Speeches by O'Hara.

“Today my thoughts are with Bashar Helmi and Mounzer Darsani and their families, and with all the other Syrian refugees who escaped Assad’s brutality and resettled on the Isle of Bute. Their hope, and the hope of all the people of Syria, will be that Syrians are now able to secure the peaceful future that they want, rat…”

“However the Minister tries to dress this up, there is an unmistakeable whiff of panic about it. One would have thought that a decade and a half of opposition would have been ample time to prepare a plan for change, rather than the relaunch of a Government whose five-year plan seems to have unravelled after just five mo…”

“I, too, wish to thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing this debate. It is heartening to see that finally, the plight of arbitrarily detained UK nationals has been given long-overdue attention. For transparency, I put on record that I am vice-chair of the all-pa…”

““What now for our special envoy?” lament the people of Scotland, now that Sue Gray has told the Prime Minister what he can do with his job offer. In the spirit of cross-border co-operation, might I suggest that the Minister informs No. 10 that we have known all along that this has been nothing more than an embarrassing…”

“I am sure that pensioners in the Secretary of State’s constituency are as relieved as those in Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber that the Scottish Government’s Budget will introduce a pension-age winter heating payment for all Scottish pensioners. The SNP Government are doing the right thing by Scottish pensioners. Will …”

“Further to the question from the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley), the US State Department has reported that products from clothing to pharmaceuticals, and everything in between, have been tainted by slave labour, and they have found their way into homes and businesses around the world…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) on securing this urgent question. Last week the European Parliament called for a re-run of the elections, describing them as being neither free nor fair, and accusing the ruling party of being fully responsible for democratic bac…”

“Q7. We in the Scottish National party also welcome the ceasefire in Lebanon. Now that arrest warrants have been issued for his allies—Netanyahu and Gallant—the Prime Minister’s determination to supply Israel with the weapons it requires to carry out its atrocities in Gaza, which has always been morally repugnant, is no…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. At Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions on 28 October, the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) asked the Foreign Secretary whether he believes a genocide is taking place in the middle east. In his reply, the Foreign Secretary appeared to suggest not, …”

“The all-party parliamentary group on arbitrary detention and hostage affairs has been hearing evidence from UK nationals who are being, or have been, detained. We were privileged to hear from Alaa’s mother just this morning. An oft-repeated concern is that if a UK national finds themselves in that awful situation, they…”

“Last month, the Foreign Secretary told the House that he had made the release of Jimmy Lai his priority, yet the official Downing Street read-out of the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Xi just says that they discussed “different perspectives” on human rights, and does not even mention Jimmy Lai by name. How can…”

“Q10. I was in South Lochaber at the weekend, speaking to pensioners who still cannot understand why the Prime Minister chose to take away their winter fuel payment. One of them remembered from just two years ago the then Leader of the Opposition stating:“Looking ahead to winter is frightening. I’ve met pensioners who h…”

“These are extremely worrying times for millions of pensioners who simply cannot fathom why one of the first acts of this new Labour Government was to remove their winter fuel payments. The Minister will be aware that last month the SNP Scottish Government opened applications for the pension age disability payment, whic…”

“12. What steps her Department is taking to help reduce levels of pensioner poverty.”

“The Knesset’s decision to brand UNRWA a terror group was very well signposted, so the question now is: what leverage are the Government prepared to use to prevent this decision from being enacted? I think we can all agree that another round of hand-wringing, head-shaking and soft, whispered words of disapproval will be…”

“Those of us who have been in this place for some time will remember the outraged indignation of the now Government, when they were in opposition, every time the now Opposition pulled a stunt like this. The only constant is you, Mr Speaker, and your efforts to have whichever of them is in power treat this House and its …”

“After a weekend of relentless Israeli attacks on a besieged population in northern Gaza, the United Nations has demanded that “such blatant disregard for basic humanity and for the laws of war must stop”, adding that the “entire population” of northern Gaza is “at risk of dying”. Unless the Foreign Secretary believes t…”

“Of course we were all pleased to hear both the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister describe the release of Jimmy Lai as a priority. In the Foreign Secretary’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart, what priority was given to the release of Jimmy Lai, and given its priority status when does the Foreign Secretary exp…”

“As you can imagine, Mr Speaker, the people of Scotland are beside themselves with excitement—I would go so far as to say we are fair giddy—at the prospect of receiving a visit from the Prime Minister’s special envoy. As we prepare the red carpet and the massed pipe bands to welcome her, may I ask exactly what was the C…”

“Last month, the Minister of State told the House that “we could not be clearer: intentionally directing attacks at civilian objects is a war crime. Those attacks threaten civilian access to power, heating and water supply, impacting the safety and livelihoods of millions of Ukrainians.” —[Official Report, 2 September 2…”