Speeches by Brandreth.

“I want to jump in on this theme. Professor Tolz-Zilitinkevic, you said that the scale of a disinformation campaign might not be reflected in its impact. Thinking back to the discussion we were having about elections that might have been influenced by disinformation, how do you, or any of the panel, think we can measure…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. The petition that we debate has been signed by 494 of my constituents. Many of those signatories will be farmers operating on multi-generational farms across Cheshire but, signing alongside those farmers and families, there are many more who are deeply con…”

“It is clear that we face increasingly volatile and dangerous global security challenges, which is why the previous Government set a path to 2.5% of GDP being spent on defence by 2030. What conversations have the Minister and officials at the Ministry of Defence had with NATO counterparts, particularly from the United S…”

“12. In which financial year he plans to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence.”

“I want to dig a bit more into the foreign policy aims of our sanctions policy. Are we clear about them? Are we articulating them clearly? What would good communication of them look like? Perhaps Freya Page might want to come in.”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered road safety around schools. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine, and to have secured this debate on such an important topic. On 12 November last year, a young boy left school at the end of the day, stepped into the road directly outside his school …”

“The hon. Lady is making a very passionate speech on an extremely important topic. She will know that my constituency of Chester South and Eddisbury borders Wales, and that there are many family farmers in north Wales who are deeply concerned about the consequences of this policy. Does she agree that it will impact not …”

“Obviously, since 7 October, the conflict has led to so many deaths. In one of your previous answers, Robi, you said that you have had 80 new members, and just three have left. Can you confirm that that is the change in membership that you have had? I want to ask you and Bassam whether you have seen a change in attitude…”

“Bassam, could you come in on that as well?”

“Obviously, since 7 October, the conflict has led to so many deaths. In one of your previous answers, Robi, you said that you have had 80 new members, and just three have left. Can you confirm that that is the change in membership that you have had? I want to ask you and Bassam whether you have seen a change in attitude…”

“Bassam, could you come in on that as well?”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for securing this Adjournment debate, and he is speaking well on this important topic. We are constituency neighbours, and while Crewe station is in his constituency, it provides vital transport links and an important boost to the local economy for many people living in my constituency.…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for securing this debate on the important subject of the impact of food and diet on obesity. Over the past 30 years, as has been noted, obesity has been the subject of over 700 food-related health policies in England. Yet, while successive Governments have recognis…”

“rose—”

“It would be helpful to come back to that. We have talked about why the accounts for the 2024 financial year have not been published yet, but do you anticipate losses will be at a similar level? Are you trying to understand it? This is being managed over time; where businesses might become insolvent, are the contracts y…”

“Focusing on the fraud aspect, again looking at the 2022-23 accounts as the latest that we have been able to see, the accounts state that “The British Council continues to make progress in detecting fraud across all areas of its operation as well as improving the counter-fraud culture and helping to keep further fraud t…”

“What the trend is showing is also interesting. Obviously, we have not seen the latest set of accounts. Do you expect instances of fraud to go up or down, or to remain relatively the same?”

“You are saying that fraud seems to be fairly consistent over time. Is there anything that you think the council could do further to reduce fraud and try to get it on a downward trend?”

“I have some questions about the losses that are recorded in the accounts. Looking at the 2022-23 accounts, they show the British Council recorded 356 instances of losses—where money was lost with no benefit to the organisation. Those losses resulted in £2.6 million being wasted in 2022-23. It looks like the largest of …”

“I am looking specifically at the losses, but I do want to talk about some of the fraud separately. I will let you expand and then I can chip in on the two bits.”