Oral Answers to Questions

Darren Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

I commend my right hon. Friend for the work that she continues to do, through the all-party parliamentary group on autism, to lead the campaign for better, more effective care and support for people with autistic spectrum disorders. I think that the changes in the special educational needs and disability system that were introduced four years ago have enabled us to join up state-provided services more effectively than in the past, but I am more than happy to welcome the new app and any other new technologies that will help people with autistic spectrum disorder.

[Darren Jones (Bristol North West) (Lab)]

Q8. The Information Commissioner has fined Facebook for its involvement in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the Electoral Commission has concluded that the leave campaign broke electoral law. Is now not the time to set up a judge-led inquiry into the Brexit referendum? If the British people have been duped by Brexit shysters, they deserve to know about it.

[Mr Lidington]

The Information Commissioner’s report has only just been published, and the Government will want to consider its recommendations in detail before responding. However, I think that the hon. Gentleman’s point focused on the possible commission of criminal offences. We are in a country in which, rightly, it is not for Ministers either to initiate or to stop criminal investigations or potential prosecutions. When there is evidence, it should be drawn to the attention of the police and the prosecuting authorities, and then let the law take its course.