Speeches by Thomas.

“Holly, I want to go back to something you alluded to earlier in the session. It comes from the discussion about the unknown numbers, from the MoD point of view, of Afghans being resettled. You said it is becoming much harder to resettle people from Afghanistan here. You recommended that we look into that and ask why. W…”

“That sounds like an epic task. On the things you have not been able to share—for example, the conversations and discussions around disclosing things to Parliament and the direct quotes that you have not been able to share—do you think the public would find them shocking?”

“So the super-injunction has been lifted, and most of this is out in the open now, but it is not all out in the open; there is still an injunction, and some things are covered by it. I want to ask you about that, but I will preface this by saying that we do not want you to say anything you should not; I am conscious tha…”

“You are talking about the statement in Parliament?”

“And that was when?”

“What do you mean by “provide cover”?”

“It must have been hugely challenging. Holly, do you want to touch on that? Give us a sense of the professional and emotional strain that the super-injunction put on you guys as reporters.”

“So my question to you is this. Do you think he means he is astonished that you, the media, kept your trap shut—as you say, Sam—or do you think he is alluding to parliamentarians? We as MPs have parliamentary privilege. Under the Bill of Rights, you could not put an injunction on us—well, I wasn’t here at the time, but …”

“No, that’s clear and on the record.”

“We have heard a lot of nonsense from the Conservatives; we have had a nursery rhyme and the claim from the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Sarah Bool) that the first instance of welfare in this country was the monasteries under Henry VIII. But to take that example, when Thomas Cromwell came in to advise King He…”

“I reiterate the Chair’s thanks to the three trade associations for all the support you provide to Committee members in our work. I have a question about skills, and I am going to ask for short answers from all three of you. Like everyone else, I am very concerned about our ability as a country to provide the skilled wo…”

“The Government’s ability or the company’s ability?”

“We have had Team Barrow as a concept for a couple of years. We have now had Team Plymouth announced. It is fantastic news—around £4.4 billion going to Plymouth. However, we just heard the concerns of my colleague, Michelle Scrogham, about the effect that Team Barrow has, or has not, had on the local community. Harry, f…”

“It is great to hear from industry about some of the challenges and some of the solutions regarding the building of these submarines, but we are not building them for fun. We are building them because we have enemies and threats, and those enemies and threats are building submarines as well. Unfortunately, they are buil…”

“What do you mean by the ability to have more command and control in the Chinese autocracy?”

“I understand, so it is slightly less applicable to pillar 2.”

“Matthew, from a techUK point of view, you mentioned that DSIT and the MoD could be working a lot more closely. Quickly, can you give us three things that they could be doing together that they are not currently?”

“Personally, I am very clear that China remains an active, persistent and everyday threat to our country and has done so for many years. In the light of this, what steps is the Minister taking on behalf of the Government to ensure that parliamentarians across this House are much better protected in the years to come fro…”

“Is your sense that it sits largely with the US, as the most powerful partner in this three-way partnership, to sort this out? When we talk to British officials, certainly in the MoD, people are very proud of the work they have done on ITAR reforms. They want to talk you through it, show you the list and say how good it…”

“I think other Members will come on to that shortly. Thank you very much.”