Speeches by Edwards.

“Did you agree a set number, and then give the union the same set number, to make that free and fair?”

“You had to agree to it as well.”

“Did you play by those rules or not?”

“It is a simple question about how many times you organised meetings, which would be diarised, so you would have a list of how many times you had done that with employees. That is what the union would have to do.”

“So what you are saying is that you had unlimited access to express management’s views on the ballot.”

“So the timing was just complete happenstance—that the number of employees rose significantly during that time period?”

“Okay. That is very different from the story that we heard earlier about the types of messages that were put on those screens and the access that they had to tools and availability. It is interesting that you think they had that when, clearly, they categorically did not.”

“Thank you for clarifying that. Is one breach not enough? Can you explain why there is a partial suspension over an entire blanket suspension and how that decision has been made? At the moment, you clearly have some information that has been applied in one particular way. Are you able to enlighten us on that?”

“Can you set out the evidence and reasoning that led to that—any of the information that you became aware of, because obviously that position has moved from where it was before? Is there new information that you have taken on board? Is it a new evaluation process that you are using, or is it about looking further over t…”

“Just on that point, on 12 November, the Secretary of State said that Israel is not committed to comply with international humanitarian law. That was the decision that was made. Article 7 of the Arms Trade Treaty does not talk about this clarification of intent; it talks about, “Could be used.” That is the key phrase: “…”

“Mr Doughty, can you provide us with information about the legal basis for the suspensions, and what specific evidence and analysis were used to support the Secretary of State’s view that breaches of international humanitarian law may have occurred?”

“5. What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the future of city and growth deals in Northern Ireland.”

“Does the hon. Member think it was fiscally responsible for the SNP Finance Secretary to have used all of the £460 million from offshore wind? He has spoken a lot about this Government, but does he think that that was appropriate?”

“As a member of the Business and Trade Committee, I am pleased that Belfast has seen a successful economic redevelopment, partly driven by embracing its heritage, which will now be further supported by the Belfast region city deal. Does the Secretary of State agree that we must continue to support heritage as a regenera…”

“Thank you very much for coming today, Secretary of State. I have been listening to some of what has been said, and people have brought up a lot of the challenges that businesses have raised. One of the areas that consistently gets raised with me is around business energy. I thought that we could time-travel back to whe…”

“To follow up on that, the experience of people seems very different from the description that you have just given of the different component parts, KCs and the like. Why do you think their experience feels as though it is simply a post box, and why do they not have that understanding of the process?”

“I just want to clarify the point about how when they submit, they do not get legal advice, but then after that point they are able to get it. Do you know how many people were made aware of that, or how they were made aware of it? I think we heard in a previous session that a very small number of people took that up. My…”

“Following on from that, given that there is a reassessment panel and mediation, is there any particular reason why we are seeing cases go to the reassessment panel, which is very overstretched—there is a time constraint there—rather than proceed with mediation? Is there any decision making around that? Do you have any …”

“Sir Alan and other individuals told us that they were quite unhappy with how their claims were progressing and that no claims have yet gone to Sir Ross Cranston. Could you explain why or what the process is that means that Sir Ross is able to look at a claim only at the end of the process?”

“In our previous session, we heard about the potential delays being created or the obfuscation tactics that are used, so it is like a queue is being created for the assessment by the panel, rather than people going through a mediation process. Are you aware of that? Can you explain why that may be happening?”