Contributions
1,690 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)The Minister is going backwards and forwards just reading out what he has in front of him— [ Interruption. ] I am sorry, but he is. He is not answering any questions at all. Can I…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)Will the Minister give way?20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)Will the Minister give way?20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)rose —20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)Had the Bill been in place in 2009, that would have been it for those veterans—there would have been no case at all. The 2009 case, which I know well, was a limitation case, and…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)Does my hon. Friend agree that it would also limit families? In some cases—especially those involving asbestos, but also some involving cancers—the claim is generated only after…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)If overseas operations will be excluded after six years while for cases in this country a case could be made under the Limitation Act 1980, does the hon. Member not think that…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)I agree with the hon. Member on hearing loss cases, having dealt with such cases in shipbuilding. The person will agree that they have lost their hearing; it is about whether the…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)I am a big defender of pre-legislative scrutiny. I think I said a couple of sittings ago that our current system of pre-legislative scrutiny as part of the Bill Committee process…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)It is. Again, this is about the rights of veterans and armed services personnel, which I thought this Bill was trying to protect. If we are taking away rights that everyone else…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Mr Mundell. I trust that everyone has had a nice lunch. I hope the Minister has not had too much raw red meat and that he has been able…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)That is the point. I do not want to go off piste and explain the issues around pleural plaques, but I am a little bit of a sceptic on this. Although pleural plaques are lung…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Member for Glasgow North West, who speaks on behalf of the SNP, raised the issue of nuclear test veterans. In 2009, when they brought their case against the MOD, it was a…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)I have heard the Minister say that before. I accept what he is saying, but he is wrong. I will come to asbestos, because in a previous life I used to press asbestos cases, but I…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)I am not sure that that is the case, because those veterans brought quite a successful case. The Minister just said that it was not an operation, but it was: Operation Grapple, I…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Eighth sitting)It was Operation Grapple. If the Minister wants to intervene on my hon. Friend, I am sure he will act as the post box again. However, those veterans brought a successful case,…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)I will come back to asbestos. The aircraftman could not walk because the paint had attacked his nervous system, and his case was able to be taken forward only because of…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)I want to speak to clause 8 and my new clause 9. Does the Minister want to do the right thing by our armed forces personnel? I think he does. I have never questioned his…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)I agree that it should play no part whatever, and it does not in terms of the ethos of our armed forces. Will the Minister answer the point that there will not, in many cases, be…20 Oct 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill (Seventh sitting)Paragraph 46 of the explanatory notes states: “Schedule 1 details the sexual offences excluded from the scope of the requirements of clauses 2, 3 and 5”. We have touched already…20 Oct 2020