Contributions
663 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD G7 and NATO SummitsThe original Atlantic charter made a commitment to banish from the world “fear and want”—curiously missing from the redraft—but the Prime Minister’s ambition to vaccinate the…16 Jun 2021HANSARD 0.7% Official Development Assistance TargetI congratulate the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) and I thank the House authorities and Mr Speaker for the debate today. I have risen to speak because this…08 Jun 2021HANSARD 0.7% Official Development Assistance TargetWe were proud to set the ambition, and we set a critical path to doing it, because we knew precisely this—that development and deterrence are two sides of the same coin. They are…08 Jun 2021HANSARD 0.7% Official Development Assistance TargetThe right hon. Gentleman is making a brilliant speech. I just want to flush out one point, which I hope will be a point of consensus. It is possible that this weekend we will get…08 Jun 2021HANSARDEngagementsCovid has triggered the first global rise in extreme poverty this century, but at the G7 the Prime Minister could act. He can ask leaders to reallocate the International Monetary…26 May 2021HANSARDIsrael and Gaza: CeasefireWe heard the Minister’s statement of policy; we just do not understand the strategy for advancing it. He has to realise, like the rest of us, that there is no peace without…19 May 2021HANSARDBetter Jobs and a Fair Deal at WorkI thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kind words. Does he agree that at the G7 and later this year at COP26, Her Majesty’s Government would stand a far better chance of…12 May 2021HANSARDBetter Jobs and a Fair Deal at WorkI had not planned to speak today, but last Thursday the good people of the west midlands decided that they needed me fighting their corner from the cockpit of the west midlands,…12 May 2021HANSARDHis Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of EdinburghIt is a great pleasure to follow such a beautiful tribute. “There is an appointed time for everything”, says the Book of Ecclesiastes. “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time…12 Apr 2021HANSARDBudget Resolutions and Economic SituationI am here to speak for the west midlands because we have a Tory Mayor who is failing to use his voice. The truth is that covid has hit our region harder than any other region in…03 Mar 2021HANSARDCovid-19There are two or three points that I want to make very quickly tonight, after first thanking the extraordinary national health service team and the public health team in…22 Feb 2021HANSARDHolocaust Memorial Day 2021Let me add my thanks to everybody who has helped to sponsor and organise this debate. I, too, pay tribute to the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust…28 Jan 2021HANSARDCouncil Tax: Government’s Proposed IncreaseLet me just start with a point that I think many of us will share: in these debates about numbers, statistics and finances, we must remember the lives that are at stake. Most of…25 Jan 2021HANSARD Remote Education and Free School MealsIt is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). I want to share a few thoughts from the frontline here in Europe’s youngest city,…18 Jan 2021HANSARDCovid-19: Winter PlanOn Friday, I met online with nurses in Birmingham who said that they had never seen so much death on the wards. They have had to bid goodbye to colleagues who have left the…23 Nov 2020HANSARD Lockdown: Economic SupportUnemployment here in the west midlands is soaring to a level that we last saw in the 1980s, but our Mayor has proved so ineffective that we have failed to secure 95% of what we…03 Nov 2020HANSARDEconomic UpdateThe country expects us to pull together now to get our country back on its feet. In that spirit, let me welcome the investment that the Chancellor has announced today for young…08 Jul 2020HANSARDBirmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords]I am proposing some action that the Minister can take this afternoon. He could tell us whether he is confident, as he just said a moment ago—I think “confident” was the word he…11 Jun 2020HANSARDBirmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords]Will the Minister give way?11 Jun 2020HANSARDBirmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords]I am grateful, but if the Minister refuses to answer the substance of the argument, I will keep seeking to intervene. While he is on the subject of not playing politics and…11 Jun 2020