Nuclear Safeguards Bill

The proposed new clauses and amendments appear in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Member...

The treaty on Euratom membership is part of the set of treaties described in the treaty of Lisbon...

I am afraid that it is not as simple as that. A considerable body of legal opinion states that, b...

My hon. Friend is making a strong case for associate membership. He will recall a Westminster Hal...

I thank my hon. Friend for making that strong point. I recall that even the hon. Member for Stone...

The hon. Gentleman has referred to the International Atomic Energy Authority. The Government have...

The hon. Lady makes the case for our new clause. If the Government are going about their business...

The shadow Minister knows that he and I often agree on stuff, but I wonder whether today he might...

Yes, indeed. I suspect that the hon. Gentleman and I are going to agree substantially on this. We...

I am puzzled why new clause 1 is necessary. All its ingredients are issues that form part of the ...

The hon. Gentleman has slightly got ahead of me, because I started by talking about new clause 2,...

I accept that there was a vast amount of legal argument on our membership, or not, of Euratom. In...

I would have thought that the Bill, in whatever form it eventually emerges, demonstrates the oppo...

The hon. Gentleman knows that this is incredibly important to him and several of his colleagues, ...

That is a little strange in that the Prime Minister referred to transition periods for the overal...

Yes, of course we all want a transition period, which is precisely a part of the negotiations. Wh...

I repeat my suggestion that, because the Bill is about process as much as content, it is importan...

I feel I must pull up the hon. Gentleman because he has twice referred to Euratom having been aro...

I was referring to the length of time that we have been a member of Euratom, not the length of ti...

New clause 1 concerns me, because it seems to me to be a delaying tactic. As I have mentioned, Eu...

Does my hon. Friend agree that in the new clause, great uncertainty is built into the very thing—...

That is exactly my point. This is about certainty and getting on with the job. Not having the Bil...

I know that the hon. Lady cares hugely about this issue, because it matters a great deal for her ...

It is not just my constituency, though; this is about the whole country. Today, more than 20% of ...

As the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) will know, Dr Golshan said in evidence to the S...

I thank my hon. Friend. It is important that we hold the Minister and the Department to account, ...

The hon. Lady and I were both in the evidence-gathering sitting of the Bill Committee, in which D...

I have already said that I believe the transition period will happen, as the Prime Minister has i...

I want to speak briefly in support of new clause 1. We have debated whether there will be negotia...

Having sat through a number of evidence sessions with me, as a fellow member of the Business, Ene...

I often agree with the hon. Gentleman in the Committee, but I think that he is completely wrong o...

indicated dissent.

Yes, there is. We need to negotiate from a position of clarity and strength, and I do not see us ...

The hon. Gentleman says that he wants continuity and certainty, but can he not understand the dif...

The Government say that we need a transitional period for EU withdrawal, and it is obvious to me ...

The hon. Gentleman, like me, will have received the briefing from the Nuclear Industry Associatio...

Well, let us clear this up now. I invite the Minister to say on behalf of the Government whether ...

rose—

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman cannot speak on behalf of the Minister, but I will be intereste...

It strikes me as bizarre that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues are taking their current line...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He knows me quite well, and I do not think he would accuse m...

rose—

At this stage, I do not know what will happen, but I am going to find out from the Minister now.<...

I must apologise for my hesitancy when the hon. Gentleman asked me a question. I was not sure whe...

I am grateful, because that is helpful, but there is associate membership—it is just in different...

Like other hon. Members, my hon. Friend has a close constituency interest in this issue. Ukraine ...

That is an important point. However, let me repeat that it is not Labour Back Benchers who are as...

I think that we are all pulling in the same direction, but we need to be careful about the langua...

I think the hon. Gentleman is agreeing with me, but we do not know our position or what our start...

Although I have not spoken on the Bill to date, I have been following its progress from afar. I r...

I simply say that that is not the Liberal Democrat party’s position, even though Andrew Duff may ...

My life is greatly enhanced by that clarification. Let me turn to another source that the hon. La...

Is the hon. Gentleman honestly telling the House that the British public do not want experts from...

Although I like the hon. Gentleman very much and value his contributions to the House, I think he...

I hate to rise to disagree with my hon. Friend, but the British people did not vote to leave Eura...

In disagreeing with me, my right hon. Friend has made my point: specific deals can be done to mak...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will make some progress first.

The people we want to see in Britain—those who can contrib...

Would my hon. Friend give way on that point?

Okay.

I knew he would, because my hon. Friend knows that my constituency is adjacent to the enormous ne...

My hon. Friend has guessed what is coming later in my remarks. I will come on to the future, but ...

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware of this, but I clarify to the House that IAEA standard...

My point about the IEA—I mean the IAEA; what a tongue-twister!—was not about the standards it pro...

My constituency lies on the boundary of the Culham centre. The point the staff there are making t...

I will perhaps answer the hon. Lady’s point in a roundabout way. When I visited Switzerland—I sho...

It is a pleasure to rise to speak in favour of new clause 1. As far as I could follow the argumen...

