Speeches by Munt.

“So that might include ships that are registered in states outside, for want of a better term, the Gulf region.”

“Okay, thank you. Can I just check: does the legal basis extend to action to protect commercial shipping as well as military vessels?”

“Thank you.”

“So that defensive action is contingent on a prior request for assistance.”

“Hello, Richard and Ellie. My name is Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills, in Somerset. Everything is on the register, but I draw your attention to the fact that I am a director of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit company.”

“From whom did we receive it?”

“I move to immigration and asylum. The King’s Speech included the immigration and asylum Bill. That will create a new independent appeals body to replace the role of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Can you explain to me—because I do not quite get it—how replacing an independent tribunal staffed…”

“You say “we”, “we”, “we”, none the less distancing yourself from the ability to comment. It feels to me extraordinary that you would not just slap the existing mechanism into shape, as opposed to putting something inside the Home Office which would not look very independent, which surely it has to be. Out there, people…”

“Okay. Can you translate that into a timeframe for me? Being a simple soul, I am not necessarily sure when you think that is going to get published.”

“Oh dear, I am very sorry about that. It is my oversight.”

“That is a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed for your time, all of you. Esther McVey and Graham Stringer made representations.”

“I am sorry about that. Okay, thank you.”

“That is all right. Thank you very much. The last thing that I want to ask you about is the calls there have been for the Serious Fraud Office to be merged with the National Crime Agency. What are your thoughts on keeping them separate or merging them?”

“The application we want to make relates to the national planning policy framework, which, as you know, controls housing and development on the green belt. It is going to affect building on greenfield and brownfield sites, and around stations and—this is one of my passions—around helipads, which are needed for air ambul…”

“Okay, absolutely. And you will write back to the Chair? Thank you. Jonathan Fisher published his independent review of disclosure and fraud offences, but that was 15 months ago. The Government say they are yet to publish their full response. Do we have a date?”

“In some roles, we have a pre-appointment hearing—don’t be too frightened. I recognise that we are not locked into the pre-appointment hearing for the director of the Serious Fraud Office, but I just want to ask whether there is an opportunity for the Committee to have a pre-commencement hearing towards the end of the y…”

“I want to ask about action against Iran. The Government published their legal position on the legality of defensive action in respect of Iranian attacks in the Gulf region. That legal position draws a distinction between offensive and defensive action. How do you differentiate between those two types of action and is t…”

“The Government put out a statement in March, as the situation in the Gulf region developed, to say that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in collective self-defence of the region, to which you just referred, included “US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ship…”

“So we should imply that there were requests.”

“I have no doubt about that. We need four Government Back Benchers?”