Speeches by Harding.

“I am sorry to stop the hon. Lady’s very well delivered speech mid-stream. Does she agree that we need to hear from not only families but educators? Teachers in schools are up against the system, and families come into our surgeries in tears because they cannot get provision. Some 1,800 children in Surrey are missing ed…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for securing this important debate. I am pleased that each time Liberal Democrat MPs raise this issue, the Government back the fund. I want the Government to hear what the ASGSF means for one family in my Esher and Walton constituency. Two of my constitu…”

“The Minister has talked about social mobility. Does my hon. Friend agree that when a company cuts hours, it is those who work part time—some of the most disadvantaged members of society—who lose out, and lose their jobs?”

“I thank my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire), for securing this debate. I recently met the Walton-on-Thames macular degeneration support group in Esher and Walton to discuss some of the challenges faced by my constituents with sight loss, including pavement parking. I…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this important debate and on putting Sudan in the spotlight, where it needs to be. This war is the greatest humanitarian catastrophe since the advent of the modern age, with 25 million pe…”

“Foreign Secretary, what has concerned you most about the very significant cut in US development spending?”

“The cuts were huge and, as you say, they will disrupt the provision of aid. Given that you are at pains to point out that your position on the cuts to UK aid is not ideological, are you doing anything to persuade the US to change course on, for example, the end of funding for WHO and Gavi? The US has rejected the susta…”

“Foreign Secretary, further to what you just said, ICAI has pointed out that the commitment by the British Government to ODA spent overseas in ’27-28, is 0.24%, not 0.3%. That is the projection.”

“I have already laid out what we could do in Israel, but my question is to you, Foreign Secretary. What do you think we should do? Otherwise, as you said, it is a race to the bottom.”

“Can I just finish? I just have one last point. This comes back to your point about recognition of a Palestinian state. You talked about other countries doing so and nothing happening. Britain is not other countries. As you know—as you have been proud of and said in the past—we have a key role on the world stage in our …”

“Foreign Secretary, you talked about core funding going to organisations on the ground that are trying to help with the upholding of international humanitarian law. The UK gives money to the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, which Poland asked to look at the attacks on World Central Kitchen, but Britai…”

“Foreign Secretary, you made the point that I was going to make: the public are watching, and they want the British Government to do something. I appreciate what has been done already, but they want you to do more. There are things you could do. You have sanctioned Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. You could sanction Katz; he has …”

“Since the conference?”

“Have you been able to speak to the UAE, Egypt and the Saudis on this particular issue?”

“Finally, Foreign Secretary, can you tell me about the conversations you have been having with other regional actors, since the conference, on driving the diplomacy forwards so that we can see an end to the war?”

“The humanitarian efforts and the emergency response rooms in Sudan have been very effective. Can you talk me through how the FCDO works to support them at the same time as multilateral agencies that are working in the field?”

“Do you believe that the trade agreement with the GCC should have a human rights chapter attached to it? If so, where is the human rights chapter in trade agreements driven from? Is that from the Department for Business and Trade or the FCDO?”

“Do the reports trouble you? At the moment, the Government are negotiating a trade agreement—”

“At last week’s Business and Trade Sub-Committee meeting I had an exchange with the Minister for Trade Policy about export licences and arms licences, particularly with regard to the UAE. Since Sudan’s war broke out in 2023, The New York Times has repeatedly reported on the UAE arming the RSF, including by funnelling ar…”

“Thank you for your efforts, Foreign Secretary. What momentum has there been since the London conference? Its results were disappointing.”