Speeches by Brickell.

“Thank you, President Zourabichvili. I just wanted to ask you a question. How would you characterise the role of Bidzina Ivanishvili in Georgian politics?”

“Thank you for those comments about wider European security. To what extent do you have concerns that Russia uses Georgia as a jurisdiction to propagate the evasion of economic sanctions that have been put on the Russian regime? If you think that is a concern, is there more that you believe the UK, the EU and the US can…”

“May I ask you a follow-up question about Mr Ivanishvili? I believe he was sanctioned by the US authorities late last year and the European Parliament has also initiated recommendations that EU member states freeze his assets. According to my briefing, Transparency International Georgia has estimated that his entire bus…”

“I agree that we need to move across the entirety of the United Kingdom to clean up our politics. Time waits for no person, so we must act now. With that in mind, I would like to propose five key reforms, which I gently ask the Minister to consider. First, and most importantly, the campaigning organisation Spotlight on …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for leading this important debate. I rise to speak on behalf of the 177 people in Bolton West who signed the petition. Before I came to this place I dedicated more than a decade of…”

“I am a former Erasmus exchange student and have personal lived experience of the immense opportunities that youth mobility provides. Does my hon. Friend recognise not only that it would create significant opportunities for British students abroad, as well as for European students potentially coming to the UK, but that …”

“In what circumstances would a company be able to go through identity verification through an ACSP, as opposed to directly through yourselves?”

“On overseas territories and Crown dependencies, could you talk a little about some of the complexities that arise from company registration that is tied to beneficial owners or other corporate structures that are incorporated in those jurisdictions? Does that play out in some of the intelligence work that you do and, i…”

“Do you accept that there is a risk, potentially, that some ACSPs could be rogue operators, for instance, that allow verification to take place.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing this crucial debate on transport connectivity in the north-west—an issue that impacts the day-to-day lives of many of my constituents and people across the whole region. Ou…”

“Is that intelligence shared directly to yourselves, or does that come through law enforcement agencies or regulators?”

“Yes, I will come to those in a second, if I may. I want to ask about authorised corporate service providers, ACSPs. The legislation allows for those to be used for identification and verification. How many of those are there, and what are the circumstances in which a company can use an ACSP, as opposed to doing verific…”

“What oversight will Companies House or HMRC be exercising over the operation of that choice? What assurance will be able to be provided around the quality of the checks that the ACSPs run?”

“Professor Clarke, you mentioned that there were potential concerns about the scope of the Soft Power Council’s terms of reference.”

“This Committee travelled to Paris back in January, and we heard there from the UK ambassador, but also from representatives from the British Council, about the resonance of the British royal family, for instance, amongst French citizens. To what extent is a country’s ability to project and show influence through soft p…”

“How effective do you think the UK has been at weaving that narrative, that story?”

“On a slightly different tack, mention was made earlier of the Soft Power Council, which is producing the UK soft power strategy. Mr McClory, you said earlier that measurements, aims and objectives need to take that longer-term view, potentially out to 20 to 30 years. To what extent should the strategy that is being pro…”

“I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement and thank him for the leadership that he has shown over the past few weeks, in particular on Ukraine. He mentioned his discussions with his Canadian counterpart; following the G7 meeting…”

“The prolonged time that the Disclosure and Barring Service takes to check the many applicants for work in vital public services in education, health and social care is impacting tens of thousands of people across the UK. Indeed, many applicants have had offers of work retracted due to the significant delays they have e…”

“We had a one-off inquiry evidence session in January on Syria. The last British ambassador, Simon Collis, came and gave evidence to us. One of the topics of discussion was about the detainee camps, especially for Daesh fighters, and some of the harrowing conditions as well for women and children in the camps. What acce…”