Speeches by Cooper.

“Do you think there is a risk that if Parliament ends up legislating for a social media ban at 16 we effectively end up letting social media companies off the hook, that we put a big check mark next to, “We have regulated social media now and we have protected our children from it”, but we ignore the fact that children …”

“You said that your role is not to come up with solutions, but notwithstanding that, as society becomes more dependent on social media for news, how do you think that our elections or indeed our discourse more generally can be protected from mis- and disinformation in these spaces?”

“I have seen in my own constituency misinformation and disinformation around elections that can lead to abuse and harassment, in my case for council candidates. What starts online does not necessarily stay online and can lead to assaults of candidates in the real world. Hanno, could you give us a sense of the scale of t…”

“If I may though, with respect, have we not already seen an impact on election results? You say we might have a big event and there might be a moral panic and we have to legislate quickly, but we are getting it now, surely. This is not a nuclear weapon that is being deployed. This is the salami tactics. This is the drip…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for giving way; she is being very generous with her time. She talks about green spaces. My constituency is in a section of the route that has now been cancelled, and is in the process of being removed from the Bill. We still have planning safeguards in place, and uncapped boreholes from ground inv…”

“We are very focused on what happens during the regulated period, what happens during a short campaign, but from what you are saying it sounds like—certainly what Marianna was talking about, with the rise in decline porn and the sum total of disinformation that is being put out online all the time—this is a build-up of …”

“So it created a distrust effect against the whole political class rather than saying left-wing politicians are responsible for this?”

“Interesting.”

“Okay, thank you. Clearly this abuse can have a chilling effect on candidates willing to stand for election. What are the key reforms that you think that we could make to help protect these groups?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her statement and for her leadership of the Select Committee during this inquiry. I would like to start by commending Cheshire West and Chester council for its efforts to substantially reduce B&B use for temporary accommodation. However, not every local authority is in the same position a…”

“I am struck that we have been talking about deepfakes only during elections. You only have to spend a bit of time on YouTube to look at the extent to which deepfakes are operating 24/7 with regard to what the Prime Minister is saying. It feels like we are missing what is happening right now. My line of questioning is t…”

“I would just like to come back briefly to the point you were making about algorithmic bias. In broadcast media, Ofcom will enforce due impartiality during the election period, whereby political parties and independent candidates must be given due weight across broadcasters’ TV and radio coverage, which clearly made sen…”

“The Government are piloting early voting and central voting schemes. Are there other forms of flexible voting that you would like to see tested?”

“Finally, because we ran out of time five minutes ago, you have repeatedly called for the Government to consolidate, simplify and modernise electoral law. What are the risks of not doing this?”

“Indeed, you have differing requirements for nomination papers and returns of expenses for town and parish council elections versus unitary authorities. It is a mess and all over the place, so it is that sort of thing that you think we should be consolidating and tidying up.”

“The Government are piloting flexible options for voting in four areas at the local elections. When will you make your assessment of the success or otherwise of those pilots?”

“Such a small number of people have been convicted of it. We heard earlier that 4% of people did not vote because of the requirement to have photographic ID. That is probably around 750,000 people, if that was replicated at the last general election. Is it proportionate to have introduced a measure such as this, based o…”

“Yes, indeed. You have expressed concern about the use of bank cards, as proposed by this Government, as a form of ID. What should the Government prioritise instead, if not bank cards?”

“I am Andrew Cooper, Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.”

“I am Andrew Cooper, the Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.”