00:00Mr Speaker, we meet under exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times.
00:10Our request to recall Parliament was not one we have made lightly.
00:16And I am grateful, genuinely grateful, to Honourable Members on all sides of this House for their cooperation
00:22and for being here today as we seek to pass emergency legislation that is unequivocally in our national interest.
00:30The fundamental purpose of this Bill is to allow me as Secretary of State and this Government to take control of this situation.
00:39The powers in the Bill broadly replicate the situation if the Civil Contingency Act had been triggered.
00:45But rather than seek to trigger that, to meet that threshold, I'm seeking parliamentary permission to do so,
00:50the consent of this House and the other place, which I think is a better way forward.
00:54I will make clear to him and to the House, I want this to be a temporary position.
00:59I do not want these powers any minute longer than is necessary.
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