Hooray.

The hon. Gentleman bored the Chamber senseless for three times as long—by my count—as was necessa...

rose—

Of course I will give way, as long as the hon. Gentleman does not go on for quite as long as he d...

I am sorry if I bored the hon. Gentleman, but he might not have been listening fully.

I did try.

I would never accuse the Minister of complacency—he is not a complacent man—and ...

Might I suggest that the new clause actually seeks to confuse? It appears to specify what should ...

The hon. Lady may be confused, but we are not, and the industry is not. The industry is strongly ...

indicated dissent.

The Minister looks surprised by that.

It is imminent.

Well, I hope that when the Minister does come up to Sellafield, he will put his voice and the ful...

I rise to speak on this Third Reading debate in the full knowledge that I am not a nuclear expert...

Order. I should point out to the hon. Lady that this is not the Third Reading debate. We are deal...

Thank you for that clarification, Madam Deputy Speaker. I shall turn directly to new clause 1. I ...

I am delighted to be here with the Minister, who is a genial and hard-working man. I know that he...

The hon. Gentleman says the Government give no assurance, but the Prime Minister, in her Florence...

The hon. Gentleman, like many of his colleagues in Scotland, likes to try to go to a happy place ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am going to make some progress.

The UK, as it presses ahead with the folly of Hinckle...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am going to make some progress. I may come back to the hon. Lady, but we will have to see.<...

The issue is that we are leaving the single market and the customs union. Does the hon. Gentleman...

Without alternative arrangements to allow the free movement of such goods across borders, there w...

I am again a bit disappointed to hear wildly misleading statements from those on the Opposition B...

The hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry) accused Government Me...

I thank my hon. Friend, who will know much more than me about SNP Members and their outlook on li...

I understand that the hon. Gentleman is on message, but the message is wrong. The words that I us...

I am sure the Minister will agree that we need to support the industry and that we need to do wha...

We understand there are certain things the Government cannot say about the negotiations, but ulti...

I do not know the hon. Gentleman’s background, but I guess it probably is not business.

We ...

I enjoyed serving on the Public Bill Committee, and I rise to speak in support of new clauses 1 a...

I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate. Those who have heard our consideration of...

rose—

It is a pleasure to give way to the Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committ...

I thank the Minister and particularly the Secretary of State for the written ministerial statemen...

If the hon. Lady will have a bit of patience, I will come to those points, all of which are valid...

West.

3.45 pm

I am sorry; I come from Leeds, so I should have known the difference.

The hon. Member for L...

I am grateful to the Minister and the Secretary of State for the clarifications they have given t...

With all due respect to the hon. Gentleman, this quite amuses me, because last week I was berated...

In the light of what the Minister has just said, will he confirm that in his view an associated s...

I hope and believe that a very close association to do with nuclear safeguards absolutely will be...

We will not be pressing any measure to a vote, except for new clause 1, which has been debated in...

I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 22, at end insert—

“(c) ensuring that inspections o...

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 4, page 2, line 41, lea...

In speaking to these amendments, I want to draw attention to further events that have taken place...

I begin by paying tribute to the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead). I still consid...

Does my hon. Friend know that the ONR has already begun the process of recruiting safeguarding in...

I am grateful for that information.

One of the many highlights of the first three months I ...

I am delighted to have given the hon. Gentleman so much material today. He seems to be fascinated...

That is interesting editing. I cannot recall word for word exactly what was said before and immed...

As we have heard many times, and as the evidence has borne out, the industry is clearly desperate...

I cannot support the amendments, although I have a great deal of sympathy with the position set o...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if there were an opportunity for us to seek some sort of as...

I understand what my hon. Friend is seeking, but the point has already been made that there is in...

Does no one else wish to speak? I call the Minister.

I am as speechless as you are on this occasion, Madam Deputy Speaker. Maybe hon. Members on both ...

I am grateful to the Minister for pointing that out, but can he give us an indication of what pro...

I am afraid that I cannot give the hon. Gentleman that information, not because I do not want to ...

I listened carefully to what the Minister has just said, and he seems to be setting up the UK to ...

No. I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s version of what I have said. We want a Rolls-Royce stand...

I have listened carefully to the Minister this afternoon and would like to thank him for the cons...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

May I begin by thanking right hon....

Following the Minister’s earlier answer, I was not entirely clear whether the Government are comm...

We have been very clear. We see no problem with the standards that have obtained in Euratom, so o...

This is an important and necessary Bill, as the Secretary of State confirmed, to ensure that a co...

I sense that the Bill is accelerating towards the other place, so I will not speak for long. I co...

If power over these issues, as they affect Scotland, were in the purview of the Scottish Parliame...

The Bill is absolutely essential to the nuclear industry. Without it, after we leave the European...

I find it hard to believe that we have finally got to this point, having attended every sitting o...

I congratulate the ministerial team on their successful navigation, which has allowed the Bill to...

I am pleased to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup) and all other collea...

I shall make just a few brief comments. I paid my compliments earlier to the hon. Member for Sout...