagogue, those measures are, unfortunately, necessary. For so many British Jews, Holocaust Memorial Day is deeply personal. It is a day of grief, of remembrance and of resilience. Primo Levi wrote: “The story of the death camps should be understood by everyone as a sinister alarm-signal.” While hatred and division persist, that alarm signal must be in our minds today, and must remain in our minds for generations to come.”
“The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust plays a vital role in ensuring that remembrance is not limited to those whose families were murdered in the Holocaust, but includes those who, having been mercilessly killed by the Nazis, were left with no one to speak their names. The legacy of victims with no surviving family or relatives must be safeguarded through education, remembrance and memorial. If the words “never again” are to mean anything, they must represent a shared commitment to challenge hatred wherever it appears. Sadly, this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day comes against a backdrop of rising antisemitism. Jewish people in the UK are facing unacceptable and rising levels of hatred and violence—and I know from speaking to my constituents in Winchester just how isolating and frightening that can be.”
“It is an honour to speak in this debate and to follow such passionate speeches, including that of the hon. Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid). I congratulate the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) not only on such an eloquent introduction to this debate, but on such an interesting history of the persecution of Jews in Britain for the best part of 1,000 years. That was very informative and provided a much-needed context for our discussion. Many Members spoke about the individuals, charities and organisations working tirelessly to ensure that the nation and schoolchildren in particular are educated about the Holocaust and will not forget it. As the average age of Holocaust survivors is 87, it is very prescient that the Holocaust Memorial Day theme is “Bridging Generations”.”
“In rural areas, there is often a double whammy. As a vet, I know from driving around in the night trying to find calvings or horses at 2 in the morning that there is also no mobile signal in places with very poor broadband. It is a problem not just in very remote rural areas: in my constituency we have issues in Sutton Scotney, South Wonston and New Alresford—a thriving market town that is in the bottom 10% for connectivity. This is not acceptable for businesses. It is not just inconvenient; it is holding businesses back.”
“It is rightly illegal to intentionally cause an animal to suffer, and people get prosecuted for that. For some reason, it does not seem to be illegal to breed an animal that you know will definitely suffer—an animal that will almost certainly require surgery just to be able to breathe. This is something that the Government need to take very seriously, and something that we should really focus on. There is the potential for legislation to apply already, if it were tweaked, because it could be argued that an animal with two parents that were bred to need that type of surgery in the first place is being intentionally caused to suffer. I urge the Government to look at this, because it is possibly the biggest pet animal welfare issue that we deal with at the moment.”
“Aside from the breathing issues, the dogs look very cute—that is why people breed them; they look like a teddy bear, with little flat faces and big bulgy eyes—but their eyes end up getting corneal ulcers and are damaged very easily. Some of these dogs have lifelong painful eye conditions as well. The popularity of these dogs is driven partly by social media influencers posing with them and partly by companies using them irresponsibly in advertising, completely out of context—for example, for absolutely no reason, a pug pops up on the Amazon error page. It is such a problem that it is causing vets a lot of distress as well. If you talk to a bunch of vets about it, they will almost roll their eyes and say, “You wouldn’t believe how many of these I saw today. It’s really upsetting.” It is upsetting for owners as well.”
“Many owners who buy these dogs have no idea that that is going to be the situation. They might spend several thousand pounds buying a puppy, then come into the vet and discover that, within weeks or months of owning the dog, they are going to have to fork out for surgery. Some cannot afford that, which means the dog gets rehomed or euthanised—that is heartbreaking for owners and vets. In case people think I am talking about a very niche issue, the number of brachycephalic dogs increased by 3,000% between 2010 and 2020, and around that time French bulldogs surpassed labradors as the most registered dog in the UK. This is possibly the single biggest pet animal welfare situation at the moment.”
