Speeches by Ballinger.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for organising this debate. I declare an interest as the chair of the APPG on conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Last month, I had the privilege to visit Israel and the west…”

“What has the UK’s response been to the International Court of Justice’s ruling in July that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were illegal?”

“We were in the West Bank a couple of weeks ago and saw, as many others have reported, some of the extremist actions by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in Area C. Schools were being burned, mosques were attacked and livestock was being stolen. It is a particularly awful situation. It feels like the UK’s response o…”

“With all the breaches of international humanitarian law, the ICJ rulings and the other challenges with Israel that we are going to hear about later in the Committee, is it appropriate for us to be pursuing a trade deal with Israel? The Government have just announced a trade envoy to undertake that. Are we not going too…”

“Just as a quick follow-up on a point that you made earlier when you referenced the importance of the Abraham accords, I just wondered whether you are taking any steps to push for UK leadership on those. For example, might you consider having a special envoy for the Abraham accords from the UK?”

“My question was really around whether we are doing anything to show leadership, rather than supporting international efforts that are happening. Do you have any thoughts on how the UK can show that we are at the forefront of trying to find a long-term solution?”

“We have heard that Israeli public opinion is very difficult at the moment, as is, of course, Palestinian public opinion. You spoke a bit about your time in Northern Ireland. You will remember then that there was a big investment in peace-building by the Americans in the run-up to the Good Friday agreement. We met lots …”

“Will peace-building efforts be protected as we are approaching the UK’s cuts to the aid budget?”

“Continuing on Palestine recognition, everything we saw from our visit to Israel, in the rhetoric from the members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and when we spoke to the Deputy Foreign Minister, was about the two-state solution being completely off the table. Many of them were actively talking abo…”

“At that point, might we recognise Palestine as a statement, rather than as a process towards a two-state solution?”

“Continuing on Syria, we have also seen recent attacks by the IDF on sites throughout the country, which many of us would agree would be quite destabilising at a time when the Syrian Government are making these positive steps and saying the right things to the international community. Have the UK Government made any rep…”

“Will the right hon. Lady give way?”

“It is a pleasure to speak in this debate as the son of a local bobby—my mum worked for 20 years in the local police, serving her community, and I could not be more proud of her. My father, too, was a local bobby, as was his father before him, so my family have something of a reputation. I am, of course, delighted to se…”

“My hon. Friend and neighbour from the west midlands talks about there being 540 fewer officers in our area between 2010 and 2024, and I was also concerned to see that the highest level of knife crime in the country was reached in our part of the west midlands. Does she agree that since the Labour party has been elected…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (John Grady) on introducing this important debate. The two-word change might be the most consequential change ever made in Parliament. I am pleased to support the Bill. Today marks the commencement of British Science Week, a celebration of science, technology, e…”

“I share my hon. Friend’s concern about the addictive nature of social media. Is she also concerned about the addictive nature of gambling-type games that we see young children use, with loot boxes and microtransactions? Young people are being encouraged to get into a gambling mindset through technology.”

“My hon. Friend mentioned satellites. Does he recognise the massive benefits that satellites bring to the UK—everything from contactless transactions to supporting our defence and national security?”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“Does my hon. Friend recognise that the Ministry of Defence is a massive investor in the space sector, having invested £6.5 billion over the last decade? Does he welcome that investment as we are strengthening European security?”

“I welcome the UK’s industrial strategy, particularly the defence industrial strategy. Many businesses in Halesowen, such as Somers Forge, work in the UK defence sector—primarily the Navy—given our engineering expertise in a heavily industrial part of the country, but there are opportunities for lots of businesses acros…”