Speeches by Ballinger.

“I am grateful to have the opportunity to gently correct the hon. and gallant Gentleman. When asked that question a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister said categorically that we would not allow Gerry Adams to claim compensation. There are several civil cases that would be blocked, supporting the victims of IRA terrorism,…”

“I am happy to speak in support of the motion as set out on the Order Paper. The wider context is straightforward: the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 passed by the Conservatives attempted to replace long-standing legal routes with a new commission, ICRIR, and a conditional immunity scheme…”

“I do not have the statistics in front of me, but the right hon. Gentleman will know that the overwhelming number of prosecutions that have happened in Northern Ireland have been of paramilitaries and terrorist groups. Only one serviceperson has been convicted since 2010, and that was on a suspended sentence. I am afrai…”

“Thank you, Chair. I will wait for my colleague to sit down—we work better in pairs. We would like a debate on gambling advertising. Members of the Committee have probably heard other debates on gambling in which the harms associated with gambling have been well outlined. Some 2.7% of the population—close to 1.5 million…”

“I think waiting a bit longer might suit this debate well, because of the timing of the inquiry that we are running with the APPG. I do not know how long your waiting list is, but if it takes us into late March, that might not be the end of the world.”

“It is great to hear that you consulted with line Ministries, the European Commission and other countries. Was there much engagement with civil society in Germany, maybe the automotive sector and these parts of the country that are outside the Government structures that have an interest in China?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“rose—”

“Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise the 24-nautical mile exclusion zone that the Government negotiated in the treaty? It will prevent many of the things that he referred to.”

“My hon. Friend makes a good point. This treaty has been through the interagency process in America and has support across the system. Colleagues may have mentioned the President changing his position, but the US system is much wider than that, and I do not think we should we should base our long-term strategic and secu…”

“Yes, I will continue. The strategic logic is straightforward. Diego Garcia’s location, infrastructure and operational utility are indispensable.”

“I will happily outline that to the House. The Minister has already outlined it: it is approximately 0.25% of the defence budget, which is tiny in comparison to the base in Djibouti that the French operate. If we compare it with the operation of an aircraft carrier or something of that size, it is very good value for mo…”

“I will not be supporting Lords amendment 1, because it would require renegotiation. We already have a joint commission to deal with issues that arise, and international treaty law would provide routes to termination if we were in that sort of situation, so the amendment is not necessary at all. I will come back to this…”

“In answer to the intervention by the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), there is more than one veteran on the Labour Benches. I wonder what the veterans from the Conservative party who went through 11 rounds of negotiations under the previous Government were saying; they clearly supported this decision at that …”

“It is great to hear that you consulted with line Ministries, the European Commission and other countries. Was there much engagement with civil society in Germany, maybe the automotive sector and these parts of the country that are outside the Government structures that have an interest in China?”

“Late May? Then we would consider a Thursday debate.”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way. In my constituency, many people have written to me about the impact of fireworks on dogs. Two people in particular, Marianne and Rosleen, wrote about how excessive fireworks around fireworks night cause their dogs to tremble uncontrollably and run desperately away from their owne…”

“rose—”

“It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Kevin McKenna) for delivering an excellent speech that covered many of the issues on which many of us in the all-party parliamentary group on gambling reform have been campaigning. I also t…”

“5. What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the level of spending on gambling advertising.”