“I congratulate the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett) on securing this really important debate. I really appreciate the discussion, and wholeheartedly support much of what has been brought up. One thing that I am disappointed to see is missing from the strategy is the breeding of dogs with extreme conformation. I am specifically talking about brachycephalic dogs—dogs with flat faces, including pugs, French bulldogs and English bulldogs. They are bred with such extreme conformation that they have a narrow trachea, so they struggle to breathe. They have narrow noses and what we call inverted laryngeal saccules at the back of their throat. That all impedes air flow, which means that many of these dogs require surgery in the first few months of life simply to breathe.”
“I can empathise with my hon. Friend’s experiences of caring for her mother. My father also died of dementia; we cared for him at home for many years. On a more positive note, I recently visited the St John’s dementia group in Winchester. It is a fantastic group with loads of activities—I joined them in singing “Sweet Caroline”, badly—and it provides vital support for those with dementia and for their carers by giving them some respite. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to do all we can, at the local and national levels, to support such community groups, which provide light relief for people in very stressful, chronic situations?”
“That is why we have called continually for a bespoke customs union with the EU to slash red tape and for a major boost to research and development funding, all of which would hugely benefit the life sciences sector. Will the Minister confirm that the Government are fully confident—with some sort of impact assessment or study to show this—that the adapted fee structure will not be overly punitive to business, and SMEs in particular, and will not end up inadvertently reducing the investment in and growth of medtech in the UK?”
“I am very glad to be here to speak about medical devices and life sciences, because not only are they about solving many of the problems we are facing as a country, such as antimicrobial resistance in treating diseases, but they are a fantastic way of growing our economy. We welcome the fact that the Government acknowledged that the initial plans would have disproportionately affected small and medium-sized businesses. Like all SMEs around the country, they are struggling with everything from soaring energy prices to national insurance and Brexit red tape. It is vital that we reach a balance, and the Minister spoke well on this. It is imperative that funding is sufficient for the MHRA to regulate the market effectively, and we do not want to deter medical technology companies from investing in the UK.”
“Allies do not threaten each other, either militarily or economically, so the whole House will be troubled by comments made by the Trump Administration in the past couple of days. What is the Foreign Secretary doing to communicate with our NATO allies and the Trump Administration how unacceptable those comments are, and what are we doing to ensure the integrity of our NATO alliance?”
“As a fellow veterinary surgeon, I reiterate what the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson) just said. Every vet will have stitched up horses or treated dogs or cats that have been affected. It is not a niche problem or unusual: every vet dreads being on call on fireworks night because they know that they will be busy.”
“When I was studying for my A-levels, I had to work really hard to get the grades I needed to go on and study veterinary science at the amazing Liverpool University. Had social media existed at the time, I think it is really unlikely that I would have got the grades necessary, given that there are so many addictive algorithms that are distracting and bad for mental health. Will the Minister look seriously at the Liberal Democrat proposal to effectively ban social media in its current form for children? It is hugely distracting, and we want to ensure that every child can reach their educational potential.”
“I thank the huge team of more than 80 staff and volunteers for all their work; they are extremely busy at the moment. I also thank the community, faith groups and churches that support them. Taking a step back, despite all our economic troubles, we are one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. We can be a nation where an honest day’s work pays a living wage, where no one with a full-time job has to go to food banks to feed their children, and where no child ever goes to school hungry. We have to make these choices urgently; we must address them as soon as we can.”
“While we are desperate to have food that is more affordable, we must be mindful that signing trade deals with the USA that would undercut our farmers on welfare, environmental and basic public health standards would be hugely detrimental. We do not want chicken that has been washed in chlorine, we do not want hormone-treated beef and we do not want eggs that have been produced by battery hens. That would be bad for British farming, for animal welfare and, given the antibiotic use, for public health. I urge the Government to ensure that it is enshrined in any trade deals that those standards would be protected. I want to pay tribute to the food banks in Winchester, which I have visited on more than one occasion. We have the Winchester Basics Bank and the food pantry in Unit12.”
