Contributions
834 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesWith your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer the urgent question, because the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa is currently travelling back from the middle east.…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesI thank the hon. and learned Lady for bringing this question to the House this morning. Clearly, we are extremely concerned about the pressure that the changes at the border have…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesWe continue to work across government to come up with a plan to explore what further assistance the UK can provide to improve the conditions for migrants. The EU has pledged all…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThe right hon. Lady is right to raise those points. We are absolutely focused on supporting the response of the Governments in that region. We continue to provide support to…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThere is not a lot to disagree with in what my right hon. Friend says. The European Union has very much pledged all the support that is needed, and that includes the rapid border…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesWhat I can tell the hon. Gentleman is that we are pushing for a more co-ordinated global management of migration that promotes greater responsibility at source. As I mentioned in…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesI have made the commitment that under our new resettlement scheme we aim to resettle 5,000 of the world’s most vulnerable refugees. On the agreement that the hon. Lady refers to,…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesAbsolutely. NGOs, volunteers and support organisations are crucial in helping those who are in difficulty in the camps. We continue to be focused on supporting the Government’s…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThe hon. Gentleman raises an important point. He will be aware that this matter has to be discussed with Home Office representatives, but I repeat the fact that our resettlement…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThe hon. Gentleman is spot on, and I could not disagree with him. However, we have to ensure that this process is done in a managed way, which is why we are supporting Turkey,…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThe United Kingdom is doing a significant amount. We are supporting Turkey to implement the EU-Turkey statement, and the United Kingdom has made €483 million of bilateral and EU…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesWe keep such matters under constant review, and the Foreign Secretary is due to meet Foreign Ministers from the region shortly. I am sure there will come a point when an update to…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesProgress is being made with participating states. We are working very closely with the UNHCR on the referral and transfer of more eligible children, and those transfers continue.10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesAbsolutely, and I am sure all of us in this House condemn the actions we have seen in the region, particularly by the Syrian regime. Let us not forget why we are in this position…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesSupporting the EU-Turkey managed migration process is key. There is huge pressure on Turkey, and we must thank it for its efforts thus far. It is a matter of regret that the…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesAs the hon. Lady will have heard, we are putting significant amounts of humanitarian aid into those border areas, and we are committed. Over 22,800 refugees have already been…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesMy hon. Friend raises an important point. Standing NATO maritime group 2 is deployed in the Aegean sea to support all international efforts to cut the lines of human trafficking…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesMy hon. Friend raises a good point, but we should not allow that to detract from the reality that has created this situation, which is the continued brutal violence, particularly…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesI am sure the hon. Lady will agree with my earlier point that we should absolutely condemn the offensives in Idlib. We must also welcome the ceasefire. We have repeatedly called…10 Mar 2020HANSARDTurkey-Greece Border: RefugeesThe hon. Gentleman is right to mention the incidents that have been reported. It is fair to point out that the Greeks are under considerable pressure. We remain committed to…10 Mar 2020