Speeches by Kumaran.

“I went into the Occupied Palestinian Territories a few weeks ago, into Area C, and met Bedouin women. Some of the stories that they told me and the images and videos that I saw on their phones of the violence that they are facing, in particular as women and their children, and young girls, are shocking and harrowing, a…”

“Are we making that clear in our negotiations and discussions with counterparts? I have here some of my notes from our meeting, and a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee said to us that the solution of a two-state is a bit far. They are openly saying that.”

“Minister, you do not need to disclose what the Government would do, but are there actions in place? Will there be consequences if this happens?”

“The Government have condemned some comments by the Israeli Government and Ministers on proposing the annexation of the West Bank. We were there not long ago. I would argue that the annexation has already begun, but I would like to know what actions the Government would take if there were an attempt to annex the West Ba…”

“I would like to thank the Clerks of the Foreign Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, and the International Development Committee for their support, and my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) for securing this supplementary estimates debate. Late last year, the Foreign Affairs Committee heard evi…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank the right hon. Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) for moving the motion. The remarks we have heard today have been powerful. Last week, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I travelled to the west bank—to the Occupied Palestinian Terr…”

“T8. At nearly every single one of my advice surgeries, leaseholders in Stratford and Bow have told me appalling stories of disrepair, high service charges and no accountability from management agents, after years of broken promises of reform by the Conservative Government. I am pleased about today’s announcement on lea…”

“I was. Thank you for bearing with us. You were explaining, Dr Roozenbeek, the two pillars of fighting disinformation. You said that one was better detection of disinformation spread through the bots, and the other was detecting the people who sell those fake accounts. Could you pick up on the fake accounts?”

“You mentioned the desire not to stifle free speech and the fact that Governments are wary of that, but in the light of this, and especially in the light of what you are saying about AI, do you think Governments can go some way towards stemming the flow of this?”

“Is it mostly in the English language? We are obviously focusing on RT putting out things to perhaps a western audience, but is it in other languages as well?”

“Thank you; that is fascinating. I have a follow-up question for Professor Innes. How common are disinformation campaigns like this, whether it is through bots, social media or more mainstream broadcast channels? We are looking just at Russia, but globally, is it a common occurrence now?”

“Professor Tolz, I was reading some of your work and multiple things stood out to me, but two of the starkest were when you wrote that Russia continues “to perceive the media environment as a ‘strategic tool’” and that we have witnessed factually falsified content on a scale unprecedented even by the standards of the pa…”

“Have they survived the cuts? With what is going on in the US, and with them getting rid of the fact-checkers, have these units survived?”

“Sorry to make you speak even more, Dr Roozenbeek. You have said that prevention is better than cure, and, following on from Blair’s question, you said earlier that it is not bad, but it is not a cure-all, so those things are quite interesting juxtapositions. You worked on a game—Bad News—during covid to fight the disin…”

“We would definitely welcome you back with the findings of that work.”

“Conservative Members are speaking up now, but I was present at the United Nations General Assembly when they risked investor confidence in the UK. The then Prime Minister rowed back on net zero commitments, risking investor confidence in the UK and risking our global reputation on climate leadership. This Government ar…”

“I appreciate that you have mentioned Russia, but in a previous session I pushed the Foreign Secretary on why we have not sanctioned individuals from the former regime in Sri Lanka, for example. The USA and Canada have imposed Magnitsky sanctions on certain individuals, but we are lagging behind. That is a clear example…”

“In the light of what you have said, and taking on board the FCDO point, do you think the Government could be bolder in their use of sanctions, including Magnitsky-style sanctions?”

“Maya, your point about the Government not being entirely clear on what they want to achieve by the sanctions is quite an interesting one. What is the point of having sanctions in place if the end outcome is not made clear? What does it achieve? Tom, you asked earlier what we want to see changed or reversed. If that is …”

“Thank you, Bassam, and thank you all.”