Contributions
1,571 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I thank my hon. Friend for bringing that to the House’s attention. I know Leyla relatively well. In fact, she was one of the first people to give evidence to the all-party group,…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I could not agree more, and I am glad my hon. Friend has raised that point. FGM is a form of extreme violence against women and girls.11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I could not agree more, and I am grateful to colleagues for being here to take part in this debate. I do not want to jinx it, but I hope this simple Bill will go through without a…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I could not agree more strongly. In fact, partly on the instruction of Nimco Ali, I am co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on female genital mutilation. Early on, the…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]The hon. Lady is exactly right, and I thank her for her intervention. It is also worth saying that, were a culture to experiment with such an extreme form of male circumcision on…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I could not agree more vehemently with my hon. Friend. FGM is not just a kind of child abuse; it is child abuse by any definition or metric. I said earlier that FGM has no basis…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]My hon. Friend raises an important point. Had we been having this debate two weeks ago, I would have said that I hope so. There have been subsequent announcements—I think we had…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I believe that the average age is five, which implies that girls are subjected to FGM at a very, very young age. FGM is a practice that has…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]My hon. Friend makes a good point. Nimco is effectively my Whip. Most of what I do in this place in relation to FGM is down to her wagging finger telling me exactly what and what…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. Members will know that this is a private Member’s Bill, so I will start by putting on the record my thanks to the…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I could not agree more strongly with my right hon. Friend on the need to reform the process. Does she agree that this kind of small, technical amendment—which is effectively what…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I strongly agree with my hon. Friend on that. Indeed, I am going to take this opportunity to quote from what was said in response to the conviction by the National Police Chiefs…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. I cannot give him a scientific answer, but I can tell him that the evidence the all-party group received from those people who…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I know, because the evidence shows, that a shift is happening. I mentioned Nimco Ali’s campaign in Somaliland. It is not one where she…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I absolutely do, and I strongly encourage the hon. Lady to link her friend up with Jaha, who is now a high-profile and significant figure in the Gambia. She is one of the world’s…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]That is the very next point I was going to make, so I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I have said it twice already but I shall say it a third time: I am proud of the…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]I see her nodding her head, so she will. I look forward to that. If this tiny, uncontentious Bill protects just a handful of girls from undergoing the horror of FGM, we will have…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [Lords]We have looked at that in the all-party group. The French engage in a much more interventionist approach, with, for example, inspections of young girls. Most of the people who…11 Mar 2019HANSARDChildren Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. I thank hon. Members for attending. I do not think this will be a lengthy session, as, thankfully, neither of the new…05 Mar 2019HANSARD Net Zero Carbon Emissions: UK’s ProgressI could not agree more with my right hon. Friend. My final remarks will relate partially to the point that he just made, and he is right. It would be madness for those countries…28 Feb 2019