Devolution of Welfare

The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point about the importance of different Governments wit...

I compliment my hon. Friend on securing the debate. He has mentioned the investment that the DWP ...

My hon. Friend makes a very important point, and I am going to come on to that shortly. Clearly, ...

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this incredibly important debate to this place. Does he agree...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point; I am going to expand on that a little further. Despite a...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. I hope he agrees that it is very unfort...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. It is quite telling that there are only three SNP Member...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I just want to make a bit more progress. [Hon. Members: “Oh!”] Fine, on you go.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way and commend him on securing this debate, as it will giv...

The hon. Gentleman is doing his best to try to justify this, but the Secretary of State for Scotl...

Officials.

The Secretary of State and other Ministers in this Government have been working hard, because we ...

The hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. Does he acknowledge the comments that ha...

I am grateful for that point, but it is astonishing—it is a Scottish Government timetable that ha...

The hon. Gentleman is making a very eloquent argument as to why the Scottish Government can pick ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point. I support equalisation of pension age. This i...

The hon. Gentleman has been making great play of the fact that he has the border near his constit...

I support the equalisation of the pension age. It is quite astonishing for the hon. Lady to almos...

Given that the hon. Gentleman is advocating his support for 1950s-born women, is he in favour of ...

I support the changes. I have supported a number of my constituents. As I have said, the equalisa...

Seven Members wish to speak, so that is about five minutes each. That is guidance, not an absolut...

It is great to see you in the Chair, Mr Betts. If the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am happy to do so just once.

Surely it is a good thing that there are now fewer children in workless households than ever befo...

It is a fantastic thing, but it is bad that most of those children are in poverty when they were ...

The hon. Gentleman will understand the difficulty and complexity of delivering a combined social ...

That is an interesting intervention. I admit I am not an expert on social security, and I would n...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, because the Chair has said we have only five minutes.

I wanted to mention the W...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Betts. I thank my hon. Friend ...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned severe disablement allowance and he will be aware that no new recipi...

That is entirely up to the Scottish Government. It is devolved. It is another ball that they have...

Would the hon. Gentleman be so kind as to give way?

No. My concern with the Scottish plan of action is that constituents complain about the public se...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate both the Backbench Bu...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts, and to follow the hon. Member for Ea...

My hon. Friend is right that the Scottish Government have not touched the powers. The nub of the ...

My hon. Friend is correct; there is no issue that it is beyond the SNP’s powers to politicise and...

The hon. Gentleman warns of the problems that his constituents could face if this system is not d...

The hon. Gentleman is someone I respect, but we are talking about the Scottish Government’s willi...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts.

I thank the hon. Member for Be...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) on securing t...

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the PIP points-based system staying the same. In ma...

That is indeed something that the Scottish Government could do. They want to be the Scottish powe...

I am going to start the winding up speeches at 10.28 am.

10.22 am

I am pleased to speak in this debate and to be the first woman called. Although we have had some ...

We move on to the Front Benchers, who will each have 10 minutes. That will leave a couple of minu...

Thank you very much, Mr Betts. It is a pleasure to speak in this debate with you, my Finance Comm...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

At least let me get started.

With support from other parties and brilliant stakeholders in ...

The hon. Gentleman speaks about delivering functions in Scotland. Could he perhaps advise Westmin...

I wish to put on record my congratulations to the hon. Gentleman and his wife on the safe deliver...

The narrative from the SNP Scottish Government has always been, rightly, about generating a new s...

That is not actually true, and the hon. Gentleman knows it. We have been campaigning very hard in...

Last year, my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Bill Grant) secured a debate o...

Yes, I do. The hon. Gentleman is a former Member of the Holyrood Parliament, so he knows how quic...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am answering the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk first. He does not appe...

I have listened to this gang of Trumpists shout and bawl and try to shout people down. Does my ho...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He serves on the Select Committee on Work and Pensio...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am concluding.

The hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk also forgot to ment...

I call Mike Amesbury for the Opposition. [Interruption.] Order. Calm down a bit, please.

10...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. It was almost a “Get the popcorn out...

It is a great disappointment that in a debate on such an important topic, the SNP Members—who are...

The hon. Gentleman has made his point.

Mitigation is essential, and a lack of it is a cause...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point about the absurdity, if the DWP is so evil and malevolent, ...

Yes; it is another failing of fine and warm words but nothing happening in reality.

While t...

The hon. Gentleman rightly talks about the high poverty levels that we have throughout the United...

I know the hon. Gentleman will agree that a million people in poverty in Scotland is still shamef...

I just said that.

If I may continue, when we have seen SNP and Tory politicians working together, they have done so...

My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time, and is making an excellent speech. We have t...

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the excellent record of Labour in Scotland, campaigning t...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Me...

The Minister is setting out well some of the areas where there has been good working between the ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Over the past few years we have been working con...

Will the Minister give way?

I will not, if my hon. Friend does not mind, because time is short.

The hon. Member for Wea...

I thank the Minister and other colleagues for keeping within the time limit. John Lamont has a mi...

I am grateful to all hon. Members who contributed. It is telling that we had only one substantive...