Speeches by Wright.

“May I ask you both about the support you offer to your candidates to deal with the problems that you have just identified? Mike, you have said something about it already. Specifically, I think we are interested in knowing about what level of support you can offer your candidates when it comes to threats and harassment.…”

“When you say “substantial problems”, do you mean that they did not show up, or did they not do what you expected them to do when they did?”

“Really? Okay. Before I turn to Elfrede, what about online? Do you take the same view of online support—that in essence candidates should come to you—or do you offer something more proactive in support on online harassment or threats that they might receive?”

“Elfrede, on the same subject. Elfrede Brambley-Crawshaw: Very similar. The police are the professionals on this issue, and we would defer to them and take their advice. We do a broad briefing to all candidates, or we offer that to all candidates, then depending on the particular circumstances, we offer different suppor…”

“I have one other question in relation to any interaction that parties or individual candidates have had with online platforms. Has that been positive or negative—if you are aware of it? If there has been a problem online and someone has approached the individual service and said, “What can you do about it?”, do you hav…”

“Elfrede, on the same subject. Elfrede Brambley-Crawshaw: Very similar. The police are the professionals on this issue, and we would defer to them and take their advice. We do a broad briefing to all candidates, or we offer that to all candidates, then depending on the particular circumstances, we offer different suppor…”

“I have asked the Minister this question before, but if he will forgive me for saying so, his answer could have benefited from additional clarity, so, with your permission, Mr Speaker, I am going to ask it again. The Minister has made it very clear, as have his fellow Ministers, that the urgency and necessity of action …”

“Understood. The same question to Bob and Stephen—again, if you can pick up the aspects of physical security and of online threat, and what advice you offer on those, that would be helpful.”

“May I ask you both about the support you offer to your candidates to deal with the problems that you have just identified? Mike, you have said something about it already. Specifically, I think we are interested in knowing about what level of support you can offer your candidates when it comes to threats and harassment.…”

“When you say “substantial problems”, do you mean that they did not show up, or did they not do what you expected them to do when they did?”

“I think it is helpful for us to understand the degree to which this was the Labour party assisting candidates—perhaps even advising candidates that they ought to take advantage of this—and to what extent it was candidates reaching out on their own, or being directly offered it. I am just interested in your sense of how…”

“Fair enough. Andrew, do you want to add to that, or does that cover it?”

“What was your sense of the response you got from the platforms? Good, bad or indifferent.”

“I have one other question in relation to any interaction that parties or individual candidates have had with online platforms. Has that been positive or negative—if you are aware of it? If there has been a problem online and someone has approached the individual service and said, “What can you do about it?”, do you hav…”

“Let me take you back to the experience of candidates and the response of your respective parties to that. Can I ask you about the support that you offer to candidates? You have all been very clear about the nature of the problem, and Bob has made the point, which I think everybody agrees with, that it is worse for cert…”

“Really? Okay. Before I turn to Elfrede, what about online? Do you take the same view of online support—that in essence candidates should come to you—or do you offer something more proactive in support on online harassment or threats that they might receive?”

“It would not be right for either of us to ask the Minister to disclose legal advice—that clearly would not be appropriate—but I am grateful for the Minister’s offer to share a slightly more expansive description of why the Government have come to the conclusion that they have. On the hon. Lady’s point about what the Ac…”

“I am extremely grateful to the Minister for giving way, and I have sympathy with her position, especially in relation to legal advice, having both received it and given it. I suggest that the Minister is talking about two different things, and they need to be separated. The first is the question of whether legal but ha…”

“It is a great and unexpected pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I want to take this opportunity to say something about why I think these regulations are a mistake. I agree with a great deal of what the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) has just said—I will seek not to repeat it—b…”

“Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady, but “you” is me; she means “he”, in other words the Minister.”