Speeches by Harding.

“This is such an important debate. My constituency is the single biggest contributor to the Exchequer of any constituency outside London, yet we were completely missed out from the tap in, tap out roll-out. I wrote to the Minister to ask why, and he did not tell me when we would be included. On behalf of my constituents…”

“I absolutely agree. Tech companies have billions of pounds, and the consultation also asks children 62 questions. How on earth can a child whose attention has been taken by a phone answer 62 questions? Meanwhile, the world is moving faster than the Government. Even if people think that we should wait, watch and learn f…”

“I had the opportunity to go out with the local police in my constituency on an operation to combat youth crime. One thing I found most distressing was the liberal ownership and unthinking use of knives among teenagers, which I know the police in my constituency are desperate to sort out. Following the Government’s cons…”

“The presumption in favour of development at transport nodes and on the so-called grey belt means that in my constituency of Esher and Walton, which is half green belt and has a disproportionately high number of stations—everybody lives within 15 minutes of a station—everywhere can be developed under the Government’s pr…”

“Today, the US President impersonated Jesus Christ. Last week, he pledged to wipe out an entire civilisation. His warmongering in the middle east is piling on the pressure for my constituents in Esher and Walton, from prices at the pump to mortgage increases in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Given the disturbing …”

“One of the most favoured spots in my constituency on a Friday evening is The Ferry in Thames Ditton, a wonderful Nepalese restaurant run by Cepe, who served with the Royal Gurkhas for 19 years. Around the restaurant are pictures of VCs, a proud reminder of the many Gurkhas who have served our country loyally and bravel…”

“I understand that, but will the money that you are saving come back to the ODA budget?”

“I understand—”

“Can I come back to the UK and the in-country refugee costs that the ODA budget is supporting? Given that the Government are trying to end that hotel accommodation by the end of the Parliament, is it your expectation that that money is going to come back into the ODA budget?”

“Does the drop in funding for fragile and conflict-affected states, combined with ringfencing some of those key priorities like Sudan, Ukraine and so on, mean there is going to be less money spent on those other fragile and conflict-affected states?”

“I want to turn to displacement. With ODA falling, development programming to ensure that fragile countries remain liveable continues to suffer. What is the Department’s strategy for reducing forced displacement resulting from this?”

“I wanted to talk about Sudan, and I know we could take up a whole Committee on talking about it. Can I ask you what conversations the Government is having with the backers of the belligerent parties in Sudan, and what action they are taking to deter them from the continued support of belligerents?”

“How quickly can the programmatic spending pivot to places that look like they are about to erupt or are on the slow burn to being a place of conflict? Again, I am thinking about Somaliland and that part of Africa that is closest to the Iran conflict.”

“Yes, sorry, but I did want to come back on defence versus development. Given that we all agree that development is an essential part of stopping conflict, how do we stop this narrative about development or defence and stop the defence budget eating away at the development budget again?”

“That sounds slightly worrying to me. I wonder what the Foreign Secretary and the Minister would say. Given Sudan, given what is happening around Sudan, Somaliland and, of course, the Iran war now that we are in, does there not need to be a focus and a fund that looks specifically at that?”

“Isn’t that about the narrative that you either have defence or development? Does not that lead us down a rabbit hole that if we need more defence, which presumably we will, we cut development even further? How do we protect against that?”

“There is no sustained funding pot for all those programmes—it is case by case in Africa?”

“The geographical portfolios for Africa, West Balkans and the Americas were absent from the statement that was given in February 2026 by the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office and Home Office. The geographical portfolios were missing. Will this work continue to be funded through the ISF via the FCDO?”

“When you talk about 12% of the public that does not support getting to 0.7, surely that is about leadership.”

“Can I turn to the integrated security fund? The Government announced a restructure of the ISF, but there was no mention of key geographic portfolios. Will this work continue to be funded through the ISF?”