Cyber-security and UK Democracy

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We will certainly hold China to account in the way that the hon. Gentleman describes. I will happily make sure that the parliamentary authorities and the National Cyber Security Centre are in touch with him about the attack that he described.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

We know that legacy IT systems are most likely to be cyber-attacked. Has the Deputy Prime Minister ordered an inventory of all Government IT equipment, to see where particular vulnerabilities lie?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Yes. My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. The first step is to properly understand where those vulnerabilities lie. We have undertaken extensive work to ensure that we know where risks lie, and we are putting in place measures to remediate those risks.

Northern Ireland Protocol

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Just diverting slightly from the Northern Ireland protocol and the new Windsor framework, the Government have committed to spend £20 billion on research and development. It is a record amount. This Government have created a brand new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology because we care about it so much. I know that that is something the hon. Member will support, and that is how we are going to drive growth and prosperity in every part of our United Kingdom in the coming years.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

May I also pay my tribute to DCI John Caldwell and to his family? I hope he makes a good recovery.

I congratulate the Prime Minister and his team on doing something that many people said was impossible, with a negotiation that contains the red and green lanes, which eases the flow of goods and is in a legal framework that is fundamentally different from the protocol. Does he agree with me that this negotiation—this Windsor agreement—provides the prospect of investors investing with confidence in Northern Ireland to create new jobs, and that it is the people of Northern Ireland who will benefit from this?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and it is something that I know the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe is specifically focused on. It is about using this framework—this agreement—as the basis to provide certainty and stability in Northern Ireland, and thereby attracting considerable private investment. That is what we are focused on delivering. That is the prize that is available for us if we can use the Windsor framework as a way to move forward and restore power sharing in Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland will have a very special place not just in the UK, but on the European continent. That is incredibly attractive to international investors and businesses. They are keen to see this resolved so that they can start investing, creating jobs and opportunities. That is what my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe is keen to deliver.

G20

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As Chancellor, I was pleased to usher through the special drawing rights allocation at the IMF, which is providing enormous relief to countries around the world. I met the IMF’s managing director to discuss how we can do more, but remember that the SDR allocation is just one part of our effort to support people around the world. I was recently pleased to announce our £1 billion commitment to the Global Fund, which was warmly welcomed, especially by countries in Africa.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

The Prime Minister is to be congratulated on such successful talks with so many world leaders, particularly President Modi. Will he update the House on the matters he discussed with President Modi other than trade, such as granting visas for highly skilled people to fill job needs in this country, the environment and, above all, the issue raised by the Foreign Affairs Committee: India’s stance, as the world’s biggest democracy, on supporting Ukraine?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Our relationship and partnership with India is much broader than just a trading relationship. I was pleased to discuss increasing our security co-operation with India. That work began before my tenure, but I am keen to carry it on. We also announced the mobility scheme to enable young people from India to come here and young Brits to go there, which is a sign of what is possible. Such exchanges are positive both for our countries and for the young people who benefit.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

It is an honour to give a tribute on behalf of the people of the Cotswolds, with their many connections with the royal family. Ever since Her Majesty the Queen made that public broadcast when she was just 21, pledging a whole life of service to the nation, she has honoured that to the full. She ruled unstintingly for over seven decades, bolstered by her sense of duty, Christian faith and, as others have said, her sense of humour. She was the rock, the constant for the nation—always wise and comforting counsel. The first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland for 100 years, and a visitor to west Germany in 1965, she was indeed a world-class diplomat. She was, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) said, an important leader of the Commonwealth, which during her reign increased from seven members to 56 countries—a legacy that we should strive to build on. A true countrywoman, she liked nothing better than to ride on her horse in her earlier days or walk her dogs. She took a keen interest in nature and understood agriculture. She loved horse-racing.

The Queen visited Cirencester in 1963 to view the revamp of the marketplace. She then visited the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford to celebrate the RAF’s 90th anniversary in 2008. She was one of the most influential and important figures in the 20th and 21st centuries—a truly great Queen, who united all in every part of this nation, the Commonwealth and beyond. Our sympathies go out to all members of the royal family. She is now at peace with her beloved husband, Prince Philip. God save the King.

Easter Recess: Government Update

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman very much. I will study his proposal on mercenaries. He has been right for a long time on Russia, and he has been vindicated.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

I have heard the fulsome apology by the Prime Minister, but he is taking a lead in Ukraine and I suggest he needs to keep giving Ukraine defensive weapons so that we can eventually drag President Putin and the Russian Federation to a peace agreement. Will he then lead the world in gaining reparations so that the great country of Ukraine can be rebuilt?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his staunch position on Ukraine. He is completely right. I am afraid there is now no easy way to find a diplomatic or negotiated solution; I know the House would have preferred that, but it will be difficult to construct an off-ramp for Vladimir Putin. We are now in a logic where we must simply do everything we can collectively to ensure that Vladimir Putin fails, and fails comprehensively, in Ukraine.

Ukraine

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Thursday 24th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right, because people throughout the country will be thinking about the effect on us all of the increase in the price of oil and gas as a result of a war in Ukraine. We will continue to do everything we can to help people to abate the cost and to support people through councils and all the funds we are providing, such as for the reduction in council tax, but the best thing we can do is to ensure people are in good, well-paying jobs, and in that we are certainly succeeding. In the medium and long term, we have to have more self-reliance in this country on our own energy supplies. That is what this Government are also committed to building.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

One of the most important economic sanctions we can take against Russia is to freeze its sovereign debt. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the Bill proposed on Monday on economic crime will include powers to do so?

