Conservative and Unionist Party: a sourced timeline of public activity, with filters by source type and a sidebar of tracked totals

Conservative and Unionist Party

Showing every spoken contribution, including 5,750 under 12 words. Hide short remarks

  1. ParliamentDavid Mundell

    Gaza and Sudan

    I very much welcome the Foreign Secretary’s proactive statement, and I hope that will be the pattern of engagement with Parliament going forward. In addition to the horrendous atrocities that she and others have detailed, the World Food Programme has identified that 700,000 people face catastrophic hunger conditions in the coming months in Sudan, so we really need that step change, but we need some evidence of it. Can she be clear that the exchanges with the UAE have been robust and that there are real efforts to engage the African Union?

    Hansard source

  2. ParliamentDavid Davis

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    This is a terrible Bill. Its central failing is that it will lead to the persecution of patriotic, innocent British soldiers whose only sin is defending our democracy with heroism and skill. What it will do is recreate a circumstance in which soldiers are treated unfairly by the law. My hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart) referred to the case of Soldier B and the judge’s dismissal of it as a “ludicrous” challenge funded by legal aid. I have known Soldier B for 30 years; I count him as a friend. He is tough and clever yet, even for him, being dragged through the courts for four years and more, on what is effectively preparation for a murder charge, would have been unbelievably stressful. The point my hon. Friend made is that the process is the punishment: four years of stress and wear and tear. In Operation Banner, our soldiers assiduously obeyed the yellow card rules, but in Northern Ireland the courts have sometimes interpreted those rules as requiring our soldiers to take almost suicidal risks. We are dragging men in their 70s and 80s through coroners courts in Belfast, and judging them by a standard that makes no sense in a military context. To illustrate this, let me share with the House a single case that highlights what can happen to soldiers under these circumstances. On 16 March 1978, in the middle of the night, two SAS soldiers were manning a covert observation post. They saw two men in combat clothing moving toward them. One of our soldiers, David Jones, stood up and challenged the men. The IRA gunman immediately shot him down in a burst of gunfire. That story would have been at the back of the mind of every soldier who subsequently served in Northern Ireland. They made their decisions in the face of the risk of immediate death. It is a measure of their professionalism that hundreds of terrorists were arrested alive under the circumstances, given that the soldiers could have been killed. Today’s debate is actually about morality. It is about whether this House chooses justice over political convenience, truth over revisionism, and loyalty over the cynical rewriting of history. The Government claim that today’s problems arise from legislation passed by the previous Government, which allegedly created an amnesty for terrorists. Really? What are the facts? Labour, under Blair, effectively gave a de facto amnesty—maybe it is challengeable in law—to at least 650 terrorists, who had carried out more than 3,000 killings. Early release schemes, on-the-run letters and the royal prerogative of mercy collectively created a vast secret system of de facto immunity. It was secret because the Government knew that people would not accept it.

    Hansard source

  3. ParliamentDavid Davis

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    No. I am sorry, but I do not have time. People knew that the system would not be accepted, which is why Gerry Adams asked for an “invisible system” for dealing with on-the-runs. Why are they on the run? They are on the run because they are criminals, and this was a secret system to deal with it. In contrast, 300,000 of our soldiers defended democracy in Northern Ireland. They defended law and order, democracy and the innocent citizens of Northern Ireland, whom we often forget in this. They acted as the direct opposite of the IRA, the gangster organisation that terrorised all communities in Northern Ireland. By the way, I mean “all communities”; remember that the IRA killed a very large number of Catholics to terrorise that community. Yet today those who upheld the law face relentless legal pursuit, while those who broke the law received leniency, letters and legal shelter. Let us not forget that the IRA are also protected by the fact that witnesses, or would-be witnesses, against them know that they risk murder if they turn up. I was in Omagh a few weeks ago, and I met a policeman who was shot—six times, I think—only a couple of years ago by the Real IRA, or the New IRA or whatever label they have today. Instead of attacking those who served, we should honour them, their service and their patriotism. We should not treat them worse than the killers they defeated. This House must say, “Enough. Enough moral inversion, and enough rewarding of terror, while hounding those who defended the public.” We are told that the Bill is necessary because Northern Ireland will not support alternatives, but when real leaders must choose between consensus and justice, they choose justice. This Bill must not rest on appeasement. The world watches while Britain chooses today. Its allies watch with concern, and its enemies with enthusiasm, as they plan future decades of lawfare against our best soldiers. If we do not speak up to protect both our current service personnel and our veterans, the innocent will suffer in future, and we will find ourselves unable to defend our nation.

