Contributions
1,148 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)As I turn to clause 4, I will begin with a reference to clause 3. The statement provided for in clause 3 sets out how the Secretary of State expects to exercise the call-in powers…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)I hope that hon. Members will recognise that the Government are committed to providing as much clarity and predictability as possible for business on the use of the new investment…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)Amendment 11 would require the Secretary of State to publish guidance in relation to the Bill and regulations made under it within six months of Royal Assent. The hon. Member for…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)Southampton, Test.01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)I am grateful for the hon. Member’s contribution. Of course, no Government can tie the hands of future Governments, if that is his argument. Moving on, I commend hon. Members for…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)I am grateful to the hon. Member for Aberavon for his comments. I was quoting from the evidence that Dr Ashley Lenihan provided. She said: “I do not know of a single one that…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)I do not wish to keep repeating myself, but I have set out the reasons why I cannot accept these amendments. I would again gently encourage the hon. Member to withdraw the…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham. As I was saying, after a trigger event is called in, the Secretary of State has 30 working days in which to carry…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)I was going to address that at the end of my remarks, but I will touch on it briefly and hopefully reiterate it at the end. It is about certainty and proportionality. Everything…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)I hope that the hon. Member for Southampton, Test and other hon. Members will permit me, in responding to the hon. Gentleman’s points, to begin by considering stand part and by…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)It is vital that the Government have the powers necessary fully to scrutinise acquisitions and control over entities and assets that might pose national security risks. The Bill…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)What I am trying to get at is the point made so eloquently by my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble—the bottleneck issue. It is unlikely that adding this review, or…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)Clause 8 sets out for the purpose of the Bill the circumstances in which a person gains control of a qualifying entity as defined in clause 7. More specifically, the clause sets…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)We can debate the number, but the issue is one of delay and bottlenecks. It could mean that the Secretary of State was timed out of calling in potentially harmful acquisitions and…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)These amendments would ensure that a person becoming a major debt holder would count as a person in control of a qualifying entity. Amendment 14 would go further and ensure that a…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)Clause 9 sets out, for the purposes of the Bill, the circumstances in which a person gains control of a qualifying asset, as defined in clause 7. A person gains control of a…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Fifth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg, and to speak on this important Bill. I am grateful for the congratulations—or perhaps commiserations!—of the shadow…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)Clause 7 provides the definitions of “qualifying entities” and “qualifying assets” within the scope of the Bill, where, if they are subject to an acquisition of control that…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)This group of amendments would provide for certain cases to count as a person gaining control of a qualifying entity. The amendments are to clause 8, which defines the…01 Dec 2020HANSARDNational Security and Investment Bill (Sixth sitting)I think that the Bill is proportionate and I think that national security is not dependent on a particular country. Malignant actors come from different nationalities. The…01 Dec 2020