Contributions
630 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSeaborne FreightOf course, the best way of avoiding no deal is to ensure that the deal passes through this House, and I will vote for it next week.08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightThe Government are working towards ensuring that we leave the European Union in March with a sensible agreement for the future, through the withdrawal agreement that the House…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightI am not even going to address the idiocy that the hon. Gentleman has just come up with. He has made a number of allegations, which I suggest he goes and makes elsewhere. I am…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightI am grateful to my right hon. Friend. It is absolutely right and proper that we prepare for all eventualities. The sad thing is to see the Labour party trying to destroy Brexit…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightThis procurement was done properly and in a way that conforms with Government rules. It secures the position of the taxpayer by ensuring that no money will change hands unless and…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightMy hon. Friend makes a valid point about public scrutiny. This contract was properly signed off by my Department’s accounting officer, and it was done in the best possible way…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightI completely agree with my hon. Friend. He will agree that it is right and proper that we do everything we can to keep trade flowing through the port of Dover and the channel…08 Jan 2019HANSARDSeaborne FreightI keep telling the hon. Lady that the £14 million will not be paid unless Seaborne Freight delivers a service. I will not comment on the tax affairs of an individual, and nor…08 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseOf course. Many people around the world are trying to find the perfect anti-drone solutions but, as Gatwick airport discovered, the reality is that those technologies are still…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseI am happy to do that to some degree, but the reality is that the response by the Ministry of Defence included some highly sensitive, confidential, secure equipment. That…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseThe report of there being no drone was a misspeak by a police officer. I have spoken to the chief constable since and to the airport chief executive—we talk regularly—and there is…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseI can assure the hon. Lady that we are very well aware of that and, indeed, the security services have been providing advice to airports about this for some considerable time.…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseMost immediately, the security at the airport is the responsibility of the owners themselves, supported by my Department and by the national security agencies. Those discussions…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseThis is one of the areas that is currently being worked on at a European level. We are working with EASA on this and we expect regulations to come forward during the…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseThat is the central point: we could have done everything imaginable in legal terms, but if somebody is determined to cause an attack of this kind, they will do so. It is now very…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseI do not think it is a question of one Department or another: we have to work as a team. The truth is that the Ministry of Defence has and did have a really important role. The…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseI quite agree, which is why the strategy is about not only meeting the challenge of the careless, illegal or inappropriate use of drones but setting a direction to ensure that we…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseI absolutely agree with that. We are already seeking to share our knowledge and experience, and I expect it is something that the International Civil Aviation Organisation will…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseThat is why the measures we introduced last summer—to make it illegal to fly a drone close to an airport and to put restrictions on the height above which one can fly a drone—were…07 Jan 2019HANSARDDrones: Consultation ResponseThat is precisely why the technology becomes so important: for all the requirements that one puts into law, including around the technology that goes into drones, ultimately if…07 Jan 2019