Speeches by Wright.

“What was your sense of the response you got from the platforms? Good, bad or indifferent.”

“May I ask you both about the support you offer to your candidates to deal with the problems that you have just identified? Mike, you have said something about it already. Specifically, I think we are interested in knowing about what level of support you can offer your candidates when it comes to threats and harassment.…”

“When you say “substantial problems”, do you mean that they did not show up, or did they not do what you expected them to do when they did?”

“Really? Okay. Before I turn to Elfrede, what about online? Do you take the same view of online support—that in essence candidates should come to you—or do you offer something more proactive in support on online harassment or threats that they might receive?”

“Elfrede, on the same subject. Elfrede Brambley-Crawshaw: Very similar. The police are the professionals on this issue, and we would defer to them and take their advice. We do a broad briefing to all candidates, or we offer that to all candidates, then depending on the particular circumstances, we offer different suppor…”

“It is a great and unexpected pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I want to take this opportunity to say something about why I think these regulations are a mistake. I agree with a great deal of what the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) has just said—I will seek not to repeat it—b…”

“I am extremely grateful to the Minister for giving way, and I have sympathy with her position, especially in relation to legal advice, having both received it and given it. I suggest that the Minister is talking about two different things, and they need to be separated. The first is the question of whether legal but ha…”

“It would not be right for either of us to ask the Minister to disclose legal advice—that clearly would not be appropriate—but I am grateful for the Minister’s offer to share a slightly more expansive description of why the Government have come to the conclusion that they have. On the hon. Lady’s point about what the Ac…”

“I thank all hon. Members who have spoken for their restraint. It has allowed me to get one more hon. Member in, but I ask her to please bring her remarks to a close at 10.30 am.”

“Order. We have 10 minutes left, and I hope to bring three more people in, so I ask colleagues to restrict themselves accordingly.”

“Order. I gently remind all Members that we must get to four minutes each voluntarily or I will have to impose something less voluntary. I call Jon Trickett.”

“I ask all Members not staying for this debate to leave as quietly as they can. This is a 30-minute debate, so there will be no opportunity for the Member leading it to wind up at the end.”

“I thank the Minister for her debut performance in Westminster Hall. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered outsourcing by Government departments.”

“I will now call the Minister to respond. If there is any time left before 11 o’clock, I will invite Andy McDonald to wind up, if he wishes to.”

“Order. It will be obvious to everyone that there is considerable interest in this debate. May I ask all Members to bob if you wish to speak, and to continue to do that so that we can see you still wish to speak? I hope that if everyone can restrict themselves to about four minutes, we will get everybody in. I want to s…”

“Within your four minutes—thank you very much.”

“The Prime Minister may know that, this time last week, representatives of those who have been injured seriously by covid vaccines were giving evidence to the covid inquiry, including my constituent, Kate Scott. I hope he also knows that the compensation available to those people is not adequate and is not adequately ac…”

“I am grateful, too, to the Minister and to everyone who has contributed to the debate. Question put and agreed to.”

“Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady, but “you” is me; she means “he”, in other words the Minister.”

“As the hon. Member will understand, proposals to change the law must come from the Government—with whom, I gently suggest, he has more influence that I do—but he is right that transparency is crucial. It is important that we understand the source of the donations, so that the political parties that accept them can be p…”