Speeches by Thomas.

“Substantively, I would like to see the Government release the text of this deal, as Parliament deserves to see it. The Secretary of State can chuckle and laugh and be evasive around the topic, but it is a serious issue.”

“I am asking about this Government. This Government have published—”

“Secretary of State, yesterday the shadow Secretary of State asked whether you will publish the text of a deal that you signed with China in March of last year. You dodged the question; you called it a wacky conspiracy theory. In your view, why is asking to publish the text of a deal that you signed on behalf of the UK …”

“But explicitly do you believe that China poses a security risk to our energy system?”

“If there is a different approach to China, why is China different?”

“But specifically in relation to our energy system?”

“That is what I am doing. This is the question I would like to ask. Why is China being treated differently?”

“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—”

“This Government have a very inconsistent approach. They have released the text of deals with other countries, but not with China. There is quite evidently a two-tier approach. If the Government are going to apply a uniform approach, why does the Secretary of State not release the text of this deal?”

“I am talking about this Government, Secretary of State. You have released the texts for other countries. Release the Chinese text.”

“That is what I am doing, so why not publish the text of the deal?”

“I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour; he is far too generous. I was leader of Wychavon district council in south Worcestershire for five years, and we proudly froze council tax for five years consistently without cutting a single service. Local government is lean. It can be run efficiently and effectively without dupin…”

“That is what I have been doing, but you have not answered them, Secretary of State.”

“So why not release the text?”

“Secretary of State, you have released the text of deals with other countries. Why is China being treated differently?”

“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?”

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

“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…”

“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-…”