Speeches by Martin.

“I thank the Defence Secretary, his team and the service personnel involved for their robust response—that is exactly the kind of thing we need when dealing with Russia. He is right when he says that the Russian army in Ukraine has nearly been destroyed, but of course the Russian navy—particularly the northern fleet, wh…”

“Of course we have to act within legal and ethical boundaries with countries governed by the rule of law. I was suggesting it merely as a way of perhaps co-ordinating better and putting one group of people in charge. When lots of departments come together, the decision that is made is often the lowest common denominator…”

“Does the Chair of the Defence Committee agree that it is a question not merely of scrutiny but of approval? If the Committee, which he so ably chairs, decides that the persons brought before them are not fit for that role, is it not up to the Secretary of State to find somebody else who can obtain the approval of Commi…”

“We are grateful to you, Dr Drent, for coming to the Committee. I want to explore an idea with you. I was struck by your comments about how your brought different bits of Government together to talk and share, and to maybe decide on some action. It is very familiar—it made me think of all those meetings I sat in before …”

“We are grateful to you, Dr Drent, for coming to the Committee. I want to explore an idea with you. I was struck by your comments about how your brought different bits of Government together to talk and share, and to maybe decide on some action. It is very familiar—it made me think of all those meetings I sat in before …”

“I totally agree about Ukraine. Rather than the methods, because we would never assassinate people in Moscow, for instance—as you know, in warfare, you want to get your enemy to respond to you rather than you responding to your enemy. You call it proactivity, but even using a different set of methods from those of Russi…”

“On the point about facing down a bully, in the hybrid space it often seems that we are responding to or “countering”—it is even in our language—the hybrid threat. To what degree do you think that we—the west, the UK—should be conducting political warfare? Russia is an opponent and they are assassinating people on our s…”

“As counter-measures.”

“Of course we have to act within legal and ethical boundaries with countries governed by the rule of law. I was suggesting it merely as a way of perhaps co-ordinating better and putting one group of people in charge. When lots of departments come together, the decision that is made is often the lowest common denominator…”

“I totally agree about Ukraine. Rather than the methods, because we would never assassinate people in Moscow, for instance—as you know, in warfare, you want to get your enemy to respond to you rather than you responding to your enemy. You call it proactivity, but even using a different set of methods from those of Russi…”

“On the point about facing down a bully, in the hybrid space it often seems that we are responding to or “countering”—it is even in our language—the hybrid threat. To what degree do you think that we—the west, the UK—should be conducting political warfare? Russia is an opponent and they are assassinating people on our s…”

“As counter-measures.”

“I welcome the statement, and I thank the Foreign Secretary and his colleagues for working on the partnership. As he will know, the House, in its first debate of the year, called on the Government to investigate how we might seize Russian assets. Notwithstanding his statements about the ongoing conversations and the sen…”

“I want to ask about the interaction between the planning reforms and devolution, which are two huge bits of legislation. In Tunbridge Wells we have a local plan, but we have been asked when we do our new local plan to have a 66% increase in houses. Except, we will not have a new local plan because Tunbridge Wells borou…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Kent county council has opted to go on the priority programme and cancel elections this May; I guess turkeys do not vote for Christmas. The timetable going forward is a little confused. We will have mayorals in 2027, unitaries in 2028, and then it stands up later on. Could the Minister give some more detail on that? If…”

“Are there any trends in that over the last two or three years? Has that changed at all, or is your sense that it is stable?”

“One assumes that leadership is critical. You mentioned more women in the armed forces, so what about more women leaders?”

“To develop this topic slightly, we are soon to have an Armed Forces Commissioner. What advice would you give them about this idea of formalising the informal or keeping it informal? How would you advise them to draw the appropriate line between the two?”

“We touched on this a little bit, but women are over-represented in terms of complainants. Why is that? Have you identified any trends over the last two to three years?”