Speeches by Morello.

“Can you give us any examples of what a response from JESP might be? What does that look like? What are the levers that you have to pull?”

“Do you want to talk us through what that process is?”

“Absolutely. One of the major criticisms from Rycroft’s independent review was that there was no one official who could confidently explain to me how the different parts of this jigsaw puzzle come together. I am just wondering, Minister, whether the system that has been built up is fit for purpose, given the range of th…”

“Are you able to find out if there has been?”

“I ask this question because when we had the Electoral Commission in front of both this Committee and the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, and we asked how many prosecutions there had been—I would have to check the transcript—but relating to foreign interference in terms of funding issues I think it said t…”

“I was just wondering whether you are aware of how many times Ofcom has referred an incident for prosecution? How many times has Ofcom either demanded something be taken down directly, or referred it internally within Government as an example of malign influence, or referred something for prosecution, if that is within …”

“To revisit the Chair’s earlier point about the complexity of the Government ecosystem here, you have talked about the National Security Online Information Team with particular reference to the Defending Democracy Taskforce. Minister, can you just talk us through exactly what DSIT’s responsibilities are perhaps for any …”

“Minister, given what you have just said, do you use any social media platforms?”

“Some of the most effective examples of countering misinformation and disinformation and foreign influence online that this Committee has seen have been in France, Ukraine, and Sweden: countries that are extremely attuned to the threat, especially from Russia. All three of those have some version of a national counter-d…”

“In your experience of using social media platforms such as X, do you see any evidence that the social media companies are effectively preventing the spread of misinformation and foreign interference?”

“In his statement, the Prime Minister said that he wanted to double down on NATO. President Trump has attempted to use the threat to withdraw from the NATO alliance to blackmail other NATO countries into joining his illegal endeavour in Iran, and he has threatened to annex the sovereign territory of another NATO member …”

“I fully accept that an increase in the precept would be one option available to the Government, but I would also like to challenge the Government on the underlying assumptions in Treasury funding models, not least with the forecast population growth and the lack of rurality in many of the funding models across the boar…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Melksham and Devizes (Brian Mathew) on securing this important debate, and I thank him and the Minister for giving me permission to speak. I am in danger of repeating many of the points that my hon. Friend made, but they are important points, and this is an important issue. …”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. I agree with absolutely everything he has said. He talks about the problem with access to equipment; I know of one case, which is representative of many that come across my desk, that concerns the inability to hand back equipment after use. A constituent co…”

“Shortly before the debate, the Minister said he would like to visit Weston-super-Mare and other locations. I invite him to beautiful West Dorset to visit the fibre optics company Sintela, which is one of the UK’s biggest success stories.”

“I certainly agree that, if we want to become a market or world leader in a particular technology space, it is vital that we channel funding and support into those areas where we have the most opportunity and a competitive advantage. Climate technology is not only an environmental priority, but a huge economic opportuni…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune) on securing this important debate. I suspect that, at this point, I am in danger of labouring the points already made by other hon. Members, but I will persist. Perhaps it is a sign that w…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I appreciate the steer from the Chair and apologise for the late arrival. My hon. Friend talks about the wider structural issues that drive homelessness, one of which is the winner-takes-all system when it comes to benefits. In that system, families that are breaking up may split child custody on a 50:50 basis, but the…”

“You leave me in something of a quandary because I deliberately chose Government support for English rugby, rather than using the debate as an opportunity to beat up the RFU—although I certainly have my criticisms of it, and I will come on to some of those points. The Government repeatedly say that the RFU is an arm’s l…”