Speeches by Martin.

“Madam Deputy Speaker, you do not normally introduce me like that, so thank you very much. It is an honour to share a constituency border with you and to follow the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne), who made a heartfelt and powerful speech. Wars are raging in Europe and in the middle east, and there are …”

“I served on the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, and as well as increasing the scope of who can be called up, it creates a consolidation of different types of reserves and allows zig-zag pathways for specialists who can come in and out of the reserves, so it is absolutely a step in the right direction. One th…”

“Picking up the theme of mishandled communications, and the anxiety that they caused many of our constituents, the Financial Times is still reporting an easing of sanctions, as is the BBC. Those are not outlets known for hyperbole. Perhaps the Government could issue a correction to major media outlets.”

“I will not, if that is okay, because we are short on time. To create the political space for some of these trade-offs, because that is a huge amount of money—£30 billion extra every single year—we need to have the national conversation on defence that was announced in the strategic defence review, but has been notable …”

“On that point, because you gave a very full answer earlier, if this officer who rejected all those Triples applications is shown to have acted deliberately, as a mechanism of covering up war crimes through the Afghan special forces inquiry, what should happen to him?”

“Upon taking office, did you read in any Members of the new official Opposition?”

“General Ben, it is good to see you again. Thank you for coming. How long have you been in post?”

“Is not the biggest problem with first past the post that often people are voting against rather than for someone? That poisons our democracy, because everyone ends up with someone who they do not want.”

“Why did they make the decision that those chairing those debates would need to be read in? Parliamentarians have a right of privilege of free speech, so if I or another parliamentarian were to find out about this and talk about it in the House of Commons, would the Chair have shut me down, or to take it away from me, w…”

“We have had the McIvor review, and DARR has done its own internal lessons-learned process around data protection. Can you talk me through in detail, so we have it on the record, what changes you have made to the data protection process over the last 12 months?”

“What is your thinking on it though?”

“So no new people?”

“I’m just asking about your thought process on informing other parliamentarians and this Committee, because you decided not to. Why did you decide not to?”

“Minister, did you consider briefing a wider group of parliamentarians—perhaps members of this Committee or members of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy?”

“I understand UK Government policy on not commenting on special forces operations or the special forces more generally, but there is a problem with using that as a defence if it is shown that UK special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan. This particular individual, who is a UKSF officer who served in Afghanista…”

“Was there a single person who knew the identities of all the people who were in that compartment?”

“To sub-delegate?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford, and I thank you for the invitation to remove our jackets. Amendment 7 was tabled in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon. I will just briefly introduce it to the Committee. The idea of a zig-zag career is incredibly important. Unlike pr…”

“I beg to move amendment 7, in clause 31, page 51, line 2, at end insert— “(5) The Secretary of State must, in respect of each financial year, publish a report assessing the impact of the provisions under subsections (3) and (4) on the retention of personnel within His Majesty’s forces. (6) The report under subsection (…”

“In the light of the Minister’s comments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 31 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 32 Call out for permanent service Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”