Speeches by Doughty.

“You may have seen the letter to the Chief Minister, who referred to it in a debate in his Parliament. We operate a principle in relation to all the overseas territories of “nothing about you without you”. I will read the exact quote from the letter so that I get it right. I said it is “politically inconceivable that in…”

“I am not going to get into hypothetical situations, for obvious reasons. There are a range of dispute mechanisms under the treaty. There are a range of different committees and things that can be set up, and hopefully we would never enter into that scenario in the first place. Throughout, we have attempted to ensure th…”

“The CRaG process takes the time that it takes, as you know, but we obviously want that to come in as soon as possible. It is literally now down to EU processes and some slight uncertainties. There are a couple of possible dates when we might get the final documents agreed, but our aim is to do this at the earliest poss…”

“We want to make sure that you get enough time, but we are obviously not in charge of the timings on the EU side. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to present the virtually final draft version to Parliament earlier at the time of the statement and elsewhere: so that people could start getting into the detail, and …”

“It has been incredibly important. I have to say that I have had excellent co-operation with Spanish counterparts not only throughout the process but since. I have an excellent working relationship with my immediate counterpart in the Spanish Government, and a range of other Ministers across the Government have met thei…”

“I was always confident too, and I shared his optimism. It required really hard work and, if I may, I want to put on the record my huge thanks to the FCDO officials, the Governor’s Office and officials in the Government of Gibraltar. They have put in so much hard work, and it has been really technical and detailed work,…”

“We have a rough idea of when we think it might be. The most likely date is after the General Affairs Council meeting on 16 June or 10 July, and following that we would obviously present it to Parliament in the usual way. The delay—”

“I don’t think so. They go into quite technical detail about how things practically operate. They are obviously crucial, as Hazel said, but I cannot see any of them posing any difficulty, because they operate within the framework of the treaty—they are not treaty documents and do not require the same process—and they fu…”

“The CRaG process takes the time that it takes, as you know, but we obviously want that to come in as soon as possible. It is literally now down to EU processes and some slight uncertainties. There are a couple of possible dates when we might get the final documents agreed, but our aim is to do this at the earliest poss…”

“I am not going to get into hypothetical situations, for obvious reasons. There are a range of dispute mechanisms under the treaty. There are a range of different committees and things that can be set up, and hopefully we would never enter into that scenario in the first place. Throughout, we have attempted to ensure th…”

“We want to make sure that you get enough time, but we are obviously not in charge of the timings on the EU side. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to present the virtually final draft version to Parliament earlier at the time of the statement and elsewhere: so that people could start getting into the detail, and …”

“The hon. Lady asks an important question and, to be fair, the shadow Foreign Secretary asked it too. I can absolutely confirm that the costs associated with the treaty cannot be paid without the relevant legislation being passed, so she is absolutely right on that point. What I will say is that there has been wilful mi…”

“I have a lot of respect for the hon. Gentleman, but he is simply wrong on this point about the Chagossians. The reality is that there is a range of views within the Chagossian communities. I have taken them incredibly seriously, including those who do not agree with the treaty. There are many who do agree with it. I am…”

“The hon. Gentleman will understand that I am not going to comment on operational details from the Dispatch Box, but the Prime Minister has been absolutely clear about which requests from the United States have been acceded to and which ones have not. He answered an extensive statement on that this afternoon, and I hope…”

“The hon. Gentleman raises many, many issues. The situation is clear for all to see. I have set out why the legislation is not able to make the progress we had hoped it would make in this parliamentary Session, but the merits of the deal and the need to secure the base for us and our allies stay unchanged. As I said, we…”

“I simply must thoroughly disagree with the right hon. Gentleman. Our national security and that of our allies has been paramount in putting forward this treaty and this deal to secure the Diego Garcia base not only for us, but for our allies and our Five Eyes partners. That is why they all welcomed it. It is why the tr…”

“I have set out on a number of occasions very clearly the risks to the operation of the base; they were well understood by the Opposition, in particular by those who served as Ministers in the previous Government. It has consistently staggered me that the Opposition attempt to gloss over all of that, as well as the risk…”

“They are illegal and they are not appropriate; it is a dangerous environment and it is not appropriate for them to be on there. We are disappointed by the judgment that was made. The BIOT is appealing that judgment. If the hon. Gentleman wants me to provide him with a list of items that were sought to be provided on th…”

“On the hon. Lady’s last point, I am sure she can see the absurdity of what she and others appear to be supporting. This is a dangerous political stunt that is putting lives at risk. It is not safe or proper to be on those islands. We are very clear about that; we have communicated that very clearly. Obviously, the BIOT…”

“The hon. Gentleman, for whom I have affection, understands the procedures of this place. He understands that the Bill is going to time out because of the upcoming Prorogation and that it cannot be carried over because of the progress that it has made during this Session; he will understand the procedures around that. I…”