Speeches by Harding.

“Do you know what balance that is between the in‑country refugee costs going down and GNI going up? Do you know how that is?”

“Can I also ask another question? Coming back to priorities, I noticed also that there was a decline in spend on the eradication of poverty. From what you have just said about the Minister’s priorities—and, again, we can ask her when she comes—is it your expectation that the objectives for development are going to be on…”

“I think that there was a decline from 2019 in aid to least developed countries, which went significantly down, as you would expect, in 2021, but then continued to go down into 2023.”

“Between extreme poverty and the middle income countries, yes, so there was less spend there.”

“The eradication of extreme poverty will be a continued objective under this Government.”

“Can I pick up on that point? In your highest pay quartile, the gender distribution is about 10% apart between men and women. It is not unique to you. It happens across industry and it is usually because women are leaving to have children and then not coming back into the top echelons. What are you doing to encourage th…”

“I am coming back to the point you made that your partners and in-country deliverers had digested the news that we were back down to 0.5% rather than 0.7%. My worry is, therefore, that there is no push to get back to what is a statutory target of 0.7%. Is that your feeling, too? Are we stuck at 0.5%?”

“Part of the £22 billion black hole was actually ODA spend on in-country refugee costs. The figure was £2.6 billion. I am interested in how the 0.5% of GNI was arrived at. You, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister vigorously resisted the two fiscal tests in Parliament when they were proposed by the last Conservative Go…”

“Do not you feel that if two issues are of such critical importance, they should have their own Ministers?”

“Turning to money, Minister, were you satisfied with the ODA settlement in the autumn Budget?”

“It is not a question on the circumstances; it is a question on the fiscal conditions that the Government have chosen to use to set the 0.5% and not yet get to the 0.7%. How did you arrive at that 0.56% that we are at currently and where is the ambition to get to the 0.7%?”

“That is right.”

“They are rules that you vigorously opposed, as did the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.”

“I want to talk about the ambition. This is something that we spoke to the officials about. The rhetoric does not seem to match the fiscal rules adoption, but we will leave fiscal rules to one side for a moment. Given that there has been a UK aid cut, how will you meet your ambitions to reset the UK in the development s…”

“I wanted to come back to your point. If I may push it, have the UK laid out any consequences or planned any consequences to UNWRA being unable to operate anymore in three weeks’ time? Similarly, is the Minister or are the Government having any bilateral conversations with other countries about this?”

“Thank you for your forbearance, Madam Deputy Speaker. I apologise for my hasty entry into the Chamber, which does not detract from the high importance that the Liberal Democrats and I attach to this Bill. I am pleased to welcome the Bill back to the House on Third Reading and, having listened to hon. Members over the p…”

“Can I ask a follow-up question? Diving into the detail of you moving money to Syria, as you said, where did that money come from? Also, as you are seeing more and more conflicts—there are 120 armed conflicts in the world at the moment—are you finding that you are putting more money into that space?”

“More than 24,000 homes in my constituency have an energy performance certificate banding of D or worse, which means 50,000 tonnes of avoidable carbon dioxide emissions and higher energy bills for my constituents. However, the rate of insulation upgrades is too slow for us to meet the Government’s goal of universal band…”

“Collaboratively, then, the value of the World Service to humanitarian aid in the world is valued by the FCDO.”

“Have the cuts to the World Service language services impacted its ability to reach those in crisis in countries such as those that we have talked of?”