division_name: Cost of Living Committee
motion: <p class="indent" pid="b323.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Current select committee meeting rooms are not equipped for a committee of the proposed size and would need to be adapted to accommodate the Committee. The costs stated in this memorandum do not include the additional costs associated with such adaptation.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b326.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I will do so in the knowledge that I will be able to walk down the streets of Edinburgh South, look my constituents in the eye and say to them that I have done everything I possibly can to protect their jobs, their livelihoods and the future of their families.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="">1 February 2017</phrase>; Vol. 620, c. 1052.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b327.5/15" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;at the moment, for example, it&#8217;s pretty obvious that independence is not the consistent settled will of the Scottish people&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b327.5/17" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;at every corner and every turn&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b330.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;That this House agrees that increases in the cost of living are having a detrimental impact on businesses and families across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b330.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the United Kingdom&#8217;s exit from the European Union has played a significant role in driving those increases&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b337.1/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;There are several factors driving this crisis. The most immediate trigger is high inflation, partially a consequence of trade disruption associated with the conflict in Ukraine, superimposed on the impact of Brexit and associated fall in the value of the pound, which is leading to a rise in the costs of energy, food, and other essential resources for life.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b339.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the devolved administrations do not possess the full financial powers required to effectively mitigate the increases&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b340.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a completely unprecedented period with no earnings growth.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b340.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;not a penny less, not a power lost&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b341.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;frankly more acute than in most other major countries&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b341.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Trade can no longer be as frictionless and dynamic as it was before. This means additional costs for businesses on both sides... Over time, increased divergence will bring even more costs and it will further deepen the barriers to trade between the EU and the UK.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b342.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;seem to be losing hope and do not feel optimistic about their futures&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b345.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It is crazy that one week the government is holding a crisis meeting in Downing Street to discuss out-of-control food inflation and the next is willing to nod through a multimillion new import tax on EU food imports.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b345.1/12" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Because of silly EU rules&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b345.1/14" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;EU energy regulation will cost the UK economy about &#163;90 billion&#8230; Instead of spending money on patients, the NHS has to instead spend millions every year on energy costs.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b348.4/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We are freeing people in this country from red tape because we look at the United Kingdom playing a global role&#8212;trading with the globe, being as economically productive as anywhere in the world&#8230;That is why the EU is a failing economic option and why we sing hallelujahs for having left it.&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="">9 June 2022</phrase>; Vol. 715, c. 933.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b353.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;frankly more acute than&#8230;in most other major countries.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b353.1/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;remains higher than it was last summer, bills will remain higher than the beginning of this crisis in 2021, and since then people have faced a huge squeeze on their finances.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b361.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;whatever issues the industry has with Brexit and labour issues&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b361.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;these pale into insignificance if fishermen are banned from fishing&#8221;,</p>