Speeches by Harding.

“If a donor country such as the UK is predominantly now giving to a multilateral fund the outcome therefore is removed slightly from their objectives because it is a multilateral spend. How do they then track a long-term outcome on the value for money scale to their own policy objectives?”

“I welcome the Minister’s statement on closer co-operation with the EU on defence and security, but on the day the Bank of England cut its growth forecast from 1.5% to 0.75%, does the Minister agree that the single biggest thing we could do to turbocharge our economy in the medium and longer-terms is to form a customs u…”

“President Trump’s proposals for the forced displacement of Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants would constitute a grave violation of international law, and threaten the fragile ceasefire and the return of the hostages. Will the Minister condemn them? The Palestinian people have a right to self-determination and to a state o…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for bringing this important issue to the House, and I praise his work on raising awareness of it. For decades many low-income nations have struggled under the weight of unsustainable d…”

“Hello and welcome, Minister. Can I start off by asking you how your Government will differ from the last in their approach to achieving the second sustainable development goal on zero hunger?”

“Minister, do you have an update on UNRWA that you could share with us?”

“The cuts to UK aid in 2021 disproportionately impacted nutrition. Can you lay out how you are either going to return that to the level it was before or increase the proportion of ODA that is spent on nutrition?”

“Minister, previous commitments to global nutrition include ringfencing interventions such as MMS and ready-to-use therapeutic food to treat children and for maternal health. Would you look at bringing back specific ringfenced funding commitments to nutrition programmes?”

“Minister, many of us have noted with concern what is going on in America in the moment with USAID. I would be interested to know what your response is to that. What impact will it have on the UK funding programme and our partnership with USAID? Can you reassure us that we will not be following but will hold steadfast i…”

“My teachers in Esher and Walton have greeted today’s announcement with a degree of cynicism, which is to be expected after feeling ignored for the last 10 years. One wrote to me saying, “Same system, different name.” Another said, “Same old thing, just different words.” Will the Minister reassure them that this is not …”

“I join colleagues in supporting efforts to uphold the ceasefire agreement and release the hostages. I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the families of the eight hostages who have been killed by Hamas while taken hostage, and I join Members of the House in calling for the immediate release of all those still …”

“I note that the Minister did not mention noise pollution in his statement. As he grew up under a flightpath, I hope that he enjoyed the noise. Eight routes currently pass over my constituency, sometimes after midnight. My constituents struggle with the noise—one said that it was like having an uninvited dinner guest ev…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing today’s debate. As he pointed out, quality education is not just an important sustainable development goal, but an integral part of the achievement of all SDGs. It enha…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman) for securing this debate. My surgeries are full of distraught parents of SEND children. In Surrey, 1,800 children are missing education because they cannot get provision. Children are wai…”

“Given that the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the fiscal test of returning to 0.7% will not be met in this Parliament, and that there has been no equivalent uplift to the £2.5 billion that the Conservatives put to spend on in-country refugee costs, are the Minister and this Labour Government content to…”

“My constituents are well served by the fiscal stewardship of their district council of Elmbridge, and are rightly concerned that they will be forced to take on the debt of neighbouring councils such as Woking. Equally, they are looking forward to the May elections, and kicking Conservative Surrey out. Does the Minister…”

“Mr Speaker, may I declare another interest as the officer of the British Council all-party parliamentary group? The British Council delivers more than £1 billion-worth of global impact for the UK every year. During the pandemic, it was forced to close 18 country operations, none of which has since reopened. The then Fo…”

“10. What assessment he has made of the British Council’s financial sustainability.”

“When the Government last announced their aid package, one area was in famine and four were on the brink. Those five areas are now in famine, another five are expected to be by the spring, and a further 17 are at risk. As the hunger crisis spirals, less than 10% of those in affected areas are getting humanitarian assist…”

“In my local authority area, 92% of burglaries went unsolved, with police failing to identify suspects—that is the worst figure for any community in the country—and in Surrey as a whole, 63% of burglaries were not even attended by police. This has contributed to a decline in confidence in local policing among my constit…”