Speeches by Waugh.

“Do you see that as a possible alternative, Mr Sharp?”

“Jamie Angus, the former director of the World Service, has suggested a different model—foreign language services should be paid for by the Government and the English-language services of the World Service should be paid for by the BBC. Is that a viable model?”

“Mr Sambrook, are you persuaded that the Government should take back responsibility for the World Service in full, and if so, why?”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Roger. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) for securing this vital and urgent debate. I will start by telling the story of Mohammed, a new-born baby in northern Gaza. Just a few hours after Mohammed was born, he and his mother, Raghad, had…”

“Everyone has talked about the need for a secure and stable footing for future funding. Would that suggest three yearly funding, rather than the annual scramble we have at the moment? Five yearly?”

“I am a former presenter of BBC Radio 4’s “Week in Westminster” and a graduate of the Cardiff Centre for Journalism Studies.”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. To back up her point, in residential housing, where the vast majority of people die in Gaza, 44% of deaths have been children and 26% have been women. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said on 8 November that “this unprecedented level of killing, and…”

“Mr Sambrook, are you persuaded that the Government should take back responsibility for the World Service in full, and if so, why?”

“Jamie Angus, the former director of the World Service, has suggested a different model—foreign language services should be paid for by the Government and the English-language services of the World Service should be paid for by the BBC. Is that a viable model?”

“Do you see that as a possible alternative, Mr Sharp?”

“Can I ask both of you what you made of Ms Crack’s remark about the closure of Arabic radio—“it does not feel like a good decision”; that is what my old-fashioned shorthand says here. Given what has happened in Gaza it does not feel like a good decision, does it? What do you think are the viable alternatives?”

“Everyone has talked about the need for a secure and stable footing for future funding. Would that suggest three yearly funding, rather than the annual scramble we have at the moment? Five yearly?”

“Rochdale’s “Giving Back” Christmas toy appeal has begun accepting donations. It ensures that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have a present to open on Christmas Day. It is run by Rochdale council staff, and last year it supported 2,000 children. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking the appeal’s foun…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman on the Tory Benches, which are singularly understaffed right now. But it is the almost criminal levels of understaffing in our NHS that affects most of our constituents. He is an honourable gentleman, so does he not feel a sense of shame that, every single day in our NHS, midwives, doct…”

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“It is clear that a lot of Tories do not like this Budget, but that is not because it raises taxes—because after all, they themselves raised taxes to a post-war high. Why do they not like it? They do not like it because this Budget exposes their model of a low-pay, low-investment economy—a model that has totally failed.…”

“I would like to start with something that Figen Murray said this week in her evidence to us, which, as my hon. Friend the Minister said, was incredibly powerful: “Martyn’s law will save lives.”––[Official Report, Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Public Bill Committee, 29 October 2024; c. 7, Q1.] That is what she said…”

“Q Thank you, Andy, and thanks also to Figen and Brendan. You all make a really powerful case for why strengthening security actually helps business—it is not just helping the public, but helping businesses to thrive because then they can attract people in a secure, safe environment. However, at the same time, some smal…”

“Q What is your view on the enforcement powers of the regulator contained in the Bill? Jeremy Leggett: I have to say that we have not looked in great detail at that. We have been so concerned about the way the entire Bill will be perceived by volunteers, because of the risk of us losing a lot of village hall trustees—si…”

“Q So is it fair to say that, because you are satisfied with the increase from 100 to 200, a lot of those concerns have fallen away? Jeremy Leggett: Indeed. It was troubling this morning to hear quite so much pressure being placed on the Committee to bring the threshold back down, because that would bring a lot of those…”