Business of the House

Louise Haigh Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

I should probably direct my hon. Friend towards Westminster Hall opportunities for such a constituency case. It is right that these decisions are taken at local level and that we do not try to second-guess every supermarket location from Whitehall, but I am sure that he will be a formidable advocate for his own communities in trying to ensure that the planners reach a decision that takes account of local opinion.

[Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)]

On “The Andrew Marr Show” last weekend, the Home Secretary said that

“we need to make sure that our intelligence services have the ability to get into situations like encrypted WhatsApp”.

This was a clear departure from stated Government policy. Lord Howe said last October:

“The assertion that the Government are opposed to encryption or would legislate to undermine it is fanciful.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 19 October 2016; Vol. 774, c. 2404.]

May we have a debate in Government time on whether the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 is still relevant and whether it is still GCHQ’s guidance to industry to encrypt communications? Will the Leader of the House also enlighten us as to what the “necessary hashtags” are?