Speeches by Cooper.

“Many happy returns, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Druze in Syria are suffering nothing short of atrocities, and that situation continues. What practical help can the UK give as the Israelis try to set up safe zones and humanitarian corridors for them?”

“I should declare an interest in that my eldest son today started work at Rosyth royal dockyard, a key part of British military infrastructure for more than 100 years. Over the summer, we saw Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney meet with Ukrainian military personnel at the Edinburgh military tattoo. Incredibly, were …”

“T9. The citizenAID first aid charity provides excellent education in emergency situations to children and young people. I have written to the Scottish education department to invite it to introduce it to the curriculum. Is there any interest from the Department for Education down here?”

“We have heard this morning that the review of the UK Internal Market Act 2020 somehow tramples on Holyrood, but in fact, the Government say: “Devolved Governments will have greater flexibility to set rules”. Is there not a danger that this invites the SNP Government to introduce change for the sake of change, and diver…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I can confirm that it was not my phone. My ringtone is “633 Squadron”, which is very distinctive. It is tremendous that the planning for the coalition of the willing has been put together so quickly, but plans are paper tigers. We need flying tigers. If we are to secure a peace that is …”

“I thank the hon. Member for that point. He is absolutely correct and he also referred to the fact that he, too, has Thales in his constituency, or close to it. That is the thing about the defence industry—it is intertwined with so many constituencies. In fact, I do not think that there is a single constituency that doe…”

“I thank the hon. and gallant Gentleman for that, and for his service with the RAF. He is absolutely correct. In this country, our forces are highly prized for our superb technical abilities, as well as our warfighting capabilities. That gap is very serious: it has an impact on the RAF and on our allies. The lesson lear…”

“I am happy to give way to my near-neighbour.”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman, my near-constituency neighbour, for that intervention. There is something of a hostile environment for defence companies in Scotland, because the SNP Government refuse to put money into what they call “munitions”, which is scarcely credible in the current circumstances. Most recently, Rolls-…”

“I thank all hon. and right hon. Members who have taken part in the debate. There is obviously a great deal of interest in this very important programme. I also thank the Minister for stepping in; we realise that this is not his brief. We welcome his generous offer to talk to interested parties. That is quite an unusual…”

“My right hon. Friend is correct, but I believe that a bit of a fightback is coming. There is a discussion going on, partly because fans of the space-based solution have to answer for the reality that it is some years away. That gap is difficult, and that is where Hawkeye comes in. Quite how this naval veteran—the proto…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention and I do indeed welcome the fact that, given the situation we are in, we are welcoming warfighters into these senior positions. It is worth reflecting, yet again, that the military likes a TLA—three-letter acronym. The replacement for the Sentry, the E-7 Wedgetail, is …”

“As the Chair of the Defence Committee, the hon. Member is very knowledgeable about this subject, and I hope that we will tease out today much of what he raised—we may actually get some of the answers we seek. As I was saying, the RAF has a problem: it cannot offer a complete package, and we could be reliant on NATO all…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the RAF E-7 Wedgetail programme. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Christopher. Victory in the battle of Britain means we are having this debate in this place in English, but how was that aerial triumph secured? Of course, it had much to do with the pilot…”

“Minister, we have just heard about precision. You talked about crude numbers. You would not be so foolish as to put a figure on what you are going to achieve—oh, you have put a number on it. I am not sure how your 25% cut is any different from the crude stuff that went with those other regimes, but anyway, what is goin…”

“I have heard the Prime Minister say this in the Chamber. He said he was going to cut red tape. One thing we have seen is the Employment Rights Bill. By your own estimate, that is going to add to business costs. There is a slight disconnect there, is there not?”

“Sarah Pritchard, you are trying to walk a bit of a tightrope. We talk about responsible risk taking. There is a natural tension within that. How do you think the FCA is doing? I have heard criticism that you are encroaching into areas that might not seem immediately obvious for you. You are touching on things that I wo…”

“Just to back you up there slightly, you mentioned certain types of weapons, so you are involving yourself in the arms business. Defence things go bang and we require them to keep ourselves safe, but you seem to be involving yourselves in that. Do you think that that is within your remit?”

“I was very struck by something that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland said to us when we spoke at one of our roundtables. It says that, in its view, robust, proportionate and purposeful regulation, accompanied by regulators with the right powers, can create the confidence and certainty needed for inves…”

“Going back to my point about paper tigers, this looks great on paper, but is this message getting through? If it is very nuanced, technical and difficult, is that reaching the ground where the decisions are taken?”