Results 1-20 of 2,413 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:David Lidington

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (11 Nov 2009)

David Lidington: I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Tony Lloyd) on securing the debate and on the quality of his opening speech. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of travelling with the hon. Gentleman and the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Des Browne) to Washington, where we met various representatives of the United States Administration to discuss the matters we...

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (11 Nov 2009)

David Lidington: It is certainly important that Iran remain within the NPT process and that inspectors can carry out checks, but as the hon. Gentleman knows, one of the major anxieties about the Iranian Government's conduct is that they still refuse to co-operate fully with the IAEA's requests to be allowed to inspect the facilities that it wants to examine or to have access to the individual Iranian...

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (11 Nov 2009)

David Lidington: I agree. Confidence on the part of those countries that are not nuclear weapons states but wish to develop civil nuclear energy that they will not be put at a permanent disadvantage in the security of their legitimate energy supplies by arrangements designed to stop weapons proliferation will be crucial to the success of the review which we all hope for. That is an important point. The other...

Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day]: Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (28 Oct 2009) has video

David Lidington: Surely my hon. Friend heard the comments of the Deputy Leader of the House. She said that our right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry), who has now succeeded our right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) as Chairman of the Standard and Privileges Committee, will ex officio be a member of the Speaker's Committee, and therefore the voice of...

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Death Penalty (Global Abolition) (28 Oct 2009)

David Lidington: Oxfordshire.

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Death Penalty (Global Abolition) (28 Oct 2009)

David Lidington: I congratulate the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) on securing the debate and on the fluent and learned way in which he introduced the subject. I was also impressed by the passion with which the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) spoke. I had better declare my credentials. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), I have voted for the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Iran's Nuclear Programme (20 Oct 2009)

David Lidington: Like the Foreign Secretary, we hope that the talks in Vienna today under the aegis of the IAEA are successful. Does he agree that we ought to be concerned at the indications from the Iranian state broadcast and others in recent days that the offer to send material abroad for enrichment might not actually be delivered? Does he agree that it is important that the Group of Six make it very clear...

[Mr. David Amess in the Chair] — Israeli Settlements (21 Jul 2009)

David Lidington: Let me congratulate the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) on securing this debate; it is one of those topics on which there will be a large degree of bipartisan agreement between members of different political parties. The Opposition support the Government's approach, and endorse the view of successive British Governments that the Israeli settlements are illegal. As the...

[Mr. David Amess in the Chair] — Israeli Settlements (21 Jul 2009)

David Lidington: The hon. Gentleman anticipates what I was coming on to. The policy of the British Government has to be set in the context of overall international efforts to bring about an enduring peace in the middle east. We must start by asking ourselves what is going to work. For example, I do not believe that a general boycott of Israeli goods and services will somehow lead to an Israeli Government who...

[Mr. David Amess in the Chair] — Israeli Settlements (21 Jul 2009)

David Lidington: If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will not. I want to give the Minister time to respond to the debate. The key starting point now would be to persuade the Israeli Government to initiate another freeze on further expansion of existing settlements. That would give the Palestinians a reason to return to serious talks, no matter how difficult it might be given the state of play among the...

[Mr. Joe Benton in the Chair] — Global Security (Iran) (9 Jul 2009)

David Lidington: First, I congratulate the Select Committee on its report and couple with that my expression of hope that we can somehow reform parliamentary procedures so that Select Committee reports as important as this one can be debated in a more timely fashion. I encourage the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) and his colleagues to continue their inquiries into the role of Iran in...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Middle East (30 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: Does the Foreign Secretary agree that it will be hard to build trust and peace in the middle east while hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are still without sanitation, adequate medicine or the materials that they desperately need to begin reconstruction? What action are the British Government taking to find ways to allow supplies into Gaza in order to end what the International...

[Mr. Martin Caton in the Chair] — Middle East (24 Jun 2009)

David Lidington: On behalf of the Opposition, I endorse the Minister's remarks completely. I invite him to agree that, although it must be for Iranians to decide how Iran should be governed, it is the demands of ordinary Iranians, not foreigners, to which the Iranian Government should respond.

[Mr. Martin Caton in the Chair] — Middle East (24 Jun 2009)

David Lidington: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) on his success in securing the debate. I pay tribute to the work that he has done throughout his time in the House of Commons to enhance and improve understanding between Syria and the United Kingdom. Members from all political parties have benefited over the years from his expertise and, indeed, his detailed...

[Mr. Martin Caton in the Chair] — Middle East (24 Jun 2009)

David Lidington: My hon. Friend puts the point very well. The welcome decision in March to reopen the Damascus securities exchange after half a century of closure was a welcome step. Such moves provide openings for the British financial services industry, and one thing that Syria will need in developing its commerce is capital. When the Minister responds, I would be interested to hear what the Government's...

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: May I press the right hon. Lady a little more on the deferral scheme? Surely, as my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) pointed out, as the Government's amendment mentions the introduction of the implementing regulations only this July, the reality is that small businesses will be able to defer less even than the 60 per cent. of business rates that the Government have been...

Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill: Clause 2 — Amendments of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 (10 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: This is a welcome piece of legislation, which the Opposition are happy to support. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill: Clause 2 — Amendments of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 (10 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: If I heard him correctly, the Minister said a moment ago that not all countries with UN missions had yet signed up. However, his predecessor, the hon. Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron), who is now a Minister of State at the Department of Health, said on Second Reading that "five countries with UN missions in their territories"— I presume that she meant UN peace building...

Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill: Clause 2 — Amendments of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 (10 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: I am happy to offer my support for the clause, which is undoubtedly a welcome addition to the existing protocols and the protections conferred by them. My only difficulty is over what the protocol omits. I agreed with the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) when she said that one would hope to see, at some future stage, this form of protection extended to humanitarian workers...

Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill: Clause 1 — Amendments of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (10 Jun 2009) has video

David Lidington: I am grateful to the Minister for his introduction to the clause, and I shall not oppose the stand part motion at the debate's conclusion. I shall simply make a couple of brief points. I was intrigued when the Minister, almost in parenthesis, referred to the old symbol of the red lion and sun, which the royalist regime in Iran employed. I think I understood him to say that, although the...