Plastic Food and Drink Packaging

We did not look at the situation in Northern Ireland, although I understand that that is a good m...

The hon. Gentleman is very kind to give way again. In Northern Ireland—let us be honest, we are a...

The hon. Gentleman makes the point that Northern Ireland is naturally a more compact, smaller com...

rose—

I give way to the hon. Gentleman, who is on the Select Committee.

During our inquiry, witnesses regularly made the point that kerbside collections and all the legi...

I agree, but before we bring in stiff penalties we must ensure that there is a similar system all...

I have spent quite a bit of time working with schools in my constituency, and Commercial Primary ...

The hon. Gentleman is exactly right. We must ensure that we explain what we are doing and what it...

As my hon. Friend will know, the food and drinks manufacturing sector is the largest manufacturin...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He does a great deal of work with the food and drin...

I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for giving way. Will he join me in congratulating Surfe...

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention; she is an excellent member of the Select Committee an...

Would any hon. Members wishing to speak stand up so I can see them? [Interruption.] It looks as t...

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton and Tiverton—

Tiverton and Honiton.

I commend my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish)—Tiverton is obvio...

We will contest that.

I will not comment on Tiverton and Honiton again. I say that my constituency is the most beautifu...

My researcher loves going to Scilly; he is going there for Christmas. He was showing me in the of...

I welcome that intervention, and the fact that we agree on that is brilliant. The hon. Lady is ri...

You can guarantee that, can you?

I can, but the clouds sometimes obscure it.

On the Isles of Scilly, where it is 12 °C and w...

There is a counter-argument for some of this packaging, particularly when it comes to cucumbers. ...

I completely accept that. Cutting down on food miles and getting better at using food when it is ...

I am most intrigued by the hon. Gentleman’s comment, and what he said was true. Those of us who c...

I will not criticise my own Government, but I learned home economics in school, which taught me w...

That is what we found in the inquiry. Compostable plastic has to reach 60°C; it has to be industr...

I agree, and I intended to refer to the report picking up on that point, so I thank my hon. Frien...

I refer back to what the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honit...

I agree, and I welcome that intervention. It is true that there will be some single-use plastic t...

It would be remiss of me not to commend some of the supermarkets for what they are doing. In my c...

I am not here to beat up the supermarkets, and if I have done so, I apologise. I welcome the inte...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer, and a great pleasure to follow my...

On consistency across the UK and trying to have a more joined-up approach, in Scotland, we are ab...

The hon. Gentleman is right. We have an opportunity to standardise a new scheme—well, an old sche...

As my friend, the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman), mentioned, some of...

I completely agree. As well as being influenced by children, consumer behaviour can take some tim...

The hon. Lady referred to consumer behaviour. As I was saying to the hon. Member for Dunfermline ...

I completely agree. There were some mentions of takeaways in the report. We could also not have a...

That was very harsh!

It was harsh, but, unfortunately, it was true.

Making it easy for people to use less is the...

As always, Mr Stringer, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.

I, too, welcome ...

I am just looking at a document on the sustainable development goals: No. 4 is on education and N...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I agree with him; in fact, it has already been very...

Order. May I ask the hon. Gentleman to bring his speech to a conclusion within the next couple of...

That is lucky, because my voice is beginning to give way anyway. There is real concern that Brexi...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his co-operation.

2.34 pm

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

I was delighted to read thi...

My office and I ran a survey of small businesses in my constituency, and we discovered that many ...

I absolutely agree. Far too much of the discourse about waste and the environment has been couche...

Minister, may I ask you to leave, if possible, 90 seconds to two minutes for the Chair of the Sel...

Thank you, Mr Stringer; it is a pleasure to serve under you today. I will endeavour to leave a mi...

That is a laudable approach, but how will the Government guide local authorities to ensure that t...

That is a good point. Members touched on funding. We will give increased powers to local authorit...

On a point of clarification, I understand that the EU is currently reviewing both the extended pr...

I urge the hon. Lady to look at the detail of the producer responsibility scheme and the consulta...

Will the Minister give way?

I just wanted to address the point, which I think was made by the hon. Gentleman, about local aut...

Will the Minister give way?

I want to get through all of my information, but go on, then. Make it quick, sir. [Laughter.]

I will take as much time as I need, but I thank the Minister for her comments. My hon. Friend the...

We have committed to maintaining our environmental standards, and will always keep a weather eye ...

I thank all Members for participating; there has been much cross-party support today. We all want...