[The Prime Minister]

We are taking the most powerful measures against Russia and the Russian economy that have ever been taken—probably the most powerful ever taken by any country—and Russia will no longer be able to raise any sovereign debt on UK markets.

Afghanistan

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Wednesday 18th August 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

In 2007, the then Labour Government sent a small cross-party group of Members of Parliament to Afghanistan, and I was one of them. We were in Lashkar Gah when a group of our soldiers came back, having lost one of their number, and we could see that the psychological stress on those soldiers was immense. I say to the Minister for Defence People and Veterans, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Leo Docherty), who is on the Front Bench today, “Please, do all you can to support our veterans at what is bound to be a really difficult time for them.”

We need to look at the short term and the long term in Afghanistan. In the short term, we need to get all the western people with passports out, we need to get out all whose lives are put at risk by their association with the British and the Americans, and we need to facilitate the resettlement of any refugees as quickly as possible.

In the medium and longer term, the British need to play a real part. We need a big diplomatic effort. The Prime Minister’s announcement today that he will lead a G7 meeting is of primary importance, but it is also important that we become realigned with our closest and largest ally, the United States, so that we again operate from the same page. We need to look at the UN and see what we can do on the Security Council to try to persuade the Chinese and the Russians not to use Afghanistan for their own narrow sectoral interests. We need to look at the frontline states—at countries such as Pakistan—to see how they have dealt with harbouring the Taliban and how they will move forward in dealing with refugees, perhaps through their onward transmission to further safe havens.

This is a dark day for Afghanistan. We will look at the Taliban and judge them by their actions, but I say to the British Government, “Please, start talking to the Taliban to see where there is interest so that we can influence those people and their behaviour.” Otherwise, if the Taliban start doing extremist things in Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance, which we went in largely to help, will re-emerge and a vicious civil war will break out in Afghanistan. That will make the whole thing far worse.

Where Britain does not lead with its values of democracy, tolerance, a good judicial system and a free press, whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere, the world is a poorer and nastier place. We owe it to the Afghans to redouble our diplomatic efforts in the weeks, months and years ahead to see what we can do to salvage a more sustainable future for Afghanistan.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to take part in this series of heartfelt tributes to His Royal Highness The Prince Philip. On behalf of my Cotswolds constituents, whom I have the honour to represent, my sincere condolences go to Her Majesty the Queen on the sad loss of her devoted husband and consort of more than 70 years. His Royal Highness Prince Philip was a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather who will be hugely missed, not only by his huge family but by the country he served so loyally and by many members of the Commonwealth throughout the world.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, and indeed my right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart), mentioned the Duke’s distinguished war record. His generation endured the suffering of war, and the bravery of our armed forces meant that Prince Philip hugely respected them for the rest of his life. This early experience of sacrifice and duty reinforced his dedication to Her Majesty the Queen and the nation he served so loyally throughout his long life. There is no doubt that Her Majesty the Queen’s enormously successful and long reign has been considerably assisted by the Duke’s constant loyalty and wise counsel.

However, the Duke earned his own place in the history of the British nation with his achievements in helping young people through his worldwide Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme—a legacy of more than 60 years; there is nothing more important than developing skills and opportunities for young people here and abroad—and his presidency of the National Playing Fields Association, now known as Fields in Trust. The Duke was also a very early champion of the environment, helping to form the Australian Conservation Foundation and, as many members have said, helping Peter Scott to form the World Wildlife Fund.

I, among many other colleagues, had the honour of meeting Prince Philip at a garden party, where we had a short conversation about our shared interests in the countryside, farming and the environment. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) said, the Duke had a deep, thinking mind, and he realised that the whole of the natural world is interconnected—if it is damaged in one place, that comes out somewhere else. The duke was a no-nonsense, humorous and down-to-earth person who characteristically requested not to have a state funeral. He was always there on important occasions, and his death means that there is now an irreplaceable void in our nation’s affairs, but his legacy and foresight will continue to live on. May he rest in peace.

Covid-19 Update

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is an important point, but we will be deciding which tier regions need to go back into, if any, as we come towards 2 December—in the week before 2 December. We will be announcing that then, and we will also be announcing the financial package at that time.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

Would my right hon. Friend be very kind and explain to my constituents, who contacted me in their hundreds over the weekend worried about their mental health, their jobs and businesses, why in Gloucestershire, which had only one hospitalised death last week, it makes any sense to lock down all those people?

[The Prime Minister]

That is exactly why we wanted to pursue the local approach for so long, and that is why I think it was always right to try to avoid a national lockdown for as long as we could. The difficulty is that the overall rate across the whole country is now speeding up and the virus is doubling across the entire country. I would be happy to publish all the data, as my hon. Friend knows.

EU Exit: End of Transition Period

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will outline how the shared prosperity fund will be distributed. She is right: as a result of our departure from the European Union, we will have more money to spend on our priorities, and we will, of course, spend that money on what the Prime Minister has called the levelling-up agenda. There are parts of our country—overlooked communities and undervalued families—that have been neglected by Labour local authorities for far too long and now have Conservative MPs in this place, and it is vital that their advocacy on behalf of their constituents to improve their productivity is supported. That is why everything from new free ports to increased investment will go to those areas that have been neglected by Labour for far too long.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)]

The figures that my right hon. Friend has given today on business preparedness for 31 December are concerning. Is not the important advice that he has given that those businesses should either do the paperwork themselves or get an intermediary to do it on their behalf?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is right. We want to help and support business. That is why we have provided the funding that we have. One reason for publishing the reasonable worst-case scenario today is to draw attention to the fact that, if we do not all work together, there will be disruption, but if we do work together, there are huge opportunities to be seized.