Contributions
1,991 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThe hon. Gentleman says that it went up. That Government spent, on average, 0.36% of GNI on ODA. With a record like that, the hon. Gentleman, rather than chuntering from a…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThe truth is that, in this spending review, the Labour party is defined by its total inertia in the face of the difficult decisions we have had to make. I am afraid that that…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI thank my hon. Friend the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He is absolutely right, and he said it at the outset: we make this decision with regret. I do not want to be in…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Was the hon. Lady suggesting that we divert money from test and trace at this pivotal moment in the pandemic to meet 0.7%? Is she suggesting that…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI thank my hon. Friend. He will be able to work out that the difference is £4 billion in savings next year. Of course we looked at whether we could just follow the contraction in…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceFirst, may I say this in relation to East Kilbride? Notwithstanding the pressures we face, we will be expanding the UK Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThe hon. Gentleman says that it is temporary. That is not what the legislation says: he should go and look at it very carefully. [ Interruption. ] Well, he has not got this quite…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has championed this cause relentlessly and with great passion and great eloquence. We are a global leader in this and we should be proud of…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have demonstrated that through our leadership of the Gavi summit and our leadership role in the funding and galvanising of international…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI pay tribute to my right hon. Friend, who was a fantastic Development Secretary. We have talked at length about these issues since our time in opposition, and will continue to do…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI will take that encouragement, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman asked about two things. I accept the premise that our security is strengthened by the action we take…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceMay I thank the right hon. Gentleman? I know that he cares about this subject passionately and served as International Development Secretary himself. Frankly, he used rather…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThe wonderful thing about this job is that when I travel abroad, I realise the high esteem in which we in the United Kingdom are held, not just for our democracy and our way of…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI share the hon. Lady’s passion and her commitment to the role that ODA plays in our soft power abroad. I gently remind her that, at 0.5%, we will still be on the 2019 figures and…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Labour barely hit 0.5%, let alone 0.7%. I accept that there is cross-party concern about this challenging set of circumstances and these…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI join my right hon. Friend in paying tribute to Baroness Sugg, a terrific Minister who will be greatly missed. I also congratulate my right hon. Friend on her appointment as the…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceThe hon. Lady is absolutely right. I have set out the list of priorities, including conflict prevention, promoting accountability in countries and dealing with…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceI think my hon. Friend has a point about the way our constituents will view the decisions that we take. We need to make sure that everything we do on our aid budget, development…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceMy hon. Friend is right, and he will recall that I said back in August that we wanted to reinforce, not undermine, the role of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact to…26 Nov 2020HANSARD Official Development AssistanceWe will still be spending £10 billion next year. I will run an allocation process that allows all the other Departments that bid for aspects of ODA to scrutinise these things very…26 Nov 2020