Speeches by Ballinger.

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his service. I agree that that is a gross injustice. Would he support a new investigation into his friend’s death, if new evidence were to emerge, and does he appreciate that the existing legacy Act would prevent that, which is one of the reasons it needs to be repealed?”

“The right hon. Gentleman is right. The nub of the matter is that we must ensure that veterans have the right protections and that they are not taken through additional tests, but we have to change the legislation, because it was unlawful. We have no choice. It has let down victims. The new legislation that we are putti…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“The right hon. Member talks about recruitment. Does he recognise that 14 years of Conservative government wrecked our armed forces, and that what the Labour Government are doing to invest in our armed forces and in their housing has led to an increase in recruitment, because new people recognise how important that is?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. Like many other Members present, I was proud to have served my country. In my case, it was with the Royal Marines in 2006, when I deployed to Afghanistan shortly after basic training. I was a very young and green marine, and it was quite unexpected to go in…”

“Will the shadow Minister give way?”

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“We will hear later from the Secretary of State about some of the protections afforded to veterans, but it is also important to note that in the last 13 years only one veteran has been prosecuted and, as we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones), he received a suspended sentence. S…”

“On security, which is the sixth priority you mentioned, the world is becoming much more unstable. The Prime Minister has particularly prioritised our development work in conflict hotspots such as Ukraine and Sudan. I have noticed that the integrated security fund has a particularly large reduction in its support, of 45…”

“Thank you for being so patient, Foreign Secretary. In your Mansion House speech, you announced a new counter-hybrid taskforce that will focus on a “new age of sabotage and subterfuge where technology is power.” I appreciate that in this setting, you will not be able to tell us too much about that, but could you expand …”

“But if that is not the case, and we see the abomination that you have described in the intolerable continuation of the situation in Gaza, will the Government go further to take measures against Israel?”

“I have a final question, if I may. If we do not get the ceasefire that we are all praying for in the coming weeks—”

“It is a paradigm of escalation, as you say, but there will be some people who might say, “A lot of the measures that were taken were symbolic—important, but symbolic.” The suspension of trade talks leaves the trade deal that we had with Israel in existence. There are some who may argue that Israel has broken its human …”

“I agree with you, Foreign Secretary: we have taken a lot of individual actions—more so than many of our allies—but in other circumstances when there is no response to sanctions, or indeed the situation gets worse, there is an escalation, so the Government can choose to take further action.”

“I want to take us back to the joint statement with France and Canada on 19 May. It was a very welcome statement: it is great that our allies are in the same position, opposing the expansion of the offensive in Gaza, opposing the aid system that was used there and also opposing the expansion of settlements. Of course, w…”

“Could you confirm for the public what those six priorities are?”

“Finally, with that reduction in ODA to the ISF from £350 million to £194 million—I think that was the figure I saw—will we still be able to support the mine-clearing operations and peacebuilding work that the NGOs are doing, as we did in the past? There is going to be a £200 million uplift in addition to ODA. Is that w…”

“Fair enough.”

“About 1 o’clock, I think. [Laughter.]”