Speeches by Whittingdale.

“Going back to Fleur’s question, when you set out the risks, the dangers and the unacceptable activities being carried out by China, did the Chinese Government try to argue against that or respond, or did they just ignore that bit of the audit?”

“The Chair and I were just talking about the extent to which the publication of the China strategy has influenced a specific area of German policy or initiative, and whether that has provoked debate publicly about that.”

“I assume that the Chinese Government are not asking to build a very large embassy in Berlin.”

“Going back to Fleur’s question, when you set out the risks, the dangers and the unacceptable activities being carried out by China, did the Chinese Government try to argue against that or respond, or did they just ignore that bit of the audit?”

“Can you set out to what extent the German China strategy set out the threats and negatives? Did you explicitly go into the issue of protection of critical national infrastructure, of the threat from China in terms of cyber-activity and espionage, and also the human rights angle about the Uyghur population, about Tibet …”

“Have there been any examples where you have said, “That investment is not permissible”?”

“A year ago, Ministers told council leaders in Essex that it was necessary to postpone elections in order to facilitate reorganisation to “the most ambitious timetable”. A year later, there has been absolutely no progress and we do not even know how many authorities are proposed. Was it not wrong to cancel elections las…”

“As well as pubs, hotels and restaurants, is the Minister aware that many grassroots music venues, some of which have never been liable for rates, now face demands for thousands of pounds? The Music Venue Trust has said that these are not bills but “closure notices”. Will he ensure that grassroots music venues are inclu…”

“One of the reasons for the massive public opposition to mandatory ID is that it is seen to be an infringement of civil liberties and individual freedom. Will the Minister give an assurance that the digital ID database will not be made available to the police for the use of live facial recognition?”

“I have spoken about Ukraine and, indeed, initiated debates on Ukraine a number of times over the past 12 years. Of course, 12 years ago was when the war that Russia is waging on Ukraine started, with the annexation of Crimea. Over those 12 years, I have visited Avdiivka, Mariupol and Berdyansk, all of which are now und…”

“It was a genuine document?”

“Can I press you a little on that? You have quoted Alex Younger saying it has not had an impact. But can you just say whether you believe there have been examples of hostile states attempting, even unsuccessfully, to influence elections and votes? You mentioned the Iranian Scottish referendum bots, but are you aware of …”

“One of the quickest ways of getting out the message that this is a fake video is, as you mentioned, talking to traditional, not social, media. Traditional media will have an inclination to want to believe things. They want to create headlines and splashes about revelations. To what extent are you able to talk to tradit…”

“Does the Foreign Secretary agree that the attempts by the regime to suppress news of what is happening in Iran by shutting down the internet makes the work of external media such as the BBC Persian service and Iran International all the more important? Given that journalists from both organisations have been attacked a…”

“Yes.”

“Could you just repeat something? You mentioned the alliance against the Chinese, which could be maintained under—”

“Were you able to trace where these originated, down to specific buildings in Moscow, Beijing or Tehran and say, “This was a state sponsored activity”?”

“It was a genuine document?”

“Can I press you a little on that? You have quoted Alex Younger saying it has not had an impact. But can you just say whether you believe there have been examples of hostile states attempting, even unsuccessfully, to influence elections and votes? You mentioned the Iranian Scottish referendum bots, but are you aware of …”

“One of the quickest ways of getting out the message that this is a fake video is, as you mentioned, talking to traditional, not social, media. Traditional media will have an inclination to want to believe things. They want to create headlines and splashes about revelations. To what extent are you able to talk to tradit…”