Speeches by Norman.

“I thank the Leader of the House for those words. I would like, in supporting the motion, to add one small cautionary note. It has been relayed to me, both by constituency staff and by other bodies, particularly the trade unions, that there is a concern that it might be possible to connect the names released in the offi…”

“The hon. Lady has made an eloquent case for how defective the legislation was. Why did the Government not oppose sections 46 and 47 when they were in opposition? Does she think that they were wrong not to oppose them? She evidently thinks that the legislation was faulty, so why did her own party support it?”

“The Secretary of State described the situation in law as illegal, but he never pressed the question of the appeal to the Supreme Court, which would have decided the question of whether it was in fact illegal. Was that decision taken on the basis of law, and if so, what were the grounds for it?”

“It is very good to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. As a member of the shadow Cabinet, I am speaking with the permission of Mr Speaker and the Clerk, because this is a matter of the utmost importance to my constituents. On the petition map, Herefordshire is a dark brown colour, showing that the two Herefordshire consti…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“I am not going to let this moment pass—I am sure no colleague would wish me to—without again reminding everyone present that this week marks the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. On 7 July 2005, 52 people were killed in four separate attacks and 700 more were injured, many of them grievously. I know that the whole …”

“Will the Leader of the House give the House the forthcoming business?”

“I am sure the Leader of the House and all Members will want to join me in recognising this year as the 81st anniversary of the announcement by the Government of a national health service, by Sir Henry Willink in 1944. Most of us wishing to celebrate an anniversary would probably have a bit of a party—maybe get a few fr…”

“Will the Leader of the House give the House the forthcoming business?”

“Even if it is 0.7% on current spend?”

“That is helpful. Thank you very much.”

“I hope I haven’t got a little bit too disobliging about MOD.”

“Thank you, Secretary of State, for this very interesting conversation. Just to follow up on this, obviously the NAD, from your point of view, will be a powerful driver of procurement, improvement, rapidity and change. How are you going to set up that office? One could have two worries. One would be that they will just …”

“Welcome, Secretary of State. You will appreciate that this Committee is a bipartisan Committee, and defence has always been a bipartisan question, so I personally think that it ill behoves you to make disparaging comparisons between yourself and your predecessors. I think Ben Wallace was at least as serious a Secretary…”

“I am grateful for that. You appreciate, Secretary of State, and I think everyone on this side appreciates, that it increases your authority to be responsive to accountable measures and mechanisms put in place by us. On the SDR communications, you wrote to us on 11 July to indicate that there had been a problem with the…”

“Properly confidential, yes. That is helpful; thank you. I might ask the Clerks to revisit with your office what has gone wrong in that letter of 11 June. I will not read it out, because we do not have time.”

“Okay. We will do that—thank you. I have a quick question about spending. Is the Chagos Islands settlement included in the 2.5% defence budget that you have outlined for the next three years?”

“And will fall within the 2.5% budget that we are talking about.”

“Thank you. Am I right in thinking that Sizewell C—a civilian nuclear power station—is included within the 1.5% additional defence commitment?”

“That is helpful; thank you. In the spending review, current spending in MOD increases by 0.7% a year for the next three years. Given that defence inflation will probably be higher than regular inflation, for reasons we know, that effectively means that the actual amount of new spending that can be incurred on readiness…”