    Hansard source

  4. ParliamentDame Karen Bradley

    China Espionage: Government Security Response

    Does the Minister consider that China represents a current threat to this country? Will he also expand on the work his officials are doing with the Members and Members’ Staff Services Team to remove potential security weaknesses, not just from this building but from MPs’ constituency offices and our homes?

    Hansard source

  5. ParliamentClaire Coutinho

    Warm Home Discount: Fuel Poverty

    Does the Minister accept that 22 million households are seeing their bills go up to pay for this policy, which is a handout for 6 million households? Is that not like the Government’s promise to cut bills by £300 when actually, bills have gone up by £200 instead? Does he acknowledge that the best way to help families who are struggling with their bills is to cut electricity bills for everyone? Our cheap power plan would do exactly that and cut electricity bills by 20% in time for winter. Why will the Government not consider it?

    Hansard source

  6. ParliamentClaire Coutinho

    Warm Home Discount: Fuel Poverty

    But it is not the Government that are providing support; other households are doing so through their bills. The Minister should be honest about that. Even the chief executive of Ofgem has said that axing the carbon tax would bring down electricity prices. Our cheap power plan would cut people’s electricity bills by 20% now—for everyone, not just for few. If he really cared about families struggling with their bills, he would look at it.

    Hansard source

  7. ParliamentClaire Coutinho

    Topical Questions

    At this COP, acres of the Amazon were chopped down so that the Secretary of State can lecture us about saving the planet. Can the Minister justify why his Government did not even put a single penny into the forest fund, which could have at least repaired some of the damage?

    Hansard source

  8. ParliamentCharlie Dewhirst

    Large-scale Solar Farms

    11. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the development of large-scale solar farms.

    Hansard source

  9. ParliamentCharlie Dewhirst

    Large-scale Solar Farms

    Given that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has yet to publish its land use framework or its 25-year farming road map, would it be prudent for the Government to pause all major solar farm applications until such time as they have a joined-up strategy for energy production on agricultural land?

    Hansard source

  10. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    China Espionage: Government Security Response

    Order. I encourage the remaining Members to ask short questions and the Minister to give short answers. There is an important statement and a very heavily subscribed debate to come.

    Hansard source

  11. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    China Espionage: Government Security Response

    I thank the Security Minister for his statement.

    Hansard source

  12. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

  13. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Gaza and Sudan

    I call the Chair of the International Development Committee.

    Hansard source

  14. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

  15. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Gaza and Sudan

    Order. Given that the next debate is heavily subscribed, I thought it would be helpful to indicate to Members that I will finish the statement at about 3 pm.

    Hansard source

  16. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Gaza and Sudan

    Order. Please may I encourage short questions from Members, as well as short answers from the Foreign Secretary?

    Hansard source

  17. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Gaza and Sudan

    I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement.

    Hansard source

  18. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Points of Order

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order, and for giving advance notice of it. He will of course be aware that the combination of statements is not a matter for the Chair—the Government determine statements—but I am sure that the Foreign Secretary has heard his comments.

    Hansard source

  19. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Points of Order

    I thank the hon. Member for her point of order. Members should receive timely responses to their correspondence with Ministers, and it is disappointing to hear that the hon. Lady has experienced such a significant delay. Ministers themselves are responsible for the timeliness of their responses, and I hope that those on the Treasury Bench have heard her concerns and will pass them on to the relevant Department. Members may also wish to raise their concerns with the Leader of the House during business questions every Thursday.

    Hansard source

  20. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Points of Order

    I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. He is right to say that written questions are an important way in which Members may hold the Government to account. As he will have heard me say earlier, Ministers themselves are responsible for the timeliness of their responses, but I hope that those on the Treasury Bench have heard his concerns and will pass them on to the relevant Department, in this case DEFRA. Both the Leader of the House and the Procedure Committee may also take an interest in these matters, so the hon. Member may wish to raise his concerns with them.

    Hansard source

  21. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Points of Order

    I thank the hon. Lady for giving advance notice of her point of order. She has corrected the record, as she did this time last week, and I hope she will not see this as a regular method and opportunity to reiterate her political points.

