Contributions
405 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDArmed Forces: Covid-19 DeploymentI thank the shadow Secretary of State for tabling the urgent question. Like others, I put on the record the thanks of the Scottish National party to the armed forces for what they…10 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillNo, I am going to wind up. The Minister has to take that into account, but he has failed, and the failure is his alone. I do not want him to think that, when he gets his way…03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillWill the Minister give way on that point?03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillThat is exactly the slippery slope I fear we are on. I hate the phrase “the thin end of the wedge”, but I am afraid that it rather fits where we are with this Bill and this…03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillI also thank the Clerks and the staff of the House who have worked on the Bill and the Library staff who have worked hard to ensure that Members are briefed properly. I want to…03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillWill the Minister give way?03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillYes, that is entirely correct. Or we could take the former Conservative Defence Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind. I think I said in the previous debate that he is not exactly known…03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillI am grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I am only sorry we did not get to hear the end of the speech by the hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry). I rise to support the new…03 Nov 2020HANSARDOverseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) BillWell, we will go through some of that evidence, shall we? We will go through some of the comments made by senior military, legal and political opinion that make it quite clear…03 Nov 2020HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: TimescaleUnfortunately for the Secretary of State, we can all see where this is going, as he knows as well as we do. In April, he wrote to members of Congress stating that “support to the…02 Nov 2020HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: TimescaleAhead of Remembrance Sunday at the end of the week, we wish well all of those organising events in a different fashion. The day does not lose its meaning at all. On the integrated…02 Nov 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillThe right hon. Gentleman is correct, so I do not need to expand on that. I am conscious of your points about time, Madam Deputy Speaker, but he is correct in what he says. I want…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillI, like others, pay tribute to the armed forces, not least for the work they have done during the coronavirus crisis, particularly in erecting the extraordinary construction of…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillI do not believe that anything I read out is what he has withdrawn. However, if I am wrong on that, I am happy to be corrected. I thought I was going to be told that he was indeed…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillOf course, the Advocate General for Scotland resigned just last week. I believe it is the case that the Department consulted the Lord Advocate in the Scottish Government. It is…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillThat is because I know what I am doing, Madam Deputy Speaker, as you well know. Let me say this to the Minister for Defence People and Veterans. We always try to find the maximum…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillI have not disputed any of those things. I am willing to have that conversation, but the Secretary of State has introduced a Bill that is so egregious that he makes it impossible…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillI will once I have completed my peroration. Scrap the Bill and let us have a discussion about the way in which the Ministry of Defence investigates these things internally. I am…23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) Billrose—23 Sept 2020HANSARD Overseas Operations (Service Personnel And Veterans) BillI will not have that. The armed forces look to this place to get this right—the hon. Gentleman is correct on that—but they expect and deserve a better standard than the comment he…23 Sept 2020