Speeches by Whittingdale.

“rose—”

“I am sure that the Chair of the Committee and I will always be nice to Minister. I was only going to say that I have experienced the slight schizophrenia he has referred to in holding roles in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and in DCMS at the same time. Although he is appearing as a DSIT Minister…”

“The Minister referred, in his opening remarks, to the fact that the Bill has been a long time in its gestation. It is very nearly two years since the first meeting of the Bill Committee, which I attended, to take through what was pretty much an identical Bill. At that time, it was uncontroversial and the Opposition sup…”

“I completely agree. The hon. Gentleman has stated the case: in order to enforce the law, we have to know who is breaking it. There are all sorts of legal actions already under way, but this issue is about the extent to which scraping is going on. I agree with the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonne…”

“Okay. May I thank the three of you very much? We suspect that this subject will continue to feature on our agendas, so, if you have further thoughts, please feel free to let us know. Thank you for coming this afternoon.  ”

“I welcome the Indian trade deal, but will the Minister now switch his attention to the other side of the Atlantic, and ask Lord Mandelson to explain to the United States Administration that tariffs on films are unworkable and impossible to implement, and would do real damage to the film industry not just in the UK but …”

“Five weeks ago, I visited Iran International at its London location. It told me that its journalists face daily threats from Iran, as do those who work for the BBC Persian service. Given that it is just three days after World Press Freedom Day, will the Minister reiterate this Government’s determination to defend media…”

“The Minister is being incredibly generous. She mentions the Imperial War Museum. Does she share my regret at its decision to close the gallery displaying over 200 Victoria Crosses and George Crosses, which were collected by Lord Ashcroft and given to the gallery for permanent public display? Could she perhaps ask the I…”

“We still bear the scars.”

“You quote the assessment of the potential benefit to GDP from a UK-US trade deal as being relatively small by comparison, but that does not take tariffs into account. For instance, if an alignment between the UK and the EU led to the UK facing the same level of tariffs as the EU faces from an American Administration, t…”

“Can I go back to the dual objective of the Government, which you touched on to some extent already? The Government are keen to remove barriers and make it easier for businesses to trade with Europe, but at the same time want to achieve Donald Trump’s “beautiful” trade agreement on offer to the UK. To what extent are th…”

“Your view is that the burdens that small businesses more generally face cannot be removed without a commitment from the UK to rejoin the single market?”

“I have questions on several things. I shall start with a question to Naomi Smith in particular, but others too. You suggest that there are great benefits to be had particularly from dynamic and deep alignment. To what extent is that different from the Government’s red line, which is rejoining the single market?”

“That sounds remarkably like what Michel Barnier used to call cherry-picking. To what extent is that going to be available to us, where the Europeans will agree to allow us the alignment that helps us but not accepting anything else?”

“But as Professor Paton indicated, we are potentially facing the same level of tariffs on things like cars and steel. If we managed to achieve a deal that meant that we were able to reduce those tariffs by comparison with the EU, that would be of considerable benefit.”

“I read your speech about the legal basis for settlements in the West Bank, in which you made the case that Israel’s borders were set in 1948 and that, in international law, that should still be the position. However, you also said that that was not the position as determined by the International Court of Justice, the I…”

“I am afraid I cannot give you the precise date, but what you are talking about is exactly the case you put at that time, and I understand it. What I do not understand is that almost all international legal bodies take a different view. Why should that be, when you argue that the case, in legal terms, is very clear?”

“Can I interrupt you? You set out the argument quite clearly in your speech—”

“Can I come to what you described as one of your missions, which is to combat the weaponisation, I think you said, of international law?”

“Do you think that it is possible to reach an agreement in Gaza without having a clear path set out towards a two-state solution?”