    Hansard source

  22. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Points of Order

    I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. I think that he has raised two points. As we heard in an earlier point of order, the combination of statements does not help, and those on the Treasury Bench will have heard my comments about that; it is a matter for the Government when they decide to schedule statements, and, indeed, the issues and subjects to which they will pertain. As for the second point, regarding the timeliness and the length of statements, I do think it important. It is always regrettable when not all Members can get in during a statement. However, on regular occasions throughout the statement, I exhorted Members and, indeed, the Foreign Secretary to make questions and answers short. We would have been able to accommodate many more Members if others had listened to that guidance.

    Hansard source

  23. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Access to Finance for Women in Business

    Order. The hon. Lady has an important ten-minute rule motion, and there are far too many private conversations preventing me—let alone the rest of the House— from hearing her comments.

    Hansard source

  24. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Point of Order

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. He is of course right, and were Members to refer to the guide on courtesies and behaviours in the House, they would find advice on whether questions, and indeed interventions, should be read, particularly from telephones.

    Hansard source

  25. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    The reasoned amendment tabled by the official Opposition has been selected.

    Hansard source

  26. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    Order. I call Andy McDonald.

    Hansard source

  27. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    I am imposing an immediate four-minute time limit.

    Hansard source

  28. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    Order. The hon. Gentleman knows better than to use the word “you” in those circumstances.

    Hansard source

  29. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

  30. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

  31. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    ExxonMobil: Mossmorran

    I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

    Hansard source

  32. ParliamentCaroline Nokes

    ExxonMobil: Mossmorran

    I call the Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee.

    Hansard source

  33. ParliamentBradley Thomas

    Land Use Change: Food Security

    I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does she agree that that depleted confidence comes against the backdrop of all the pressures that she has discussed, including the pressures from the Government to increase house building, and the opportunity that farmers see to replace arable or pastoral farming with a new cash crop in the form of solar, and that ultimately, depletion of morale is probably the worst affliction on the farming community, because, regardless of other considerations, there is a risk that there comes a point when most farmers say, “We just can’t do this any more”?

    Hansard source

  34. ParliamentBradley Thomas

    Land Use Change: Food Security

    Does the hon. Lady regret that the Liberal Democrat manifesto said that the Liberal Democrats want to build even more houses than the Labour party?

    Hansard source

  35. ParliamentBradley Thomas

    Land Use Change: Food Security

    I want to give the Minister an opportunity to answer a question that I have asked several Ministers in the main Chamber. My constituents and I do not dispute the need for more housing in the country, nor do we dispute that it needs to be located in areas where people want to live, but what would she say to my constituents living across Bromsgrove and the villages—an area that is 89% green belt and 79% rural—when I tell her that, as a result of choices made by this Government, our housing target has increased by 85% while the housing target in adjacent Birmingham has decreased by more than 30%? Every area has to take its fair share, but does she agree that that is a grossly unfair imbalance?

    Hansard source

  36. ParliamentBradley Thomas

    Topical Questions

    The oil refining industry employs tens of thousands of people and is crucial to our energy security. It is also a key part of the ministerial brief. The sector is under immense pressure, so can the Minister tell the House when he will meet industry representatives directly?

    Hansard source

  37. ParliamentBob Blackman

    Topical Questions

    T9.    In west London, the development of data centres, other industries and, indeed, much-needed housing is hampered by the fact that the national grid cannot supply enough power. Under the current plans, it will be many years before the grid will be able to cope. What action is the Minister going to take to make sure that west London can contribute to the growing of the UK economy?

    Hansard source

  38. ParliamentBen Obese-Jecty

    China Espionage: Government Security Response

    Madam Deputy Speaker, “The hon. Gentleman knows the answer: we are looking carefully at whether other countries should be added to the enhanced tier, but we will take that decision in due course and bring it forward in the normal way.”—[Official Report, 20 October 2025; Vol. 773, c. 638.] That is what the Security Minister said when I asked him for the fourth time last month why China is not included within the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme. So I will ask the Minister for the fifth time in as many months, and I am hoping he will offer some clarity this time. Given the range of measures he has just announced, what would it take for the Government to deem China to be a threat, and when will he assess whether China should be added to the enhanced tier?

    Hansard source

  39. ParliamentBen Obese-Jecty

  40. ParliamentBen Obese-Jecty

    Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

    Whereabouts in the Bill does it say what the Secretary of State said about the victims and survivors group? If it does not say what he told us, will he amend it to ensure that it does?

    Hansard source