Speeches by Martin.

“16. What steps his Department is taking to support Ukraine.”

“As the Foreign Secretary knows, we have substantial engagement with, and deployment to, Estonia. Talk of peace in Ukraine is of course welcome and Britain should play its role in supporting that peace, but does he accept that any deployment of British troops to Ukraine increases the risk to the UK and its forces in Est…”

“I noted when I spent time with the RBL in Tunbridge Wells that there has been an age shift, and that it is the old and the bold who are manning the barricades, as I am sure that many of us have seen that in our local branches. Will my hon. Friend join me in urging the Minister and the Government to connect service leav…”

“One detects the hand of Russia here, much as one does across the entire periphery of Europe, from the High North, Ukraine, the Balkans and the Caucasus, which the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee mentioned, to the Sahel, the Maghreb and Libya, right over to the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap. Will the Minister describe…”

“There are well-documented links between Russia and China. It is publicised and well-known that China buys Russia’s oil and all the rest of it. We are fighting Russia at the moment in Europe; it is our primary adversary. Why on earth would we want to have a close and stable relationship with China?”

“As the Minister knows, last month the Ukrainian permission extension scheme came into force, offering a further 18 months in the UK to our Ukrainian friends. Will she shed some light on the situation facing those Ukrainian guests who seek to enter further education, perhaps for three years, but who are unable to do so …”

“You saw the comments last night from very senior American politicians, including the Vice-President, about exactly this, and about getting the Europeans to pay for American security protection in the Red sea, which is the key choke point our carrier has to pass through. Is there a danger that our carrier will get stuck…”

“You have all read the application, so I will not go back over that ground. It is well known and accepted that SEND provision is a huge problem. We know that the Government are looking into it, but that is very long-term and costs a lot of money. In the meantime, a lot of families are suffering. The problem can be broke…”

“This debate sits across the south-east, so a number of Surrey MPs have signed as well. Further to Polly’s point, 90% of tribunals in Surrey go in favour of the parents. That illustrates the point that cases are being pushed to tribunal to suppress demand.”

“When do you think that allocation might be?”

“Could the Clerks perhaps send us some provisional dates?”

“If those dates are miles away, perhaps we can then work with the other teams. If they are near, we will probably keep them separate.”

“What is the risk that the carrier strike group passes through the Red sea, does its deployment, and then the United States tries to extort money from us to provide the necessary protection to get the carrier back through the Red sea?”

“I was struck, Minister, when you said that there has been a shift from an expeditionary military to one that is much more focused on Russia, European defence and all of that. As you know, we are still debating whether to send the carrier strike group to the far east. We hear interesting comments about the Red sea, whic…”

“I accept that it is cross-departmental and that, ultimately, responsibility rests with the Prime Minister. If there is a successful hybrid attack on our critical national infrastructure, will it be the Prime Minister’s fault?”

“Is the Cabinet Office the clearing house for these decisions?”

“That leads me perfectly to my next question. Who is in charge of all this? Yesterday in the Chamber, you were asked who the Minister responsible for our undersea cables is. You answered by saying that the Prime Minister is, of course, and he delegates it, but who is responsible for responding to the hybrid threats, wha…”

“We can go back to the other one if you like.”

“Moving on to a slightly easier topic, what is the nature of the hybrid threat to the United Kingdom?”

“It is not acceptable, is it?”