Contributions
1,177 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (First sitting)In case we do not get to it this afternoon, Donna Jones, one of the witnesses, is a personal friend of mine.16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (First sitting)Q I have a quick follow-up question, particularly to Councillor Hicks: would it be fair to say that the policy on the local government reorganisation is a soft target, certainly,…16 Sept 2025HANSARD UK Ambassador to the US: Appointment ProcessI associate myself with the Minister’s words about 9/11 and the untimely and tragic death of Charlie Kirk. Yesterday, it was reported that in 2008 Lord Mandelson emailed Epstein…11 Sept 2025HANSARD UK Ambassador to the US: Appointment ProcessOn a point of order, Mr Speaker. This relates to the issue we have been discussing, but is about the House procedures. What I took from the Minister’s answer was that Lord…11 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI disagree with the right hon. Gentleman, because it was clear in the negotiations that took place in the ’60s, when the United Kingdom paid Mauritius, that Mauritius actively…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI agree with my right hon. Friend. I found it quite concerning earlier that the Chairman of the Defence Committee, the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), relied on the fact that…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Billrose—09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillWe ended them!09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillThe hon. Member for Rugby (John Slinger) has omitted some of the quote, because he was proven wrong before. He has failed to say that the former Prime Minister said “mutually…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will in a second. Some, including the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), have said that we want to “return” the islands. I say that is impossible, because it…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will in a second. I just want to emphasise the point so we do not hear it again. There were no negotiations. There was no deal. [ Interruption. ] The negotiations were stopped.…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillWill the Minister give way?09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI thank the Minister for giving way, and I welcome him to his new position. He keeps saying “could”, “if” and that things “might” have happened. Will he accept that the legal…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will tell the hon. Gentleman what one of those red lines was: not paying £35 billion to another country. In case he wants to read his Labour party briefing again, I remind the…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillIf the hon. Gentleman had bothered to show up for the entire debate—I think that he has only just arrived in the Chamber—then he would have heard the answer to those questions in…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillIt is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. During an intervention on the Minister for Defence Procurement, I said that he was acting in a “duplicitous” way. I…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy right hon. Friend is concerned about the cost of the deal, but does she also share my concern about the way in which the deal was negotiated? The Prime Minister of Mauritius…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillYes, I absolutely can. I am not a lawyer, but I would say it is crystal clear in the sentence the hon. Gentleman has just read: “mutually beneficial”. What the democratically…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI can tell the hon. Gentleman. Let me say it very clearly and very slowly, because I know that hon. Members have written their speeches before the debate started: zero. Zero is…09 Sept 2025HANSARD House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillI guarantee to the Minister that, as a council estate boy from Lewisham, I am not someone who ever thought that my bloodline would get into the House of Lords— [ Interruption. ]…04 Sept 2025