Speeches by Bryant.

“I am making a slightly confused face, because I was about to answer you in relation to beneficial ownership and the overseas territories, which I do know about, but I do not know the problems that there may be in the UK. I am afraid that this is something that I might have to write to you about—all my officials look as…”

“We have two ears and one mouth.”

“Point taken.”

“Anyone who lies to HMRC in a way that affects what tax, duty or tariff they pay is—”

“It is always an offence to lie to HMRC.”

“I apologise—I signed it off, but it has not got to you yet.”

“It might be helpful if we wrote to you to tell you how much that happens.”

“I am afraid that you are not going to get any more out of me, Chair. It is not entirely my area of responsibility. We took a position in DBT that we were going to suspend some of the licences. The Foreign Office had made an adjudication that there was a real risk of Israel not abiding by international humanitarian law,…”

“Not in the coherent way that I think you are asking me to stand up an argument around. Of course, we have heard people make an argument for that to us, and we are not deaf.”

“We could talk about the broader policy on Israel and Gaza at some length, though that is not my particular area of responsibility. Having looked a bit at what Ireland and Spain are trying to do—I think they are really the frontrunners in this—I would say that they are struggling to create legislation that they think wi…”

“I think we need to take concrete steps—obviously in accordance with international law, which is one of the things we have to bear in mind—to counter settlement expansion. The Minister for the Middle East and I are considering how we can best effect that. I do not know whether the Foreign Office wants to say anything mo…”

“Because we are keeping it under constant review.”

“We do not have a ban on the import of goods from settlement areas. I know there is an argument for us to have such a ban, and it is one of the things we obviously keep under constant review.”

“I think that is one for HMRC. They are goods, so they are crossing a border, and therefore it is a question for Joanne.”

“I met with Amnesty as well; I had them in my office a couple of weeks ago, just before they came to see members of the Committee. To start from first principles, which is important in regard to this, the settlements are illegal and morally repulsive. That is the long-settled view of successive British Governments, and …”

“Just to be clear, it would be OFSI with the primary responsibility for that—the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.”

“I was simply going to add that we have already designated Grinex and Meer cryptocurrency platforms, which are effectively the infrastructure behind rouble-backed cryptocurrency token A7A5, which you will know about. OFSI is working in partnership with the multi-agency Crypto Cash Fusion Cell, which has enabled quite a …”

“Go on, Anna.”

“We would have to come back to Parliament because it would require legislation. I am not even sure whether it would be primary or secondary legislation.”

“I want to get to greater transparency, and get there as fast as possible. It is not directly within my Department, but it is one of the things that I want to drive forward.”