Speeches by Robinson.

“The Minister will know that the increase in prisoner numbers is often because of the logjam within the Crown court system, and there are too many on remand who are then convicted and released with time served, with no opportunity for rehabilitation or mentoring. Will he confirm that that forms part of the sentencing re…”

“In welcoming the statement, I reserve judgment on whether we need an additional court—an intermediate court—particularly if it will be resourced from the existing magistrates and Crown court system. Following on from the question from the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson), w…”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I do not believe that the Secretary of State would have intended to mislead the House, but I suspect that he may have misunderstood the point being made, and it has filtered into a number of his subsequent responses. In relation to the coroner and his powers, the point being made was th…”

“The Secretary of State asked rhetorically whether the law around inquests needs to change. The coroner had to answer four questions: where, when, who and how. He had no role in trying to answer why, but we know why: four depraved terrorists for the IRA and their warped ideology tried to destroy society and kill in our …”

“The Secretary of State will have heard the exchanges earlier about the grave injustice and slur that was delivered upon SAS personnel in the coroner’s judgment last week, following the incidents in Clonoe. Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to indicate not only to the House but to service personnel and t…”

“The Home Secretary may recall that, when she was on the Opposition Benches, I cautioned the then Conservative Government that the actions they were going to take to have a uniform immigration policy throughout the United Kingdom were unsustainable. More particularly, I warned during proceedings on the Illegal Migration…”

“We agreed to publish a letter this morning from the Chief Constable on this issue, and he talks about the number of applications for data that were made during the period between 2011 and 2024. Of that, he indicates that 0.5% were toward journalists. That is 0.5%. Mr Birney, can I ask you what your view is on the respo…”

“That is extraordinary—I had not realised that that was all provided by your employer. Malachi, I know that the focus has been around female journalists particularly, but you have been a journalist, a writer and a commentator for many years. You have similarly experienced physical abuse and intimidation; I have heard yo…”

“Good morning, gentlemen. Séamus, do you mind if I come to you first? I want to ask a question drawing on the comments of your general secretary immediately after, when she indicated that the IPT process could not be the end and that there remained questions that were unanswered. Could you give us a sense of, from her p…”

“Just to put that into context, you are talking about somebody for whom there was probably no one more senior in the IRA at the time.”

“I will close this section off so that we can move on to the legal aspects—some of the legal curtailment or at least the legal protections for us all. Can I ask whether either of you have recommendations or suggestions for measures that the Northern Ireland Executive or this Government in Westminster need to take to pro…”

“Just to assure you that if you defame me, I will phone you before I get somebody to write to you.”

“I do not want to put words in your mouth, but that suggests that the law as it stands is right, but it was not followed, as opposed to suggesting that there are changes required within the law.”

“We can do it more cheaply in the county court; that is accepted. This is my second question. As a professional, you will be approached by many who say, “I have this issue—can you give me advice?”, and you will say, “That’s a no-hoper” or “That’s a case worth pursuing.””

“Is there sufficient action from the Law Society to go against professionals who do not give proper advice? If a lawyer is proceeding with a case that is ultimately vexatious, what sanction is there? Should there be a sanction?”

“This is my third and final question. In small claims court, there are no costs. It is an informal process and you cannot have a cost award made against you, save for vexatious cases. Malachi has outlined a situation in which he had a case struck out and appropriately used that mechanism, but it took four and a half yea…”

“There is no need for a correction; it was a different point.”

“You were before Master Bell, the master of the High Court—I understand that entirely. I was making a point about the cost implication in the small claims court. There are no cost awards save for where a case is vexatious. I am asking: do we need a system in our courts that goes beyond cost implications to a compensator…”

“I am not saying, by the way, that incidental surveillance is not consequential, but it is not the subject under investigation.”

“I do not mind whether Mr Birney or Mr McCaffrey answers my next question, and we will unpack some of the other issues in the rest of this session. You have referred to correspondence from our colleague Mr Davis to forces throughout the United Kingdom that have been operating. Some of this relates to legislation from 25…”