🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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May I begin by apologising, Madam Deputy Speaker, because there has been so much Northern Irish business over the past week that I have made my farewell speech 15 times? I am now known as the Dame Nellie Melba of west London. If anyone wishes to say any nice things about me, please let them not feel constrained by the fact that they have been said a few times already. I leave this House with...
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Even when I was making my speech to the Strangford Democratic Unionist party, he wanted to intervene on me! On that particular occasion I said, “Is there anything to drink?” He said, “Yes, orange juice.” I said, “Any particular sort?” He said, “Bitter orange juice.” And then there is the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr Evans), with whom I bonded in Hong Kong. There are...
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I have to say that this is not an easy day to be in the House—it is not an easy time to hear the Secretary of State’s words—and I pay wholehearted tribute to him for quite simply one of the most powerful speeches I have ever heard in my 22 years on these Benches. He spoke from the heart and he spoke from a deep humanity. We have to pay tribute to him for those words, which were...
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I appreciate that you, Mr Speaker, are occasionally someone who believes in constructive iconoclasm. This is the sort of occasion when I say to myself, “Would it not be wonderful if, just for once, we could not sit as Robespierre demanded we sit in the revolutionary council, on the left and the right, but we all sat together, on one side or the other?” I say that because today we are not...
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I think it would be appropriate at this time to mention the debt of gratitude that the House owes to the right hon. Member for South Ruislip and Northwood, who is also leaving the House. I just want to place on record the Opposition’s appreciation for his work. In the short time that he has held this brief, he has immersed himself in it and has won the respect of Members on both sides of...
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It is a source of great sadness to me and, I think, to everyone both inside and outside the Chamber tonight that such an important piece of legislation is being discussed so briefly. It is also a source of sadness that we have to legislate in this House for matters, which, entirely, should be the province of Northern Ireland. I am also concerned that we are probably failing in the scrutiny...
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I am not entirely sure that I accept that. I am obviously grateful to my good friend and colleague. However, I was slightly knocked back by the extraordinary comment of the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), who compared me with a prehistoric ruin on the North Antrim coast. I am quite proud to be compared with the Giant’s causeway, but if I were to be any feature of the Northern...
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I thank the Secretary of State for his most generous words. I have to say, the warmth and kindness he displayed are not normally characteristics of the Whips Office, which made them doubly welcome. This is a bittersweet occasion, but for me the bitterness is assuaged by the sweetness of the 21 years I have worked in Northern Ireland, in that most beautiful part of the world, with some of the...
More of Steve Pound's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent garages from parking vehicles on streets that do not a display registration plate or a visible vehicle identification numbers; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the powers available to the (a) DVLA, (b) the Metropolitan police and (c) local authorities in tackling that problem.
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people did not meet the personal identification requirement to be eligible to vote in the most recent Voter ID pilot areas.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to allow a pharmacy to open without a registered pharmacist being present.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are plans to allow pharmacy technicians to replace registered pharmacists in community pharmacies.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the average number of colonoscopy procedures conducted by an endoscopist each year; and whether the commitment to increase the number of endoscopists in Health Education England's cancer workforce plan will be sufficient to deliver the new faecal immunochemical screening test.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the provision of histopathologists to meet future demand.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been made available to enable hospitals to increase their numbers of endoscopists to meet current and future demand.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that food safety standards remain closely aligned with the EU after the UK leaves the EU.
More of Steve Pound's written questions
