Speeches by Whittingdale.

“I give way to another fellow member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

“My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Actually, the two are related, because we can determine the lessons learned and decide what to do in the future only if we know what went wrong this time. In order to know, we must obtain the answers to our questions. The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee set out and ran t…”

“There have been some powerful speeches from both sides of the House, and it is apparent that everybody is agreed that Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed as ambassador to Washington. It matters because ambassadors are critically important to our nation. They are the leaders in projecting our soft power. Th…”

“The threat to our national security from China is real, and I share the disappointment and concern expressed. However, the Minister will also be aware that China has used entirely bogus national security charges to imprison a British citizen, Jimmy Lai, who has now been in solitary confinement for five years and whose …”

“In an earlier answer, the Minister referred to the increasing use by police of live facial recognition. While that may well have some effect on tackling crime, it is being used without any legal framework and no national instructions. Will she say when those will be put in place?”

“My right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) is right, but the existing position goes even further. Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware of the written answer from the Government on 7 February this year: “Individual countries, not the ITU, make their own sovereign spectrum assignments in…”

“It is a pleasure to take part in the debate. The Foreign Affairs Committee, on which I sit—I welcome two of my Labour colleagues from the Committee and my hon. Friend the Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) to the debate—has had the opportunity to question the Minister, the hon. Member for Cardiff …”

“If I might just answer my hon. Friend before doing so. Admiral Lord West has immense experience and knowledge. If the Defence Committee should decide to look at this, it might well ask him to give evidence on the basis of his considerable experience in the area.”

“I will come on to UNCLOS. As the hon. Member knows, it is an organisation that has expressed a view, but not one that is binding on the United Kingdom. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright), the former Attorney General, set out very clearly the various international …”

“I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman specifically on that issue, but I can tell him that it has been absolutely clear that whatever the UNCLOS opinion is, it is not binding on this country. We will read with interest its view, but it is not one that we are necessarily required to follow. The existing position has safegua…”

“It had already been rolled back. The hon. Gentleman is right that the last Government began discussions because Mauritius expressed a view. However, that was on the basis that a mutually beneficial arrangement could be reached. It was concluded that such an agreement could not be reached, and on that basis the last Gov…”

“He is nodding. He gave me a very firm assurance that that was not the case. That is of some reassurance, but it does not go far enough. The fact that we are no longer able to carry out actions from our own base without then having to notify Mauritius, and presumably take note of any objection it has, represents a limit…”

“I shall give way to my right hon. Friend, who is an expert on these matters.”

“My right hon. Friend makes a fair point. A requirement for us to tell the Mauritians what has been happening from the base is exactly what might influence decisions as to its use for operations of the kind he describes. The Minister gave evidence to the Committee on this point just a few days, I think, after the Americ…”

“I understand that that is part of the treaty, but I hope that when the Minister winds up, he will address the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) that the requirement to “expeditiously inform” Mauritius, even after an operation, presumably means that we must do so as soo…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right—”

“Can I ask about one other aspect? You referred earlier to your respect for Parliament. Can you say a bit more about how Parliament is going to have a say over this? I think it is suggested there will be primary legislation, but that will give Ministers powers to introduce the individual alignments through secondary leg…”

“I am always in favour of FTAs too, but FTAs do not include the provision whereby we have to obey the laws passed in another place over which we have no influence. That is the difference with what is now proposed for the EU. Are you suggesting that if the EU passes a law that we do not agree with that is part of the arr…”

“You are suggesting that the price of a lot of the benefits that we spent some time talking about earlier this afternoon, such as making travel easier and co-operation, is that we again accept some degree of control from the European Union and the imposition of laws through dynamic alignment.”

“I was going to come to borders, so let’s talk about that, since you have already mentioned some aspects of it. The experience of many of our fellow citizens in the last few months when travelling to Europe on holiday—a huge number visit European countries—has been that they now have to join a different queue from EU na…”