Speeches by Thomas.

“That is what I am doing. This Government have published the text of deals with other countries. Why not release the text of the deal for China?”

“Given that acknowledged caution, the sort of topics that Parliament deserves to see the detail on include whether this deal involved commitments not to complain to China about slave labour being used in solar production and commitments to maintain reliance on Chinese supply chains—”

“I do not have any further questions.”

“So why not release the text?”

“Residents across the country knew ahead of the general election that the Prime Minister had made various very public pledges that the Labour party would freeze council tax should it come to office. If there is a mistake on my part and those words were not in the manifesto, I apologise for that, but—here I return to my …”

“I have two points for the Minister to address. First, can he address concerns around whether funds raised will be directly reinvested into improving cyber-security, rather than covering administrative overheads? Secondly, there is no specific reference to turnover thresholds, so how can the Minister be sure that a one-…”

“I have two points for the Minister to address. First, could he clarify whether an organisation would face repercussions if a regulator believed in retrospect that notification should have been provided sooner? Secondly, on customer notification, can the Minister address the concern around striking the right balance bet…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. When introducing new legislation, it is essential that those who fall under its new regulations be clearly identified and given adequate time to prepare for compliance. However, despite the aims of the Bill and the wish to avoid worsening a cyber-attack in…”

“Can the Minister elaborate on how he will ensure that regulators have the capacity to cope with large-scale data reports?”

“I have much sympathy with the hon. Gentleman’s arguments about the importance of local government, and I believe that it should be within scope of the Bill. Essential services are provided by councils on a day-to-day basis, but local councils are increasingly cash-strapped. Does he share my concern about the burden of …”

“On the point about banding, can the Minister assure us that there will be consistency applied across regulators so that different events are not differentially penalised depending on the regulatory body? On the question of turnover and the financial penalty, can the Minister elaborate on how the figure was derived?”

“What consideration has been given to the potential conflict between data centres’ contractual obligation regarding customer confidentiality and mandatory rapid reporting? What assurance can the Minister give us that data centres will ensure that the conflict does not impact their future business?”

“On the growth of this industry, and with 78% of UK enterprises relying on cloud-based services, 96% of companies expected to use public cloud services, 35% of UK businesses outsourcing IT support and, as of last year, 63% of organisations planning to continue or increase their IT outsourcing over the next 12 months, do…”

“Given the blurring of boundary lines between cyber-attacks and financial crime, I can see the compelling reasons why the amendment has been tabled, but does the shadow Minister agree and acknowledge that fraud detection often requires a different skillset from standard network security, so it is important to strike the…”

“Does the shadow Minister agree that the Government should heed the message of Chris Dimitriadis, the chief global strategy officer at the Information Systems Audit and Control Association? He said: “The era when cyber regulation could focus solely on critical national infrastructure is over. Today, every major employer…”

“The risk and the threat from hostile states is plain to see. Does my hon. Friend have any sympathy for the ten-minute rule Bill that I introduced a few months ago on the Floor of the House? We need to strike a balance between the risk that bureaucratic administration poses to small businesses and the very real risk tha…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“At the point immediately prior to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, the UK had a respected ambassador to the United States already in Dame Karen Pierce. Given that fact, the known abhorrence of Jeffrey Epstein and the appalling previous judgment of Peter Mandelson, why did the Government still decide that, o…”

“Aside from the evident, persistent and consistent failures in the Prime Minister’s integrity, does this issue not raise massive questions about the hold over the Government and those at the top of the Labour party by someone whose name has been a byword for sleaze for the last two or three decades?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree, particularly following her point about the writing being on the wall, that the Minister, when he wraps up on behalf of the Government, needs to quash any rumours that the Prime Minister is hunkered down in Downing Street and planning a reshuffle to stabilise a sinking ship?”