“I know what it is like to have to get up at 5.30 in the morning to milk cows, to calve cows in the middle of the night and to work all night lambing. Farmers work all hours in all weathers, but their income at the end of the year is often not related to the amount of work they put in, because it can be affected by factors completely out of their control, such as a disease outbreak, a trade deal or a weather event. The frustration of not getting rewarded for the amount of effort, time and energy they put in is making many see long-term futures in farming as unsustainable. They need a huge amount of support. Food security is part of our national security, but 45% of our food is imported. Given the volatile geopolitical situation, food is more than ever a key component of our national resilience.”
“We are finding that people are struggling just to meet the absolute basics—not just food, but other life essentials. Several Members have spoken about farming and food producers. As a vet who grew up on a farm and so has worked in farming in many capacities, I think that that is one of the most underestimated ways of helping to address the cost of living crisis. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) mentioned, farm-gate prices are so low that many farmers are earning significantly less than the living wage, yet supermarket prices are so high that many people cannot afford to buy basic, decent quality food. That shows the necessity of the revised food strategy, which has to be an imperative for this Government.”
“I commend the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) on securing this hugely important debate. The cost of living, particularly the cost of food, is one of issues I get contacted about the most by my constituents. The high cost of living is being driven by rising food prices. I was astounded just last week, when someone emailed me a photo of an £8 tube of toothpaste from the supermarket in Badger Farm in Winchester. It was not a special new one that claims to whiten teeth and cure all oral ailments; it was just bog-standard toothpaste. I think we are all finding that we leave the supermarket baffled. Often, I just pop in for some essentials and I leave with a bag of shopping that has come to £50 or £60. It is affecting absolutely everyone.”
“They help them realise what an exciting subject science can be, opening their eyes not only to studying science for a career, but to better understanding our place in the world and the importance of conservation.”
“The reason I am so moved to speak about this subject today is that the single most exciting trip we made when I was at primary school was to a planetarium. That fired up my love of science, and then watching “Star Trek” and nature documentaries while growing up on a farm shaped my world view and career trajectory. When I was a teenager, I had a favourite magazine. [ Laughter. ] I should probably clarify that it was New Scientist . To be asked a few years ago to write a few articles from a veterinary perspective for New Scientist was an ambition fulfilled. When I look back on those visits to science centres and planetariums, I wonder how many people got into science because of stars and dinosaurs. It sounds like a cliché, but they bring science to life for everyone, especially children.”
“I have worked in Africa studying how to improve cattle production by making them more resistant to a protozoan parasite spread by the tsetse fly called trypanosomiasis, trying to create more cattle genetically resistant to that disease. I have worked in Iraq, India, all over the UK and New Zealand, simply because I studied science at school. It is the most exciting, enabling subject to study. Growing up on a farm, loving animals and loving science at school, I naturally went down the veterinary route, but my first love in science was astronomy. On the farm in Devon where I grew up there was little light pollution and the stars were incredible. I could name every constellation from the age of eight.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) on securing the debate. His absolutely fantastic speech got everyone really enthusiastic, riled up and excited about supporting science. One reason I am here is that the Winchester Science Centre is not just the biggest indoor attraction in Hampshire, but the UK’s largest stand-alone planetarium, and it has 185,000 visitors a year. I am so pleased to have it in my constituency, because science has given me the most wonderful career. I look back on the amazing things I have done because I studied science at school and took science A-levels.”
“Places such as the Winchester Science Centre inspire collaboration, learning and the sharing of information. In a world of falling vaccine uptake, climate change denial and precarious geopolitical frameworks, it is the scientists who will do the heavy lifting to keep us all safe, and yet they are probably the most overlooked. Museums have the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to back and champion them; science centres do not have a Government Department specifically to do that. I urge the Minister to consider getting a Department such as DSIT to really champion them.”
