Speeches by Lewell.

“But I am just trying to picture in my head how it works.”

“I think what I was getting at, Professor, is that when, say, you, Commodore, are under the sea, how do you know what cables belong to whom?”

“Again, it might sound daft, but how do you know whose cables are whose? If there are that many cables down there, how do you know what cables belong to what country?”

“Could there be a situation where Russia, for example, has tapped into some of our undersea cables and we don’t know about it?”

“This might sound a bit daft, but when undersea cables are cut, it is quite obvious, but what about when they are tapped into? How does that work? Who picks up on that? You don’t need to cut them to weaponise them. I am not sure how that works and what that looks like. How would you know?”

“But they are developing it?”

“Thank you.”

“What is the under-ice capability of the Chinese navy?”

“We will need to keep Back-Bench contributions to three minutes. I call Ann Davies.”

“Order. It is up to the Member if he wishes to give way; he has made it clear that he does not wish to.”

“Order. I remind Members that when they say “you”, they are referring to me. It is the same convention as in the Chamber.”

“Order. It is obvious that the Member does not want to give way.”

“I will call Christine Jardine to move the motion, and then call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for …”

“Order. To ensure that all Members wishing to speak do get to contribute, I am reducing the time limit to two and a half minutes.”

“What should be in the defence readiness Bill?”

“Morning, everyone. Dr Keith Dear, just going back to what you said before, is there anyone you can point to in the MoD or Government who understands the pace of the advancements in AI that you have just described?”

“Do you think such a Bill is needed, or should Government just get on with doing what they need to?”

“Judging by that, it will be quite a large Bill with quite a price ticket attached. How can you build into legislation provisions that keep pace with rapid changes in the ways of war, with artificial intelligence? You referred to the war book, but we are in a different time now. How would you legislate for events that a…”

“Order. I remind Members that when they say “you”, the convention is the same as in the main Chamber: they are referring to me.”

“The debate may now continue until 7.37 pm.”