Speeches by Munt.

“I am sorry about that. Okay, thank you.”

“The application we want to make relates to the national planning policy framework, which, as you know, controls housing and development on the green belt. It is going to affect building on greenfield and brownfield sites, and around stations and—this is one of my passions—around helipads, which are needed for air ambul…”

“You must have a view.”

“That is a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed for your time, all of you. Esther McVey and Graham Stringer made representations.”

“Thank you for your answer.”

“I am not particularly content with that, I suppose, because you must have a view. I do not understand this. If we are going to have individuals who are not legally qualified making decisions, surely it will lead to an increase in the number of appeals, will it not? Or do I just not have enough faith in something I cann…”

“I will ask you about the Serious Fraud Office, but can I just check something? You both deferred to the Ministry of Justice in a number of your answers. Can I be clear that you will come back to the Chair of the Committee with what it is you have done to pursue the inquiries that we have made of you, which you then han…”

“But you must have a view.”

“Thank you.”

“I move to immigration and asylum. The King’s Speech included the immigration and asylum Bill. That will create a new independent appeals body to replace the role of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Can you explain to me—because I do not quite get it—how replacing an independent tribunal staffed…”

“Thank you.”

“You say “we”, “we”, “we”, none the less distancing yourself from the ability to comment. It feels to me extraordinary that you would not just slap the existing mechanism into shape, as opposed to putting something inside the Home Office which would not look very independent, which surely it has to be. Out there, people…”

“That would be precisely the thing. I do not want to lose the trail, because we will know that we have asked you questions and they might disappear into a black hole unless you follow them through. Thank you very much indeed. I want to move on to the Serious Fraud Office, if I may. In February this year, the Serious Fra…”

“Why would you not use judicial office holders and people who are legally qualified, or are you saying that they are all going to be legally qualified?”

“So that defensive action is contingent on a prior request for assistance.”

“The Government put out a statement in March, as the situation in the Gulf region developed, to say that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in collective self-defence of the region, to which you just referred, included “US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ship…”

“From whom did we receive it?”

“Hello, Richard and Ellie. My name is Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills, in Somerset. Everything is on the register, but I draw your attention to the fact that I am a director of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit company.”

“I want to ask about action against Iran. The Government published their legal position on the legality of defensive action in respect of Iranian attacks in the Gulf region. That legal position draws a distinction between offensive and defensive action. How do you differentiate between those two types of action and is t…”

“So we should imply that there were requests.”