“I completely agree with the hon. Member. We are not here to support science centres just for themselves, just for the tourist industry or just for the economy. Some of the biggest challenges facing civilisation at the moment—global challenges such as climate change, antimicrobial resistance, risk of pandemics, biodiversity collapse, and even how to feed and provide energy sustainably for 8 billion people—are also science challenges. We need to inspire the next generation of children to recognise those as urgent problems that need to be solved. They are not hypothetical challenges; they are current challenges. Science centres are vital to inspire children to create the next generation of scientists who will help solve all those problems. We are in an era of rampant misinformation, with geopolitical turbulence and global health challenges.”
“I apologise for intervening so soon, but it is important to emphasise how significant this debate is. It is not a niche issue. During my career as a horse vet, I have stitched up and euthanised more horses that have been hit by cars than I can remember—they get broken legs and their owners are injured. This is a very regular occurrence for vets. Just this morning in Winchester, in Hambledon on the B3041, a horse was hit by a car and had to be euthanised. This is not a niche problem, nor is it an unusual occurrence, so I fully support the action that my hon. Friend has taken in securing this debate.”
“I have been contacted by so many KCs and criminal barristers in Winchester, one of whom is Rosemary Burns. The collective confusion is about why we are removing such a fundamental, entrenched constitutional principle, rather than focusing on crumbling courtrooms and courtrooms sitting empty due to the cap on the number of days the court can sit and the failure of prisoner transport to bring defendants to court in time. Why are these logistical and infrastructure issues not being given a laser focus before this measure is even considered?”
“Some people I met said that they met their friends on the bus, and they now go for coffee together and check up on each other, but they would not even have known each other had they not been on the same bus. [ Interruption. ] I have a lot to say about this bus, but I only have 45 seconds left, and it is not the only bus. Conservative Members may find it amusing, but the Conservatives on Hampshire county council have cut the funding for these buses, after they froze council tax for years. The Conservative Government cut funding for the local council, and now local people are paying the price of very poor financial decisions. The first things being cut are the buses that affect people’s everyday lives and their individual experience. That is a good example of poor financial management, and individuals are now paying the price.”
“I took the last bus journey on the now cancelled 61 bus to Colden Common and Bishops Waltham, and the bus driver told me that the route had been going for 100 years, but Hampshire county council has withdrawn its funding. Buses are not only important for getting people to work and school, but vital for people’s independence. I have met many elderly people who used this bus to get to Winchester for hospital appointments, to go to the doctor or to do their shopping, and they say that without this bus, they will not be able to remain living in a little village, or remain living independently. It had not occurred to me that there are the communities that buses themselves create.”
“One of the best things about the boundary changes at the last general election is that Winchester is now 60% rural. I spent many happy years driving around the countryside of the Meon valley treating horses. It is very obvious that the communities—the towns and the villages—in rural areas are cut off in many different ways, because often where there is no mobile signal there is no broadband, or no fast broadband. An added extra pressure over the last few years is that buses have been cancelled. In 2025, I spent a lot of time working with local communities trying to save or restore bus services, because they are an absolute lifeline.”
“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. It is really reaffirming to see the whole House express its unwavering support for Ukraine, and we hope our Ukrainian friends take heart from it. We have discussed this evening the heartbreaking situation of over 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. Is it the Government’s position that, for this act alone, President Putin should be hauled in front of the International Criminal Court?”
“Small and medium-sized businesses are the absolute lifeblood of our economy. Many of them, including the amazing Bar Lento—a Spanish café in Winchester that I spend a lot of time in—are the beating hearts of our communities. The average electricity bill for a small business is now £240 a month, and 92% of such businesses say that they will increase prices to deal with energy volatility. Unlike households, businesses do not benefit from an energy price cap, so they face the consequences of energy volatility all the time. Does the Minister agree that this is failing small businesses, and will he commit to a review of how to end the wild west of energy regulation?”
“Does the Minister agree that this is absolutely crazy and will she look at how we can equip the hard-working teams at the ports with the powers needed to provide a proper deterrent to stop this meat coming in?”