Speeches by McDougall.

“We will come on to minerals.”

“I just had a general question. It is 80 years since the various international apparatuses that are supposed to prevent and punish atrocities were established. For much of the last 30-odd years, the great lakes region has been a byword for the failure of those institutions. What could have been done better at a multilat…”

“Minister, you mentioned earlier your previous professional background and quite deep experience in issues around hostages and trying to secure their release. I wonder what lessons the British Government have drawn from the experience of dealing with attempts to release the hostages over the last 18 months, both during …”

“You mentioned a moment ago that a lot of the work in hostage situations takes place very privately, behind the scenes. You also mentioned the Foreign Secretary’s commitment to appointing a special envoy for this. I am wondering what a special envoy would bring to the table that the professional, behind-the-scenes, quie…”

“It is sometimes helpful for the person who the British Government have sent there to seduce an international partner not to also be the person who is having to have the more difficult conversations. When the Foreign Secretary appeared before the Committee, his body language suggested that plans for an envoy were at a f…”

“One of the things that the Committee has been struggling to understand is what Britain’s unique offer is in helping to resolve the conflict and build a better future. Is it fair to say that that experience from Northern Ireland of peace-building is one of those unique contributions that we can make?”

“Can I bring it down from the big summits to the experience of Palestinian children? When we were in the region, we were told about the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children who are deeply traumatised psychologically. There are a large number of Palestinian children also with pretty horrific injuries. I wonder w…”

“The interim Government in Syria have suggested that operations in the coastal areas are complete and that things have now calmed down, but human rights groups suggest that the violence is ongoing. Is the Government’s assessment that this was a spike in violence or a continuing escalation in the security situation in Sy…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is appropriate that we have such a distinguished internationalist in the Chair for this debate. [Interruption.] That did not get me any extra time for my speech. I recognise the impossible decisions that the Government have to take, but I hope that we do not set up a false dichotomy …”

“I am very happy to do so. The hon. Gentleman and I have worked closely together on Georgia—a country in the backyard of Vladimir Putin that is on day 96, I think, of huge street protests, all for lack of the cost of a single storm shadow missile in recent years. We cannot fill all the gaps, but I hope that we can triag…”

“I draw the House’s attention to my role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong. I welcome the Minister’s recognition that the bounties on the heads of these British Hongkongers are for exercising rights guaranteed to them under the joint declaration. I do not wish to repeat what other right hon. and…”

“Professor Tolz, I am interested in what you said, about the clandestine nature of the troubling information coming out of Russia, China or Iran, versus that coming from other actors, which may be more obvious. This inquiry is very much about actors, rather than just states, so how do you see the development of disinfor…”

“Even if Musk did not own and control the algorithm and manipulate it in that way, how does he compare, just as an incredibly powerful individual, to the threats from states, in terms of the worry about this? We have heard that the security services here are monitoring his output in a way they would normally monitor stu…”

“On AI, we are talking a lot about prevention but not necessarily accountability. If Russia drops a bomb on a hospital, we hold Putin accountable but we also look at the supply chain that allowed him to have the missile in the first place. Should we have a similar approach to AI, and hold AI companies to account for the…”

“The trouble with that—and this is a frustration that the Chair and I have felt—is that a Government who are being very active in preparing sanctions look exactly the same as a Government who are kicking an issue into the long grass and trying to delay things. It is very difficult for us parliamentarians, or the public …”

“Can I build on that? I mentioned in my first question the commissioning of sanctions, so other Parliaments and other jurisdictions, particularly the United States, will have the power to initiate sanctions. I wonder whether that is not just giving more power to the legislature but is maybe helpful in some instances to …”

“If we do not give ourselves the legislative tools, which we do not currently have, to seize those assets, the loans that are underwritten by those assets ultimately are for our taxpayers to underwrite. I come back to the question that we surely have to pass that legislation, and we should do it sooner rather than later…”

“I recognise your point, Maya, about the fact that most of the money is held in Belgium, but I think about a tenth of it is held in London. If we think that is where we are inevitably getting to, should we be passing legislation now to make clear that, when we get to that stage, we will be seizing it so that we have the…”

“I have a very similar set of questions with regard to the Russian sovereign assets. It seems inconceivable that we would ever hand back collectively that $300 billion to Putin, unless he has paid the reparations that he is legally bound to pay, which will be more than the $300 billion. Tom, you said that the legal argu…”

“Your view is that the benefit of being in the room to have the wider discussion is greater than the risk of the conversation about sanctions—or, for that matter, about any other kind of challenge—being pushed down the agenda in those meetings.”