Speeches by Mathew.

“You can understand why some of us are pushing for people to be allowed to work.”

“Nick, you told us in January that the Department was planning to recruit an additional 200 development staff to help rebuild its capacity. Are these plans still in place?”

“Are you losing development staff as well? What is happening at the moment in terms of the rest?”

“This is a proactive question, really. How is the UK supporting the Palestinian Red Crescent as it recovers from the attacks on its medical convoy?”

“If you could, that would be lovely. We were in the west bank last year before that and we heard directly about some of the horrible things that were going on even then.”

“Minister, in this world of new spending targets—specifically 0.3%—I have two questions. There is need for clarity on both of them. Can you confirm that the 0.3% on aid spending is now a floor beneath which the Government would never sink and not a ceiling? That is the first question. The second question is: will the Go…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I also thank the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) and the hon. Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) for leading the debate. For over 20 years, the Government have run the listed places of worship grant scheme, which allows listed churches, ch…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin) for securing today’s debate. Recent times have shown how important reliable friends are. To our west, a United States under Trump has shown a reckless willingness to sacrifice prosperity across the glo…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and I am heartily in agreement. I have visited many farms across Melksham and Devizes, and it is clear that British farmers work incredibly hard to ensure that our food is high quality and produced to high welfare standards. We do not want British farmers or British consumers…”

“I fully support reversing the delays to the new hospital programme and want to emphasise the importance of investment in community health provision, which offers multiple benefits to patients and the health service. There is currently no out-of-hours healthcare provision anywhere in my constituency. Patients typically …”

“As I have just said, in Bradford-on-Avon, similar investments have been made—credit where credit is due. I will come back to the important issues about farming. We should also approach the issue of river pollution in a far more holistic manner, acknowledging the various factors, including agriculture, that contribute t…”

“The pollution of rivers is an issue that strikes close to home for many of us. Just last November, Wessex Water was fined half a million pounds for pumping raw sewage into Clackers brook, a small river rising in Bromham and flowing 5 miles through Melksham in my constituency. This incident resulted in the deaths of mor…”

“It is an honour to speak under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for securing the debate. Giving children the opportunity to safely walk or cycle to school is vital. It not only ingrains healthy habits in children from a young age, bringing them closer …”

“Recent polling suggests that over 60% of Israelis will support any deal that brings the remaining hostages home. If that can be achieved, the likelihood is that peace and rebuilding can be achieved, especially if Egypt can be involved, along with finance from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Will the Government please push f…”

“I will go to Bethan. Full disclosure, I used to work for Plan. Some of the work that you have done in the past has been, I would say, important stuff, where you have been researching and telling stories that cast a light that is then understandable by the likes of us and the likes of your donors, your individual donors…”

“I will go to Bethan. Full disclosure, I used to work for Plan. Some of the work that you have done in the past has been, I would say, important stuff, where you have been researching and telling stories that cast a light that is then understandable by the likes of us and the likes of your donors, your individual donors…”

“Moving on, but related to that—and it all helps to build our case—how will a fall in UK ODA spending on poverty reduction affect the UK’s ability to exercise soft power?”

“Gideon, Bond stated in written evidence that the UK’s focus on poverty reduction is falling. How will this affect displacement?”

“How will that affect migration patterns to Europe and the UK?”

“Moving on, but related to that—and it all helps to build our case—how will a fall in UK ODA spending on poverty reduction affect the UK’s ability to exercise soft power?”